|
Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020)
This is the first one that I started
when I was 13. And it says, "My life, my career, my... my dream... ...my reality." For a while, I wrote with quill and ink. That was a phase I went through. Like, I had a glass quill with, like, an ink jet. You know, my entire moral code, as a kid and now, is a need to be thought of as good. That's dangerous. That's not... That's dangerous for you. It was all I wrote about. It was all I wanted. It was the complete and total... belief system that I subscribed to as a kid. Do the right thing. Do the good thing. And obviously, I'm not a perfect person by any stretch, but overall, the main thing that I always tried to be was... um... like, just... like, a good girl. And now, to perform the national anthem, a multitalented performing artist from Reading, Pennsylvania. Please welcome Taylor Swift! Hey, everybody. - Um... - Hi, Taylor. You know, one of my first memories of country music was when I was six years old, and my parents took me to see LeAnn Rimes in concert. Guitar! I... am... happy! ...twelve-year-old Taylor Swift! Whoo! Hey, everybody. I'm Taylor. I'd been trained to be happy when you get a lot of praise. Hi, Taylor. See, that's... that's Sony Music, right there. Sony is gonna listen to her CD today. I had that praise of, "Taylor, you're doing a good job at your work." Hey, this is Taylor Swift, and thanks for listening to Cat Country 98.1. "You're doing a good job at being a songwriter. You're doing a good job at being a musician." Like, those pats on the head were all I lived for. No one's going to be watching this 'cause it's my home video, but... right here, look at that. Look at that. Sixty... ...60 on the Billboard charts right there. I was so fulfilled by approval... that... that was it. I became the person who everyone wanted me to be. In the middle of the night In my dreams You should see the things we do, baby Ooh In the middle of the night In my dreams I know I'm gonna be with you So I take my time Baby, let the games begin Let the games begin Let the games begin Oh-oh! Baby, let the games begin Let the games begin Let the games begin Oh-oh! Are you ready for it? My God, man. I'm so... happy. Everybody was so happy watching it. Hey. - Night. - Good night. - Hi. - Good morning. I've just been, like, running up and down stairs, like, moving things around, unpacking boxes, like... ...trying not to think about you calling me with Grammy nominations. I know. Well, I'm trying to get the full... the full list. Because right now, um, in the main... the big categories of album, record, song... um, you are not nominated. - And... - Uh, okay, it's... it's, um... - This is good. This is fine. - Yeah. And it's very similar. Everything is like this cr... You know, it's so weird, I said... If... This is... You know what? Like, this is fine. - This is... - Yeah. I just need to make a better record. Well, Reputation is a great record. No, I'm making... I'm making a better record. Well, and I should... I'm still waiting for the pop... you know, the pop categories. Those should be hitting any second. So, do you want me to call you right back when those hit? Sure. - Okay, I'll call you right back. - Okay, thanks. - Bye, now. Bye! - Bye. So you say That you'll never find another... I'm the only one of me It sounds different than I thought it would on the piano. - Almost sounds sadder. - Mm-hmm. And I guess it's, like... The only thing I have... I really have minimal stuff, but it's like... So you say that... And, like... And then you say That you'll never find another Like me-ee-ee Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh Baby, that's the fun of me Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh - I don't know. I have no idea. - It's cool. - You like it? - Yeah. I think this is the first single. First verse, and, like, maybe a lower volume so you can hear - what lyrics I'm trying to say. - Yeah. I know I said some bullshit On the phone I never leave well enough alone And trouble's gonna follow where I go And there's a lot of cool chicks Out there One of these things Is not like the others Like a rainbow with all of the colors Baby doll, when it comes to a lover I tell you That you'll never find another Like me-ee-ee! - Yes! - Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh! - Yeah. - I'm the only one of me Yeah, so good. Baby, there's just one of me Ooh-hoo-hoo! - Damn. - Holy shit! Oh, my God, did we just do, like, this whole verse and chorus? Yeah. Holy shit. Everything up to that point is good. Yep. You look like you might need a rest. I don't need a rest. I'm fine. This means it's working. Honey! How are you? Oh, honey! Aw, hi, honey. There's so much pressure going into putting new music out. If I don't beat everything I've done prior, it'll be deemed as, like, a colossal failure. Maybe first I could talk to you about, um, kind of new album stuff. There's gonna be from... from 16 to 20 songs on it... is what I'm guessing it's gonna end up at. - It's a lot. - Let's get it done. That's what... that's what I was hoping for. Everybody in music has their own sort of... niche specialty thing that they do... that, you know, sets them apart from everybody else. And... my storytelling is what it is for me. I-I... I know that, without me writing my own songs, I wouldn't... be here. We can... We can leave the Christmas... Uh. We can leave the Christmas lights up Till January... There is an element to my fan base where we feel like we grew up together. I'll... I'll be going through something, write the album about it, and then it'll come out, and... sometimes it'll just coincide with what they're going through. Kind of... Kind of like they're reading my diary. ...Close forever and ever? And, ah, take me out And take me home You're my, my, my, my Lover Okay. This is a song I wrote yesterday, and... it's about a girl who's just different. And I really like it because it's just s-so happy. So, this is called "Lucky You." There's a little girl In this little town With a little too much heart To go around "Live forever Never say never You can do better" That's what she says I have to be honest with you, this song was seriously finished five minutes ago. So, you know, I usually have these things memorized, but... I just finished it five minutes ago, so... Let's watch the tide chase the waves Onto the sand I wonder if a sad heart Can feel the warmth of my hand I started playing guitar and wrote a couple songs, and I've written 150 songs and written every song on this album, so... You were a freshman when you wrote this? I actually came up with the concept for it in math class my freshman year. You know, I've had a single out now for about a month. Yeah! There's this radio station called KZLA. I want each and every one of you to call 'em up... and tell 'em you wanna hear a song called "Tim McGraw" by