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Look What You Made Me Do

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"Look What You Made Me Do" is the sixth track from American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift's sixth studio album, reputation, released on August 24, 2017, through Big Machine Records.

Background[]

In the week leading up to the track’s release, Swift cleared all previous social media presence and released three videos on her social media of a snake’s tail[1], body[2], and head[3]. She then revealed the album title and cover and announced the single’s release date.[4]

Music video[]

The official music video premiered on August 27, 2017, at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. The song's music video broke the record for the most-watched music video within 24 hours by achieving 43.2 million views on YouTube in its first day. It topped the 27.7 million Vevo views Adele's "Hello" attracted in that timeframe, as well as the 36 million YouTube views of Psy's "Gentleman" video. It was viewed at an average 30,000 times per minute in its first 24 hours, with views reaching over 3 million views per hour.

Preparation for the music video began in January, while the shooting took place in May. The dance was choreographed by Tyce Diorio, who had worked with Swift on "Shake It Off" before. Swift's make-up as a zombie was done by Bill Corso. The post-production of the video lasted until the morning of its release. A 20-second music video teaser was released on Good Morning America on August 25. The teaser, upon release, was criticized on Twitter due to similarities to Beyoncé's "Formation" video. Joseph Kahn turned to Twitter to dismiss the claims, stated that he had "worked with Beyoncé a few times", and that the music video is not in the way of her "art space". Kahn also remarked that the video is derived from "[an] obscene K Pop video made in [a] North Korean prison in 2006", referencing to when he was accused of plagiarizing 2NE1's "Come Back Home" video with "Bad Blood" in 2015.

It was also revealed that the diamonds used in the bathtub scene were authentic. The diamonds, loaned from celebrity jeweler Neil Lane, were said to be worth over $10 million, hence triggering tight security measures. The top layer of the tub was covered with these real diamonds, but the rest were plastic beads. As of September 2017, the video has over 130 million views and became the fastest video to reach 100 million views in less than 4 days.

In September 2023 for the fiftieth anniversary for Hip-Hop a pop up would show up on the music video in celebration

Behind the scenes[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Taylor Swift has stated in 2019 that the music video is "My most easter eggy video" and that "It will be decades before people find them all".
  • The bridge of the song samples the song Innocent from Speak Now; a song of Taylor forgiving Kanye West after the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards controversy.
  • Snippets of "Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor's Version)" were used in the TV show The Wilderness.

Easter eggs[]

In the lyrics[]

  • "Don't like your tilted stage"; tilted stage is a reference to the titled stage that Kanye West used on his Saint Pablo tour.

In the music video[]

