After forgoing live performances of the best original song nominees at the 2025 Oscars, the 2026 Oscars is bringing them back but just for two of this year’s nominated tracks.
This year’s awards ceremony will feature live performances of “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters and “I Lied to You” from Sinners, according to a letter sent to this year’s music nominees by Oscars executive producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan and producer Taryn Hurd. The other three nominated songs — Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner’s “Train Dreams” from Train Dreams, Diane Warren’s “Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless and “Sweet Dreams of Joy” by Nicholas Pike from Viva Verdi! — will be introduced via custom-produced segments featuring film and behind-the-scenes footage and receive support across social media.
And the Oscar producers in their letter stressed that this year’s best song “nominees are being treated with the same care, storytelling focus and intention as the other awards categories — all of which will be included on the show.”
The producers added, “Your work is an integral part of our cinematic ecosystem, and we so look forward to honoring it on the show.”
The Oscars’ live telecast regularly runs longer than three and a half hours, with various changes introduced in past years in part to try to save time. Last year, the show cut the best song performances but still ran 20 minutes longer than its three-and-a-half-hour allotted time (perhaps host Conan O’Brien’s “I Won’t Waste Time” song did in fact take too much time.)
This year, the Oscars has added a new, 24th category, for best casting. The producers cited that addition as well as the broadcast’s limited runtime in their letter along with the “desire to create a fast-paced, entertaining and cohesive” show.
As for the decision to feature the KPop Demon Hunters and Sinners performances, as opposed to the other nominees, the producers say those films’ songs “have played a defining role in their global cultural impact and audience connection this year.” The producers also teased “segments designed to honor how music helped these stories resonate worldwide.”
The 2026 Oscars, hosted by O’Brien for the second year in a row, are set to air live on ABC and Hulu from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 15, starting at 4 p.m. PT.
Sinners leads this year’s Oscar nominations with a record-breaking 16 nods.
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