We all knew Taylor Swift‘s new music vid for the fiery as hell ‘Look What You Made Me Do‘ track was gonna be a veritable shit-show in terms of hectic celeb refs. But shit mate, she’s bringing the fucking SASS in spades. Almost every scene has some kind of reference to a celebrity who’s wronged her (in her mind, at least) and we’re almost 100% sure you haven’t caught ’em all. So we’ve watched the video a thousand times in the space of an hour and tracked them all down for you – with a bit of help from some beady-eyed fans on Twitter, of course.
We’ll absolutely preface this with the fact none of these references have been confirmed by Taylor Swift or any of her camp.
TOM HIDDLESTON
Tom, Tom, Tom. Surely you didn’t think you’d get out of a roasting from Tay in 2017. Tom’s moment comes toward the end of the clip, with her backup dancers all wearing the now infamous “I <3 TS” slogan on their tops. Outstanding.
KIM KARDASHIAN
Oof look, we’re here for Taylor taking down anyone/everyone in Hollywood – but she goes too far with Kim (if this connection was intended). Basically, in the first minute or two of the video, we have Taylor in a bathtub full of diamonds. If you recall, Kim Kardashian recounted being tied up and left in the bathtub of her hotel room during her horrific 2016 robbery – which was reportedly planned off the back of an Instagram the reality star posted of a giant diamond ring.
There’s (maybe) reference to that in the sequence, too.
There’s always the chance this connection was coincidental. After all, Tay’s not actually tied up in that tub. And people do “tub full of fancy shit” video scenes all the time for music clips. But still…. we;re not the only ones who noticed it.
https://twitter.com/mdixonsmith/status/901969374092787713
https://twitter.com/anastasialala/status/901968304973205505
On a lighter note, there’s the obligatory snake ref, of course – c/o too many to make us comfortable slithering around Tay’s feet while she sits on a golden throne.
KANYE WEST
There’s surprisingly little throw to Kanye considering how much everyone’s connected the track to him and “phone-gate” (when Kim released Snapchats of Taylor agreeing to the lyrics of Famous). But don’t you feel this background of Tay’s throne scene is veeery similar to the ‘Watch the Throne‘ album cover, no?
We’re clutching at straws maybe, but still.
Here’s another maybe-maybe-not connection. In 2002, Kanye West had a near-fatal car accident. His jaw was wired shut, which led to his famous ‘Through The Wire‘ track – where he raps of being put on life support and having his jaw wired shut. It was arguably his breakthrough hit… so is this scene a ref to… the car accident??
CALVIN HARRIS
Taylor’s bf of a year gets off surprisingly easy in this video – but if you look closely, he’s in there. See the name on this grave?
That’s the pseudonym Tay used for her credit on Calvin’s song ‘This Is What You Came For‘. If you recall, drama ensued when Calvin accused Tay’s camp of leaking the news she co-wrote the track, after they broke up.
BEYONCE (?)
Gurl, what have you got against Beyonce. LEAVE. BEY. ALONE. Honestly, what is this throw to Formation for?
Or this to Hold Up?
And Single Ladies?? WHAT IS GOING ON TAYLOR.
Is this all just a massive bow-down to how amazing Bey’s 2016 was? Or is Taylor out for blood? It’s WEIRD and FREAKING US OUT.
KATY PERRY
This one’s a long shot, but surely Taylor’s not letting her long-time enemy get away with no mention in this new vid. This scene looks a loooot like Katy’s ‘Dark Horse‘ video, don’t you think?
There’s also the fact all the robbers in this scene have cat masks. Now, Taylor loves kitties as much as Katy does, but Katy’s fans are literally called “Katy Kats” so…
THE SQUAD
Is… is Taylor throwing out her squad along with her previous look? Surely not. We know a few squad members have Tweeted positive responses to her song – but that was before this clip dropped. There’s certainly refs to the squad at the very least. Here’s Taylor with a shitload of mannequins and ‘Squad’ up on the walls…
Next scene, Tay’s lying there with a bunch of defunct robot gals. What does it MEAN TAYLOR.
She’s also got a bunch of their names written on her tee in the final sequence, where “new” Taylor lords it over the old versions of herself.
We can see Selena, Martha, Este, Lena…. ooft.
OLD TAYLOR
Swifty was not wrong when she said the old Taylor couldn’t come to the phone cos she’s dead. She’s really smacking all our heads with that fact in this clip, c/o this phenomenal scene ft. new Taylor perched atop of all her previous incarnations. We’ve got ringleader Tay from the ‘I Knew You Were Trouble‘ times:
Nashville-era full country Tay, complete with glittery guitar.
‘Red‘ era Tay, when she would draw ’13’ on her hand for each show during her tour.
And this hybrid of ‘You Belong With Me‘ Taylor, and (as mentioned above) a throw to her squad.
At the end, all the Taylor’s fight with each other and it’s GLORIOUS. One even says ‘I would like to exclude myself from this narrative’. Say what you want about her, she knows how to poke fun at herself.
Taylor rn:
What a wild ride.
