While the 'American Idol' alum will perform 'I'll Fight' from 'RBG', 'a surprise special guest' will sing 'The Place Where Lost Things Go' from 'Mary Poppins Returns'.
- February 1, 2019
AceShowbiz - The Motion Picture Academy is answering viewers' demand to have all five Best Original Song nominees performed at the upcoming Academy Awards. The Academy previously said that the live telecast would only spotlight two of the best song nominees, "Shallow" from "A Star Is Born" and "All the Stars" from "Black Panther", because there wasn't time to perform all five songs in a streamlined show.
The Academy, however, announced on Thursday, January 31 that Jennifer Hudson would perform the nominated song "I'll Fight", written by Diane Warren, which is featured in documentary "RBG". This will mark J-Hud's return to the stage as a performer after she sang "I Can't Let Go" for the In Memorian segment at the 2015 Oscars telecast.
Things we'd like to announce today:
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 31, 2019
1. @IAMJHUD will perform the nominated song "I'll Fight" on the #Oscars!
2. This has been our favorite tweet of the day.
The "American Idol" alum had also taken the stage in 2013 to sing "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from awards-winning musical comedy drama "Dreamgirls". The 37-year-old singer/actress won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Effie White in the 2006 movie, which marked her film debut.
The Academy followed up the tweet about Hudson's performance with another which read, "Spoiler Alert: 'The Place Where Lost Things Go' from 'Mary Poppins Returns' will be performed on the #Oscars." It additionally teased that the song would be sung by "a surprise special guest!"
Spoiler Alert: "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from "Mary Poppins Returns" will be performed on the #Oscars.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 31, 2019
BONUS SPOILER ALERT: It will be performed by a surprise special guest!
Variety later reports that the Academy is planning to feature performances of all best song nominees, including the fifth song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" from "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs". Besides Hudson, other acts who will be performing the best song nominees at the show are yet to be announced.
According to the site, the five nominees previously agreed to show solidarity to each other by putting a united front of "perform them all" or "perform none of them." It's unknown if they really used the tactic to convince the organizers to feature the other songs.
The show's producers reportedly also wanted members of Queen to open the event with one of their hits included in the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody", but the offer has been turned down.
