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Three things to love about Taylor Swift’s new ‘22’ video

Taylor Swift has unleashed a new video on the world.
(Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
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In the first scene of Taylor Swift’s latest video, “22” the hitmaking country-pop artist wears a shirt that reads, “Not a whole lot going on at the moment.”

The cheeky statement could mean a number of things -- and because it’s Swift, rest assured it does -- but let’s pretend for a moment she’s having a lighthearted moment of self-awareness and is poking fun at the media’s recent attention to the love life she often decodes for us in song.

For “22,” Swift lets loose with her best friends -- her true “real-life best friends,” as she explained when she premiered the clip Wednesday on “Good Morning America” to celebrate the opening of her Red tour.

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There’s cake, heart-shaped sunglasses, ironically bad dancing and pom poms, because these are the things every house party needs. While the video plays out like an extended Instagram commercial sponsored by Forever 21’s spring line, here’s three things we love about the clip:

She’s takes multiple stabs at her ex. As the song says, “It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters, and make fun of our exes.” Subtlety has never been Swift’s strongest suit, and it’s pretty obvious she gleaned some inspiration from a recent fling with British boy-bander Harry Styles.

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In one scene, a friend performs into a fork while the rest of the group scream like fangirls. It looks like something you’d see at, well, a One Direction show. And of course, Swift’s idea of dressing up like a hipster (beanie included) looks eerily similar to a certain someone.

Frolicking at the beach. It’s hard to watch the beach scenes and not think of the video to 1D’s catchiest single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” an easy connection to make given this is where she dressed just like the poor sap. Frankly, it would have been more fun seeing her surf a shopping cart in a parking lot like the pics that leaked from the video.

The climax. The best way to get over your ex is to remind him how good you look, how great you are doing and so on. Swift aims for this at the video’s late night house party when she dons a sparkly dress -- and cat ears. It feels a little like a New Year’s Eve celebration, but whatever.

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Kudos, though, to Swift’s show of maturity. We’ve all healed a broken heart at 22 doing far more embarrassing things. But I guess that wouldn’t make for a good video?

Watch the video for “22” below:

Follow @GerrickKennedy

gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com


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