A week after announcing the upcoming Netflix documentary based around her music career, Taylor Swift has shared the first official look at Miss Americana in the form of a trailer.
The two-minute teaser dropped on Wednesday and gave fans a glimpse of what to expect from the “revealing” Lana Wilson-directed film.
In an official statement, Netflix wrote that Miss Americana sees Swift, 30, throughout the last decade as she “embraced her role as a songwriter and performer — and as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice.”
The trailer opens with some sarcastic remarks from the musician reassuring herself that no one “hates” her before she reflects on her experience growing up in the music industry and how she always struggled and felt “muzzled” by the media before finally taking a stand.
She says: “Throughout my whole career, label executives would say, ‘A nice girl doesn’t force their opinions on people. A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you.’ I became the person everyone wanted me to be.”
Anonymous broadcasters can then be heard bickering about Swift, making offensive remarks about her. “I think that Taylor Swift is annoying,” says one. “She’s too skinny,” says another.
As a result of the intense level of attention and criticism she received from the media in her adolescence, Swift admitted that she hid away for an entire year because she believed that was what the world wanted.
“Nobody physically saw me for a year,” she said, “and that was what I thought they wanted. I had to deconstruct an entire belief system, toss it out and reject it.”
“It woke me up from constantly feeling like I was fighting for people’s respect,” continued the 10-time Grammy Awards winner. “It was happiness without anyone else’s input,” she concluded.
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Swift’s openly heartfelt and honest recollections are accompanied by the Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince track, which came from her latest album, Lover (2019).
The Blank Space singer first acknowledged her vices with the industry on Dec. 12 — the evening before her 30th birthday — as she was honoured with the “Woman of the Decade” award at Billboard‘s annual Women in Music ceremony.
Before acknowledging the success and commitment of some of her fellow female artists, she gave a stirring speech, where she recounted many of the widespread criticisms she received over the last decade, starting with her third studio album, Speak Now (2010).
Swift admitted that when people began questioning her singing voice and whether or not she was writing her own music, she made the decision to create Speak Now entirely by herself.
She claimed that the critiques forced her to be more “accommodating” when writing new music.
“They’re saying I’m dating too much in my 20s?” she asked. “OK, I’ll stop. … I’ll just be single for years.”
“Now they’re saying my album Red is filled with too many breakup songs,” she continued. “OK, I’ll make one about moving to New York and deciding my life is just more fun with my friends.”
Swift then listed off a variety of generic complaints she was pelted with during each era of her career — many of which will be covered in Miss Americana.
“At that time, I couldn’t understand why this wave of harsh criticism had hit me so hard,” she said. “Now I realize that this is just what happens to a woman in music if she achieves success beyond people’s comfort level.”
Throughout the in-depth trailer, fans are also treated to a rapid-cut montage of clips which display moments spanning Swift’s rollercoaster career, including appearances on television, live concert performances, humourous anecdotes from the studio and previously unreleased clips of her spending time with her family.
The film trailer can be seen in its entirety in the video above.
Miss Americana will be available to stream through Netflix on Friday, Jan. 31.
Ahead of that, it will premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, on Thursday, Jan. 23.
Additionally, Miss Americana will be screened at select cinemas across the globe that same day.
For additional updates and information, you can visit Taylor Swift’s official website.
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