‘Look What You Made Me Do’ breaks records and a celebrity fanbase
‘Here lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation’
Taylor Swift did more than shake off the haters in her new music video for her hit song, “Look What You Made Me Do.” Instead, Swift has decided to confront her critics and embrace all of the negative comments each one of her personas has been subject to throughout her professional career.
There are no teardrops on her guitar in the video. Swift, surrounded by snakes and dressed head-to-toe in jewelry resembling snakes, comes off as an angry and immature teenage girl in this over-the-top but well-produced video.
The video opens with a scene straight out of “The Ring” as Swift crawls out of a grave marked with a headstone that reads, “Here lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation.” I was half expecting her to crawl out of the computer screen and attack me like in the horror film. By the end of the video, I wished that was the direction Swift decided to take. At the very least, it would have given me fewer nightmares.
“Look What You Made Me Do” is full of hidden messages that countless critics have tried to unpack and decode. Although the music video is well-made with its intricately designed sets, costumes and characters, the overall motive behind the video is snake-like, petty and damaging to her reputation.
Swift washes the cemetery dirt off in a bathtub filled to the rim with jewels, a nod to Kim Kardashian who was locked in her bathroom while thieves robbed her in Paris.
She also recreates a knock-off version of Miley Cyrus’s 2010 “Can’t Be Tamed” music video by hanging from a swing in an oversized birdcage, dressed in an orange romper. Is it a play on “Orange is the New Black?” What did Cyrus do to Swift? Whatever Swift is trying to do in this part of the video is unclear, confusing and tacky. Her attempt to mock other performers is a failure and comes off as her simply stealing other people’s successful ideas to pass off as her embracing her reputation.
Ending with a line of former Taylor personas, Swift closes by firing insults at the various Taylors like, “There she goes, playing the victim again,” “You can’t possibly be that surprised all of the time” and “Oh stop acting like you’re all nice. You are so fake.”
Swift’s overall goal of the video gets lost in the dramatic and elaborate sets, costumes and hostile lyrics. Is this video supposed to make viewers respect her for being able to mock her bad reputation? Although Taylor confronts criticisms like playing the victim too much, being a pop villain who only includes models in her “squad” and the serial dater, this video only reaffirms all of the negative attitudes associated with the singer.
Swift is back to her old ways, but instead of calling out ex-boyfriends, she is going after her frienemies and look what they made her do: make a pathetic and petty music video that only solidifies her awful personality and rightfully earned reputation.
Ironically, “Look What You Made Me Do” had around 10.1 million streams on Spotify, breaking records for Swift even after her feud earlier in the year with the company. The New York Times reported that the video had 24 million views by Monday, Aug. 28, just one day after its release during MTV’s Video Music Awards.
The world might move on, “another day, another drama,” but Swift is still hung up on those who have wronged and criticized her in the past.
I used to be a Swift fan, but this music video broke my heart; and we are never ever ever getting back together.
Austin • Sep 3, 2017 at 10:39 pm
Great article. I didn’t even catch the Miley Cyrus reference, and like you, I am now curious what the purpose of that was supposed to be.