Blank Space


"Blank Space" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her fifth studio album 1989. It was written by Swift, Max Martin and Shellback. The song was released to the radio by Republic Records on November 10, 2014 as the album's second single, after "Shake It Off" and is the second track on the album. It is an electropop song with lyrics that satirize the media's perception of Swift and her relationships.
Within three weeks, "Blank Space" reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 following "Shake It Off". Swift became the first woman in the Hot 100's 56-year history to succeed herself at the top spot. It has received universal acclaim from critics. It has also been included in numerous year-end critics' lists. The song has also topped charts in Canada, South Africa, Australia and Scotland. It also charted in the top 10 in numerous countries, such as Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the best-selling singles of all time.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and was shot over three days at Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York. The song received its first televised performance at the 2014 American Music Awards and as part of "Taylor Swift's 1989 Secret Session with iHeartRadio" on October 27 that year, in New York City. The song received nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. As of July 2018, "Blank Space" is certified 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for moving over eight million units in the country.

Background and composition

"Blank Space" is an electropop song that many critics compared to the works of fellow artist Lorde. It makes fun of Swift's recent exposure in the media about her dating life, portraying herself as "an overly attached man-eater who dates for songwriting material". Swift told Billboard she had compiled a list of responses to criticisms and jokes made about her, then subsequently added them to the song in the songwriting process. The song was written by Swift along with Martin and Shellback, and produced by the latter two. "Blank Space" is composed in the key of F major and set in a 4/4 time signature at a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. Swift's vocals range from A3 to D5.
Some listeners, including Swift's mother, misheard the lyrics of "Blank Space", incorrectly hearing "got a long list of ex-lovers" as "all the lonely Starbucks lovers," a high-profile example of a mondegreen. On Valentine's Day 2015, Swift jokingly tweeted about the misheard lyrics and Starbucks responded, saying "Wait, it's not?".

Critical reception

"Blank Space" received universal acclaim from critics. PopMatters called the song to be "likely the best of Swift's career and easily a candidate for the best pop song of 2014" and that it "captures the essence of 1989 in all its glimmering, solipsistic glory". The New York Times noted the song as a clever metanarrative, commenting that "This is Ms. Swift at her peak. It's funny and knowing, and serves to assert both her power and her primness." In a positive review, Robert Leedham of Drowned in Sound recognized it as "It's the work of someone who finds success in misadventure, instead of wallowing in it." Los Angeles Times called it:
A thrillingly vicious riff on Swift's reputation as a man-eater, a topic she also addresses in the album's jumpy lead single, "Shake It Off". "Got a long list of ex-lovers / They'll tell you I'm insane", she sings, her voice surging with newfound power, "But I've got a blank space, baby / And I'll write your name."
In 2020, Jill Gutowitz, writing for Glamour, named "Blank Space" the second best song of Swift's career.

Year and decade end lists

The song was included in several critics' year-end and decade-end lists. Rolling Stone named it the sixth best song of 2014, and the seventy-third best song of the decade. Time named it as the ninth best song in their year-end list. The Village Voices annual year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll ranked it as the third best song of 2014. In 2019, Stereogum and Uproxx named it the forty-ninth and seventy-second best song of the 2010s, respectively. Billboard named it one of the 100 "Songs That Defined the Decade". Slant listed "Blank Space" at number 15 on its list of 100 singles that defined the 2010s decade.

Chart performance

The song topped the Hot Digital Songs charts with sales of 155,000 copies in its first week, making it the second song from 1989 to reach number 1 on the Hot Digital Songs, becoming Swift's ninth number one on that chart. Swift stood at rank three as the artist with the most number-one Digital Songs tying her with Eminem and surpassed Rihanna for the most number-one debuts. The song debuted at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. In its second week, the song sold 164,000 copies and moved up to number 13 on the Hot 100 being the Airplay Gainer. In its third week, the song sold 328,000 digital copies, spurred by the release of its accompanying music video, and jumped to number one, becoming her third number one single and making Swift the first female artist to replace herself at number one and tenth overall among all artists.
The song remained at number one on the chart for seven consecutive weeks making it Swift's longest reign at number 1 besting her previous records of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "Shake It Off" which peaked atop for three and four weeks respectively. It also helped set a record for the longest period that the number 1 spot on the Hot 100 had been held only by female musicians. On the chart issue dated January 17, 2015, it was pushed to the runner up spot as Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk!" topped the Hot 100. It reached its one-millionth sales mark in its fifth week. As of July 2019, "Blank Space" has sold 4.6 million copies in the United States. The song stayed in the top ten for 17 weeks including the song's seven week reign at the chart's top spot, making it Swift's second longest time lingering in the top ten, bested only by "Shake It Off", which spent 24 weeks in the chart's top ten. It ranked at number 7 on the 2015 Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart.
In New Zealand, it debuted at number 26. In its third week, the song jumped from number 33 to number four, becoming Swift's sixth top-five hit in New Zealand. In Australia, it debuted at number twenty-nine before reaching number one on November 22.
In the United Kingdom, "Blank Space" debuted at number 99 on November 8, 2014, after the release of 1989. After the song was released as the second single from 1989, the song re-entered the chart at number 11, progressing into the top ten the following week, becoming Swift's seventh top ten hit in the UK. Ultimately, "Blank Space" peaked at number four, and charted in the top ten for 10 weeks. The song has sold over 650,000 copies in the country, as of November 2015.
According to the IFPI, the song was the eighth best-selling song of 2015 and sold 11.68 million units worldwide as of 2018.

