Taylor released her first album, Taylor Swift, on October 24th, 2006, with Big Machine Records, who are an American record label specialising in country music artists. Currently signed artists are Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and previously Reba McEntyre. Taylor first single, named Tim McGraw, was released in June 2006 and spent most of the year radio touring to promote her album. Since then, Taylor has released another 4 albums, all specialising in country music, apart from her most recent, 1989.
Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now and Red all specialise in country music, whereas 1989 is upon the pop genre, and has become Swift's biggest selling album in her own records, and was the biggest selling album overall of 2014. Her latest album, entitled 1989, was influenced by some of Taylor's favourite Eighties pop acts, including Phil Collins, Annie Lennox and "Like a Prayer"-era Madonna. The album was executive-produced by Swift and Max Martin, with whom she first collaborated with on her 2012 single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".
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Blank Space is the second single released from 1989, and the music video to go with it has a hidden message that nobody was expecting. Throughout her career, Taylor has been the media's key topic for relationships. She's famous for writing about previous boyfriends, whether they ended on good or bad terms, and in my opinion, with this music video, she's given the media exactly what they've been treating her like. She's portrayed herself in the video, like the media have been portraying her for years.
"I'm all too aware of the jokes made about all of my ex-boyfriends and how I like to include them in my song writing, and I want to address the general thought of me in a video where I play the crazy villain."
"I'm all too aware of the jokes made about all of my ex-boyfriends and how I like to include them in my song writing, and I want to address the general thought of me in a video where I play the crazy villain."
I adore videos that actually have a narrative; a story line; a purpose. It makes them more intriguing and actually have a way of promoting the specific song. I've watched this video so many times now and I'm still not bored of it, because she's over emphasising her personality and I just love it. It's kind of hilarious. When interviewed about the video, a magazine columnist asked if Taylor was 'boy-crazy', in which Taylor responded, "For a female to write about her feelings, and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane, desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I think that's taking something that potentially should be celebrated - a woman writing about her feelings in a confessional way - that's taking it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little sexist." However in this video, Swift performs the very unflattering image that the public has foisted upon her, as if to say "You want boy-crazy? I'll give you boy crazy!"
The main thing I noticed, as a media student, when I first watched this video, is the colourings throughout. In the past, Taylor has given us very bright and colourful videos that fit the themes of the song, take Shake It Off, for example. With this video being set in a fairy-tale looking home, the video and story is far from the stereo-typical 'princess' themed narrative.
Throughout the video we see a number of long, medium and close-up shots which fit within the sensitivity of the lyrics at certain points of the video. The concept of the dominant female is portrayed with what she's wearing, her body language, facial expressions and tone of voice throughout the video. Although she's almost playing to the media in terms of giving them boy crazy, she's doing it in a clever way. There are a number of lyrics which match with the actual script of the song, as if she is physically speaking them to her 'boyfriend'.
If you've seen Taylor's past videos, there is always links either to a real life situation, or videos of hers that have been created before. There are a number of features within this music video that link to her previous songs from other albums, which is a really unique feature Taylor does. With this, she's constantly bringing out new music and videos, but her loyal die-hard fans will never be able to forget her original music, who made her the artist she is today. It's also a nice feature to have as when people watch the video, they may relate to a previous song or video, and this will then give them a reason to go and watch her older material, which keeps it current and still in the public eye.
There are a number of shots within this video that I absolutely adore. The setting, colour grading and angle are absolutely amazing and I fully commend the director for this video. When it was first released, I couldn't stop watching it. One that I did keep my eye on was the in depth content of the picnic they were having. All it consisted of was champagne and sweets. Thinking about it, they're two particularly slim people - eating junk. Does this mean that even though they're nice to look at, they're ugly on the inside? Hidden messages in videos are great.
Overall, I absolutely love this video. I love the narrative, concept, sassiness, colour, song, and camera work. Everything about this video is great and I genuinely wouldn't change 1 second of it. It's so cleverly thought out, with the links to her old music, disney films (Snow White - with the apple), metaphors about them being ugly on the inside. Everything. Genius. High five, Taylor!
- O
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