The Oscars awards 2023 is set to go down tonight and Nigerian songstress, Temilade Oyeniyi could make history tonight as the first Nigerian artiste to clinch the coveted gong.
The award ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre, Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, US and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the American comedian and media personality.
For Nigerians, the focus will be largely on Tems who recently bagged a Grammy award and became the first female Nigerian artiste to ever do so.
Tems was nominated for the 2023 edition of the Oscars in the category of Best Original Song courtesy of a collaboration she had on the song, “Lift Me Up” with popular singer, Rihanna; music producer, Ludwig Göransson; and Black Panther’s director, Ryan Coogler.
It is largely unclear, however, whether Tems will also become an Oscar award winner should Rihanna eventually win the award in the category even though the nominees’ list has Tems as a contributor to the “music and lyrics” of the project.
The guidelines for the 95th award ceremony as regards the “Music (Original Score) category” states: “Only the principal composer(s) or songwriter(s) responsible for the conception and execution of the work as a whole shall be eligible for an award.
It further stated, “Expressly excluded from eligibility are all of the following: partial contributors (i.e., any writer not responsible for the overall design of the work), contributors working on speculation, producers and/or arrangers not responsible for the creation of the original song or score music supervisors,” it added.
While Tems co-wrote ‘Lift Me Up’ with Rihanna, it remains unknown her quota towards the project.
