Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” was released on August 24, 2017 to an incredible amount of discussion and controversy. The song wasn’t just a song: it was a comeback, a reinvention of the formerly tame pop star.
Participatory culture played a major role in the success of the song — and successful it was. It was streamed 8 million times on Spotify the first day of release and quickly rocketed to the top of the charts (Parisi). As soon as the pop star began releasing teasers in the form of snake videos, fan culture took over. On Twitter, theories spread and circled like a disease, with every person who called themself a Taylor Swift fan or a Taylor Swift hater taking part in the discussion. Once the song actually dropped, digital and print media took over.
As stated in the introduction of Jenkins’ book, “When material is produced according to a one-size-fits-all model, it imperfectly fits the needs of any given audience. Instead, audience members have to retrofit it to better serve their interests” (Jenkins 27).
When handed the somewhat generic “Look What You Made Me Do,” people made it fit whatever story they wanted to craft about Swift. Fans saw it as her taking charge of her narrative after the Kanye West and Kim Kardashian “Famous” disaster in 2016 (Yoo). Critics saw it as a self-obsessed song: a way for her to place the blame on everybody else without taking any responsibility for her own actions. Participatory culture even went so far to connect the titular line “look what you made me do” to domestic violence, calling her “insensitive” and “ignorant” (Neal). The audience manipulated the song to say whatever they wanted it to say, a vital and sometimes dangerous part of participatory culture.
In terms of spreadability, this song was made to be spread, not necessarily to stick. No one can call this song a work of art, and it’s not meant to be. The song was intended to shock, to capitalize on the negative press Swift received throughout the course of her career. From the snake teaser videos to the highly stylized music video, it was obvious this song wasn’t truly about the music, but rather about the discussion the song would spark.
The way the audience reacted, shared and reproduced the song and its message confirmed that the song did exactly what it was intended to do: spread, not stick.
Citations:
Jenkins, Henry, et al. Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture, New York University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, www.ebookcentral.proquest.com. Created from ubc on 2018-09-26.
Neal, Brandi. “Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” Is Getting Called Out By Domestic Violence Survivors.” Bustle, 26 Aug. 2017, www.bustle.com. Accessed 30 September 2018.
Parisi, Paula. “All the Records Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” has broken so far.” Variety, 30 Aug. 2017, www.variety.com. Accessed 30 September 2018.
Yoo, Noah. “Kim Kardashian Leaks Video Confirming Taylor Swift Signed Off on Kanye’s Infamous “Famous” Line.” Pitchfork, 18 July 2016, www.pitchfork.com. Accessed 30 September 2018.