I guess we have to give Taylor Swift some begrudging applause. Even though the response to Reputation has been more muted than it was for previous albums, Taylor still knows how to hype herself and her music. The music video for “Delicate” is a perfect example. One, she “homage’d” the Spike Jonze-Kenzo video and turned this into a week-long story. Two, she has die-hard defenders who will argue and defend their Snake Queen about literally anything, which creates an echo chamber of Snake Apologia. The Snake Fam’s argument was that Taylor knows she’s a bad dancer but it doesn’t matter because she’s, like, ironically dancing and IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE AWKWARD and how dare anyone think that she’s taking this seriously?
Well, almost as if she’s doubling-down on the idea that her Snake Fam needs to rally to her cause, Taylor released two behind-the-scenes videos (IG videos) of her dance rehearsals for the video. She was taking it seriously? And you be the judge if she was attempting some high-minded ironic dancing or if she genuinely thinks she’s nailing the Singin’ In the Rain/Kenzo aesthetic. Part 1:
Part 2:
Yeah… I can’t dance either. As much as I imagine myself being some kind of Beyonce/Janet Jackson style dancer – I still wish I could dance like the Rhythm Nation, frankly – I am not and I never will be. I know that about myself and I don’t dance around people anymore. If you’re making the argument that the whole video is about “dancing like nobody’s watching,” fair enough. That IS the message of the “Delicate” video. But the video is also “commentary” on the nature of fame and Taylor’s public reputation, and it’s also unintended commentary on how controlling she is about her image. My point? She wants us to talk about her dancing, clearly, because she just released two videos about it. The problem isn’t that we’re talking about her dancing – the problem is that she wants to be praised for being so “good” at dancing.
Screencaps courtesy of the ‘Delicate’ video.
I love her…love the video…love watching the rehearsals. Slowly bowing my head and walking out of the room…
I get that some of her songs may be catchy, but I’m truly puzzled by those that actually seems to like HER. I don’t mean to make you feel bad, god knows I like things that other people can’t stand. I just don’t see one redeeming quality to her. She’s fake and vapid, and everything she does has a motive behind it and I find that exhausting. And I’ve disliked her since she started. I guess it will always be a mystery to me!
I’m with you I don’t see the appeal of Swift. I won’t lie she had about two songs I liked over the years but nothing special. But you’re right to each their own. To me music today is just missing something. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of KPOP, don’t judge me. Some of those groups are really good and talented
V4Real Honestly no judgement. Western pop music has been amazingly disappointing lately; there’s always no proper drops in music. KPop produces some amazing mindless hope.
And in terms of Taylor…I have to say that she is just so valid and seemingly empty. Nothing in her life seems authentic or genuine which is just so…off-putting to me.
Well if she was looking to generate some conversation to boost interest, her bad dancing certainly did the trick. I didn’t get it. Just made me cringe for her.
From what I understand, she often visits children’s hospitals and quietly – no press, no fanfare – spends hours with the kids and their families. The last time a tour brought her to Houston, she spent most of the day of her show at (IIRC) Texas Children’s Hospital. She took countless photos and videos with sick kids and the staff and brought tons of tour swag as gifts (since the kids were obviously too ill to see her perform live). She has also publicly contributed to GoFundMes seeking money for sick children. So as annoying as she may be, she has at least ONE redeeming quality.
Take this with a grain of salt because I haven’t seen the movie or more than the clip of that music video, but it looks like she got influenced by La La Land? I remember her Love Story music video and it was clear that the teenage Taylor Swift had seen the movie adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and was alllll about it. I think she’s easily influenced.
I’ve only seen the first 15 minutes of La La Land but watching that video my first thought was that it was the same sort of basic level choreography that requires more energy than technique that I saw in the movie. Nothing wrong with that but I wouldn’t be fooled into thinking she was any more of a dancer than Emma Stone.
She clearly copied the style and many of the moves of the dancer in a perfume commercial that came out a year or so ago. Not impressed.
hWhy is she so needy???????? It is so off putting, and it seems to get worse with each passing year.
Everything is about her belief she is some sort of victim. It’s SO VERY off-putting. How long will this be her career strategy? God help us if she breaks up witH Joe.
I don’t care how seriously she took it, the result was still bad.
I know! if you took her out of it and put in a woman who could actually dance the music video would have actually been nice to watch because the modern/ballet dancing through scenes is actually pretty, but she can’t f’ing dance to save her life regardless of irony. Actually, in order to dance ironically, one must first know how to dance, in order to riff on it or play with it ironically. oh look, Im speaking Russian ironically. No. because I don’t know how to actually speak russian.
