Analysing Music Videos- Taylor Swift, You Belong With Me

You Belong With Me- Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She released the song You Belong With Me on April 18, 2009 as the third single on her album, Fearless. She usually produces country, pop and pop rock music and is well known for her love themed songs. Taylor’s record labels at the time that she released You Belong With Me were Big Machine and Universal Republic. Big Machine Records is an American independent record label which specialises in country music artists whereas Universal Republic Records is an American record label which has produced various different genres of music video. The music video itself was produced by Taylor Swift herself and Nathan Chapman. Nathan mainly works with in producing country music and is most famous for his work with Taylor Swift, producing her albums Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989. 

The video itself is entirely narrative based. It follows a nerdy teenage girl (Taylor Swift) who lives next door to a guy who she is in love with, however he has a girlfriend. In this video, Taylor plays the nerdy girl as well as playing the guys girlfriend. The guy starts to frequently argue with his girlfriend and ends up falling in love with Taylor instead. At the end of the video, they go to prom together and kiss. There are several different locations used: inside the boy’s bedroom, inside Taylor’s bedroom, outside on a bench, at a football game and at prom. From these settings, we can assume that they are at school. The performer wears several different outfits. When in her bedroom she wears a simple t-shirt, glasses and jeans or her pyjamas, when she is on the bench reading as the nerdy girl she wears a brown jumper, glasses and jeans. When she pulls up in a car she is playing the part of the girlfriend and wears glasses and a pink top, emphasising her feminine personality in this role. When her two characters are at the football game, she is wearing a band costume as the nerdy girl and a tight cheerleaders outfit as the girlfriend. At prom, as the nerdier girl, she is seen wearing a white dress, the connotations of which are purity and innocence, however, as the cheerleader, she wears a tight red dress; the colour red connoting here evil and danger. 

This video makes significant use of the pen and paper which Taylor and the boy write to each other on. As they can see into each others rooms, they write and hold up messages to each other. Taylor ends up writing ‘I love you’ to him but he does not see it until the end of the video at prom when she shows him. He then also pulls out a piece of paper for her with the same message written back. Lighting is used to communicate some information. This is evident in the prom scene. As Taylor walks in, she seems to be in better lit up than those around her, as they all stare at her and admire her. This emphasises that she is the centre of attention and, after cutting back to the boy, suggests that his attention is solely on her. 

The opening of the video shows a wide, establishing shot of the pair’s houses. This type of shot is more reminiscent of a film opening, as the wide shot is used to show where the next scene will take place. This suggests, that the video will be more narrative based, like a film. Shot reverse shots are also used, when showing the pair conversing between their bedroom windows, making them appear trapped away from each other behind their windows. As well as this, a panning shot is used during the ‘prom’ scene. The camera zooms into the boy’s face, emphasising his shocked expression when Taylor walks out. The pace of the video, is quite slow, due to the fact that the video shows a story; fast cuts would make it harder to understand the concept of the video. 

Characteristics usually associated with this genre are love, which is clearly evident between the boy and Taylor. However it is usually also associated with the outdoors/countryside. However, none of these are shown. The title of the song ‘You Belong With Me’ is strongly linked to the visuals shown. This is because, the lyrics describe a girl (Taylor) who is competing for the attention of the guy who she wants to be with. Throughout the video, a number of close-ups of Taylor Swift in both of her characters are used. She is also shown alone, dressing up and dancing around her room. The large number of shots of Taylor are used to promote her as an artist in her video. Also, in the ‘prom’ scene, the idea of the male gaze is incorporated. As Taylor enters, the camera seems to be from the point of view of the boy who Taylor likes.