He has already won a Golden Globe and is now going for his first Oscar. Laura Pausini received the nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song on Monday as co-author of “Io Sì”, the central theme of the film “La vita davanti a se” (“Life before yourself”, or in English “The Life Ahead ”) starring Sophia Loren.
The Italian singer, who also performs the song, shares the nomination with veteran American songwriter Diane Warren, who has been nominated 12 times for the Academy Award, including this one.
“From last year to today, I was part of a wonderful family that not only asked me to be the voice of the title track, but also united a group of people who have dedicated themselves with passion and dedication to the artistic creation of this song. . film, ‘Pausini said in a statement.
“Thanks to them, I discovered a new way of writing and being directed in the interpretation of the song, something that I usually do as I see fit and in complete solitude,” he continued. “This new nomination moves me more emotionally than ever because it is also very important for our country and for Italian culture.”
“La vita davanti a se” is directed by Loren’s son, Edoardo Ponti, and is currently available on Netflix. It follows Madame Rosa, a Holocaust survivor who runs a kindergarten, who strikes a rare friendship with a resentful street child, Momo, who she takes in after robbing her.
Pausini took on the task of translating Warren’s texts into English, eventually recording them in five languages to spread his message more widely: ‘Seen’ in English, ‘Yo si’ in Spanish, ‘Eu sim in Portuguese and “Moi yes” in French, in addition to the Italian version on the tape.
At the Academy Awards, he will compete against “Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”, featuring music from HER and Dernst Emile II and lyrics from HER and Tiara Thomas; “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”, with music by Daniel Pemberton and lyrics by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite; “Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”, composed by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson; and “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami …” (“A night in Miami …”), with music and lyrics by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth.
In an interview with The Associated Press in November, shortly before the premiere of “La vita davanti a sé,” Pausini said it was crucial for her that “Io Si” reflected the human quality of the film, which was also the first feature. . Loren’s film in a decade.
“It’s very important because the song comes at a specific point in the movie and my voice, the song, is Sophia’s voice singing for Momo,” said the singer. “Some things can be said in different ways and the film is so exciting that the Italian lyrics had to be very exciting.”
Although she had known Loren for many years, she said it was Warren, the Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe winner who contacted her and sent her the song in English with the idea that she would translate and record it in Italian.
“When I saw the film and accepted the project, because I liked the meaning so much, I started working on it. Imagine it is something very new to me, even though I had already done a song for a Kevin Costner and Robin Wright movie several years ago, but it was a song in English that had already been written, I still had no composition done “, he said of” One More Time “, the track he recorded for 1999’s” Message in a Bottle “.
“In this case I told the director and Sophia that I wanted to enslave myself 100% to the whole project, and I worked a lot on the words in Italian because the metric in English is very short compared to Italian and that I didn’t want to do an intermediate job either, ”he added.
The Academy Awards, for the 93rd edition, will be held on April 25 in Los Angeles.