Taylor Swift Just Wore a Rare Gothy Lip

It's a departure from her signature red.

It’s been a minute since Taylor Swift dropped her latest album, Midnights. With revealing lyrics and catchy melodies, the album has Taylor written all over it, and her “Anti-Hero” and “Bejeweled” music videos do too—literally, as she wrote and directed both of them. We've been waiting patiently for more visuals from the album, and Swift just answered our prayers. On January 27, Taylor Swift dropped her “Lavender Haze” music video, and it's filled with beauty inspo, including a very un-Taylor gothy lipstick.

The music video opens with Swift lying in bed next to her partner (played by Laith Ashley De La Cruz), wearing nothing but an oversized grey tee and white shorts, her classic Birkin bangs, and a turquoise pedicure. She quickly realizes that she won’t be sleeping and decides to, well, dance around and cover the entire bedroom in a lavender haze instead.

In the next scene, Swift is seen lounging on a couch and channel-surfing in a turquoise slip dress with a lavender fur coat overtop. Her glam is a bit more intense here, with lavender glitter eyeshadow and a glossy pink lip, reminiscent of pretty much every sparkling look Dame Pat McGrath created for Swift’s “Bejeweled” music video.

What we see next, however, was far from anything we were expecting, from set design to makeup. Swift is seen in a lavender body of water with flowers floating all around, and a purple light casting an almost extra-terrestrial glow onto the singer. Her glam includes wet hair, winged liner, light eyeshadow, and dark purple lipstick, adding a cyber-goth mood juxtaposing the song's upbeat melody.

Although her lip color seems like a small detail at first, as Swift reinvents herself and finds new avenues to create art, it makes sense as to why she went for a darker vibe in this music video. Since her genesis as a country artist, Swift had a certain girl-next-door appeal to her, singing songs about being whisked off by her crush (literally referring to him as "Romeo" in "Love Story," which debuted in 2008). Nowadays, after reclaiming ownership over her music by re-recording her catalogue, we can only imagine that Taylor feels a sense of empowerment to venture out and try new things. Even if that means throwing away her go-to red lip for just a moment.

"This was the first video I wrote out of the three that have been released, and this one really helped me conceptualize the world and mood of Midnights, like a sultry sleepless '70s fever dream," Swift says about the "Lavender Haze" music video in an Instagram post on January 27.

Now, do we think that Swift will never wear red lipstick again? Absolutely not—but we're elated to see her broadening her horizons and testing out new ways to express herself.

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