Having not released a second of music or video imagery from “Midnights” priorto that album’s release four nights ago, Taylor Swift is making up for losttime. She’s released the second music video for a song from the album justdays after the first, with “Bejeweled” hitting the Swift-isphere hot on theheels of “Anti-Hero” at the stroke of 12 (ET) Monday night. Watch the fullclip, which co-stars Laura Dern, Dita von Teese and the three Haim sisters,below.
It’s a Cinderella story, although a prince — played briefly by> producer/writer Jack Antonoff — figures into it even more briefly than in> most versions of the fairy tale. Swift plays “House Wench Taylor,” who first> appears as she is scrubbing up the vomit “Lady Este” (Este Haim) left behind> after her drunken outing the night before. “Stepmommy” (Dern) and Ladies> Alana and Danielle antagonize the suffering star even more rudely than in> Disney’s versions — there’s no telling what Uncle Walt would have thought of> the promise of “diamond tassel nipples” — before Swift transforms herself in> a starfield made up of diamonds. She then ghosts the barely glimpsed> Antonoff, maybe all the better to return to the giant cocktail glasses she> was cavorting in with “Fairy Goddess” von Teese. Pat McGrath, one of the> world’s most famous makeup artists, also puts in a cameo.
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Haim taunts Taylor Swift in the prologue to Swift’s “Bejeweled” music video
Discussing the video on “The Tonight Show,” airing on the east coast roughlyaround the same time the video was premiering on YouTube, Swift told JimmyFallon there are “a psychotic amount” of Easter eggs embedded in the visuals.“We have a PDF file for the Easter eggs in this video, because there are somany we could not keep track.”
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In contrast to “Anti-Hero,” “Bejeweled,” as a song, is all about self-confidence, almost as an act of counter-programming to the highly touted self-effacement of the first single. It’s a breakup song, or at least a we-might-break-up song, but also the truly sparkliest number on the album, closer tothe shiny heights of a “Lover” track like “Me” or “You Need to Calm Down ”than any other tune on “Midnights.” Of all her songs about troubledrelationships, it’s one of the least troubling. The message: She is enchantedto leave you.
But that lyrical content has little to do with the music video, where Swiftfinds something even more charming than a prince: a chance to tie in with astory centered on on her running stroke-of-midnight theme.
One development that fans had hoped for with Swift’s “Tonight Show” appearancedidn’t quite pan out. Swifties had hoped she’d be announcing her 2023 tour,but she allowed only that she would like to do one… which may or may not becode for the entire thing being locked and loaded. In any case, Swifties whowill have to wait a little longer for tour details can occupy themselves till3 am or later by collecting freshly laid eggs.
One clue to future plans that doesn’t even seem particularly subtle: a stronghint in the video that “Speak Now” will be the next “Taylor’s Version” re-recording to come out. In the clip, Swift pushes a purple elevator button forthe third floor — and she wore a purple dress on the cover of “Speak Now,” herthird album. Less popular as a theory, but not completely unviable, is theremoter possibility that the color/number combo could just mean that “LavenderHaze” will be the third single or video from the new album.
The “Bejeweled” video and Fallon visit capped a day in which the news brokethat “Midnights” has already collected more than a million album-equivalentunits, the first album to do so in a week since Swift’s own “Reputation” in2017. Luminate reported that the album stood at about 1.2 million units afterjust three days, with close to a half-million copies sold on the vinyl format.
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