Audition (The Fools Who Dream)

Sung by American actress Emma Stone in her role as Mia, the emotional ballad forms the film's climax.

"Audition" sees Mia describing what it means to be someone who seeks a career in the arts; it has overall themes about dreamers and the importance of actors.

At the 89th Academy Awards, singer and pianist John Legend performed "Audition" and "City of Stars" in a medley accompanied by several dancers.

[1][2] His idea was "to take the old musical but ground it in real life where things don't always exactly work out",[3] and to salute creative people who move to Los Angeles to chase their dreams.

[4] Chazelle was unable to produce the film for years as no studio was willing to finance an original contemporary musical with no familiar songs.

"Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" was the final song Hurwitz wrote since he and Chazelle "wanted to understand what the rest of the music was in the movie before we tackled this".

[10][12] According to Hurwitz, this was "because it had been percolating for so long"; as a result, he related to the story and Mia's character much more, as well as "the idea of being frustrated and not being able to do what you can do, ... because of so many years of not being able to get this movie made".

[12] According to Hurwitz, Emma Stone, who portrays Mia, sounded "better in one key for the fragile opening, and another for the emotive climax", so the music team had to explore some challenging modulations.

[14] In the film, "Audition" transitions from speech to song; Hurwitz initially wrote the spoken lines with pitches.

Multiple rehearsals were held so she could learn the song's technical points, notes, and form; the plan was for her to memorise "Audition" so well that she focus on her character's emotions when filming.

[16] Stone performed "Audition" live on set and was not lip-syncing,[11] as the crew did not "want any sort of pre-record that was done a week earlier when she was feeling a different thing or hearing the song a different way ... [or for] her to be boxed in with tempos or pacing or phrasing or anything".

Because of this, he was reacting to her, and as a result, the piano was somewhat behind the singing; Hurwitz stated that this contributed to the song's melodic, authentic, and honest feeling.

The music team spent a long time attempting to make it completely orchestral and eliminate the piano entirely; it took a while to calibrate the orchestra in such a way that it could enter gently and grow in a expansive way without overwhelming Stone's vocals.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it a "plaintive showstopper",[28] while USA Today described it as "a show-stopping ode to 'painters and poets and plays.

'"[29] New York Daily News said the song becomes a nostalgic memory;[30] The Playlist and GamesRadar deemed it "unbelievably gorgeous" and "soul-baring" respectively.

[23][31] The Salt Lake Tribune considered the song "a heartbreaking number that starts as a spoken monologue and crescendos to a full-throated toast".

[33] David Sims of The Atlantic described the ballad as "resolute and soaring" and found that its message "feels right out of" classical Hollywood cinema.

[34] Den of Geek found her dazzling,[35] while Film School Rejects said that the scene might be key to an Academy Award win.

[40] Jackson McHenry of Vulture, who was critical of Stone's singing, described the music as her "saving grace", stating "Audition" features "the world's most accommodating key change, the equivalent of going half a speed faster on a treadmill".

[41] Tampa Bay Times commended the direction of the musical sequence—including the blue lighting and the single spotlight on the Mia—stating it helped the audience immerse themselves.

[48] Commentators predicted that it would not win, and expected "City of Stars" or Moana's "How Far I'll Go" to prevail,[45][49][50][51] though Vox stated "Audition" deserved the award.

[57] At the 89th Academy Awards, American singer and pianist John Legend sang both "City of Stars" and "Audition", in which he weaved between each song in a single performance.