David Byrne will perform his Oscar-nominated song “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once at the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony with Son Lux and the film’s Best Supporting Actress nominee Stephanie Hsu.
Hsu, who portrays Joy Wang in the movie, will step in for Mitski, who recorded the song with Byrne and Son Lux for the film’s soundtrack. Son Lux’s Ryan Lott, Byrne, and Mitski wrote the music for “This Is a Life,” with Lott and Byrne penning the lyrics. Hsu sings another song called “Sucked into a Bagel” on the soundtrack.
For Byrne, this is his opportunity for a second Oscar. Back in 1988, he won Best Original Score for his work on The Last Emperor with composers Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su. Overall, Everything Everywhere All at Once is up for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (the Daniels), Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), and Best Supporting Actress (both Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis), as well as Best Original Screenplay (the Daniels) and Best Original Score (Son Lux).
Read our 2022 Filmmakers of the Year interview with Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert). We also chatted with Son Lux about crafting the movie’s score, Quan about the fanny pack fight, and James Hong about playing the father to Yeoh’s character Evelyn.
Besides Byrne, Son Lux, and Hsu, Rihanna will take the Oscars stage to perform her own nominated song, “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The 95th annual Academy Awards ceremony goes down on Sunday, March 12th.
Revisit “This Is a Life” below.