The Weeknd had a more than impressive 2015 with the international success of his third studio album Beauty Behind The Madness. The project boasted singles like “Tell Your Friends,” “The Hills,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” “In the Night,” and now the Oscar nominated “Earned It” under the Best Original Song category.
The news was announced Thursday morning (Jan. 14), and marks this occasion as the Canadian crooner’s first Academy Award nod for the melody that was featured in Fifty Shades of Grey. Alongside the XO leader stands Lady Gaga and Sam Smith for their songs “Til it Happens to You” (The Hunting Ground), and Writing’s on the Wall” (Spectre), respectively.
“Earned It” was produced by Jason “DaHeala” Quenneville and Stephan Moccio, and written by the 25-year-old artist, a task that EVP and manager at Republic Records, Tom Mackay, said was initially a challenge.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Mackay revealed, “Our A&R staff brought him in very, very early and he worked on a number of songs for a number of scenes. Some were working and some weren’t, but he just kept at it, and kept at it, and kept at it. In the end, he wrote ‘Earned It’ and it’s the biggest song of his career to date. It’s the only song that’s in the movie twice.”