14 DAY TRIAL // Taylor Swift is really serious about shaking off all her haters, just like she says on her latest single, “Shake It Off,” because she put aside all controversy about the music video being racist by cultural appropriation and performed the song live at the MTV Video Music Awards, the 2014 edition.
The VMAs 2014 took place last night at The Forum in California, with Taylor being one of the live performers to entertain the celebrity guests in attendance, but also the fans tuning in at home.
Because there’s no better promotion for a new material than a premiere (Taylor is coming out with an ‘80s-inspired pop album later this year), she chose the VMAs for the live premiere of “Shake It Off.”
However, she made sure to steer away from all controversy by removing the twerking scenes shown in the video, giving the live routine a certain vintage vibe, what with the male dancers wearing tuxedos and her wearing a custom-made costume by Lorena Sarbu, with a cropped top and high-waisted shorts, adorned with hand-beaded Swarovski crystals and fringe.
Taylor even managed to include a funny bit in the middle of the routine, when she refused to jump from the high platform into the dancers’ arms, saying the VMAs were getting too dangerous for her taste. The snakes biting people she’s referring to is a jab at an incident that occurred during rehearsals, when the anaconda Nicki Minaj wanted to feature in her own live performance bit a backup dancer and was consequently removed altogether from the show.
Check out the performance in full. The audio is a bit off, so my apologies for that.