Friday Night Videos

I'm not what you'd call a Taylor Swift fan. Not a hater, either. I've found a handful of her songs entertaining, but on the whole, I'm simply not her target demographic. That said, "Blank Space" has been locked in my head for the better part of the week. The narrative structure of the lyrics is fascinating. There's an elevated self-awareness that both embraces and defies the various public personae the media has crafted around her. And the video--holy geeze, the video turns all that up to 11. Swift has done a moderate amount of acting, but the range she shows here--all the while lip synching her lyrics--damn, but she sells it. Actually delivering lines plausibly differs significantly from performing in, essentially, a silent movie (with soundtrack) but I wouldn't be surprised if her acting career moves front and center in the next few years. Apart from that, I want to reiterate that this song's been stuck in my head for far too long, and now it can be stuck in yours, too. You're welcome.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... "Weird Al" Yankovic.

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Friday Night Videos

You know, I'm growing more and more impressed with Taylor Swift's songwriting skills the more I hear of her. "Mean" sounds very much like an autobiographical retrospective, and even if it's not, the fact that it sounds like it is counts as a nice accomplishment. It's impressive to see her breaking out of the "romance as first, last and only subject suitable for a hit" rut that so many songwriters confine themselves to. And Swift is remarkably comfortable in front of the cameras for her videos. This is striking when you consider just how many country singers aren't (watch almost any country music video--if the performer's names isn't "Sugarland" then it's a safe bet the video will either be a safe performance clip or downright awful). Swift also nails the period look very well, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her make a jump to movies before long (if she wants to, that is). The only real negative about this is her painfully obvious ineptitude with the banjo. You're a great guitarist, Taylor, we get that. But I didn't spend 20 years watching Roy Clark "pickin' and a-grinnin'" on Hee-Haw to fall for your fake banjo playing so easily. Next time, stick to the six-string.



Previously on Friday Night Videos... Plan B.

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