  • Graveyard scene
    • The music video starts showing a large graveyard with the gravestones arranged so that an eagle-eye view of them would make it look like the letters "TS", meaning Taylor Swift, which may be a reference to people saying that Taylor is dead and her career has ended.
    • "Here lies Taylor Swift's Reputation" is engraved on the main gravestone.
    • Nils Sjöberg is also seen on other gravestones, which is the pseudonym Taylor used to co-write "This Is What You Came For" with then-boyfriend Calvin Harris.
    • Zombie Taylor appears, and she appears to be Taylor from the "Out of the Woods" music video, colors of her skin faded, and her whole body covered in dirt.
    • She then is seen to be burying 2014 Met Gala Taylor, which symbolizes that the end of the 1989 era ("Out of the Woods" Taylor) is stopping the 1989 era from the beginning (2014 Met Gala Taylor).
  • Bathtub scene
    • The scene then cuts to Taylor sitting in a bathtub full of jewelry. This scene is supposed to be a reference that Taylor has said in the past, specifically, during her performance of "Blank Space" at the Grammy Museum. She explains the song and the way people think she's a psycho-dater in which she says: "She jet sets around the world collecting men, and she can get any of them but she's so clingy that they leave and she cries and gets another one in her web and she traps them and locks them in her mansion. And then she's crying in her marble bathtub surrounded by pearls."
    • A one-dollar bill is also seen in the bathtub, which is a reference to the single dollar countersue that Taylor won during the Swift vs. Mueller trial in a case that involved her being groped during a meet and greet in 2013, which resulted in former DJ David Mueller's career-ending.
  • Gold throne scene
    • The scene where Taylor is sitting on a gold throne with a bunch of black snakes surrounding is a reference to how the media has perceived Taylor as a "snake" and has been filling her social media with snake emojis as a response to a comment made by Kim Kardashian. She then makes it backfire in the best possible way, showing everyone that she has adopted this "snake" persona.
    • Taylor dawns many Snake rings, which she sold on her merchandise store.
    • The snakes bring her tea, an internet symbol for drama.
    • There is also "et tu brute" written in the columns and the armrests of the throne. This refers to the assassination of Julius Caesar, who was murdered by a bunch of people, along with his close friend. Julius Caesar then noticed him and said, "Et tu, Brute?" [which translates into "Even you, Brutus?"] which were his last words in Shakespeare's play, "Julius Caesar", before he was stabbed to death.
  • Car crash scene
    • When the song reaches its chorus, the music video shows Taylor in a gold car crashing into a lamppost. Inside the car, we can see Taylor swinging forward and backward in slow motion. The car door is then open and a crowd of paparazzi is revealed to be there, aiming their cameras at Taylor and taking pictures of her. Although Taylor is holding out a Grammy, all the paparazzi seem to care about is the crash. This may symbolize the times where the public has shamed Taylor, and even though she has gotten many awards and achievements, the public only seems to care about the times Taylor made mistakes and enjoy watching her crash and burn.
  • Birdcage scene
    • The giant birdcage scene is a reference to when Taylor had an interview with ICI Radio Canada Interview in 2014 and said the following: "I would feel sort of like I lived in a gilded golden cage if I had a team managing my image."
    • Her orange outfit represents the color of the jumpsuits that criminals would wear when they are in prison, suggesting that she is being imprisoned in that cage (as seen as the bodyguards that surround the base of the cage).
    • Taylor has a snake tattoo on her upper right thigh in this scene.
    • This part can also be a reference to the song "So It Goes...", where she sings "gold cage hostage to my feelings."
  • Stream Co. scene
    • When Taylor, along with a few other women, are robbing a bank, the bank had "stream co." on a digital banner above the vault. This is a reference to Taylor's previous experiences with music platforms. She has written a personal letter to Apple Music on Tumblr and removed her discography from Spotify [for a period of time] as a result of both these platforms for their irresponsibility in paying the artists appropriately. People then start to claim that Taylor is "money-hungry" and only wants these music platforms to pay her. But Taylor, in reality, is trying to help the minor/new artists so that they will get paid for the content that they make and use it to help them improve and progress in their careers.
