Diane Warren Looks Back on Her Oscar-Nominated Songs

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" From 'Mannequin' (1987)

“Well, I remember that my first song I was ever nominated for was about a guy who fucks a mannequin. So it’s very special. That is what that movie is about. Kim Cattrall, she was the mannequin.

‘I’ve Had The Time of My Life’ won that year, from Dirty Dancing. That’s a really great song. A lot of times I don’t really remember what won. I don’t think people do, really. They remember the songs they love. Some songs last longer. Like a chart position. They don’t remember where a song went on the chart.”

"Because You Loved Me" From 'Up Close and Personal' (1996)

“That movie probably would be a #MeToo movie now. Michelle Pfeiffer’s character falls in love with Robert Redford, who was her boss. I loved the movie. Robert Redford’s character dies in the movie, and he really believed in Michelle Pfeiffer’s character and it was basically a song thanking him for believing in her. I actually thought about my dad, who really believed in me, and always encouraged me. I tapped into that.

“I did think I was going to win that night, and I remember being really bummed out. I took Clive Davis with me as my Oscar date. I went to Jerry’s Deli and ate two really big orders of French fries to drown my sorrows. It became one of the biggest wedding songs of all time. It’s also a funeral song. A song will really be a [hit] if it can play weddings and funerals.”

"How Do I Live" From 'Con Air' (1997)

“It was a crazy situation, because I wrote the song for the movie, and at the time, they hadn’t technically picked my song yet. It was Jerry Bruckheimer. I ran into LeAnn Rimes, and she had just won [the Grammy for] Best New Artist. She was 14 years old. And I told her, ‘Leanne, I wrote this song to Con Air,’ I didn’t say that they technically hadn’t picked it yet, but she loved it. We went in the studio, did a demo, she went home. Remember that it wasn’t really an approved song yet. But she thought it was, so they did a video and a record. And they spent a lot of money, like $100,000, on all this. Yikes. I played it for Jerry Bruckheimer, and of course he loved it and wanted to use it, but he wanted some changes in the record, and LeAnn’s dad was a co-producer, and he was just adamant: ‘I’m not making any changes for them Hollywood people.’ I’m like, ‘Wilbur, you’ll have your record, just do that for the movie, some changes to fit that scene.’ He wouldn’t hear that.

So Jerry goes, ‘Well, do you mind if we have Trisha Yearwood do it for the movie?’ I was like, ‘As long as I don’t have to pull the song from LeAnn Rimes, because she went and recorded it,’ and he goes, ‘You don’t have to.; So Trisha Yearwood does it, and he goes, ‘You have to pull the song from LeAnn Rimes.’ I’m like, ‘No, I can’t do it.’

LeAnn Rimes’ version is the biggest female song in the history of Billboard, and then Trisha Yearwood had a massive No. [2] country record. I think LeAnn sang it on the Grammys, and then Trisha ended up winning the Grammy for best country vocal [from it]. I was up against Titanic, so I was like, ‘OK, let’s chill.’ “

"I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" From 'Armageddon' (1998)

“I was shocked that Aerosmith would do my song, because they’d never [worked with a songwriter] before. Steven [Tyler]’s daughter [Liv] was in the movie, and it was very emotional for him. Actually, he just told me this two weeks ago, ‘Do you know that I wasn’t convinced of that song at all, until you played it for me on the piano?’ ”

What happened was, I met with them at the hotel he was staying at. There was a piano in the room. And I remember him sitting next to me at the piano, and I sang it for him. All they had heard was a demo. He said, ‘Until that moment, I was kind of on the fence about it.’”

"Music of My Heart," From 'Music of the Heart' (1999)

“Wes Craven directed that movie. I was thinking, ‘Wow, that’s such an interesting movie for [him]. It’s about a teacher and her music students. Do they turn into zombies or something? The violin becomes an ax?’ But no, it was a really beautiful story. I was thinking about a counselor I had in camp, because the song’s about what these kids are saying to their teacher. I thought back to a really nice camp counselor, because she made a difference in my life. She was someone who was very caring at a time where I felt like an angry, delinquent kind of kid. I remember thinking about To Sir, With Love, which is the same [theme] — the kids are thanking their teacher.”

