Late last year, in Taylor Swift’s very public feud with record executive Scooter Braun, she revealed that Braun was trying to block the use of her old songs for a forthcoming Netflix documentary. Now that Netflix documentary, entitled “Miss Americana,” has a trailer ahead of its splashy Sundance Film Festival premiere (and subsequent rollout on the streaming platform on January 31st). And it looks real.
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“Miss Americana,” which takes its title from a track off of Swift’s 2019 album “Lover,” and covers Swift’s shift from country-pop princess to outspoken, politically-minded provocateur, has some seriously heavy filmmaking weight behind it. The film is directed by Lana Wilson, the insanely talented documentarian behind “After Tiller” and “The Departure” and is produced by Academy Award-winners Morgan Neville and Caitrin Rogers (“20 Feet from Stardom”). While there are some cute moments in the trailer (like Swift turning on some blinking lights on her “party shoes”), it’s clear that the documentary has much more on its mind.
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This marks Swift’s second high-profile collaboration with the streaming giant after 2018’s concert film “Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour,” and will feature a brand-new song “Only the Young.” The documentary will show the process of writing the song, which began after Swift saw two of the candidates she had endorsed for the 2018 midterm elections lose. Swift is a fascinating, polarizing pop culture figure and this documentary, created by filmmakers sharply attuned to the nuance of biographical storytelling and the power of live performance, looks like it will show the singer/songwriter as a fully dimensional human being. She even says “fuck” in the trailer.