The 98th Academy Awards will feature live performances from two of the five nominees in the Best Original Song category, a shift from last year’s ceremony, which excluded the performances entirely.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters and “I Lied to You” from Sinners have been selected for live performance during the ceremony, scheduled to take place on March 16 in Hollywood.
The remaining nominees, “Train Dreams” by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner from Train Dreams, “Dear Me” by Diane Warren from Diane Warren: Relentless, and “Sweet Dreams of Joy” by Nicholas Pike from Viva Verdi!, will not be performed live. Instead, they will be introduced through custom-produced segments featuring film footage, behind-the-scenes material, and coordinated social media support.
The decision follows changes introduced at the 2025 Oscars, when live performances in the category were dropped in favour of alternative musical moments, including a Wicked medley performed by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. The Academy has cited efforts to manage the ceremony’s length, which has frequently exceeded three and a half hours, as part of the reasoning behind the reduced number of performances.
The ceremony also comes after a strong showing for Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s musical horror film, which received 16 nominations, setting a new record for the highest number of nominations earned by a single film. Other films with multiple nominations include One Battle After Another by Paul Thomas Anderson, Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos, Hamnet by Chloé Zhao, F1 by Joseph Kosinski, Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro, Marty Supreme by Josh Safdie, and Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier.
