Doja Cat, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Blackpink‘s Lisa, Queen Latifah and Raye were revealed Monday as musical performers for this year’s 97th Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said they will participate in “showstopping performances celebrating the filmmaking community and some of its legends at the 97th Oscars.”
The show also will feature a special appearance by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, AMPAS says.
It has been an open secret for weeks that Wicked stars Erivo and Grande would be performing something on the Oscars, likely as the show’s opening, but that part is still is not confirmed by the show’s producers or the Academy. What they are singing is also not part of the Academy’s announcement today.
With the popularity of Wicked, now the highest-grossing musical Broadway screen adaptation of all time, it would seem a no brainer to want to include it musically on the show even though there were no original songs written for it that would have made it eligible in the Best Song category (it is Oscar nominated for John Powell’s and original composer Stephen Schwartz’s underscore in the Original Score category). No doubt Erivo and Grande’s participation will also be heavily touted in upcoming ABC promos for the show, just as Barbie, which had the promise of Billie Eilish and Ryan Gosling performances, as big ratings bait last year.
AMPAS caused a stir among some members of its Music branch and Best Song nominees with its announcement (made a day before nominations were revealed) that in a rare move none of the five nominated songs would be performed on the show. As it turns out, those potential performers included Elton John, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, H.E.R. and 16-time nominee Diane Warren among others.
Instead, though, it appears the producers are not ignoring musical segments as part of the show, just going in a different direction. The inclusion of performers like Lisa of Blackpink, Queen Latifah, Doja Cat, and Raye make it seem more like a Grammy kind of lineup than what we usually get at the Academy Awards. One of the Oscar show producers, Raj Kapoor, was also in fact a producer on this year’s Grammy show.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the Oscars will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 2 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.