Out of the Woods’ 10th Anniversary
By Amy Diana Ramirez
Boulder, Colorado (The Hollywood Times) 10/13/24 – With tremendous talent, generosity, style, and beauty, billionaire entertainer Taylor Swift remains exceptionally relevant. Most recently, she made headlines by donating five million dollars towards disaster relief post Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
So, here’s the subliminal news that you will not see splashed all over the net:
Sunday, October 13th is the 10th anniversary of the release of the Swift song Out of the Woods (from her 1989 album). It was on Good Morning America that she shared a teaser. It’s been said that Swift considers her lucky number to be thirteen – and she was born on December 13th, 1989, so it’s worth noting that she falls thirteen times in the official video that followed.
The official music video was directed by producer/musician Jack Antonoff. Antonoff also had a hand in the writing of the lyrics and his voice can be heard as tribalesque background vocals.
Rolling Stone magazine stated that Antonoff and Swift bonded over 80’s films before they started collaborating on the 1989 album. Out of the Woods was the first song that Taylor wrote to an existing track (created by Antonoff), and she did so in thirty minutes flat.
Both the song and video are brilliant masterpieces, featuring the other-worldly sound of something like chimes. [Her song Is It Over Now also has a supernatural sound element.] Several versions of Out of the Woods were produced, including renditions on piano.
Its lyric video is set to “Taylor’s Version“- a slightly different instrumental arrangement with altered synth surrounding vocals. No matter the version, the chorus is powerful.
[Insert Magic Photo of Swift; Caption: The magic of the song surrounds Swift.
Chorus:
“Are we out of the Woods? Are we in the clear yet; Good” triggers the listener’s imagination.
In 2023, the song was featured in the Trailer of the animated film MIGRATION, with the tagline “Out of the Woods and Not in the Clear Yet.”
Being that most of Swift’s songs are diaristic in nature, it’s no surprise that Out of the Woods happens to be about a convoluted romantic involvement that she had with English vocalist – not to mention, showman – Harry Styles. Hailing from One Direction fame (and later stardom from the viral song Watermelon Sugar High), Styles could also be identified by his distinctive torso tattoos.
In the video, Swift navigates her way through an enchanted yet ominous wood and finds herself chased by wolves. The feeling of anxiety was intentionally conveyed because it was the overriding emotion of the romantic relationship.
Swift explained “This song is about the fragility and kind of breakable nature of some relationships. This was a relationship where it was kind of living day-to-day, wondering where it was going, if it was going to go anywhere, if it was going to end the next day. It was a relationship where you never feel like you’re standing on solid ground.” -Taylor Swift 10/13/04. She went on to say, “Even if a relationship is breakable and fragile and full of anxiety, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t worthwhile, exciting, beautiful and all the things we look for.” – Swift, 10/13/04
When Swift and Styles dated (circa 2012) he was a mere twenty-year-old; she was twenty-three, which may have added to their stress, as a couple. It may not seem like that large of an age-gap, but he wasn’t even old enough to drink alcohol, at least not in the US. Their relationship was amusedly dubbed “Haylor”; his fans call themselves “Harries,” and hers, of course, “Swifties.”
Swift and Styles are revered fashion icons as well as iconic vocalists. Hence, Swift’s attire in the Out of the Woods music video – three frocks in total – received much attention. Dupes were sought and bought to satisfy those who wished to approximate these looks of hers.
The first dress – a medium blue asymmetrically-skirted gown is worn at the outset, when, at first, things seemed copacetic…but then being chased by wolves. Swift falls, supine into snowy surroundings and then meanders around a frozen forest. Her look there is reminiscent of the Elsa character in the 2013 animated film FROZEN.
The same dress is featured in the underwater clips, as well as her soaking wet on the beach.
Being a brave, authentic artist, she did not use any body doubles or a stunt woman as she faced harsh environments with bare feet and a sleeveless blue dress. Swift seems to love a blue dress. In another song, a “blue dress on a boat” is referenced. In Is It Over Now, one can catch a flash of her wearing a blue dress in a montage of its official music video.
One might notice that Swift was especially svelte during the Out of the Woods filming. Since the scenes for the video were shot in chilly New Zealand. Swift froze and felt famished; she essentially “suffered for her art”. One can see her bundled up in a blanket between beach shots in the Making of the official music video.
Swift wears a tight, tubular, turquoise mini dress when she crawls through a mucky swamp.
She wears a baby blue silk slip dress whilst entwined in sinister vines that, in the beginning of the video, spell out the words: OUT OF THE WOODS.
Towards the end, the roots entangle her, but she is then released and enters into a new version of herself – the leader of the wolves rather than victim to them.
The itty-bitty blue satin or silk slip dress/chemise featured towards the finish of the video reflects her having shed her former self.
[Swift executes a more obvious “shedding” of a blue dress in the amusing official video for Delicate.] Symbolically, she became a new version of herself. having shed the relationship with Styles, and properly processing the emotional aftermath by writing songs about the experience. Besides Out of the Woods, perhaps the most overt track to come out of the relationship was the song titled Style.
Word on the street is that Swift and Styles are on excellent terms with each other and supportive of each other’s careers.
Since splitting romantically with Styles, Swift moved on to dating other remarkable men including sound engineer Calvin Harris. At present, Swift is dating the legendary NFL tight end Travis Kelce. The two are very close in age; he is just sixty-nine days her senior. Unfortunately, last month, some tension was witnessed between the two phenoms, so they may not be “in the clear yet”. Whatever the situation, with an unrelenting, prolific streak and great karma, Swift is sure to grow from the attachment and/or fallout with Kelce… and create another epic song – rather – a new slew shall ensue.
All photos taken from YouTube, Instagram accounts of celebrities mentioned, and photography for Free People
