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Taylor Swift roasted online after dropping new song, gritty image rebrand

A song that takes the Berks County native's music in a somewhat darker direction, the track features Swift telling listeners that the "old Taylor can't come to the phone right now … cause she's dead."

Cover art for Taylor Swift’s upcoming album, “Reputation,” expected Nov. 10.
Cover art for Taylor Swift’s upcoming album, “Reputation,” expected Nov. 10.Read more(Big Machine via AP)

Taylor Swift is back and grittier than ever, but judging from the reaction on social media, many fans aren't buying it.

Swift, 27, on Thursday released "Look What You Made Me Do," her first album single since the release of 1989 in 2014. A song that takes the Berks County native's music in a somewhat darker direction, the track features Swift telling listeners that the "old Taylor can't come to the phone right now … 'cause she's dead."

The track, which features sampling of Right Said Fred's 1991 "I'm Too Sexy," is the first single from Swift's sixth album, Reputation, out Nov. 10. Both the single and album announcement serve as follow-ups to Swift's recent blackout of her social media profiles.

Clocking in at 3½ minutes, the song's lyrics detail Swift's attitude toward detractors, and promises that "you'll all get yours." Swift also dropped teaser images for an accompanying video that is set to premiere this weekend at the MTV Video Music Awards at 8 p.m. Sunday.

"I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time / Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time," Swift sings. "I've got a list of names and yours is in red underlined / I check it once, then I check it twice."

However many times Swift checks her list, though, the reaction to the track as been decidedly "mixed," as Billboard puts it. Looking at social media, that mix mostly went one way:

Despite the negative reactions online, some Swifities have responded to the new single well:

Where Swift's gritty reboot goes in the future is anybody's guess, but it looks like we're in for a darker Taylor from here on out. Check out the lyrics video for "Look What You Made Me Do" ahead of the official clip's weekend premiere below: