Lady Gaga wasn't happy in this modern world — specifically, a world in which not all the Oscar-nominated songs get to perform at the show — and so she did something about it.
A report last week suggested the Academy, in an attempt to cut the Oscars down to three hours, would only allow two of the five nominated original songs to perform. Gaga's "Shallow" from A Star Is Born would be featured, as would "All the Stars" from Black Panther. But the decision to cut the three others sparked widespread outrage. On Thursday, the Academy tweeted that "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns and "I'll Fight" from RBG would be performed, and Variety subsequently reported all the songs were now being let on the show.
So what's with this sudden reversal? Well, Deadline reports the producers of the Oscars really did want to cut three of the songs, but either Gaga or her representatives pushed back on the "completely unfair" proposal and threatened to pull her "Shallow" performance. Clearly not wanting to lose what should be one of the evening's most memorable moments, the Academy gave in. But there's a catch: Variety reports that the Academy, still obsessed with trimming the length of the show, is now only going to let each performance last 90 seconds — although according to Collider's Jeff Sneider, they're making time for a possible performance from Queen at the start of the show.
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Mysteriously, the Academy tweeted that a "surprise special guest" would perform the song from Mary Poppins Returns, suggesting it won't be sung by actress Emily Blunt, who Deadline reports is "apprehensive" about performing. This mystery guest has not been revealed, although seeing how the Academy's new thing is completely reversing ideas after they're publicly announced, don't be surprised if there ends up being no special guest at all.
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