STUDIO CITY, Calif. — New Year's Day 2020. Time for reflection and taking stock, and for composer/songwriter Kathryn Bostic, 2019 was a productive year.

Bostic has a diverse musical resume, crediting her mother for introducing her to all kinds of music growing up, which she says gives her the ability to write in a wide variety of musical idioms today.

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“I literally grew up in a household that genuinely exposed me to everything musically,” said Bostic. “For me, music is conversation and I do hear sounds and textures and melodies and I do hear emotionality through those sounds and notes.”

Bostic’s song, “High Above the Water,” which she wrote and performed for the documentary Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, was shortlisted in the Best Song category for this year’s Academy Awards.

Bostic said writing for such an epic figure was daunting, but she was happy to hear Morrison approved having seen, and heard, the completed film before she passed away last year.

“After [Morrison] watched it, the director told me she said, ‘Oh, I like her!' You know, not me, but she liked what she saw. So that made me feel really good.”

In 2016, Bostic became the first African-American female composer to join the Academy and while she says awards aren't everything, she added:

“It's a huge honor. To me, it's a good song in terms of the way it talks about people coming together. You just do the best you can. You do something that you feel is giving you joy and purpose and you don't know where it will lead.”

Although Bostic isn't sure where the Oscar road might lead this year, as for now, like the song says, she is high above the water.