Taylor Swift reveals how she transformed into ‘The Man’ for new music video with behind-the-scenes photos

Singer worked with movement coaches to learn how to 'act like a toxic bro'

Sarah Jones
Friday 28 February 2020 11:12 GMT
Comments
Taylor Swift teases new music video 'The Man'

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Taylor Swift has revealed the secrets behind the physical transformation she underwent for her latest music video.

On Thursday, the singer unveiled the video for her new song “The Man”, in which she makes a feminist statement about misogyny and male privilege.

The star of the narrative is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a man. But instead of tapping the latest Hollywood actor for the role, Swift decided to play the part herself, donning full drag throughout the entire video.

As the credits roll at the end of the clip, viewers are given a glimpse into Swift’s transformation with a hyper-lapse of the singer at different stages of the process.

On Instagram, the 31-year-old credited the team responsible for the makeover and said that, out of all the dramatic transformations her videos have involved, this one was the “crowning achievement”.

“Alongside every great (the) man is a team of hardworking creatives who made this thing happen,” Swift wrote alongside a photo of her in character with her team.

“Bill Corso and his incredible team and I have worked together before, turning me into a zombie.. but convincing a significant amount of people I was a dude is our crowning achievement.”

The singer went on to explain that she spent “between four to six hours” in hair and makeup every day, before thanking everyone for their hard work.

In a second post, Swift shared a series of photos of herself sitting in the directors chair and working alongside other people including an editor and visual effects experts.

The star also revealed that she worked closely with movement coaches, Stephen Galloway and Spenser Theberge, for the video who had to teach her “how to smoke, slouch, walk and act like a toxic bro”.

“I can’t believe I get to work with these legends. Having a little moment over here,” she added.

Bill Corso, the makeup artist responsible for Swift’s transformation, also shared a post about the makeover.

Alongside a series of images charting the prosthetics process, Corso revealed that Swift’s masculine look took more than six people to create and required everything from a muscle suit and eyebrow wigs to facial sculptures.

“#taylorswift is the MAN,” Corso wrote. “With a little help from me and some very talented friends.

“I must say, Ms Swift was the very best. Brilliant model, Director and of course performer.”

Swift also included a number of surprising cameos in the video, including two of TikTok’s most famous influencers.

Among the handful of recognisable faces to appear in “The Man” was the most followed person on TikTok, Loren Gray (39.7 million followers), as well as Dominic Toliver (8.8 million followers) and Jayden Bartels (7.9 million followers).

Toliver and Bartels appear together in a scene in which Swift is applauded for parenting, while Gray stars as a ball girl at a tennis match and gives an eye roll when Swift argues with the umpire.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in