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Also featured are songs performed by Barbra Streisand, Steve Martin and Travis Scott.
Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are on the brink of EGOT status … meaning Emmy voters will nominate their song from “Only Murders in the Building” for a win in three months' time.
Pasek and Paul, who have already won an Oscar for La La Land and a Tony and Grammy for Dear Evan Hansen, finally accomplished this feat for the Hulu comedy-drama's third season with “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?”, a witty comedy song written by Steve Martin and co-written with fellow Tony and Grammy winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
They are among the many notable songwriters who have submitted songs for this year's Emmy Awards. Voting begins Thursday, with about 550 members of the Television Academy's music peer group eligible to vote in the seven music categories. Voting closes June 24, and nominations will be announced July 17.
Another pair of Oscar and Grammy winners, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (A Star Is Born, Barbie), are entering “Sweet Morning Heat” from Jerry Seinfeld's Netflix comedy “Unfrosted,” while Sara Bareilles is entering “The Medium Time” from fellow streamer “Girls5eva,” a show she has been nominated for three Emmys but has yet to win.
Barbra Streisand's “Love Will Survive” from Peacock's The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a likely contender. Written by composers Hans Zimmer and Carla Talve, producer Walter Afanasieff and lyricist Charlie Midnite, it's a rare new song released by the 82-year-old songstress. If nominated and awarded, it would mark the first Emmy win for veteran film composer Zimmer (Dune, The Lion King).
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who already has two Emmys under his belt, is up for nomination for “Esperando Pelitos,” the Spanish version of the Netflix animated series “Big Mouth,” while The Weeknd has two songs from HBO's critically panned “The Idol” (“One of the Girls” and “World Class Sinner”) in the running.
National Geographic's “Genius: MLK/X” has three songs nominated: “Change the World” by Aloe Blacc, “Jericho” by Jacob Banks and “Home” by Rhiannon Giddens. If selected by voters, it would be the first time any of them have been nominated. Bryan Adams and Mutt Lange are also in the running for nominations with “You're Awesome” from Comedy Central's “Office Race.”
“Saturday Night Live” has entered at least eight songs for the 2023-24 season, including the country tune “Get That Boy Back” with Chris Stapleton, the rap tune “We Got Too High” with Travis Scott, Kate McKinnon's ode to tampons “Farm Song,” the dance number with Maya Rudolph “Mother's Day Monologue” and the rude but funny tribute to movie theater giveaways “Dune Popcorn Bucket.”
This year, 60 songs were submitted, down from 80 last year. In fact, five of the seven music categories saw fewer entries than last year. The only category that saw an increase over last year was Musical Direction, with 22 entries this year, including some high-profile nominees such as Usher's Super Bowl 53 Halftime Show, Lady Gaga's “Chromatica Ball” and Jennifer Lopez's “Apple Music Live” show.
Two-time Emmy Award winner Rickey Miner is again in the running to serve as musical director for both the Oscars telecast and the Kennedy Center Honors, and Saturday Night Live will hire Ryan Gosling as musical director for the April 13 episode.
The Original Song category is notable for its number of Academy Award winners and multiple nominees, including Alexandre Desplat (The Regime), Atticus Ross (Shogun), Rachel Portman (We Are the Lucky ones), James Newton Howard (The Light We See), Chris Bowers (Secret Invasion) and Thomas Newman (Feud 3).
The sheer number of submissions (106 in the Series Music category, 69 in the Limited or Anthology Series Music category, 52 in the Documentary Music category, 49 in the Main Title Theme category, and 117 in the Music Supervision category) underscores the impossibility of viewing and judging every submission, a challenge the Music category faces every year.