This is the first one we're going to go ahead and start making picks for. I mean, okay, the logic is that not all of these songs are featured on full albums. Heh, okay, only the Family Guy one isn't. But why not go ahead and start making some picks after all? This category is pretty interesting. When you think about it, it's almost like the Best Song category at the Oscars. Those songs are originals written for the purpose of the movie, sort of as these are. So, I figured for some fun, we could see all the videos and evaluate the individual songs for what they're worth, then, oh boy.. I'll finally make my pick for a winner at this years awards! First up is "Christmas Time Is Killing Us" from Family Guy. Sorry for the quality - it's the best I could find at the moment.
So, personally, and honestly, I think this show has done better than this before. They've had many musical numbers over the years, and this jut isn't one of their best ones. Granted, those elves are creepy as hell, and Santa is scary and fitting for the tone. But they're written better and shown much better.
Second up was "Born to Be Somebody" from Never Say Never. Yes, the Justin Beiber "movie." I can't believe I'm doing this either... *sadly* I can't find a particular scene from the movie featuring this song, so I surfed around and found the best put together visuals I could that include the song.
I cannot believe I'm going to say this, and will probably never live it down, but that was better than the first song we heard. Although, the guy is still a kid, and puberty needs to hit him like a ton of bricks. The 3D movie thing that was out for this was supposed to detail his rise to stardom, and really give his fans a look at his background, not to mention famous connections. The song works for that for sure.
Third on our list we have "So Long" from the movie Winnie the Pooh, done by She + Him. Here's the adorable credits from the movie that feature it:
Oh my goodness... that was way too cute. Okay, focus girl. The song itself does not scream Winnie to me, but it's really a cute number, so guess it goes well with the kid thing. If I remember right, there's a lot of saying goodbye in these stories, and a lot of life lessons overall, so maybe it does fit better than expected. Either way, very cute. Fourth on the list is "Where the River Goes" from Footloose. I've been in this show and sound mixed for it, and this has got to be a new one for the new version of the movie, which I also have yet to see. Actually, there's a lot of new music on this soundtrack from the looks of it, and they went more country. I don't have a real video for it, but here's, at least, a visual and the song:
Personally, I would have loved to see Blake Shelton's new version of "Footloose," from this is a really great song. If you know the story well enough, like I do, it's actually a pretty intense but perfect song for Ren. At it's heart, this story's about having a passion for something. The Zac Brown Band did an awesome job with incorporating that into this song for sure.
"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" from Burlesque, performed by Cher, is the next song nominated. I did actually see this one, and this song was actually performed in the movie itself. Let me tell you, I was actually slightly in tears during this song. Cher has got it. Check out the scene from the movie itself:
This song is what I believe the songs in this category should be. It was written to be a part of the story, not just as a song to continue marketing efforts for the movie. Finally, we have "I See the Light" from Disney's 50th animated film, Tangled.
Really a very pretty song and scene for this. The only thing that bothers me is the actual singing - it's very immature for a love scene, even for a Disney film. I also am sure that the lights have a lot to do with the movie, and thus the song really is well written for the film itself.
Time to pick a winner...
"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" from Burlesque.
This song has everything I was judging these songs on. It was, first off, fitting for the visual media in context of what was going on and the characters involved. Secondly, it was extremely well written. Finally, it was well performed. Those were the three things I whittled down my decision based on. I really believe that this is the deserving song for this award for the 2012 Grammys.
