Taylor Swift's New Song Is Worse Than Bad — It's Irrelevant

Well, it’s here. After a few days of snake-filled promotion, Taylor Swift released her new single “Look What You Made Me Do” to a rapt audience last night. The "old Taylor" is dead, she sarcastically chirps in the dark, vengeance-seeking dance jam, and the new Taylor has gotten “smarter” and “harder.”

The release of “Look” also launched Swift’s new “verified fan” program, where Swifties can buy merchandise that will better their chances of scoring tickets to her yet-to-be-announced tour. In order to avoid scalpers, says TaylorSwift.com, Swift is "collaborating with Ticketmaster #VerifiedFan to create an exclusive program to help YOU get the best access to tickets in North America, in a really fun way.”

That “fun way,” of course, is consumerism. All the new merch comes with a “boost” — the black hoodie is $75, the gold snake ring is $60, the black phone stand is $15 — and the more you buy, the further up you move up in the virtual ticket line. But if Swift really wants us to believe she’s undergone some kind of radical reincarnation, she needs to come at us with more than a goth-tinged marketing scheme that urges fans to buy, buy, buy. “Look” isn’t just disappointing musically (literally no one asked for more “Shake It Off” rapping). It, and its shallow money-grab, are also completely and already irrelevant.

"Look" offers no sign of a smarter Swift — if anything, it shows just how out of touch she really is. A toddler has the nuclear codes and Swift, a pop star with one of the most powerful platforms in America, has been silent on the political front. Just one week after white supremacists rallied in the streets and literally ran people over with a car, Swift thinks she can look like a fearless badass by delivering a watered-down Blackout-era Britney ripoff that coyly responds to a stale feud she lost over a year ago?

For the last several months, while Swift was hiding in a suitcase or whatever, pop music really was getting smarter. It had to. It's always been a good distraction, a way to temporarily lighten the weight of the world, but 2017 has brought us a new, inescapable reality and pop music knows better than to just flash something shiny and hope we all turn our heads. It’s hard to tell the difference between a glittery disco ball and a flash grenade with cops spraying mace in your eyes, after all — today's artists know they have to work harder.

Look at the Billboard 200 list — Kesha, Kendrick Lamar and DJ Khaled are currently on top with albums that nod to those who are especially hurting right now. With Rainbows, Kesha has made a brave, heartwarming comeback after fighting a very public legal battle with her alleged sexual abuser — it's a comforting sight for anyone currently being triggered by a sexual assaulter living in the White House. On DAMN., Kendrick Lamar continues to address racism in America, refusing to be silent when people with too much power refuse to say the words "Black Lives Matter." And while DJ Khaled's songs may not have the same deeply personal subject matter, the DJ, who is Muslim-American, has spoken out against Trump’s travel ban.

And Swift uses “Look” to tell Kanye his “tilted” stage is dumb? NOT NOW, TAYLOR, THE ADULTS ARE TALKING.

reputation (yes, all lowercase because no, "bad" girls don't give a shit about your grammar rules) might have something bigger and better coming — "Look" is one of 15 songs, and Swift and her team could be holding the world’s most perfect political commentary laced with sick beats for single #2. But right now “Look What You Made Me Do” (which, I can’t not mention, is also a gross phrase often heard from the mouths of abusers) just gives us an out-of-touch star with her own interests in mind. Maybe she was too busy inking exclusive sponsorship deals with Target and UPS to pay attention to the world.

She didn't reinvent herself, she reinvented her approach to making money. She's still the same Taylor — she's still staying quiet when it really matters.