this girl named Taylor Swift. Please. You said the way my blue eyes shined Put those Georgia stars to shame That night I said, "That's a lie..." A 16-year-old girl released her debut country music album and dreamed of making it big. Well, today that girl is as big as it gets. In the past year, she has taken Nashville and country music on an unforgettable trip around the world. She went on to sell more than any artist this year. That made her the youngest person to write and perform a number one country song. I give myself, like, five seconds a day to be like, "Yes, this is happening!" And then the rest of the day, I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna make it last. And the Horizon Award goes to... Taylor Swift! The moon Like a spotlight on the lake - When you think happiness... - I wanna thank God... and my family for moving to Nashville so that I could do this. And the fans... you have changed my life! Thank you so much. I was ridin' shotgun With my hair undone In the front seat of his car He's got a one-hand feel On the steering wheel The other on my heart... I was in country music, and I was doing, like, a very spectacle-type live show, and I remember thinking, "This feels like a dream. This feels like a dream. This feels like a dream." ...Have a song Our song is a slamming screen door Sneaking out late... But when you're living for the approval of strangers... and that is where you derive all of your joy and fulfillment, one bad thing can cause everything to crumble. There's only one lady that can actually make an arrival as angelic and as beautiful as this. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Taylor Swift. And the Moonman for Best Female Video goes to... Taylor Swift. If you could see that I'm the one Who understands you Been here all along So why can't you see Thank you so much! I always dreamed about what it would be like to maybe win one of these someday, but I never actually thought that would happen. Uh, I sing country music, so thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA Award, I... Yo, Taylor... I-I'm really happy for you. I'mma let you finish, but Beyonc had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time! I was standing onstage, and I was really excited because I had just won the award, and then I was really excited because Kanye West was on the stage. And then I, um... then I wasn't so excited anymore. Hey, Taylor, are there any hard feelings towards him? I-I don't know him, and I-I've never met him, so... - So, were you a fan before? - Um... - ...yeah. - Oh. - He's Kanye West. - Mm-hmm. Are you still a fan? I take it no? You know, I just... I don't know him, and I don't wanna start anything 'cause I just, you know, I had a great night tonight. Everyone is talking about this Kanye West thing, aren't they? In case you're lucky enough to have missed it, Kanye West interrupted a young singer named Taylor Swift while she... President Obama calling Kanye West a "jackass." I can name you ten or 15 people that he wouldn't have gone up and taken that mic away from. But he did it with a 17-year-old girl because he could. It was so echoey in there. At the time, I didn't know they were booing him doing that. I thought that they were booing me. For someone who's built their whole belief system on getting people to clap for you, the whole crowd booing... is a pretty... formative experience. I walked through the door With you The air was cold But something 'bout it felt Like home somehow And I left my scarf there At your sister's house And you've still got it in your drawer Even now... That was, like, sort of a catalyst for a lot of psychological... paths that I went down. We're singin' in the car Gettin' lost... And not all of them were... beneficial. Autumn leaves fallin' down Like pieces into place And I can picture it... It was all fueled by not feeling like I belonged there. I'm only here because I work hard and I'm nice to people. That magic's not here no more... That work ethic, like... - Thank God I had that work ethic. - But I'm not fine at all... Like, I can't change what's gonna happen to me, but I can control what I write. Looking at it now It all seems so simple We were lying on your couch I remember - You took a Polaroid of us... - I really just went to this place where I was like, "I'm gonna prove myself. I'm gonna make sure people know I deserve to be here." Then discovered... The New York Times said, "By making pop with almost no contemporary references, Miss Swift is aiming somewhere even higher, a mode of timelessness few pop stars even bother aspiring to." Taylor Swift has done something only The Beatles have done: an album at number one for six weeks for four consecutive albums. One magazine headline said it best: "Taylor Swift is the music industry." In the clear yet, good Are we out of the woods? Remember When you hit the brakes too soon? Twenty stitches in a hospital room When you started crying Baby, I did too But when the sun came up I was lookin' at you Remember when You couldn't take the heat? I walked out I said, "I'm settin' you free" But the monsters turned out To be just trees When the sun came up I was lookin' at you I remember Oh! Are we out of the woods yet? Are we out of the woods yet? Are we out of the woods? Yet? Yet? In the clear yet, good! That was... that was it. My life had never been better. Taylor Swift. I had won Album of the Year at the Grammys for a second time, which I never thought was a possibility. And I remembered thinking afterward... "Oh, my God, that was all you wanted. Oh, God, that was all you wanted. That was all you focused on." You get to the mountaintop and you look around, and you're like, "Oh, God. W-What now?" I want to thank the fans for the last ten years... and the Recording Academy... I-I didn't have a partner that I climbed it with that I could, like, high-five. I-I didn't have anyone I could talk to who could relate to what I was... what... what I... you know? I had my mom, but... I just wondered... "Shouldn't... shouldn't I... shouldn't I have someone that I could call right now?" - Do you eat burritos? - Yes. - Do you? - Of course I eat burritos. - Some people don't. - Who doesn't eat burritos? Um, I didn't ever eat burritos until, like, two years ago. Oh, wow... I had never tri... I just had never tried one. - That's the weirdest niche thing. - Yeah. Mm-mm. You ever do this? Oh. - For crunch? - No. That's spicy. - Okay. - Oh, my God. I'm about to be 29. Twenty-nine? I remember those days. How do you feel about that? I mean... yeah, there's a part of me that feels like I'm 57, but there's a part of me that's like... definitely not ready to have kids, definitely not ready for all this grown-up stuff. - Yeah. - So... I don't think anybody's ever ready for that stuff. You just figure it out when it happens. I kind of don't really have the luxury of... ...figuring stuff out because