Look What You Made Me Do

On August 18, 2017, Swift cleared its accounts on social networks, which caused rumors about the emergence of new music ^{[6] [7]} . On August 21, Swift posted a 10-second teaser of the video with the tail of the snake in all its accounts on social platforms ^[8] , its second part appeared a day later, and on August 23 the third part with the head of the snake came out ^[9] . On the same day, Swift announced that the first single from her upcoming new sixth album, titled Reputation , would be released the following night ^[10] . The song was released on August 24 through streaming services ^[11] and earned more than 8 million streaming auditions in 24 hours of its release through the Spotify streaming listening service, thereby setting a new record for the first day of release for a single track ^[12] . On August 29, 2017, Big Machine Records launched the song on American contemporary hit radio ^[13] . The release on the CD single was released in Germany on October 27, 2017 ^[14] .

Music critics described the genre “Look What You Made Me Do” as electro-clash ^[15] , pop ^[15] , dance pop ^[16] and electro -pop ^[3] .

“Look What You Made Me Do” is written in the minor key of A minor with a tempo of 128 beats per minute ^[17] .

, Fred Fairbrass and Rob Manzoli , members of the British dance pop group Right Said Fred , are co-authors of the song, as it includes and interpolates the tune of their 1992 hit I'm I'm Too Sexy . According to Fred Fairbrass, he and his brother were contacted a week before the release of “Look What You Made Me Do” and asked if one “modern pop singer” - whose name was not named - could use part of their song for her last single ^[18] . Although the brothers agreed to the deal, they did not officially recognize the name of the singer in question until the morning of the day the single was released, but guessed by various signs who she was ^[18] . Both brothers said they liked the song “Look What You Made Me Do”; Fred Fairbrass said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine : “I like the cynical aspect of the lyrics, because our 'I'm Too Sexy' is a cynical song, and I think she did it well.” ^[18]

“Look What You Made Me Do” moved Swift even further away from previous country music works and brought the singer closer to alternative electronic music genres. Perhaps this will be the biggest creative risk for the singer ^[19] . In lyrical terms, the composition is executed in an aggressive tone: Swift recognizes a dominant position over unnamed ill-wishers and speaks of the inevitability of consequences for dishonest acts in his address ^{[20] [21]} .

The song received mixed reviews from music critics and online publications. USA Today magazine stated that the critics' polarized reaction to the song suggests that Swift occupies a position in culture as an “ubiquitous cultural force” ^[22] . The journalist Randy Lewis from The Telegraph newspaper praised the song, believing that the joint work of Swift and Antonoff combines both the popular music clichés and moves used in many modern Top-40 hits, and new melody and rhythms, and added: “ musically, the track is constantly changing, a lot of contradictions and contradictory emotional states manifested in the texts are manifested ” ^[2] . Mara Carson of the LA Times gave a positive review of the song, writing that: “The reverb crescendo is building an ever more delightful and menacing image performed by Swift.” She added further, praising Swift for her successful portrayal of the villainous character that the media portrayed before the release of the song ^[23] . Chris Wilman from Variety Magazine also praised Swift's entry into darker pop music. ^[24]

On the contrary, of The Guardian wrote a mixed review of the song, saying: “The return of the pop star is full of visceral disappointment, but it is unclear whether it plays a role or remains by itself” ^[3] . Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone magazine believes the song marked a continuation of the feud between Swift and rapper Kanye West. ^[16] West previously mentioned Swift in his song “ Famous ” using a string of words, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? / I made that bitch famous ”(“ I feel that Taylor and I can still have sex / Why? / I made this bitch famous. ”). The single was ultimately noted as a darker and more evil work than what Swift had done before ^[25] . Forbes magazine columnist Hugh Mackintay criticized the style change, stating that it “is not like Taylor Swift” and that “there are some excesses in it” ^[26] . Hardeep Full of the New York Post called the song "Swift's most intriguingly unusual music to date" and an exciting trailer for her new album, Reputation ^[27] . Pitchfork already in its title speaks of the song as “a hardcore self-own” ^[28] , followed by the words of columnist Meagan Garvey, who wrote that the song reminded her that “this affectionate period of the nominal alternative "Is not like other girls such as" pop 2004 ", and that the track sounds" outdated " ^[29] .

