taylor swift

All of the hidden messages from Taylor Swift's new music video

Taylor Swift's new music video appears to include references to Calvin Harris, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West among others

TV & Film Editor
August 28, 2017

The music video for Taylor Swift's new single Look What You Made Me Do is finally here, and appears to be full of references to her real-life feuds with stars including Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Katy Perry. It also hints at her ex-boyfriends, Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston. Did you spot all of the clues?

READ: Everything you need to know about Taylor Swift's new song, Look What You Made Me Do

The music video, which premiered at the VMA Awards on Sunday, began with Taylor emerging as a zombie from a grave which reads 'Here lies Taylor Swift's reputation' while the grave next to it reads 'Nils Sjöberg'. This is the name of the pseudonym that the star used as a writing credit in her ex-boyfriend Calvin's single, This Is What You Came For. The name on the tombstone could reference the incident when Taylor revealed that she had a writing credit for the hit song, and Calvin responded publicly on Twitter, writing: "[Taylor is an] amazing lyric writer and she smashed it as usual… Hurtful to me at this point that her and her team would go so out of their way to make ME look bad at this stage though… I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it."

A tombstone which reads 'Nils Sjöberg' can be seen in the background

In another scene in the video, Taylor's backup dancers are all wearing 'I [heart] TS' vest tops, which seems to reference the much-talked about vest top worn by the singer's boyfriend, Tom Hiddleston, during her Fourth of July party. Taylor appears to shade Katy Perry in another section of the video, as she dons a platinum wig and looks remarkably like the Roar singer.

Her dancers are wearing similar vest tops to Tom 

The most notable reference to Taylor embracing her public image is when she is seen sitting on a throne while surrounded by snakes. Pouring herself a cup of tea, which is a well-known meme used to throw shade at gossip, the star seems to be hinting at the snake emoji, which was sent to her in droves during her public feud with Kim and Kanye in 2016. The feud began after Kim purported that Taylor was aware of the lyrics of Kanye's single, Famous, and released several clips of a phone conversation where Taylor seemed to be giving the rapper permission to use her name in the song. However, Taylor hit back claiming that she was unaware of certain lyrics in the song which she took offense to.

READ: Taylor Swift wins sexual assault case against ex-DJ

Taylor is wearing a ring that looks like Kanye's famous sunglasses

In another scene, Taylor is speaking to a room full of mannequins, all of whom are wearing outfits very similar to ones worn by her friends in her Bad Blood video. The screens behind her read 'Squad', making reference to her famous group of friends from the 1989 tour. However, in the next scene the mannequins are in pieces, which could hint at the star having a fall out with her famous friends. Other references in the video include Taylor wearing a ring that is very similar tobglasses famously worn by Kanye and a message on her throne from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which reads 'Et Tu Brute?', hinting that she feels betrayed by a friend. Did you spot any more? Let us know in the comments below!

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