Analysis of Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do"

1. C
TAYLOR SWIFT – “LOOK
WHAT YOU MADE ME DO”
VIDEO ANALYSIS
Laura Neale

2. Genre
The genre is pop music.
Conventions of a pop video
shown include the use of bright
colours/clothing, the use of
makeup, the use of expensive
objects such as cars and
diamonds to show to artist’s
wealth, and also the use of a lot
of close ups on Taylor’s face.

3. Star Image/Brand
Taylor Swift is the solo singer in the video, and she is
appealing to her audience of fans of pop music. Her specific
target audience are teenagers, and she appeals to them
through the use of technology, and through what she talks
about in her songs.
However, part of her image is that she causes a lot of
controversy in the media, both through her videos and
through her many high profile relationships, and hidden
‘Easter eggs’ are scattered throughout her videos, so every
time she releases a new one, her fans are quick to spot her
hidden messages, which in turn, cause more controversy in the
media.

4. Performance/Abstract
Taylor’s video is mainly performace, as she does a lot of lip syncing and
dancing. However there is also an element of abstract as she does do
things that have no relevance to the song, like robbing a bank whilst
wearing a cat mask, and so you could consider her video to be partly
abstract.
There isn’t any story line to Taylor’s video, and so it can’t be considered a
narrative.
Taylor likes to use her videos to convey who she is to her audience – she
likes to come across as independent and strong as so will use her video to
show this, however she also likes to use her videos to ‘throw shade’ (to
publicly talk badly about someone, usually in a subtle way) at people she
has recently fallen out with. For example, in this video, she caused
controversy when she wore a t-shirt with her squad members written on
it, but had purposly left off squad members she had recently argued with.

5. Music
First, there is a sound effect of thunder, to set the graveyard scene. The music then brings in string
instruments, again adding to the creepy effect. The beat of the music sounds a lot like a heartbeat,
which contradicts what is happening on screen, due to the fact it is set in a graveyard, and a
‘Zombie Taylor’ is singing. The music builds during the pre-chorus and the tempo gets a little bit
faster, which means the cuts also get quicker.
During the bank scene, you can hear sirens in the music, which matches the action on screen as
you would expect an alarm to be going off or for the police to be there.
During the bridge the music slows down and the strings come back in, making the music sound
sad. This could suggest that she is mourning the loss of the ‘old Taylors’ that she is stood on top
of.

6. Lyrics
Lots of Taylor’s lyrics match up to
what is happening on scree, for
example she sings the lyrics “Don’t
like your tilted stage”, and as she
sings it she pulls n a gravestone to
straighten them all up.
She later does this again,
singing “You said the gun was
mine”, whilst miming shooting a
gun on-screen

7. Lyrics cont.
Taylor’s lyrics also include lots of connotations.
For example Taylor says that someone’s name is
“In red underline”, the colour red connoting
bad/danger, suggesting that this person has
done something wrong and so they could be in
danger.
Later Taylor sings “Look what you made me do”
when she crashes her car, despite the fact that
there is no one else in the car with her, this
could suggest that the person she is singing
about causes her to do things she doesn’t want
to because they are constantly on her mind.

8. Lyrics cont.
Lastly, Taylor also has some lyrics
that contradict what is happening
on screen, in order to make her
audience really think about what
she means. For example, she sings
“All I think about is Karma”, but
does so whilst robbing a bank.
Robbing a bank would give you bad
Karma due to it being illegal, and so
the audience is left questioning
what this really means.

9. Mise en Scene
When the clip starts the lighting is dark
to match the creepy graveyard scene,
and we see a gravestone on screen with
the words “Here lies Taylor’s reputation”
etched into it, which could represent
how she has been portrayed quite
negatively in the media lately. This is
then emphasised by her dressed in a
zombie costume with zombie makeup,
as this is symbolic of the old, sweet,
innocent Taylor being ‘dead’, and the
new Taylor being cold-hearted.

10. Mise en Scene cont.
We then see Taylor in a bath full of jewels, which could
be symbolic of her still thinking that she is worth it
despite the bad media, or could simply be being used to
flaunt her wealth to her viewers which is typical of the
pop genre, and a reoccurring theme in Taylor’s videos.
However, due to Taylor’s on-going fued with Kanye
West, it is also possible that this scene is supposed to
refer to when Kim Kadashian was robbed in Paris, as she
was robbed at gunpoint in a hotel bathroom over
jewellery, which would also explain the lyrics and
matching hand gesture about a gun, since Taylor and
Kanye don’t get on well. Also visible in the bath among
the jewels is a single dollar bill, which could be symbolic
of the dollar bill she won in a court case against a DJ
who groped her – she said that the single dollar bill was
worth so much more than $1 to her, which could explain
why it is in a bath full of valuble jewellery, which shows
how Taylor often includes small details in her videos that
refrence to her everyday life, in order to provide things
for her fans to spot in her videos, to keep them
interested.

