Taylor Swift’s “Mean” Debuts On CMT

Taylor Swift loves the retro look, but she dials the clock back even further than usual in her latest music video, “Mean”, which premiered on CMT. In the clip for the bully-banishing tune from Speak Now, Taylor — who crafted the concept for the video herself — plays a banjo with an old-timey band, belts out showtunes in a 1920s flapper dress and even finds herself tied to the railroad tracks like a hapless damsel from early movie serials. (All of which is fine, so long as she stays away from doing any fancy footwork.) Watch Taylor tell off her tormentors (whoever they might be) below.

The stripped-down song actually works nicely with the (deliberately) bare-bones video, which was directed by Declan Whitebloom (with input from Taylor). The band filmed their performance at the old Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Grammy winner, music video designer, cover girl — what can’t she do? (Whatever you do, don’t say “sing”.)