After weeks of promoting her newest project on virtually all social media platforms, Taylor Swift finally released the music video for her popular 1989 single “Style.” Despite lofty expectations set by the singer herself, the finished product is far from the extraordinary video fans were hoping to see.
Fanciful and artistic, Swift’s new video certainly had potential. Toying with silhouettes, reflections, optical illusions, and captivating layering techniques, the video’s art direction impressed viewers with the stylistic ingenuity of the video.
The computer-generated effects, though, did little to develop any kind of plot. Constant montages of Taylor traversing through the woods as well as the 37 or so artsy angle shots of the singer failed to provide viewers with any real content or message. Featuring a strange mix of visual effects and snippets of Swift laughing “candidly” in the driver’s seat of a convertible, this video is void of a solid plotline to keep viewers intrigued throughout the song.
Swift’s love interest du jour is Dominic Sherwood, a dreamy actor and musician whose unique different colored eyes must have been the only requirement for landing the role as her latest on-screen-sweetheart. The video features Sherwood doing nothing but staring longingly at the ocean while Swift stares seductively into the camera.
Unfortunately, none of the footage has anything to do with the well-crafted lyrics present in the popular track, making for a decidedly mediocre music video. Much more like a botched attempt at a poorly-funded perfume commercial than the newest TSwift masterpiece, the “Style” video is best described simply as cool, but not very.
