Jon Batiste performed his Oscar-nominated song ‘It Never Went Away’ at the 2024 Oscars last night (March 10) – check out footage below.
The song features in his 2023 Netflix documentary American Symphony, in which Batiste attempts to compose a symphony as his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, undergoes cancer treatment.
The track was up for Best Original Song against Barbie songs ‘I’m Just Ken’ by Ryan Gosling and ‘What Was I Made For?’ by Billie Eilish and Finneas, ‘Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)’ by Osage Tribal Singers from Killers of the Flower Moon and Becky G’s ‘The Fire Inside’ from Flamin’ Hot.
Eilish and brother Finneas’ ultimately won for ‘What Was I Made For?’, which they also performed at the ceremony.
Check out Batiste’s moving performance of ‘It Never Went Away’ below.
Jon Batiste performs “It Never Went Away” | #Oscars pic.twitter.com/zgMBnzJSwM
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 11, 2024
The Oscar nomination marked the artist’s second nod, after being recognised for 2021 for the Pixar movie Soul, going on to win Best Original Score alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Upon releasing the song last year, Batiste described ‘It Never Went Away’ in a press statement as “a love that outlasts any condition of the physical world”, adding: “It probes the question of our mortality, while at the same time speaking to the enduring quality of our deepest callings and desires. That part of us that stands in protest to the ills of the physical world is, in fact, evidence of our perpetual nature.”
Other musical highlights at the 2024 Oscars ceremony included Gosling’s star-studded performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’ featuring Mark Ronson and Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.
Eilish’s performance of her Oscar-winning Barbie song, meanwhile, earned her a standing ovation. Upon accepting the award Eilish thanked director Greta Gerwig and said she was “grateful for this and this movie and the way that it made me feel”.
The singer also said she “had a nightmare” about picking up her second Oscar.
The victory followed the siblings winning their first Oscar in 2022 for their Bond theme, ‘No Time To Die’.
