Taylor Swift vs The World | Bad Blood | 2

0:102014. Taylor Swift strides into a boardroom of the big machine offices in Nashville. The head of the record label, Scott Borchetta, sits at a large meeting table with other executives. They're here to discuss the strategy for Swift's fifth album, which she's just finished recording. But Borchetta has some notes. Taylor, thanks for flying in. Swift nods graciously. She recently moved from Nashville to New York City full-time. Borchetta continues. So, you've turned in some really great songs. I mean, bravo. But I couldn't help but feel something was missing. Swift listens expectantly. Okay, what are you thinking?

0:53What we really need is some country. Can you give us three songs that can play on country radio? Those DJs love you, but they're not going to play this pop stuff. But Swift is not interested in that. She's done with country music. Listen, Scott, I read a review of Red that really stuck in my mind. Red was Swift's last album. It was a pop country hit that immediately sold four million copies. But even with that success, Swift obsessively tracks the criticism she receives. The review said Red wasn't cohesive. On this album, I want them to sound like they all belong together. A country song will stick out like a sore thumb.

1:35Borchetta and the other executives exchange looks. Swift is not backing down. She's 25 now, not the teenager she was when she first signed. Borchetta tries another tack. Well, okay, why don't we country up what you've already got? Let's add a fiddle and steel guitar solo on Shake It Off. That'll work for country radio. Right, guys? Uh-huh, you bet. The room of execs nod in agreement. They turn to Swift. She shakes her head. Scott, you know that's not going to match the production on the rest of the album. Orchetta starts to redden with frustration. Listen, if you want to do a bit of pop, that's fine, but let's be smart and capitalize on both markets.

2:20Swift leans forward. I'm pouring my heart into these songs, and I love these songs. So if they're pop, they're pop. I can't just shoehorn a country song in there. It'd be so disingenuous. But of course you don't get that, because you're not an artist. Borsheta can no longer bend her to his will, but Swift makes him millions playing to a country audience. He worries she'll alienate those fans by going full pop. He's got to find a way to sway her. You've got an established, astronomically successful career in country music. To shake that up would be the biggest mistake you ever make. Swift is not having it.

3:00Exactly, Scott. I've got an astronomically successful career in country music, and I'm going to make this decision. Not you! We're done here. But they're far from done. This is just the opening salvo in the savage battle to come. One that will be fought in boardrooms, on her music videos, on social media, and on stage. This fight will nearly destroy Swift until she deploys her most powerful weapon, her rabid fans, and acid-dipped lyrics.

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6:12In the last episode, Taylor Swift signed on to Scott Borchetta's label and quickly rose to stardom. Scooter Braun discovered Justin Bieber, who went on tour with Swift. But as Swift started pivoting to Pop, her relationship with Borchetta began to sour. In this episode, Swift makes a bold move that Borchetta sees as a threat to his business. So he teams up with Braun to protect his investment. This is Episode 2, Bad Blood.

6:53July 4th, 2014 at Swift's estate on the coast in Westerly, Rhode Island. Swift stretches out on a sun lounger by the pool. She's wearing a floppy hat and dark sunglasses. Nearby, actor Emma Stone reapplies sunscreen, while her boyfriend, actor Andrew Garfield, sips a cold beverage. TV star Lena Dunham floats languidly on an inflatable bed. It's an A-list gathering of actors and models. Swift jumps up. Anyone want to bake a cake? Me. I do. A few jump at the suggestion. They run into Swift's giant kitchen and get to work. Swift bought this eight-bedroom vacation home last year for$17 million. Could someone grab the butter?

7:40I got it. It's not Swift's only property. Earlier in the year, she bought Peter Jackson's former Tribeca penthouse for$19 million. She spent$2 million on a Nashville apartment, though she's rarely there. All right, there's the sugar. Awesome. I'm nearly done measuring the flour. It's no accident that her home is swarming with female celebrities. After getting flack on social media for being boy-obsessed with guys like John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal, she cultivated a group of female friends. The press calls them her girl squad. These days, Swift is less likely to be photographed with a new boyfriend than she is with model Carly Closs.

8:26Rather than compete with musicians like Chaim and Lord, she's embraced them as best friends. And pictures of her with them probably make her more likable to her mostly female fan base. Hey, let's mix it up.

8:44All right, it's ready to go in the oven. The women high five. For Swift, the weekend is a much-needed break from working on her album and fighting with her label. Swift wants the record to be called 1989, the year she was born. And she wants the cover of the album to be a faded Polaroid of herself in a shirt featuring flying seagulls. The picture cuts off her face just below the eyes. Her initials TS and 1989 are at the bottom. She wants to ditch the typical country cover. She's going for edgy and unpredictable. For most female celebrities, their face is a saleable asset. But with this album cover, Swift wants to prove that she's so well-known that fans will recognize her from just one blurry body part.

