Did Taylor Really Plagiarize "Bad Blood"?

For a few months now Taylor Swift has been on fire, and now it seems that fire might be turning to more of a simmer. First came Swift's Twitter feud with Nicki Minaj — what some are calling the "Anaconflict" — and now, multiple outlets are reporting the eerie similarities between T-Swift's "Bad Blood" video and K-pop group 2NE1's "Come Back Home." But is this just more backlash after Swift inserted herself into Minaj's discussion of racial issues in the music industry, or did Swift really copy another video to create "Bad Blood"?

The issue came about as a result of a Jezebel article that claims the following: "Still, when art by powerful people 'borrows' from those in less powerful positions—even if the 'less powerful' are pop stars in their own right—it reinforces those power dynamics, and continues to undermine and devalue the work of women artists of color and/or lesser fame."

But the director of "Bad Blood" who also has Korean roots, Joseph Kahn, denying that the video is copied from a K-pop video. He released a statement saying that K-Pop is not an influence of his and all similarities are coincidental. "The implication your writer is making is explicit: I am a foreigner born overseas and I am trying to reconnect with my birth country and have obvious motive to copy it. I do not listen to Kpop. I am American. And this is an unethical, slandering article."

But is there a reason the "Bad Blood" & K-Pop comparison was made? Let's do a side-by-side analysis, and compare the likeness on a scale of "Mad Love" to "Bad Blood."

The Establishing Shot

Both videos open with cityscapes that establish location.

The Car

Suspiciously at the same precise angle, but the vehicles look different enough to just be a coincidence.

The Glasses

This might be more "bad blood" than "mad love."

The MRI

This is enough of a trope in Sci-Fi that it could not be a deliberate copycat, but things from here only get more similar from here.

The Dynamite

Here we see our heroines yielding sticks of dynamite, which is an ultra-specific motif.

The Girl Gang Walking Away From the Explosion

The colors are different, but the shots are visually pretty similar.

Are these match-ups merely coincidental? Swift's director seems to imply that that's the case. Either way, it's hard to deny that at the very least, these two videos are very, very similar.

Images: YouTube (12)