French composer Clement Ducol (L) and US composer Camille accept the award for Best Original Song for “El Mal” from “Emilia Perez” onstage during the 97th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 2, 2025

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty

TheOscarfor Best Original Song has gone to “El Mal” fromEmilia Pérez!

“We are so grateful, thank you to all The Academy members. Congrats to our beautiful fellow nominees. We wrote ‘El Mal’ as a song to denounce corruption and we hope it speaks through to the role music and art can play and continue to play as a force of the good and progress in the world,” said Camille.

“Thank you, thank you, and to the amazing cast. Thank you to our phenomenal interpreters,Zoe SaldañaandKarla Sofía Gascón, for bringing this song to life,” Ducol then said. “Thank you to everyone involved in producing the music. Thank you to Netflix.”

Clément Ducol, Jacques Audiard and Camille Dalmais accept the Music Original Song award for ‘El Mal’ in “Emilia Pérez” onstage during the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California.

Kevin Winter/Getty

Composer Clément Ducol and singer-songwriter Camille teamed up to write the songs inEmilia Pérez, French writer-director Jacques Audiard’s musical thriller set in Mexico which led the2025 Oscar nominations. Its tunes are sung largely in Spanish despite the fact that both composers are also French.

(L-R) Karla Sofia Gascon and Zoe Saldana in Emilia Perez.PAGE 114/WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS/PATHÉ FILMS/FRANCE 2 CINÉMA

Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Pérez and Zoe Saldaña as Rita Moro Castro in Emilia Pérez.

PAGE 114/WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS/PATHÉ FILMS/FRANCE 2 CINÉMA

However,Queen LatifahandWickedstarsCynthia ErivoandAriana Grandewereamong those who sang live.

Also competing in the best original song category wereElton John’s “Never Too Late” from thedocumentaryof the same name;Sing Sing’s “Like a Bird” from Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada; andThe Six Triple Eight’s “The Journey” fromDiane Warren.

Elton John in ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’.Sam Emerson/Disney+

Stills from Elton John: Never Too Late.

Sam Emerson/Disney+

For a documentary about his life, John, 77, cowrote new tune “Never Too Late” withBrandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin and Andrew Watt. The English superstar is no stranger to the Academy, earning two previous best original song Oscars forThe Lion King’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” andRocketman’s “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again.”

“Like a Bird,” from songwriters Alexander and Quesada, serves as a moving capper toSing Sing, director and co-writer Greg Kwedar’s retelling of a real-life arts rehabilitation program in the titular New York maximum security prison. The movie starringColman Domingofeatures formerly incarcerated alumni of that program playing versions of themselves.

‘Sing Sing’.A24

Sing Sing L - R PAUL RACI, SEAN SAN JOSE, COLMAN DOMINGO, SEAN “DINO” JOHNSON, MOSI EAGLE

A24

Warren, 68, continues an impressive (but unusual) streak with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. Nominated a whopping 16 times for original songs in various movies since 1987, the songwriter went into the 2025 ceremony with zero competitive wins. However, she did receive an honorary Oscar in 2022. The inspiring “The Journey” plays over the credits ofTyler Perry’sThe Six Triple Eight, which starsKerry Washingtonas the real-life major of WWII’s all-Black, all-female battalion.

Kerry Washington in ‘The Six Triple Eight’.Bob Mahoney/Perry Well Films 2/Courtesy of Netflix

The Six Triple Eight Kerry Washington as Major Charity Adams

Bob Mahoney/Perry Well Films 2/Courtesy of Netflix

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SeePEOPLE’s full coverage of the 97th annual Academy Awards, airing on ABC.

source: people.com