Taylor Swift battles a cyborg version of herself in the new music video for her single "...Ready for It?"
In a clip heavy with computer graphics, a black-cloaked Swift finds her way across a graffitied landscape into a cage blocked by a force field. Here, she finds a cyborg version of herself, highly similar to Scarlett Johansson's Motoko Kusanagi in the controversial sci-fi "Ghost in the Shell." The video also shows a lot of similarities to "Tron," "Blade Runner" and "Final Fantasy."
The artificial intelligence Swift tries several ways to get out of her cage. And when she finally does, she battles the human Swift and emerges the victor.
Following the controversial music video for "Look What You Made Me Do," which was released during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards and threw shade on some of Swift's known enemies like Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry, critics still have a lot to say about the new clip.
The internet was particularly not ready for her full body nude suit.
But the 27-year-old singer seems more pleased than hurt about this bit, as seen in a series of Instagram Stories she posted on Friday while wearing the suit. In one post, she even said, "It truly warms my heart that ppl had so much to say about this bodysuit."
The video's tribute to "Ghost in the Shell" also drew flack due to the film's whitewashing controversy. The sci-fi film was highly criticized for starring a white woman in a supposedly Japanese role.
#TaylorSwift's new "...Ready For It" video is basically her whitewashing a movie that's already been whitewashed: https://t.co/gh0Pf9bEfE pic.twitter.com/M99DtFiPa1
— Consequence of Sound (@consequence) October 28, 2017 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">Fans, however, praised the artist for the clip's powerful message. Some say her cyborg version symbolizes the Swift that was imprisoned by the critical eyes of the media, and her escape from the force-field cage means the artist is finally breaking free from the media's perception of her.
They (the media) trapped Taylor in a cage to hurt and manipulate her all they wanted. But soon SHE BROKE FREE.#ReadyForItMusicVideo pic.twitter.com/VCusFhxUCI
— summer (@slaylorstan) October 27, 2017 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who also helmed clips for "Look What You Made Me Do," "Bad Blood," "Blank Space" and a few others.
"...Ready for It?" is the second single from her upcoming sixth album "Reputation," which will be released on Nov. 10.
