Watch your back, Britney Spears! You may have gotten some major buzz for the debut of your Iggy Azalea collab, “Pretty Girls,” but Taylor Swift just stole the Billboard Music Awards by dropping her “Bad Blood” video.
And, now that we’re on the subject, let’s take a moment to talk about some of the important distinctions between “Pretty Girls” and “Bad Blood.” Because, honey, there are many — and they are worth mentioning.
In the campy, ’80s-themed video for “Pretty Girls,” the message is simple: “All around the world, pretty girls/Jump the line, to the front/Do what we like, get what we want.”
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The premise? You don’t need to be smart or funny or any other attribute to get ahead in life if you are pretty. Pretty girls get to skip lines and get what they want out of boys. The entire video is overtly sexual and rife with innuendo.
Image: Imgur/YouTube
It is vapid (and that’s a kind summation).
Image: Imgur/YouTube
But Swift’s “Bad Blood,” well, that’s another story.
While the lyrics deal largely with a breakup — “‘Cause baby now we got bad blood/You know it used to be mad love/So take a look at what you’ve done/’Cause baby now we got bad blood” — the message parlayed in the video is unabashedly clear: Women run the world.
Image: Imgur/Billboard Music Awards
And with cameos by Selena Gomez, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Mariska Hargitay, Ellen Pompeo, Martha Hunt, Jessica Alba, Serayah, Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, Hailee Steinfeld, Ellie Goulding, Gigi Hadid, Hayley Williams, Zendaya and Lily Aldridge as fellow assassins in Swift’s futuristic world, it’s clear the singer isn’t simply talking about “pretty girls.”
Image: Imgur/Billboard Music Awards
Yes, they are all beautiful. But the “girls” in Swift’s video are also smart and cunning and strong. They are empowered. They don’t rely on their looks to get them where they are going; they literally kick some ass and take down names.
Image: Imgur/Billboard Music Awards
You know what else? The men in Swift’s video — unlike the men in Spears’ — aren’t tools or props. They aren’t being misled or taken advantage of. In fact, they’re pretty inconsequential. The beauty of Swift’s video is that the men are secondary to the message. Hell, they really aren’t even relevant.
Image: Imgur/Billboard Music Awards
The story of Swift’s video is one of women. In this case, two distinct factions of women battling each other à la some slick, cyber version of Kill Bill. But the point is, the women are the heroes. The women are the villains. The women are the video.
Image: Imgur/Billboard Music Awards
No men necessary.
And that, my friends, is an idea Spears could stand to embrace. Because the truth is, Spears is pretty — but she’s also talented and smart and savvy and could easily be one of the kickass-assins in Swift’s video.
Image: Imgur/Billboard Music Awards
Perhaps it’s time for the veteran pop star to take a page from the country-turned-pop star’s book and embrace that which truly helps a girl get ahead in this world: other girls. Swift took extra care to give the ladies in her life a shout-out while accepting the award for Top Female Artist, noting her life has been made immeasurably better since she “surrounded herself with incredible women.”
https://twitter.com/TSUpdatesOnline/status/600116792770461697
In my opinion, there’s nothing prettier than a girl who gets that.
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