We're modifying the music video roundup a touch this week. Call it a special edition, special because Taylor Swift and Beyoncé each put out new videos. Well, technically that last one is a Nicki Minaj video, but when Beyoncé is in something it belongs to her (kind of like the On The Run tour). Yes, these videos are fun, but more importantly, they are perfect encapsulations of where these two major stars exist in their careers today.
Music videos today are more niche than ever. Their artistic limits are defined only by the imaginations of their creators—and also by budgets. We suspect budgets factor in. But when you're Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, budgets go out the window and you can just do you. In their respective endeavors we find two entertainment powerhouses flexing their industry muscle. Swift held a gala for her video unveiling called The Billboard Music Awards, and Beyoncé showed us that true power in her universe means putting out a video that will light up the Internet even if almost no one has access to said video. The medium is the message, and the message is: "We can do whatever we want."
Here is your deep-dive version of this week in music videos.
It’s become increasingly clear that there are three types of people in the music industry: Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and everyone else. It's only the "everyone else" class we can be certain is actually populated by humans, though. Between Swift and YONCE, they collectively own the radio, the awards, the fans, the charts, and the Internet. And on Sunday night, Swift demonstrated her dominion over each of those categories. She won eight Billboard Music Awards (giving her 19 overall) and was the biggest performer of the night without busting a single move on stage. (Many a move was busted from the front row, however, where Swift always sits for awards shows, because this is what is written.)
In place of a live act, T. Swift aka Samurai Swift aka Catastrophe, debuted her "Bad Blood" music video, which she had teased via her Twitter and Instagram for a week leading up to the telecast with Sin City-style promo stills of the entire cast. And it was a BIG cast. Models, singers, and actresses abound, each one at or near the top of their respective games.
And these co-stars are all Taylor's close, personal friends. Everyone who's anyone either already is or wants to be, because Taylor is the center of the pop culture universe. She and Beyoncé are like twin suns orbiting only each other (we just watch from this Tatooine known as Earth). Swift put Kendrick Lamar on her track, stuck a cigar in Lena Dunham's hand, and recruited the two actresses who play the namesakes of her cats on TV for walk-on roles. This video was stacked with A-listers, and each one probably spent more time in hair and makeup than they did in front of a camera, because when it comes to Taylor the only answer is "Yes, please!"
"Bad Blood" was a power move. A testament to "Because I can!" levels of money and clout and accrued goodwill. Swift says "Jump!" and her friends, fans, and the music industry all say "How high?!" But it's not because she's the Queen Bitch. Playing Regina George isn't her style, but if she did accidentally punch you in the face, you can bet your ass it would be awesome. Everyone jumps for Taylor because she has defined herself as the one who will jump with you. If Taylor asks you to shake it off, she will shake it hardest. If Taylor asks you to play her no-count cheating boyfriend, she will go full-tilt crazy as the possessive GF. If Taylor asks you to buy her album, she might just invite you to her house to say thank you. And if Taylor asks you to go on high wires for stunts, she'll damn sure throw herself through a breakaway wall.
And so, we got "Bad Blood," otherwise known as what we wish Sucker Punch would have been. (Side note: These are the types of projects Zack Snyder should be allowed to handle.) The video was directed by Joseph Kahn—the guy who recently made that fantastic, gritty, re-imagined Power Rangers short film—and is a valentine to action/sci-fi junkies. Swift and Selena Gomez open the video basically fighting the Crazy 88s from Kill Bill before Swift's character is killed then reassembled as a Matrix-style super assassin by a trio of Hailee Steinfelds playing the Sirens from Tron: Legacy. Did we say Tron? She also has light cycles. Light cycles! Hayley Williams from Paramore is named "The Crimson Curse" but that bandage outfit and screaming hair equals Leeloo from Fifth Element every day of the week. Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne wield gadgets straight from the mind of Q while Swift and Karlie Kloss box it out in Divergent- and/or Hunger Games-style training pits. As Tay and her legion of foxes march and pose and serve so much face, they become the ExpendaBelles... or are they Avengers? Or X-Men? Or does it even matter?
