Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences body announced the shortlist for ten categories for the upcoming 2023 Oscars with the films that made the cut. By the time the formal nominations come out on January 24, each category will be narrowed down to five nominees. Taylor Swift’s acclaimed project All Too Well: The Short Film, a 15-minute short adaptation of the song of the same name was submitted for consideration. Ultimately, it did not make the cut.

The song was originally released in 2012 on her album RED, but the version in the film—the original 10-minute version discouraged from release by her record label a decade ago—was released in full last year on Taylor’s Version of the album.

Swifties are up in arms yet again after being hopeful film would garner her first Academy Award nomination. Swift did make it onto the shortlist for Best Original Song for her track “Carolina” from the film Where the Crawdads Sing and has a chance of being nominated.

The film, which Swift promoted at both Toronto and Tribeca film festivals, has already won the singer-songwriter turned filmmaker a slew of awards, including the VMA, EMA, and AMA awards for video of the year, and is also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. The film’s failure to make the Oscar shortlist begs whether Swift’s filmmaking directorial debut deserved a nomination in the first place.

As someone who has been a decade-plus diehard fan of Swift, a cinephile, and an awards season junkie—I have to admit that, though I love to see Swift get nominated and win awards—the film was not worthy of an Academy Award nomination. It’s cinematically gorgeous, coherent, and overall, well done, in addition to being both nostalgic and exciting for fans to see, but it was not a cinematic piece of art that deserves the distinction of being nominated. It’s not a slandering of Swift’s work, but she is still at the beginning stages of her filmmaking career, and the film has clearly already worked in her favor. She is already signed on to direct a film adapting an original screenplay she wrote, so clearly there’s no way the short film inhibited studios from seeing her filmmaking potential.

To me, the biggest reason the film would not have made the cut was that it follows the story of the song so closely that, though it is an accurate adaptation, it doesn’t hit the level of filmmaking that would be worthy of receiving recognition of America’s top film honor. If it were to win the Grammy for Best Music Video, which, based on past award show recognition it seems it might, that would be a fine distinction.

I also can’t help but wonder if Swift campaigned so hard and already attended so many awards shows for music that it deterred Oscar voters from considering it as a piece of cinema instead of a music video. How can I film win Best Music Video and the Oscar for Best Short Film? Even if it were that good, there are enough other filmmakers, especially ones with lower public profiles, that deserve recognition.

When Riz Ahmed took home the award last year for his music film The Long Goodbye based on the album of the same name, he did not campaign the film for the Grammys. Ahmed’s film was more cinematic and contained a heavy dose of social commentary, tackling colorism and Islamaphobia in the United States. Additionally, Ahmed’s plot was far more groundbreaking and socially relevant. It’s not to say that all films that win an Oscar need to critique society, but you can see why viewing Ahmed’s work was a more noteworthy and cinematic experience than Swift’s. Additionally, Ahmed does not have the reputation Swift does when it comes to music and may have been able to catch Oscar voters’ attention easier.

Swift acclaimed songwriting has generally focused on love stories and centered around the perspectives of young women learning what it means to be in and fall out of love. Though her writing has evolved in recent years and expanded traditional narratives, All Too Well: The Short Film finds her falling back into the same storied genre. Perhaps it is because the song is already ten years old, having been written when she was only 21, whereas the film came out when she was 31, but it doesn’t feel as exciting as Oscar films should.

Based on my Swiftian tendencies, I’m happy to see “Carolina”—a song that not only tells the story of its respective film but is also great—made the shortlist. As a Swiftie and film lover, here’s to hoping she garners her first Oscar nomination for Best Original Song and generates buzz down the line with her first feature film.