As I start to type this, I can already envision your eyes rolling at the headline. Nonetheless, please hear me out. Trust me, I do know that anything said in Taylor Swift’s favor is shot down pretty fast, and I know there are a million reasons as to why, but this is important.
If you have not watched the full four minutes and 16 seconds of the music video of Swift’s new single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” go watch it, because the ending proved she is not as psycho as we all thought. Then, come back to me.
If you still haven’t watched it, don’t worry. I’m about to break this music video down for you anyway.
At first the video for “Look What You Made Me Do” starts off exactly as the song sounds — creepy. Swift is pictured literally crawling out of a grave that reads, “Here Lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation.”
That’s pretty strange for an opening scene, especially since we were all taught in middle school that the beginning of any project should lure the audience in. Honestly, if I had not been a Swiftie since 2008, I would have stopped watching the music video right there. However, I continued to keep my eyes focused on the screen and so should you.
After you get past “zombie” Swift, you must bear through the three minutes left. By minute two, you will see Swift pictured as a snake whisperer. By minute three, she has bounced between bank robbing, motorcycle racing and reputation stomping.
Clearly, Taylor took on a lot of different personas for this video. That does get a little disturbing, I’ll admit. However, I’m an opinions columnist, not a therapist, so I can’t really tell you what it means. Now we are at minute four, and that’s where the good stuff happens.
Toward the end of the music video, the presumably “new” Taylor is seen standing above all the old ones. You will see the iconic “You Belong With Me” Taylor wearing glasses, as well as the innocent, country Taylor left at the bottom of the screen.
At the end, all these different Taylors are lined up together and repeat the negative things the media says about them. While one Taylor says the unforgettable “I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative” in reference to her feud with Kanye West, another repeats the popular insult, “There she goes, playing the victim again.”
These final lines are crucial. They prove that Swift is acknowledging her actions. Finally, Swift recognizes the fact that many of her most famous comebacks relied on the assumption of her innocence. By repeating this famous insult, she essentially called herself out, and it worked.
Once the new, grown up version of Taylor told the old, childish one to “shut up” and stop with the act, I realized how much I liked the new Swift. Instead of flipping her hair and ignoring popular belief, she told her former self to get a grip.
Although “Look What You Made Me Do” did point a few fingers in the beginning of the music video, in the end, there were only other Taylors to blame. It may have taken four minutes and 16 seconds, but now fans can say they know every side of Taylor.
Whether she’s playing a tough girl or a bank robber depends on the shot, but finally, the old Taylor is dead, and the new one is taking some action instead.
Victoria Fortier is a UF journalism sophomore. Her column appears on Fridays.
