Before I start talking about the song itself, let’s talk
about the video. It starts with Taylor wearing some of the coolest pyjama’s
I’ve ever seen. If anybody knows where they’re from or where I can get similar
ones, please let me know. She then fights with her ‘boyfriend’ and tells him to
leave the flat that looks like she’s rented it from someone with retro taste or
an elderly person. The interior design is definitely not to my taste, that’s
for sure!
Next comes something I can’t understand… She starts dancing
around with people playing instruments whilst dressed as animals. Why? Okay, so
the outfits are pretty cool but that’s not the point – I don’t understand their
relevance at all. Anybody care to enlighten me?
When she’s stopped dancing, she finds herself sitting at a
table in a café, sarcastically telling her ex about how much she’s going to
miss him picking fights. You go, Taylor! Then she goes to the payphone and is
suddenly talking to her ex who, on the split screen, is at a club. Boy, he
truly does get around, doesn’t he?
Anyway, more video goes on. Taylor remains looking
absolutely beautiful throughout. Whilst this video may not be flawless, she
certainly is! What I like most is when she’s in the cardboard car like some
kind of recyclable Flintstones-esque contraption.
Right, onto the song…
I was put off listening to it for a while because everybody
had said it was really catchy and the last thing I wanted was for a song to be
stuck in my head for days on end. Eventually, though, I found myself caving
into temptation and YouTubing it. (Obviously I only did this for research
purposes.) It turns out everybody was right – the song is catchy. The
never-ending title might not be but the song is. Admittedly, I don’t know much
of Taylors’ back catalogue but it’s clear, even to me, that her sound has
changed somewhat over time. Personally, I preferred when she had a bit of a
country twang to her music because it gave her something that nobody else really
had.
The story behind the song is pretty relatable, I guess.
We’ve all had at least one ex who we wanted to make sure knew we weren’t ever
going to be together again. Here’s the issue I have though: the fact that she
says it so much in the song makes me think it can go two ways. 1) She’s trying
to convince herself, her ex, and everyone else around her that she doesn’t want
them to be together again – classic symptoms of denial. Or 2) she dates silly
people who really can’t take the hint so she has to repeat it to them about a
billion times.
The vocals of the song are really good but then I’m yet to
listen to a track by Miss Swift whereby the vocals sounded anything but good. I
don’t exactly understand why she felt the need to put the bit in the song where
she’s pretending she’s on the phone into the single because it just disturbs
the flow, if you ask me. That being said, she’s clearly doing well so who am I
tell her what to do? The lyrics aren’t exactly ground-breaking and she’s
definitely had better but most catchy songs have pretty basic lyrics. I guess
that’s part of what helps to make the songs catchy in the first place.
So, in conclusion, this is one of those songs that I don’t
want to like because they’re quite lame but then I end up finding myself
listening to it a lot because it’s really fun to sing along to, plus it’s
upbeat so I can dance around my bedroom to it. It might not be the best thing
she’s ever released but it’s obviously going to do superbly well.