How are media representations of Taylor Swift challenged in the video ‘Blank Space’?

Taylor Swift is a female international music artists who has been one of the most successful women to date. 'Blank Space', released November 10th 2015 has over two billion views on YouTube. It reached number one in Australia, United States and Canada. The 1989, from which 'Blank Space' appears one, sold 1.287 million copies worldwide. Taylor Swift has headlined many festivals and sold out many of her own tours, however locally she headlined Norwich's Radio One Big weekend in 2015. Swift's music is classed in the genre of pop, being one of the more mainstream artist's she features in the Top Ten frequently with new music.

In the media Swift is shown to be a boy crazy young woman who is stuck in a cycle of failing relationships. Magazines portray her to be neurotic girlfriend that traps the man she is with, then when the pending doom hits the relationship she writes about them. Swift herself has said "If you're horrible to me, I'm going to write a song about it, and you won't like it. That's how I operate.” With the media constantly bringing out headlines like these in such magazines as 'Famous' and 'Star' it is no wonder Swift has produced 'Blank Space' as a hit back at the media as she mocks their ridiculous representation of her. Swift has said before that this representation of her private life is simply not true, various publications have produced articles depicting her love life apart but one stands out from the rest; The Telegraph's Taylor Swift love life timeline.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/taylor-swifts-love-life-a-history/

            








'Blank Space' conforms to most genre of conventions of pop music, for example Swift is shown throughout the music video to be impeccably dressed with high fashion clothing, for example here, at 0:41 seconds, we see Swift featuring in a diamond ball dress. The lavish clothing is a common feature in pop videos, this maybe to express wealth or an extravagant lifestyle.
Another genre convention that features in Swift's is the lyrics are based around relationships and love, especially in Taylor Swift's case as most of her songs feature these two topics.
The song has a set structure that attributes a consistent beat which most pop songs typically do, other artists such as Ed Sheehan say you can make any existing pop song with the same three guitar chords. Which may be suggestive that they all sound the same.

In the music video of 'Blank Space' Taylor Swift challenges the media representations as she mocks their stereotype that she is psychotic in relationships and bounces from man to man. Swift produced a statement on the subject herself that reads 'For a female to write about her feelings, and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane, desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I think that’s taking something that potentially should be celebrated – a woman writing about her feelings in a confessional way – that’s taking it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little sexist.' This quote directly hits back at the media that portrays her in a particularly negative light in relationships. For example this is executed in one of the first wide shots; 

Swift also challenges the media's representations of her through this close up shot;

Here we see in this wide shot how things are starting to go wrong which is suggested by the wise en scene and camera work.

Finally we see how the role reversal in the music video is significant as the male is now seen as replaced and objectified.