Movie and music critics widely predicted that the popular Doja Cat song Vegas clinch an Oscar nod for its debut in the hit movie Elvis, but Variety has learned that the song has been disqualified for consideration.
Songs and scores eligible for consideration were released earlier this month and voting began shortly thereafter. Only Academy members were able to vote on 15 scores and 15 songs that would be shortlisted.
Another disqualification that left critics stunned was the Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score in the movie Tár. Sources say “it was deemed ineligible because the amount of original, audible music was insufficient, and ran afoul of a second rule that ‘a score shall not be eligible if it has been diluted by the use of pre-existing music.’”
Doja Cat’s Vegas song had been debated for months and was the lead single from the soundtrack to the Elvis Presley biopic, reports say. But its interpolation of the Presley classic Hound Dog made it ineligible for consideration.
“Oscar rules demand that both words and music must be original, written specifically for the motion picture” and must be the result of “creative interaction between the filmmakers and the songwriters who have been engaged to work directly on the motion picture,” according to rules posted on its website.
Vegas peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard charts and was the only song from the film entered for consideration. Other popular scores that didn’t qualify for consideration included Lady Gaga’s Hold My Hand for Top Gun: Maverick because it “it fell short of the amount of original music required and must consist of more than 80% newly composed music.
Additionally, it was “assembled from the music of more than one composer,” which is against the rules, Variety said.
Either way, Doja Cat had a good year. In January, Doja Cat won the awards for Female Rapper of the Year and Performer of the Year at the XXL Awards and received eight Grammy nods.
