Why 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' Isn't Nominated for an Oscar

It's time to talk about Bruno!

The beloved Encanto singalong "We Don't Talk About Bruno" has taken the world by storm, popping up everywhere from TikTok trends to the top of the Billboard charts. It will even be performed at Sunday's Academy Awards, as cast members from the Disney animated film --  Adassa, Stephanie Beatriz, Mauro Castillo, Carolina Gaitan and Diane Guerrero -- will take the stage to perform the tune live for the first time ever, alongside Latin music stars Becky G and Luis Fonsi.

However, "Bruno" won't be a winner on Oscars night. In fact, it isn't even nominated! Prior to the song taking off in such a major way -- which coincided with the film's streaming release on Disney+ -- Encanto producers made the decision to submit Sebastián Yatra's bilingual ballad, "Dos Oruguitas," as their entry for Best Original Song instead.

"I’m still proud of ‘Dos Oruguitas’ as the submission," Lin-Manuel Miranda told Variety of the selection. "When those are the parameters, you have to pick the thing that best exemplifies the spirit of the movie, and it contains all of it inside this song – as opposed to a journey of a particular character. It’s the foundational story, but I’m not going to say it wasn’t hard [to choose]."

Miranda wrote all of Encanto's original songs, and is poised to win his first Academy Award if "Dos Oruguitas" pulls off the win on Oscars night. Not only would that be a major win in itself, it would also mint Miranda as the newest EGOT winner -- having previously been awarded a GRAMMY, an Emmy and a Tony Award for his work on Hamilton.

As for other members of the Encanto family, Gaitan told ET earlier this year that she felt "so humbled and so honored and so excited" at the awards acclaim for the family film. "It's surreal, but it's magical as Disney. So being part of this magic is really, really, really huge for me."

While she was expecting Encanto to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, the actress and singer said watching it score the two other nominations -- for Best Original Song and Best Original Score -- was "amazing."

She also said she could understand why "Dos Oruguitas" was chosen to represent the film, saying, it's "definitely the part where the drama" occurs and represents the Madrigal family's Colombian heritage. "And it's very important to tell about the displacement and tell about the loss, and this is the part where we do it. So it's a very important part of the movie. And I definitely love the song as well. And Sebastián Yatra, we all as Colombians love him. So I'm happy for them."

ET also previously spoke with Yatra about "Dos Oruguitas" receiving critical acclaim, after it was also nominated for a Golden Globe.

"It's just magical like Disney, es un encanto estar ahí," Yatra expressed. "'Dos Oruguitas' has literally just been a gift in my life [that] God has sent me and the universe, and I'm grateful. There's so many amazing people they could have chose to perform this song, and the fact that they called me, it's just part of my dharma, of my destiny."

The 2022 Oscars air live on Sunday, March 27 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC. In the meantime, stay tuned to ETonline.com for complete Oscars coverage.

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