Taylor Swift's single for her new album, released on April 26, 2019 by Republic Records, a new contract that she signed.
It's very colorful, happy, and inspiring. While I wouldn't call it an original melody, in that aspect I don't think it stands out as much as some of her other songs, but it is catchy and it's fun to walk around singing "And I promise that you'll never find another like me."
I'm very happy that she has new music, because it means she will have a new album soon and that I get to write reviews on this new music. Although keep in mind that I'm not going to point out every tiny Easter Egg, I'm just going to talk about what stands out to me and my take on it.
The video starts with a snake, one of the symbols of her previous album, reputation, although the snake is pink. It lungs towards the camera and explodes into colorful butterflies, possibly indicating that the album after reputation is like butterflies compared to a snake or that even though people may call her a snake, she's really peaceful and gentle.
One of them fly toward the window where Taylor is having an argument with Brandon in French.
He tells her that she's being dramatic. Taylor shoots back how dare he and in front of their "young daughters". The camera pans to the two cats, Olivia and Meredith, on the coach. This is something that would make any swiftie very happy, seeing Taylor's cats and that it shows how much she loves her cats.
Brandon tells her that she needs to calm down, not taking her to seriously. To which she screams back "I AM CALM!" (A little reminder to never tell a woman she's overreacting.) She stomps out and slams the door, and stands outside the door a second before singing:
She immediately jumps into her cheerful song, dancing through the hall. Her voice sounds similar to how it sounded in the song Delicate.
I know that I'm a handful, baby, uh
I know I never think before I jump
She admits that she can be hard to handle and gets upset during arguments, as shown in the previous scene. She sings that she never thinks before she acts, and that line may be a reference to her song "Jump then Fall" from the platinum version of the album Fearless.
And you're the kind of guy the ladies want
(And there's a lot of cool chicks out there)
She acknowledges that he's someone that other girls would want to date and he has lots of other options. If a relationship with her doesn't work out or he decides he wants to try somewhere else. It also reminds me the song "Hey Stephen" when she sings "Hey Stephen/ I could give you fifty reasons/ Why I should be the one you choose/ All those other girls, well their beautiful/ But would they write a song for you?"
I know that I went psycho on the phone
I never leave well enough alone
Arguments on the phone have been in several of her songs, for example "I Wish You Would", and sometimes that happens when dating. There's some subjects that she should just leave alone, but she doesn't always do that. While walking there are storm clouds around her and a pink telephone floating on one that she points to. The clouds could represent the arguments.
And trouble's gonna follow where I go
(And there's a lot of cool chicks out there)
Trouble following her wherever she goes reminds me of the line in her song "End Game" that says "I swear I don't love the drama/ It loves me." And she knows he could easily choose another girl if she's too much trouble for him.
One of the puffs of white in the background changes shape and another hovers over her and devourers her. It washes over her and disappears. This may represent her getting caught up in arguments, but here she decides to let it wash over her and not bother her as she walks out into a colorful world. Or possibly everyone assuming that she would stay in her reputation era and continue to be more dark and edgy, when she is clearly moving on.
But one of these things is not like the others
Like a rainbow with all of the colors
She says she's different, and what they have is different. They may fight sometimes, but it won't break like others would. Someone might dispute that a "rainbow with all of the colors" is not that rare, but I believe she's saying that it's happy and beautiful like a rainbow with all of the colors.
Baby doll, when it comes to a lover
I promise that you'll never find another like
Me-e-e, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
She sings that even though there may be other girls, he'll never find another like her.
I'm the only one of me
Baby, that's the fun of me
Eeh-eeh-eeh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
You're the only one of you
Baby, that's the fun of you
We're all different and none of us are exactly the same. Each of us are unique.
She dances around the street in a yellow suit, with other colorfully dressed girls.
Brandon looks out to the window to see her happily dancing. By choosing to be happy, he can look at her and see her shine, thus causing him want to go talk to her.
And I promise that nobody's gonna love you like me-e-e
I know I tend to make it about me
I know you never get just what you see
Sometimes he talks about just himself or his problems, which she probably didn't expect when they started dating. Things are never just what they seem.
But I will never bore you, baby
(And there's a lot of lame guys out there)
He promises that he'll treat her right and that he'll never bore her even though he tends to make it about himself. He's one of the best ones she's met, and there's nobody quite as awesome as him.
He floats down on an umbrella to meet Taylor on a rooftop, like Mary Poppins. Taylor is wearing a beautiful pink dress which flows like water at the bottom. I love the unicorn, it looks nice.
And when we had that fight out in the rain
You ran after me and called my name
Taylor continued singing about a memory. Rain is another subject that appears in her songs, and the guy coming (or wanting him to come) after her. Like "The Other Side of the Door", "If This were a Movie", and "How You Get the Girl" to some degree.
I never wanna see you walk away
(And there's a lot of lame guys out there)
He'd never want her to leave and be with another guy, but who wouldn't treat her right.