11. Mise en Scene cont.
In the next scene Taylor is wearing
red, which has the connotations of
being dangerous, and so could again
emphasise how the old Taylor is
gone, and the new Taylor is
dangerous. There are also lots of
snakes in this scene, which could
represent how Taylor feels about the
people around her. If someone is
thought to be ‘two-faced’ or ‘fake’
then they are often referred to as
‘snakes’.

12. Mise en Scene cont.
In the next scene, Taylor is again
flaunting her wealth using an
expensive looking gold car, with an
expensive watch clearly seen flying
around when the car crashes. This is
reinforced however, when she
immediately starts to pose for the
paparazzi, despite just crashing her
car, showing that she doesn’t care
because she can just buy another
one, and therefore representing her
wealth outside of the video.

13. Mise en Scene cont.
Taylor is then seen on a swing inside a
giant golden bird cage. This could be
representative of how she feels trapped
due to the bad media she gets, however
as she still has expensive food and drink
like lobster and champagne, as well as the
bird cage itself being gold, it again could
be her flaunting her wealth and showing
that despite the bad media she is still
really well off.
The swing in the bird cage could also be a
pop culture reference to Harley Quinn in
the film ‘Suicide Squad’. Harley Quinn is a
villain in an asylum, and so could be
saying that the person Taylor is singing
about has driven her as mad as Harley
Quinn, or could simply be trying to draw
in views and publicity by referencing it,
due to the success of the film.

14. Mise en Scene cont.
Taylor and the people around her are
then seen wearing brightly coloured
clothes and cat masks whilst robbing a
bank. These bright colours and the
quirky masks are typical of a pop
video, and it also helps to appeal to
Taylor’s primary audience of
young/teenage girls.
Taylor is also seen burning money,
which again could be her showing how
much money she has, as she can burn
it without being bothered.

15. Mise en Scene cont.
During the next pre chorus, Taylor is seen at
the front of the room, seemingly
commanding an army of women. Each are
dressed in the same clothing and look very
similar, the look very plastic-looking and
almost fake, making them appear like dolls.
They look like societies idea of the ‘perfect
woman’. This, paired with the word ‘Squad’
flashing on big screens, represents how
Taylor only wants the perfect people in her
squad. The lighting is also very pink, which
could represent how Taylor wants her squad
to be primarily female due to her being big
on ‘girl power’, as the colour pink is often
connected with girls.

16. Mise en Scene cont.
In the next scene, Taylor is seen dancing with a
group of men, and there is a close up of them
revealing that they are wearing ‘I heart TS’ t-shirts.
This could be representative of how despite all of
the bad media she gets, Taylor still has fans, and
she still wants people to like her. However the
eight men in the video could also represent the
eight high profile relationships Taylor has had, and
the t-shirt is something that her latest ex Tom
Hiddlestone was seen wearing, and so again shows
how Taylor uses little details to refrence things
that happen in her everyday life.
During the bridge she is then seen standing on a
pile of ‘other’ Taylor Swifts. This could represent
how she used to be like them, as many are
recognisable from previous videos, like the one
from “Shake it off”, however she is now a new,
better Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, all the ‘old’ Taylors
are trying to make it to the top of the pile, which
could represent her struggle to become who she is
now.
Shake it off
video
Look what you
made me do
video

17. Mise en Scene cont. / Voyeurism
Lastly, Taylor is seen throughout the video wearing
several different black costumes. As the colour
black is often associated with darkness and
badness, this could be a possible reflection of the
bad media she gets, and the act that she is
embracing it. This is particularly emphasised by
one of the black costumes having the word ‘REP’
written on it, suggesting her reputation has been
blackened by the bad media. This is sometimes
paired by dark lighting as well to add extra
emphasis, as seen in the bridge. Taylor’s costumes
are also often quite revealing and sexy, in order to
gain views from sex appeal, and gain publicity as
nudity often causes outrage in the media,
particularly with female artists.

18. Camera Work/Editing
The video opens with an aerial shot
over the graveyard, so that it can set
the scene. It then fades into the next
shot using clouds to cover the
camera, in order to give a spooky
effect for the graveyard scene. The
camera then zooms in on the
gravestone hat reads ‘Here lies
Taylor Swift’s reputation’ in order to
draw focus to the words and
emphasise them. Lots of the shots in
this scene are very long with straight
cuts in between which add to the
creepy atmosphere as it almost
builds up a bit of tension.

