Mean (song)
Encyclopedia
"Mean" is a song by American country pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
, taken from her third studio album, Speak Now
(2010). The song, written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman
and Swift, was first released as a promotional single
for the album on October 17, 2010, by Big Machine Records
. The song was later released as an official single on March 7, 2011.
Upon its release as a promotional single, the song garnered mixed to positive reviews from critics for its lyrical detail and profound country sound. "Mean" received commercial success in the United States and Canada, debuting at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100
and number ten on the Canadian Hot 100
. The song also appeared on the Australian Singles Chart at number 45. It was later re-released as the third official single from Speak Now, and re-entered the Billboard Hot 100
at number 90. Additionally, "Mean" became Swift's thirteenth consecutive single to reach top ten on Hot Country Songs
when it jumped from number 12 to number 9 on the week ending May 14, 2011.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Declan Whitebloom, who developed the concept together with Swift. It received mixed reviews from critics who perceived ambivalent messages in the video, despite the prevalent self-empowerment and anti-bullying themes. "Mean" was performed for the first time by Swift at the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 3, 2011. The song has been nominated for the 54th Grammy Awards
in two categories, Best Country Song
and Best Country Solo Performance
.
before the release of her third studio album, Speak Now, Swift said that "Mean" is a response to people who criticize whatever she does. She said, "there's constructive criticism, there's professional criticism, and then there's just being mean. And there's a line that you cross when you just start to attack everything about a person." In an interview with Dose.ca
, Swift said that she wrote the song to get back at her critics, saying "there's a song called 'Mean,' that I guess you could categorize it into feelings and or relationships but it's actually about a critic." In a later interview with "60 Minutes
", Swift revealed that the critic was someone who attacked her performance with Stevie Nicks
at the 52nd Grammy Awards
, where she sang off-key. This critic was possibly Bob Lefsetz
who gave a critical review on his blog
, The Lefsetz Letter.
It was released to country radio as the third single on March 7, 2011. Two exclusive packages were released to Swift's official store one included a T-shirt, an individually-numbered "Mean" CD single
and an autographed lithograph. This package is no longer available. The other package had just the T-shirt and CD single. Only 2,500 copies of the CD single were made. The single was later included in another package that is exclusive to Swift's official store. The package includes the Target
exclusive deluxe edition of Speak Now, a free pair of headphones, and the choice between either the "Sparks Fly
", "The Story of Us
", or the "Mean" CD single.
, the song is "made of handclaps, amiable banjo strums, and multi-tracked Taylor Swifts." Bill Lamb from About.com
expressed that ""Mean" is one of the most overtly country sounding of all of Taylor Swift's recordings with clear banjo leading the way," and Matt Bjorke of Roughstock commented that the song is "the most 'country' with an extremely down-home, almost bluegrass sound." The song is written in the key of E major
, and Swift's vocals span two octave
s, from G♯3 to C♯5. Jon Caramanica from The New York Times
noted the song for its "rootsy sound," where Swift sings "over a bluegrass-influenced acoustic track unlike anything else she’s yet recorded." The chorus has sequence of C#m/G#—B/F#—A/E as its chord progression
.
The song's lyrics address those who question Swift's ability to sing. This is echoed by Jill Serjeant from Billboard
, writing "[the song] appears to take aim at critics who slammed Swift's shaky vocal performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards and at other live shows last year." Ann Powers of Los Angeles Times
also agreed that "Mean" "smacks down critics who say she can't sing (I stand accused) by declaring that someday she'll be "livin' in a great big city" and they'll be drunk in some dive bar, bloviating into the void." Additionally, the song lyrics reflect the issue of bullying, which is transparent in a review by aforementioned Matt Bjorke of Roughstock, commenting "'Mean' is an interesting song in that it finds Taylor chewing out many people, particularly bullies. It's a song that really could become part of the anti-bullying campaigns for schools everywhere." Bill Lamb of About.com also wrote that "the song can also easily serve as a general purpose response to bullies in the world.
