Bad Blood (Taylor Swift song)
“Bad Blood” is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, from her fifth studio album 1989 (2014). The album and remixed version of the song, with the latter featuring American rapper Kendrick Lamar, was released on May 17, 2015, by Republic Records as 1989’s fourth single. The album version was written by Swift, Max Martin, and Shellback, with Lamar writing his verses on the remixed version. The lyrics of “Bad Blood” describe the betrayal of a close friend. The album version is the eighth track of 1989.
The song reached number one in Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Scotland, and the United States, becoming the third song from 1989 to do so. The accompanying music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and features an ensemble cast. The video previously held the 24-Hour Vevo Record with 20.1 million views, before being surpassed by Adele’s “Hello”. It won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. The song received a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance while its music video won Best Music Video at the 58th Grammy Awards.
A cover version of “Bad Blood” was released as the first promotional single from singer-songwriter Ryan Adams’ interpretation of Swift’s 1989 album, released in September 2015.
The music video starts with Catastrophe (Taylor Swift) and her partner, Arsyn (Selena Gomez), fighting off a group of men wearing suits in an office in London, for a mysterious briefcase. When all of the men are defeated, Arsyn double crosses Catastrophe by stealing the briefcase in Catastrophe’s hand and kicking her out of a window. The song begins with Catastrophe lying on a broken car, as Welvin da Great (Kendrick Lamar) begins to rap his verse and Lucky Fiori (Lena Dunham) smokes a cigar. Catastrophe is shown being nursed back to health by a trio of girls called The Trinity (all played by Hailee Steinfeld), and after some time, she is ready to start training for her revenge. The other characters in the video are shown in succession, some in training with Catastrophe. They are (in order of appearance):
Lucky Fiori (Lena Dunham)
Dilemma (Serayah)
Slay-Z (Gigi Hadid)
Destructa X (Ellie Goulding)
Homeslice (Martha Hunt)
The Trinity (Hailee Steinfeld)
Mother Chucker (Cara Delevingne)
Cut-Throat (Zendaya)
The Crimson Curse (Hayley Williams)
Frostbyte (Lily Aldridge)
Knockout (Karlie Kloss)
Domino (Jessica Alba)
Justice (Mariska Hargitay)
Luna (Ellen Pompeo)
Headmistress (Cindy Crawford)
Recording and management
Recorded at MXM Studios (Stockholm, Sweden)
Strings recorded and edited at Studio Elevator Nobody (Stockholm, Sweden)
Mixed at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
Mastered at Sterling Sound (Nova Iorque)
Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, Taylor Swift Music (BMI) and MXM (ASCAP) (administered by Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, Inc.)
Personnel
Taylor Swift – lead vocals, writer, background vocals
Max Martin – producer, writer, keyboard, piano, programming
Shellback – producer, writer, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, keyboard, programming, sounds (stomps and knees)
Michael Ilbert – recording
John Hanes – engineered for mix
Sam Holland – recording
Peter Carlsson: Pro Tools engineer
Cory Bice – assistant recording
Serban Ghenea – mixing
John Hanes – engineered for mix
Tom Coyne – master