TayTay’s Wild African Adventures
Ok, so a lot has been said about this video…
It is the fourth single off the multi-platinum and media-frenzy causing 1989 album.
I’m just going to admit from the very beginning that I love this song. Taylor Swift has always had a certain appeal with song for me, to me they were always frozen in time. All her songs sounded like a 19 year-old girl going through heart-break. Now, this isn't a popular opinion, a die-hard “Swifty” would tell me to listen to RED again to see that not every song is about heartbreak. However, the issue isn’t the heartbreak, all her songs could be about heartbreak for all I care, but they were always from singular perspectives. It was a classic; boy meets girl, girl falls for boy, boy/girl does something dumb after much romance, boy/girl left sad.
Wildest Dreams is different. Taylor knows this love is doomed from the beginning, she knows there is no hope for them, yet she can’t help her emotions; she can’t stop but falling for him.
“I thought, heaven can’t help me now/Nothing lasts forever/But this is gonna take me down”
The song is Taylor recognizing her own pain before it hits her. She knows it’s coming. And her response is to pray that she won’t be forgotten. She finds solace is the very idea that her love might think about their moments shared together.
This paired with an excellent produced melancholic synths produces a song that isn't simply about teenage heart-break. It’s a real emotion, it’s an adult condition, it’s an imperfection.
With all this said, I have mixed opinions on the video. Racial criticism aside (which really… C’mon guys), the story is fine and Taylor looks beautiful as always, but for me the hero here is the visuals achieved by the director and cinematographer.
The bridge at the end of the song is illustrated in the video by concatenated short clips edited into rapid succession. And gosh are these just absolutely beautiful on their own right.
Not only are they beautiful, but by alternating bright and dark colour palettes they perfectly encapsulate the mood of the song, a melancholic cocktail of hope and sadness.
The nature and wildlife is the focus on the bright shots and their love in the dark. The natural animal instinct feeling of attraction versus the unromantic and realistic outcome of love. The purpose of movement and the hunt versus the submissiveness of being in someone else’s arms. Being in power and above a situation versus being a victim of the situation and power. Predator and prey.
All other making a movie and there’s a girl at the premier bullshit is cute but that’s for the 10 year-old Swift fans. (My sister thinks its sad how she left the premiere alone.) Those 10 seconds of montage is simply smart film-making. Its using the principles of colour theory and symbolism to convey to the audience the mood of the song in the time it takes Taylor to sing 3 lines. It’s beautiful and an amazing addition to this song.
I mean, look at that! I could write a whole blog post dissecting this one frame. The whole song is here!
The primary use of cold colours plays with our understanding of this environment and instantly we know something is off. Like Taylor, we know things aren't right. They're somewhere in Africa, it isn't supposed to be this cold. Why are things not right off the bat? The overall purple tint of this frame also adds to the dream myth, we can tell these colours are not natural. Are we in one of these wild dreams? Our two subjects, out of focus. Taylor’s body language seems tense and urgent, whilst his is more relaxed. Their different attitudes to the relationship. Are they pulling eachother closer or walking apart while trying to hold onto each others hands? Does Taylor know? Where are they going? In the far background, rays of light, maybe a sunrise? Perhaps there is hope, but its far away and fading.
So basically, every emotional tone of the song is captured in this frame. It’s beautiful direction and cinematography. It’s beautiful film-making.
