It was quite an exciting Monday morning for legendary songwriter Diane Warren, 63, and This Is Us star Chrissy Metz, 39. On Jan. 13, Diane’s name was called as one of the five Best Original Song nominees for “I’m Standing With You.” She wrote the power ballad that Chrissy sang in the 2019 Christian drama Breakthrough. Diane couldn’t have been more proud of how Chrissy handled the emotional tune, and opened up to HollywoodLife in an EXCLUSIVE interview about what makes the This Is Us star so extraordinary when it comes to her singing talents.
“She’s really authentic as a vocalist. You can’t learn that,” Diane explained. “You can’t learn to make someone feel something and she has that and has that ability when she sings to make you feel it in your heart, wherever your heart is. That is an amazing ability and I think she is an amazing artist and we are going to work more with each other.”
Our interview with Diane took place one day before the Oscar nominations were announced, and, at the time, she told us that both she and Chrissy would be “up all night waiting to hear” if they got nominated. Well, they got their wish! Hopefully, the 11th time will be a charm for Diane — this is her 11th nomination for Best Original Song, but she has yet to get a win in the category! Her most recent nominations were for “I’ll Fight,” from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary, RBG, in 2019, and for “Stand Up For Something” from Marshall in 2018.
However, in 2019, the award went to Lady Gaga, as she steamrolled the competition throughout awards season with her track, “Shallow,” from A Star Is Born. Diane and Gaga were actually nominated together for a Best Original Song Oscar in 2016 — they co-wrote “Til it Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground, a documentary about college students who seek justice after being raped on campus. Unfortunately, they lost out to the writers of “City of Stars” from La La Land.
Of course, more than anyone, Chrissy is hoping that this will be Dianne’s year to win. After the nominations were announced, Chrissy took to Instagram to congratulate the songwriter with this message: “Congratulations, @warren_diane on your 11th Oscar Nomination for Best Song! 🎉 Thank you, @devonfranklin for putting us together and making dreams come true! And a HUGE thank you to @theacademy for this incredible honor!😱❤️😭 @breakthroughmovie #imstandingwithyou.”