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Look What You Made Me Do is the sixth track and lead single of Taylor Swift's sixth album reputation. It was released on August 25, 2017.

Meaning and Background[]

The song was announced along with the album, a day before it's release. It is heavily speculated to be about Kanye West, who she had in a huge (public) feud with in 2016.

The song started out as a poem Taylor had written about her feelings at the time:

"It had all the verses in it just as is. When the beat hit we were like, ‘Oooh! Look what you made me do! Look what you made me do!!’ and we were just like, ‘Oh my God, we need to edit out the rest of the words. Just do that.'”.

Taylor said that she saw the song through a Game of Thrones filter, she mentioned that it's literally Ayra Stark's kill list.[2]

Trivia[]

  • The song got 8 million streams within 24 hours on Spotify, breaking the record at the time for the highest first-day streaming for a song.
  • The song became a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, her fifth single doing so.
  • The song samples "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred.
  • A cover of the song was made by Taylor's brother Austin for the show Killing Eve, under the pseudonym Jack Leopards & the Dolphin Club. Taylor is credited as a producer with her pseudonym Nils Sjöberg.
    • This was likely done to prevent Taylor's old record or Scooter Brown from earning of it.
  • The lyric "Sorry, the old X can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, because (s)he's dead" became a meme.
  • The song samples the beat from the movie Mean Girls, which is a reference to people calling her Regina George, the antagonist of the movie.

Music Video[]

The music video was released on August 27, 2017 at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. The video shows what she'd be like if everything the media writes about her is true.[3]

Storyline
The video starts out on a grave yard, with a zombie Taylor coming out of the grave that says "here Lies Taylor Swift's reputation". She starts to bury her old (2014 MET Gala) self. The scene switches to Taylor in a bathtub filled with diamonds and wearing a lot of jewelry. Next, she sits on a throne with snakes all around her. Then, she's in a car crash. The car is on fire and she holds a Grammy, posing for the paparazzi around her. Next scene, she's swinging in a giant bird cage and has dinner. Taylor then robs a bank, along with 4 other women wearing cat masks. Next, she's leading an army of models. She's then in a room dancing along with eight men, who also serve her. Then, she's standing on top of a pile old Taylors tring to reach her. She kicks the old Taylors down, and as they fall, Taylor is seen calling on the phone, telling someone "Sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, because she's dead". There's a line of old Taylor's arguing:

You Belong With Me Taylor
You guys!
Out of the Woods zombie Taylor
Stop making that surprised face. It's so annoying.
Shake It Off Taylor
Yeah, you can't possibly be that surprised all the time.
LWYMMD Dancer Taylor
What's with that bitch?
Out of the Woods zombie Taylor
Don't call me that.
Fearless Tour Taylor
Y'all!
Red Tour Taylor
Oh, stop acting like you're all nice. You are SO fake.
Fearless Tour Taylor
(crying)
LWYMMD Biker Taylor
Oh, there she goes, playing the victim again.
2014 Met Gala Taylor
What are you doing?
LWYMMD Cheetah Jacket Taylor
(on her phone) Getting receipts! I'm gonna edit this later.
2009 VMA Taylor
I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative.
All
SHUT UP!

Trivia

  • At the time, the video broke the record for most views within 24 hours with 43.2 million views.
  • The video is full of hidden messages and references, some of the biggest ones listed below:
    • Zombie Taylor is wearing the dress from Out of the Woods. This was the last music video released of her previous album. After this, she got into a feud with Kanye West and caused many people to "cancel" her, saying her career is over. Here, Taylor comes out of that grave.
    • The name Nils Sjöberg is engraved on one of the gravestones, Taylor pseudonym for when she co-wrote Calvin Harris' This is What You Came For.
    • During the bathtub scene, a one-dollar bill can be seen lying among the diamonds. This references to the case Taylor won against DJ David Mueller. The DJ had groped her under her dress during a Meet & Greet. Taylor's team told his radio station and he got fired. He filled a $3 million lawsuit over it. Taylor countersued him for $1 and won the case.
    • Taylor being surrounded by snakes references to people flooding Taylor's social media with snake emojis during the feud with Kanye West.
    • Taylor robs a bank called "Stream Co.". This is a reference to Taylor calling out streaming companies for underpaying (new/minor) artists and people thinking that she just wants their money.
    • Taylor leading an army of women references to the media criticizing Taylor's friend group for being full of tall, skinny, attractive women and calling it a cult.
    • The eight men wearing "I <3 TS" shirts seems to reference her ex-boyfriends; she has eight famous exes and Tom Hiddleston was seen wearing a "I <3 TS shirt". The shirts also reference how the media accused her of forcing Tom to wear it.
    • During the conversation of old Taylor's, You Belong With Me Taylor gets criticized for her surprise face. Taylor often makes this surprised face, especially after winning awards, which people have made comments about it being annoying and fake.
    • The You Belong With Me Taylor is wearing a shirt with her friends' names written on it: Gigi Hadid, Martha Hunt, Abigail Anderson, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Claire Kislinger, Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, the HAIM sisters, Todrick Hall and more.
    • The line "Oh, there she goes, playing the victim again" references people thinking that she's always playing the victim.
    • The line "Getting receipts! I'm gonna edit this later." is a reference to Kanye and Kim recording and editing the phone call about Kanye's song Famous.
    • The line "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative" (said by 2009 VMA Taylor, where Kanye interrupted her speech) is what Taylor ended her statement about the released phone call with Kanye West with. The internet mocked her for it and it became a meme.

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 do
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 ask me for a place to sleep
Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)
The world goes 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

[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 do
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
(Look what you made me do)
(Look what you made me do)
"I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now."
"Why?"
"Oh 'cause she's dead!"

[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 do
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


Awards & Nominations[]

Year Organization Award Result
2017 BreakTudo Awards Best Video Nominated
BreakTudo Awards International Video Nominated
MTV Europe Music Awards Best Video Nominated
NRJ Music Awards Video of the Year Nominated
2018 BMI London Awards Pop Award Won
Hito Music Awards Best Western Song Won
iHeartRadio Music Awards Best Lyrics Nominated
Best Music Video Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best Art Direction Nominated
Best Editing Nominated
Best Visual Effects Nominated
MTV Millennial Awards Brazil International Hit Nominated
Myx Music Awards Favourite International Video Nominated
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Song Nominated
NME Awards Best Music Video Nominated
Radio Disney Music Awards Song of the Year Nominated
Best Song To Lip-Sync To Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice Song by a Female Artist Nominated
2019 BMI Pop Awards BMI Award Won
TEC Awards Best Record Production / Single or Track Nominated

Videos[]

References[]

  1. Taylor Swift's 'Reputation': 10 things we learned from the secret sessions | Hypable - https://www.hypable.com/taylor-swift-reputation-secret-sessions/
  2. Taylor Swift reveals how Game of Thrones inspired Reputation | EW.com - www.ew.com/music/2019/05/09/taylor-swift-game-of-thrones-reputation/
  3. Apple Music Interview
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