Taylor Swift’s Squad Goes to War in Her ‘Bad Blood’ Video
After weeks of teasing, Taylor Swift's epic lady-battle-royale music video for "Bad Blood" finally arrived Sunday night (May 17), premiering in front of the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.
The video's story goes like this: Double-crossed on a mission by her partner Arsyn (Selena Gomez), assassin Catastrophe (played by Taylor) returns to her girl army to recoup. There we see on fierce display her #squad of compatriot badasses in a training camp setup that recalls The Hunger Games, Kill Bill, Sin City, The Fifth Element and Tron. Knives flash, karate is chopped, and 'splosions 'splode in a series of hyperstylized action vignettes that culminate in a fiery face-off between Catastrophe, Arsyn, and their respective girl posses.
Taylor has said the 1989 cut is about a fellow female artist, whom many speculate to be Katy Perry. Earlier this year, she revealed to Rolling Stone that this singer "tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me," endangering her 2013 Red tour. Both pop stars have dodged confirmation that there exists any real beef between them, and Taylor has said she hates confrontation. So, thematically the lack of any real battle makes sense?
Shot by "Blank Space" director Joseph Kahn, "Bad Blood" stars Taylor (of course) as Catastrophe, Selena Gomez as the second female lead Arsyn, Ellie Goulding as Destructa Z, Cara Delevingne as Mother Chucker, Kendrick Lamar as Welvin Da Great, Lena Dunham as Lucky Fiori, Zendaya as Cut-Throat, Lily Aldridge as Frostbyte, Martha Hunt as HomeSlice, Karlie Kloss as Knockout, Hayley Williams of Paramore as The Crimson Curse, Jessica Alba as Domino, Serayah McNeill as Dilemma, Gigi Hadid as Slay-Z, Hailee Steinfeld as The Trinity, Ellen Pompeo as Luna, Mariska Hargitay as Justice and Cindy Crawford as Headmistress. According to Swift, each actor chose his or her own character's name.
See All of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" Character Posters!
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