Taylor Swift - THE MAN!
Taylor Swift uses her new music video ‘The Man’ to portray toxic masculinity and double standards, while airing personal grievances with an industry that has often subjected her to intense scrutiny. Criticism of her career has ranged from endless speculation over her love life to questions about the motives behind the social and political stances she takes in her music.
Swift has said in the past that many of those critiques would not be made against a male performer in her position — a message she hammers in the ‘The Man.’
In November, Swift claimed Braun and Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta had prevented her from performing a medley of her old hits at the American Music Awards. While receiving another artist of the decade award at the Billboard Awards, Swift called out Braun directly, saying her treatment had been "the definition of the toxic male privilege".
She has literally transformed herself into the ‘male main character’ in the music video.
Throughout the music video, Swift takes aim at the cultural norms that allow, and at times even encourage men to develop overinflated egos.
The lyrics include the words:
"I'm so sick of running as fast as I can / Wondering if I'd get there quicker if I was a man / And I'm so sick of them coming at me again / 'Cause if I was a man, then I'd be the man."
At the end of the music video, the director, real-life Taylor Swift, asks her male counterpart - voiced by Dwayne Johnson - if he could do it all again but this time make it "sexier".
You all feel Déjà vu?
