"There will be no further explanation. There will just be Reputation."
In the words of TaylorSwift herself, and complete with a darker, more rebellious look, the world's biggest pop star will no longer be explaining herself to her fans or the media- she'll just let her reputation speak for itself. The release of her newest songs were thought to be gateways to a new and improved Swift, but after their debut, she has proven herself otherwise.
A Look At 'Look What You Made Me Do'
With her first solo single since 2015, Taylor Swift shocked the world when she dropped "Look What You Made Me Do," an edgy, angry anthem claiming a number of arguments against nameless opponents (but let's be honest, we all know who she was taking shots at).
"LWYMMD" was her breakout song after the years of controversy between her and Katy Perry as well as her and Kanye West/Kim Kardashian. The two ongoing feuds seemed like they were dying down, what with Swift's absence from the spotlight and the lessened talk of all the fighting. But then, she released "LWYMMD," and the claws came out again.
Packed with blatant jabs at the media and just as obvious shots at her celebrity colleagues, the track was supposed to be Taylor's platform to prove that she just doesn't care anymore; she outed the media and pretty much everyone who's ever said a mean thing about her with each scene in the video. She starts off depicted as a zombie, burying one of the many "old Taylor's" in a graveyard; she pokes fun at her constantly criticized "girl squad," showing hundreds of glossy-eyed models all standing at her attention; she even ends the video with 14 iconic Taylor looks, all making fun of everything that the media has ever portrayed her as.
Taylor has always paid close attention to detail and subtle imagery in her work, and this video was no different. While the song itself was ridiculously repetitive and lacked substance, the video almost made up for it. The entire video could have served as a palate cleanser for Swift, granting her a new start, but it can really only be taken two ways: either she's really going to change her reputation, or she's going to stay the same.
Taylor's Hypocrisy Was Pretty Expected
If her not-so-subtle hint-filled music video wasn't enough to prove her constant concern over her image, Taylor then released the second song off of her upcoming album called "...Ready For It?" This second release was probably even more important than her first release of LWYMMD; her second song would really show her fans what type of music she was going to be creating, whether the lyrics would be meaningful and discuss something other than her past styles (which, frankly, were often about different boyfriends and exes), and whether we would really get to see this "new Taylor" that had been waiting to emerge for two years.
But with the release of RFI we just got to see her same old songs put to a different beat. Sure, the sound is a little more in-your-face, hard-hitting and hip hop-esque, but the lyrics are extremely resembling of her old music: talking about a boy that she is with, and how he makes her feel, and all that jazz. RFI's lyrics are definitely more mature, explaining a more sexual relationship than the innocent flings that Swift used to sing about in songs like "Begin Again" and "You Belong With Me," but in both of her new singles, the message seems to be the same: she's trying too hard to act like she doesn't care.
Taylor could have continued making music the way she always has, without claiming to be this new, unapologetic bad-ass that she plays in these songs.
It would have been one thing if she only created "LWYMMD," which could have been the opening to a new Swift era of rebellion and independence never before seen. She also could have just released RFI without claiming to change who she is, just experimenting with a new sound. Either song would be fine on its own, but putting the two together creates incredible hypocrisy and completely defeats the purpose of LWYMMD (and probably the entire Reputation album). Artists have every right to explore musical styles and find who they are and what they're comfortable doing- Taylor is one of these artists, and she's done so in the past, moving from country music to gain her prominent stance in the pop world.
But she shouldn't claim to be this "new Taylor" if she's going to continue year-long feuds and sing about boys just like she always has. Kudos to her for trying something new, but is it really all that new, if we think about it?
