I MISS MY MTV

In which we pretend music videos never went out of style. 

“Style” is a classic MTV video for a a few reasons. Let’s talk order: TSwift has already released a couple of music videos from her last album, 1989, but they were mostly about having fun and saying fuck off to the haters. This video is about reminding fans she can get emotional too. It’s time for the ballad, and Swift knows how to bring it. The song is a little more upbeat than a normal pop-ballad, since nostalgia isn’t the same as heartbreak and why not make it easier for a dance remix to be made? The video itself uses all of the old MTV ballad tricks. It’s a little writer than the previous videos, but not in a way that would exclude anyone. It uses imagery and effects you’ve seen before to keep you comfortably interested flashing between a loose narrative to keep you hooked. There’s no doubt if this came out in the early 90s it’d be on heavy, heavy rotation. But it wouldn’t be anyone’s favorite. It’ll take a little more than mirror-mouth to knock down how much fucking fun “Shake it Off” is.