my life is planned, like, in... - like, two years ahead of time. - Mm. Like, literally, in two months, they'll come to me with the dates for the next tour. - Right. - They'll be like, "So... you'll be at Foxborough Stadium, this date, 2020," or whatever year, you know? - Like, it's... - Wow. Yeah. So, yeah. Ooh! You scared the shit out of me! Here we go. - Incoming. - Yup. I got it. - Whoa. Oh. - Oh, no! No! Not the steak! No, no, not on your forehead! Yeah, well, I don't know. I... Either that or the lap. I don't know. - Oh, shit. - This is a Rihanna shirt. Oh, my God, it's all over me. Want a bite? Want a bite? She goes, "What is the panic?" She did a better job of bracing herself for takeoff than we did. It is like traveling with a pony. But I love her. - Oh, I know. - But I love her. She's... Okay, so what you're... what you're seeing here... is... ...is exactly what Mom decided to do when both of her kids were out of the house. She decided to get a third child, like, a human-sized dog. She's actually my cancer dog. After I... found that out, I... I decided to, um... to do something I'd always wanted to do, which was... get a-a really big dog. - That's good, Mom. - Yeah. Well, that's what it is. I'm happy that worked out for you. I'm sor... sorry you had cancer. I'm sorry. That's really what it is. She got cancer several years ago. That has been really hard for me because she's my favorite person. On the third song, where I hadn't gotten it started yet, she goes, "Come on, Mom." Like, into the microphone. It woke me up from this... this life where I used to sweat all these things. - Hi, Dad. - How you doing, babe? But, like, do you really care if the Internet doesn't like you today if your mom's sick from her chemo? Cheers! - She looks like you. - Oh, she's just like you, Kitty! You gotta be able to really prioritize what matters to you. For me, it's my family and my friends. This is looking good, right now. Would you like a glass of red wine or white wine? Can I get some white wine? Oh, you got the red wine? - Does that make me a difficult guest? - It's for the recipe. I'm happy to switch. It's too adult for me, - let's be honest. - Yeah. Oh. And... ah, yes. Okay, that's dinner. I'm gonna get some ice for my wine. You want any? Yeah. Oh, that's fine. That's honestly just what I wanted. - Yeah. - You're like... "Uh..." Eh. - You know, Claire just had a baby. - Mm-hmm. And, like, I went over to see her, and... How's she doing... - She was just... - ...with motherhood? Well, she's the best 'cause she's like, "Just so you know, this is what it is. - You feed 'em, change 'em, they sleep. - Yeah. - You feed 'em, change 'em, they sleep. - You do it all over. Yeah. - You feed 'em." Like... - It's just... She's... And I was like, "So, it's like a Tamagotchi?" - Oh, my God. - Like... - Like, exactly, so... - Yeah. - You'd be an excellent mother. - Thanks. No questions. Mmm. Mmm. This is so good. - I'm gone for a month after this. - Mm. - We got three. - Okay. Huh? Three paps. - Three? - Three paps now. Three of 'em, you say? Well, good luck sellin' this picture. Oh, my God! Taylor! I love you! Well... So, this is my front yard... ...and... I'm highly aware of the fact that that is not normal. I've learned over the years... ...it's not good for me to see pictures of myself every day 'cause I have a tendency, and it's only happened... a few times, and I'm not in any way proud of it, but I get... I tend to get triggered by something, whether it's a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big or... or, like, someone said that I looked pregnant or something, and that'll just trigger me to just... s-starve a little bit, just stop eating. I thought that I was just, like, supposed to feel like I was gonna pass out at the end of a show or in the middle of it. I thought that was how it was, and now I realize: no, if you eat food, have energy, get stronger, you can do all these shows and not feel it. Which is... ...a really good revelation... because I'm a lot happier with who I am, and I'm happier with, like... I don't... I don't care as much if, like... somebody points out that I have gained weight. It's just something that makes my life better, the fact that I'm, you know... I'm a size six instead of a size double zero. I mean, that... that wasn't... how my body was supposed to be. I just didn't really... understand that a-at the time. I really don't think I knew it. I would've defended it to anyone who said, "I'm concerned about you." I was like, "What are you talking about? Of course I eat. It's perfectly normal. I just exercise a lot." And I did exercise a lot, but I wasn't eating. And... you can't... I just... I don't think you know you're doing that when you're doing it gradually. There's always some standard of beauty that you're not meeting. 'Cause if you're thin enough then you don't have that ass that everybody wants. But if you have enough weight on you to have an ass, then your stomach isn't flat enough. It's all just... fucking impossible. You don't ever say to yourself, "Look, I've got an eating disorder," but you know you're, like, making a list of everything you put in your mouth that day, and you know that's probably not right, but then again, there's so many diet blogs that tell you that that... that that's what you should do. This would cause me to go into, like, a real shame... like, hate spiral. This. And, like, I caught myself yesterday starting to do it, and I was like, "Nope, we don't do that anymore. We do not do that anymore, because it's better to look... to think you look fat than to look sick. And we don't do that anymore, and you just... We're just... We're changing the channel in our brain, and we're not... we're not doin' that anymore. That didn't end us up in a good place." As your career goes like this, the magnifying glass goes like that. Taylor Swift could not take herself more seriously. I think that there's plenty of annoying women. I-I think that Taylor Swift, she is annoying. She's too good. She's too skinny. It bothers me. All of her model friends. And it's just like, come on! Lock and load, boys. Yo, Taylor! You fucked him, Taylor? We've got a roundup of the guys that Miss Swifty has at one point been romantic with, and there are a lot of hotties on this list. Holy date life. ...meet the parents? She's going through guys like a train. - Can we get a pan down? - It's beautiful. I wanted to show the legs, 'cause as I was telling you, you're gonna walk home with more than maybe just a trophy tonight. I think lots of men. I'm not gonna walk home with any men tonight. Watch... watch out, guys! We give you the latest can't-look-away twist in one of America's favorite celebrity feuds. Kanye West recently dissed Taylor in his new song, "Famous." The song contains a lyric calling Taylor Swift the b-word. I feel like me and Taylor Might still have sex Why? I made that