Oscars: Disney announces which two tracks from 'Moana 2' are in the running for best original song

Times of discover News: In documents identifying which tunes should be considered for the Oscar for best original song for Disney's upcoming animated musical Moana 2, the company could have chosen any of the high-quality options featured on the film's soundtrack, but, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, there were ten ... The studio only submitted two: "Beyond" and "Can I Get a Chee Who?"
Both issues feature songs and lyrics by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. "Beyond," which also features Pacific choral vocals written and arranged by Opetaia Foa'i, is essentially this film's first version of Moana's "How Far I'll Go" (the only song submitted for the 2016 film, and ended up with a nomination). "Beyond" is the classic Disney song "I Want" and was performed by the actress who plays the title character in the film, Auli'i Cravalho (along with Rachel House in the 2024 film). Meanwhile, "Can I Get a Chee Who?". This is basically this movie's first version of Moana's "You're Welcome," because it's a fun comic-embossed song and it's sung by the actor who plays the title character's fellow adventurer, Dwayne Johnson.
Over the years, Disney has featured multiple tunes from each of its animated musicals, and why not? It worked: 1989's The Little Mermaid received two nominations, including the eventual winner; 1991's Beauty and the Beast received three nominations, including the eventual winner; 1992's Aladdin received two nominations, including the eventual winner; and 2007's Enchanted received three nominations. But then there was a backlash, as all the nominated tunes for all four movies were shared by the same singer: the great Alan Menken.
Some in the film music industry began lobbying for rule changes that would prevent the Academy from focusing too much on any one particular film or singer. The result was the adoption in June 2008 of what is informally known as the "Menken Rule": a policy that says no more than three songs from any one film can be submitted; no more than two songs from any one film by the same composer can be selected; and no more than two songs from any film can be selected, regardless of the writer.
Since then, Disney, fearful that submitting multiple songs per film could backfire, has started submitting only one song, even for big blockbuster musicals like 2013's Frozen ("Let It Go," which won) and the original Moana. But the studio was forced to reconsider this approach when it backfired with 2021's Charm. In that case, the studio submitted the submissions before the release of the film's soundtrack, which included "Dos Oruguitas," a beautiful tune in Spanish, rather than a different tune that Lin-Manuel Miranda himself wrote, "We Don't Talk About It Bruno," which has become a huge cultural phenomenon. "Dos Oruguitas" ended up with a nomination, but "We Don't Talk About It Bruno," if it had been eligible, probably could have won. So, in recent years, the studio has backed down to being more of a medium when it comes to submissions.