The Guild of Music Supervisors unveiled the nominees for its 11th annual awards celebrating outstanding achievement in the craft of music supervision in film, television, games, advertising, and trailers. Maureen Crowe, the founding president of the Guild of Music Supervisors, will receive the organization’s prestigious Legacy Award, honoring those music supervisors who have excelled within the craft of music supervision.
As announced earlier, this year’s Icon Award honoree will be the legendary Quincy Jones. Jones and Crowe will receive their honors at the 11th Annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards taking place virtually on Sunday, April 11th.
This year’s motion picture nominees include Soul, Bill & Ted Face The Music, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, I’m Your Woman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Palm Springs, and Promising Young Woman, while television categories include acclaimed series like Better Call Saul, Watchmen, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. Best Music Supervision for Documentary nominations include Crip Camp, Mr. Soul!, Belushi, and The Last Dance. In the video game category, Cyberpunk 2077, FIFA 21, and Wasteland 3 were highlighted as nominees. Apple, New York Times, Facebook and more were among the nominees in the advertising category.
Songwriters, artists and music supervisors together will be recognized for the Best Song Written And/Or Recorded For Film category. This year’s nominees include “Turntables” from All In: The Fight for Democracy performed by Janelle Monáe, “Love Myself” from The High Note performed by Tracee Ellis Ross, “Mark It Work” from Jingle Jangle performed by Forest Whitaker and Anika Noni Rose, “Carried Me with You” from Onward performed by Brandi Carlile, and “Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7 performed by Celeste. The Best Song Written and/or Recorded for Television category include “Build It Up” from Little Fires Everywhere performed by Ingrid Michaelson, “Memorized” from This Is Us performed by Blake Stadnik, “One Less Angel” from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel performed by Darius de Haas, “The Way It Used To Be” from Watchmen performed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and “The Whole of the Moon” from The Affair performed by Fiona Apple.
Quincy Jones
The laurels, awards and accolades have been innumerable: Jones has won an Emmy Award for his score of the of the opening episode of the landmark TV miniseries, Roots, seven Oscar nominations, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, 28 Grammy Awards, and N.A.R.A.S.’ prestigious Trustees’ Award and The Grammy Living Legend Award. He is the all-time most nominated Grammy artist with a total of 80 Grammy nominations. In 2016, Jones received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for the Broadway production of The Color Purple. The award completed the rare EGOT set for Jones, an exclusive club of artists who have received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award.
Maureen Crowe
Recruited by The Recording Academy, Crowe was elected as the first female president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Recording Academy and National Trustee where she advocated for music supervisor voting rights and award status. She also brought together leading music supervisors to form the Guild of Music Supervisors and created the Guild of Music Supervisor Awards while advocating and securing membership in the music branch of The Television Academy, which led to the creation of an Emmy Award for music supervision in addition to increasing the representation of women winning Emmys.
As a music supervisor, Crowe is known for her exceptional musical design, casting, original song creation, on camera performance and marketing acumen and has been called upon to come in and “redesign” the musical style of a film. Crowe has spearheaded some of the most groundbreaking achievements in the field, most notably the creation of the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. With 45 million copies sold worldwide, The Bodyguard soundtrack includes the chart-topping single “I Will Always Love You” which Crowe pitched to producer and star Kevin Costner. During her speech accepting the Grammy Award for The Album of the Year, Whitney Houston thanked Crowe for “her ears.”
Soon after, she began music supervision for films such as the Broadway bound Newsies with Kenny Ortega, the rock classic Wayne’s World, cult classic True Romance, and onward to the multiplatinum Grammy and Oscar-winning musical film Chicago and favorite The Young Victoria. Crowe is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Television Academy, The Recording Academy, and The Guild of Music Supervisors.
