Taylor Swift Is an Independent Woman Who Didn’t Need a Man for ‘The Man’ Video

Taylor Swift wanted her fans up bright and early to get this lesson on feminism. “The Man” music video dropped at seven o’clock in the morning this Thursday, before young Swifties head off to school and before adult Swifties have their morning coffee. Taylor Swift, in some award-worthy makeup, literally becomes the man in this music video she wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. Turns out you don’t need to be a man to get things done. Who knew? The cherry on top, however, is a man. Taylor Swift-as-a-man may look like all of her ex-boyfriends put together (at least Joe, Jake, and Harry) but she sounds like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who lent his voice to the project. “The Man” video is filled with Easter eggs alluding to Swift’s other work, including Speak Now, Red, Reputation, Fearless, and 1989 graffiti. Lover, the only one of her albums she owns, isn’t on the graffiti wall, but the word “karma” is. The wall also has a “Missing: If Found Return to Taylor Swift” sign and a sign banning scooters, obvious references to her feud with Scooter Braun over her earlier work. Later in the video, there’s even a Mr. Americana Netflix advertisement starring Tyler Swift. Hmm, it just doesn’t have the same ring to it.