I originally thought the dancing was ironic, but she seems pretty serious in this rehearsal…. I wonder if she just filmed it post-video so she could use it for the current backlash? 🙂
I’m thinking the same thing; she must have filmed it post-video. Why even show a “rehearsal” if you’re just going to show us the end product in a different outfit? Usually “rehearsal” videos show the creative process behind the finished product, but she’d never do that since that involves showing us how much she *really* can’t dance. How long did it actually take her to “perfect” that non-dance?
@Ewe: exactly. The more I see of her, the more annoyed I get.
She really can’t handle not getting a gold star for everything eh?
This
Yup
Trying to change/control the narrative. Straight out of Trumpikins playbook. Distract distract distract until people forget what the hell they were mad at you for.
She dances like a cat being electrocuted.
😹😹😹
For her? It’s good… as good as it gets, unfortunately. She moves so… hmm.. how to describe it… like, a dance should just be steps that flow into each other smoothly, and yet I feel like when I watch her I can see her thinking while dancing. “One two three four leg lift twirl fall forward two three four spin two hip thrust four…”
So I mean, for her it’s good, because I don’t think dancing will ever come naturally to her. She clearly tried hard to pull it off, but… yeah. I’m trying to be nice…
This! It’s like the dancing parts of the “Ice Ice Baby” video where you could tell he was thinking really hard about his moves or following along with someone offscreen.
“a dance should just be steps that flow into each other smoothly”
I disagree. Not all choreography is flowy. This is clearly more of a modern dance style than ballet. It’s flexed feet, odd angles and grand plies in second position.
I don’t think she is a great dancer, but she has rhythm and can move through the steps easily. I do think that she hyper extends her arms and raises her shoulders too much, giving her an awkward vibe, but overall I think she is about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. I’ve tried to teach people to simply walk in time to music, and some people just can’t do it! Taylor is at least better than that.
She has all the resources in the world to look at least OK while dancing in a video. The best teachers, lots of time to practice, different shots & angles to make her look better. She’s just really bad.
Stiff. The word is stiff. Poor girl.
If I danced like Taylor, I’d still bust that shit out everywhere. Picking up milk? Watch my Kenzo gorilla dance.
Now that said, she’s no Teyana Taylor, she’s not even Napoleon dynamite, which is confusing, because I think she loves to dance (remember that’s how her and hiddles started) and she’s got money.
Yes she loves to dance and thinks that she’s good at it, even with all the expensive choreography. Her dancing is like her songwriting and personality – bland and juvenile.
She moves like she’s being tasered.
She loves to dance even though it is terrible-which is fine own that girl! Just don’t act like your awful dancing is the best thing ever. You can see from her smug face during the ‘reputation’ video and behind the scenes stuff that she doesn’t actually get that she’s a bad dancer.
Even the part in the video where she’s jumping in puddles looks stiff and awkward
It’s funny because even though it’s clear she is putting A LOT of effort in the video (both the rehearsal and the actual video), the result still looks SOOOOOO bad and lazy.
It’s as if she weren’t feeling it but doing it just cause someone told her to.
She has terrible posture too
Her navel is showing in the rehearsal video. I thought that was supposed to be a big deal for her to not show it, or is that not a thing anymore? I can’t keep up
She is so EMOTIONLESS, she can’t transmit a thing. I don’t understand how people think she is talented
So she rehearsed to be that wooden/bad? She’s so committed to dancing awkwardly on purpose she rehearsed for it??? Please fade away already.
Dancing with the stars would happily take her
Good on her for rehearsing. However, she is not a dancer!!! When will she understand?!
That’s why the coreography that is supposedly to be awkward is beyond awkward. Even her posture is awful. Great dancers can’t fake not knowing how to dance. She is not one of them.
Her acting is pretty awful too.
Ops…I meant to say great dancers can fake not knowing how to dance*** couldn’t fix it in time, 🙂
She always looks like she has the poise of a baby giraffe taking it’s first steps, minus the cuteness.
I don’t get it. Why did she release the rehearsal? Is there supposed to be a difference? I’m confused.
I think that she looks a lot better in the rehearsal videos than the final. And I bet you that SHE thinks so, too. Hence releasing the rehearsals.
To distract from the copycat accusations.
Bad dancer (on purpose) is better than copycat, right?
Well I will say the one thing the rehearsal videos confirmed is that the girl can do a split which surprised me. Maybe not a complete perfect one but she’s pretty much almost there. I assumed it was a body double doing the split since it was raining and dark and they could have very easily substituted her with somebody else due to the lighting and the way that scene was shot.
I also don’t think she’s as bad a dancer as everyone says (and I’m not a Taylor Swift stan). No, she won’t be joining Alvin Ailey or NY City Ballet anytime soon and I would argue my own sister dances better than Taylor Swift (sister went to all kinds of dance/ballet camps and was the choreographer of her college dance team and had that lyrical ability where she could feel the music). However this level of dancing is waaayyyy better than even what I could put out. So kudos to her for trying.
