Taylor Swift takes aim at haters with 'Look What You Made Me Do'

[August 26, 2017]   By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After a year in which she went through a high-profile breakup, a short-lived fling, celebrity feuds and a court battle, Taylor Swift is coming for her haters with a mad, bad, edgy new single.

Swift released "Look What You Made Me Do" late on Thursday, a high-octane pop track in which she takes aim at unnamed subjects who have tried to bring her down, singing "Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours."

"The role you made me play of the fool, no I don't like you ... But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time/ Honey I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time/ I've got a list of names and yours is in red underlined/ I check it once and then I check it twice," Swift sings.

Swift, 27, dropped out of public view earlier this year after a highly publicized breakup with British DJ Calvin Harris, a short-lived fling with British actor Tom Hiddleston and feuds with Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

The song comes just over a week after the singer scored a court victory against a radio DJ whom she accused of groping her bare bottom while posing for a photo with her in 2013. Swift, who delivered unflinching testimony in a Denver court, was awarded the symbolic $1 in damages that she had sought after a federal jury found for her.

A 13-second sneak peek of the music video to "Look What You Made Me Do" was unveiled on "Good Morning America" on Friday, showing glimpses of Swift biting into a diamond necklace, channeling Hollywood glamour while on a swing, and wearing an all-black ensemble while standing in front of her dancers.

The video will debut at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, which will be hosted by Perry, fueling speculation that the two may bury their long-running feud on stage.

"Look What You Made Me Do" quickly became a top trend on social media on Friday. In the song, from Swift's upcoming November album "Reputation," she embraces a darker pop sound with biting lyrics, a continuation of her fiery "Bad Blood" from her 2014 hit album "1989."

The singer, who broke out as a country-pop star at the age of 16, also points to reinventing herself in her latest song.

"I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now/ Why? Oh. 'Cause she's dead," Swift sings.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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