While a win-is-a-win and efforts have been recognized and praised, this year’s Oscars has definitely awaken many fans’ intrigue with the evident majority of awards that have been given to musical-crime film “Emilia Pérez,” despite the public belief that the musical-fantasy “Wicked” would surpass the competition in musical nominations.
This debate ultimately began from the event of the Golden Globes last January 5 after the adaptation of the popular Broadway musical ‘Wicked’ (2024) was celebrated for its cinematic and box office success while musical crime drama following a Mexican cartel leader ‘Emilia Pérez’ appeared to have stood out more in the musical or comedy genre. This didn’t sit quite well with many viewers.
Fans were quick to leave comments on social media platforms sharing their disappointment with these results as they believed Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, two well renowned singers in the industry, were more suitable for the specific award recognition in the musical categories. Their frustrations only heightened as a video on TikTok had surfaced revealing that artificial intelligence had been used for the voice of Emilia Pérez in their scores.
The video creator made a comparison between the two and wrote: ‘both nominated in the same category (one uses real vocals and the other used ai cloning to hit these notes).
@citruxy 🚨 READ : 🚨 i’m talking about the BEST ACTRESS CATEGORY AT THE OSCARS. best actress = best performance. singing is part of their performances and fundamental to their films because the music is the medium for which the film is presented THEY ARE BOTH MOVIE MUSICAL #wicked #emiliaperez
Users shared their disbelief with the winning streak remaining in favor of Emilia Pérez and expressed their hope that the Oscars would recognize the difference in musical talent between the two pictures.
@jaya.khosla Actual scam Ariana better get that Oscar Wicked was amazing #basftas #wicked #awards #bafta #arianagrande #emiliaperez
@dil_maz #goldenglobes #wicked #emiliaperez #netflix #arianagrande #zoesaldana #selenagomez #movies #goldenglobes2025
As the Oscars have finally come to a close and both films have equally won two awards from the academy, it is still apparent that the recognition for each film did not fit to a satisfactory level with many audiences. Fans were clearly upset over “Wicked” stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s losses.
A user on X (formerly Twitter) writes “Imagine getting Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to open the oscar’s only to snub them and their film in the major categories.” Another goes on to say “Cynthia Erivo didn’t belt Defying Gravity in your faces for her to not take home and EGOT.”
Despite everything, co-stars Erivo and Grande joined forces and hands on stage, kicking off the 97th annual ceremony singing live with a beautiful duet of “Defying Gravity” getting the audience to stand on their feet and loudly applaud for their performance.
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