Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" Music Video Will Make You Like a Kinda Bad Song... Slightly Better.

"New Taylor Swift" just had an epic reunion... with every Old Taylor ever. 

Earlier this week, Taylor Swift released Look What You Made Me Do, the first single from her upcoming album, Reputation. And what's absolutely clear... is that no one gets it. 

Vox declared it was "a pileup of self-aware moments" -- while linking to a post describing the song as "dark and petty". (I don't think it's petty -- I think it's smart. She's basically made a mashup of tested and successful elements from her and other popular songs.)

Glamour said Swift was "completely savage to herself." Which is definitely not the same thing as self-aware -- and definitely not what I got. She was being savage... but to stupid people who say stupid things about stupid stuff.

For example, only a really petty, jealous idiot would say something like, "Stop making that surprised face all the time; it's so annoying!" (Or maybe just a really sad person who finds things like mindfulness and wonder to be unrelatable. See also: 7 Reasons I Feel Sorry for People Who Call Me Ugly.)

Only a fool would disparage a woman who made more money in 2016 than Beyonce, Jay Z, and Justin Bieber combined (despite having not released an album since 2014)... because she talks about her cats a lot on social media. ​

She's not being "savage to herself" -- she's pointing out how dumb everyone is. 

And she's doing something she's made a ton of money doing in the past. Remember Blank Space, her incredibly catchy, incredibly pointed, fuck-the-media's-sexist-double-standards (or, to the less enlightened, "playing the victim") song?

Because how dumb is it that, when Taylor Swift writes a song about a breakup, she's a "crazy ex" who "drags everyone through the mud" and "always plays the victim" -- but when male artists write about breakups, it's heartbreaking and romantic?

Her video made it pretty obvious that this is the point she was making in the song:

But, somehow, plenty of people still missed the memo. 

As they've already done with Look What You Made Me Do.

Many Beyonce fans freaked out and said that the #LWYMMDvideo is "copying" the music video for Formation. And it's like, look. Copying doesn't mean the same thing as parodying, mimicking, mocking, homaging, or alluding to. These words all mean different things.

I won't pretend I know exactly which one of these Swift is doing... but it's definitely not copying. Or "appropriating." Take a quick look at these images: 

This is obviously not an accident. But it's also definitely not "copying."

What was the point of this?

I'm not sure. Maybe the point is that the songs sound kind of similar. They have few musical qualities. They're both kind of flat and repetitive and simple and dark. Maybe the point is that everyone thought Formation was sooo amazing and Beyonce is sooo amazing that it's not even pathetic or self-indulgent to rhyme "Beyonce" with "I slay." (Repeatedly.)

Because Beyonce is some sort of "feminist icon," but Taylor Swift is a "white feminist for profit."

When, perhaps, Swift feels like they're both doing the exact same thing. 

Just an idea. I'm not really into the pop culture stuff -- maybe there is context or something.

What I do know is that Taylor is doing what she's always done best -- maybe better than anyone in the world. 

And though we like to call it "playing the victim," that's an oversimplification. What her songs are really about... is overcoming.

She says that Old Taylor is dead.. but how is LWYMMD any different from Blank Space ("I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams" vs. "Darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream),  Shake It Off ("The world moves on, another day, another drama, drama
But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma" vs. "My ex-man brought his new girlfriend She's like, “Oh my God”, but I'm just gonna shake And to the fella over there with the hella good hair"), or Mean ("I don't like your little games, Don't like your tilted stage, The role you made me play, Of the fool, no, I don't like you" vs. "You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me, You, have knocked me off my feet again, Got me feeling like a nothing").

But, at the end of the day, no matter what an asshole Kanye is or whatever dumb shit regressive feminists say about her on social media, Taylor Swift is still like this:

Because words are just words, but platinum is platinum.

See also: Saying Words Only Hurt if You Let Them Isn't "Mean" - It's Helpful and True.