Nominations for this year's Tony Awards were announced today, and among the top nominees were the shows Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants who received 12 nods each.
However, it is SpongeBob's nomination for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre which is receiving the most attention.
Many Twitter users, including some of those actually involved in creating the song, were baffled at the sheer variety of musicians credited as writers.
Chrissy Teigan, Twitter officianado and wife of singer John Legend who helped pen the song, shared her bafflement with her 10 million followers:
John got nominated for a Tony this morning for a song he apparently wrote for spongebob squarepants. Why does he not tell me when he writes spongebob songs?? What else is he lying about?? Are there other songs out there??
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 1, 2018
She wasn't alone, as songwriters Paul Tompkins and Jonathan Coulton were also confused:
I got nominated for the same Tony, which is weird.
— Jonathan Coulton (@jonathancoulton) May 1, 2018
Am I writing songs for Spongebob and not even realizing it?— Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) May 1, 2018
Thankfully, some sensible people were on hand to clarify:
Nope! It’s “I Guess I Miss You” from our broadway cast recording!
— SpongeBob Musical (@SpongeBobBway) May 1, 2018
However, the biggest revelation of all came when the full list of musicians credited with writing the song was revealed:
It wasn’t until this moment that I realized who all are nominated for the Spongebob musical for Best Original Score. I am so confused in general about this musical. lol pic.twitter.com/d0uwePN8k6
— christmas carol(s) 🎄🎁✨ (@bookish_notes) May 1, 2018
What do Aerosmith, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Cyndi Lauper, Sara Bareilles, Plain White T's, Lady Antebellum, and T.I. have in common? SpongeBob SquarePants!
We'll leave that there to sink in.