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Music Video Analysis: Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood Matthew Wilcox
Music Video Analysis:Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood
Matthew Wilcox
Video Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo
Genre Characteristics
• The song’s genre is a mix of Electropop and Rap.
• Electropop, as a combination of Electric music and Pop, suggests a more electronic version of Pop music. We certainly hear many Electronic sounds. The pop music aspect is still audible, however.
• In rap, you expect the focus to be on the rapper. This is partially true here, with the focus being more or less equally split between him and the various characters that populate the facility.
Basis of Video
The video itself is mostly narrative-based, following a clear story of a spy who is betrayed and trains hard to recover a stolen briefcase. There is also some performance-based aspects that support this, developing the basic story via the various fighting and training scenes throughout the video.
Close-ups/Star Motifs
• There are numerous close ups of the singing/rapping vocalist’s faces as they are performing. Swift is also presented in various provocative/sexualised outfits.
Lyrics-Visuals Relationship
• The (fairly basic) lyrics describe a relationship that has been damaged, likely permanently, through betrayal. This clearly reflects the narrative of the video.
Music-Visuals Relationship• The electronic music relates clearly to the
high-tech scenario/setting of the video. • Pop is often sexualised, which is definitely the
case here. There are numerous provocative shots and costumes in the video.
References to voyeurism
• The various costumes worn do often present women in a highly sexualised light. The focus is definitely on their bodies throughout the video. The only potential exceptions are the boxing scene, and the male rapper’s appearances.
Intertextual References
• It has been suggested that the lyric "If you live like that, you live with ghosts“ is possibly a reference to Katy Perry’s song ‘Ghost’. This is explained as being because Bad Blood may be based on Perry, who might have attempted to sabotage one of Swift’s concert tours.
