{"id":648773,"date":"2026-08-21T09:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T09:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/648773\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T09:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T09:12:16","slug":"diane-warren-writes-title-song-for-mark-wahlberg-film-by-any-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/648773\/","title":{"rendered":"Diane Warren Writes Title Song for Mark Wahlberg Film \u2018By Any Means\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEarlier this year, Diane Warren<\/a> became the first songwriter in Oscar history to be nominated for best original song nine years in a row. Can she possibly extend that streak to 10 consecutive nominations?<\/p>\n

\n\tWe won\u2019t know for sure until the nominations are announced on Jan. 21, but as of today (Aug. 21), you can hear the song that she hopes will make it happen: \u201cBy Any Means,\u201d\u00a0which she wrote for a feature film\u00a0of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg<\/a>. The soulful, midtempo ballad is performed by David Kushner<\/a>, whose \u201cDaylight\u201d reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100<\/a> in 2023, in tandem with the legendary The Isley Brothers<\/a>, who have had 40 Hot 100 hits, including three that made the top 10: \u201cIt\u2019s Your Thing,\u201d \u201cThat Lady (Part 1)\u201d and \u201cFight the Power Part 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s a link<\/a> to the soundtrack version of the song, which is available on all streaming platforms. The music video will be released on Aug. 28.\u00a0Here\u2019s a link<\/a> to the slightly longer film version.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarren has amassed 17 Oscar nominations for best original song, more than any other woman. One more nod and she will tie the legendary Johnny Mercer<\/a> for second place on the all-time leaderboard. Another all-time great, Sammy Cahn, has long led the list with 26 nods.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarren has yet to win a competitive Oscar, but in 2022 she received an honorary award which was inscribed: \u201cTo Diane Warren, for her genius, generosity and passionate commitment to the power of song in film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBy Any Means\u00a0is directed by Elegance Bratton with a script written by Sascha Penn.\u00a0Inspired by a true story and set in the 1960s, a young Black FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is sent to Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders.\u00a0 He is forced to work alongside notorious hitman Greg Scarpa (Wahlberg).<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo of Warren\u2019s recent Oscar nominations are for songs from period films that dealt with the civil rights struggle.\u00a0She and co-writer Common<\/a> were nominated in 2018 for \u201cStand Up for Something\u201d from the film Marshall, which starred the late Chadwick Boseman<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0Thurgood Marshall, the first Black\u00a0Supreme Court Justice. She was nominated in 2025 for \u201cThe Journey\u201d from The Six Triple Eight, which told the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black, all-female battalion in World War II.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, Warren explained her inspiration in writing the song, \u201cI wanted to write a song that captured the spirit of the film which is about those who go beyond the rules to do what is necessary. My idea was to take an iconic artist who came from that era and pair them with an artist from this current era. Having the legendary Isley Brothers come on board was a dream come true.\u00a0They are as amazing today as they were when they were performing during the time of these events, they are so authentic to this story. David Kushner is a great young singer who sounds like he could have come from that era too.\u00a0 He is a young guy with an old-soul voice. The combination of him and the Isleys is pure magic, and together they have created a song that could live in many eras to come. I\u2019m proud to be a part of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRonald Isley<\/a> explained his connection to the story. \u201cHaving lived through the Civil Rights era, this story is personal. We saw firsthand the courage, sacrifice and struggle it took for change to come. Music has always had the power to speak to what people are going through, and Diane Warren has written a song that carries that kind of meaning. It was an honor for Ernie and me to be a part of it and to lend our voices to a film that remembers this history while reminding a new generation why it still matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tErnie Isley further explained, \u201cI believe the film and the song will have a major impact. Ronald and I are happy to be involved with this project.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKushner, 25, added: \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be a part of the music that soundtracks a powerful film like By Any Means. I\u2019m a huge fan of Mark Wahlberg and being part of this song alongside Diane Warren, a songwriter I\u2019ve looked up to since I fell in love with music and began writing songs, as well as musical legends like The Isley Brothers, is beyond surreal and has been an incredible experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBy Any Means, The Album\u00a0soundtrack is being released by AB Records\/The Orchard\u00a0on Sept. 18\u00a0and features two versions of the original song. The single version is produced by Jacob Olofsson, with Ron Isley\u2019s vocals produced by PooBear. Veteran music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg served as executive music producer for the song.\u00a0 By Any Means\u00a0is distributed domestically by Paramount Pictures and is scheduled for theatrical release on\u00a0Sept. 4. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this year, Diane Warren became the first songwriter in Oscar history to be nominated for best original…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[9238,4648,434,18,117,148199,22921,19,17,2624,7012],"class_list":["post-648773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-academy-awards","tag-awards","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-film-music","tag-genre-rb","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music-news","tag-oscars"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117132732081913756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}