Look What Taylor Made Me Do

Addie Townsend, Co-Editor-In-Chief

Taylor+Swifts+album+cover%2C++Reputation+

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Taylor Swift’s album cover, Reputation

Taylor Swift got “smarter and harder in the nick of time” in releasing her new single “Look What You Made Me Do.” Swift’s surprise release for her upcoming album, Reputation, dropped on Aug. 24 and since its debut, Swift has taken over the media. “Look What You Made Me Do” is the fastest song to reach #1 for a female artist on U.S. iTunes.

“Look What You Made Me Do” starts with a harp-like, haunting melody before distorting the tune at 13 seconds. 13 is an important number to Swift; her birthday is on Dec. 13, she writes the number on her hand in concerts, and she screenshots the phone screen at 13 seconds when posting songs from other artists on social media. This song is definitely a new style from her previous albums with a repetitive, dark dance-pop sound. Swift likes to pause her catchy tunes to insert dramatic dialogue, and this one is no different. Around two minutes and fifty seconds into the song, Swift says that the old Taylor is “dead.” This emphatic, savage line shows her speaking directly to the listeners. Afterwards, she dives into the chorus with even more bass and angst.

Taylor Swift surrounded by snakes in her new music video

Almost every lyric, including the first, has left fans with the question as to who the “you” is about. There are rumors of the song being directed to Kanye and Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, and/or the media. To make matters more interesting, before the release, Swift suddenly deleted everything off her social media. A day later she posted one third of a video of a snake, then continued the posting cycle each day until she announced the release of her single for the 24th. Her music video includes scenes with snakes to represent the public’s characterization of her as one.

Swift’s lyric video reached over 19 million views in one day. Her music video for the song aired at the VMA’s on Sunday, Aug. 27 and broke records for the most-viewed video in 24 hours with 28 million views. Billboard states that the single “has sold more downloads in a single day than any song has sold in a week, in the past six months.” Fans will have to wait for more of what Taylor Swift has to offer in Reputation, which releases on Nov. 10. Sorry the old Taylor is dead, but the new Taylor is on her way.