Some music works well when slowed down. Justin Bieber, for instance, becomes surprisingly reverent. Other music does not, as proven by a new video adapted from a Taylor Swift performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Dubbed “Taylor Slow” by uploader Mark Blackwell, the video shows a live performance of Swift’s single “Shake It Off,” from her new album, 1989, slowed to 1/5 speed. The result: A soundtrack for a darker world, where delightful pop melodies are traded for liturgical dread.
The original version’s poppy, irresistible percussion becomes the sound of a thousand chained workers, laboring in unison to build a temple to worship their droning god. A choir breaks in, as though a thousand mouths had opened in Swift’s throat to utter the Dark Harmonies of Dread. Saxophone players writhe, unheard, in the black pit of Jimmy Kimmel’s Outdoor Stage Of Agony. Swift gyrates on the stage, occasionally pointing. Off-screen, her chosen victim is dragged to the Red Altar and sacrificed to the sorrow of the mournful, slow-moving crowd. Finally, the video ends. By clocks of mortal reckoning, 19 minutes have passed. But you know. In your heart, in your soul. You have lost more than 19 minutes of yourself.
As Blackwell states in the video’s description: “No copyright infringement intended. This right here is art.”