Some critics , notified of the single's release in advance, considered it a new chapter in Swift's career ^{[30] [31] [32] [33]} . Other observers concluded that the theme of retaliation was beaten for Swift and did not bring anything new to the singer’s work ^{[34] [35]} .

The music portal HitsDailyDouble reported that in the first 24 hours, “Look What You Made Me Do” had an audience of over 20 million people on radio stations and was downloaded over 100,000 times in the United States, having previously occupied the first lines in the iTunes Store . This indicated that the composition sold 20% more during the day than its previous lead single, “ Shake It Off, ” which, in turn, sold 544,000 copies in its first week and debuted at the top of the Billboard American chart . Hot 100 . The publication suggested that the huge excitement around the song will contribute to sales growth by the end of the week ^{[48] [49]} .

In the US, “Look What You Made Me Do” debuted at No. 77 on the main Billboard Hot 100 chart , in just three days of airtime. He was also at number 23 on the Radio Songs multi-genre chart, with an audience of 46 million listeners, according to Nielsen Music. On this radio wave, the single “Look” rose to No. 16 on the Adult Pop Songs (airplay) and No. 21 on the Pop Songs, which was the best record in 2017, and also debuted at No. 22 on the Adult Contemporary chart ^{[50 ]} . About 200,000 digital copies were also sold in one day in the United States, exceeding the download speed previously set by Ed Sheeran's single “ Shape of You ” ^[51] . Following its release, “Look What You Made Me Do” was the most requested song on all 187 pop radio stations recorded by Mediabase , breaking the record set by the single “ Can't Stop the Feeling! "( Justin Timberlake ) in 2016, which was in demand on 186 pop-music radio stations ^[52] . A week later, the song rose from 77th place to No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart , becoming the fifth largest jump in history and the fifth charttopper for Taylor Swift in the United States. With a circulation of 353,000 copies in the first week of release, “Look What You Made Me Do” showed the highest sales figures for the first time since the single “ Can't Stop the Feeling! ”( Justin Timberlake 2016), as well as the best weekly sales rate among singers after“ Hello ”( Adele , 2015). The track also became the first charttopper with the singer in the United States since 2016, when the single “ Closer ” ( The Chainsmokers with the participation of Halsey ) and the first single, the main performer was a woman ( This with the participation of Sean Paul, “ Cheap Thrills ”). Also, the single is the first hit on the top of the chart in a solo performance by the singer after " Hello " Adele ^[53] . The single also topped the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, becoming the eighth chartper for Swift. Katy Perry and Rihanna are leading in this indicator (each of them has 11 hits No. 1 in this pop chart created in 1992), Maroon 5 and P! Nk (9 each), Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake (8 each) ^{[54 ]} .

In the UK , 20,000 copies of the single were sold and streamed 2.4 million times in less than a week ^[55] , where in the end it became the first Swift charttopper to rise to first place UK Singles Chart with sales of 30,000 copies and 5.3 million for streaming for a full week ^[56] . After two weeks of leadership, the single Swift lost first place to the single " Too Good at Goodbyes " by British singer Sam Smith ^[57] .

The single also debuted in first place in Canada ( Canadian Hot 100 ) ^[58] and was certified platinum by Music Canada for a circulation of 80,000 units by September 14, 2017 ^[59] .

“Look What You Made Me Do” debuted in first place in Australia , becoming its 5th hit at the top of this chart after “ Love Story ”, “ Shake It Off ”, “ Blank Space ” and “ Bad Blood ” ^[60] . “Look What You Made Me Do” also debuted in first place in the charts in Ireland ^[61] , Scotland ^[62] , New Zealand ^[63] , Czech Republic ^[64] , Slovakia ^[65] .

