IT’S been a trying sort of a year for Taylor Swift which saw her win a court case involving a radio DJ who sexually assaulted her then claimed she had had him sacked by making false accusations.
Deservedly high on that success, she is preparing to release an album and she’s also been dating English actor Tom Alwyn. Serendipitously those two worlds have collided and she was in London a couple of weekends ago to film the video for her new single.
It’s said to be more 'real' than her usual glossy video but what hope that it’s as real as the video Rihanna shot in Belfast that had everyone giddy with excitement six years ago? There was a stampede when people heard Rihanna was filming We Found Love in the New Lodge.
Remember looking for places you recognised in the video? There’s the chippy on North Street we all chorused! OMG she’s in the discount supermarket across the road! And we roared with laughter when she the shoot got closed down by a farmer who wasn’t a fan of the raunch.
Taylor has played it safe. She hops in a London cab, cycles across Millennium Bridge, catches the night bus and ends up in Kentish Town in a kebab shop called Kentish Delight. That’s all according to a source who spoke to the Daily Telegraph. Sleb Safari doesn’t have a mole in Camp Taylor. Well, not since she broke up with Harry Styles.
The source said the video was shot between 9pm and 6am and no-one was allowed to carry their phone in an effort to stop the song and photos or footage being leaked.
"She has spent months quietly going under the radar in London this year and has been out a lot more than anybody realises,” the source said.
"It is quite telling that she has been hanging out in these regular and unexpected places... She wants to show people she is just a normal girl.” Lol. This is the woman who holds #TayMerica every July 4.
"Only one phone was allowed between them for the entire shoot... The same went for the 50 extras and six dancers at the filming."
Taylor, how disappointing. You could have done a lot more on this London trip. It would have been nice to have seen you in Madame Tussaud’s, posing beside your own waxwork or holding a cigarette lighter to Tom Hiddleston’s.
You missed a trick not taking a selfie with a Beefeater at the Tower of London and for absolute authenticity you could have had a panic attack on the London Eye while a couple got engaged in the next capsule.
What about topping up your Oyster card and having a copy of the Metro newspaper thrust at you outside Oxford Circus tube station? After that the camera could have cut to you standing in front of Buckingham Palace wondering if the queen’s in or not and whether Prince Harry might be having a relationship wobble and needing to talk it out.
But the absolute highlight of this video and the one thing everyone could have related to was when you reached the Kentish Delight kebab shop, queued and got your chicken shish if you’d then dropped half of it on the ground and wiped your hands on your top before getting on the tube and falling asleep on someone’s shoulder.
Maybe next time.
Michel Roux Jr doesn't like it when people peer in his shopping basket
MICHEL Roux Jr has been spilling the beans on his likes (offal, haggis) and dislikes ("dreaded Brexit" and supermarket shopping).
Michel has the same experience in supermarkets as noted fashionista Sleb Safari has in clothes shops – people insist on knowing what you're buying because they want to be bang on trend.
"I have a problem when I go into a supermarket. People follow me and look at what’s in my trolley. I have a Sainsbury’s, I have a Tesco, there’s a mini Waitrose in Clapham where I live. It’s just annoying having people looking into my basket. So my wife tends to go,” he says.
Michel, if Sleb Safari may be so bold as to offer a suggestion, have you thought about shopping online? Or even click and collect?
Librarians v Kardashians
HAT tip to this bunch of librarians who have parodied the Kardashians.
The Invercargill Library’s social media team thought it would be a hoot if library staff copied the August cover of The Hollywood Reporter which lauded the 10th anniversary of the Kardashian global take over.
With no time to ask designers for the loan of AW17 collections the librarians used clothes from their own wardrobe that were vaguely the same colour and sat on dictionaries from the archives for their own twist.
It’s perfect. High five to this sassy bunch. Read it and weep The Kardashians.
Social Media Smut
Amanda Seyfried is on the set of Mamma Mia 2