Music video

The accompanying music video premiered on November 10, 2014, and was directed by Joseph Kahn, who said that Swift approached him with the idea for the treatment, saying she was all too aware of the jokes made about all of her ex-boyfriends and how she likes to include them in her songwriting. She told him that she wanted to address the general thought of her in the clip in a fun way by playing a crazy villain. The video was shot over three days in September at two different Long Island locations; 12 hours in day one, 18 hours in day two and 10 hours for filming the American Express Unstaged app. Most of the scenes depicting Swift were filmed at Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York, while some of the interior scenes were shot at the Woolworth Mansion. After two days of filming with Swift, a second-unit crew assistant-directed by Henry Thong kept going, taking much of the photography that would later be used to construct the world within the American Express Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience app. The video was partly inspired by A Clockwork Orange. Kahn explained, "There's a lot of symmetrical framing that's Kubrickian, which is a really funny way to approach a pop video. But it's there if you look at the way there's center-framing and symmetry throughout the whole thing," Swift's love interest in the video is portrayed by model Sean O'Pry and a second love interest is portrayed by model Andrea Denver.
The video accidentally leaked on Yahoo! on November 10, 2014. Kahn tweeted about the accidental early release, "I'll link video later when I think it's clear. I think it may be a mistake on Yahoo's part - they may have released it early by accident." He later added, "Yup. Yahoo effed up. Wait to see the Blank Space video. Let Taylor introduce it herself. It'll be worth it :)"
American Express Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience is a 360° music video app for "Blank Space" that complements the classic-style linear music video. The 360° video features a similar storyline to the classic-style video, uses the same set, and stars the same Swift and O'Pry. The user can follow Swift and her love interest throughout many rooms of the mansion, although the user may leave the couple and go to other rooms to find interactive easter eggs and watch the butlers doing their work. Kahn, the video's director, compared it to a "stage play" and dubbed it a "choose-your-own-adventure" video. The video was filmed using special 360° cameras and can be viewed by downloading the app to a smartphone or tablet. When in the app, the user physically moves their phone to move their point of view. The app won the Emmy for Outstanding Interactive Program at the 2015 ceremony.
As of June 2020, the video is one of 52 videos with over 2 billion views on YouTube. With over 2.6 billion views, it is the 26th most viewed YouTube video of all time and has the fifth most views for a female artist after Swift's "Shake It Off", Katy Perry's "Roar" and "Dark Horse", and Adele's "Hello". Swift was the first artist in history to have two videos exceeding two billion views. It has over 10 million likes on YouTube. On July 3, 2015, it became the fourth and, at that time, the fastest music video to reach 1 billion views on Vevo. On October 20, 2015, it became the most watched music video on Vevo. In July 2015, "Blank Space" was nominated for two VMAs at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Best Pop Video and Best Female Video; the video won both its nominations during the ceremony on August 30, 2015. The music video was named the fortieth-most iconic pop music video of the decade by PopSugar.

Other versions

Following the song's debut at the 2014 American Music Awards, host Pitbull uploaded a remix to SoundCloud on December 15, 2014, but it has since been removed.

Accolades

Track listing

  1. "Blank Space" – 3:51
  2. "Blank Space" – 3:58

    Live performances

Swift performed the song on television for the first time at the 2014 American Music Awards. She first performed it live as part of Taylor Swift's 1989 Secret Session with iHeartRadio on October 27, 2014 in New York City, streamed on iHeartRadio and Yahoo!. Swift performed the song in The Voice and the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. She also performed the song live in London, U.K. at Capital FM's Jingle Bell Ball 2014 along with some of her other songs. The song was part of the set list of the 1989 World Tour, as well as the Reputation Stadium Tour. On September 9, 2019, Swift performed the song at the City of Lover one-off concert in Paris, France. On October 19, she performed the song at the We Can Survive charity concert in Los Angeles.
During the 47th Annual American Music Awards, held on November 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, Swift performed a medley of her hits, including "Blank Space". On December 8, Swift performed the song at Capital FM's Jingle Bell Ball 2019 in London. On December 13, she performed the song at iHeartRadio Z100's Jingle Ball in New York City.

Cover versions

' cover version of the song was featured on his Taylor Swift tribute album, 1989. Father John Misty released a cover version of the song in the style of the rock band The Velvet Underground in 2015. The cover is a reinterpretation of Adams' version and is built on the melody of the song "I'm Waiting for the Man". Imagine Dragons released a slowed down version of the song in 2015 as a Spotify Exclusive.
I Prevail released a post-hardcore cover and has received over 60 million views on YouTube since. In the end of the video, former drummer Lee Runestad, who is married, jokingly attempts to give out his phone number as a message to Swift. The I Prevail cover of "Blank Space" was certified as a Gold record by the RIAA on August 26, 2016, certifying sales of over 500,000 copies. The single reached the No. 9 position of Billboards Hot Rock Songs chart and reached No. 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from album liner notes.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australia 55
Austria 58
Belgium 73
Belgium 84
Canada 6
Germany 80
Hungary 58
Netherlands 83
Poland 33
Slovenia 15
Switzerland 67
UK Singles 67
US Billboard Hot 1007
US Adult Contemporary 5
US Adult Top 40 9
US Dance/Mix Show Songs 21
US Mainstream Top 40 6

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history