After a few years of musical anger, reflected by the personal demons in all the rock music that haunted my playlists, something weird happened and now my brain is wired along the pop waves that sweep through the nation.
And when I say nation, I am referring to, of course, the almighty internet.
With the release of 1989, I noticed that I am a big fan of the pop princess that is Taylor Swift. Her newest video is one of great cinematic importance, star studded and very Frank Miller-esque. Obviously, Taylor kills it in this video – she’s so inhumanly pretty and hot and bad ass, to the point I can’t stand her.
Although Bad Blood is a bit of a hot mess, especially because of all those pop culture references that Joseph Kahn seems to use ad libitum, but all in all, the final cut marks a whole lotta neo-noir and Taylor Swift‘s best video yet. I was saving this title for her previous effort, Style, but Bad Blood, coupled with the song, is clearly a work of art.
With nods to the likes of Sin City, Matrix, Kill Bill and Tron, the stars of the video assume aliases to help them get even with Arsyn, the Wrong-Doer (Selena Gomez), and help avenge Catastrophe (Taylor Swift).
https://instagram.com/p/2YVncjjvC7/
The song is rumored to be about rival Katy Perry, who presumably stole some of Tay-Tay’s backup dancers, but who knows? Girls in pop biz are so up in each other’s biz-biz, right?! Anyhoo, the likes of:
Lily Aldridge (Frostbyte – sorry, not feeling it!)
https://instagram.com/p/2ZRzeuDvNY/
Zendaya (Cut-Throat – I really don’t know why she’s famous, but here she slays it)
https://instagram.com/p/2bCDIsjvMX/
Hayley Williams (The Crimson Curse – cause of course she is, the Punk Princess herself!)
https://instagram.com/p/2bvo6FjvO7/
Gigi Hadid (Slay-Z – nice play on words, Kardashian undercover)
https://instagram.com/p/2dk4XNDvNB/
Ellie Goulding (Destructa X – a really appropriate nod to showcase her destructive ways with the charts)
https://instagram.com/p/2eUxgzDvD1/
Hailee Steinfeld (The Trinity – such a boring waste of visuals)
https://instagram.com/p/2gjFQUDvO1/
Lena Dunham (Lucky Fiori – awesome mob-like attitude!)
https://instagram.com/p/2hGlyyjvFF/
Kendrick Lamar (Welvin Da Great – What Da What?!)
https://instagram.com/p/2ixitBDvFy/
Karlie Kloss (Knockout – a different way to spell Perfection, if you like)
https://instagram.com/p/2jekMVDvGO/
Serayah (Dilemma – I am having one right now. Who is you?!)
https://instagram.com/p/2lhNbCjvBp/
Jessica Alba (Domino – or Little Nancy Callahan, that works even better!)
https://instagram.com/p/2mJifZDvPA/
Martha Hunt (Homeslice – I was betting on Martha Stewart, sign of a gap in my current pop culture information)
https://instagram.com/p/2oGfTEDvP3/
Ellen Pompeo (Luna – oh, wow! Unimaginative as hell!)
https://instagram.com/p/2qv4d-jvFc/
Mariska Hargitay (Justice – I’m betting on supermodel here)
https://instagram.com/p/2rXZC_jvOP/
Cara Delevingne (Mother Chucker – beautiful, twisted beast)
https://instagram.com/p/2tGjhsjvJK/
Cindy Crawford (Headmistress – age is but a number, but beauty is forever?)
https://instagram.com/p/2t_9NpDvEk/
and, of course, Selena Gomez (Arsyn – doesn’t she look evil and mastermind with that short, geometrical bob?! Amazing!) team up for one of the greatest music videos of the summer.
https://instagram.com/p/2wRkjoDvJ9/
Some of these personas do seem to make more sense than others, especially if you look at Arsyn, Headmistress, Mother Chucker, Domino, Knockout, Lucky Fiori, Destructa X, The Crimson Curse and Catastrophe. They make even more sense, once you take into consideration that the stars chose those names by themselves, so they must reflect almost on point the character they wanted to convey.
And even though Kendrick Lamar fails to prove himself once again, I really like the song (the original version lacks his unwelcome intrusion) and the video is exquisite. Dark, futuristic, visually compelling and creative – what more could one ask from a self-appointed pop princess?