"There You'll Be" From 'Pearl Harbor' (2001)

“That’s one of my favorites. I didn’t think I was gonna win that night either. It was a difficult process because Jerry Bruckheimer made me rewrite it, like, 10 times. No one has ever done that to me, like that. So finally, he liked what I did. And he goes, ‘You can’t go out to an artist until I approve it.’ But you know, me being me, I sent it to Faith Hill before he approved it. And she loved it. When he finally approved it, I was like, ‘You know, I got Faith Hill.’ He wanted to be mad at me, but he couldn’t.” 

"Til It Happens to You" From 'The Hunting Ground' (2015)

“I’d met [Lady Gaga], and we’d talked about doing something, and I go, ‘I want to play you something.’ I played her the song, and it was kind of silent. And then she was crying. She goes, ‘I have to do this.’ So she made this amazing, amazing record. That song gave voice to something that no one was really talking about. When Gaga did it on the Oscars… To me, that was one of the best, maybe the best thing, I’ve ever seen in a performance. With those survivors there, and her hitting notes that — I fucking don’t know how she hit those notes full voice. But all I remember is the audience. I’m turning around, and I’m looking at all these really big people, sobbing about this thing, crying. I’d never experienced that. 

I have to say, I was pretty 100% sure that I’d won that night. And then the winner was … not me. I don’t know if it really happened, but I felt like I heard this [gasps] in the audience, but I don’t know if that was in my own head.” 

"Stand Up for Something" From 'Marshall' (2017)

“I sat down and listened to ‘A Change is Gonna Come,’ by Sam Cooke, a bunch of times. I wanted to write a modern protest anthem, I wanted to make it kind of ’60s. But I want it to be modern, and I want to put a rapper on it to throw these different eras together. So I wrote the song, and I was so excited about it — it’s one of my favorite songs. And I was thinking Common, it’s got to be Common, because he always has something to say, and the song needs to have something to say, it has to be profound. And I was on the way to Sundance [on the flight], and who was sitting right behind me but Common.

It was literally a week after I thought about him doing the song. I kind of manifested it. And so I started singing it to him. I’m not really a singer. But I just start and he goes, “Oh my god, I love that. Send me the demo when we land.” And I did, and I had, like, 10 missed calls from him, he was so excited when he heard it. I called him and he goes, “I’m so in.” I think it’ll be a classic, you know?”

"I'll Fight" From 'RBG' (2018)

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg was what, 4 feet tall? But her voice is this large voice that changes the world. I wanted a diva for her avatar. Jennifer Hudson was the perfect artist. I have a note from Ginsburg at my office. I have an Emmy, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. I don’t have an Oscar, but I have a Ruthie.”

"I'm Standing With You" From 'Breakthrough' (2019)

“Chrissy Metz stars in the movie. [The producers said,] you have to have her sing. I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t want her, I want a big artist. I want to hear Kelly Clarkson. I hear somebody else.’ And they go, ‘Well, just have her come to the studio and try it out.’ I think she kind of knew that I was a doubter. She came in, and I was like, ‘Shit, you really can sing.’ I was really blown away by that. She just did such a beautiful job.”

"Somehow You Do" From 'Four Good Days' (2020)

“This year — I love the song, but I didn’t know if it was gonna get nominated. There’s a lot of competition. But every time I would talk to somebody, they would say that the song really touched them, that they were really moved by it. And I remember someone was interviewing me before the nominations, and he was saying, ‘The song got me through a really hard time.’ The song was written for Four Good Days. I wanted to write a song about hope. Because, you know, these situations don’t usually end up well, with addiction, sadly. And in this one story it does.

I wanted to write a song about that: When you don’t think that you’re going to get through it, that somehow you do. I wrote it right at the beginning of the pandemic. So these other layers started coming on top of the song as I’m writing. I’m going, ‘God, this is like, what’s happening in the world right now.’ Everybody was bummed, no one knew what was going on and a lot of people are still going through hard times. But particularly at that time, I remember when I came up with that chorus, I was in tears. I thought Reba would be perfect. When I cast an artist for a song in a movie, to me, it’s casting another character. They have to fit, you can’t just throw in an artist that doesn’t make sense for that movie, it just won’t work. Reba embodies resilience and strength. She’s a survivor just like these characters, Glenn Close and Mila Kunis, they both are survivors.

Reba did this amazing record, her performance just goes to your soul. You look at some of the comments on her YouTube, on the video — it’s getting through to a lot of people. That song is giving a lot of people strength, and it’s not just addiction, it’s depression. It’s all kinds of stuff. It’s pretty amazing, the power of music, what it can do.”

This story first appeared in a March stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.