Pop star Taylor Swift has re-emerged after a silent controversy-packed 2016 between she and The Wests. She recently dropped a single off her forthcoming album which has since garnered so much buzz and smashing records as she calls out Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and former friend, Katy Perry.
Taylor premiered the visuals to the already controversial track at the just concluded MTV VMA live show and it only tripled the controversy as Taylor came for those who erred her in a not-so-subtle way. She took a swipe at the The Wests, Katy Perry and exes (Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston).
The visual is nothing other than amazing as we see Taylor serving tea like never before. Oops! Look what they made her do.
HollywoodLife has broken down the music video to bits and interpreted notable scenes; even the things you’d barely notice.
Calvin Harris:
About 29 seconds into the music video, while Taylor is literally digging her own grave, one grave is for “Nils Sjoberg.” In case you forgot, that’s the pseudonym Taylor used when writing Calvin’s song “This Is What You Came For!”
Katy Perry:
Following the car crash in the chorus of “Look What You Made Me Do,” we couldn’t help but notice Taylor’s look very much resembled Katy Perry‘s — she’s in a leopard fur jacket, with an actual leopard next to her. Can we say “Roar?”
Later, during a closet robbery scene, Taylor rips off a cat mask and is also wearing a hoodie with a tiger on it. It also happens to be the below verse, which seemingly refers to Katy and Taylor’s once friendship, and mentions a “feast” — something some assume is about “Bon Appetite.”
I don’t like your kingdom keys / They once belonged to me
You ask me for a place to sleep / Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)
The world goes on, another day, another drama, drama / But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma
And then the world moves on, but one thing’s for sure / Maybe I got mine, but you’ll all get yours
At the end of the video, when asked “What are you doing?” one Taylor says “getting receipts!” In Katy’s “Swish Swish,” one lyric reads, “Karma’s not a liar — she keeps receipts.”
Tom Hiddleston:
At one point, Taylor danced in a super sexy black outfit with backup dancers wearing very fitting shirts — the words “I ❤ TS” were printed on them. We have to assume those took a jab at her ex-boyfriend Tom Hiddleston, who wore a very similar shirt during their Fourth of July together.
Kim Kardashian & Kanye West:
Taylor is at one point in a bathtub of diamonds, while saying “I don’t like your perfect crime” — something that could be a nod to Kim Kardashian’s robbery. Later she seemingly references the robbery again, in the closet scene mentioned above. Of course the “snake” theme repeats itself throughout the entire video; we all remember the time that Kim Kardashian tweeted about “National Snake Day,” and the world assumed it was all about Tay.
Later in the song, Taylor brings out her many personas from over the years, including herself in the outfit she wore when she took home the Grammy the year Kanye West interrupted her. After one of those Taylorscalls her a “bi-tch,” she gets mad — just as she did when Kanye called her that in “Famous.” She ends the video with repeating what she said on Instagram following Kim leaking the phone call between Kanye and Taylor: “I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative.”
David Mueller:
During the bathtub scene, you may see a single dollar bill sitting in the tub of diamond. Boom!
Spotify:
Taylor and her friends are actually robbing a streaming company “Stream Co.” which seems to be a reference to her battle with Spotify and other streaming companies. In the past, she refused to make her music available on such services.
The 2014 Met Gala:
Taylor was actually being buried in the dress she wore to the met ball three years ago.
The squad:
It was a quick look, but at one moment you’ll see the old Taylor from the “You Belong with Me” video — she’s in glasses and a white tee. However, the t-shirt now has names all over it, that you’ll most likely see a trend with. Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Lena Dunham, Este Haim, and Martha Hunt, just to name a few!
Frenimies:
Not everyone got a specific call out. The gold throne Taylor is sitting on is actually engraved with “Et tu, Brute?” In Latin, that means “Even you, Brutus?” from the play Julius Caesar. As pointed out by PopSugar, this is said after he finds out Brutus was part of the reason he died… i.e., a friend stabbing another in the back.
The Victim, The Shocked Face, etc.:
In the final moments of the video, we see new Taylor crawling up a mountain of her old music video personas and stepping on them. One is called a “victim,” one is the country singer, one is crying, and one is telling the other to stop making that shocked face because it’s annoying.
Sipping tea:
I mean, that’s self explanatory right?