19. Camera Work/Editing cont.
There is then a mid shot of ‘Zombie Taylor’
climbing out of the grave, so that you can see
what she is doing, but also still see her Zombie
makeup which again, adds to the scary feeling
the graveyard is giving off. We then see an aerial
shot of Taylor in the grave, with a match cut to
her lying in the same position in a bath full of
jewels, possibly to emphasis the different views
people have of her – the media give her a hard
time, and so are represented by the grave shot,
whilst her fans remain loyal and nice to her, and
so are represented by the bath shot. There is also
a side shot of Taylor in the bath, with a focus
change where you first see her reflection and
then you see her, and so the mirrors almost trick
you so you don’t know if your looking at Taylor
or a reflection which makes it confusing, but
interesting to watch.

20. Camera Work/Editing cont.
The screen then splits down the
middle and parts, almost like
doors, and then we see Taylor sat
in chair at the top of the staircase,
and so the edit makes it seem like
the audience is literally walking out
of one scene and opening double
doors into the next. There is also a
change in the depth of field, first
the ‘doors’ are in focus, and then
Taylor comes into focus as the
transition continues, which helps to
effortlessly move into the next
scene.

21. Camera Work/Editing cont.
There is then a long, low angle shot of
Taylor on a throne surrounded by snakes,
and the camera slowly zooms in on her,
which could represent how people look up
to/ she feels as if she should be looked up
to, or that she feels like she is better than
everyone else. There is also a close up of
her jewellery that matches the snakes on
screen, an helps to emphasise the point
about her being surrounded by
untrustworthy people, buy could also
suggest that she is untrustworthy too.

22. Camera Work/Editing cont.
There is then slow motion of the car
crashing into the post, and slow motion of
everything flying around inside, however
with a close up inside of the car, we can see
that Taylor’s lip syncing is still in time with
the music, so the audience can see the slow
motion effect without it ruining the
performance aspect of the video. This again
makes the video quite confusing to watch,
but also helps to put a lot of focus on the
lyrics that she is singing.

23. Camera Work/Editing cont.
When Taylor is in the cage, you first see a
close up of her on the swing, and then
the camera zooms out to a long shot to
reveal that she is in the cage. This helps
to put emphasis on the fact that she is
trapped as you don’t realise until the
camera is fully zoomed out and so it
makes the audience focus on the fact that
she is in a giant bird cage.
The zoom out is then followed by several
zoom ins. Which emphasise how Taylor
wants to be the centre of attention in her
video and wants people to focus on just
her.

24. Camera Work/Editing cont.
When Taylor is in the room with the male
dancers, there is a tracking shot that
follows here through the room, showing
that despite the dancers being there, she is
the most important and the person
everyone should be looking at.
During the bridge, we then see the camera
zoom out to emphasise how she is stood
on top of a pile of ‘old Taylors’, and the
slow zoom helps to shock the audience as
you wouldn’t expect her to be stood on
top of a pile of ‘other Taylors’.

25. Camera Work/Editing cont.
We then see an extreme close up of Taylor’s mouth,
while on the phone saying “I’m sorry, the old Taylor
can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh! ‘Coz
she’d dead!”. This extreme close up helps to put a lot
of emphasis on the words she is saying, in order to
draw the audiences attention to it. During the first part
of the sentence, the focus is on her hand and the
phone, which matches the lyrics when she talks about
the phone, and the snake jewellery also links back to
the last scene when she was saying that no-one trusts
her.
The extreme close ups however, are intercut with shots
of the ‘old Taylors’ falling off of the pile, which could
suggest that the shots are flashbacks to when the ‘old
Taylors’ died.

26. Camera Work/Editing cont.
During the second half of the sentence the focus
is on Taylor, not on the phone or her hand any
more, which again is to draw the viewers attention
to what she is saying, even more so when she says
the word ‘dead’, as you cant even see the phone
anymore, just her mouth.
Finally, the word ‘dead’ is followed by a quick cut
and a fast shot of ‘zombie Taylor’ with lights
flashing in the background. The shot only lasts for
less than a second, but the zombie helps to put a
lot of emphasise on the word ‘dead’, and almost
seems like it is there to make the viewer jump, and
so helps to convey the severity of the word and
the message Taylor is trying to get across – that
she has changed and there’s nothing you can do
about it because the old Taylors are gone.

27. Camera Work/Editing cont.
Throughout the video
there are several close ups
of Taylor lip syncing, to
emphasise the
performance aspect of her
video, as well as give a
detailed picture of her
different makeup, which is
a common convention for
female sin pop videos.