Late on Thursday night, Swift shared the lyric video for “Look What You Made Me Do,” the lead single from her upcoming studio album Reputation. This is the longest fans have ever had to wait between albums, and if the song is any indication of what’s to come, this will be Swift’s darkest music to date… despite the fact that the chorus is lifted from Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy.”
If you’re wondering whether or not the similarities to “I’m Too Sexy” are a coincidence, look no further than iTunes, where the songwriters are listed as Taylor Swift; Fun’s Jack Antonoff; and Richard Fairbrass, Fred Fairbrass and Rob Manzoli, the three members of British pop group Right Said Fred.
Swift all but abandoned her country roots on 1989, but there isn’t even a trace of the Taylor Swift from 2008’s Fearless on this new track. That fact clearly hasn’t eluded Swift, as she says during a phone call near the end of the song, “I’m sorry, but the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh… ‘Cause she’s dead.” More than a little on the nose, but at least there’s no ambiguity there.
While she doesn’t mention any of the subjects of her various feuds by name, the lyric about the “titled stage” near the beginning of the song seems to be a reference to Kanye West, who used a titled stage on his Saint Pablo tour. Swift has made it clear that she was not happy with the way the rapper used her name on the song “Famous,” implying that he’s the reason she got famous to begin with.
Reputation is scheduled for release on November 10th, 2017.