bitch famous Kanye had said all along that he got permission. Taylor denied it. Kim Kardashian released video of Kanye West secretly recording his conversation. I mean, thanks for being, like, so cool about it. - Oh, thanks. - Yeah. Um, yeah, I really appreciate it. Like, the heads-up is so nice. She posted on Instagram, "Where in the video is Kanye telling me he was gonna call me 'that... - biatch' in his song?" - Yeah. Swift writing, "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009." I don't buy the story that she was so insulted by that one line. I think she saw an opportunity to be victimized here, and she thought everybody was gonna get on her side. I feel like me and Taylor Might still have sex, why? I made that bitch famous - God damn! - I made that bitch famous Hold on. Fuck Taylor Swift! Fuck Taylor Swift! Fuck Taylor Swift! Fuck Taylor Swift! Fuck Taylor Swift! When people decided I was... wicked and evil and conniving and not... a good person, that was the one that I couldn't really bounce back from 'cause my whole life was centered around it. #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty was the number one trend on Twitter worldwide. Know how many people have to be tweeting that they hate you for that to happen? We're people who got into this line of work because we wanted people to like us, 'cause we were intrinsically insecure, because we liked the sound of people clapping 'cause it made us forget how much we feel like we're not good enough. And I've been doing this for 15 years, and it's just, I'm tired of it. I'm just tired of the... ...just... ...it just feels like it's more than music now at this point. And, just, most days, I'm like, "Okay." But then sometimes, I'm just like... ...it just gets loud sometimes. When people fall out of love with you, there's nothing you can do to make them change their mind. They just don't love you anymore. I just wanted to disappear. Nobody physically saw me for a year. And that was what I thought they wanted. The world moves on Another day, another drama, drama But not for me, not for me All I think about is karma And then the world moves on But one thing's for sure Maybe I got mine But you'll all get yours The reason why that backlash hurt so much was because that used to be all I had. I never trust a narcissist But they love me So I play 'em like a violin And I make it look oh so easy If you've been on my case For a long time I felt really alone. I felt really bitter. I felt, you know, sort of like a wounded animal lashing out. Is this the end of all the endings? My broken bones are mending With all these nights we're spending Up on the roof I figured I had to reset everything. My castle crumbled overnight Brought a knife to a gunfight They took the crown But it's all right All the liars are calling me one Nobody's heard from me for months Doin' better than I ever was... I had to deconstruct an entire belief system for my own personal sanity. I also was falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal, balanced, grounded life. And we decided together that we wanted our relationship to be private. Like I'm brand-new Call it what you want Yeah, call it what you want to All my flowers grew back as thorns Windows boarded up after the storm He built a fire just to keep me warm And I know I make the same mistakes Every time Bridges burn, I never learn At least I did one thing right I did one thing right I'm laughing with my lover Making forts under covers Trust him like a brother Yeah, you know I did one thing right Starry eyes sparkin' up My darkest nights Call it what you want Yeah, call it what you want to My baby's fit like a daydream I love you. To Call it what you want Yeah, call it what you want ...to. Even though it was really horrible, I was happy. But I wasn't happy in the way that I'd been trained to be happy. It was happiness without... anyone else's input. It was just... we were happy. You should take it As a compliment That I got drunk And made fun of the way you talk You should think about the consequence Of your magnetic field Being a little too strong This ain't for the best My reputation's never been worse So... You must like me for me I'm gonna go back to doing my job, and I'm gonna make a record I'm proud of. We can't make any promises now Can we, babe? But you can make me a drink Me for me - Perfect. - It's really cool. This ain't for the best But my reputation's Never been worse, so You must like me for me - Can I have it again? - Um, yeah. - In the middle of the night - Night - In my dreams - My dreams That's when I get to be with you You're so sweet Time to do vocals. What are you doing? - I'm turning on my party shoes for vocals. - Good. We've never really gotten a good take without them, have we? No. We were jet-set Bonnie and Clyde, oh, oh Till I switched to the other side... Like a Dylan-y kind of thing. No surprise I turned you in, oh, oh 'Cause us traitors never win I'm in a getaway car Ah! And I'm losin' my... Something. - Think about the... - It's uh... I'm in a getaway car And... and you're - You're in the motel bar - Where is it? - Or, like... - Yeah, "I'm in the getaway car. Left you in the motel bar, took the money..." - "Took the money in the bag..." - "Took the money." "Put the money in the bag, I stole the keys. That was the last time you ever saw me!" That was the last time you ever saw me Drivin' the getaway car We were flyin', but we'd never get far - Don't pretend - Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place Where you first met me We were ridin' in a getaway car There were sirens In the beat of your heart Should've known I'd be the first to leave Think about the place Where you first met me Drivin' in a getaway car I was cryin' in a getaway car I was dyin' in a getaway car Said goodbye in a getaway car - That was awesome. - Thank you. - Awesome, awesome. - Oh, my gosh. - That was so fun! - So much fun. So much fun. Oh, my God. Hey. - That was amazing. - Yeah. - Hi, guys! - Yeah! How's it goin'? - Thank you so much for coming! - Oh, my God! Say hi. Hi! - You want to... You want a hug? - Yes. - Yes? - Yes! - Aw, so nice to meet you. - I-I can't breathe. Yeah. You're the cutest. Guys! Oh, my gosh. How cute! And I love these. - Want to make the heart. - Like this? Here we go. One, two, three. Big reputation - Big reputation - Yes! You and me, we got... - Hug, please? - You look like a Barbie. Of course. Oh, thanks. I'd just like you to be a witness for something special, - Miss Taylor Swift. - Oh, my God. Uh, I'm gonna ask Miss Maybelle Marciano, uh, to be my wife. And I got this special token of my love and appreciation for you. - Love you. - I-I love you. Wow! Oh, my God. Did you know that was gonna ha...? No. I didn't know that was gonna happen at all. I was, like... you just, like... High-five. - Thank you. - You guys engaged now? - This is...? This... - Yes, it's