Peak
23
Weeks
8
Score
523
Chart Year
2019
The satirical music video explores Swift's life as her theoretical male counterpart, an alter-ego named "Tyler Swift". The video presents numerous prevalent examples of double standards in society, and comments on the objectification and sexualization of women, toxic masculinity, patriarchy, as well as performative allyship. Throughout the video, the male version of Swift is seen rudely inconveniencing the people around him, leading a luxurious and promiscuous lifestyle, manspreading, receiving praise for the bare minimum, and throwing tantrums without consequences. It contains visual references to The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), a film involving the lyrically name-checked actor DiCaprio and cinematographer Prieto, and journalists felt the tennis scene referenced tennis player Serena Williams' match controversy with a chair umpire at the 2018 US Open Championships.[43] Swift's male alter-ego, Tyler Swift (middle), manspreading on a metro train The video has several easter eggs alluding to Swift's other work, including Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation graffiti on a wall. Fearless is written backwards, while the title of her eponymous debut album appears in a sign saying "Missing: If Found Return to Taylor Swift". The "missing" sign, along with another wordless sign that appears to ban riding scooters, references her 2019 dispute with Scooter Braun and Big Machine Records over the ownership of the master recordings of her first six studio albums. Lover, the first album that Swift completely owns herself, is absent, but the word "karma" is written twice on the wall, a possible reference to Swift's plan to re-record her previous works thus lowering the value of the originals. The camera subsequently pans over a "Mr. Americana" poster for a film starring Tyler Swift, directed by Larry Wilson, and premiering at the 2020 Mandance Festival, a word play on Swift's Netflix documentary Miss Americana directed by Lana Wilson, which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Swift's alter-ego runs down a hallway giving high-fives to nineteen disembodied hands, alluding to double standards behind the walk of shame that women are often forced to take after a sexual encounter. The hands are said to be a reference to the 19th amendment of the United States Constitution, which granted women the right to vote in the country.[44] In the final scene, Swift herself appears as the video's director to instruct her male alter-ego to be both "sexier" and "more likeable" in the next take—a dig at the entertainment industry's objectification of and sexist treatment toward women. Ending on messages of female empowerment, Swift then turns to praise Loren Gray for her acting performance as a tennis ball girl, despite her role consisting of nothing more than an eye roll. The end credits list Swift as the director, writer, owner, and star of the music video, Johnson as the voice of "The Man", and shows photos of Swift's transformation process into the male lead of the video. It ends with a disclaimer stating "No men were harmed in the making of this video".[45][46] Reception Bryan Rolli of Forbes highlighted that the video is characterized by an "exaggerated and cartoonish" attitude "in a self-aware way", typical of Swift's "most memorable videos". He further expanded that "obviously, not every man acts like her [Swift's] character; that's not the point. The point is to make a caricature of the buffoonish men who feel the need to criticize successful women like Swift for merely existing and dissect every public decision they make, whereas their male counterparts would receive praise for the same actions".[47] Avery Blank, also writing for Forbes, opined that the video is a "reminder that women continue to face challenges when it comes to owning their ideas and maintaining control over their own careers" and that the society "expects women to be team players and not worry about getting credit for their work". She further added that the video makes it clear to viewers that Swift "will not let people mess with her".[48] Glamour's Chloe Laws wrote that the "empowering" video "calls out sexism and the industry's double standards", which is "a small part of the bigger journey she's [Swift is] embarked on lately", by "refusing to let someone else control her narrative".[43] Vox's Constance Grady opined that Swift is "one of our great pop storytellers", proved by the video that becomes "the climax of her quest to own her voice".[45] Billboard's Rania Aniftos commended that Swift undergoes an "intense make-over" in the "visually stunning clip", to become a "bearded, belligerent corporate titan whose rocket fuel is non-stop high-fives, fist-pounds, empty praise and rounds of shots with his amped-up bros".[49] Vulture's Zoey Haylock commented that Swift as a man resembles Harry Styles, Jake Gyllenhaal and Joe Alwyn combined, appreciating the makeup and prosthetics as "award worthy".[46] Vogue's Hayley Maitland and Noami Pike described Swift's male alter ego as "the human embodiment of toxic masculinity".[50] Rolling Stone's Claire Shaffer stated that Swift "dons full drag to portray the worst of masculinity".[51] iHeartRadio's Paris Close commended that the video "does well to demonstrate how the hubris of male privilege plays out in the real world".[52] CNN's Lisa France opined that Swift is "unrecognizable" in the video, that "brings to life Swift's lyrics about how differently the world views men and women".[53] Writing for The Washington Post, Katie Shepherd and Allyson Chiu pointed out that the video is Swift's "gender-bending takedown of the patriarchy", that "skewer toxic masculinity and double standards, while airing personal grievances with an industry that has often subjected her to intense scrutiny". They added that Swift takes aim at "the cultural norms that allow, and at times even encourage, men to develop overinflated egos".[54] Fast Company's Starr Rocque stated that Swift "examines the ridiculousness of gender roles and weaves that into a satirical spin on her own personal experiences and observations", adding that Swift "catches a lot of flack, but she's a fighter and always true to her brand of female empowerment".[55] Swift's masculine appearance as "Tyler Swift" has been compared with that of Christian Bale, Harry Styles, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Joe Alwyn.