Nominations rundown
Here’s a full category-by-category rundown of nominations:
2021 AWARDS NOMINEES
FILM
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Over $25 Million
Jonathan Leahy – Bill & Ted Face The Music
Becky Bentham – Eurovision
Julia Michels – Jingle Jangle
Tom MacDougall – Soul
Angela Leus (uncredited) – Trolls World Tour
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $25 Million
Season Kent – Happiest Season
Linda Cohen – The High Note
Dan Wilcox – I’m Your Woman
Kevin Edelman – I Still Believe
Dawn Sutter Madell – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $10 Million
Tracy McKnight – The Half Of It
Liz Gallacher – Military Wives
Robin Urdang – Palm Springs
Susan Jacobs – Promising Young Woman
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $5 Million
Jessica Moore – Babyteeth
Greg Danylyshyn – Burden
Dondrea Erauw, Michael Perlmutter – The Cuban
Joe Rodríguez & Javier Nuño – I’m No Longer Here (Ya No Estoy Aquí)
Adèle Ho, Graham Kurzner – Yellow Rose
Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film
“Turntables” from All In: The Fight for Democracy
Writer: George “George 2.0” A. Peters II, Janelle “Django Jane” Monáe, Nathaniel Irvin III Performed By: Janelle Monáe Music Supervisor: Andrew Gross
“Love Myself” from The High Note
Writer: Greg Kurstin, Sarah Aarons
Performed By: Tracee Ellis Ross
Music Supervisor: Linda Cohen
“Make It Work” from Jingle Jangle
Writer: John Stephens
Performed By: Forest Whitaker, Anika Noni Rose
Music Supervisor: Julia Michels
“Carried Me with You” from Onward
Writer: Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth
Performed By: Brandi Carlile
Music Supervisor: Tom MacDougall
“Hear My Voice” from The Trial of Chicago 7
Writer: Celeste Waite, Daniel Pemberton
Performed By: Celeste
Music Supervisor: Peter Afterman, Alison Litton
TELEVISION
Best Music Supervision – Television Drama
Ashley Neumeister – American Soul – Season 2
Thomas Golubić – Better Call Saul – Season 5
Amanda Krieg Thomas, Alexis Martin Woodall, Ryan Murphy – Hollywood – Season 1
Sarah Bromberg, Stephanie Diaz-Matos – P-Valley – Season 1
Liza Richardson – Watchmen – Season 1
Best Music Supervision – Television Comedy or Musical
Andrea von Foerster – Daybreak – Season 1
Manish Raval, Alison Rosenfeld, Tom Wolfe – High Fidelity – Season 1
Kier Lehman – Insecure – Season 4
Robin Urdang – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – Season 3
Matt Biffa – Sex Education – Season 2
Best Music Supervision – Reality Television
Robin Kaye, Ashley Viergever – American Idol – Season 4
Cathy Duncan – America’s Most Musical Family – Season 1
Matthew Hearon-Smith – Legendary – Season 1
Meryl Ginsberg – The Masked Singer – Season 3
Best Music Supervision – Television Movie
Mandi Collier, Frankie Pine – Patsy & Loretta
Liz Gallacher – The Sleepover
Marius de Vries – Stargirl
Warren Fischer, Laura Webb, Lindsay Wolfington – To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
Best Song Written and/or Recorded for Television
Title: “Build It Up”
Songwriter: Ingrid Michaelson
Artist: Ingrid Michaelson
Program: Little Fires Everywhere
Episode: #108 “Find a Way”
Music Supervisor: Mary Ramos
Title: “Memorized”
Songwriters: Taylor Goldsmith, Siddhartha Khosla
Artist: Blake Stadnik
Program: This Is Us
Episode: #401 “Strangers”
Music Supervisors: Manish Raval, Tom Wolfe
Title: “One Less Angel”
Songwriters: Thomas Mizer, Curtis Moore
Artist: Darius de Haas
Program: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Episode: #301 “Strike Up the Band”
Music Supervisor: Robin Urdang
Title: “The Way It Used to Be”
Songwriters: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Artists: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Program: Watchmen
Episode: #106 “This Extraordinary Being”
Music Supervisor: Liza Richardson
Title: “The Whole of the Moon”
Songwriter: Michael Scott
Artist: Fiona Apple
Program: The Affair
Episode: #511
Music Supervisor: Michael Hill
DOCUMENTARIES
Best Music Supervision for a Documentary
Liz Gallacher – Belushi
Aminé Ramer – Crip Camp
Ian Neil – Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan
Chris Robertson – Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President
Ed Gerrard – Mr. Soul!
Best Music Supervision in a Docuseries
Jon Ernst – Cheer (Note: Everyone on the committee is aware of current legal allegations going on against some of the cast members of the show. However, we decided to push this docuseries through, because the Doc Committees’ job was to analyze the music supervision done in this docuseries.)
Willa Yudell – Helter Skelter: An American Myth
Rudy Chung – The Last Dance
Dan Wilcox – Street Food: Latin America
TRAILERS
Best Music Supervision in a Trailer
Mike Lynn – Judas And The Black Messiah
Brian Murphy – Jungleland
Gregory Sweeney – Land
Chase Casanova – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Mike Lynn – Pieces of A Woman
ADVERTISING
Best Music Supervision in Advertising (Synch)
David Lapinsky – Procter & Gamble “The Choice”
Andy Hamm – Apple “A Journey Into The Valley Of Fire – Shot on iPhone”
Mike Ladman – New York Times “Life Needs Truth”
Mike Ladman – Facebook “Never Lost”
Andrew Kahn, Morgan Thoryk – Zillow “The Real Value of Home”
Best Music Supervision in Advertising (Original Music)
Rebecca Grierson – JaxJox “The All-In-One Interactive Studio”
Andrew Kahn, Morgan Thoryk – Xfinity Mobile “Go Your Own Way”
Jessie Kalikow – Apple – “The Magic Of Mini feat. Tierra Whack”
Jonathan Wellbelove – Apple iPhone 12 Pro – “Make Movies Like The Movies”
Mike Ladman – Hennessy “Maurice And The Black Bear School”
VIDEO GAMES
Best Music Supervision in a Video Game
Karyn Rachtman – BEYOND BLUE
Eric Craig – Cyberpunk 2077
Cybele Pettus – FIFA 21
Eric Kalver – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
Mary Ramos – Wasteland 3