The 2010 Academy Award Nominations: Where Are The Music Stars?

Wow. And we were grousing that the Grammys are usually an old boys club. The nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced this morning, and—no surprise here—Avatar and The Hurt Locker lead the pack with nine nominations each. Among those, James Cameron’s blue-hued 3D epic snagged a nod for Original Score. But Leona Lewis’ Avatar theme song “I See You,” which was nominated for a Golden Globe, was snubbed. In fact, there weren’t any major pop stars (no offense to Academy standby Randy Newman) singled out this year—not even Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O, for her critical fave Where The Wild Things Are tunes.

And nominating a song from Nine? The only time the majority of America has heard anything from that disastrous box office dud is probably when they walk into a Starbucks, since the chain got stuck shilling the soundtrack.

Maybe with the overhaul to the Best Picture category (there are now ten nominees, instead of the traditional five) the “lowly” music field was simply an afterthought for the Academy. But if you ask us, it seems like a bit more tweaking is needed for Oscar to remain truly credible—and to not seem completely out of touch.

At this point, the Golden Raspberry nominees appear to be more exciting. At least Beyonce, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers were recognized for their, er, “talents” there.

The 2010 Academy Award Nominations For Music

ORIGINAL SONG

* “Almost There,” The Princess and the Frog (Music and Lyric by Randy Newman) * “Down in New Orleans,” The Princess and the Frog (Music and Lyric by Randy Newman) * “Loin de Paname,” Paris 36 (Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas) * “Take It All,” Nine (Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston) * “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart),” Crazy Heart (Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett)

ORIGINAL SCORE

* Avatar, James Horner * Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat * The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders * Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer * Up, Michael Giacchino

The full list of Academy Award nominations can be viewed here.