Songs for a Neophyte: 2015.39

Bad Blood
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar

Thump
Can something be over-produced?
Foreign
Uncomfortable, like a
Badly-fitted shoe
Schizophrenic
A stranger to itself
Is this what Stephen calls a "banger?"
Big enough
Enough

Lyrics.
I had a coworker with whom I really could not get along. I swear I tried my hardest to be forthright and considerate and give this person as many chances as I could. But there's something perverse about a person who can absorb everything that is given to them, every favor, leniency, and word of praise, and still feel shortchanged. Once, this person went out of their way to help in an early-morning emergency situation (don't you pay no nevermind that seven other people also showed up), and their focus was not how do we fix this or what can I do to help. My illustrious coworker was only concerned that everyone know that they were helping instead of sleeping in or showering or farting into their pillow or whatever they did with their free time. "I work more hours than (insert the number of hours perceived as normal) and I don't take breaks. And you see me out here helping." Others in the group took the bait and lobbed praise out, as though to say "Oh, yes. You are better than us." I don't care if you take a thousand more breaks than me, or none whatsoever. This isn't about your work ethic. This is about how trashy you are sometimes.

That's what bad blood is about, for Taylor Swift. The original song was a petulant squabble between people who should really just be quiet and go to bed. But Kendrick's verses add just enough realism that (with Genius translating), I can see the necessity of venom in his life. He's been hurt, really hurt, by a relationship, and the only way he can conceive of solving his pain is to write the end as an antagonism, as bad blood.
I really don't think he and Taylor are a good match, but he makes the song worth hearing. Thanks, Kendrick.

Stephen Barry.
Things happen in the Bad Blood music video, certainly, but the way the story of the video is set up, it's as though Taylor is rallying all of her favorite actresses as ammunition against Katy Perry (or whoever this topical beef was about), which I think is . . . recklessly shallow? Who cares if faces I recognize stand on one side or the other in an argument about . . . talent? Money? Women's rights? Honestly, I do not care, but Taylor's video feels like she's trying to show how many people like her and are on her side.

Compare this with Swish Swish, Bish, which is is not a very good song and a worse music video. At least, Katy Perry doesn't have a bunch of famous, beautiful people "taking her side."

Worse.