The Oscar nominees for Best Original Song can be anything from soaring ballots over the

credits to toe-tappers that round musical numbers.

This year they include entries from big artists like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and of course,

frequent Oscar nominee Diane Warren.

What well-win, what should-win, and what makes a great original song anyway.

We'll get into all of it.

I'm Stephen Thompson.

I'm Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about this year's Oscar-nominated original

songs on top culture happy hour from N.P.O.K.

It's just the two of us today.

There are five nominated original songs this year.

We're going to go through them.

We'll talk about them a little bit, and then we'll get into our picks for what will and

should win, and into what even makes an Oscar worthy original song.

These songs are all really different.

I am excited to dive in.

First up is probably the favorite for the Oscar this year.

If you ask most pundits, it's not too not too written by M.M. Kiravani and Shandra Bose.

It's the backbone of a super high energy dance number right in the middle of the super high

energy Indian action film RRR, which was hugely expensive as well as hugely profitable.

It stands way out from the field of moody ballads, so let's hit it.

Yeah, we were both chair dancing for what I think will be the only time during this recording.

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