Taylor Swift is proving a point. On Thursday, the 30-year-old singer dropped the video for the fan-favorite track off of her latest album, Lover.
In the video, which was directed by Swift, the singer brings her powerful lyrics to life by dressing up as a businessman and displaying the kind of toxic behavior the lyrics describe. Fans previously guessed this twist thanks to a teaser for the video.
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Swift's man, who was voiced by Dwyane Johnson, yells at his employees, manspreads and smokes on the subway, parties on a yacht with models, leaves a one night stand in a hotel room, uses a kid to pick up women and discusses women with his equally problematic pals.
One Easter egg point to Swift's feud with Scooter Braun, as there's an ad on the subway for scotch, similar to a photo Braun took with Swift's former record label head Scott Borchetta.
Toward the end of the video, Swift's man has an on-court freak out during a tennis match, one that is reminiscent of Serena Williams' controversial reaction to a ref's calls at the US Open.
When Swift yells cut on the video, she gives her man the note, "Could you try to be sexier? Maybe more likable this time?" Before telling a female extra, "By the way, excellent work over there, Lauren. That was astonishing."
One major theory surrounding the video turned out to be somewhat correct, as many Swifites guessed that the track would reference Kanye West, who she's been feuding with on and off since 2009. The speculation about West began after Swift shared a poster for the video, which featured a hallway full of white arches that looked similar to West's home. While that hallway is featured in video, it appears to be Swift's only reference to West.
That same poster also featured 19 colorful hands in between the arches, which led many to point out that Swift was 19 years old when West interrupted her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech.
Some fans thought the the 19 hands imagery meant that there would be 19 cameos in the video. This theory was expanded upon by many Swifties, who pointed out that Swift mentioned 18 new artists -- including Lizzo, Camila Cabello and Halsey -- in her Woman of the Decade acceptance speech at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. This could mean that those artists would be the ones to appear in the video alongside Swift, which would make 19 women total.
As for the significance of the release date, Feb. 27, fans pointed out that on Feb. 27, 1922, voting rights for women were upheld by the Supreme Court. That historic moment could also be honored by the 19 hands clue, as it's the 19th amendment to the constitution.
The full music video for "The Man" was the third one that Swift has released in support of the song. She first dropped a lyric video, before putting out a video of herself performing the track live in Paris.
The music video also comes out after the release of her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana. Here's a look at the biggest bombshells from the doc.
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