It Never Went Away is a song written by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson for the documentary American Symphony. The film song won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 96th Academy Awards.
Background While the film American Symphony documents the marriage between Batiste and Suleika Jaouad as Jaoaud battles leukemia, the song is intended to celebrate a serene, enduring love beyond the limitations of the physical world. The piano ballad is inspired by lullabies that Batiste wrote and played for his wife to help her survive.
Release The song is played at the end of the film after Jon Batiste's titular symphony is played by an orchestra at Carnegie Hall . It Never Went Away not only brings the music down from a whole orchestra to a piano, but is also intended to summarize the documented events.
In November 2023, Jon Batiste released the single It Never Went Away.
Accolades + Awards and nominations for "It Never Went Away" Award Year Category Result Academy Awards 2024 Best Original Song Black Reel Awards 2024 Outstanding Original Song Grammy Awards 2025 Best Song Written for Visual Media Guild of Music Supervisors Awards 2024 Best Song Written and/or Recording Created for a Film North Dakota Film Society Awards 2024 Best Original Song Satellite Awards 2024 Best Original Song Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards 2024 Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production World Soundtrack Awards 2024 Best Original Song
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