Why Wasn't Taylor Swift Nominated for Any 2023 Oscars?
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The nominations for the 2023 Oscars were announced this week, and despite Taylor Swift's accolades in music, and projections that she may soon add an Oscars nod to her resumé, the Academy ultimately left the singer off the list.
Swift took part in two film projects that put her in the running to qualify for Academy nominations this year. Her song "Carolina" from Olivia Newman's directed adaptation, Where the Crawdads Sing, made it to the Oscars shortlist for Best Music (Original Song), but missed the final cut for a nomination. Meanwhile, Swift's more popular project—her 14-minute film short, All Too Well, adapted from her Red LP's original 2012 song—did not make the shortlist at all, disqualifying her from a nod for Best Live Action Short Film.
The November 2021 film short starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien follows a couple whose dysfunctional relationship eventually crumbles from the pair's age gap and resulting power dynamics. The chaotic romance is said to have been a loose depiction of Swift's three-month 2010 stint with Jake Gyllenhaal (who is nine years her senior)—a fact that, in itself, propelled the video to viral heights. The video now boasts over 80 million views on YouTube.
Despite Swift's Academy snubs for the short, the work still amounted to yet another record-breaking achievement for Swift. At the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, she garnered awards on the film for both Video of the Year and Best Direction—historic wins that made Swift the first solo artist to not only win Video of the Year for an independent original work, but also win Best Direction twice (her first came in 2020 for "The Man," her directorial debut on a music video and track from her 2019 album, Lover).
Artists who made the Oscars nominee list for Best Original Song this year include Rihanna, for "Lift Me Up" in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Lady Gaga, for "Hold My Hand" in Top Gun: Maverick; and Mitski, for "This Is a Life" in Everything Everywhere All at Once. While Swift's "Carolina" did not put her on this list, the track did receive nods from the Grammys, Critics Choice, and the Golden Globes.
Swift is neither finished with her work in film nor her associations with the Academy—and who knows, she may even win her first Oscar by next year. The singer will soon be venturing beyond her musical contributions and embarking in a full-on directorial debut for her first feature film produced by Searchlight Pictures, the acclaimed studio behind the Academy Award-winning films Nomadland and The Shape of Water, per Variety.
"Taylor is a once-in-a-generation [sic.] artist and storyteller," Searchlight presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said in a statement to the outlet. "It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey."
The 95th Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET.
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