Analysis of the music video 'we are never ever getting back together'

I am analysing the music video ‘We are never ever getting back together’ which was written and sung by the American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift. The song features in her fourth studio album Red which was released in 2012 and it was directed by Declan Whitebloom. Taylor Swift has worked with Declan before on the visuals for both of the songs ‘Mean’ and ‘Ours’. The video was shot with a Sony F65 cinealta camera and it was the first promo to be featured in 4k resolution.

The genre of this song belongs to Pop and the video shows many characteristics of this genre. The genre is most evident through the Mise en scene of costumes, make up, props and the actors who feature in the music video. The main actor in the video Taylor Swift is presented as an innocent young girl and the song illustrates a typical love situation which appears in most pop songs. A reason for this is because they evolve around love, boys and romance. The genre pop is overall presented as fun and enjoyable music and I feel that this video highlights this rather well. In the chorus it features a band, where the members are dressed up as monkeys and they dance around playing musical instruments. This also accompanied by other actors who are also dancing and it gives an impression of a party atmosphere. The people dressed up as monkeys come across as unique and unusual but it would grab the audience’s attention, and implies the fun and happy elements of the video. This creates a dream like image. The costumes which Taylor wears in the video also highlight the genre of the video. She wears dresses and high heels connoting glamour and amplifying her strong female characteristics. The style of her costumes is overall very feminine and this is quite common in pop music videos by female artists. This is because there audience are mainly teenage girls so they would wear outfits which the audience would be attracted to. The colourful theme throughout the video of the bright colours of blues, pinks, purples and yellow reinforces the genre pop. The colours link with the upbeat tone of the song which is defiantly noticeable in the chorus. However, there is contradiction because of the lyrics of the song as it’s about a break up and these are commonly negative, but through the music and visuals they show that she is happy and confident that she is not getting back together with her boyfriend.

The narrative of the song shows the frustrations which Taylor Swift has towards her ex-boyfriend. He wants to rekindle their relationship but she doesn’t want to. This is clearly shown through the lyrics of the song and the scenes and shots throughout the music video.

As part of Andrew Goodwin’s six features of a music video there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics ‘you called me up again tonight, but oooo this time I’m telling you I’m telling you’. The visuals show her on the phone to the boy who is on the other line which is shown through the split screen. The relationship between lyrics and visuals is also shown with the lyrics ‘I’m really gonna miss you picking fights and me falling for it screaming that I’m right’ the visual shows them both arguing, implying the reasons as to why she doesn’t want to get back together with him, ever.

Taylor Swift’s star image is represented as an innocent young girl who has everyday teenage troubles and in relation to this music videos situation it’s the troubles which Taylor Swift has with her ex-boyfriend. I believe that this clearly identifies who the target audience would be for this music video and this would be young teenage girls who may be going through similar situations like Taylor. This would allow the audience to be able to feel a personal connection with Taylor. I feel that her star image is quite different to other Pop stars that are in the same music industry as Taylor Swift. She is not presented in a sexualised way and is not seen as an object to satisfy male gratification. For example in Katy Perry’s music video for California Girls she reveals quite a lot of her flesh revealing parts of her body which would grab male attention. Whereas, in Taylor Swift’s other music videos and also when she performs she is well covered up and doesn’t reveal too much of her body which would make her appear like she wants to grab male attention. I believe that this is done purposely because of her target audience of young girls and it would not be appropriate for them to see Taylor in a different way. It implies that she doesn’t need to reveal her body to be popular and successful in the music industry and highlights that there is a place for her in the music world so she is evidently doing the right thing and doesn’t need to change her star image.

Notion of looking is another feature of Andrew Goodwin’s six features of a music video and this is shown in ‘We are never getting back together’. There are close up shots and wide shots (in the chorus) of her looking directly into the camera. This is shown when she is looking out of the window and directly looking into the camera focusing on the audience to make the audience feel involved. Taylor Swift’s star image is also enhanced through notion of looking by the shot of her being on the television performing a song. This strengthens the idea of the audience ‘watching the star’ reinforcing Taylor Swifts star image.

In previous videos by Taylor Swift she is presented in similar ways as being vulnerable as she writes about being taken advantage by boys. An example of this is her single ‘I knew you were trouble’. In ‘We are never getting back together’ it does in fact show Taylor becoming more confident and takes control which is apparent by the strong lyrics ‘We are never getting back together’ and ends with her slamming the door in the boy’s face. Her audience would admire her for doing this and it would also subvert to a stereotypical women in music videos as being weak and helpless situations like this, for example in the music video for ‘I’m not the only one’ by Sam Smith.

The music video has the five stages of Todorovs theory of a narrative. These are original equilibrium, disruption, recognition, attempt to restore and new equilibrium. The new equilibrium is shown in the opening scene where Taylor Swift is sitting at her window presented as a typical teenage girl. Secondly, disruption is evident through the arrival of the male and they both begin to argue. This is quite common and predictable for a pop genre where the scenario is between a boy and girl. The chorus I believe is noticeable throughout the chorus of the song through the dancing and the people dressed up as monkeys in the band. Also, the flashback of when they were both happy in and in a relationship shows the attempt to restore. Lastly, the new equilibrium is when the video returns to the beginning and speaks directly into the camera ‘we are never ever getting back together.