Michael Bearden. Courtesy of the A.M.P.A.S. 
We’re finally here—game day, as the sports fans say. With the 98th Academy Awards set to take place this evening at The Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, the anticipation over who will take home the coveted Oscar has reached a fever pitch. Will ‘Sinners’ finally get its just due? Is Delroy going to grab the much-deserved award for Best Supporting Actor? All are questions that will get answered prior to the night ending. One of the more underrated aspects of the evening, of course, is the music. Helmed by the renowned Michael Bearden for the second year in a row, tonight will feature two of the five nominees for Best Song—“Golden” from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters and “I Lied to You” from Ryan Coogler’s genre-blending blockbuster.
Bearden, a Primetime Emmy-nominated keyboardist, arranger, conductor and composer, hopped on a video call with ESSENCE to discuss all things music, specifically as it pertains to the Oscars. Michael spoke to us about returning as music director for film’s biggest night, collaborating with executive producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, and explains exactly how much rehearsal time he and his musicians actually get ahead of show day.
ESSENCE: This is going to be your second year as music director for the Oscars, correct?
Michael Bearden: Yes, that’s correct.
What excites you most about returning and shaping the musical tone this year?
The orchestra. I love that we get an actual live orchestra every year as some shows have gone away from that. The Oscars still have live music, so I’m always excited to see my orchestra, who I call the best musicians in the world. The show itself is already exciting enough. This is the 98th Oscars. It’s the biggest show in Hollywood. So to be in the role of music director is always exciting, but in the end, I’m a musician first, and I always love seeing my musicians.
With this being year two, did you approach the music any differently this time around?
No. My approach to everything I do is, if you will, bespoke to the moment or tailor made to what’s happening. So I never come in with anything preconceived. I always try to bring excellence and all of that to whatever music project that I’m in charge of. So this year’s theme for the Oscars is human connection, human touch, humanity. So the music will reflect that as the show progresses. And as we start from the first frame to the last, you’ll hear everything that says true to our themes of human connection, love, and the global community. And so that’s the approach I took this year because it’s a different theme this year.
What is the preparation process like, from the moment that you know you’re going to be the music director to the day of the Oscars?
Fortunately, after last year’s Oscars, the executive producers, Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, called me back only a few days after the show was over. So I’ve known for a year already that I was going to be the music director. So, I just kind of do what I call a “musical look book,” meaning I’ll hear some things as I’m listening to music in my daily life and go, “Oh, that might be cool for the Oscars. Let me just put that in the playlist.” And then I just start collecting pieces of music that could hover around maybe being on the [telecast]. With the Oscars, you still have the language of elegance and posh and grandeur and majesty and all the things that the Oscars are.
I also like to infuse my personality and a little bit of what’s happening today and the more modern feel while still being elegant. It’s constantly me just picking out tunes and going, “Oh, this could fit. This could fit.” Not everyone makes it, but that’s how I start my musical process. And then once we start knowing what the nominees are going to be and all that, then I start staffing my orchestra. Everybody in this town can play. Everybody’s really a great musician, but I like to curate energy—that’s what I call it. So, I don’t need just virtuoso players, but you still want great energy, and a great vibe. So I like to curate and foster an environment that will elicit emotion and all the things I want from the music that will eventually touch the people that are listening.
This year, two of the five nominees for Best Song will be performed live; which is “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters and “I Lied to You” from Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. Why is it so special to have these nominated songs performed live?
Well, there’s nothing like live music. It’s in the moment. It’s organic. You feel that and it just goes right in line with what the theme of the show is, human touch, human connection, and what I like to call actual intelligence as opposed to artificial. So having the creators of the nominated songs to perform live, that lets you know, one—it’s deserving of that nomination because you can see them actually perform this live. And it just feels different when it’s live. You know the difference between listening to your favorite artist at home, and then when you go to the concert, how much different that feels for you. If it was the record, everybody could listen to that at home, but come to the show and feel something different live. So it’s very special. And it just goes in line with what the Academy Awards ceremony is. We’re talking about, we’re celebrating cinema and we’re celebrating excellence and craftsmanship and artisans.
You spoke about this earlier in the conversation. When you’re curating the music, you try to stay true to the elegance and the tone of the Oscars, but you also add a modern flair to it as well. How do you balance the two?
I’ve been doing this for a very long time with all the artists. I’ve worked with over 530 artists now, and I’ve led many of the greatest in history. One of my favorite words is discernment. I can discern what will go with what and what makes sense together or not. And so that’s how I do it. There’s certain things that I would love to put together, but it just would not be appropriate. So you figure out how close to the line I can get and still keep it elegant, but everybody knows it’s still modern. So it’s just a fine line. It’s just trial and error too. Some things I try. Even last year, we wrote a couple things and it didn’t work, so we didn’t use them.
How much creative control do you have of what happens musically during the ceremony?
There is a team. The executive producers, Raj and Katy, really are keen on music. They really like to feature the orchestra and they’re really in tune to music. And so they always have ideas of what they would like to hear presenters come in on and all those kinds of things. So there’s collaboration, of course, but they also hired me for a reason, which means they trust my musical expertise and my intellect. And so certain things I would present to them. So, it’s very collaborative, but they trust my expertise.
Ahead of the ceremony, what do you look forward to the most at the Academy Awards?
The thing that excites me most is when we actually start, because all of this preparation is one thing. People think you get a lot of rehearsal for that. It’s a lot of moving parts to the show so that we don’t get to rehearse much. So you have to know what you’re doing.
How much rehearsal time do you get?
Well, for instance, I was Lady Gaga’s music director for many years. When we did the Super Bowl, that was months of rehearsal. You don’t get that for this. When I worked with Michael Jackson, that was months of rehearsal. You don’t get that for this. You get your prep work and some time with the orchestra and then everything must come together for the three hour show we’re putting together. So whenever the performance happens in sound check and rehearsal, you don’t get months. You may get an hour if you’re lucky because there’s still presenters and all these things that need to be rehearsed.So what I look forward to is once we’ve gone through all that and all the notes changing and everything like that, I look forward to actually starting the show. Let’s go. It’s a live show and it’s very organic and you don’t know what the presenters are going to do, you don’t know how excited they’re going to be, you don’t know how long they’re going to cry, you don’t know how long they’re going to talk, like all of that things that happens in these moments. But that’s the part I’m most excited about, is to be in the moment.
The post Exclusive: Michael Bearden Is Back As The Music Director Of The Oscars, Shaping The Sound For Film’s Biggest Night appeared first on Essence.
Author: Okla Jones
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