Why Did Taylor Swift Win An Emmy? How Her ‘Blank Space’ Music Video Helped Her Score A Statue From The TV Academy

At this point, most people expect Taylor Swift to win awards at the Grammys or the MTV Video Music Awards. Yet, her Emmy win is a little unexpected considering she doesn’t own a TV show. It seems that an interactive look at her “Blank Space” music video helped her snag an award from the Television Academy.

The “Shake It Off” singer won the award for outstanding original interactive program for “AMEX Unstaged: The Taylor Swift Experience,” Entertainment Weekly reports. The program is actually an app that is available to download via Google Play and Apple’s App Store. The app lets users explore the “Black Space” music video. Audiences can “choose where you go, who you follow and what you explore in a stunning house filled with characters, objects and scenes,” according to the American Express website.

Swift, 25, not only starred in “AMEX Unstaged: The Taylor Swift Experience,” but she also executive produced the app. “We’ve been able to create something that I’ve never been able to give my fans before, which is a 360-degree interactive experience where they’re getting to explore the storyland of our video and be in the room with us,” Swift explained in a promo video.

Watch Swift explain the app below:

Swift was not the only winner in her category. The outstanding original interactive program award, which is part of the juried awards, also went to “Emma Approved,” a web series that retells Jane Austen’s “Emma” in a modern setting. Check out the full list of early Emmy winners here.

Swift might get a chance to compete for another Emmy in an acting category if she guest stars on “Law & Order: SVU.” Mariska Hargitay revealed that she’d spoken to the singer about making an appearance. “We just talked about it,” Hargitay told Entertainment Tonight. “We’re going to wait until the end of the [1989 World] tour to see how it goes. But it’s in the air.”

This is Swift’s first Emmy award. With her seven Grammy awards, the singer is halfway to being an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner.

Her Emmy award will be presented on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Creative Arts Emmys in Los Angeles. However, Swift likely won’t be able to make an appearance. Her “1989 World Tour” is scheduled to make a stop in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that night.