The song’s lyric video was released on the singer’s official YouTube channel ( Vevo account ). It is largely based on the graphic design by American artist Saul Bass (who worked with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock , Otto Preminger , Stanley Kubrick , Martin Scorsese ), used in the film Vertigo (1958) ^[3] . It was produced by Taylor Swift and American director of music videos , films and commercials, Joseph Kahn ^[66] . In the first 24 hours, the lyric video was watched 19 million times, which exceeded the last record among similar text videos set by “ Something Just like This ” by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay ^[67] . Viewing went at a speed of 30,000 times per minute in the first 24 hours, or more than 3 million per hour ^[68] .

The official music video was first shown on August 27, 2017 at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony ^{[69] [70] [71]} . The video clip broke YouTube ’s record for views in the first day. In the first 24 hours, it was watched 43.2 million times, which is more than the previous record of 38.4 million, set in 2013 by the Korean musician Psy ^{[72] [73]} . He also broke the record for the music channel Vevo at 27.7 million, set in 2015 by the hit " Hello " ( Adele ). The number of likes reached 1 million in 24 hours (with 232,000 dislikes) ^{[74] [75]} . By September 1, 2017, the video was watched over 100 million times over 4 days, which exceeded the last record figure of 5 days (song “ Hello ”, 2015) ^[76] .

The preparation of the music video began in January 2017, while the shooting itself took place in May ^{[77] [78]} . The dance numbers were staged by choreographer , who worked with Taylor on Shake It Off ^[77] . Swift makeup under the zombies was prepared by ^[79] . The final preparation of the video continued until the very morning of its release ^[78] . It was also reported that the diamonds used in the scene are genuine. Diamonds borrowed from the famous jeweler Neil Lane have a value of more than $ 10 million, which led to stringent security measures ^[80] .

Story

The video begins with the fact that Swift in the form of a zombie crawls out of the grave, the tombstone of which says: “Here lies the reputation of Taylor Swift” and digs another grave. The next scene shows Swift in a diamond-filled bathroom. She then sits on the throne while the snakes serve her tea. Later, she crashes her car on a pole and sings the chorus of a song, and the paparazzi take pictures of her. She is also shown swinging inside a cage, is involved in a bank robbery, is in a motorcycle gang. She subsequently gathers a group of women called "U Squad" and dances with a group of men in another room. At the end of the video, various iterations of Swift’s public image (images from her past video clips) argue with each other, describing each other with the words “such fake” and “playing the victim”, ending with the statement “I would very much like to be excluded from this story”, after which other iterations shout “shut up!” in unison, while the Swift version in the background silently watches what is happening ^[71] . Joyce Chen from the American magazine Rolling Stone , analyzing the clip, found 13 hidden messages or subtle nuances that may matter and which can be skipped during the first viewing ^[81] . Lucy Wood from the British newspaper Metro echoes with him, which singled out 21 moments in the video with various explicit and implicit messages ^[82] .

In June 2016, discussing the relationship between her and Kanye West after his song “ Famous ”, Swift wrote on Instagram: “I would very much like to be excluded from this story” ^[83] . And almost the same words are said in the same vein by one of Swift's iterations at the very end of the video ^{[84] [85]} . And this iteration is dressed in the video in the same clothes that Swift wore during the scandalous incident at the MTV Video Music Awards 2009 , when Kanye West interrupted her speech after being awarded in the category for Best Female Video ^[86] .

Weekly Charts

• Список хитов № 1 в чарте Streaming Songs 2017 года (Billboard)

•   “Look What You Made Me Do” (Lyric Video)
•   “Look What You Made Me Do” (Official Video) (over 500 million views)
• Lyrics for this song on MetroLyrics