*Livin' in winter, I am your summer
Baby doll, when it comes to a lover
I promise that you'll never find another like
Me-e-e, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh *
The world can sometimes feel cold, but when we have someone who loves us, it feels warm.
He offers her flowers first, to which she rejects. Then a ring, still no. Then he pulls out a cat. She smiles and pulls the cat into her arms, which shows how much she loves cats and that specific cat is her new cat: Benjamin Button.
According to this she said “She [The handler] handed me this tiny cat and he just starts purring and … he looks at me like, ‘You’re my mom, and we’re going to live together.’ I fell in love. I looked at Brendon and he’s like, ‘You’re going to get the cat aren’t you?’ " when she recalled when she met Benjamin.
I'm the only one of me
Baby, that's the fun of me
Eeh-eeh-eeh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
They dance and sing on a red and pink stage with a crowd of people screaming while watching the performance. It seems like a show that's meant for Valentine's Day.
You're the only one of you
Baby, that's the fun of you
And I promise that nobody's gonna love you like me-e-e
Hey, kids!
Spelling is fun!
The past few first singles for her albums have a speaking part. In this, it's the "spelling is fun" being called out like a camp leader. It's not my favorite part of the song, but then again, I felt the same about the bridge in "Shake it Off" and I still like that song.
Girl, there ain't no I in "team"
But you know there is a "me"
The popular saying is that "there is no 'I' in team" although Taylor points out that there's a "M" and "E" in team which can be used to spell "ME."
Strike the band up, one, two, three
I promise that you'll never find another like me
Girl, there ain't no I in "team"
But you know there is a "me"
And you can't spell "awesome" without "me"
It is a known fact that you cannot spell awesome without "me", which I have seen on t-shirts although I don't think I ever heard a song mention it before (but I could be mistaken).
I promise that you'll never find another like
Me-e-e (yeah), ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh (and I want ya, baby)
I'm the only one of me (I'm the only one of me)
Baby, that's the fun of me (baby, that's the fun of me)
Eeh-eeh-eeh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh (oh)
They dance on a platform in a twisting, rainbow color changing tunnel. It looks stunning and like a dream.
You're the only one of you (oh)
Baby, that's the fun of you
And I promise that nobody's gonna love you like me-e-e
The camera points down to the streets, where it has become night. Brandon waves his hands and in response pastel paint appears and splatters onto the road and sidewalk.
I'm the only one of me (Oh-oh)
Baby, that's the fun of me
(Eeh-eeh-eeh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Taylor dances in the rain with a blue dress. Similar to the pink one from on the rooftop, this one is flowing with the same kind of colorful liquid that Brandon was throwing around.
You're the only one of you
Baby, that's the fun of you
It begins to rain colorful paint, to which Brandon grabs an umbrella to shield him and Taylor. Maybe showing that rain, despite usually being shown as a sign of sadness, can be beautiful and happy.
And I promise that nobody's gonna love you like me-e-e
I enjoyed the music video, with its colorful and cheerful attitude. It's happy and colorful nature makes it a good contrast to her reputation album. Someone on YouTube mentioned this.
The person with the username Awesome Marshy joked in the comments:
people producing: so what's this about?
Taylor: you know reputation?
people producing: yea...
Taylor: the opposite
The music video was made for Easter, with all of its colors, and very unique and almost like a dream. It would be interesting to see how the video was made. I like her dress in the rainbow paint rain scene.
Although, don't assume the whole album is going to be exactly like this. The first singles for most of her albums end up being different from the rest of the songs. As this says:
Keep in mind: The first song Swift debuts is always an outlier. She doesn’t like to give the album’s secrets away too fast. She prefers to throw people off the scent. Why does she like to mess with fans’ minds this way? She just does. “Innocent” from Speak Now(which she debuted at the 2010 VMAs), “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” from Red, “Shake It Off” from 1989, “Look What You Made Me Do” from Reputation—what these songs have in common is that they’re musically far afield from their albums. They’re big thematic statements addressing her public image; they talk about the celebrity Taylor, rather than the personal one. But they usually don’t end up sounding much like the other songs on the album.
According to Wikipedia, these are some of the records it broke:
The video broke the Vevo record, as well as the YouTube record for most views in the first 24 hours for a lead female video, and the third most-viewed overall earning 65.2 million views.[29] It also broke the Vevo record of the fastest video to reach 100 million views, doing it so in 79 hours
This article says that the song has the largest leap on the charts.
This week, Swift and Urie’s “Me!” vaults from No. 100 all the way to the runner-up rung, improving by an incredible 98 spots in just one frame. That now stands as the biggest leap in the Hot 100’s history, and the two musicians may end up holding onto that record for a long time, as there is only one other possible ascension (from No. 100 straight to No. 1) that could best it.
If you would like to read other reviews and analyses, here they are below:
Aurora - Infections of a Different Kind review
Animal by Aurora - Lyric and Music Video Analysis