Music Mystery: Why is Taylor Swift attractive in 'Blank Space'?
I was never a fan of country Taylor Swift. Yes, she is a tall, blond woman with talent, but she never appealed to me. Well, almost never, there was “Our Song” and the time she dumped that guy and wrote a breakup song about it, but I never found her attractive, and I never bought any of her music. Pop star Swift, on the other hand, OH MY GOD. Even when she shouldn’t be hot, she is. And in "Blank Space," she shouldn't be hot.
I have already taken on “Shake It Off,” but “Blank Space” is really the video that has me worried. This song is clearly about a psycho, rich chick who chews men up and spits them out. There is nothing about Swift’s behavior in the video that should be appealing, yet… In the first 12 seconds, her hair is slightly messed up as she sits in bed and tells the listener that she can show him (or her) “incredible things.” I’m up for an adventure and my passport is current. “Magic, madness, heaven, sin” seem like they could be cool if looked at in the idealized version of Wonderland’s madness, which this palatial estate seems to be. When Swift looks directly at the camera, she exudes charisma. There is a sly, knowing smile that is hiding a mystery, even if she seems to be up front about her proclivities. She then expresses her interest and is self-confident in her offer. She is clearly having fun and knows what she can do – “make the bad guys good for a weekend.” And here comes the black and white – “so it’s going to be forever, or it’s going to go down in flames.” She knows she is crazy – she tells the guy she has “a long list of exlovers”; they will confirm that she is crazy. This, whatever it is, will be taken “way too far.” “It will leave you breathless or with a nasty scar.” Like many great adventures – there is a possibility that both will happen. There’s a click – is it a tongue click in the pause before she says, “I’ll write your name”? It seems pretty flirty, which she later enhances with a wink of the eye. “You’re the king, baby, I’m your queen” seems fair enough, and she is going to find out what you want and be that girl for a month. Alright, so that is a little weird, but what he should want is her without her having to pretend she is someone else. Here comes the storm… When expressing her emotions, she is still confident in herself. She screams and “can make all the tables turn.” That is an expression of strength and confidence. “Rose garden filled with thorns” – beauty has its dangers, right. But this video isn’t just about beauty, it’s about a spoiled, powerful woman who is willing to play with her men like a cat plays with a mouse. “I get drunk on jealousy.” This should be incredibly unattractive. She is yelling, throwing things, but she is clearly in control of the situation, and she shows her physical strength and her dominance when she grabs the guy by his face and tells him he’ll be back because she’s “a nightmare dressed like a daydream.” This is clearly an abusive relationship and one of series of them. She only shows disdain for the players even while confessing to love them. How cute is she when she drops his phone into the fountain? He shouldn’t have been on the phone anyway. Even with mascara running down her face, she is attractive. You can see the insanity in her eyes when she sings that her lovers would tell you exactly that and then she does some seriously insane things. Knifing paintings, punching walls, cutting clothes, burning pants, the list of the crazy things she does at the end of this video is long, varied and destructive. A butcher knife to a bloody cake, a poisoned apple (which may or may not represent the Wicked Queen from Snow White), golf club taken to his vehicle… Swift has a distorted view of what boys want from love. By reducing men to boys, she is removing their maturity, and when she say that they only want love if it is torture, and with that outlook, she warns her current “boy” about what is coming. Standing on the back of a horse is pretty iconic and confident. The way she attacks the tree with an axe while wearing high heels is nothing short of brilliant. She even appears to slip as the scene cuts away. Maybe it’s the emotional honesty and the ability to express emotions, even if in unhealthy ways, maybe it’s one or more of the 16 flaws that men will ignore (as seen on Cracked NSFW), maybe she is right about what boys want from love and I am just a boy… Maybe it’s the facial expressions, it’s hard to read a lot of women who hide their emotions for various reasons. With Swift, it is all written on her face and in her music. Clearly, Swift is not facing her equal in this video. The guy may look good and be taller, but he is not nearly crazy enough to counter her particular brand of crazy. In fact, his milque toast demeanor works against him when he is faced with the storm that Swift becomes. He should have at least caught that vase that she threw – in the relationship, it would have been all about that vase from that point forward. Instead, the opportunity to show that he can take what she dishes out passes him by. Yet, he also isn’t capable of leaving the relationship, which is what many battered spouses report. Aside from this disturbing note, what makes the real-life Swift more attractive than ever is that she seems to be poking fun at herself. Her powerful vocals are a perfect match for pop, and what sounds like auto-tune doesn’t seem to hurt her music. Maybe it is believing that Swift is playing a character in a video that makes her more attractive. Whatever it is, it remains a mystery to me. |
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