The song's couplets, ("You with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation / You have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don't already see them"), were ranked at number five out of ten best couplets from Speak Now sheet by Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly.
praised the production of the song, writing "[the song] is a nice touch: It brings a sincerity to her pain and lets you focus on the words, which do, near the end, turn cheeky (proving she handles it with a sense of humor)." Theon Weber from The Village Voice described the song as "huge and hugely compassionate, and fearless" and lauded it for being "chipper and funny because the narrator is predicting escape from someone she dislikes: "Some day, I'll be living in a big ole city/And all you're ever gonna be is mean." Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe graded the production of the song as "A", complimenting the message of the song which "articulates the distinction between honesty and cruelty so well." On the other hand, Jonathan Keefe from Slant Magazine
lambasted the song for its lyrical content, writing "instead of actually doing something to improve on her inability to find or hold pitch consistently, Swift has simply written a song about how it's 'mean' for people to point out that problem."
. Upon its release as a promotional single, "Mean" debuted at number two on the Billboard
s Hot Digital Songs
with approximately 163,000 downloads, which led to its appearance on the Billboard Hot 100
on the week ending October 30, 2010. "Mean" debuted and peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100, making Swift the first act to claim the chart's top debut (Hot Shot Debut) in three successive weeks. The following week, the song fell off the chart. On the weeking ending November 6, 2010, the song also debuted on Hot Country Songs
at number fifty-five. Upon its release as an official single, "Mean" re-entered Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety. It also re-entered the Hot Country Songs
at number seventeen after its release as a single. On the week ending May 14, 2011, Swift made a record when "Mean" jumped from number twelve to number nine on Hot Country Songs, becoming her 13th consecutive Top Ten hit on that chart. It made Swift one of two women (Carrie Underwood
) to begin their chart histories with 13 consecutive Top Tens dating to the survey's 1944 launch. It peaked at number two for two weeks in June, behind Blake Shelton
's "Honey Bee
.". On the week ending August 14, 2011, "Mean" becomes Swift's 13th song to sell more than 1 million copies which is more than any other country artist in digital history.
Prior to the official release of the song as a single, digital sales accounted for "Mean"'s appearance on international charts. In Canada, the song entered the Canadian Hot 100
and peaked at number ten. It also made an appearance on the Australian Singles Chart at number forty-five on the week ending November 7, 2010. On July 28, 2011 it became reached number one on the the Mediabase / Country Aircheck Country Singles Chart. On November 29, 2011, "Mean" was certified Platinum by the RIAA
. The song was nominated for two Grammy awards, "Best Country song" and "Best Country Solo Performance", on November 30, 2011.
. Swift also performs this song on her Speak Now World Tour
.
, with the Orpheum Theatre serving as its backdrop. The concept of the video was developed by both Swift and Whitebloom, who praised Swift's commitment and involvement with the production of the music video. In an interview with MTV News
, Whitebloom said that "Mean" is very personal to Swift because lyrically it's about a critic who was a little too harsh on her. However, he added that people can relate to its message, saying "We all have similar stories in our life that hit similar emotional cues, and to open it up and make it broader about lots of people and situations .. makes it much more accessible." Whitebloom described the video as vignettes that feature scenes from all different time periods, from vaudevillian scenes to scenes resembling O Brother, Where Art Thou?
. He also stated that the video was inspired by Swift's performance at the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
Child star Joey King
is featured in the video. Prior to the release of the video, Jocelyn Vena of MTV
predicted that the video of "Mean" will be "a honky-tonk-type performance video, in which [Swift] and her band have a little fun at someone's expense." The music video premiered on Country Music Television
on May 6, 2011, at 22:00 EST (03:00 UTC).
was not disappointed with the video and thought that Swift delivered once again. The Huffington Post
called the video as effective that puts Swift alongside the underdogs and dreamers. Daily Mail
praised the theme of the video which is about self-empowerment clip, writing "her new video for her upcoming single Mean depicts how young people picked on at school rise up and become successful later in life." The same opinion was echoed by Jocelyn Vena of MTV
who wrote that the video "is the latest entry in an avalanche of empowering clips, which we've seen from artists like Katy Perry
("Firework
") and Pink
("Raise Your Glass
")." Ashley Iasimone of Taste of Country complimented Swift's looks in the video which corresponded with the video's art direction. She concluded that "it's difficult to not feel as empowered as superstar Swift.
Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly
thought that the message in the music video was confusing, writing "Is she really equating a professional critic questioning her ability to sing at an awards show to getting bullied because you're different?" Donna Kaufman of IVillage
also felt the mixed messages in the video, stating "the video doesn't show Swift being bullied...Instead, she's a kind of savior to the outsider kids, who are all shallow stereotypes." Kyle Buchanan of New York
described the video as the most cliched, didactic, self-impressed and studiously unrevealing. Drew Grant of Salon.com
felt that the video tried to disseminate anti-bullying message from a person who has never been bullied by equating it with an evil vision of fairy tale." Sophie Schillaci of Zap2it
noticed that the flaw in the video was the assumption that "mean ole' bullies just rot in their hometown," whereas in reality plenty of successful people are simply mean.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
, taken from her third studio album, Speak Now
Speak Now
Speak Now is the third studio album by American singer–songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 25, 2010 by Big Machine Records. Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2010 at several recording studios, and was handled by Swift and country music producer Nathan Chapman...
(2010). The song, written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman
Nathan Chapman (record producer)
Nathan Chapman is an American record producer who works in the field of country music. He is known primarily for working with Taylor Swift, having produced her albums Taylor Swift, Fearless and Speak Now. The former was also the first album that he produced...
and Swift, was first released as a promotional single
Promotional recording
A promotional recording, or promo, is an audio or video recording distributed for free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available...
for the album on October 17, 2010, by Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records is an Independent American record label specializing in country music artists. It was launched in 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta. The label was part of a joint venture between Borchetta and country singer Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his...
. The song was later released as an official single on March 7, 2011.
Upon its release as a promotional single, the song garnered mixed to positive reviews from critics for its lyrical detail and profound country sound. "Mean" received commercial success in the United States and Canada, debuting at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and number ten on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
. The song also appeared on the Australian Singles Chart at number 45. It was later re-released as the third official single from Speak Now, and re-entered the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
at number 90. Additionally, "Mean" became Swift's thirteenth consecutive single to reach top ten on Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
when it jumped from number 12 to number 9 on the week ending May 14, 2011.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Declan Whitebloom, who developed the concept together with Swift. It received mixed reviews from critics who perceived ambivalent messages in the video, despite the prevalent self-empowerment and anti-bullying themes. "Mean" was performed for the first time by Swift at the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 3, 2011. The song has been nominated for the 54th Grammy Awards
54th Grammy Awards
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will be broadcasted on CBS. Nominations were announced on November 30, 2011 on prime-time television as part of "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night", a...
in two categories, Best Country Song
Grammy Award for Best Country Song
The Grammy Award for Best Country Song has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the writer of the song.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...
and Best Country Solo Performance
Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance is a new category in the annual Grammy Awards ceremony from 2012.It combines the previous categories for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Instrumental Performance .The restructuring of...
.
Background
In an interview with E! NewsE! News
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is a nightly entertainment newsmagazine program airing on E!: Entertainment Television. The program debuted on September 1, 1991 and talks about Hollywood celebrities and gossip...
before the release of her third studio album, Speak Now, Swift said that "Mean" is a response to people who criticize whatever she does. She said, "there's constructive criticism, there's professional criticism, and then there's just being mean. And there's a line that you cross when you just start to attack everything about a person." In an interview with Dose.ca
Dose (magazine)
Dose is a daily Canadian news website and former daily print magazine.Dose was a mixture of standalone features and coverage of daily news, sometimes from an irreverent perspective...
