Taylor Swift - Mean

December 10, 2012 Critic Jonni 0 Comments

Taylor Swift has been in my head all day, especially this song since some of my flatmates were "Mean" to me yesterday, however I'm complaining about nothing, I'm just not into practical jokes. Anyhow, Taylor Swift has lined the way for country stars in the UK. Most recently her album "Red" sore to the top of the UK charts, and it begs to question, will she be able to influence country artists into releasing in the UK? And possibly make the UK enjoy country music? This is something we're going to have to lye in wait and see.

"Mean" was written by Taylor Swift. It is about a critic who was a bit too harsh on her during a performance. This is what I like about Taylor Swift, she'll take anything that has happened to her and make it into a song, and usually it's bad things, sometimes it's best to stay away from her, oh wait! That didn't work for the guy in the song "The Story Of Us".... Hmmmmm.... Well clearly you are meant to make friends with her, and always make a good impression. This song was never released in the UK, and that is understandable since it is an extremely country song, and it would have been unlikely to chart, however it was released elsewhere around the world, so why miss us? It could have charted, but that's a big maybe.

The music video is simplistic, and very theatre-like. But this is what makes it stand out. It looks like it was made on a low-budget side, but to have been able to pull this off is amazing and I doubt I'll ever get bored of watching it.

The narrative evolves around bullying. This is one of the biggest impacts of the world, and it's impossible to stop it, but people always have a shot at it, and I think it does work. I like how the song also relates to bullying as well, and it was definitely the first thing that came to my mind when I first heard it, and I bet others thought the same. I particularly like how it shows that the bullied usually triumphs, and ends up in the "big old city" and the bully is forgotten and has disappeared but will forever be "mean".

There is a great performance side added to this video that makes me want to see Taylor Swift live for a 2nd time. I went and saw her at the LG Arena, Birmingham, UK in March 2011 with Edges. And she was remarkable, and she is just as great in this video, I feel like I'm back there watching her.

Overall, a great song to listen to when someone's being mean to you, it should've been released in the UK, but kind of understand why it wasn't. The music video is exactly what I wanted and more and I couldn't have asked for anything better. So after I've finished this review I shall be off to watch it again.

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