Diane Warren Loses Best Original Song at 2025 Oscar Once Again

Diane Warren’s streak of Oscar losses continues, as the songwriter — on her 16th Best Original Song nomination — once again lost in the category for The Six Triple Eight’s “The Journey.”

Despite the 16 nominations — and eight consecutive Best Original Song nominations, dating back to 2017’s “Stand Up for Something” from Marshall — the 97th Academy Awards presented Warren with perhaps her best opportunity to win the category in years: “The Journey” was performed by an Oscar-winning artist, H.E.R., was in a widely seen movie, and was in a field where there were no other standout songs, especially in the aftermath of the Emilia Pérez social media controversy.

However, despite the odds seemingly being in Warren’s favor, the songwriter lost for a 16th straight time as “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez took home Best Original Song. Written by Jacques Audiard and Camille & Clément Ducol, the record was performed by Zoe Saldaña, who earlier in the night won Best Supporting Actress.

Warren was first nominated for Best Original Song back in 1987, for Mannequin’s Starship-sung “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” Other noteworthy Warren-penned Oscar losers include Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” (from Up Close and Personal), Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” (from Armageddon), and LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live” (from Con Air).

This year’s Best Original Song nominees also included Emilia Pérez’s “Mi Camino” performed by Selena Gomez (Camille & Clément Ducol, songwriters), Sing Sing’s “Like a Bird” performed by Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada (Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada, songwriters), and Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s “Never Too Late” (Carlile, John, Bernie Taupin and Andrew Watt, songwriters) from the documentary of the same name.