Major Music Video Analysis

Pop Music
Taylor Swift
'Ready For It?'

Taylor Swifts music video 'Ready For It?' has many sci-fi elements and symbolism and behold a greater meaning. The purpose of her video is to shock and leave the audience questioning what everything means. Some may say that it is about the future and the emergence of the new Taylor Swift. Many aspects that contain symbolism are not fully explained but leave us questioning the reality of the feature, for example; The nude body suit could symbolise Taylors 'Rebirth' and the robotic scenes portray the growth and change she has gone through in the last year in order to become stronger and more empowered. Her purpose for these kinds of videos is about being exciting, finding new directions, fresh starts and the unknown.
However the aspect that stood out to me the most while I was watching this music video was the storyline and meaning behind Swifts 'double ganger'. I believe the twin version of herself that is trapped in a glass cage represents Taylor Swifts true self. Which is very similar to the ideas and meanings we have in our own video. In more detail, at the time this music video and in fact her album was released she was under fire from a lot of critics and the public because of her choices and overall attitude to handling disagreements and conflicts with the public and other celebrities. Moreover, a lot of her songs in her latest album were very expressive about 'the new Taylor' and how she is not who she used to be. This is what I think she is trying to portray in this particular music video. Her true self (the one trapped) is trying desperately to escape and be free, despite the public, other celebrities and to an extent Taylor's dismay. As even Taylor in this video is trapping herself in the box; she may be afraid of her true self and what everyone will think of her. However, by the end the Taylor that is trapped escapes and reveals the true person she is, which is very empowering for her young audience, who the majority are women and young girls. Empowering these women gives this video a much deeper meaning and gives it emotion, which the audience may also feel.
An editing aspect of this video that I have taken inspiration from is at the beginning when the tone and beats of the song become very rapid and the clips have been edited to match those beats. Overall, this links the song with the visual effects, them being connected makes the video much more appealing for the audience. This effect can also be seen throughout her music video. I have taken this effect and applied it to my own video, as our song has similar beats that are simultaneous and would work effectively with clips being cut at those beats. It would also make an effective montage.
There are many hidden messages in this video, which leaves the audience questioning what everything means. This is something that I would like to include in our video, as it makes a music video a lot more interesting and unique, compared to the stereotypical music videos which majority of the time include mainly lip-syncing. Ours will have a storyline.