If you’re not an obsessive awards season prognosticator, you might have been confused by the fact that Taylor Swift, a woman whose red-carpet appearances are few and far between these days, was in attendance at LA’s recent Academy Museum Gala. The 14-time Grammy winner performed a number of hits – including “Blank Space” and “Love Story” – on stage at the event, mingled with movie stars and posed for many, many photos. Why exactly did this happen? Well, it’s because the mega star is kicking off her Oscar campaign. Here is absolutely everything you need to know.
Will Taylor Swift be nominated for an Oscar in 2027?
Almost certainly, yes. Swift’s country music-style ballad for , “I Knew It, I Knew You”, co-written with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, is one of the leading contenders for 2027’s Best Original Song Oscar. Given her attendance – not to mention performance of this new song, alongside some of her biggest chart-toppers – at the Academy Museum Gala, it would now be genuinely jaw-dropping if she wasn’t nominated.
Will Taylor Swift win an Oscar in 2027?
Now that’s a little more complicated. There are a number of strong contenders in that category this year: some pundits have tipped ’s campy musical number “This City May Have Chewed Me Up (But It Hasn’t Spit Me Out)”, as performed by Julianne Moore, to take the prize over Swift. (While “I Knew It, I Knew You” is played over ’s credits, this song is featured more prominently in , which could certainly be an advantage.)
Elsewhere, the Spanish epic is surging in the Oscar race, meaning its original song, “La Nieve”, performed and co-written by the film’s star, Guitarricadelafuente, may be in the mix. There’s also David Byrne’s “Let Me Sell You a Dream”, from the four hour-long documentary, ; The Decemberists’s “The Better Part of Bravery” from the animated epic and Diane Warren’s “By Any Means”, from the crime caper of the same name. (The music branch, which nominates artists for this prize, has been very loyal to Warren, who has had 17 Best Original Song nominations, and has been present in this category every single year since 2018. She now has an honorary Oscar, but will still likely be on the hunt for a competitive win.)
As for the other big-name musicians in the fight? Phoebe Bridgers’s “On Video” from , Lady Gaga’s “Shape of a Woman” from The Devil Wears Prada 2, and SZA’s “Save the Day” from are all worth keeping in mind, though “I Knew It, I Knew You” is almost certainly better known than those contenders. If Swift does triumph, it’ll mainly be because there are no real behemoths this year – no “Golden” from , no “Naatu Naatu” from . In a notably quieter race, she could take the win, even though “I Knew It, I Knew You” is far from the best song she’s ever written.
Does Taylor Swift really want an Oscar?
It seems so. The billionaire doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to, so the fact that she performed at the Academy Museum Gala mingled with actors made a visible effort to charm the room means that she’s serious about her campaign. Now that she’s released her twelfth album, gotten married and been inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, is this one of the few remaining things she has yet to do? Is the famously competitive 36-year-old eyeing up Billie Eilish’s record of two Original Song Oscars (for “No Time to Die” and ’s “What Was I Made For?”), which made her the youngest double Academy Award winner in history? Who’s to say? But it’s clear that Swift wants to add to her mantlepiece, which currently holds 14 Grammys, 33 MTV Video Music Awards, 40 American Music Awards and 49 Billboard Music Awards.
Has Taylor Swift ever been nominated for an Oscar before?
No, though she has written a few songs for the big screen, including “Beautiful Ghosts” from (perhaps the least said about that, the better) and “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing, which was on the Oscars shortlist, but failed to secure a nomination.
Will Taylor Swift perform at the 2027 Oscars?
If she’s nominated, then yes, absolutely. The most high-profile Best Original Song nominees always perform during the broadcast, and the Oscars, whose organisers have long been concerned about declining viewership, would be bonkers to pass up the opportunity of letting Swift, one of the most famous musicians in the world who has a rabid fanbase, take the mic. In addition to crooning “I Knew It, I Knew You”, could she tack on a Swiftian medley of some kind, as she did at the Academy Museum Gala? We’ll just have to wait and see. Just know that if she is nominated, the Best Original Song category will likely be presented later in the night, to ensure that all the Swifties keep watching.
What will Taylor Swift wear to the 2027 Oscars?
For the Academy Museum Gala, Swift chose a pale blue strapless custom Dior ballgown paired with Chopard diamonds for the red carpet, before changing into a midnight blue custom Ralph Lauren dress for her time on stage. If she performs at the Oscars, there will almost certainly be an outfit change there, too, and these two labels surely remain top of her list. But, if we had to place bets for the big night, your money should be firmly on Jonathan Anderson’s Dior, the house from which Swift acquired her wedding dress.
Swift at the Academy Museum Gala with star Greta Lee, and Colman Domingo.
Has Taylor Swift been to the Oscars before?
Shockingly, no. She’s made appearances at the Vanity Fair Oscar party – in sparkly Zuhair Murad in 2011, in all-black Julien Macdonald in 2014, and in low-cut Alexandre Vauthier in 2016 – but never the actual ceremony.
A 21-year-old Swift at the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar party in a Zuhair Murad minidress.
What will the rest of Taylor Swift’s Oscar campaign look like?
Expect more glad-handing, star-studded screenings of and maybe even a few more surprise performances. The musician, once famous for her fan meet-and-greets, knows how to work a room and is guaranteed to be a magnetic presence on the awards circuit – it’s easy to picture her making the rounds at the Oscar nominees’ luncheon and befriending her favourite actors on the red carpet. Underestimate her at your peril.
Can Taylor Swift become an EGOT?
It’s not impossible – in fact, she’s already halfway there, with the aforementioned 14 Grammys and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media – Original Interactive Program for AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience from 2015. If she snags that Oscar, she only needs a Tony to complete the quartet. Would she write a new musical next? With Swift, anything’s possible.
