Taylor Swift’s ‘The Man’ Video: All the Easter Eggs You Missed
Taylor Swift finally released the music video for “The Man.” The song, which comes from her latest album, Lover, highlights the double standards between men and women. In the video, the pop star transforms into an obnoxious man who gets rewarded no matter what he does. As usual, Swift is gifting fans with a bunch ofEaster eggs in “The Man” video, and here’s a breakdown of the ones we could spot.
The details behind Taylor Swift’s ‘The Man’
What makes Swift’s new music video special is the singer wrote and directed it. In the ending credits, Swift points out that she owns “The Man,” which is an important detail given her battle with her former label, Big Machine Records. Of her seven albums, Lover is the only album the singer truly owns.
On “The Man,” Swift points out the different standards women are held to compared to men. In an interview with Billboard Music, the pop singer talked about the inspiration behind it.
“It was a song that I wrote from my personal experience, but also from a general experience that I’ve heard from women in all parts of our industry. And I think that, the more we can talk about it in a song like that, the better off we’ll be in a place to call it out when it’s happening. So many of these things are ingrained in even women, these perceptions, and it’s really about re-training your own brain to be less critical of women when we are not criticizing men for the same things.”
Taylor Swift, Billboard’s Women in Music issue
Many ‘The Man’ Easter eggs show up in the subway scene
The video starts out with Swift’s amazing transformation as The Man — a brooding, chauvinistic man who acts like he owns everything and everyone. When The Man stops in the subway to use the bathroom, the brick wall he’s standing in front of reads “13th Street Station,” a shoutout to Swift’s favorite number. Also written on the wall is “1989,” a throwback to Swift’s birth year and 2014 album.
On the station wall, Swift’s other album names, including Reputation, Red, and Speak Now, are painted in graffiti next to a sign that reads, “Missing: If Found Return to Taylor Swift.” Of course, this is a nod to her fight for the rights to all of her past music. There’s also a sign with a picture of a scooter with a line through it, which refers to her battle with record executive Scooter Braun.
Next to the graffiti is a poster for Mr. Americana. It features a picture of Swift dressed as The Man, with the name of star “Tyler Swift” written below and director “Larry Wilson” on top. This is an obvious shoutout to her Netflix documentary Miss Americana and its director, Lana Wilson. The poster also notes the film premiered at “Mandance” instead of Sundance.
Surprise cameos in ‘The Man’
While The Man plays tennis for a women’s charity, he is called out by an umpire. That chair umpire is actually Swift’s father, Scott Swift.
The wedding scene, in which an older man is marrying a much younger woman, might highlight the criticism Swift has gotten for dating some slightly younger men, including boyfriend Joe Alwyn. In the scene, Swift’s stylist Joseph Cassell and her makeup artist Lorrie Turk both make a cameo.
At the end of the video, Swift gets out of the director’s chair to tell The Man he needs to look “more likable.” Providing the voiceover for Swift’s male character is none other than Hollywood actor Dwayne Johnson.
Now that “The Man” is here, fans will surely pick up on more nuanced clues. But Easter eggs aside, you can’t forget that Swift just delivered another epic music video to the world — one with a message everyone should pay attention to.
