Are You Ready For It?: A Final Project Worth a Reputation (Wilkins)

## Introduction

Since the beginning of time people have been hesitant to change. As far back as Plato’s time people

questioned if what was new could be as good as what they already had. Critics today question whether anything electronic can be as good a printed text and spoken word.  Without the creator of work present to interpret their work for an audience Plato thought writing would cause many problems and didn’t think it should be done. While writing has been a great asset new mediums and forms are still questioned as they arise.  With the rise of internet singers as well as writers and producers must either choose to leave interpretation to the consumer or fight at great lengths to make sure the content, they produce is interpreted the way they intend.

In the “Wired World” we live in today anyone can post opinions or try to twist a song words into something they did not mean.  While the internet allows for people around the world to experience albums from faraway place at the touch of a finger it also allows for critics from around the world to state their opinion.  Anyone can hide behind a screen and fire insults at content and make their opinions known worldwide. Even fan bases or knowledge communities around a community can be critiqued for trying to decode too much and pry into what should be left alone.  Arguments can easily get out of hand between many everyday people now about the meaning or quality of a track because instead of two friends disagreeing people from around the world can throw their two cents in.

As in the case of Spoiling Survivor fan bases can even create problems for artists by working to figure out what they are going to do before they even do it. This kind of direct interaction with the creation can even have influence on what the producer creates. Creators now have more feedback to them from average fans or critics then ever before. How it is responded to adds dimension to the work. Some directly address it while others are more subtly.

While criticism and premature spoiling can drive artists to simply abandon certain projects because the fanbase wedges too much information out before they can produce the piece some may argue it simply makes artists be more creative.  Others say it ruins creations however, this view is inaccurate as a whole and problematic. Writing in Plato’s day strengthened other mediums by providing more information to speakers and artists of other forms. In the same way the Internet stands to be able to do so with mediums such as music.  While so
much information readily available to artists they can write songs more relevant than ever to listener. Artists can choose how they respond to the Influence of new media

*Reputation* takes to addressing the public boldly. This album was not what was expected and has created much surprise around it.  It showed a shift in Taylor’s music and brought much criticism and speculation with it.  Through studying the knowledge communities, the ways this song has been remade and interpreted we can see how this album expressly addressed these things. *Reputation* was a statement to the audience about the way we view artists and their content today.

## Interpretative Disputes

There have been many disputes over various songs on the Reputation album as well as over the meaning behind the album as a whole.  When the album launched many fans expressed dislike for it and its new sound and tough lyrics. However, there was also a large group of fans that expressed love for the new “realness” exposed in with this album. One saying they’d “never been so blown away by an album.”  But the question many where asking though was why the sudden change.  From an artist who is known for light hearted country or pop songs about exes and high school this album seemed a little dark and people disagreed on why.

### Look What You Made Me Do

Her first single off the album “Look What You Made Me Do” released August 23,2017 started the debate from the public.  People were surprised by the boldness and new sound that came with it.  Fans speculated
who exactly the who the “you” has referring to. This dis track doesn’t explicitly name a culprit but, it is clearly someone is being accused of causing the need for a change from sweet gentle girl to assertive women that isn’t taking any crap.  Many fans thought
that she could be referring to Kayne West who had dissed her in the past at the VMA awards, taking the stage during her acceptance speech.  Lyrics referring to “I don’t like your tilted stage, the role you make me play of fool” seemed to point to his recent tour setup, and his recent song written claiming he made her famous. Others thought she may be calling out Katy Perry who was accused of hiring Swifts *1989* backup dancers out from under her. Yet others thought that the public could be the “who” however.  With the artist deleting all social media posts prior to the release of this song fans thought that maybe the star wanted to be out of the public eye and that this song was blaming them for it.

