The Academy released the shortlists for the 95th Oscars on Wednesday, and despite Taylor Swift‘s inclusion in the Best Original Song category for her Where the Crawdads Sing theme “Carolina,” the musician’s fans weren’t best pleased about her absence elsewhere.
Swift, who has recently ventured into the world of directing, submitted the 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well” for the category of Best Live-Action Short Film. However, the Academy chose not to select it for the final round of contenders, which means there’s no chance it will be nominated when the time comes. Swifties were, of course, not happy.
However, they seem to agree on one thing: this will only motivate the artist to make her upcoming feature film directorial debut the best she possibly can.
A good portion of fans decided to look at the bigger picture, as they understood that Swift’s campaign for her short film was mostly a way to get her name into the conversation, ahead of her big entrance into the film industry.
All Too Well: The Short Film won Video of the Year and Best Direction at the 2022 Video Music Awards, making her the first musician to win for a video they directed. It’s also been nominated for Best Music Video at the Grammys, for which it is one of the favorites.
With All Too Well, Swift got to experience a part of the festival circuit, with screenings at Tribeca and TIFF, and network with fellow directors like Guillermo del Toro, as well as with Martin McDonagh for Variety‘s Directors on Directors series.
As with everything she has ever done, Taylor Swift is not kidding around when it comes to this new passion, and judging by her track record, this will most likely not be the last time we hear “Taylor Swift” and “Oscars” uttered in the same sentence.