• The song interpolates the melody of the 1991 song
I'm Too Sexy
by the band
Right Said Fred, therefore Fred Fairbrass, Richard Fairbrass, and Rob Manzoli of the band are credited as songwriters.
• The song received a mixed response from music critics, with division over Swift's stylistic change.
The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and became the most-watched music video within 24 hours.
• Variety's Chris Willman also praised Swift's embrace of a darker-styled pop music and the stylistic conflict between the song's pre-chorus and chorus.
• The video begins with a zombie Swift crawling out of a grave, where the headstone reads "Here Lies Taylor Swift's reputation", and digging another grave for herself.
At the end of the video, various iterations of Swift's public image bicker with one another, describing each other as "so fake" and "playing the victim", ending with one saying "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative"
• In June 2016, discussing the relationship between her and Kanye West after West's song "Famous", Swift wrote on Instagram, "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative." The same line is spoken by one of Swift's iterations at the end of the video.
• The song was played over 10 million times
on Spotify in its first 24 hours, more than any other song before it.
Ed Sheeran's
Shape Of You
had the previous record with
6.87 million in its first 24 hours on the platform in January 2017.
-Wikipedia
• The lyric video was watched more than 19 million views in its first 24 hours. This smashed
the record for the most views for a lyric video, previously held by
The Chainsmokers'
Something Just Like This
which had 9 million views during the first day of its debut.
• The music video was viewed 43.2 million times in its first 24 hours on Vevo following
its debut during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. It also overtook the previous record holder,
Adele's
Hello
which had 27 million views in its first day.