“City of Stars” by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul was named Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday.
The song, which is performed by Canada’s Ryan Gosling in the film La La Land, beat out Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop The Feeling” from Trolls, “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana, Sting’s “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story, and another track from La La Land — “Audition.”
“City of Stars” previously won a Golden Globe and a Critic’s Choice Movie Award.
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Hurwitz also picked up an Oscar for Best Original Score, which topped the scores for Jackie, Lion, Moonlight and Passengers.
The Oscars show kicked off with a performance of “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Timberlake that had glamorous audience members on their feet.
At one point, Timberlake put his arm around Ryan Gosling, his former Mickey Mouse Club co-star.
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After Timberlake’s performance, host Jimmy Kimmel joked that the other members of ‘NSYNC might let him rejoin the group.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Auliʻi Cravalho performed “How Far I’ll Go,” Sting sang “The Empty Chair,” and John Legend performed “Audition” and “City of Stars.”
The show’s In Memoriam segment featured Sara Bareilles singing “Both Sides Now” by Canada’s Joni Mitchell.
There was Canadian content throughout the show, in fact.
Ontario native Alan Barillaro picked up the Oscar for Best Animated Short (Piper) and Quebec’s Sylvain Bellemare won Best Sound Editing for the Montreal-shot Arrival.
Bellemare has said he was inspired by psychedelic rock — and the music of Pink Floyd, specifically — to create the sound of the aliens in Arrival.
Presenters included Canadian actors Seth Rogen and Michael J. Fox.