Growing up a lot of people either adored Taylor Swift or couldn’t care less about her. Today people have strong views on her, good or bad. Especially on her new lead single released off of her upcoming album ‘Reputation,’ which is coming out November 10th. ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ has a few things that make it so popular, the style, the lyrics, the music video itself, and the drama.
Taylor had been known to change up her music style throughout the years. Her country songs about her ex-boyfriends are long forgotten. Now her fierce pop style is here to stay, along with a whole new Taylor. I myself grew up loving Taylor, but long strayed away from her music. I decided to give her another try, as it’s been three years since her previous album. At first listen I felt it was okay, but the more and more I listened to it I found myself singing along. Even if you don’t like it or Taylor herself, you can’t deny how catchy it is. Taylor, along with her fellow composers, easily reinvented herself with this darker style.
Taylor went from, “I got a blank space, and I’ll write your name,” to “I’ve got a list of names and yours is in red underlined.” Which is a much more aggressive lyric style, which was very enjoyable as it also shows in the vocals. The chorus also tends to be repetitive, but she notes that her inspiration for this is from the writer’s of the 1991 hit, ‘I’m Too Sexy.’ Taylor also credits them as co-writers for the song. Hands down, to me the best part of the song is a little after the two minute mark. The song takes a slower turn of a repeated phrase into a more shocking lyric choice. The whole, “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, ’cause she’s dead!” completely threw me off. This further proves that she’s trying to reinvent herself, and it’s something to definitely keep an eye on.
There are many speculations and analyzations of the lyrics and aspects of the music video. For example, some say it’s all directed towards people like Kanye West, Katy Perry, etc. Who essentially, according to Taylor, “stirred the pot.” Taylor even went the extra mile and took what people called her, a snake, and made it hers. Taylor most likely added this knowing she’d get many reactions and this makes her smart for doing so. The music video is one you have to watch multiple times to fully understand all of the shade and references that are being made.
If ‘Reputation’ is anything like her single, then maybe Taylor has another award winning album. I will definitely be looking forward to its release, meanwhile I’ll have ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ constantly on repeat.
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