9:34Her red lips. Worsheta thinks it's too cryptic and wants her to name the album after one of the song titles, typical of country music albums. He wants her to show her full face. That face sells albums. But this is more than a debate over an album cover. She's making a statement about who she wants to be and what she wants. What she may not realize is that she's about to touch the third rail of the music business. Streaming.

10:12November 2014, Charlottesville, Virginia. A teenage girl sits in her bedroom talking to her friends on Snapchat. Her MacBook is open on her bed, blasting one of Taylor Swift's old albums on Spotify. She saw Swift in concert last year and has become a huge fan. All of a sudden, the music cuts. What the? The Spotify page shows an error message. Huh. That's weird. She navigates to Swift's artist page. Oh my god! It's blank. There's nothing there. Not a single Taylor Swift album is on Spotify. She keeps clicking. This must be some sort of mistake. Where's she supposed to listen to Swift's songs? She quickly goes to Tumblr.

11:02Immediately, she types a message to her fellow Swifties. The responses pour in. It's not just her. It looks like Swift has removed all her music from Spotify. The Swifty closes her laptop. It's time for her to go to Target and buy the new Swift CD. Swift's decision to pull her catalog from Spotify isn't a total surprise. A few months ago, Swift wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, where she denounced streaming, saying it doesn't compensate artists fairly. Spotify quickly responds, noting that Swift has actually been paid millions of dollars. Borsheta hits back on Swift's behalf, saying that they haven't seen that much money.

11:47Lots of artists have protested the paltry sums the streaming platform gives performers. But she's the biggest star so far. The fact the company actually responds is a sign of just how powerful she is. Taylor Swift doesn't realize it in the moment, but her decision to yank her songs from Spotify will actually pit her against mega-talent agent Scooter Braun, who owns a stake in the company. But he's preoccupied with trying to save Bieber's career after a drunk driving arrest. It won't be long before all of them, Borchetta, Braun, and Bieber, close in on her.

12:38November 2014, New York City. Swift is in her Tribeca apartment, sitting on the couch in a red plaid flannel shirt with her two cats. It's a text from Swift's publicist, with a link to a Businessweek article. Swift clicks on it. The headline reads, Taylor Swift is the music industry. Well, that's nice. She pulls one of her cats close to her and keeps going. Big Machine Records founder Scott Borchetta and his little-known pop act attained mass success in an ailing industry. Little known? They being sarcastic? From the headline, it sounds as though this is going to be a story about her. It does talk about how her albums actually sell copies in an industry where that's less and less common.

13:28But really, it's a profile of Borchetta. And he's taking a lot of credit for her success. And her decisions. She calls her publicist. Wait, did you read this? He says he's the person who decided to take my music from Spotify. He's trying to take credit for my decision. As if it was his idea. Yeah, taken care of. We had a, quote, source close to Swift, that would be me, say Scott is exaggerating his involvement because he's trying to sell the company. Swift nods, satisfied. She'd heard rumblings that Borsheta's trying to sell the label before she leaves. Do you think I need to make any comment myself?

14:10No. I don't think it's a good look for you to get into a public fight with Scott. Not right now. Scott used a business magazine as his mouthpiece, but remember, you have the most powerful weapon of all. Oh yeah? What's that? The Swifties. Swift does as her publicist suggests, and doesn't say anything publicly. Yet. It won't be long before she sticks it to Borchetta, and to all the other men who she thinks have wronged her. When it happens, it will be an abrupt break from her past, emotionally and artistically. And it will be done on a far bigger stage in spectacular fashion.

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16:36February 2016. The Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Swift sits front row at the Grammy Awards in a red crop top and magenta skirt. Her hair is cut in a sleek, straight bob. No more loose country curls. She's waiting nervously to hear the results of Album of the Year. The announcer opens the envelope and says two magic words. Taylor Swift. Swift's mouth drops open. She stands up and hugs her friend Selena Gomez. She embraces producer Jack Antonoff, who made the majority of this record with her. And then she strides onto the stage. I want to thank the fans for the last 10 years, and the Recording Academy for giving us this unbelievable honor.

17:25She begins by thanking her collaborators, and then she gets serious. And as the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. The crowd cheers. It seems like she's talking about rapper Kanye West and the way he dissed her during the 2009 VMA Awards, a flap which he claims made her famous. And then there was the hugely public scuffle over whether she agreed to allow Kanye to use a lyric in a song about her.

18:13Swift keeps going. But if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment. It's a powerful speech. And it's telling that Swift does not once mention Borchetta or thank her label. And while many assume it's addressed to West, it could also be about Borchetta. 1989 goes on to become not only the most successful album of her career, but one of the top three albums of the entire decade.

