On Aug. 27, Taylor Swift proved she’s back with a vengeance, releasing the music video to her hit single “Look What You Made Me Do.”
The video, directed by Swift’s longtime collaborator Joseph Kahn, is crusted with numerous personal vendetta inquiries.
Many criticize the song for it’s similarity to the 1991 song “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred. And yes, Swift did gain massive inspiration from this iconic, yet slightly ridiculous, song and credited Right Said Fred as partial songwriters of her new single.
When “Look What You Made Me Do” was initially released on Aug. 24, it was met with equal parts criticism and praise, but when the music video was released three days later it made up for everything the song was missing.
It turned the song from a typical — quite repetitive — pop song to a meaningful song.
This is the first time the public has heard from Swift since the release of her duet “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” with Zayn Malik in Dec. 2016.
It is strongly believed Swift has been silent for nearly nine months because of criticism she received due to feuds with celebrities such as Kanye West, Katy Perry and DJ David Mueller. And the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video addresses this theory in more ways than one.
A graveyard scene opens the music video, with a headstone reading “Here Lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation” as a zombified Swift, dressed as herself in the 2014 “Out of The Woods” music video, emerges from the grave.
The next scene is Swift in a bathtub brimming with diamonds and a single dollar bill, theorized to be a symbol of the $1 countersuit Swift won against Mueller’s $3 million lawsuit during an assault trial for Mueller allegedly groping Swift in 2013.
The most memorable part of the video is the “New Taylor” standing atop a mountain of her former personas, including Met Gala Taylor, VMA’s Taylor, “Shake It Off” Taylor, and “You Belong With Me” Taylor. These personas fight to get to the top, but the new, more confident Taylor is already there, claiming her old self is dead.
By the end of the video there is an “Old Taylor” lineup and they are all mocking one another, mirroring the criticism Swift has received over the years.
As an unapologetic Swifty, I applaud this video for the nostalgia it provides and for satisfaction of seeing Taylor rising up and giving someone other than an ex-boyfriend a piece of her mind.
Swift’s new album “Reputation” is set to be released on Nov. 10.
