Seriously, put yourself in the year 2014. Taylor hasn't released any notable music in a while, and most of her recent activity has been via the big screen, through roles in The Lorax, The Giver, and a cameo in New Girl. Her previous album, Red, wasn't quite as country as her origins, but neither was Speak Now and that was 4 years ago by this point. Taylor has solidly cemented herself as the nation's most popular country-pop artist, and then Shake It Off comes out.
To put it gently, this song is not country. To put it a little less gently, this song is so not country that it may have alienated some of her audience. Just to be perfectly clear, I really like this song. But to fans who were more interested in Taylor's country music, this song was the furthest she had ever strayed from the genre they had grown used to.
On it's own, I don't think that would have made this song so divisive. But take it's subject matter into account. Most songs could have just been ignored, but this song actively makes a target out of the haters. So if you, my hypothetical straw-man 2014 Taylor Swift country music fan, would have a much harder time simply moving past how different this song is from her previous work. Plus, the music video has people doing hip-hop dancing! Taylor, how could you??? (/s)
So yeah, for someone like me who enjoys this style of music just as much as country, I love this song! The songs on 1989 do an excellent job of choosing a message and sticking with it. Not having a clearly defined thesis makes a song much less compelling and is Red's greatest weakness. Even if you disagree with what she's saying you have to recognize that this song is trying to say something, does it effectively, and sounds good the whole time. In terms of tone and sound this song has a lot in common with Red songs like 22, but in terms of theme and message has a lot in common with Reputation. I'll be talking more about the specific strengths and weaknesses of Taylor's albums in more detail in the future, but these two borrowed aspects take the best from their respective albums.
Plus, the music video is a lot of fun. The way that Taylor includes so many different dancing styles makes it visually a treat, even if I think it is one of the weaker music videos from 1989 (that's mostly just because the other ones are so good though).
So overall, I think this is a great song! There are a couple ones out there that have a similar goal and execute a little more cleanly, but really not many. At the end of the day this song is yet another great entry in 1989.
See you tomorrow,
-C
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