Taylor Swift would like you to start your Thursday with some contemplation of the U.S.'s imbalanced gender power dynamics. The singer just released her new music video for "The Man," which she directed and starred in. She completely transformed for the role, as seen in the before/after photos at the end of her prosthetics journey.
Swift answered fan questions ahead of the release, confirming there's a ton of easter eggs and cameos.
Regarding Easter eggs, she said, “how many Easter eggs? Lots and lots. More than in any kid’s yard on easter morning.”
And on cameos, she wrote, "There may be some familiar faces but not in the way you think. I love our cameo actresses & actors. I'm happy they wanted to be a part of it. One of the cameos is gonna make you guys laugh." That cameo was her father Scott Swift in the tennis scene.
Was there symbolism? Without a doubt. The teaser image alone, which featured 19 hands in a hallway very similar to the one in Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's house, led some fans to speculate she was making an allusion for West's big "Imma let you finish..." moment during the 2009 MTV VMAs. Swift was just 19 then, and it kick-started the two's contentious relationship over the past 10 years. Others pointed out that Swift named 18 other rising female artists in her Billboard Music Speech:
Other overt moments include the 13th street subway stop, which included all some of her first six album names, Speak Now, Red, and 1989 written in graffiti with "Karma" also there. One sign read, "If found return to Taylor Swift," and another read "No scooters allowed"—her nod to the Scooter Braun Big Machine Label catalog ownership drama from this summer.
Watch the video below:
While Swift's "The Man" is her newest single, her music video isn't her first time performing it in a way that generated major buzz. When she performed at the American Music Awards in November, she opened her performance with "The Man." Then, she wore a white button-down with the names of her first six albums written on it. It was her nod to her Scooter Braun drama at the time. Braun had recently acquired the masters from her first six albums when he purchased Big Machine Label, Swift's old record company. Swift wrote an open letter about his acquisition, describing it as her worst case scenario because of Braun's treatment of her in the past.
During her Billboard Women of the Decade speech, Swift spoke about toxic male privilege in relation to Braun.
"Of course, Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it [acquiring my masters] prior to the sale or even when it was announced," she said. "I'm fairly certain he knew how I would feel about it, though. Let me just say that the definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, 'Well, he's always been nice to me' when I'm raising valid concerns about artists and their rights to own their music. Of course he's nice to you. If you're in this room you have something he needs."
"The fact is that private equity enabled this man to think, according to his own social media post, that he could 'buy me.' I'm obviously not going willingly. Yet the most amazing thing was to discover that it would be the women in our industry who would have my back and show me the most vocal support at one of the most difficult times and I will never, ever forget it. Like ever."