    • This can be seen as the woman Taylor goes in with (which represents minor artists) takes a load of cash with them, but Taylor doesn't even take out a single dollar.
    • Her Gucci sweater has "blind for love" in it displayed in green, which symbolizes the media's perception of her being a playgirl.
  • Motorcycle scene
    • This scene is a homage to the 1991 Vogue editorial shoot, titled “Wild at Heart”, photographed by Peter Lindbergh.
  • Squad scene
    • The scene where Taylor is standing in front of a crowd of women who look almost identical to each other with the words "U Squad" projected on a screen is a reference to the times she'd get criticized over her squad. Many people bashed the squad and the member, complaining they only consisted of "tall and thin Caucasian women". After that, it is revealed that these women are actually a bunch of mannequins, with their body parts disconnected and laying everywhere.
  • Dance scene
    • Taylor then enters a room full of men, assumably her "personal assistants" doing various things. They all rush to form a line when Taylor comes in. The dancers then take off their blazers, revealing there to be "I Heart TS" crop tops/shirts underneath them. This is a reference to her relationship with her ex, Tom Hiddleston. Though she does not diss Tom, she does diss the media for making up lies that Taylor forced Tom to wear that shirt during their Fourth of July party in 2016.
    • There are eight dancers in the scene, which could symbolize the number of exes she has so far.
  • Taylor mountain scene
  • Phone scene
    • Taylor is seen holding a phone, similar to the phone from the "Our Song" music video. This could reference how the old Taylor is "dead".
    • Taylor says "I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause she’s dead!" This told viewers that Taylor was done with being messed with.
  • Plane scene
    • One of the Taylors in the end scene, Taylor is seen on the wing of a plane, wearing a palm tree jumpsuit, sawing off the wing and painting "Reputation" over the side. This could symbolize that Taylor was ready to start the Lover era, but put it on hold, stopping it from taking off, to address the media with the reputation era. Other people also suspect that she could be referencing the rumored lost album "Karma".
  • End scene
    • The ending scene consists of 15 different Taylor Swifts (one is seen in the background standing on the plane). Some of these Taylors are from previous eras, while others are the Taylors that appeared earlier in the music video. They all bow as a crowd cheers in the background
    • These Taylors include, from left to right, motorcycle scene Taylor, Stream Co. Taylor, Taylor mountain Taylor, Red Tour ringleader Taylor, Fearless Tour intro Taylor, crash scene Taylor, 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Taylor, 2014 Met Gala Taylor, dance scene Taylor, plane Taylor (back), "You Belong with Me" Junior Jewels Taylor, zombie Taylor, "Shake It Off" ballerina Taylor, snake throne Taylor, and gold cage Taylor.
    • These Taylors start to fight and mock one another, with references pointing towards some of the things she is known for.
    • Junior Jewels Taylor looks surprised, and zombie Taylor says "Stop making that surprised face, it’s so annoying." to which ballerina Taylor responds with “Yeah you can’t possibly be that surprised all the time.” This references Taylor’s signature surprised face that she makes after winning awards. She makes this face a lot, which annoys people, as she wins many awards. Snake queen Taylor hisses in the background with a snake on her arm.
    • Personal assistant scene Taylor says "What’s with that b*tch?" pointing to zombie Taylor. Zombie Taylor responds with "Don’t call me that." showing that the media likes to name call.
    • Fearless tour Taylor tries to break up the fighting, saying "Y’all", and ringleader Taylor responds by saying "Oh stop acting like you’re all nice, you are so fake." This makes Fearless Taylor cry, and ringleader Taylor mocks her for it. This represents how the media thinks of Taylor as fake. Motorcycle Taylor says “There she goes, playing the victim, again.” People have said that Taylor plays the victim when it comes to drama, especially the Kimye drama.
    • When leopard print Taylor says that she is "getting receipts" and "going to edit this later" Taylor is referring to Katy Perry's song, "Swish Swish". In the song, one of the lines is "And karma's not a liar, she keeps receipts". This can also refer to how Kim Kardashian used a cell phone to record a conversation she had with Kanye and edited it to make it look like she was fully responsible for the feud. 2009 VMA's Taylor Swift says that she wants to be "excluded from this narrative", which is a reference to the post-Taylor made explaining that she doesn't want to take part in the Kimye feud, to which all the other Taylors say "Shut up!".

