Taylor Swift premiered the music video for her song “Wildest Dreams,” from her album “1989,” at the Video Music Awards on Aug. 30.
“Wildest Dreams” is a romantic, cinematic video that has quickly climbed its way to No. 1 on the iTunes music video charts – where it rightfully belongs. This video is a steamy, romantic love story that portrays Taylor Swift and Scott Eastwood – Clint’s son – as actors in a safari movie filmed in Africa.
We see that these two share a love-hate relationship through this fake film set. While sparks fly on camera, we see the tension that naturally occurs between individuals who are madly in love off screen.
“Wildest Dreams” ends with the sorrowful scene of a heartbroken Swift riding away from Eastwood after seeing him with his girlfriend at the movie’s premiere.
Although this video does not have the clichéd, but much desired, happy ending of most Swift songs, it does hold many great factors that I applauded Swift for.
First, let’s look at how different “Wildest Dreams” is compared to the rest of Swift’s album.
In “Wildest Dreams,” Swift has a softer tone and travels in and out of the registers in her voice. It feels as if Swift channels her inner Lana Del Rey with this song and music video.
This music video is of great quality; it tells the audience a story while not distracting too much from the song itself.
This video is full of exotic safari animals, kisses in the rain and a gorgeous brunette Swift.
We see a different side of Swift that we haven’t experienced in her other music videos for this album. Swift seems to be branching out by making more cinematic music videos; it is almost as if she becomes an actress through these videos.
Compared to “Shake It Off,” where Swift plays dress up while dancing around carelessly, and “Blank Space,” where she destroys her boyfriend’s car, the “Wildest Dreams” video is more serious.
The theme isn’t about getting back at her “haters” or proving anything to her ex-boyfriend; it’s about falling in love with someone she can’t have and hoping to remain in his memory.
Swift said the song represents a good example of how she goes into relationships now.
“I meet someone who I feel I have a connection with, the first thought I have is: ‘When this ends, I hope it ends well. I hope you remember me well.’ Which is not anythingclosetothewayIusedto think about relationships,” Swift said in an NPR interview. “It’s that realization that it’s the anomaly if something works out; it’s not a given.”
Maybe Swift should keep her hair dark; she seems to be a bit more mature with it. Another different personality trait Swift takes on is a role reversal in who gets hurt. Instead of being the one who is cheated on, she is the other woman.
If I’ve learned anything from “Wildest Dreams,” it is this: never film a movie in Africa with Scott Eastwood – it will end in heartache.
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 9, 2015 print edition of The Echo.
image via celebuzz.com
