The Oscars’ most famous perpetual bridesmaid is Diane Warren. She’s an absolute songwriting legend who has been nominated in the Best Original Song category for a record 17 times, but has never won. For this year’s awards ceremony, she was nominated for her song, “Dear Me,” which came from the documentary about her life, Diane Warren: Relentless. This year, even Warren knew she didn’t stand a chance against KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden.” For her part, Diane now takes her running tally of losses in stride. Last year, after she broke her own record of 16 straight losses, she told Variety that not only was she consistent AF with the music she was creating, but she was also never going to give up. She called herself “the terminator of the Oscars” and said “I’ll be back.” This year she said that she’s happy to be the biggest loser at the Academy Awards ever.
I saw a lot of headlines that I am now the biggest loser ever in the history of the Academy Awards. But hey, you know what, I’ll take it. That means I’ve been nominated all these times. If I had the choice of winning an Oscar and not being nominated all these times, I’m taking the mantle of the biggest loser ever. I’d rather have that then the competitive Oscar.
[From Interview posted to Instagram]
I love this attitude. It’s that same “just keep dancing” mantra that Jennifer Lopez has talked about having to adapt. Warren’s career is pretty prolific, so it really is kinda crazy that she’s never won an Oscar before. Her biggest win to date was a Grammy way back in 1997 for Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me.” That song lost the Oscar to “You Must Love Me” from the Evita soundtrack. (I think both songs are wonderful for different reasons.) Some of her other notable losses include “How Do I Live” losing to “My Heart Will Go On” in 1997 and “Music of My Heart” losing to “You’ll Be in My Heart” in 1999. Personally, I think that she should have won in 1998 with “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” which lost out to the Mariah/Whitney duet from The Prince of Egypt, “When You Believe.”
Anyway, Diane may consider herself to be a Terminator, but she’s also been referred to as the Susan Lucci of the Academy Awards. I say why not embrace both labels? Lucci finally won on her 19th try. Diane’s got to win one day, and until she does, she’ll be back.
this is taking me out 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/49a0K0esuB
— liam al gaib⁸¹ (@duneparttwo) March 17, 2026
photos credit: Avalon.red
That sucks that she didn’t get to preform. They should of let all the nominees have their moment
17 nominations is a big achievement. That’s a very long and strong career.