Taylor Swift's '...Ready For It?' Video Break Down
By TheBlast Staff on October 26, 2017 at 10:48 PM EDT
YouTube / Taylor Swift | YouTube / Taylor Swift
The video opens with a hooded Taylor standing in front of the number "89" - an obvious nod to her birth year and album title, "1989." Next to it is "91," which fans speculate is a reference to BF Joe Alwyn who was born in 1991.
YouTube / Taylor Swift | YouTube / Taylor Swift
Blink and you might just miss the other two possible Joe references. "Joseph" scribbled in graffiti with a halo on top and "Joseph" written in Chinese. It's possible this Joseph is the video's director, Joseph Kahn, but, c'mon.
YouTube / Taylor Swift | YouTube / Taylor Swift
Not everything in "...Ready For It?" is hidden. Swift provides some in-your-face symbolism of how she feels trapped in a box as a hooded Taylor stares at a cyborg Taylor who is literally trapped in a glass box.
YouTube / Taylor Swift | YouTube / Taylor Swift
Backing up the theory that "old Taylor" feels stuck inside a box, the video shows cyborg Swift atop a white horse. The horse is a possible nod to two "old Taylor" songs: 2008's "White Horse" and the similar-looking horse she rode in the "Blank Space" music video.
YouTube / Taylor Swift | YouTube / Taylor Swift
It wouldn't be a Taylor Swift music video without a jab at an ex-boyfriend. In one scene, cyborg Swift generates bolts of lightning from her hands — fans believe this is a nod to her secret collaboration with then-BF Calvin Harris for "This is What You Came For," which features lightning on the single's cover art.
YouTube / Taylor Swift | YouTube / Taylor Swift
"...Ready For It?" ends with robot Swift shattering the glass box and freeing herself. Symbolically, this scene seemingly represents the "old Taylor" destroying the public's perception of her. Why? Because the old Taylor is dead, obviously.
