In 1985 he won an Academy Award for \u201cI Just Called to Say I Love You,\u201d from the Gene Wilder comedy \u201cThe Woman in Red.\u201d In 1991 his soundtrack for Spike Lee \u2019s \u201cJungle Fever\u201d topped Billboard\u2019s R&B chart and led to several Grammy nominations.
Now, a quarter-century after his last Hollywood moment, Wonder is up for original song at Sunday\u2019s Golden Globes with \u201cFaith,\u201d his and Ariana Grande \u2019s duet from the animated film \u201cSing.\u201d
A zippy, Motown-style dance tune, \u201cFaith\u201d is as emotionally direct as \u201cI Just Called\u201d and as rhythmically nimble as \u201cJungle Fever.\u201d Unlike the earlier songs, though, it wasn\u2019t Wonder\u2019s sole creation; \u201cFaith\u201d was co-written and produced by Ryan Tedder, the OneRepublic frontman who\u2019s also known for his work with A-list pop stars like Beyonc\u00e9 (\u201cXO\u201d), Adele (\u201cRumour Has It\u201d) and Taylor Swift (\u201cWelcome to New York\u201d).
\u201cStevie doesn\u2019t do other people\u2019s melodies,\u201d Tedder said in an interview this week. \u201cAnd I think maybe one or two other people have ever told him what to do \u2014 like, \u2018I need you to re-sing this, that\u2019s not the right note.\u2019\u201d
As a result, no one was certain how things would go when Tedder gathered with Wonder and Grande \u2014 as well as executives from Republic Records and Universal Pictures \u2014 in a North Hollywood recording studio one evening last year.
\u201cHalfway through the session, [Republic chief] Monte Lipman looks at me and goes, \u2018Man, there was a greater-than-50% chance this could\u2019ve been a disaster,\u2019\u201d Tedder recalled with a laugh.
Instead, he added, \u201cit ended up in the top two or three sessions of my entire career.\u201d
Just the pure joy of it. We were up till 3 in the morning. At one point I told Stevie, \u201cYou know, the first song I ever heard from you, when I was a kid, was \u2018I Just Called to Say I Love You.\u2019\u201d He immediately busted out the song at the piano, and then for the next 20 minutes was basically doing any song me or Ariana would name that we liked.
Highly, highly, highly unusual. It just doesn\u2019t happen anymore; it felt like it was 1975. But nobody\u2019s gonna pass up a session with Stevie Wonder. He and I had been talking for a couple weeks leading up to it, so we\u2019d gotten to be chummy, and we still are actually. I plan on doing some more writing with him here in the next couple months. But before he even agreed to do the song, he wanted to have a phone call and talk for like an hour to see if we had a good vibe.
He told me he\u2019s been pitched so many concepts over the last 40 years and that this was the first one in a decade that made him want to step away from doing his own thing. I felt very honored.
Given the nature of what Stevie Wonder likes to sing about, I think even the title, \u201cFaith,\u201d played a role in it. The song is about love and spotting the X factor in somebody else and calling it out and lifting them up \u2014 those are all things that fit Stevie\u2019s DNA.
That was the hardest part of the song to cut because it\u2019s very contrary to what his instinct was on that section. I had this iPhone voice recording \u2014 it was just gibberish, but he loved the pocket of the melody that I had. And he was so committed to not veer off-course on that delivery; I\u2019ve never seen anyone go above and beyond like he did to nail those eight bars. I think that\u2019s why it feels young \u2014 he sounds like he\u2019s 25 years old.
To me it came out of left field. I\u2019ve known Justin since we were both like 20, and we\u2019d been talking maybe two months before that song dropped about going in to write together. I believe we\u2019re still planning on it. But this sounded so diametrically different than his previous two albums that at first I did a double take: \u201cThat\u2019s not Justin!\u201d But I think it was the song of the summer \u2014 a feel-good record kind of in the spirit of Pharrell\u2019s \u201cHappy.\u201d
I\u2019ve thought about this a lot, and here\u2019s my theory: The reason animated pictures bring out the poppiest, gummiest, sing-songiest contributions from artists is because you get a hall pass to not be what people expect and to not take yourself so seriously. You get to go for it: What is the most singable, fun, effervescent record possible? You\u2019re not gonna get that from someone\u2019s standard 12-track album that they spent 15 months doing; it doesn\u2019t work that way.
Me and OneRepublic, we get asked probably every two months to do a song for a film, and when I do, it\u2019s almost like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. I don\u2019t have to think about all the same things and criteria and rules \u2014 I just get to go write the biggest record I can that captures this moment.
And here\u2019s the other great thing about it: If you swing for it big for a movie and it turns into a smash, great. But if it doesn\u2019t? Hey, it was for a film.
Justin Timberlake isn\u2019t the only other recognizable name in the running for this year\u2019s Golden Globe for original song. Here are the rest of the nominees:
Tunes from animated Disney films like this acclaimed adventure about a Polynesian princess are proven awards-season favorites: Between 1991 and 1995, four Disney songs won Golden Globes, including \u201cA Whole New World\u201d from \u201cAladdin\u201d and the title track from \u201cBeauty and the Beast.\u201d (Then again, \u201cFrozen\u2019s\u201d inescapable \u201cLet It Go\u201d lost three years ago to a so-so U2 song.) \u201cHow Far I\u2019ll Go\u201d hasn\u2019t become a standalone pop hit like those earlier cuts, but it\u2019s gotten a boost from the monster success of \u201cMoana\u201d and from its connection to \u201cHamilton\u201d creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the song. ( Listen here .)
That winning U2 track in 2014 was produced by Danger Mouse, who\u2019s back in the running this year for his atmospheric collaboration with Iggy Pop from Stephen Gaghan\u2019s movie about a balding gold hunter played by Matthew McConaughey.
Damien Chazelle\u2019s modern-day musical about a jazz pianist in Los Angeles has earned rave reviews as well as a fair amount of scorn from jazz experts who\u2019ve criticized the film\u2019s childlike ideas about the meaning of musical authenticity. \u201cCity of Stars,\u201d by composer Justin Hurwitz and lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, mostly sidesteps that debate: It\u2019s a wistful Broadway-style ballad whose naivete is kind of the whole point. ( Listen here .)
Certainly this year\u2019s highest-profile nominee \u2014 it reached No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 and was the biggest-selling song of 2016 \u2014 Timberlake\u2019s bubbly electro-disco jam reteamed the pop singer with Max Martin, the Swedish studio savant who helped make him a star with \u2019NSync. ( Listen here .)
Casey Affleck talks about the way Kenneth Lonergan uses everyday language to convey deep emotion in \u00ab\u00a0Manchester by the Sea. \u00a0\u00bb
For her role as Jackie Kennedy, Natalie Portman says, \u00ab\u00a0It’s not a fashion story,\u00a0\u00bb but the clothes do tell a story.
Joel Edgerton talks about staying truthful to the real-life story of \u00ab\u00a0Loving. \u00a0\u00bb
Director Nicolas Winding Refn and composer Cliff Martinez discuss their \u00ab\u00a0Neon Demon\u00a0\u00bb collaboration.
\u00ab\u00a0Manchester By the Sea\u00a0\u00bb director Kenneth Lonergan discusses writing a quiet character and working with actor Casey Affleck to bring him to life.
\u00ab\u00a0Manchester By the Sea\u00a0\u00bb director Kenneth Lonergan discusses writing a quiet character and working with actor Casey Affleck to bring him to life.<\/p>\n