Taylor Swift – Out of the Woods

“The best track (don’t argue, it is)”

Tom: So the record label’s finally got around to making the best track (don’t argue, it is) from 1989 a single, and the big-budget music video has just been released.

Tim: I won’t argue, but I will give a quick context note: this is another that is generally believed to be about her and Harry Styles; she’s not denied that, but said the relevant relationship was had “anxiety coursing through it” due to “every single person in the media thinking they could draw up the narrative of what we were going through”. So, probably.

Tom: Shot in New Zealand, like Lord of the Rings. Ridiculous budget, like Lord of the Rings. Impressive CGI, like Lord of the Rings. No coherent plot, like… well, never mind.

Tim: Binning off the snark for a moment (sorry): beautiful looking, like, yeah.

Tom: But here’s my point: 1989 is an album from 2014. It’s 15 months old. And new video releases still get massive publicity, millions of views in the first day, and — crucially — this isn’t an album track. This could have been the lead single. 1989 really is a spectacular album.

Tim: It is, and it’s no surprise that this was the initial promo track for the album. The chorus alone sums it up, and your attitude to the song will likely rest solely on that: high speed, high intensity, hefty on the shove-it-down-your-throat message. If you like the chorus, you’ll like the song. If you don’t like the chorus, there’s something wrong with you.