official. - Oh, my God. That's amazing. - Yes. Whoa. Bye, guys. Congratulations. - Thank you. - Whoa! Never find another - 'Nother like me- ee - Mm! Yeah. Ooh. - Boom. - Never, never - Never find another like me-ee-ee - Ee Oh, my God. Like, I just want little kids to be like, "There's no one like me." - Like... Whoo-hoo-hoo! - That's the... exactly. Do you think that you wanna stay in LA forever? - I don't know, actually. - Yeah. My wife is from Detroit. So, we talked about getting a place to test it out. And then fans found out, and I had to leave. Oh, would they... would they just wait outside? They would jump the gate and, like, try to open our front door. - And I was like, "This is not okay." - Yeah, let's not do that. Yeah. There's a difference between "I connect with your lyrics" - and "I'm going to break in." - And "I want your blood." Yeah. Yeah. I had a crazy dude break into my apartment and sleep in my bed a couple months ago. - Oh, what? - Didn't like it. Well, you can have that apartment. Oh, there it is. There's that middle. I cannot believe you're even sick. That's amazing. The-There are stars next to your... your lines. Okay, cool. Strike the band up, a-one, two, three Oh, you sound fuckin' great, man. - You sound amazing! - Oof. I know I tend to make it about me I know you never get just what you see But I will never bore you, baby Maybe your intr... your first line should be, like... I know I tend to make it about me - Mm. - Like... you know what I mean? About me - Like... About me - Okay, cool. - Brendon, you're blowin' it! - You sound amazing. Like, you're making it come alive. - Ee-ee-ee - I know I tend to make it about me... - There it is. - Know you never get just what you see But I will never bore you, baby And there's a lot of lame guys Out there - Yes. - Sick. - Oh, my God. - Thank you so much. - This is ridiculous. - That was cool. - It sounds so fun. Like, it's so fun. - And you're the pro-est pro of all time for doing this. No way. Thank you, guys. This is so cool. - This is, like... I mean, I'm... - Really good track. ...and I'm also really so excited you're down to do, like, a massive video. - Oh, yeah. That's gonna be a biggie. - 'Cause it's not gonna be a small one. - Well, it's gonna be so fun. - Um... My idea that I had in the beginning is, like, it starts in an apartment. Like, you and me get in a big fight. I storm out, and I'm, like... And then all of a sudden, like, I have, like, a parade happening below. Amazing, amazing. - And, like, whatever makes you you... - Yeah. ...you know, it's just, like, emo kids, theater, dance sequences, - La La Land, everything. - Nailed it! And, like, when it's like, "me-ee-ee," it's like, dancers, cats, gay pride, people in country western boots. I start riding a unicorn, like, just... - everything that makes me me. - Yes! Five, six, seven, eight. If you were to split open my imagination, what would come out of it? - Oh, it's so fun. - I'm sweating now. - Just like me. Oh, my God. - I got way too excited. - Okay, guys. Oh, my God. - I got something. Too excited about everything. I feel like I'm just... This is so cool. - Uh, should I just follow you? - Yes. Just a curious cat in a... in a big world. I really, really care about my home state, and I know that in this... at this point in time, like, my home state is a huge, hugely important part of this midterm election. Tennessee's US senate race figures to be crucial in both parties' efforts to try to control the US Senate after this year. Marsha Blackburn, a self-described hard-core conservative, proclaims her support for President Trump often. I know the left calls me "a wingnut" or "a knuckle-dragging conservative." And you know what? I say, "That's all right. Bring it on." One of the things that, like, outraged me so much is that she voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which tries to protect women from stalking, from date rape, from domestic violence. And then, obviously, it's a no for gay marriage, it's a no for them to have any rights whatsoever. I think I'll be really upset... if people think that Tennessee... stands for those things. You've been very secretive about how you vote, what you're voting for. Well, I mean, I just figure, I'm a 22-year-old singer, and, you know, I don't know if people really want to hear my political views. I think they kind of just want to hear me sing songs about breakups and feelings. Part of the fabric of being a country artist is, "Don't force your politics on people. Let people live their lives." That is grilled into us. These three women have been the reigning queens of pop and country music. They're the biggest-selling female artists of all time, nearly 30 million records sold and even more fans who always used to love their high-spirited style, their music, and their moxie. Well, that racy magazine cover on the stands today pretty much sums up some of the names the Dixie Chicks are being called in America these days: "traitors, the Dixie Sluts, anti-American," all because of one split-second comment aimed at President Bush right before the war with Iraq. Their opinion is so ignorant. They don't know what they're talking about. I think they are the Ditzy Twits. These are the dumbest, dumbest bimbos, with due respect, I have seen. These are callow, foolish women who deserve to be slapped around. Absolutely. Throughout my whole career, label executives and publishers would just say, "Don't be like the Dixie Chicks." And... I loved the Dixie Chicks. But a nice girl doesn't force their opinions on people. A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you. A nice girl doesn't make people feel uncomfortable with her views. It's my right to vote, but it's not my right to tell other people what to do. - Right there, sister. - Yes, thank you. - Come on. Come on. Come on! - All right. I was so obsessed with not getting in trouble, that I was like, "I'm just not gonna do anything that anyone could say anything about." I'm just getting... I'm just... I'm getting to the point where I can't... listen to people telling me, "No, stay out of it. Stay out of it." - Yeah. Is that right? C to the A minor? - Yeah. Let me... just... Can you not play for one second? 