Sebastián Yatra is ready for his ‘Encanto’ song to win the Oscar: “It’s touched so many souls”

Sebastián Yatra is ready for his ‘Encanto’ song to win the Oscar: “It’s touched so many souls”
L: Sebastián Yatra, R: Lin-Manuel Miranda; ABC/Randy Holmes

The 94th Annual Academy Awards are this Sunday night, and one of the nominees for Best Original Song is Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s “Dos Oruguitas (Two Little Caterpillars)” from the Disney hit Encanto. If he wins, Miranda will achieve an EGOT: He’ll have an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Latin superstar Sebastián Yatra, who sings the song in the movie, and will perform it at the Oscars, tells ABC Audio that he’s rooting for Lin-Manuel to win.

In the Best Original Song category, it’s only the songwriter who wins the Oscar, not the performer, but Yatra says, “For me, I feel like I’m nominated as well and being a part of this song is just something that I couldn’t be more thankful for.”

As for Lin-Manuel, Yatra says, “I really hope that he takes it because he deserves it. And it’s a song that’s going to be part of Disney’s history, and it’s touched so many souls. There’s really no bigger award than that.”

While the Oscars have announced that Sunday night’s telecast on ABC will include the first-ever live performance of that other Encanto song, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” it’s not clear if Yatra will perform “Dos Oruguitas” as part of that segment, or another one. But either way, Yatra says he’s stoked.

“We’re definitely excited, super-excited to go there, and I’m excited to represent my country [of Colombia] at, like, the most prestigious gathering that there is,” he says.

As for the “Bruno” performance, it’ll include not only cast members Adassa, Stephanie Beatriz, Mauro Castillo, Carolina Gaitan and Diane Guerrero, but also Latin stars Becky G and Mr. “Despacito” himself, Luis Fonsi.

The Academy Awards start at 8 p.m EDT/5 p.m. PDT on ABC Sunday night.

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