Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do (Universal)

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The 13th Floor’s Kate Powell weighs in on the new Taylor Swift single…

With her first solo single since 1989, Taylor Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do is the unfortunate result of what happens when bad blood sinks down into the bone marrow.
The half-rapped, half-assed three minutes and thirty five seconds of this song is a dig at Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry and probably a bunch of ex-boyfriends for good measure. The unlikely pair of West and Swift have been feuding since West stormed the stage during Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs. This moment launched a thousand memes and a gripe that neither have been able to shake off after close to a decade. Swift’s feud with Perry has continued for five years, with Swift’s re-appropriation of the snake emoji a hamfisted attack on Kardashian.

Like many pop stars before her,  Swift has a long history of turning the pages of her burn book into profit. The difference here is that previous examples had some eloquence. Look What You Made Me Do is filled with the artless banalities you would hurl at your ex as they walk out the door. There is nothing left to be said, but you want to hurt them so that they know you’re hurting.

The vagueness about various dramas throughout the track completely misses the point of a truly good diss track. They’re meant to be specific, cutting, even funny. All Swift is doing is slyly hinting enough so that an internet thirsty for drama can draw their own breathless conclusions. Swift on the other hand can play both the fool and the innocent as she sees fit. Make no mistake, this song is not savage or a clapback. She does not take aim at anyone because that would require conviction on her part. In fact, the beefs with West and Perry would be long dead if either side didn’t keep resuscitating  them.

Production-wise it is a messy pastiche of references that only serve to further date the work. Right Said Fred’s I’m Sexy and I Know It is not the first song that comes to mind when I think “revenge song hook” but it’s being sampled here. While static-y undercurrents and jarring drums would not be out of place on electro-queen Peaches 2003 track Operate. Although this is probably an attempt to make Swift seem edgy, it backfires spectacularly.

Look What You Made Me Do ultimately sounds like the heady period between 2002-2004 where the airwaves were dominated by nominally alternative-girls-who-are-not-like-other-girls. It’s a boring song about beefs that are well past their use-by date and aren’t even packaged into music that pushes into new soundscapes

Regardless, this beef will keep on selling, because Swift has a real talent for extending its shelf life, given that her entire musical career has been spent playing the victim who never forgives. Her early work called out ex boyfriends, overly feminine women, and those who were mean to her and probably her cats. She has built everything on her being perceived as perfect, not-like-other-girls. She claims to hate drama..that everyone attacks her…but within the realms of her songs this is not the case.

In Look What You Made Me Do she claims that the old Taylor can’t come to the phone because she’s dead, while the imagery of the snake, who sheds its skin and is reborn, was utilized in the run up to the single’s release. But I don’t buy it. Taylor is still the petty girl with a victim complex who sang ‘You Belong with Me’ decked out in cowboy boots.

Kate Powell

Note: This review reflects my opinions on Taylor Swift’s musical career only. I strongly applaud her recent court case win and hope that it gives women courage to stand up against sexual assault.

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