A whole new take on the phrase “ Dance like nobody’s watching” is taken in Taylor Swift’s newest music video for her song “Delicate”.
The Joseph Kahn directed music video premiered Sunday night during the iHeart Music Awards and features Swift breaking out her signature dance moves in an old Hollywood glamour setting. Donning a dark blue 1920s style flapper dress, she sulks while entering the red carpet, looking visibly upset while being rushed by her guards and baragged by paparazzi. A piece of shining paper is given to her by someone on the red carpet and Swift soon becomes invisible to everyone around her, thus leading to an epic dance sequence without anyone taking a second look. The easy going and sweet sounding chorus croons as Taylor dances to what looks like a choreographed-yet-spontaneous dance session.
The song is about the delicate and somewhat timid feelings that are present at the beginning of a relationship, hence the title. Throughout the music video, I couldn’t help but notice parallels between her lyrics and previous music videos. The “Hollywood Glamour” theme is present in “Wildest Dreams” and many dance moves are repeated from her ever-popular video for “Shake it Off”. At the end of the video, Taylor walks into a bar called “The Golden Gopher” in her blue dress, a possible reference to the lyric of her song Dancing With Our Hands Tied: “..deep blue but you painted me golden.” I thought the music video was a sweet juxtaposition of nostalgia and new beginnings- the wealth of previous song references and imagery within the video was definitely a highlight. As I have been a fan of hers for nine years and counting, I appreciate the new sound of her latest album, reputation, and what the visuals of her videos have to offer.
As I mentioned before, the choreography was a main point of the music video. About two minutes of the video feature Swift dancing in different settings such as a busy lobby, a ballroom, a train and a rainy street. A day after the release, Taylor released the choreography of the dance featured in the music video on her youtube channel. This reminded me of dance practices that K-Pop groups release so that fans can learn the signature moves. I love the parallel!
Overall, the music video was a nice combination of sweet, funny, and symbolic. Taylor is currently rehearsing for her reputation world tour, set out to debut early May of 2018.