Ooh! What have we made Taylor Swift do?
“Look What You Made Me Do” may be a sonic departure for the reigning pop princess (the electroclash influence is new, as is the use of sampling, the “Disney villain karaoke”, the novel short dance sequence (for her), and the lack of a clear narrative), but the ‘Old Taylor’ is very much alive. As with the two lead singles from her full-on pop album 1989 (2014) - “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” - Swift intends to wrestle control of her ‘narrative’ by releasing a catchy, inescapable song with an explicit meta commentary of her public image.
The autobiographical inspiration for the song (and, more importantly, reference-rich music video) is vague enough and suggestive enough for everyone to guess who she is referring to (Kimye, Katy Perry, the media and public at large) without her having to name anyone. After a three year absence, Swift boldly attempts to reclaim her reputation by visually appropriating all the imagery and verbiage lobbied at her (that she’s a snake, a cultish leader of a robotic squad of models, a Regina George in sheep’s clothing, that she was killed by Kim Kardashian’s Snapchat exposé, being called a ‘bitch’ in Kanye West’s “Famous”, that she’s always playing the victim, that she’s cannot possibly be that surprised at each award show victory, the accusation that her short-lived romance with Tom Hiddleston was a PR stunt, etc.)
One could accuse the song of being relatively uninspired and argue that Swift is bringing pettiness to unwarranted cinematic heights and cultural ubiquity. (Consider, for example, an alternate universe where Swift’s personal experience of being sexually harassed and sued by radio DJ David Mueller had been used as a source of inspiration for a groundbreaking pop hit instead). Even those who have no particular fondness for Katy Perry might be taken aback at how mean spirited some of her recent actions have been since “Bad Blood” ignited their highly publicized feud: raining on Perry’s Witness release by placing her entire back catalog on Spotify, having “LMYMDD” coincide with her “Swish Swish” music video launch and her MTV VMA hosting appearance. Were the ‘loss’ of those backup dancers equivalent to these very public - and humiliating, especially given that Perry’s pop domination days appear to be numbered - acts of sabotage?
In any case, pettiness and meticulous calculation pay. Swift has smashed VEVO, Spotify and download records, paving the way for what will undoubtedly be a highly profitable long-lead album release cycle. As the privileged and relatively cloistered child of finance executives, Swift appears to be drawing, once again, on her deep-seated motivation to settle accounts and come out on top in terms of the numbers and statistics. So far, so predictable. All the world's a stage, and much of Swift’s oeuvre is made of comebacks, asides and retaliations to the ‘players’ who have wronged her. All hail vendetta-era Taylor, the time for heartbreak-era Taylor is over.
