3 Underdogs Worth Rooting for in the Oscar Race for Best Original Song

Oscar's "Best Original Song" category is unusually thrilling; you might not remember the nominated tunes (or even the movies), but you cheer when Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" defeats three Dreamgirls contributions, and you groan when Phil Collins's monkey love medley from Tarzan beats Aimee Mann's "Save Me" from Magnolia. This time, Movieline is offering to help the academy by drawing attention to three underdogs who deserve more recognition than, say, anything from the Burlesque or Country Strong soundtracks.

Eddie Vedder, "Better Days"

I hope the lily-white whimsy of Eat Pray Love doesn't scare voters away from this, Eddie Vedder's triumphant jam about self-discovery. Not that Vedder has ever been the award-dais type, but "Better Days" bears all the world-music chutzpah of an Oscar shoo-in like Carly Simon's "Let the River Run."

Alanis Morissette, "I Remain"

Though she won a bouquet of Grammys for her first disc Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette's idiosyncratic phrasing and artful syllable-squishing have since gone under-praised. With this selection from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, she adds tones of emotional confusion and introspection to an otherwise garish, senseless movie. A nomination here would compensate Morissette for her Oscar-snubbed contribution to the Dogma soundtrack, "Still."

Owl City, "To the Sky"

Owl City's de rigueur twee-ness can be cloying, but "To the Sky," their contribution to Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (of course) soundtrack, percolates with poppy flounce. It achieves the same feel-good spunk of an Oscar nominee like the Counting Crows' "Accidentally in Love," but without odious clap-happiness.