Click here for the meaning of the song, "Look What You Made Me Do."
This video is chalked full of references, secret clues and Easter Eggs. Here is my in depth analysis. I have bolded important points and used caps for the different important characters and scenes. Please let me know what you think or anything I have missed.
- 0:06 SCENE 1 We see a mansion on the ground from an overhead shot with crows flying, and a lightening and thunderstorm. This reminds me of the thriller opening.
- 0:10 We see a TS in lights on the ground.
- 0:17 We see a tombstone that says Here Lies Taylor Swift's Reputation.
- 0:21 We see Taylor Swift as a ZOMBIE in her Out of the Woods dress, the last music video from the 1989 Era.
- 0:28 Taylor pulls on of the tombstones to make the stage not tilted anymore. She is holding a shovel and burying someone.
- 0:30 One of the graves says Nils Sjoberg. This is the pen name she used when she wrote "This is What You Came For" with Calvin Harris.
- 0:34 Taylor is being buried in her 2014 MET GALA dress, her first appearance of the 1989 Era.
- 0:35 SCENE 2 Taylor is in a bathtub of jewels, this look is iconic of her BLANK SPACE video, a 1 dollar bill can be see right by her. She is wearing jewels and her nails are painted red.This is the one dollar bill from her court case with Anthony Mueller, which she won! There is a heart necklace on the side of the tub. This is the necklace that Calvin gave her for their one year anniversary. It also spells out no, some have speculated he proposed.
- 0:38 The room is full of mirrors.
- 0:39 Taylor is wearing 4 or 5 rings, one is a flower like ring, another a snake. This a quote about the media in 2015 where she said they think she just sits in a marble bathtub surrounded by pearls.
- 0:47 Taylor shoots a gun in the bathtub and eats her jewels.
- 0:48 The mirrors part to...
- SCENE 3 0:50 Taylor sitting on a throne in a red robe, wearing gold shoes and a gold necklace surrounded by SNAKES. In the background on of the pillars says Brute in reference to the Et tu Brute from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The snakes are in reference to Kim Kardashian calling her a snake. Her hair is pulled back tightly into a half pony tail.
- 0:54 Snakes are seen on the ground slithering. There are gold snake staffs holding candles. Taylor's throne is gold and the chair has snakes on it.
- 0:55 We see a closeup of Taylor's hand. She has 4 snake rings red, gold and silver, her nails are long and painted gold. They look like snake fangs. The gold post of her throne has the words Et tu Brute in black on it, another Shakespeare reference.
- 1:00 Taylor is being served tea by a snake.
- SCENE 4 1:06 We see a gold Maserati CAR CRASH into a pole.
- 1:07 There is a necklace, a watch, and pink/gold coffee cup flying.
- 1:13 Taylor is dressed in cheetah fur coat, with black sunglasses, gold necklace, black dress, with bright pink lipstick and hair in a pony tail.
- 1:15 We see a stream of photographers capturing the car crash.The building in the background says TS.
- 1:16 Taylor is holding a Grammy after the car crash. She has straight blond bangs and looks a lot like Katy Perry in this scene. She may be mocking Katy for not having any Grammy's.
- 1:20 We see a cheetah in the seat next to Taylor wearing a 13 necklace.
- SCENE 5 1:21 Taylor is in a gold cage in a red swing, with an ORANGE JUMPSUIT, gold choker and orange boots. Her hair is down and curled. She is surrounded by about 7 men dressed in black with padding on top it looks like.
- 1:33 Taylor is eating a feast in the cage, with what looks like a red bird, a gold wine cooler, and a glass of wine. This is probably in reference to Katy Perry's Bon Appétit music video.
- SCENE 6 1:35 Taylor is seen with some henchmen inside a vault. The signs in the back indicate it is the Steam Company. This is in reference to her exit from Spotify and standing up to Apple and how the media said she just exited and made a big deal for the money. She is wearing a cat mask and the others in the vault are too. She is wearing a black sweatshirt with a cat and roses on it on it and "Blind for Love" at the bottom. She has on red boots and her hair is very disheveled. This is in reference to the media always saying she falls so quickly in love and jumps from man to man. She is twirling a yellow bat.
- SCENE 7 1:43 Taylor gets on a MOTORCYCLE wearing a black hat, black boots, and black leather jacket. It reminds me of Britney Spears look from her I Love Rock 'N' Roll video. It also references her "Bad Blood" music video.
- Back to SCENE 6 1:46 We see another shot of the BANK with Taylor dressed in the CAT SWEATSHIRT with money falling all around. She is also holding money in her hand and it is burning. This represents the media making fun of her for cats and saying she is money hungry.