### What Boyfriend is This About?

While this album had a fair number of other themes going on it leading to a dark deeper theme fans still had their classic question about Taylor’s album with this one, what guys are these songs referring too.  Many disputes arose to what songs might have to do with recent exes Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston and what might be referring to her new at time boyfriend Joe Alwyn.  One fan theory even pointed to the song “Dress” being a love message to her longtime friend Ed Sheeran with a tweet saying “love the new @taylorswift13 album…but can we all agree the song #Dress is about @edsheeran?!?” Fans also came up with the theory that “Getaway Car” lyrics referring to needing a reason to leave him could be traced back to Swift meeting Hiddleston at the Met Gala and wanting to leave Calvin Harris.   However, there are disagreements as to
whether all of these lyrics all really references to specifics or rather generic descriptions put in by the song writer. Although the “Getaway Car” lyric seem pretty straight forward to pointing towards Calvin and Tom the fact that Swift may be in love with Ed Sheeran is a little harder to authenticate.

### Personal or for Publicity?

The intent of this album as a whole is still debated, and fans and the public alike disagree on whether this change was for better or worse.  Some argue that the darker edge it simply an attempt to stay relevant while others stand behind thinking that this was a personal cry.  Interpretation is a tricky thing though. What Sternburg says in “Do Characters Belong to Their Fans or Their Creators?” applies here, that if authors do not state that something isn’t true about their work then what says it’s wrong?

## Authorial Intent

What do we know about Swift and the authors intentions for *Reputation?* Due to the number of interpretative disputes found about the album one can assume that the authors intended for some controversy and debates when the album was written. With many albums already existing by Swift one can assume the change in this album was intentional and planned out but may wonder why now. What the purpose was?   Fans have many assumptions about the authorial intent behind not only how the albums meaning, but also its set up, and meaning for the future.

### Set Up

When looking at the album *Reputation* many fans want to look at individual songs and find the meaning behind them to find the meaning of the album.  Radio singles “Look What You Made Me Do” and “…Ready for it?” were popular songs many put their two cents in and use to sum up the whole album.  While these songs are both large markers in the change in Swift’s meaning and hold important significance.  One fan brings up the fact that all of songs on the album work together to bring a bigger significance then one can value without looking at all the songs. This fan references that Taylor’s words that if “if you don’t get the joke, you don’t deserve to get the joke” to say not that the album is a joke but that one needs to have finer insight and understanding to truly value her work.

This fan explains that the album is actually meant to be looked at as a linear timeline. That it “goes from a place of chaos, confusion, and drama, to love contentedness, and peace.”  It is believed that it is meant to reflect Taylor’s life in the past years and how it has went from chaos to safe and security according to this source.  She argues that the album is just different parts of the same story and is meant to be taken in as such.

### Timing Relevance

Coming out after a “three-year drought” as another fan described *Reputation* was Swift’s first album in a while.  Maturing from a twenty-four year-old to a twenty-seven year old between this album and her last a lot happened and was dealt with in the time break.  While fans disagree about what exactly these songs are referring to there is agreement that this album deals with some of the major hate and back stabbing, she has dealt with in the past few years.  “She's had to deal with a lot of manipulative, cold-hearted people and still has a sense of humor.” said one fan referring to the album.Many think this album she was to show the public that she was not defeated by her “reputation” and that she could handle the heat.
Many fans also point to this being an able of evolution. As one fan who had been a fan since high school and

           still loves this album said “she has evolved since then [high school], but so have I. “This album allowed for time for the singer to grow and change in expression.  *Reputation* was not solely meant to address beefs with artist or the public but to show how these things have affected her and how she has developed in other areas of her life. Their will always be debate on the full authorial intent of this album and who had the main power in where the story went but most fans do agree this album was a big change.  As people change music will change and most of the fans seem on board with it.

## Remediation

### Music Videos

Some of the most common and popular remediations of the *Reputation* album are the singles iconic music videos.  Fan eagerly awaited the release of them dropping
comments on Swift’s Instagram eagerly anticipating their arrival.  The “Look What You Made Me Do” was the first video to drop and was immediately analyzed by fans when it dropped.  Music videos allow for visual explanation of lyrics but interesting lead to even more questions sometimes.  Several fans made videos of their viewing the videos as they came out.