'Cause I'm trying to figure out this... I like what I was doing, but I can't figure out what key it was in. It's like 4:00 a.m., in the middle of the night. I would be complex I would be cool I would... The field To know I found someone to commit to - That would be okay - Thing to do They put a knife in me Behind my back And... then they do Mm-hmm. All right again I'm so I'm so sick of runnin' - As fast - As fast as I can Maybe it's like, "I'm so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I'd get much further if I were a man." Is it, "If I was a man"? "If I was a man." - Fine. "If I was." - "If I was a man." "If I was a man." "If I was a man." If I was a man Hey, then, I'd be the man I'd be the man - I actually really love that. - Yeah. I really like that a lot. Do you wanna start... Maybe if you start a vibe... - Yeah. - ...then this'll just write itself. It must be so exhausting. You must have to be thinking about this shit all the fucking time. You are kind of doing a constant strategy in your head as to how not to be shamed for something... - Yeah. - ...on any given day. But then you get accused of being calculated - for having a strategy. - Mm. - So, it's like... - It's just a lose-lose situation. Yeah, it's... I mean, I'm good, but it's been, uh... You sort of do have to twist yourself into a pretzel - on an hourly basis. - Mm. Mm-hmm. Do you like this for a second verse? Lyric: "They'd say I hustled, put in the work, instead of shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve. And what was I wearing, or if I was rude. Could all be separated from... applauding business I could do..." "Applauding... when I'd make a move..." - That sounds... - Let's sing a bit. Could all be separated From my good ideas and power moves Yeah, I like "good ideas." That's it. Just more movement. That's really cool. - Sick. - This is so fun to write. We'd drink to the pen and the bottles To the bitches and models To the... Like, do you know what I mean? To the bitches and models To the... D-Do you know how they're like... "D... We drink and we be poppin' bottles to the... We'd be poppin' bottles to the bitches and models, to the hoes and the..." Do you know? 'Cause they get to call us that. - They get to fuckin' call us that. Like... - Yeah. Taylor Swift the singer, she goes to court today against a former radio DJ she says once groped her. Swift says this picture shows the moment Mueller inappropriately grabbed her, putting his hand up her skirt. This had happened to me. We told his boss. They did an investigation. He got fired, then he sued me for millions of dollars, so I countersued for one dollar. You walk into a courtroom, and then there's this person sitting in a swivel chair, staring at you like you did something to him. The first thing they say to you in court is, "Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you react quicker? Why didn't you stand further away from him?" Then he has a lawyer get up and just lie. There were seven people who saw him do this, and we had a photo of it happening. And I was so angry. I was angry that I had to be there. I was angry that this happens to women. I was angry that people are paid to antagonize victims. I was angry that all the details had been twisted. You don't feel a sense of any victory when you win... because the process is so dehumanizing. This is with seven witnesses and a photo. What happens when you get raped, and it's your word against his? So, um, I just wanted to... Just kind of looking back, um... this exact day a year ago, um... ...I was, uh... I was not playing a sold-out stadium in Tampa, I was... I was in a courtroom in Denver, Colorado, um... Honestly, I-I was there for a sexual assault case, and... t-this day, a year ago, was the day that, um... ...uh, the day that the jury decided in my favor and said that they believed me. I guess I just think about all the people that weren't believed, people who haven't been believed, or the people who are afraid to s-speak up because they think they won't be believed. And... And I just... I just wanted to say that, um... I just wanted to say I'm sorry to anyone who ever wasn't believed because I don't know h... what turn my life would have taken if somebody'd... if people didn't believe me when I said that something had happened to me. So... The drought was the very worst Ah, ah When the flowers That we'd grown together Died of thirst It was months and months Of back-and-forth Ah, ah You're still all over me Like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore Hung my head as I lost the war And the sky turned black Like a perfect storm The rain came pouring down When I was drownin' That's when I could finally breathe And by morning Gone was any trace of you I think I am finally clean I think I am finally clean - I'm so proud of you... - Thanks, Mom. ...for taking this shitbag of shit they gave you. - And you made it into this. - Oh, my God. I'm really proud of you. It's okay now. I'm good. I-I just... I couldn't really stop thinking about it. And I just thought to myself, "Next time there is any opportunity to change anything, you had better know what you stand for and what you wanna say." We are less than three weeks out until the midterms, and Tennessee's senate candidate Marsha Blackburn is up in the polls. Congratulations, I know you've got a little momentum going. This is the third poll in a row that has shown you in the lead. My team's really not happy with me right now. All I've talked about for the last couple of months is the election in Tennessee. It's not that I want to step into this. I just... I can't not at this point. Like... something is different in my life, completely and unchangeably different since the sexual assault trial last year. Like, and no... no man in my organization or in my family will ever understand what that was like. For 12 years, we've not got involved with politics or religion. Yeah, but this is on the home front. And also, back in the presidential election, I was in such a horrendous place that I wasn't gonna pop my head out of the sand for anything. Why would you? I mean, does Bob Hope do it? Did Bing Crosby do it? - Does... Does Mick Jagger do it? - Honey, what the hell? Come on! - What I'm saying is... - Bob Hope and Bing Crosby? First of all, these aren't your dad's celebrities, and these aren't your dad's Republicans. Imagine if we came to you and said, "Hey, we've got this idea that we could halve the number of people that come to your next tour." The other thing, just from a security standpoint, "Taylor Swift comes out against Trump." I don't care if they write that! I'm sad that I didn't two years ago, but I can't change that. I'm saying right now that this is something that I know is right, and, you guys, I need to be on the right side of history. And if he doesn't win... - ...then at least I tried. - Taylor, here's the problem. I just want to read you what I wrote, and I'm gonna try to start... I just want you to know that this is important to me. This is... - I totally agree with the issue, - Have... - but let me explain to you... - Have you heard her? I've read the entire thing, and the bottom line right now: I'm terrified. I'm the guy that went out and bought armored cars. I worry for her safety as much as anybody does. Maybe more. It really is a big deal to me. She votes against... against fair pay for women, she votes against the reauthorization of the... of the Violence Against Women Act, which is just basically protecting us from domestic abuse and stalking. Stalking! She votes... She thinks that... that