Taylor Swift Directed Her First Music Video by Accident and Found it to be More ‘Fulfilling’
Taylor Swift is one of the most successful pop artists in the world, but she is now moving into the director’s chair. She will soon be directing her first feature film and has recently received praise for her work on the “All Too Well” short film. However, Taylor Swift wouldn’t have discovered her love for directing if it wasn’t for a series of events that led to her directing her first music video.
Taylor Swift didn’t always want to direct
Swift appeared with The Banshees of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh on Variety’s Directors on Directors series. In the conversation, Swift admits that she didn’t want to direct initially, but she had always wanted to tell stories through songwriting and poems.
“I always wanted to tell stories. I have always written stories, poetry, songs. I think this just kind of grew out of a natural extension of that storytelling,” Swift explains. “I don’t think I ever necessarily thought that it would be something I would sort of be allowed to do until I actually had enough experience to kind of say, ‘Hey, you know what, I want to step out and do this on my own and see what it’s like,’ and the more I did it, the more I loved it.”
Taylor Swift directed her first music video by accident
Swift had co-directed several of her previous music videos, including “Mine,” “Me!” “You Need to Calm Down,” and “Lover.” The first music video she directed herself was 2019’s “The Man.” However, the decision wasn’t necessarily her’s. She couldn’t find another female director to take on the job, so she decided to do it herself.
“This actually came out of necessity. I was writing my videos for years, and I had a video that was a very specific concept, which was that I wanted to be prosthetically turned into a man and live my life as a man, and I wanted a female director to direct it, and the few that I reached out to were fortunately booked. You know, we like it when women work. But none of the female directors that I wanted to direct it could do it, so I was like, ‘Well, I could do it, maybe?’ And then, when I did direct, I just thought, this is actually more fulfilling than I ever could have imagined.”
Swift said she has now directed 10 music videos, plus the short film, so the situation with “The Man” turned out to be a happy accident.
Swift is set to direct her first feature film
Following her recent work on “All Too Well,” Swift has been given the opportunity to direct her first feature-length film with Searchlight Picture. While little is known about the story, it will be based on a screenplay she wrote.
“Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller. It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey,” Searchlight Presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield shared in a press release.
While there is no official release date for Swift’s movie, the Swifties will be turning out in droves when she makes her directorial debut.