Not really. The point is that it happened, and it happened exactly how Taylor wanted it to. We would say she's winning at this whole fame thing, but the fact is no one else can even compete. Well, no one besides Beyoncé, but we'll get to that shortly.
Here's the thing. I just said that Taylor and Beyoncé can "compete" with one another, but that's a cheap reduction of the truth. Sorry. The truth is that these women are not rivals. They are colleagues. They play for the same team. When one demonstrates that empowered women are capable of operating at a world-class level as business owners and entertainers, we all benefit.
Bey and T. Swift have grown into the yin and yang of Top 40 culture. One is your fantasy BFF who promotes sleepover-style camaraderie that lets fans feel an accessible connection with their star, and the other is a lioness who will not invite you to her house under any circumstances, but will instill in you the deep belief that you can build your own damn house, no matter what anyone says. If Taylor Nation is a group hug, then the BeyHive is a private party. And that is the difference between "Bad Blood" and "Feeling Myself." Neither exceeded the other in its perfect execution, but rather, each demonstrated how artists weaving different paths through the same mediums results in the same effect: viral meltdown.
Since the ultra-stylized visual concept album that was Beyoncé and the subsequent On the Run tour with her ride or die, Jay Z, Queen Bey has taken a 180-degree turn for hyper-casual chic. Beyoncé was produced then released behind an Iron Curtain of secrecy, and now she's basically day-drinking a little before pressing Record on her iPhone. The "7/11" video, her day-to-day posts on Instagram and now "Feeling Myself"—each one is an advertisement for her big-sweatshirt-and-sandals DGAF lifestyle. And when I say DGAF I mean about what anyone else thinks of her. Obviously she cares deeply about her personal life and her art. A career like that doesn't happen by accident, but Beyoncé is way past having to prove her bona fides. She's past worrying about her image (and no, wanting control is not the same as worry). If she projects the image of caring, it's because she decided to that day. It helps that her resting state is Resplendent Goddess. Why put in effort when you're a baseline 10 with a once-in-several-generations musical talent?
"Feeling Myself" is a party of two attended by the coolest people you know: Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé. They pose for a camera in front of a road sign, and suddenly I want to go to Coachella for the first time in my life. They throw French fries in each other's mouths and share burgers through entwined arms like they're sharing champagne. They're goofy and silly and just want to have fun. (Coincidentally, they're living the music video version of Swift and Kloss' Vogue-sponsored road trip from earlier this year.) They're just like us! But they're nothing like us at all. We can't move like them or sing like them or draw the hypnotized attention of an arena like them. In this video, they are sharing a Wednesday and we are imagining the greatest day of our lives.
And we didn't even know it was coming. Since Tidal showed up to kind of ruin our lives by withholding content from marquee artists, we've had to sit on our hands and wait for Internet vigilantes to post illegal embeds of music videos from our top divas. Or pay. We could always pay for them. (But, could we? Will we?) Sure, they end up on YouTube eventually, but we have to wait and that's annoying. But of course, Beyoncé can make us wait, because she is Beyoncé and she can do whatever she wants. And despite her message of gender equality and empowerment, the Queen also traffics in exclusivity and unattainability. And therein lies the split between pop's pair of prevailing unstoppable forces.
Taylor made "Bad Blood" the music video event of the decade so far. Teasing photos. Looping in approximately 167 famous friends. Remixing it with Kendrick Lamar. Debuting it on the most populist of all awards shows, the Billboards, which by definition is three hours of People's Choice honors. Then it went straight onto YouTube for more than 30 million people to watch it—or 10 people 3 million times each?—in just four days. The rest of the telecast was a footnote by extension. Beyoncé, by contrast, put up the velvet rope. If you paid the admission you could come in while everyone else waited outside to see fresh 'Grams of what they were missing. The plebs would get it eventually, but the thrill of first looks would belong to only a select few. And how can we be sure Beyoncé won the day? Because everyone was talking about the "new Beyoncé video" for a Nicki Minaj song. And it's so premium you can't even watch it here.
