Oh. My. GOD.
She KILLED it! LOVED it and loved her.
And no, people, this doesn’t represent Taylor’s “split” from country or anything. This is just her trying something new and expanding her boundaries, as she should as a young musician.
The performance was awesome and charismatic. Her singing was on point. It wasn’t technically stunning like in a Mariah Carey or even an Ariana Grande ballad, but the personality was there times ten. She owned the stage, commanded the audience and rocked the house. Pure pop perfection.
And… I couldn’t believe my eyes at the choreography! Not because of the quality (though it was great), but because Taylor’s performance had so many obvious visual rhymes with Madonna’s Material Girl video. The male dancers dressed in tuxedos lifting her up and pursuing her, the stairs, the overhead shot at the beginning, all of it… I couldn’t believe it! I nearly fell off my chair when I realized who Taylor’s inspiration was here!!!
Tay, darling… I was just kidding about the enormous cone bra. Don’t do that, dear. Thanks.
Even the shiny tassels on Taylor’s outfit reminded me of Madge’s glittering jewels in Material Girl. It was crazy to watch.
Come to think of it, Taylor’s back up singers in her performance reminded me of how Madge’s backups were presented early on in her career. But, perhaps that’s just me stretching things.
The song… is very good, and indeed reminiscent of early Madonna with the higher vocals and attitude. But- it doesn’t reach Madonna’s transcendent heights. Not that it needs to.
But whatever. I’m stopping this before I go too far into critic mode.
I’m going to have to watch the whole VMAs later on. I just caught Swifty’s performance this time.
Do you think MTV will ever broadcast this again?!?! Gosh, I just don’t know!