8 Unexpected Artists Eligible For Oscars’ Best Original Song

There are 75 songs on the Academy’s shortlist, and some are kinda surprising.

It’s pretty much a given that Adele is going to get an Academy Award nomination for “Skyfall,” her song from the new James Bond movie. The rest of the field for Best Original Song is wide open, and a shortlist of 75 songs was released yesterday. Only a few songs will actually get nominated, and some of them are….pretty interesting.

Image by Joel Ryan / AP

1. Matthew McConaughey for “Magic Mike”

McConaughey has a good chance of getting an Oscar nomination for his scene-stealing performance in Magic Mike, but now there’s a strong possibility that he could also win for co-writing “Ladies of Tampa,” a raunchy ditty on the movie’s soundtrack.

Image by Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

2. Rick Ross for “Django Unchained”

Both Rick Ross and John Legend are eligible for songs on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, but Ross’s track is fantastic and may be a dark horse contender.

Image by Rick Diamond / Getty Images

3. Ryan Miller of Guster for “Safety Not Guaranteed”

Though Mark Duplass performs “Big Machine” in the indie comedy, it was Miller composed the song and scored the film.

Image by Ilya S. Savenok / Getty Images

4. Katy Perry for “Katy Perry: Part Of Me”

The singer co-wrote “Wide Awake” for her 3D documentary-concert film about her life and the song itself is meant to reflect all the major changes that happened around that time. If this makes it, we might as well all go home and forget about life.

Image by Jason Merritt / Getty Images

5. Fiona Apple for “This Is 40”

As soon as it was announced that Apple was writing “Dull Tool” for the Judd Apatow movie, the Internet broke out in hives of excitement about her eligibility for an Oscar. The singer is coming off a stellar year as BuzzFeed’s Artist of the Year.

Image by Chris Pizzello / Reuters

6. Owl City for “Wreck-It Ralph”

If a popstar ever wants to take home an Oscar, the best way to do it is by penning a song for an animated film. Owl City is eligible for his contribution to the Wreck-It Ralph soundtrack, while other artists, such as Ester Dean, were included on the shortlist for contributions to The Lorax and Ice Age.

Image by Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty Images

7. The Black Keys and RZA for “The Man With The Iron Fists”

RZA’s directorial debut was largely overlooked, but “Baddest Man Alive,” a song on the soundtrack penned by the rapper and The Black Keys, has been rightly acclaimed.

Image by Theo Wargo / Getty Images

8. Karen O for “Frankenweenie”

O was snubbed for her contribution to Where The Wild Things Are, but is eligible again for the song “Strange Love.”

Image by Taylor Hill / Getty Images