I am still embarrassed and cringing for her. This can only have been a attention, get-them-talking move. It is so bad and does no justice to the song, which I actually like.
From the beginning I could tell she was trying to do the goofy/crazy dancing on purpose to seem relatable. But even if you’re intentionally dancing poorly you still have to use technique and control to put on a good performance. The rehearsal video just makes her dancing look worse because she practiced and the end product was still bad.
I was a dancer, and I choreographed a few things way way back when, but even now at my Paleolithic age, if I’m completely alone and feel like dancing, I don’t awkwardly meander through my chores… I’m gettin’ my groove on lol. I was dirty dancing before there was dirty dancing! You don’t burn calories if you don’t get it on so this whole thing with TS is amusing. She really is thirsty and calculating.
I mean… it’s a decent song! The only song on the Reputation album that I really like. So, i had high hopes for the video. All I got out of it was a severe case of secondhand embarrassment…. I had to force myself to finish watching!
She just cannot dance. Nothing more to it. And the rehearsal video proves that she is not a dancer and I doubt she actually works out. She’s thin but flabby. No muscle tone. Her idea of working out is probably trying to look cute on the treadmill or eliptical.
I mean…I’ll give her credit for her discipline and passion.
She doesn’t have the talent, but she puts the work in. I’m not graceful or a talented dancer, either, but points for that split. I was never that flexible, even in my youth.
Not a fan.
But TS is a performer, and she does that at least. LOL. Give her points for keeping the talk about her going.
She can’t dance but the song is nice.
The videos are all about proving she can do a split. Already there are comments ‘oh I thought it was a body double’ etc. That’s all these videos are about
Taylor Swift’s superstardom will always be a mystery to me. She’s a marginally good songwriter I suppose but she obviously can’t dance and she certainly can’t sing–especially when compared to her contemporaries like Demi Lovato or Ariana Grande. I just don’t get it!
She obviously wants us to keep talk about it cause its publicity, her singles aren’t doing that well. She needs to keep people talking.
But this made me really sad.
“I know that about myself and I don’t dance around people anymore.”
This entire mentality is just plain sad. Why do we actively shame ourselves because we don’t do things 100% correctly? I’ll never understand.
Taylor dances poorly but like she say’s she’s having more fun then you are standing in a corner of the room shaming yourself for an inability to dance. We need to get over this, okay some of us dance poorly. Let us have fun while doing it.
I don’t care about the video or her rehearsals – I mean, I think she does tend to release (as a lot of artists do) “behind the scenes” stuff, so I wouldn’t read to much into her releasing these. Obviously she’d have to rehearse, even if it’s supposed to be “dancing like nobody’s watching” because the reality is a whole lot of people are watching, and all of that would have to be choreographed. So whatever; I found it silly, but I also wasn’t a fan of the Kenzo commercial, this just isn’t really my thing.
What surprises me here is how many people like the song! And I usually like her stuff for the most part, but omg this song is so dull to me. And her dancing like it’s something to really dance to is just … wow. I usually like her but for me, this was just a hard fail all the way around *shrug*
I watched the video til she made that face. That was embarrassing to see. Y’know what? Watching her dance is like that time you caught your younger sibling dancing in their bedroom. Earnestly. They’re embarrassed, you’re embarrassed and it’s never ever discussed. Ever. So she wants to put that out there? Laughing.
Bad dancing and bad choreography, but she looks like she’s having fun…so…I guess that will be the only nice thing I say.
I don’t get releasing the rehearsal video (other than more attention).
I think it was supposed to be goofy dance like no one’s watching, but of course it was still choreographed and rehearsed – no one’s going to go into a video shoot and tel her to just do whatever. She had to learn the moves, so I don’t see the big deal in her taking the practice seriously.
I think the more interesting conversation is why they felt it was OK to rip off the Kenzo ad.
I totally agree. Dorky/Lovable is her brand, so its fine for the dancing to be a little dorky, but you still have to rehearse so it doesn’t look amateurish. I don’t see why anyone would care about the about the dancing in this video except that it was so obviously plagiarized.
I can not believe she actually rehearsed to be that terrible. This is the most awkward thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t even make it through without cringing! She’s clearly taking it seriously in the rehearsal, and it’s just a huge no.
Wow! She just looks so awkward and awful lately. But most of all, it’s the fact that she is trying SO hard to look like she’s NOT trying hard. She’s like that dorky person who was desperate to fit in with the “cool kids” in school, who would go overboard so hard to seem casual and cool. It’s embarrassing!