Just as fans were promised, Taylor Swift dropped the music video for "Out of the Woods" during ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. "Out of the Woods" is the sixth single off of Swift's 1989 album, and as the album's sixth music video, it has a lot to live up to. Swift, who just wrapped up her 1989 world tour, revealed that she would be premiering the "Out of the Woods" video on ABC's New Year's Eve special on Dec. 22, just two days after the singer released her special The 1989 World Tour Live on Apple Music. Fans have been counting down to the release of the "Out of the Woods" music video (or #OOTWMusicVideo) ever since, and it did not disappoint.
Taylor Swift's "Out of the Woods" video began with a black title card that read simply, "She Lost Him," before fading into a shot of Swift, wearing a blue gown, standing alone on a beach. Roots quickly sprung up from the sand around her, and soon Swift was lost in beautiful woods, running from wolves chasing her. At the beginning of the second verse, Swift found herself on a snow-covered mountain. Tellingly, when she sang the lyrics "Your necklace hanging from my neck," Swift pulled the necklace off and tossed it over the cliff before diving into the water below. The necklace, rumored to match that of one-time flame Harry Styles, was the only sign of the man Swift is singing about in the video. Instead, the video ended with Swift walking out of the woods, battered and a bit hardened. She walked onto the beach and saw herself as she had been at the start of the video, and reached out to touch her shoulder. "She Lost Him," a new title card declared, "But She Found Herself And Somehow That Was Everything."
In the days leading up to the release of "Out of the Woods," fans speculated on what Swift would include in her next big video. It is widely believed that "Out of the Woods" is about Swift's short-lived romance with One Direction's Harry Styles, which had some wondering whether the video might contain some kind of nod to the sexy singer. Others wondered whether any members of T-Swift's infamous Squad would make an appearance. Well, it turned out that none of those things happened. Instead, Ryan Seacrest introduced the video and let it play.
Instead of creating a music video about a broken relationship, Swift focused "Out of the Woods" on how she was able to find herself outside of a relationship. She may have gotten lost in the woods, but she managed to drag herself out all on her own. Swift isn't going to define herself by whatever man she's with — and that's a message I can get behind.
