Taylor Swift knows her actions will always have big reactions, says Joseph Kahn, who directed the pop star’s buzzed-about music videos for “Blank Space,” “Look What You Made Me Do” and “Bad Blood,” among others.
“I think you’re just always conscious of the repercussions of any action that you do, and quite frankly, anything you say when you have that big of a platform is going to get scrutinized whether right or wrong,” Kahn told Us Weekly exclusively at Variety’s Creative Impact Awards presented by Cadillac on Wednesday, January 3. “It’s the nature of being famous.”
It seems the duo will continue to push boundaries as they collaborate on new projects. “I think we’ve done some very interesting work,” he said. “And we’ve got some things in the works that are interesting too.”
The director teased: “I think you should always expect something different.”
While Swift received mixed commentary from fans after releasing her “Look What You Made Me Do” video – which was filled with what fans deemed hidden messages about the past scandals in her life – Kahn notes that the critics are not unique to the singer and the backlash represents a larger issue. “I was actually thinking about this, I kinda realized that what people don’t really know is that a good chunk of the outrage is actually coming from young people. You don’t realize it, some are actually in high school and junior high. If you remember what it was like to be in high school or junior high, there’s a very big need to conform. That social pressure of being in high school when you’re young is very real, it hasn’t changed. It’s transferred into social media.”
As the two continue to work together, Swift is prepping for her Reputation stadium tour for her album of the same name. The concerts will run from May through October 2018 in North America, and additional dates will be announced at a later date for shows in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
