On Monday, Nov. 15, the superstar dropped another video from Red (Taylor’s Version), this time for “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault).” The song with the very long name features country icon Chris Stapleton, while close pal Blake Lively co-wrote and directed the track’s new visual. The song itself is a kiss-off to a pretentious ex born with a silver spoon in his mouth, with Swift narrating as a young woman from humble beginnings on a farm. (Of course, Swift herself grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, but with significantly wealthier roots than the tune implies: Her father was a Merrill Lynch financial adviser who descended from three generations of bank presidents, while her mom also worked in finance.) In the song, she mocks her ex’s “organic shoes” and “million-dollar couch,” as well as his books, indie music taste, and other snobberies. As expected, the visuals didn’t disappoint. Here are the “I Bet You Think About Me” video Easter eggs.
What happens in Taylor Swift’s “I Bet You Think About Me” video?
Miles Telleropens up the video wearing a tuxedo while positioned in front of a stained-glass window, reading a card that says, “I will never forget the first time that I met you. I thought, ‘Wowza! That is the most beautiful girl in the world.’ You had the sweetest eyes, the softest smile.” He appears to be rehearsing for a wedding speech, and when he glances up into the mirror, he sees Swift dressed in red and acts startled. At the cocktail hour of the wedding, everyone is wearing white except Teller, still rocking a tux. He grabs a martini from a tray—and the waitress is Swift, rocking head-to-toe scarlet once more. She pours drops of red food coloring into a bowl of water and swaps out white flowers for bright red blooms as she makes her way through the cocktail hour, tossing a stick of cherries into a man’s drink and snacking on one smugly. Later, she’s seen in another red gown knocking down the groom figurine off of a wedding cake, then exchanging glances with a little girl as they sample the icing. Swift then takes a giant chunk of the white icing off and bites into bright red velvet cake, flinging the leftovers behind her onto a wall. In the next scene, Teller sits at a table with his pretty brunette bride in front of a room of guests as a violinist plays, and he tells a story that has the room chuckling. He looks up to see Swift in a bright red suit with a matching microphone giving a speech. Swift then gifts a big red box with a bow to the bride, and in it is—surprise!—a bright red scarf. Swift then sloppily chugs a glass of white wine and guests appear appalled as she falls over. The next scene sees her sitting at a kid’s table with red and white straws in her mouth, sharing juice boxes and making the flower girls laugh. She wears a dress and headband similar to theirs, except they’re clad in white and she’s wearing (you guessed it) red. She does magic tricks for the little ones, pulling a pink stuffed bunny from a hat, then hitting an old woman over the head with it. She then teaches the little girls the motion to “wind up” their middle fingers, much to Teller’s horror. As he approaches just as she flips him the full bird, a photographer gets in his face and snaps a flash photo. The music pauses briefly and he pictures her wearing white as his bride. Surrounded by guests, he steps up to her, takes her hand, and they begin to dance as her song kicks up again. He dips her and flashes of red flowers come up on her gown as she gets up and walks away from him into the light. She turns and her dress is completely crimson and she plays a red guitar with a full band, also clad in head-to-toe red. The wedding dress of the bride figure on the cake turns red, as well as the guests’ outfits, the lighting in the room, and basically everything else he sees.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Eggs
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #1
Miles Tellerplays the groom in “I Bet You Think About Me,” and Keleigh Teller, his real-life wife, plays his bride in the video.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #2
Aaron Dessner, who collaborated with Swift on albums folkloreand evermore, appears in her band, as do some of her other her real-life band members, including Max Bernstein.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #3
Other artists sharing the stage with Swift include Matt Pynn (who’s also played on tracks by Ringo Starr and Miley Cyrus, to name a few) and Karina DePiano, who’s performed with Cyrus, Fifth Harmony, Rita Ora, Troye Sivan, and more. Stapleton doesn’t appear in the video, though his vocals appear on the song.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #4
In addition to co-writing and directing the music video for “I Bet You Think About Me,” Lively is also credited as a producer on the video, along with Jil Hardin, Kathy Palmer, and Swift’s brother, Austin Swift. In the credits, Swift wrote, “A huge thank you to every single person who worked to make this video what it is. Every member of the crew in pre-, post- and physical production. Every actor. Our COVID safety team. The musicians, writers, producers, and technicians who are behind this song. And all of our families who supported us as we dream impossible things. We thank you.”
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #5
The hat Swift uses to entertain the flower girls was the same one she wore on her original Red tour.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #6
The birds at the bottom of the wedding cake may be a nod to Swift’s shirt on her 1989 album cover.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #7
The numbers on the wedding cake are 13 and 26. We all know Swift’s lucky number is 13—26 may refer to the track number of “I Bet You Think About Me” on Red (Taylor’s Version).
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #8
Some Swifties thought the flower girl scene was a throwback reminiscent of Swift’s sitdown with viral stars Sophia Grace and Rosie on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #9
Swift rocks her Red (Taylor’s Version) cover art ring on her middle finger.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #10
Was the pink bunny a 1989 reference? Some Swifties believe so.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #11
You guessed it—a red scarf, an allusion to “All Too Well,” was there too.
Taylor Swift “I Bet You Think About Me” Video Easter Egg #12
Her dress in the cake smashing scene was one we’ve seen before as well.
What is the meaning behind Taylor Swift’s “I Bet You Think About Me”?
Swift told Country 102.5 (via Us Weekly) that “I Bet You Think About Me,” from the time it was co-written with Lori McKenna in 2011, was designed to be cheeky and silly, which inspired the humorous video. “We wanted this song to be, like, a comedic, tongue-in-cheek, funny, not caring what anyone thinks about you, sort of breakup song. Because there are a lot of different types of breakup songs on Red—some of them are very sincere, some of them are very stoic and heartbreaking and sad,” she said. We wanted this to be, like, the moment where you’re like, ‘I don’t care about anything!’ We wanted to kind of make people laugh with it and we wanted it to be, sort of, a drinking song, I think that’s what it ends up being."
Are Taylor Swift and Blake Lively friends?
Are they ever! Lively and Swift go way back, and Swift was absolutely delighted with Lively’s efforts. She tweeted a snippet, writing, “Directed by @blakelively who SMASHED it just like I smashed this cake.” The blonde bombshells have been pals publicly since at least 2015, when Lively and Swift hung out in Australia. The following year, Lively and husband Ryan Reynoldsattended Swift’s infamous Fourth of July party. In 2017, Reynolds and Lively reportedly joined Swift on a romantic getaway with her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. Later that year, their daughter James’ voice debuted on the intro to Swift’s track “Gorgeous” from Reputation. Reynolds told Good Morning America of the tune, “A little intro there, yeah! That was a voice memo that ended up on a [Taylor Swift] song. It’s pretty amazing. My daughter has a really, really terrible ego problem now after that song.” The golden couple attended Swift’s hybrid holiday-birthday party in December 2019. In 2020, Swift released “Betty” off of folklore, using Lively and Reynolds’ daughters’ names as characters in the song: Betty, James, and Inez. “I named all the characters in this story after my friend’s kids,” she said. “And I hope you like it!” When Swift won the 2021 Album of the Year Grammy, she gave Reynolds and Lively a shoutout. Lively and Reynolds were also on hand for Swift’s performance of “All Too Well (10-Minute Version)” on Saturday Night Live. You can spot Reynolds taking this adorable photo of Swift with Sadie Sink, who starred in her “All Too Well” short film, and SNL star Bowen Yang. Next, find out Taylor Swift’s massive net worth (and exactly how she earned it).
