At precisely midnight last night, Taylor Swift dropped her first single off of her upcoming new album, Reputation, called “Look What You Made Me Do,” on us. She has made it crystal clear that this is a brand new era for her, and we’re all just going to have to catch up.
Upon first listen to the track, I personally felt a conflicting range of emotions: my internal monologue sounded a lot like “Is it revolutionary? Is it petty? Is old Taylor Swift really, as she claims, ‘dead’? Do I even like this song?” Even though the lyrics are very simply stated and straightforward, I didn’t feel like I really understood the point Taylor was trying to drive home. As I slowly but surely decided that my answer to all of the above questions is indeed, “yes,” I realized these Twitter listener reactions said it better.
At first, I really have to admit: I really didn’t like the blaming, victimized tone of the song’s title and hook. It sounded like something that a bully would say when not trying to take responsibility for their actions. This problematic connection wasn’t lost on Twitter users.
https://twitter.com/TheIncoming/status/900960531023937538
Then I got it.
when you realize the lyrics "look what you made me do" is supposed to be tongue in cheek cause the media always says she plays the victim pic.twitter.com/7QxNaEv7QS
— HipsterTSwift (@HipsterTSwift) August 25, 2017
That’s the point: a lot of criticism about Taylor’s work — fair or not — has claimed that her career has been founded on people who’ve done her wrong: ex-boyfriends that were trouble, friendships torn apart by bad blood. Is it her fault? Is anyone at fault?
LOoK wHat yOU MadE mE Do pic.twitter.com/Ggbcq6aeyI
— Brad Walsh (@BradWalsh) August 25, 2017
What exactly are we looking at — what did we make Taylor do? Write a song? Ooh, burn!
https://twitter.com/snowyegret14/status/901117842019504129
The topic of the track is way different than anything we have ever heard from her before, yet it still references that tension, angst, and conflict that all of us have been through to a certain extent at some point in our lives. And I kind of dig it.
Media: sing about something other than your boyfriends!!!
Taylor: Look what you made me do
Media: not like that
— Leighanne 🫶🏻✨Toronto (@fearlessleigh) August 25, 2017
Even though I have never publicly beefed with Kanye West like Tay has, I still feel like I’m part of this very specific narrative, even though I surely never asked to be. Why is it so relatable?
https://twitter.com/victoria_angelo/status/901044499027308544
You’ve got to admit, though: no matter what you personally think of this song, you know that We The People will be talking about its influence and Taylor’s incredible influence for ages to come.
https://twitter.com/StarlightTSwift/status/900961285466083329
And even though it’s not “catchy” in the traditional song sense, you better bet I’m going to be shower-singing it.
https://twitter.com/bo_ewing/status/901059243876519940
Taylor is set to debut the music video for this song at the MTV VMAs this weekend (HOW PERFECT, RIGHT?!), and seeing the visual accompaniment is likely to further change the way we interpret the lyrics.
Official #LWYMMDvideo world premiere.
Sunday 8/27 at the @vmas pic.twitter.com/tjAxr8qdsY— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 25, 2017
I’m ready to let the music video be the decider about if I love this song or will skip over it on my playlist… but I’m also 100% confident I will be purchasing Taylor’s full Reputation album.
Do you have thoughts on “Look At What You Made Me Do?” Join the conversation by leaving us your reactions below.
