By Erin Lynch ’18

Taylor Swift has now made a full return back into the music industry after her two year hiatus. In just the past few months, she has released an album and three music videos. End Game, which was, for many, the most anticipated music video of the album, was released on Jan. 11 at midnight.

I was looking forward to it, especially because the video was set to include Ed Sheeran and Future, who both are featured on the song. Full disclosure, I am a Taylor Swift fan, but after watching that video I was disappointed.

I was used to Swift music videos that have a story or, if nothing else, a deeper meaning. This time, though, it appeared that Swift was simultaneously trying to show everyone she was not a little girl anymore and trying to prove she could spend tons of money on a music video.

Swift travelled to various cities during the video, including London and Tokyo. These clips were entertaining, but there was no true reason as to why she was in these places. While traveling the world, she met up with Ed Sheeran and Future.

The Ed Sheeran scene was a highlight in the video. The two have a long and extremely public friendship. There was a clip where Swift took Sheeran’s glasses and the two joked around, giving fans a look into their real life relationship. That was exactly the kind of deeper meaning I wished had been a common theme throughout.

The biggest downfall for me was her determination to appear older and edgy. She traveled to various parties and bars, including many clips of her drinking beer, taking shots, etc. Her fan base consists of young teenage girls, so to me this makes no sense. While I understand she is getting older, she still needs to appeal to her main audience.

It was simply predictable. Every city featured a new party, new friends and a new drink, so they took clips from each scene and strung them together. The only true unifying aspect was Swift mouthing the words to the song.

The song is about Swift wanting someone to be her “end game,” but the video featured no true love interest.  There was a story there that could have been told, and I think the video should have been focused around that.

The video was cool, in the sense that it featured expensive cars, yachts, motorcycles and party scenes from many of the world’s big cities. But to me, all that means nothing if there is no meaning behind it. Overall, I would give this video a two out of five stars.