if you're a gay couple or even if you look like a gay couple, you should be allowed to be kicked out of a restaurant. It's really basic human rights, and it's right and wrong at this point, and I can't see another commercial... and see her disguising these policies behind the words "Tennessee Christian values." Those aren't Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee. I am a Christian. That's not what we stand for. I need to do this. I need you to just... Dad, I just need you to forgive me for doing it, 'cause I'm doing it. - Okay, so... - I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous. - You should be. - Ooh. - I want to do this. - Okay, so... I always have to bring up everything that could go sideways... - everything we need to expect. - Yeah. - One: the president could come after you. - Fuck that, I don't care. If I get bad press for saying, "Don't put a homophobic racist in office," then I get bad press for that. - I really don't care. - I would stand behind that 1,000 times. - Me too. - Yeah. I think that it is so frilly and spineless of me to stand onstage and go, "Happy Pride Month, you guys," and then not say this... when someone's literally coming for their neck. Yeah. - All right, cheers. - Cheers, ladies. - God help us all. - Cheers to the resistance. To the resist... Stop it. It's gonna be okay. Oh... Oh, my God. Oh, it's so scary. This is the picture. - One... - ...two, three... ...go. - Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. - Oh, my goodness. Taylor Swift broke her silence on politics over the weekend, publicly backing two Democrats in Tennessee. Taylor Swift is taking her first political stand, backing Democrat Phil Bredesen. The superstar making it clear to her 112 million followers on Instagram, and the world, where she stands. Taylor Swift's jumping into politics. What do you say? Let's say that I like Taylor's music about 25% less now, okay? The 28-year-old pop star made her statement on Instagram. She broke her longstanding policy of not talking politics... ...using her voice in a new way. This is so out of the norm for Taylor Swift, who... Republicans for years have thought that Taylor Swift was a crypto-conservative, and she just... It is a risky move for an entertainer to step into politics at her age, - at her stage in her career. - Vote.org reporting more registrations in the last day since Taylor's post than in all of August. According to vote.org on Monday, nationwide there have been 51,308 new registrations - in the past 24 hours. - Whoa! Yeah! - So proud of you. - Congratulations. - Thank you. - Go, Taylor. Do you think it'll... Do you think... I think it could, definitely. It's your first race, so... I really hope it actually, actually does something. But you know what? Donald Trump likes my music 25% less. I feel 200 pounds lighter. I just feel like a... I just feel... I've been feeling this way for months. Perez Hilton just posted, "Note how Republicans are attacking Taylor Swift's intelligence instead of her ideas. They don't respect women enough to debate them." Wow. It's not not true. - You look gorgeous. - Thank you. - Stunning and sexy. - I look like a melted-down disco ball. - I love it. - My God, you look amazing. - I am... - Oh my God. - Gorgeous. - ...a Pop-Tart wrapper. - Try this on that ear. - She's got that... You know what? This is gonna sound ridiculous, - but I can't move past here. - Ooh, you got it. You got it. That's how this dress makes me feel. - Oh. - Hmm? Can you breathe? - I can brea... I can. - Yeah. - Is it easy? No. - The other one's better. Don't block her. - Taylor! Taylor! - Taylor! To your right! On your right! Taylor, look over to your right! Thank you for this. And I just wanted to make a mention of the fact that this award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people. And you know what else is voted on by the people... ...is the midterm elections on November 6th. Get out and vote. I love you. Pre-chorus. Six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four five, six, seven, eight. Three! Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Chorus. Six, seven, eight. Yeah, I need to work on my face. I look like I have a mean face sometimes when I'm not trying to. Know what I mean? Um... I think you might be more sensitive than me to that. Yeah, I have a really slappable face. - Slappable? Ouch! - Yeah, you just want to be like... "What are you plotting? What's she planning?" I'm not meaning to look like that. You looked confident and strong. It's the chorus. You got it. All right, we'll... I'm gonna try to be more likable on the next one. All right, all right. Perfect. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One... I wish I didn't feel like there's a better version of me out there. I feel that way all the time. You know what we call this? This is "last rhino of the stampede," up here, just... Everybody else is runnin'. Limping. First to get eaten. I keep looking down because I'm afraid. Afrai...? And it shows. It's a lot to process because we do exist in this society where women in entertainment are discarded in an elephant graveyard by the time they're 35. Two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Three! Everyone's a shiny, new toy for, like, two years. The female artists that I know of have reinvented themselves 20 times more than the male artists. They have to... or else you're out of a job. Constantly having to reinvent, constantly finding new facets of yourself that people find to be shiny. Be new to us, be young to us, but only in a new way and only in the way we want. And reinvent yourself, but only in a way that we find to be equally comforting but also a challenge for you. Live out a narrative that we find to be interesting enough to entertain us, but not so crazy that it makes us uncomfortable. This is probably one of my last opportunities as an artist to grasp onto that kind of success. So... I don't know, like, as I'm reaching 30, I'm like... "I want to work really hard... um... while society is still tolerating me being successful." We have another result from the Senate. Marsha Blackburn... we were just talking about that... Marsha Blackburn will win the Senate seat. The Bredesen camp was very much hoping for the "Swift lift," as they called it, because young voter turnout spiked here by sevenfold from the previous midterm election, and yet that wasn't enough. I guess Tay Tay didn't have that much sway-sway. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe that she gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee and she's... she's Trump in a wig. She represents no female interests. She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in a horrendous... 