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Diane Warren was feeling the rhythm of the night.
After receiving her 17th Oscar nomination on Thursday, the critically-acclaimed songwriter, 69, is reflecting on just how special this moment was.
“It’s always exciting. I never lose sight of that,” Warren exclusively told The Post while at the Los Angeles screening of “The Gray House” on Thursday. “It never gets old.”
As for what the superstar was feeling going into nomination day, she confessed: “Nervousness. You never know what’s going to happen. And this is the first time I wrote a song for a movie about me. It’s my documentary ‘Relentless.’ To write a song, ‘Like, what kind of song do I write?’ And I feel like I really wrote a great song.”
“It’s called ‘Dear Me.’ Kesha sings it,” detailed Warren, “It’s basically, if you could talk to your younger self, what would you say? Your messed up young yourself that feels like it’s the end of the world and you’re telling you it’s going to be okay. And that’s the song I wrote. I’m really excited.”
In anticipation for the Oscar announcements, the hitmaker revealed she was “up all night.”
“The documentary is up for a Grammy as well,” Warren gushed. “So one’s up for a Grammy and the songs up for the Oscars, how cool is that?”
It’s no secret the Golden Globes winner has an ear for the arts, and she knew Kesha would be the perfect fit to sing “Dear Me.”
“So, when I do a song for a movie, I’m a casting director. The artist has to be authentic to the movie and authentic to the song and of course, be able to sing it,” Warren explained. “I had a rough childhood and I thought, ‘Okay, the person is going to have to sing the song.’ I’ve know Kesha for years, and I know she’s had a rough time of it, and I knew that she’d be able to relate and it would resonate with her.”
The pop star, 38, was engrossed in a 10-year legal battle, until 2023, after Dr. Luke filed a defamation lawsuit against Kesha following her claims that he “sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused [her] to the point where [she] nearly lost her life” in 2005.
The pair ended up settling before trial.
“Only God knows what happened that night,” Kesha wrote in an Instagram statement at the time. “As I always said, I cannot recount everything that happened. I am looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and beginning a new one. I wish nothing but peace to all parties involved.”
Meanwhile, along with relating to the tune, Warren also raved about the chart-topping star’s vocal ability.
“I also knew she’s one of the best singers I’ve ever heard and people maybe can’t tell from some of the records – they are great records – but you can’t tell what she can do vocally,” she recounted to The Post. “And I knew it, and I had her come over to the studio, I played it, she started sobbing and I knew. She just sang the s–t out of it.”
And for Warren, an Oscar nomination for this track in particular is “so unique.”
“It’s a movie about me, but the song, when I do a song right, it’s not just about me or just about a movie. ‘Because You Loved Me,’ when I wrote that for ‘Up Close and Personal,’ then it got a whole life of its own outside of it. This song I wrote to my younger self, but everybody has a younger self that they could be singing this to.”
“It could be two weeks ago as a younger self,” Warren mused. “When you think like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to get out of this. I feel terrible. What am I going to do?’ And now you’re going back and telling that young girl or young boy or whoever you are, a younger person, it’s going to be okay. And so that’s what ‘Dear Me’ is about – it is going to be alright.”
The 1996 romantic drama “Up Close and Personal” starred Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Warren was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1997 Academy Awards and Grammys.
She ended up nabbing the Grammy award.
Warren also took home a Golden Globe in 2011 for her hit track “You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me” from “Burlesque” and again in 2021 for “Io Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead.”
The icon also walked away from the 2016 Emmys with a trophy for her song “Til It Happens to You” from “The Hunting Ground.”
Warren has not yet won an Oscar.
Looking back at her upbringing, and reflecting on her documentary, Warren knows exactly what she would tell her younger self.
“I was a little angry kid and I probably would have said to f–k off!”
After writing songs for some of the top performers, including Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Cher, Whitney Houston and Beyoncé, Warren isn’t certain who would still be on her bucket list.
“I’m lucky enough to write songs for so many great artists, so there’s not one [in particular],” she admitted.
But if a certain star does come to mind: “I will get back to you!”
English (US)