It wouldn't be a day without getting some Taylor Swift news, and boy does she know how to start the week off right. Whoever said "I hate Mondays" clearly does not pay attention to anything Ms. Swift has got going on.
So why is today so great, you ask? It's because we've got a brand-spanking-new video from Swift for her single "Blank Space," and it is bananas. Let's get right to it, shall we?
The video has a very cinematic look to it with a narrative about, what else, a relationship. But that's exactly what Swift wants us to think. She plays into our expectations of this persona that she's created or that's been created for her (it's hard to tell) of the crazy ex-girlfriend.
The "Blank Space" music video starts off with Swift and her main squeeze, played by model Sean O'Pry, looking all dapper in a spectacular mansion. They dance, ride around the house on bicycles and carve "Sean + Taylor" into a tree.
But all of this seems way too perfect to stay so lovely. Either some Fifty Shades of Grey stuff is about to go down here, or it's going to get ugly.
And then the latter happens. Swift and her co-star start arguing, probably because the guy was on his smartphone way too much. She makes two holes in the chest area of her boyfriend's shirt a la Regina George from Mean Girls, takes a golf club to his fancy sports car and wields a knife before stabbing it into a cake that seems to spurt out a blood-like substance. Can we stop making blood appearing on wholesome objects a thing, please?
In this video, Swift portrays her public image as someone who writes songs about all of the men she's broken up with, but she throws it back in our faces with all of her extreme behavior. It's as if she's giving us exactly what we want, but it somehow still makes us feel uncomfortable.
"Taylor wanted to make a video addressing this concept of, if she has so many boys breaking up with her maybe the problem isn't the boy, maybe the problem is her," the video's director Joseph Kahn told Mashable.
I can't help but wonder if this video takes any inspiration from Gone Girl, whose recent film adaptation put the concept of "the Cool Girl" into the zeitgeist. Is Swift truly insane or have gender expectations caused her erratic behavior in the video? Does Swift want this video to make us see her in a different light or ourselves?
Of course, Swift's new video did not come without some controversy. Though the video was scheduled to premiere Nov. 11 on Good Morning America, Yahoo accidentally leaked it in the early morning of Nov. 10. Swift later released the video officially on Vevo.
Love or hate her music, Swift sure does keep today's music industry interesting. Check out the full video below.
Image: TaylorSwiftVEVO / YouTube
