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What’s the Meaning Behind Taylor Swift’s Record Breaking Look What You Made Me Do Video?



The thing everyone’s buzzing about these past couple of days is unquestionably new Taylor Swift video “Look what you made me do”.

The 27-year-old singer premiered the video Sunday night at MTV’s Video Music Awards and it was definitely a lot to take in for those called out in it. The singer used this video to let the world know she had heard everything people have been saying about her for the last 10 years.

The Video

The video opens on a graveyard where Nils Sjoberg is written on one of the graves, a pseudonym she used when she co-wrote “This is What You Came For” with DJ and producer Calvin Harris, her ex-boyfriend. She was making a statement about all the bad press the two received from their spat and break up.

The second scene portrays Taylor in a bathtub full of jewels alluding to the media portrayal of her sitting home and crying in a tub of pearls. There is also a single dollar bill in the tub, a clear reference to her recent court case where she sued David Mueller for $1 and won.

A grotesque snake scene, with Caesar’s quote “Et Tu Brute” inscribed in the throne, was her way of pointing out at her highly-publicized falling out with rapper Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian after which everyone called her a snake.

Swift made a nod at a last-year-event since a number of male dancers are wearing tops with “I love TS”, a clear reminder to the top Tom Hiddleston was photographed in during their brief romance. Her squad was not missed out and in the video, she’s shown as the cruel “squad leader”, choosing squad members out of army of plastic models, calling out all the times people criticized and insulted her and her friends.

In one scene she personates Katy Perry, holding a Grammy, probably teasing her for having plenty and Katy not having one. The two have had a long-standing feud and interestingly enough, Katy was the host of the VMAs this year.

At the end of the video, she is standing on a mountain of bodies that are actually old Taylors, wearing iconic outfits from her videos and red carpet appearances, using them to parody some of the most stinging comments that have been made over the years. The old Swifts fight to climb to the top before they are all seen falling away.  And as imagery wasn’t obvious enough, we see the new Taylor saying to the phone “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause she’s dead.”

Truly a masterpiece video you just have to watch over and over again because every time, some new symbolism and hidden message appears. Genius.

Record Breaking Piece

Prior to the release of the official video, Taylor released a lyric video on YouTube which attracted 19 million views in its first 24 hours. The video “Look What You Made Me Do” racked up 39 million views in its first 24 hours breaking the previous record set by Adele’s “Hello” in 2015 with 27.7 first day views.

Her new album “Reputation” will be released on November 10, and before MTV’s VMA started, she posted a really clever tease on Instagram: “There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation.”

The official video has been seen more than 46.8 million times and has been liked over two million times but also disliked over a quarter of million times. Seems like not all fans like the new Taylor Swift however.

It’s just that maybe she took it a bit too far this time. Maybe.

 

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