Sufjan Stevens lost out on the Best Original Song prize at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony. While Miguel ultimately took home the prize with “Remember Me”, his contribution to Pixar’s Coco, Stevens nevertheless performed “Mystery of Love”, written for Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, earlier in the evening.
Wearing a pink striped suit with dragons printed on the sleeves and a very large bowtie, Stevens strummed an acoustic guitar while backed by an all-star band that included St. Vincent and Moses Sumney. The delicate live version of the song clocked in at a pared back 90 seconds.
Stevens’ contributions to Call Me By Your Name included another original song, “Visions of Gideon”, as well as a reworked version of 2010 track “Futile Devices”. Other nominations for Best Original Song included Mary J. Blige’s “Mighty River”, written for Mudbound (a film she also starred in), and Andra Day and Common’s “Stand Up for Something”, written for Marshall.
Watch the performance below.