- 1:47: We see Taylor walking with her hood up, back laying on the back of her head. She is accompanied by friends dressed in blue, pink yellow, and red wearing sunglasses and holding money with the stream company in the background. The men in the background are wearing suits and running around like crazy in their desks.
- SCENE 8 1:50 Taylor is in the front of the room on a stage at a podium with U and SQUAD on two screens. It changes to a cat and then back to the SQUAD. There are lines of woman all dressed in black lingerie. There are two people standing on either side of her. She is also dressed the same except with a cape and red boots. This represents the media saying she only has friends to show off, tells them what to do and post on social media.
- 2:02 Taylor is laying down with a bunch of the model women.
- SCENE 9 2:06 Taylor is walking into a BALLROOM of sorts with really curly hair in a black outfit with black netting on top and bottom and a black half cap with very dark lipstick, and black boots. There are men in the room dressed in suit coats following her around. They form a line and hold walkie talkies. There are 8 men. Some speculate these are all her former boyfriends, Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor Kennedy, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris, and Tom Hiddleston. The Walkie Talkies represent that the media says Taylor tells her men what to do.
- SCENE 10 2:13 Taylor is standing on a GOLD JET with a saw in her hand. She is wearing a multicolored outfit with boots. The Jet represents that the media saysTaylor jet sets around the world.
- Back to SCENE 9 2:14 Taylor is standing with the men who we now see are wearing heals and shirts with I Heart TS on them. This is in reference to the shirt that Tom Hiddleston wore on July 4, 2016 on her beach. He was super mocked by the media for wearing it.
- Back to SCENE 10 2:15 Taylor is cutting the wings off a jet in an airplane hanger.
- Back to SCENE 9 2:16 Back to the men standing in a line behind Taylor with their hands on their hips. They take off their coats to reveal their I HEART TS shirts.
- Back to SCENE 10 2:19 Taylor kicks off her wing on her airplane.
- Back to SCENE 9 2:20 Back to the men and Taylor, we see her friend Todrick Hall in the background.
- SCENE 11 2:22 In a new scene Taylor is wearing a "rep" sweater/short jumpsuit. Her hair looks wet and is pulled back. She is wearing long, silver, pointy earrings. She is standing in front of a lit up T and a bunch of people who happened to be....
- 2:26 Different Taylor's grabbing and fighting.
- 2:31 We see a close up of the following Taylors:
- FEARLESS TOUR Taylor wearing a silver dress with a 13 on her hand. She has her hand on back of a
- RED TOUR wearing a red sequined jacket with a black top hat.
- 2015 Billboard Music awards Taylor is wearing a white jumpsuit.
- Taylor wearing a black and white dress from the 2014 ACM awards.
- Taylor wearing pajamas from the "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" music video.
- 2:33 We see a shot from above with "rep" Taylor's head and the other Taylor's below her.
- 2:35. We see a guitar, a silver one from her Fearless Tour and Fearless Taylor reaching up and the baton from her Red Tour. We see the following Taylor's:
- BALLERINA Taylor wearing a tutu from "Shake It Off",
- RED TOUR Taylor,
- WANEGBT Taylor wearing pajamas,
- JUNIOR JEWELS Taylor wearing her shirt from "You Belong With Me" music video.
- Taylor wearing the jacket from her tour performance for "22" on the Red Tour
- Taylor wearing a Red polka dot shirt from "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" music video.
- 2:36 Back to a confident "rep" Taylor singing on top of the other Taylors.
- 2:37 We see Junior Jewels Taylor reaching and in anguish. She has the names of her current friends on her shirt; Martha, Selena, Blake & Ryan, Gigi, Este, Todrick, Lena, Abigail, Lily, Claire, Ed, Alana, and Danielle.
- 2:38 Back to "rep" Taylor.
- 2:39 We see all the Taylors fighting again and Junior Jewel's Taylor is the only one looking into the distance. This time we see some more Taylors:
- Taylor wearing a jumpsuit she wore to the 2014 VMA's,
- Taylor wearing a silver jacket from "Welcome to New York" from her 1989 tour,
- Taylor wearing a jump suit from her Style performance on her 1989 tour,
- Taylor wearing a dress from bleachella in 2015
- Taylor wearing a cheerleader outfit from her "Shake It Off" music video
- Taylor wearing a black crop pants/long sleeved crop top outfit from the 2015 VMA's.
- 2:40 Back to "rep" Taylor.
- 2:42 Taylor standing on Top of other Taylors, RED TOUR TAYLOR has her baton up. We catch a glimpse of more Taylors:
- Taylor wearing a black top, white shirt and black shorts from her "State of Grace" outfit for her Red Tour.
- Taylor wearing a marching band outfit from her "Fearless" tour.
