Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, ‘Emila Pérez’ Team Win Golden Globes in Music Categories

Music

Reznor and Ross are tied with Justin Hurwitz as the only three-time winners for best original score this century at the Globes.

Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor during the 82nd Annual Golden Globes held at The Beverly Hilton on January 05, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.

Gilbert Flores/GG2025

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won the Golden Globe Award for best original score for Challengers on Sunday (Jan. 5). “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez won for best original song. The song was written by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard. The awards were presented at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif and televised on CBS.

This is Reznor and Ross’ third win for best original score, following The Social Network (2011) and Soul (a collab with Jon Batiste, 2021). This puts the Nine Inch Nails members in a tie with Justin Hurwitz as the only three-time winners for best original score this century at the Globes. Hurwitz won for La La Land, First Man and Babylon.

The other nominees for best original score were Volker Bertelmann (Conclave), Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist), Kris Bowers (The Wild Robot), Clément Ducol and Camille (Emilia Pérez) and Hans Zimmer (Dune: Part Two).

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The award was presented by Elton John and Brandi Carlile, who are among the co-writers of “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late. The song is shortlisted for an Oscar for best original song but was passed over for a Golden Globe nod. Before presenting the award, John made reference to his vision problems and assured the audience they weren’t as bad as has been reported, before playing it off with a joke, referring to his co-presenter as Rihanna.

All of these scores except Dune: Part Two are shortlisted for Oscar consideration as best original score. Dune: Part Two was ruled ineligible by the Oscars because it leans too heavily on Zimmer’s Oscar-winning score for the first Dune. The Oscar shortlist of 20 scores was announced on Dec. 17. Oscar nominations are set to be announced on Jan. 17. 

“El Mal” is the first Golden Globe-winning song that was co-written by the director of the film (Jacques Audiard in this case) since “Masterpiece” from W.E. in 2012. That film’s director, Madonna, co-wrote “Masterpiece.” An earlier Globe-winning song, “You Light Up My Life” from the film of the same name, was solely written by the film’s director, Joe Brooks. That ballad, which went on to win an Oscar, won in 1978.

To win best original song, “El Mal” beat another song from Emilia Pérez , “Mi Camino” (written by Ducol and Camille), as well as “Beautiful That Way” from The Last Showgirl (by Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus and Lykke Zachrisson), “Compress / Repress” from Challengers (by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Luca Guadagnino), “Forbidden Road” from Better Man (by Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler and Sacha Skarbek) and “Kiss the Sky” from The Wild Robot (by Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack and Ali Tamposi).

All but two of these songs are shortlisted for Oscar consideration as best original song. “Beautiful That Way” didn’t make the Oscar shortlist of 15 songs. “Forbidden Road” did, initially, but was removed from the shortlist when it was discovered that the song bears similarities to a 51-year-old film song, “I Got a Name” from The Last American Hero. That song, a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the late Jim Croce, was cowritten by Charles Fox, who is one of three people representing the music branch on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Last year’s Golden Globe winner for best original score, Ludwig Göransson for Oppenheimer, went on to win the Oscar in that category, as have the last three Globe winners for best original song, “No Time to Die” from the James Bond movie of the same name (by Billie Eilish and Finneas), “Naatu Naatu” from RRR (by M. M. Keeravani & Chandrabose) and “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie (also by Eilish and Finneas).

The Golden Globes are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation. PMC is also the parent company of Billboard. 

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