19:00It sells five million copies in its first nine months, making it the fastest-selling album since 2004. But even though Taylor Swift is riding high, it's all about to come crashing down.

19:18August 2nd, 2016, Nashville, Tennessee. There's been a lot of media attention lately, so Swift is lying low in her apartment. She's lounging in bed with one of her cats on a large white duvet. Just then, one of her cats stands upright and tucks her ears back, making a hilarious expression. She snaps a video of the cat standing up on its hind legs. She's been trying to stay offline lately, but this clip is too cute not to post. What's going on? You feeling less like a cat and more like a squirrel today? Mm-hmm. Yep. She adds it to her Instagram stories. Swift's public image has been at an all-time low this summer.

20:05There was a controversy over whether Swift agreed to allow Kanye to use a lyric in one of his songs. In June, Kim Kardashian said that her husband Kanye had called Swift for approval of the lyric. When Swift denied it, Kardashian uploaded a taped clip of the call that made it sound as though Swift had heard Wes' song and didn't object. Kardashian posted it with the emoji of a snake, as if to say that Swift was that snake. And then, well, then it felt to Swift like the whole internet turned against her. Anonymous masses calling her a liar and saying that she's playing the victim. So she's been trying to stay off social media and out of the headlines.

20:48But just as she looks for her kitty on her Instagram feed, she sees a picture from Justin Bieber. She reads the caption. Taylor Swift, what up? It's a black and white FaceTime screenshot of Bieber with Scooter Braun and Kanye West. Swift's heart sinks. There's a lot going on in this one screenshot. The messaging is not that subtle. It signals that Bieber, who she thought of as a friend, is taking sides, Kanye's. And West is now a client of Braun. Swift throws her phone down. She's furious. These guys are ganging up on her. But worst of all, Borchetta hasn't publicly spoken out in support of her.

21:35And that steams her.

21:40Inside the big machine offices on Music Row in Nashville. Hey, Scott. Hey, Taylor. How's it going? She holds up her phone, which is open on the Bieber Instagram post. Did you see this? Not good. Uh-huh. That thing still kicking around? Yeah. Yeah, it is. I just wish it would all go away. Wachetta nods. Mm, I get that. So what did you want to talk about today? Well, I've been thinking about what's next. This is my last album on our deal. After her next record, Swift's six-album deal is up at Big Machine. This means she'll be able to sign to another label, or renegotiate at Big Machine. Right. And you know we'd love to have you stay at the label.

22:31This is home for you. Swift wriggles in her seat slightly. Well, I'd be open to exploring that possibility. But in order to re-sign, I'd need my master's back. Taylor, I just can't do that. You know I'm exploring selling big machine. Without your masters, this label is worth a whole lot less, and I need to take that into account. Swift begins to cry. Look, this is the worst summer of my life. I just want to be able to get my masters back and move forward. Why is this so hard for you to understand? Well, we can keep talking about it. But maybe now is not the right time.

23:17Swift is facing the fact that her reputation is in shambles, and she has no idea how to mend it. She decides to disappear from public view. Swift will use this time to gather her strength. She'll use this sense of shame as fuel to go through a painful metamorphosis. And when she returns to the stage, her lyrics will be weapons, and her new persona will be unrecognizable.

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26:01May 2017, Los Angeles. Swift is on set to film her first music video since she became Persona Non Grata. The set is a smoke-filled graveyard. The camera zooms in on a giant gravestone that reads, Here lies Taylor Swift's reputation. All of a sudden, a ghoulish-looking Swift claws her way out of the grave. She's in zombie makeup. Swift starts singing as she grabs a shovel and refills the grave.

26:37In this revenge video for her album Reputation, the lyrics are a pointed reference to West. Swift performs the line in staccato as though there's a period after every single word. Her voice punches across a minimal drumbeat, showcasing her new, brash, electronic direction. Her point is clear. This is not the old Taylor with soft blonde waves and an aura of sweetness. This is the new Taylor. Hard edges, ready to strike. and she's not taking any prisoners. And cut. Swift hurries to hair and makeup to change out of the zombie prosthetics. The makeup artist leans in to Swift. I love what you're doing.

27:28Making a whole artistic statement about your public perception after all that. You know, it's very brave. Thank you. This record reputation is her chance to address the haters. She ended up writing a whole album about her image. Now dressed in a slinky orange outfit with tall, skin-tight boots, she watches as the prop people set up a giant, gilded cage. Swift is going to swing inside it like a caged songbird. It's a callback to her old house in Nashville, where she used to have a giant gold birdcage. But it also seems to be a visual representation of her relationship with Borchetta. She's his songbird, locked into a cage.