- 2:43 We see FEARLESS TOUR TAYLOR and RED TOUR TAYLOR fighting over a baton I presume with Ballerina Taylor in the background.
- 2:44 We see the close of up RED TOUR TAYLOR
- 2:46 A black boot Taylor, the 2016 Vogue cover Taylor, the one where she changed her look kicking the Junior Jewels Taylor.
- 2:46 Back to "rep" Taylor
- 2:51 A full shot of all the Taylors falling with "rep" Taylor at the top. This represents Taylor's reputation being ruined with the infamous phone call with Kanye West.
- 2:52 RED TOUR TAYLOR falling
- 2:55 JUNIOR JEWELS Taylor falling.
- 2:56 We see the Taylor from the bathtub holding a phone.
- 2:57 Back to JUNIOR JEWELS Taylor
- 3:00 We see FEARLESS TOUR TAYLOR falling with her guitar
- 3:01 Back to the phone
- 3:02 We see FEARLESS TOUR TAYLOR again falling
- 3:03 Back to the phone
- 3:03 We see RED TOUR TAYLOR Falling
- 3:04 Back to the phone, "She's dead"
- Back to SCENE 1 3:05 Flash of ZOMBIE Taylor
- Back to SCENE 9 3:05 Back to BALLROOM Taylor in the room with guys, she and the guys dance
- Back to SCENE 4 3:21 CAR CRASH Taylor is walking away with the cheetah from the car crash with the TS building in the background, there is an explosion
- Back to SCENE 3 3:22 Back to SNAKE Taylor in the throne room.
- 3:23 Back to BANK Taylor in the bank.
- 3:23 Back to BALLROOM Taylor, this time the men are dancing and she is playing with her hair.
- 3:28 MOTORCYCLE Taylor is holding up two motorcycles
- 3:30 Back to the men, they are in a line again and stooping down as the camera pans to them. Taylor pushes them at the end of the sequence
- Back to SCENE 10 3:32 Back to GOLD JET Taylor painting an airplane
- Back to SCENE 9 3:34 Back to BALLROOM Taylor and the men, she ends by holding up her leg to one, END OF THE SONG
- Back to SCENE 10 3:36 Multiple Taylor's are in front of the airplane. There is a crowd applauding and all the Taylors are bowing, Reputation can be seen written on the back of the airplane. The 15 Taylors include:
- Motorcycle Taylor
- Bank Taylor
- "rep" Taylor
- Red Tour Taylor
- Fearless Tour Taylor
- Car Crash Taylor
- 2009 VMA's Taylor holding an award and microphone
- 2014 Met Gala Taylor
- Taylor from the Ballroom with the men
- Junior Jewels Taylor
- Zombie Taylor
- Ballerina Taylor
- Snake Taylor
- Orange jumpsuit Taylor
- Reputation Taylor on the airplane-This is the real Taylor.
- SCENE 10 3:41 Dialog begins between all the Taylors. TS6 is written on the rudder of the airplane. This is a reference to her 6th studio album. Taylor makes fun of herself for all the things the media gives her a hard time for later. Here is the dialog:
- JUNIOR JEWELL: You guys
- ZOMBIE TAYLOR to Junior Jewel: Stop making that surprised face. It is SO annoying
- BALLERINA TAYLOR to Junior Jewel: You can't possibly be that surprised all the time
- SNAKE Taylor: Hisses
- BALLROOM Taylor fussing with her nails: What's with that b****?
- ZOMBIE Taylor to Ballroom Taylor: Don't call me that!
- FEARLESS Taylor: Y'all
- RED TAYLOR to Fearless Taylor: Oh stop acting like you're all nice, you are SO FAKE.
- FEARLESS Taylor: Cries
- RED TOUR TAYLOR: Makes a face
- MOTORCYCLE TAYLOR: There she goes, playing the victim, sigh again
- SNAKE TAYLOR: (Hisses at Ballerina Taylor is who not paying attention and playing with her neck)
- MET GALA TAYLOR to Car Crash Taylor: What are you doing?
- CAR CRASH TAYLOR: Getting receipts. (2014 VMA Taylor acts astonished 2009 VMA acts sad) Gonna edit this later. (This is in reference to Kim Kardashians fake life, taking selfies all the the time and editing everything later)
- VMA TAYLOR: Uh, I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative.
- ALL TAYLORS: Oh Shut Up
This video was amazing. I am glad that Taylor has enough confidence in herself to make a video like this. She is nothing like this video portrays. She is a caring, kind person that just happens to be hugely successful at writing music about her life. I am excited to see what the Reputation album has in store if it is more poking fun of herself or we will see her true self. We will see on November 10th!
