Breaking It DownTaylor Swift Throws Major Shade In Her New ‘The Man’ Music Video

Feb 27, 2020 11:48 am

By Shelby Stivale

All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

Just a few weeks after Taylor Swift released her Netflix documentary Miss Americana, she dropped a brand new music video. On Thursday, February 27, the 30-year-old superstar debuted an epic visual for her latest single “The Man” and fans are obsessed with it! Not only did Taylor completely transform into a man for the video, but she threw some major shade at her haters, the double standard between men and women in Hollywood and potentially at Scooter Braun.

For those who forgot, in June 2019, the music manager purchased the rights to Taylor’s masters and she announced the acquisition in a lengthy Tumblr post that accused Scooter of “incessant, manipulative bullying.” Months later, in November 2019, the singer also claimed that Scooter was not allowing her to perform her old songs at the 2019 American Music Awards — or any televised event. Big Machine Records responded in a statement that they would allow the songstress to perform her old songs at the awards show. As a way to acknowledge the ongoing feud, she kicked off the show-stopping performance surrounded by young girls all wearing a shirt that featured the titles of her past albums, Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation.

Well, how did Taylor address the situation in “The Man” music video? Well, no worries because J-14 rounded up all the best moments from the visual and uncovered all the shade Taylor threw. Scroll through our gallery for a complete breakdown of “The Man” music video.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

Taylor kicked off the video seemingly throwing shade at how men in boss roles are praised for their work, while women are not.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

The singer acknowledged her feud with Scooter during a scene that took place on a subway set. The graffiti on the walls symbolized her past albums —Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation — that she lost the rights to during the Big Machine Records sale.

Others have speculated that “Karma” — which was also written on the wall — will be the name of Taylor’s next album or song.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

When the camera zoomed in on the graffiti-filled wall, fans noticed two signs. One referred to her “lost” albums and read “If found return to Taylor Swift.” The other had a photo of a razor scooter crossed out, which people have taken to mean “No Scooter allowed.”

Scooter has yet to respond to the music video.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

Some fans on social media are convinced that Taylor acknowledged her longtime feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West in this clip from the video. People have noticed that the hallway “the man” ran through looked similar to the one in Kimye’s house — as shown in their recent Architectural Digest interview.

Prior to the video’s release, Taylor told fans on Twitter that there were 19 hands in the hallway. Social media users also connected this fact to the Kanye scandal, because when their feud began back in 2009, Taylor was only 19 years old. As fans know, the rapper infamously ran up on stage during her acceptance speech at the VMAs.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

Some Swifties seemed to think that the scene where the older man married a younger women was a direct reference to her relationship with Joe Alwyn.

In the past, Taylor has been criticized for dating someone ever-so-slightly younger than her. So, people have said this scene seemingly threw shade at the relationship double standard — it’s okay if an older man is with a younger woman, but not if an older woman is with a younger man.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

Taylor also seemingly commented on the lack of women directors in Hollywood by turning her Miss Americana documentary into Mr. Americana starring her alter ego, Tyler Swift. Fans also noticed that the “film” was a Mandance selection, which was a play on the Sundance Film Festival where her movie first premiered.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

Taylor’s dad also made an appearance in the video. “The man” character threw tennis balls at Scott Swift, who played a tennis official, after a seemingly bad call during the fictional match.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

At the end of the video, Taylor not only showed herself directing the video, but gave “the man” some advice on how to make his performance better. She told him to be more “likable” in the next take and praised the girl in the same scene — played by Loren Gray — and said she was doing “excellent work.”

Fans have said that Taylor reversed a classic Hollywood scenario that she has experienced, and instead of criticizing the woman, gave the man some notes.

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All The Shade Taylor Swift Threw In Her New 'The Man' Music Video

At the end of the music video, it was revealed to viewers that Taylor was dressed up as the man all along, which represented the entire meaning of the song.

Throughout the track Taylor wondered how her life would have been different as a man and the entire visual is explaining that if she was the man, she’s be “the man.”

Taylor has yet to confirm or deny any of the fan theories about the music video.

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