‘Barbie’ bust: Why Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the Night’ failed to swing an Oscar nomination

nypost.com:

“Oppenheimer.”But Lipa’s “Dance the Night” failed to snag a nod for Best Original Song. This despite the fact that the “Barbie” bop — which the singer co-wrote — was nominated for a Golden Globe earlier this month and is up for two Grammys, including Song of the Year, on Feb.

4.Not to mention the fact that “Dance the Night” — which twirled all the way to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 last summer as the lead single from the all-star “Barbie” soundtrack — was far and away the biggest hit to have been in contention for a Best Original Song slot.Truth: If you asked most people if they could name that tune between “Dance the Night” or “What Was I Made for?” — Billie Eilish’s presumptive Best Original Song victor, also from “Barbie” — Lipa would win hands down.But while Eilish’s Golden Globe winner is, as expected, nominated for what would be her second Best Original Song Oscar — following her Bond theme “No Time To Die” in 2022 — along with Ryan Gosling’s “Barbie” showstopper “I’m Just Ken,” there’s no love for Lipa because her song wasn’t even submitted.Aside from the members of the academy’s music branch, who knew that you could only submit two songs from the same movie?That left Lipa out in the cold … which is, well, cold.

As much as Gosling chews up the screen singing “I’m Just Ken,” the actor himself was shocked when the tune beat both “What Was I Made for?” and “Dance the Night” to win best song at the Critics Choice Awards earlier this month.“I’m Just Ken” is, ultimately, novelty. “Dance the Night” will live on long after the pink summer of “Barbie” has faded.Certainly, some stupid rules shouldn’t have prevented “Dance the Night” from even being submitted.Instead, other songs that nobody has even heard were nominated.