1 September 2017
Our first chart-topping encounter with the world’s biggest pop star feels like it’s overdue. ‘Shake It Off’, ‘Style’ and ‘Bad Blood’ had already been gargantuan hits in the preceding couple of years, even if only top ten placers in Ireland. They had also helped establish the most popular flavours in the Taylor Swift product range: Hater Diss, Celebrity Break-Up, and Public Feud, respectively. In that regard, ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ follows on from ‘Bad Blood’ as A Public Feud One, and if you still had your Taylor Swift Bingo Card to hand in 2025 you’ll have marked off another one of those then too.
‘Look What You Made Me Do’ also follows ‘Bad Blood’ in leading with an extravagant event video. Add that to its harsh electro-pop sound and the whole thing puts me in mind of Lady Gaga occasions like ‘Bad Romance’: all the creative effort going into consolidation and lore, leaving the mere listener with a track that’s wilfully awkward and tedious. This could easily have become Swift’s ‘Die Another Day’ reputation-wise, and sonically it perhaps still is. My lack of patience with the whole ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ project comes from knowing we’ll have other opportunities to consider number ones by Taylor Swift, and they can only be better.
