In an ironic twist, Taylor Swift drops the broken hearted, sad girl act to play — wait for it — the other woman.
Swift not only starred in country duo Sugarland’s music video with Jennifer Nettles, but she also co-wrote the song, “Babe,” their new single from their sixth studio album, Bigger.
The 1960s-set music video has a very obvious Mad Men feel. It also stars Nettles as a wife whose husband, played by Brandon Routh of Legends of Tomorrow fame, is cheating on her. The other woman? That's Swift, who is looking very Joan Holloway-ish in her red wig and form-fitting outfit.
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“You really blew this, babe / We ain't getting through this one, babe / This is the last time I'll ever call you, babe / This is the last time, this is the last time / This is the last time, I'll ever call you babe.”
Nettles and Kristian Bush, the other half of the duo, revealed that Swift is the one who came up with the concept for the video, which isn’t surprising because it has Swift’s name written all over it. The song and video have a theme that is common in these popular love-triangle stories — in the end, both women get hurt, something we’re familiar with seeing from her.
These lines are sung by both women and have a similar vibe as Swift’s 2012 track “The Last Time,” written for her Red album, which was when she also penned “Babe.”
When Swift announced the song back in April, many fans predicted the song was about Jake Gyllenhaal, whom she dated back in 2010.
My fellow Swifties are losing their damn mind over this song!! The general consensus seems to be that Taylor Swift wrote it about Jake Gyllenhaal, who CHEATED on her!!! https://t.co/noDIixeUkk
— Perez (@ThePerezHilton) April 20, 2018
so did jake gyllenhaal cheat on taylor with a redhead?? #babe #taylorswift
— stephanie johnson (@stephaniexoxox) June 7, 2018
Fans think that red wig Swift is rocking might be more than a tribute to Joan. Could it be shade at Gyllenhaal and his post-Taylor thing for redheads? There’s a few rumors flying around the Twitterspere about who inspired that sartorial choice.
Anna Kendrick is who Jake dated after Taylor pic.twitter.com/wClFSovrnH
— Globelamp (@globelamp) June 9, 2018
Sorry, conspiracy theorists, but despite rumours, Gyllenhaal wasn’t dating Anna Kendrick and had actually brought his ex-girlfriend Jenny Lewis with him to the Golden Globes, just a few months after he and Swift broke up. Lewis also has red hair.
Anna and Jake never dated. The rumors were based off of pics from paparazzi taken when they were shooting scenes for the movie they were in. She was dating director Edgar Wright at the time. Jake was at an award show with Jenny Lewis after he broke up with Taylor.
— Quacky Attacky (@QuackyAttacky) June 10, 2018
Feel free to leave us your favourite theories about why this song is about Harry Styles instead below.