News broke this week that the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is "celebrating this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Original Song with its annual all-star virtual event, A Conversation with 2026 Oscar-Nominated Songwriters for Best Original Song, which is streaming on demand and free to watch now through March 16, 2026 exclusively on songhall.org."
According to a statement, "This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s annual program that shines a spotlight on leading songwriters nominated for an Academy Award in the prestigious Best Original Song category. The event is co-hosted and moderated by legendary songwriters and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Nile Rodgers, who currently serves as Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman, and SHOF Board Member Paul Williams, a Johnny Mercer Award honoree and 1977 Academy Award winner for Best Original Song for 'Evergreen.' This year’s panel features Oscar-nominated songwriters including Bryce Dessner ('Train Dreams' from Train Dreams), EJAE ('Golden' from KPop Demon Hunters), Nicholas Pike ('Sweet Dreams of Joy' from Viva Verdi!), Raphael Saadiq ('I Lied to You' from Sinners), and SHOF inductee Diane Warren ('Dear Me' from Diane Warren: Relentless)."
During the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s “Conversations with 2026 Oscar-Nominated Songwriters,” SHOF Chairman and SHOF inductee Nile Rodgers asked the nominees to share their best advice for aspiring music creators. Oscar-winning songwriter, SHOF inductee & Johnny Mercer Award honoree Paul Williams, who co-moderated the panel said:
"I wrote a commercial that I didn't want to write. My partner had to talk me into it. And I said, "I don't want to write a bank commercial." We wrote the song and put everything we felt into it, and it was, 'We've Only Just Begun,' which Karen Carpenter turned into a big, big song for us…You never know where it's going to fly to, and who's going to hear your authenticity."
The Oscar nominees said:
"Whatever project comes your way, it could be for a tiny commercial. I think it's important to give 110%. Do whatever you can to make sure it's the top quality...I think a lot of people would be like, 'Oh, it's something small. I'll just do a scratch take.' No, even for this, for KPop Demon Hunters, I went all out. I didn't care if it was a tiny scene. I put all the harmonies in there and made sure my vocals sounded fantastic," said EJAE.
“Work your ass off, be fucking great, and work fucking hard. Show up, show up. Secret to anything that I've achieved is I show up. I show up to work hard. I show up for my friends. It's showing up,” said Diane Warren.
“Whatever you love as a child, and hopefully it's the right thing, there's something good because it's going to chase you for your whole life. And don't be blinded by categories in music. Music has no categories. So dream as high as you want, different sounds and different styles," said Raphael Saadiq.
“Often in school especially, they'll say, 'You need to pick one thing.' and I actually think it's your wide interest, the diversity of what you do, that makes you you. It's kind of embracing all those things…really we are the sum of all our interests," said Bryce Dessner.
"I think you have to listen to your own voice. You write what you want to write...because there's a lot of pressure to do what you think other people want to hear. But you are the important part. What you have to say is the most important thing," said Nicholas Pike.
Watch the event on SHOF’s website from February 9 - March 16, 2026 here.
