My sister and I were having one of our famous music video analysis discussions last week. After talking about Gwen Stefani and her “stage 5 clinger” behavior we got on the topic of Taylor Swift. We talked about her serial dating tendencies and how she tries to get back at guys by writing songs about them. Long story short we decided to find “I Knew You Were Trouble.” on YouTube so we could see the music video. After realizing it had a video, we decided to watch and analyze it.
The music video for “I Knew You Were Trouble.” was uploaded on the Vevo YouTube channel December 14th, 2012 and currently has 21,121,993 views. The single peaked at number two on the billboard charts and has become a different kind of genre for any Taylor Swift single.
From listening to the song I knew we were going down a familiar path with Taylor. She fell in love with a guy who did not feel the same way.
“Once upon time, a few mistakes ago, I was in your sights, you got my alone, you found me, you found, me, you found me.”
From this line Taylor seems to be the victim. He found her and isolated her from her normal environment.
“I guess you didn’t care, and I guess I liked that, and when I feel hard, you took a step back. With out me, without me, without me.”
This makes it a little difficult to feel bad for Taylor. In the music video we see the guy standing on a table dancing. What is Taylor doing? Laughing like she got free tickets to the laugh factory. He showed her his true colors at the start and she chose to accept that about him because she liked it.
“And he’s long gone, when he’s next to me, and i realize the blame is on me.”
He is not paying Taylor the attention she feels she deserves and from this Taylor deduces this is her fault because…
“Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in. So shame on me now. Flew me to places I’d never been. So you put me down oh. I knew you were trouble when you walked in. So shame on me now. Flew me to places I’d never been. Now I’m lying on the cold hard ground. (Oh, Oh, trouble, trouble, trouble) x2”
This is the rock bottom in relationships. The person realizes there is no “us” and thinks to themselves how silly they were to fall for someone who didn’t really care about them in the first place. Taylor goes on as if the rationalize why she was so fascinated by him. He flew her to places she never been which rationalizes being in a relationship with someone who is not as committed to the relationship as you are.
“No apologies. He’ll never see you cry. Pretend he doesn’t know. That he’s the reason why you’re drowning, you’re drowning, you’re drowning.”
Once again Taylor reiterates she is the victim in this relationship. He does not see her cry and pretends he doesn’t know she is in emotional turmoil.
“And i heard you moved on, from whispers on the street. A new notch in your belt, is all I’ll ever be. And now I see, now I see, now I see. He was long gone when he met me. And I realize the joke is on me.”
Taylor feels used and abused in this relationship and manages to once again establish herself as the victim. To spare you guys reading this blog I will just skip to last part of the song which does not repeat itself.
“When your saddest fear comes creeping in, that you never loved me or her or anyone or anything, yeah”
Taylor’s worst fear is being in a loveless relationship. That is what I got from that last part. The lyrics of this song are pretty much Taylor telling us this guy comes in and sweeps her off of her feet only to break her heart into a million pieces. If you don’t believe me, why not read the beginning of the video narration?
“I think everywhere it’s all over it just comes back in flashes you know? Just like a kaleidoscope of memories. It all comes back, but he never does. I think part of me knew the second I saw him this would happen. It’s not anything he said or anything he did. It was the feeling that came along with it, and crazy thing is I don’t know if I am ever gonna feel this way again, but I don’t know if I should. I knew his world moved too fast and burned too bright but I just thought; how can the devil be pulling you toward some one who looks so much like an angel when he smiles at you? Maybe he knew that when he saw me. I guess I just lost my balance I think that the worst part of it all was not losing him. It was losing me.”
At the end of the video she finishes with this witty piece of narration:
“I don’t know if you know who you are until you lose yourself.”
This narration coupled with the video makes for an immature portrayal of a young adults love life. Taylor wakes up in a desert looking around as if she did not know how she got out there. We see flashes of her with this alleged heart breaker and hear her speaking the quote narration above. The story of how Taylor got out in the desert unravels after the first part of the narration is over.
Taylor Swift manages to string along a series of movie cliche’s and portrayals of “bad” people or things and attribute them to her failed relationship. While we can laugh at Taylor and tell her she needs to go get some real life experience instead of write these childish heart break songs there is an audience who would disagree.
Swift’s mainly teenage fan base enjoy her songs about failed relationships. Rocky relationships are portrayed in Rom-Coms and TV dramas alike. In a way it is as if our media is convincing us an unstable relationship is normal. To girls who want guys to love them but fail Taylor speaks to them. She lets them know they are not the only ones who have eluded true love. If Taylor was content with herself where else would these girls go to get the reaffirmation? To sum this 1000+ word blog up, Taylor is immature but that is how her fans prefer her to be.
Click here for the video.
Mrs. Critique 