Diane Warren Oscar Bid Pairs With Isley Brothers David Kushner Song

Diane Warren is back in the Oscar conversation, and this time she brought some serious company. Warren wrote "By Any Means," the title song for the upcoming Paramount crime film of the same name, and it was recorded by singer-songwriter David Kushner alongside R&B legends the Isley Brothers. The track is out now, and if it lands a nomination, it will mark Warren's ninth consecutive Oscar nod, extending a record she already owns outright.

The film drops next month. Mark Wahlberg stars as a mafia hitman who teams with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's FBI agent character to investigate the murders of Civil Rights leaders in 1966 Mississippi. Giancarlo Esposito rounds out the cast. The combination of subject matter and that Isley Brothers legacy gives this soundtrack placement genuine weight, not just a prestige-adjacent checkbox.

What Are the Chances Warren Finally Wins?

Honest answer: slim. Warren has 17 nominations and zero competitive wins, a record that is both impressive and, depending on your view, one of Hollywood's great ongoing tragedies. She received an honorary Oscar in 2022, becoming the only songwriter ever to be given one, but she has made it clear that the competitive award is still the goal.

The field this cycle is not going to make it easy. Taylor Swift's contribution to Toy Story 5, a song called "I Knew It, I Knew You," is already charting and carrying significant cultural momentum into awards season. Warren has beaten long odds before, but Swift is a different level of opponent than most years bring.

Still, the Isley Brothers carry decades of credibility that few collaborators can match, and David Kushner has built a real audience after "Daylight" became a genuine streaming phenomenon. This is not a throwaway placement. The song is a legitimate contender to at least get through the nomination round, which Warren has proven she can navigate better than almost anyone.

Why David Kushner and the Isley Brothers Together

The pairing makes sense when you think about the film's setting and stakes. A story set in 1966 Mississippi during the Civil Rights era needs a sonic signature that carries history without feeling like a museum piece. The Isley Brothers were active and culturally central during that exact period, and their presence on a song written for this story is not decorative. It connects the music to the moment the film is trying to honor.

Kushner brings a younger audience and a compositional sensibility that Warren's best Oscar-bait songs tend to share: built for an end-credits swell, emotionally direct, and structured to hit in a single listen. Warren knows how to write for that format better than almost anyone working, and pairing that craft with artists who carry real cultural authority is the smart play.

For independent songwriters and producers watching how sync and awards strategy works, this collaboration is a case study worth following. Warren is not a staff writer. She is an independent creative who has built an unmatched Oscar record by picking her spots, writing to the material, and placing her work with the right voices. The fact that she is still operating at this level, still assembling lineups like this, is worth paying attention to.

If you are a songwriter trying to understand how the upper end of sync and awards placement actually functions, this is the kind of move to study. And if you have music that deserves a wider audience, [submit it here](/submit) so we can help connect it to the people who need to hear it.

What to Watch as Awards Season Approaches

The Oscar eligibility window is still open, and the nominations will not come until early next year. Between now and then, watch how "By Any Means" performs on streaming and whether the film generates the kind of awards-season press that lifts songs into consideration. Paramount has the infrastructure to campaign properly, and Warren's name alone draws Academy attention.

The deeper story here is what Warren's sustained run means for the songwriter's role in film. She has turned the Oscar nomination itself into a form of cultural recognition, separate from the win. Whether "By Any Means" becomes nomination number 18 or stalls out, the fact that she keeps finding collaborators of this caliber and material worth writing for says something real about longevity in this industry.

We will be watching when the shortlists drop. Come back then.