Love Story (2008)
Swift might be just 27, but she’s already been around so long it was hard to know where to start with her video back catalogue. This, though, was her first huge hit (in America at least), and a good example of what I’d call Swift’s ‘nauseous Nashville’ phase – so it seems as good a place as any.
To watch the video for ‘Love Story’ is to know what it is like to be force-fed semolina for all meals, everyday, forever – it is blandness personified. In it, Swift runs into a handsome male school friend (abbreviated here as HMSF) on her way to class. We then travel inside her imagination, where HMSF is dressed up as a budget version of Mr Darcy – picture Colin Firth as done by ASDA – and everyone else looks like a prat. Swift pines for her HMSF ‘Romeo’ from a window, strokes a horse’s muzzle (not a euphemism) and eventually the two lovers come together (not in that way).
No, it’s not ground breaking – your average worm disturbs the earth more than this ever could – but it does the job it is supposed to, i.e. you feel like you’re watching a shit wedding video for someone from school that you always thought was an idiot. The song and the video might be boring, but they’re harmless enough. Oh, and it was directed by a lady called Trey Fanjoy – a truly excellent name.