Audio By Carbonatix
Fresh off his triumphant North Texas homecoming, this morning the earnest Leon Bridges released a new original song, “So Long,” for the Will Smith-starring film Concussion, which opens December 25. Bridges teased the track on Instagram last month with a 15-second clip and, as Variety reported at the time, the song will play over the closing credits of the film.
A song featured in a possible Oscar contender seems to be one of the last boxes left on the checklist for Bridges. In the course of his immensely successful rise to national fame this past year he released a critically acclaimed debut album, Coming Home, did ad campaigns for Apple and Beats, performed with both surviving members of the Beatles and sold-out concert venus across the country. It’s no surprise then that Bridges’ rise caught the attention of Concussion director Peter Landesman, who praised him when discussing “So Long” with Variety.
“I’m so glad to have Leon’s music in the movie,” Landesman said. “His songs are a shot straight from the heart, full of feeling and emotion, power and heartbreak. And it’s a perfect match for the movie, because I could describe Dr. Bennet Omalu the same way — in the movie, he’s a spiritual person, standing up on his own against a world of powerful forces, using only his smarts, his courage and the knowledge that he’s right.”
The film, which tells the story of Dr. Bennett Omalu’s discovery of the link between head trauma and concussions suffered by football players, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, will be released during Oscar season, which potentially puts Bridges’ song in contention for the Best Original Song nomination. And with the wave Bridges has been riding lately, it’s certainly plausible that the beautiful, fluid and emotive song could earn it. Listen below:
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