He has already won a Golden Globe and is now going for his first Oscar. Laura Pausini was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song on Monday as a co-author of “Io Sì”, the central theme of the film “La vita avanti a sé” (“Life before her”, or in English “The life Ahead”) starring Sophia Loren.
The Italian singer, who also performs the theme, shares the nomination with veteran American composer Diane Warren, who has been nominated for the Academy Award on 12 occasions, including this one.
“From last year until today I have been part of a large family that not only asked me to be the voice of the lead song, but also brought together a group of people who have been dedicated with passion and dedication to the artistic creation of this film, ”Pausini said in a statement.
“Thanks to them I discovered a new way of writing and being directed to the interpretation of the song, something I usually do at my discretion and in complete solitude,” he continued. “This new nomination moves me more than ever on an emotional level because it is also very important for our country and for Italian culture.”
“La vita avanti a sé” is directed by Loren’s son Edoardo Ponti, and is currently available on Netflix. He follows Madame Rosa, a Holocaust survivor in charge of a daycare center who establishes a strange friendship with a resentful street boy, Momo, whom she welcomes after he steals her.
Pausini took on the task of translating the lyrics written in English by Warren, and ended up recording them in five languages to make his message more widely known: “Seen” in English, “Jo sí” in Spanish, “Eu sim” in Portuguese and “Moi si” in French, in addition to the Italian version that appears on the tape.
At the Academy Awards he will face “Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”, with music by HER and Dernst Emile II and lyrics by 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 …”, 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 avanti a sé,” Pausini said that for her it was crucial that “Io Sì” reflect the human quality of the film, which also marked Loren’s first feature film in a decade.
“It’s very important because the song comes at a specific time in the film and my voice, the song, is Sophia’s voice singing to Momo,” the singer said. “Some things can be said in various ways and the film is so exciting that the lyrics in Italian also had to be very exciting.”
She had known Loren for many years, and explained that it was Warren, the Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe winner, who contacted her and sent her the subject in English with the idea of translating and recording it in Italian.
“When I saw the film and accepted the project, because I really liked the meaning, I started working on it. Imagine it’s a very new thing for me, even though I had already made a song. a few years ago for a film by Kevin Costner and Robin Wright, but it was an English song that was already written, I hadn’t done any composing, ”he said of“ One More Time, ”the track he recorded for in “Message in a Bottle” of 1999.
“In this case I told the director already Sophia that I wanted to put myself 100% as a slave 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 I didn’t want to do an average job, ”he added.
The Academy Awards ceremony, if 93rd edition, will be on April 25 in Los Angeles.