Taylor Swift - Case Study

Taylor Swift;

You Belong With Me

Overview;

Genre; Country Pop/Pop

Released; April 18th 2009

Recorded; October 28th 2008

Album; Fearless , Taylors 2nd Album

Nominations; Grammy Award For “Song Of The Year”, “Best Female Voice” and “Record of the Year”

Inspired by; Taylor heard a male friend and his girlfriend arguing over the phone and Taylor begun to develop the narrative.

Narrative;

In the music video, Taylor Swift is selling us the “perfect" lifestyle; Boy meets Girl and falls head over heels in love with her, despite already having the "Perfect" girlfriend. This captivates the targeted demographic, stereotypically young female, teenagers as it places them into the fantasy world of the video itself.

Throughout Taylors music videos, she seems to mainly follow the stereotypical “Love Story” , normally her starring as the love interest and another well known person or celebrity as the Hero. (Propps Theory.) 

Representation;

From 38 secs - 49 secs, Swift is shown to be looking at her reflection in the mirror whilst trying multiple different looks on, after 4 different looks ( and four different looks of disappointment), Swift changes back into her original look whilst sing "What you've been looking for has been her the whole time". This contradicts the normal “ stereotype” that women/girls have to change how they act or dress to please the “man”.

Cinematography;

Through out the music video, the lighting plays a massive part in telling the narrative through implications rather than being specifically obvious.

In the last minute/ minute and a half of the video, the “Hero’s” Ex girlfriend appears as he is walking over to Taylor ( the love interest/princess)

Convergence;

 Print Based Product Advertising;

In the "Enchanted Wonderstruck" print based perfume advert, Taylor Swift is placed in an outdoor, plant filled area. The plants could be used to convey the ideology of a fantasy world that Swift is known for selling and living in her music videos and will continue to sell to her fan base through the perfume as they will feel that they can identify with Taylor and possibly feel like they have a connection to the star.

The red colour of the dress , which connotes passion and desire, that Swift is wearing juxtaposes the green plants that surround her, which convey innocence, jealous and ambition.

First Political Interview ;

Swift broke her silence on her political stance to boost her star persona and impress her target demographic as the majority of them are pro LGBTQ supporters, women rights supporters and racial equality. This would also of shocked a lot of her fans as she has always kept her political views private and separate to her fame. The contrast of Kanye & Taylor is becoming clearer by the day as Kanye is repeatedly mentioning his controvesial political views and upsetting his fan base.