Mad love for Bad Blood! Taylor Swift unveiled the brand-new, star-stuffed music video for her latest single “Bad Blood” during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 17. As teased in the past few weeks, the pop superstar’s many famous friends had starring roles in the Joseph Kahn-directed video, including appearances from Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, Gigi Hadid, Zendaya, Karlie Kloss, and more.
The clip, mimicking the feel of a Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino flick, opened with Swift in a body-baring latex outfit under her character “Catastrophe,” while Kendrick Lamar (as “Welvin Da Great”) rapped in the background of the remixed tune. Gomez also joined Swift in the frame of a high-rise building under the guise of her character Arsyn.
Together, the two old friends fought a bunch of bad guys in the office space, until Gomez — wearing a wig and dark outfit — fought and kicked Swift through a glass window and down many stories. Eventually, the pop singer landed on top of a vehicle surrounded by broken glass.
Along with a plethora of guns, action, fire, and celebrities galore, Swift also showed off her athletic prowess in a boxing ring with her real life best friend Karlie Kloss. In another scene, Swift took her motorcycle for a ride through a futuristic garage, where she ran into Sin City dame Jessica Alba, who chose the moniker of “Domino” for the music video.
Throughout “Bad Blood,” Swift’s mega crew of beautiful pals fought presumably bad guys, though occasionally facing off against each other.
At one point in the sci-fi style video, world-famous supermodel Cindy Crawford made an appearance as “The Headmistress,” along wtih quick flashes to Grey’s Anatomy superstar Ellen Pompeo and Mariska Hargitay. Later, one line of girls helmed by Gomez, and another fronted by Swift, faced off against each other outdoors.
Following the debut of her video, Swift and a number of the featured stars took to the stage at the BBMAs, where she made a quick note of thanks before introducing Van Halen. “Welcome to the Billboard Music Awards 2015,” Swift told the packed arena. “I’m so excited I got to show the world my whole new music video for ‘Bad Blood.'”
For her latest music video, the 1989 singer recruited 18 of her celebrity pals to star in the work including Selena Gomez, Cindy Crawford, Gigi Hadid, Zendaya, Jessica Alba, Cara Delevingne, Mariska Hargitay, Lily Aldridge, Ellen Pompeo, Hayley Williams, Ellie Goulding, Karlie Kloss, Hailee Steinfeld, Serayah, Lena Dunham, Ellie Goulding, Martha Hunt, and Kendrick Lamar.
Supermodel Gigi Hadid, who played Slay-Z in the video, spoke to Us Weekly last week about what it was like to work alongside so many stars on the set.
Who’s ready to be SLAYED by Catastrophe aka Samurai Swift aka Slaylor! #BadBloodMusicVideo #BBMAs on @ABCNetwork 8/7c pic.twitter.com/s299DxODgA
— Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) May 17, 2015
“[It was] just like the craziest thing you’ve ever seen,” Yolanda Foster’s daughter told Us. “It’s just amazing how Taylor has the self confidence and the confidence in her friends, her generation and this generation of women that she loves to empower other people and I feel like that’s really what this is about. The song ‘Bad Blood’ is just kind of about just not creating bad blood with people around you and it’s cooler to be nice than to be mean.”
Swift explained the origins of the song last year in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying the lyrics were inspired by a fellow unnamed female pop artist, whom Us Weekly later confirmed to be Katy Perry.
“For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not,” Swift told the mag. “She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life? [Then last year] she did something so horrible. I was like, ‘Oh, we’re just straight-up enemies.'”
