The Unbearable White Womanhood Of Taylor Swift (2017 Remix)

When Taylor Swift posted a teaser clip from her new music video for the single Look What You Made Me Do, she got instantly and extensively dragged for a particular images close similarity to Beyoncs Formation and Lemonade aesthetic. The videos director, Jospeh Kahn, denied any connection .

The full video debuted as an exclusive segment during the 2017 MTV VMAs (Swifts favorite stage for pettiness and the scene of the original crime against her Kanyes 2009 interruption that in all fairness did actually make that b**** famous ). Its true the visual from the teaser invokes moments in Beyoncs Formation (as does the sonic aspect of Look What You Made Me Do), but in larger context, theres something else going on.

The video as a whole is an amalgamation of ripoffs: Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Sia, Nicki Minaj, and Beyonc videos all seem to be reference points, along with some of Swifts own. (And those are just the ones I caught on first viewing I dont want to watch that thing again.) Apropos of nothing, theres also a particularly cheap shot at Katy Perry during a car crash scene where Swifts hair is arranged to look like Perrys new short cut while Swift grasps a Grammy Award something Katy Perry has yet to win.

Swift and Kahn may have been using references to other videos as a commentary on the notion of celebrity, publicity, reputation in general. But hidden underneath the collaged cultural references is the fact that Swift actually copied the entire concept and execution of another unlikely Beyonc production, one that had much bigger implications beyond just music. Im talking about the Pepsi commercial that prefaced her performance at the 2013 Superbowl and the release of Life Is But A Dream shortly thereafter.

That simple commercial (though nothing Beyonc does is ever truly simple) was about disassociating a public performer self from a private persona. Becoming Beyonc the artist and Beyonc the person simultaneously. While shed always been hesitant to speak about her private life in public, 2013 marked an even more extreme shift. She quit giving interviews. She spoke to the public only through the visual medium of Instragram. Since 2013, that intense privacy she created hasnt eroded. She drew a heavy line as a survival strategy.

She hints at this strategy in Life Is But A Dream with a sly reference to Nina Simone. Citing that fans didnt question what Simones daughter was wearing on any given day and that they just enjoyed the music. Beyonc describes the way the culture of celebrity has changed over the past few decades and the viewer sees Beyonc longing for that same ability to be private while still making affecting important art. The reference to Simone takes on even more urgent layers now that the public knows the extent of her mental health struggles.

Beyoncs Pepsi commercial showed various iconic moments from past videos in mirrors while Beyonc herself danced the choreography in front of them. It was a kind of daydream motif where she was reflected back at herself in multiple, but in ways that were frozen in time. This is also the first time the public heard a snippet of the song Grown Woman a song where Beyonc asserts she can do whatever [she] wants (and she has certainly proven that she can). At the end of the commercial, the mirrors shatter at Beyoncs direction; shards fly and Beyonc is born anew. A new Beyonc is born. This one, coupled with her allusions in Life Is But A Dream, has a different relationship to publicity and privacy. She will not be as accessible to the public as she may have been in the past. This new strategy culminated in the earth-stopping surprise release of BEYONC on December 13, 2013. While marketing and business moves came out of the strategy, the division itself was about self-preservation.

At the end of Swifts music video, various versions of her past selves stand in front of an airplane and argue with one another. We also learn that the old Taylor cant come to phone right now because shes dead. Will the real Taylor Swift please stand up? She cant because there is no true Taylor Swift behind the costumes. Theres no central Taylor Swift as protagonist, like there is a central Beyonc in the commercial; only more derivatives, more artifice. She attempts to position this realization as an artistic coming of age, but its really just her refusing to take responsibility after her true colors were exposed. In fact, the last Taylor we see returns us to the VMAs in 2009: shes holding her moon man trophy and asking to be excluded from a narrative that she once again created.

And remember the title: Look What You Made Me Do. Look what we made her do. Shes blaming us. Shes blaming the fact that we saw behind the curtain, that we found out about her lies and manipulation, as the end result of a hungry public; not because shes ever done anything wrong. Celebrity culture today does create a hungry public, but that excuse is a disingenuous deflection. The subtext is: you made me come clean because I was caught and I had no other choice. It reads as a threat.

I have no doubt pretentious artistic credit will be heaped on Swift for this brave, bold artistic move, but its still just another copy. Beyonc did all this over four years ago and she did it from a place of survival and authenticity. To have an actual life in addition to being Beyonc, she had to draw strict boundaries. And not only with the public, but with people in her private life. Swift is appropriating that same strategy, but in a curious reverse, to further her manipulative inauthenticity. Shes erasing the lines of previously understood boundaries to signal that all bets are off. What is supposed to be self-deprecating awareness of her past is actually a threat to the audience.

In Beyoncs commercial, her past moments and achievements were celebrated, but she was lovingly shutting a particular door to the public. Swift is throwing open every door in the house and threatening us with what else might be lurking in the dark. Shes weaponizing her reputation (which is that of doe-eyed perpetually victimized white woman) and holding the world hostage. Shes weaponizing her white womanhood, as shes been doing since 2009, and attempting to co-opt and subvert the strategy of a black woman (Beyonc) for her own gain. Dont fall for it. Taylor Swift has attempted to keep us all trapped in 2009 for long enough. If shes unlocking and opening doors, its time we run. Like Beyonc says in the commercial that Swift clearly didnt study before she ripped it off: Embrace your past. But live for now.