Taylor Swift Releases New Single, Music Video, And Album Details

Taylor Swift continues to move away from her country music roots at a rate of knots. The new single, Shake It Off, from her upcoming album 1989, is a bitter fight back against people criticising her formulaic lyrics about ex-boyfriends.

The music video takes inspiration from 80s music videos, along with the overall style of the song. The singer announced that her fifth studio album is her "very first documented, official pop album" according to her official release statement. She apparently also thinks of this as her "favourite album [she has] ever made".

Watch the video for 'Shake It Off' here

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The name, 1989, is taken from the year of her birth. Similarly, Shake It Off refers to her mentality when confronted by 'haters' of her music or persona. It comes courtesy of another collaboration with Max Martin and Shellback, having previously worked with them on '22' and 'We Are Never Getting Back Together'. Their goal, however, was to create an entirely unique track that sounded nothing like Swift's earlier work, or the work Martin and Shellback have previously done.

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The album follows 'Red' - her electro pop farewell to country music - which sold over one million copies in its first week. Swift became the first woman, as well as being the fourth artist in general, to ever have two albums achieve this prestigious accolade.

The video received criticism for a stereotypical view of black dancers by rapper Earl Sweatshirt. It is important to note, however, that these criticisms came without seeing the video in question.

haven't watched the taylor swift video and I don't need to watch it to tell you that it's inherently offensive and ultimately harmful

— EARL (@earlxsweat) August 19, 2014

'Shake It Off's video comes from Swift's first collaboration with director Mark Romanek - a legend in the music video scene, known for his work with artists like Johnny Cash, Jay Z and U2.

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Swift made the statement on her new album that "over the last few years I've learned a very important lesson. We cannot control what people say about us but we can control how we react to it. We can let it get to us, make us bitter, even drive us insane or we can shake it off."