Awards and nominations[]

"Look What You Made Me Do" received one award from fifteen nominations.

Year Organization Award Result Ref.
2017 BreakTudo Awards Best Video Nominated [5]
MTV Europe Music Awards Best Video Nominated [6]
NRJ Music Awards Video of the Year Nominated [7]
2018 American Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Song Nominated [8]
BMI London Awards Award-Winning Songs Won [9]
iHeartRadio Music Awards Best Lyrics Nominated [10]
Best Music Video Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best Art Direction Nominated [11]
Best Editing Nominated
Best Visual Effects Nominated
Myx Music Awards Favourite International Video Nominated [12]
NME Awards Best Music Video Nominated [13]
Radio Disney Music Awards Song of the Year Nominated [14]
Best Song To Lip-Sync To Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice Song by a Female Artist Nominated [15]

Lyrics[]

[Verse 1]
 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
I don't like your perfect crime
How you laugh when you lie
You said the gun was mine
Isn't cool, no, I don't like you (Oh)
[Pre-Chorus]
 But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time
Honey, I rose up from the dead
I do it all the time
I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined
I check it once, then I check it twice, oh!

[Chorus]
 Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me—
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do

[Verse 2]
 I don't like your kingdom keys
They once belonged to me
You asked me for a place to sleep
Locked me out and threw a feast (What?)
 The world moves on, another day, another drama, drama
But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma
And then the world moves on, but one thing's for sure
Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours

[Pre-Chorus]
 But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time
Honey, I rose up from the dead
I do it all the time
I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined
I check it once, then I check it twice, oh!

[Chorus]
 Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me—
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do

[Bridge]
 I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams

[Chorus]
 Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me—
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me-

"I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now
"Why? Oh, 'cause she's dead!" (Oh)

[Chorus]
 Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me—
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do

[Chorus]
 Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me—
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do

Taymoji pack[]

Expand/collapse gallery

Achievements[]

iTunes[]

  • Fastest song to reach #1 on iTunes for a lead female artist
  • Biggest iTunes lead for a song of all time (95%)

Spotify[]

  • The most first-day debut of all time by a female artist in the US (3.82M streams)
  • Spotify's Global first-day streaming record of all time (10,129,087 streams)

Youtube/VEVO[]

  • Most video views in 24 hours on YouTube (43.2 million views)
  • Fastest video to reach 100 million views/get VEVO Certified on Youtube (less than four days)
  • Fastest video to reach 200 million views on Youtube
  • Fastest video to reach 300 million views on Youtube

Billboard[]

  1. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 3 consecutive weeks

Live performances[]

Swift performed "Look What You Made Me Do" from May 8, 2018, in Glendale, Arizona, to November 21, 2018, in Tokyo, Japan, on The Reputation Stadium Tour, as the fifth song on the setlist.[16] The song is also performed on the ongoing Eras Tour, as the eighteenth song on the setlist.

The Reputation Tour version features a dramatic extended intro to the song, and on the screen, Tiffany Haddish says the infamous "The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause she's dead!" line.

The Eras Tour version features a transition from "Don't Blame Me" and an electric guitar in the background. In this performance, Taylor screams the iconic "old Taylor" line. The Eras Tour version also features an extended outro to the song as she and her dancers leave the stage before the Speak Now section of the show.

References[]

  1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BYD2F6YHE7Q/?taken-by=taylorswift
  2. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BYGa7nunqC-/?taken-by=taylorswift
  3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BYI48JxniO3/?taken-by=taylorswift
  4. ↑ https://genius.com/a/taylor-swift-reveals-the-cover-art-release-date-for-her-new-album-reputation?utm_source=home_recent_stories
  5. ↑ https://oportaln10.com.br/fazenda-marcos-harter-emilly-araujo-e-vivian-amorim-estao-concorrendo-no-breaktudo-awards-2017-67544/
  6. ↑ http://www.mtvema.com/en-gb/news/qb7afb/2017-mtv-ema-nominees
  7. ↑ https://www.nrj.fr/music-awards/nommes
  8. ↑ https://deadline.com/2018/03/nickelodeon-kids-choice-awards-2018-winners-the-complete-list-1202352942/
  9. ↑ https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/2018-bmi-pop-awards
  10. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/awards/8093669/iheartradio-music-awards-2018-nominees-full-list
  11. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/news/mtv-vmas-2018-see-the-full-list-of-nominees-here/
  12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160810043228/http://myxph.com/myxmusicawards/news/25757/myxmusicawards-2016-winners-list/
  13. ↑ https://www.nme.com/news/music/vo5-nme-awards-2018-nominations-vote-2220352
  14. ↑ https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/The-2018-Radio-Disney-Music-Awards-Coming-to-The-Dolby-Theatre-on-Friday-June-22-2018-20180406
  15. ↑ https://www.eonline.com/news/943773/teen-choice-awards-2018-avengers-infinity-war-black-panther-and-riverdale-among-top-nominees
  16. ↑ Here Are All the Songs Taylor Swift Played on the Opening Night of the Reputation Tour
reputation
"...Ready For It?" • "End Game" • "I Did Something Bad" • "Don't Blame Me" • "Delicate" • "Look What You Made Me Do" • "So It Goes..." • "Gorgeous" • "Getaway Car" • "King of My Heart" • "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" • "Dress" • "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" • "Call It What You Want" • "New Year's Day"
Tour
Reputation Stadium Tour • Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour • The Eras Tour • Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
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