This year’s Emmy nominees embrace a lot of genres and stories: from high-society culture wars to post-apocalyptic Westerns, Feudal Japan epics, murder podcasts and elementary school hijinks, just to name a few. But no category is a more mind-boggling exercise in Hollywood Mad Libs than the original music and lyrics lineup.
The five nominees all hail from different networks and streamers and span genres that would likely never share a concert lineup.
Here’s a breakdown of this year’s wildest category:
“The Medium Time”
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In “Girls5eva,” scored by comedically genius songs by creator Meredith Scardino and music supervisor Jeff Richmond, it is surprising the only entry to catch the Television Academy’s attention this year is star Sara Bareilles’ notably tender and reflective piece on accepting fame in its other forms. As the girl group performs to a crowd of no one but family at Radio City Music Hall, Bareilles’ song captures perhaps the thesis of the series: “Grow, trust time will know / That the middle is the riddle of it all / And the medium time is just fine for now.”
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“Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?”
When “Only Murders in the Building” staged its third season on the Broadway stage, it made sense to call in a few Tony winners to help punch up the authenticity. In this case, it was “Dear Evan Hansen” scribes Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who joined Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman in writing this tongue-twister of a song that gives Steve Martin one hell of a musical showcase. With lyrics like “In this picaresque puzzle of the Pickwick pack” and “I will name the neonatal from the cradle that proved fatal,” you need a pro like Martin to sell it, and boy does he.
“Maya Rudolph Mother’s Day Monologue“
The Mother of the House of Rockefeller herself, Maya Rudolph, delivered this send-up of the internet’s colloquial habit of calling badass women “mother.” Rudolph is the perfect embodiment of the title, having become a household name inside “Saturday Night Live’s” walls. In the opening monologue bit, she and four other scribes craft a master class in cultural references from “SNLs” of yesteryear, unapologetic theatricality and tons of one liners like “Bow down, children, I’m your mother / It’s giving queen, it’s giving drama.” No truer words have been spoken –– or rapped.
“Love Will Survive“
The most solemn entry gets a boost from an unexpected superstar — Barbra Streisand. The theme from Peacock’s tragically romantic “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” hails from composers Hans Zimmer, Kara Talve and Walter Afanasieff, with lyrics by Charlie Midnight. It is an aspirational melody about love’s ability to weather the darkest storms of hate and persecution, pulling at the heartstrings more than any other nominee. Hearing Streisand just makes it cut deeper.
“No Use“
The triumphant return of “True Detective” had its many pleasures. But one of “Night Country” greatest strengths was John Hawkes’ Emmy-nominated performance, which also gave audiences this deeply defeatist ditty that foreshadowed tragic events. It is not a song viewers will likely cue up at the gym, but Hawkes’ own lyrics become an indelible incision into the psyche of one man’s flawed life, especially with lines like, “You are forever bound to lose, so what’s the use?”