One fan’s analysis of the “Look What You Made Me Do” video garnered over six hundred thousand views and gave some of his theories on what’s going on in the video.  First, he states his appreciation for the song and then goes over some of his thoughts and reactions to the song.  He points out in one scene the similarity in how Swift looks to Katy Perry and is a wrecked car as seen in one of Perry’s video.  This analysis and ones like it helped other fans better understand the songs and to start conversations between fellow fans about the work.

“…Ready for it?” was another song off the album that was made into a much loved music video.  It’s lyrics leaving room for imagination allowed for an insightful music video that brought a lot of fan attraction.  Many fans sounded off in the comments on it that they loved the music video and gave their two cents on the meaning of it as well.  These adaptations into music videos allowed for a much more to be talked about within the song lyrics and how the videos portrayed.  Having a visual representation made the song “come to life” for some fans.

Several fans even voiced wanting movies made from songs on this album.  Many expressed love for the “…Ready for It?” and “Look What You Made Me Do” videos in there YouTube comments loving the visual representation of such rich songs.  With such greatness added through the music videos fans wished the cinematic story-line the laid could be continued. While there is no project for this in the works fans say they would be all about it.

### Fan Covers and Videos

Aside from watching the official music videos and listening to the *Reputation* songs many fans made their own remediation to the artist’s work.  Fans from far and wide set out to show the interpretation they had of the song or show their appreciation for it by singing it, dancing to it, or even creating their own music video. This is what one fan did as he directed in acted in his own version of a music video to the song “Delicate” while the video did not get many YouTube views his friends and some fellow fans of the songs commented much appreciation for it. One can tell from watching even though it was amateurly shot that much time and effort was put forth into producing it.

                Other fans added their own flare in different ways as well. Several males posted their vocal versions of “Delicate.” While some gathered more views then others most all received positive feedback. The community of fans are eager to see more version of the work they appreciate and respect those that share in their love of the *Reputation* album.  Covers of the songs in other languages as well as sign language allowed others to be able to experience the music in a way they could better understand it and appreciate and expand the fan base. The vast amount of fans contributed to these shows the broad fan base of this album and the depth of their appreciation for it.

## Additional Resources

Kayne West

Katy Perry

Fan Analysis

## References

1. ↑ "Plato- Phaedrus" Course Packet
2. ↑ "Spoiling Survivor" Henry Jenkins
3. ↑ Look What You Made Me Do Wikipedia Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look\_What\_You\_Made\_Me\_Do
4. ↑ "Look What You Made Me Do" Lyrics https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-look-what-you-made-me-do-lyrics
5. ↑ "Look What You Made Me Do" YouTube Comments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmd-ClpJxA
6. ↑ Fan Theories

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a13514492/who-are-taylor-swift-reputation-lyrics-about/
7. ↑ "Do Fans Belong to Their Fans or Their Creators?" by Adam Sternbergh https://www.vulture.com/2015/07/characters-belong-to-fans-or-creators.html
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Amazon Reputation CD Reviews https://www.amazon.com/reputation-Taylor-Swift/product reviews/B0754BBDF1/ref=cm\_cr\_getr\_d\_paging\_btm\_6?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all\_reviews&pageNumber=6
9. ↑ "Look What You Made Me Do" fan reaction video https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=look+what+you+made+me+do+fan+reaction&view=detail&mid=A17E06496A1E648E42E9A17E06496A1E648E42E9&FORM=V
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "...Ready For It?" Music Video YouTube comments https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=look+what+you+made+me+do+fan+reaction&view=detail&mid=A17E06496A1E648E42E9A17E06496A1E648E42E9&FORM=V
11. ↑ Delicate Fan Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vf3vtZtxk8
12. ↑ Male "Delicate" Cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vf3vtZtxk8
13. ↑ Delicate Japanese Cover Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vf3vtZtxk8
14. ↑ Sign Language version of “Look What You Made Me Do”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTM11lfUUuo