Taylor Swift Throws Shade & Symbolism in 'Look What You Made Me Do': Hate It or Love It?

Taylor Swift has had a rough couple of years. She had a well-publicized feud with Kanye West and later with his wife Kim Kardashian. Swift was called a snake when she broke up with Calvin Harris. She was also taken to court by radio DJ David Mueller for compensation in relation to the groping incident they were involved in.

Now, Taylor Swift is fighting back. Unlike in the past when she used social media to speak out, she lets her music to get her message across. Last Thursday, she released “Look What You Made Me Do,” the lead single of her soon-to-be-released sixth studio album “Reputation.”

Swift released the music video of the song in Sunday’s 2017 MTV VMAs and got 20 million views in less than 12 hours. Her feud with Kanye began when he interrupted her Best Female Video acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs. It makes sense that Swift decided to release her“Look What You Made Me Do” video in the same event.

The video is laden with references to her enemies, exes and members of her squad. It also referred to the misconceptions people and the media have of her. It is also liberally sprinkled with milestones in Swift’s career.

Several dead bodies wearing the singer’s iconic outfits can be seen lying at the singer’s feet in the video. It is said to symbolize the death of the old Taylor. The country girl of 2009 who crossed to pop in 2015 is no longer there. Snakes are also heavily present and they are clearly referring to the nickname the social media gave her after she broke up with Calvin Harris.

There are also a number of Katy Perry shades that are hard to miss. Taylor dressed up like Perry at one point and can be seen holding a Grammy award. This could be the singer mocking Perry for never winning a Grammy reports E! News. In another, she can be seen wearing a tiger sweatshirt (remember Perry’s “Roar” video?) and is surrounded by women in cat masks (referring to Perry’s fans called Katycats).

The music video ends with the Taylor Swift of the 2009 MTV VMAs saying, “Uh, I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative." This is in reference to her response when Kim Kardashian leaked partial audio and video recordings of the singer’s phone call with Kanye according to People. Every other version of Swift yelled at her to shut up.

The “Look What You Made Me Do” video can be seen below. Tell us what you think about Taylor Swift’s latest song and video in the comments section.

Tags
Taylor Swift, Look what you made me do, MTV VMAs, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry
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