Sawt Falasteen - Will Oscars be 17th time lucky for songwriter Diane Warren?

The American songwriter has been nominated 17 times for best original song starting in 1987, including each of the last nine years.

Though some of those nods were for massive hit songs such as Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from "Armageddon" and Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" from "Up Close and Personal," Warren has never won the golden statuette.

But on March 15, luck may finally be on her side.

"This year's extra special, because this... is a song I wrote about me, which, you know, makes it very different," the 68-year-old told AFP.

Warren says her entry for the 98th Academy Awards is a letter of love and empowerment to her bullied younger self.

Performed by Kesha, "Dear Me" is part of the soundtrack to "Diane Warren: Relentless," a documentary about her life and career.

Warren is one of the most influential songwriters in American music, whose lyrics have been sung by everyone from Beyonce, Cher and Whitney Houston to Michael Bolton and Eric Clapton.

"This is my most personal song I've ever done for a movie," Warren said.

It's also a piece that has resonated with audiences who identify with the star's troubled childhood.

"When I was a kid, I was bullied a lot," she said.

"I didn't have an easy time growing up and just felt alone and the world was against me.

"Music pretty much saved me."

- 'Love letter' to herself -

That salvation -- and looking back on her successful life now -- inspired her to create something that could let her younger self know things would work out.

"I wanted to write a love letter to her, that you're going to be okay," she said.

"I wanted to write... 'You don't know it now, when you're sitting in your room crying. You know you're scared to go to school because kids want to beat you up, but you know, you're going to be okay'.

"'And you're going to go back to your (high school) reunion, they're going to look really old, you're going to still look good, too, on top of it'," she added with a laugh.

Warren -- who holds the record for the most ever nominations without a win -- was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2022 with an honorary award.

But, she says, just being part of the conversation is the real honor.

"We're chosen by the best of the best in film music on the planet -- composers, songwriters, music editors," she said of the nomination process.

"So if they choose you out of hundreds of songs or scores, you've won."

Warren will compete with "Golden," the catchy anthem from "KPop Demon Hunters," "Train Dreams," from the movie of the same name, "I Lied to You," from "Sinners," and "Sweet Dreams of Joy," composed by Nicholas Pike for the documentary "Viva Verdi!", which looks at a retirement home for opera singers in Italy.

Pike, who unlike Warren had never previously been nominated for an Academy Award, agreed with the composer.

"It's really nice, really nice to be amongst all these people," he said of his fellow nominees.

"Everyone is a winner."

H.Jarrar--SF-PST