Hawkman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, politically-charged speeches and general public debate over Neil Patrick Harris's role as a host are on the tips of everyone's tongues, but it's fair to say that the music performances stole a fair amount of attention at film's biggest night. Several of the performances got Twitter going like nothing else. We're going to risk our necks and rank the night's seven live performances.
07) "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" by Tim McGraw
We'll court some controversy right off the bat, deeming Tim McGraw's performance of Glen Campbell's nominated "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" as the least satisfying performance of the night. The current country star was performing, of course, because Campbell is suffering from Alzheimers (as was a major theme in the documentary I'll Be Me) and he was put in a tough spot as a result, and it seems that McGraw was perhaps trying to replicate Campbell's voice just a little too well, to the point that it came out flat. We know McGraw's got the chops, and it wouldn't seem like disrespect to the songwriter if McGraw let his voice soar a little. More off-putting was the country star just sitting on a stool while he performed. Both Campbell and McGraw can handle a guitar, so why not onstage at the Oscars? It may have been reverence for the somber message of the song but made for a static stage.
06) "Grateful" by Rita Ora
Rita Ora and Diane Warren were somewhat left out to dry by the rest of the nominees. Several, including "Not Gonna Miss You" and "Glory" touched the heart, while "Everything Is Awesome" invites good times. "Grateful" ain't a bad ballad, but it simply didn't have the public recognition that Idina Menzel had with "Let It Go" last year, meaning that Ora was out singing a pretty song that not many in the audience could get very fired up about, and she didn't to much to further her cause (although that may be because it's tougher to move about a stage in that sort of dress). Music Times writer Carolyn Menyes may have subconsciously pointed out how boring Ora's song was by dedicating so much attention to Ora's dress during her roundup last night. We hear Ora's after-party dress was legitimately exciting.
05) "Lost Stars" by Maroon 5
The performance of "Lost Stars" got out to a rough start when Dakota Johnson, who was introducing the band, labelled them as "Maroon 5 featuring...Adam Levine." We'll admit right away that we removed the words "one of the actors from the movie" from that sentence but it summed up what much of America already thinks...that Levine is a solo performer and that Maroon 5 is his touring band. Admittedly, "Lost Stars" was performed by the vocalist alone for Begin Again, so it was nice that he brought the rest of Maroon for the performance, but it almost seemed insulting that they were relegated to the back of the stage, hardly illuminated. Levine, for the record, had an incredible performance, both vocally and actively, falling to his knees as he hit a crescendo.
04) "Opening Number" by Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Kendrick and Jack Black
Harris had good jokes, bad jokes and flat-out awkward jokes during his night as an emcee. We noticed more of the latter two than the first option, unfortunately. We will, however, give a thumbs-up to his opening number. We knew, based on his adeptness as a Tonys host, that an epic musical number was a requirement for his services. His lyrics were generally on-point, and the scene when his shadow took on the images of classic cinema moments was a wonderful touch (and took some skill from Harris, mimicking the shadow without looking). Anna Kendrick is the hottest thing in musical cinema right now (Into The Woods, The Last Five Years) and she lived up on Sunday night. We even appreciated Jack Black's surprise appearance, although we're still mad Tenacious D won the Best Metal Performance Grammy.
03) The Sound of Music by Lady Gaga
A few folks, including Shonda Rhimes, sounded off against Lady Gaga as the performer behind the Academy's Sound of Music tribute, but we're with the majority of viewers in our praise for the pop star's performance. We admit that although we knew Gaga had the pipes to perform in a non-syllabic vocal style, we weren't sure we trusted her with Julie Andrews' repertoire. She proved us wrong and we couldn't be more glad. Her takes on "The Sound of Music," "Do Re Mi," "Edelweiss" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" hit the spot, and made us wonder if she should have been cast instead of Carrie Underwood during 2013. Even if you don't take our word for it, you can believe it was good based on the reaction of Andrews, the original Maria Von Trapp herself. The orchestra hiding among the onstage birch trees was a nice touch.
02) "Everything Is Awesome!!!" by Tegan and Sara / The Lonely Island
"Everything Is Awesome!!!" was not built to be an Oscar-winning song-that's what more profound tracks such as "Glory" are for. It was designed for awesome live performances however, and the performance team of Tegan and Sara plus The Lonely Island brought this to fruition during the broadcast. They also played up the awesomeness theme to bring in as many guests as possible. ?uestlove took to the drums, Will Arnett appeared as Batman (who he voiced in the film) with a guitar, and best of all, Mark Mothersbaugh appeared wearing a Devo "energy dome" hat made out of Legos. A final nice touch was a bevy of dancers who ran into the aisles to award Lego versions of the famous trophy to folks such as Oprah.
01) "Glory" by John Legend and Common
There was the potential that declaring "Glory" the best performance of the night would make critics look like cowards playing up to the popular political issue of the night. Thankfully John Legend, Common and the rest of the vocalists involved with the song made that argument a moot point. The Grammys' staging of the song was nice but something felt even more genuine in the Oscars rendition. If you don't believe us, look at the tears flowing from the eyes of Oprah, David Oyelowo, and even Chris Pine, an actor with no emotional investment in the film. Legend said that his wife Chrissy Teigen was practicing to not cry at the ceremony, as she did at the Grammys, but we don't blame her in the least. This performance should push politics out of the minds of cynics. Common and Legend proved their tribute/mission statement belonged on that podium.
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