Flora and Son, the music film written and directed by Irishman John Carney follows the 2007’s Once, for which “Falling Slowly” won the best original song Oscar; 2013’s Begin Again, for which “Lost Stars” was nominated for that same award; and 2016’s Sing Street, for which “Drive It Like You Stole It” nearly was.

Carney and Flora and Son’s distributor, Apple, decided to formally submit just two songs ahead of the Nov. 1 best original song submission deadline, hoping to land both on the shortlist of 15 songs and eventual list of five nominees.

The submitted works are “Meet in the Middle,” in which Flora (Eve Hewson, daughter of U2’s Bono), an Irish working-class single mom, and her guitar instructor Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a struggling American musician, bond over via Zoom, and “High Life,” which Flora, her son and others perform publicly late in the film. Both song were co-written by Carney, Gary Clark and Hewson, the film’s breakout lead actress. Hewson, meanwhile, performs both in the film, the former opposite Gordon-Levitt (who is also credited as one of its writers, as is Robert John Ardiff), and the latter opposite Orén Kinlan.

Carney said, “Both ‘Meet In The Middle’ and ‘High Life’ were written very specifically for the character of Flora. Usually in a musical, you’re just looking for the best song ever, but with my films, I am trying to tie the songs in with the people who are performing them, and where they are in their life. The lyrics, and playing, have to seem appropriate to the situations the characters find themselves in. It sounds easier, but it’s often actually harder, because you keep saying, ‘No, that character is not going to say that’ or ‘She’s not that evolved yet,’ and so on. I’m always asking myself, ‘What would this particular character sound like? What are her limitations? What are the parts that make her different from other singers?’”

Continues Carney, “With Once, those songs took an age to finish, and with Begin Again I had three songs in contention for the final song Adam Levine sings. I like writing musicals about real people. I’ve been a musician all my life, and I know many musicians who have failed, or lost, or given up, and they are just as interesting to me as the ones who have won Grammys or Oscars.”