"Style" is a song by American singer Taylor Swift from her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014). It was written by Swift, Max Martin, Shellback.[1] It was released to the radio by Republic on February 9, 2015 as the album's third single, after "Blank Space" and is also the third track on the album.[2] Musically, the song is a pop rock and electropop song. Commercially, "Style" peaked at number 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and entered the record charts of several nations, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Background and concept
"I love how the song sounds the way that that feeling felt. I love it when the sound of the song matches up with the feeling that inspired it. In this song, it just reminds of driving in the middle of the night. I don't know. I loved comparing these timeless visuals with a feeling that never goes out of style... It's basically one of those relationships that's always a bit off. I talked about in another song on the record, a crooked love, which is never quit synced up right. The two people are trying to forget each other. So, it's like, 'All right, I heard you went off with her,' and well, I've done that, too... My previous albums have also been sort of like, 'I was right, you were wrong, you did this, it made me feel like this'--a righteous sense of right and wrong in a relationship. What happens when you grow up is you realize the rules in a relationship are very blurred and that it gets very complicated very quickly, and there's not a case of who was right or who was wrong."
—Swift, explaining to Ryan Seacrest about the meaning and inspiration of the song on iHeartRadio/KIIS FM interview in October 2014.[3]
"Style" is an electropop-inspired pop rock song,[4] debuted as a snippet in the Target commercial to promote her album. In late December 2014, Big Machine Records head Scott Borchetta answered a fan's question on an impromptu Q&A on social networking site Twitter. The fan asked, "What's Taylor's next single?" and Scott responded promptly that he was leaning towards "Style". It was an "obvious single choice", according to Billboard.[4] In January 2015, Republic Records officially anounced "Style" as Swift's third single from 1989, set for a release on February 9, 2015.[2]
Critical reception
"Style" garnered acclaim from critics. PopMatters described Swift as "(trying) on several fresh styles that fit her like a cashmere-lined leather glove" on this song and praises it as "immaculate, almost impossibly ebullient and thrilling".[5] AbsolutePunk lauded it for its "radiant hooks" and as "a song that is almost certain to get stuck in your head after just one listen."[6] The Observer called it a "percolating funk-pop number that satisfies on every level".[7] The New York Times declared it as the album's high mark and compared it to the original Miami Vice soundtrack. NOW Magazine called it the top track from the album.[8]
The hook of "Style" was praised by Consequence of Sound, proclaiming it's "one of the album’s most arresting hooks... The song is deliriously triumphant, but triumph is an easy place to get to when you’re young, hot, and loaded in the country’s sparkliest city. Here, Swift’s girl-next-door likability slips, making it harder to forget that “Style” literally debuted as an advertisement."[9] Drowned In Sound commented that "There's that same 'stay positive' philosophy, and a fair few shouty bits. Best of all is 'Style', which celebrates Swift's fling with 1D's Harry Styles (geddit?) as though being young and reckless is all a part of growing up. This is something anyone can relate to, whether they've made a string of poor romantic choices or 'done a whitey' on the weekend gone by."[10] NME described "Style" as "so ’80s-indebted with its thick piano-house and uplifting “Take me home” coda, echoes the retro-modern atmosphere conjured by the slinky cool of Electric Youth and Blood Orange.[11]
Less positively, The Independent called "Style" "desperately inclusive electropop grooves and corporate rebel clichés of songs", though "a certain piquancy" is apparent.[12] The LA Times praised it as "a sensual funk track" in their mixed review for the album.[13] Pitchfork Media named "Style" the 50th best song of 2014.[14]
Music video
The accompanying music video was directed by Kyle Newman.[18] On February 10, 2015, Swift posted a teaser for the music video and its release date on Instagram. The video showed Swift's head and steam/smoke tendrils rising up her neck. A second teaser was posted on Swift's social media accounts the next day, depicting shadowy trees on her back. A third teaser was released showing lightning and two different colored eyes being projected onto Swift as she stands against a blank backdrop.[19] The video was scheduled to be released on Good Morning America on February 13, 2015, but was released a few hours early.[20] Swift's love interest in the video is played by model Dominic Sherwood.[18]
Synopsis
The video begins with Swift's head being overlayed by a scene in which her boyfriend (played by Dominic Sherwood) is standing in a seashore. As the song starts, it can been seen that Swift is holding on to a necklace (similar to the one in her I Knew You Were Trouble video) with scenes of her in the woods accompanied by various flashbacks. The man is shown waking up from a bed interspliced by Swift in a dim-lit room. As the chorus begins, the man holds a mirror infront of him in which Swifts lips are overlayed which is followed by various scenes in which both Swift and the man gets overlayed by each other. As the video progresses the man can be seen driving a car with Swift in the back seat. He then takes off his clothes joined by Swift as they embrace and kiss each other. Through the following clips the man is shown in a beach while Swift sings in a dim-lit room. The video ends with the man pulling up his car infront Swift who is sitting on a stranded location.