This send-up of patriarchy relates to Taylor Swift struggles as a woman in the music business. Over pulsing, stabbing synths, the songstress wages war against the double standards she faces as a female artist. Swift kicks off the song by ripping into the media's double standards about men and women writing about their love life. They'd say I played the field before I found someone to commit to And that would be okay for me to do Later, she imagines being in a position of power. Nobody pays attention when the alpha male leader is rude. They'd say I hustled, put in the work They wouldn't shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve During the pre-chorus, Swift compares the way the media outlets call out her various dates with their lack of interest in Leonardo DiCaprio's love life. And they would toast to me, oh, let the players play I'd be just like Leo in Saint Tropez Swift previously sang about "players gonna play" on her 2014 hit single "Shake It Off," which this lyric seems to reference. Swift revealed to Vogue the song was written with the concept of how her career would play out if she were a man. "If I had made all the same choices, all the same mistakes, all the same accomplishments, how would it read?" she explained. Swift co-wrote and co-produced the synthetic dance track with Joel Little. The New Zealand producer contributed towards three other tracks on Lover, including the singles "You Need To Calm Down" and "Me!" In a Spotify storyline, Swift explained: "This is a song that I've been wanting to write for a very long time in my career, but I could never figure out exactly how to phrase it. I've wondered several times, 'If I had been a man instead of a woman and I lived my life exactly the same way, what would people have said about me?' It's about perception. It's not, 'What would I do if I were a man?' It's about how I would be seen if I did exactly the same stuff. This is when I finally got an idea of how to approach this song." Report this ad The video sees an unrecognisable Swift playing the part of an obnoxious businessman, "Tyler Swift." We see the belligerent boss rudely inconveniencing the people around him as he manspreads on the subway train while smoking a cigar. The clip also skewers the concept of male fragility, when the corporate titan loses his temper at a women's charity tennis tournament. At the end of the clip, Swift plays a director who tells her own character, voiced by Dwayne Johnson, to be "sexier and more likable." The singer's father. Scott, appears briefly as a tennis umpire. There are also cameos from social media influencers Loren Gray and Dominic Toliver, and actress Jayden Bartels. The video was directed by Swift herself, making it her official solo directorial debut. Swift looks totally different in the video following her male makeover. According to the singer, the entire makeup transformation process took four to six hours every day before the shoot. The Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, quoted the song in the British Parliament. During her speech at the Women's Day Debate in the House of Commons on March 5, 2020, Truss said: "So that, in the words of the brilliant Taylor Swift, in her new song, women aren't left running as fast as they can wondering if they'd get there quicker if they were a man." Swift added another MTV Video Music Award to her trophy case when this won for Best Direction at the 2020 ceremony.
I would be complex I would be cool They'd say I played the field before I found someone to commit to And that would be okay For me to do Every conquest I had made Would make me more of a boss to you I'd be a fearless leader I'd be an alpha type When everyone believes ya What's that like? 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 I'd be the man I'd be the man They'd say I hustled Put in the work They wouldn't shake their heads And question how much of this I deserve What I was wearing, if I was rude Could all be separated from my good ideas and power moves And we would toast to me, oh, let the players play I'd be just like Leo, in Saint-Tropez 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 I'd be the man I'd be the man, yeah What's it like to brag about raking in dollars And getting bitches and models? And it's all good if you're bad It's okay if you're mad If I was out flashin' my dollars I'd be a bitch, not a baller They'd paint me out to be bad So it's okay that I'm mad I'm so sick of running As fast as I can Wondering if I'd get there quicker If I was a man, you know that And I'm so sick of them Coming at me again 'Cause if I was a man Then I'd be the man, then I'd be the man, yeah Yeah, I'd be the man, yeah Well, I'd be the man I'd be the man If I was a man Then I'd be the man
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 7, 2019 | 23 | 103 |
| 2 | Sep 14, 2019 | 61 | 65 |
| 3 | Sep 21, 2019 | 96 | 30 |
| 1 | Mar 7, 2020 | 92 | 34 |
| 2 | Mar 14, 2020 | 85 | 41 |
| 6 | Apr 11, 2020 | 90 | 36 |
| 7 | Apr 18, 2020 | 88 | 38 |
| 8 | Apr 25, 2020 | 88 | 38 |