Taylor Swift Really Wants An Oscar
Taylor Swift has started teasing a new track written and produced specifically for the upcoming film "Where the Crawdads Sing."
Taylor Swift is one of the most successful artists of her generation, both commercially and critically. She has topped the charts, changed the music industry, won 11 Grammys and moved so many millions of singles and albums, it’s hard to keep track of her career-total sum. There is, however, at least one accomplishment that has thus far eluded her — but it might not be out of reach for much longer.
For a decade now, Swift has been working toward earning an Academy Award nomination. Despite being a part of the conversation when it came to potential nominees for the biggest honor in the film world, she has yet to snag a nod. That may change in the coming months, as she has already announced her next contender.
Swift has started teasing a new track that should be released in the coming months titled “Carolina,” which was written and produced specifically for the upcoming film Where the Crawdads Sing. The movie is expected to be released in July 2022, meaning the title, as well as everything attached to it, will be eligible at the 2023 Oscars.
“Carolina” hasn’t yet been shared with Swift’s massive fan base, but there’s no reason to believe it won’t become at least a minor hit when it’s finally released.
It’s still very, very early to be talking about the 2023 Academy Awards, but chances are the singer-songwriter, along with her producer Aaron Dessner of the band The National (who also worked with Swift on her albums Folklore and Evermore) will mount a full campaign to score at a Best Original Song nomination.
Throughout her career, Swift has been nominated for the Best Original Song Golden Globe three times, but sadly, that has never translated to an Oscar nod in the same category. She was first up for that honor in 2013 for the track “Safe & Sound” (with now-defunct country duo The Civil Wars) from The Hunger Games.
The following year, she was in the running again with her tune “Sweeter than Fiction” from the film One Chance. In 2020, she and Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber snagged another chance to win with the single “Beautiful Ghosts,” which they created specifically for the box office musical bomb Cats.
At the Grammys, Swift has been nominated in the similar Best Song Written for Visual Media category three times, with “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” from the film Fifty Shades Darker earning a chance to win, while “Sweeter Than Fiction” was never up for the trophy.
At this point, many in the film and music industries are aware of Swift’s desire for a chance to win an Oscar, which could either help or hurt her chances, depending on the star and the work. Beyoncé was in the same position for a long time, but she finally scored her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 2022 ceremony, though the prize went to Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas for their James Bond theme song “No Time to Die.”
Will 2023 finally be the year Swift becomes an Oscar-nominated artist? It’s entirely possible, and at this very early stage, it even seems likely. A lot can change in the next nine months or so, as there are plenty of pictures and songs that have yet to be released, or even announced, but with someone as determined, talented, and powerful as Swift, it’s never smart to bet against her.
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