1950s world. So, for the next two years, we have to build on what started here. The first verse I want to be all about, like, hearing the news. You know, if you were, like, a kid who, like, loved Beto and thought that was the future of Texas, or you really thought Stacey Abrams was gonna win and you went door-to-door, trying to make it happen, and then she still gets beat... - It didn't happen. - And it didn't happen. But it's like, statistically, you know, we have, what? Three to four million people turning 18 in the next two years before the next one? So, it's like... it's basically saying, like, "Don't lose hope. Don't get..." Yeah, your time will come if you just hang in there. - Yeah. - Yeah. Only the young Only the young Only the young Can run What? I have this idea... ...called "Only the Young." Play it again. And I know tonight Oh, but only the young Only the young Only the young Only the young Can run - Oh, nice. - Only the young That's basically saying, like, "Resist." If you can just shift the power in your direction by being bold enough, then it won't be like this forever. - Run. Break away from this. - Yeah, yeah. Like, you can run from fascism. Mmkay, I have a partial verse. - Yeah? - Yeah. It keeps me awake The look on your face The moment you heard the news Frozen in time and screaming inside You did all that you could do The game was rigged The ref got tricked The wrong ones think they're right And you were outnumbered - Ooh. - This time - Oh. - But only the young - Yes. - Only the young Only the young Only the young Can run Like this, you know. Only the young Can run So, every day now You brace for the sound You've only heard on TV You go to class scared Wondering where The best hiding spot would be And the big bad man And his big bad clan Their hands are stained with red Oh, how quickly you forget That only the young Only the young Only the young Only the young Can run Can run So run And run And run I just... I feel really good about not feeling... muzzled anymore. And it was my own doing. I needed to learn a lot before I spoke to 200 million people. But... I've educated myself now, and it's time to take the masking tape off of my mouth... like, forever. You were really major at midterms, honey. Thank you. If you have anything I can help with, just let me know. I think we just need to, like, really keep talking about it because we really do need people to put the pressure on those senators to pass the Equality Act. If they are forced to vote on it and they do vote against it publicly, then it's really... then we have their numbers, you know, for next year. Literally, just call me for anything, 'cause you do so many good things for people. All right, here we go. And... roll camera. - Rolling! - And playback! I want to love glitter and also stand up for the double standards that exist in our society. I want to wear pink and tell you how I feel about politics. And I don't think that those things have to cancel each other out. How long have you been doing this? About a year. When I realized that I really like having cute nails, but I really can't go in public. I will die if I get a VMA. Well, if we win something, you're definitely first on the list. I will lose my shit. You don't understand. This is one of my favorite manis I've ever gotten. I appreciate it. Give me a good review on Yelp. I will. - Swift Nails is the place to go. - Yeah. - It looks so good. - Fuck, yeah. And the VMA goes to... Taylor Swift, "You Need to Calm Down." At the end of this video, there was a petition, and there still is a petition... Whoo! ...for the Equality Act, which basically just says we all deserve equal rights under the law. And... I want to thank everyone who signed that petition because it now has half a million signatures, which... ...which is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House. Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh Uh-oh! You need to calm down You need to calm down You're being too loud You're being too loud Like, can you just not step On our gowns? You need to calm down I'm trying to be as educated as possible on how to respect people, on how to... deprogram the misogyny in my own brain. Toss it out, reject it, and resist it. Like, there is no such thing as a slut. There is no such thing as a bitch. There is no such thing as someone who's bossy, there's just a boss. We don't want to be condemned for being multifaceted. - Sorry, that was a real soapbox. - No. - Oh, my God, it... - Why did I say sorry? - You're just... - No, it's... because we're trained to say sorry. Yeah, we legitimately are. We're, like... "Sorry, was I loud... in my own house that I bought with the songs that I wrote... about my own life?" Combat I'm ready for combat I say I don't want that What if I do? There's nothing that feels better than this moment. It's out. It's out on iTunes. It's out on iTunes. Oh, my God. It's out. It's out. It's out. We're listening to it right now. This is so cool. Toast to Taylor. No one is this good and works harder. If you're that good, usually you don't work that hard. - I love you guys all so much. - We love you. Yay! After 13 years of constantly feeling like I was misunderstood, knowing that everything that happened was all gonna turn into this moment is... fucking awesome. I ride off all alone I never grew up It's getting so old Let me hold on to you There's this thing people say about celebrities, that they're frozen at the age they got famous, and that's kind of what happened to me. I had a lot of growing up to do, just trying to catch up to 29. Just gonna go have fun. No one out there that I know of in the audience actively hates me. Not get dead-faced. - Have fun the whole time. - Yeah. Ready to do this? - Ready... Totally ready. - Ready. May 19th, 2003. "Oh, I tried to practice my songs, but I completely psyched myself out and broke down crying. I don't know if I can do this. I want it so bad, but I get so scared of what might happen. Relax, I can handle it. I'm young. I'm talented. They'll see it in me. I've got to hang on." All the king's horses All the king's men Couldn't put me together again 'Cause all of my enemies Started out friends Help me hold on to you I've been the archer I've been the prey Who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay? Who could stay? Who could stay? I wanna still have a sharp pen and a thin skin and an open heart. Combat I'm ready for combat It keeps me awake The look on your face The moment you heard the news You're screamin' inside And frozen in time You did all that you could do The game was rigged The ref got tricked The wrong ones think they're right You were outnumbered This time But only the young Only the young Only the young Only the young Can run Can run So run And run and run They aren't gonna help us Too busy helpin' themselves They aren't gonna change this We gotta do it ourselves They think that it's over But it's just begun Only one thing can save us Only the young Only the young Only the young Only the young - Only the young - Only the young Only the young |
|