, Swift said that she wrote the song to get back at her critics, saying "there's a song called 'Mean,' that I guess you could categorize it into feelings and or relationships but it's actually about a critic." In a later interview with "60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
", Swift revealed that the critic was someone who attacked her performance with Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks
Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums...
at the 52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...
, where she sang off-key. This critic was possibly Bob Lefsetz
Bob Lefsetz
Bob Lefsetz is an American music industry figure and author of the email newsletter and blog, the Lefsetz Letter. Based in Santa Monica, California, Lefsetz worked previously as an entertainment business attorney, majordomo of Sanctuary Music's American division and as a consultant to major record...
who gave a critical review on his blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, The Lefsetz Letter.
It was released to country radio as the third single on March 7, 2011. Two exclusive packages were released to Swift's official store one included a T-shirt, an individually-numbered "Mean" CD single
CD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
and an autographed lithograph. This package is no longer available. The other package had just the T-shirt and CD single. Only 2,500 copies of the CD single were made. The single was later included in another package that is exclusive to Swift's official store. The package includes the Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
exclusive deluxe edition of Speak Now, a free pair of headphones, and the choice between either the "Sparks Fly
Sparks Fly (song)
"Sparks Fly" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, from her third studio album, Speak Now . The song was written and produced by Swift, with additional production handled by Nathan Chapman. Swift penned the song when she was sixteen years of age; before she had broken out into the...
", "The Story of Us
The Story of Us (song)
"The Story of Us" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her third studio album, Speak Now . Swift wrote the track solely, and produced it alongside Nathan Chapman. The song was released on April 19, 2011 by Big Machine Records, as the fourth single from Speak Now...
", or the "Mean" CD single.
Composition
According to Theon Weber of The Village VoiceThe Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, the song is "made of handclaps, amiable banjo strums, and multi-tracked Taylor Swifts." Bill Lamb from About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
expressed that ""Mean" is one of the most overtly country sounding of all of Taylor Swift's recordings with clear banjo leading the way," and Matt Bjorke of Roughstock commented that the song is "the most 'country' with an extremely down-home, almost bluegrass sound." The song is written in the key of E major
E major
E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....
, and Swift's vocals span two octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
s, from G♯3 to C♯5. Jon Caramanica from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
noted the song for its "rootsy sound," where Swift sings "over a bluegrass-influenced acoustic track unlike anything else she’s yet recorded." The chorus has sequence of C#m/G#—B/F#—A/E as its chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
.
The song's lyrics address those who question Swift's ability to sing. This is echoed by Jill Serjeant from Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, writing "[the song] appears to take aim at critics who slammed Swift's shaky vocal performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards and at other live shows last year." Ann Powers of Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
also agreed that "Mean" "smacks down critics who say she can't sing (I stand accused) by declaring that someday she'll be "livin' in a great big city" and they'll be drunk in some dive bar, bloviating into the void." Additionally, the song lyrics reflect the issue of bullying, which is transparent in a review by aforementioned Matt Bjorke of Roughstock, commenting "'Mean' is an interesting song in that it finds Taylor chewing out many people, particularly bullies. It's a song that really could become part of the anti-bullying campaigns for schools everywhere." Bill Lamb of About.com also wrote that "the song can also easily serve as a general purpose response to bullies in the world.
The song's couplets, ("You with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation / You have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don't already see them"), were ranked at number five out of ten best couplets from Speak Now sheet by Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly.
Critical reception
The song garnered mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Mandi Bierly of Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
praised the production of the song, writing "[the song] is a nice touch: It brings a sincerity to her pain and lets you focus on the words, which do, near the end, turn cheeky (proving she handles it with a sense of humor)." Theon Weber from The Village Voice described the song as "huge and hugely compassionate, and fearless" and lauded it for being "chipper and funny because the narrator is predicting escape from someone she dislikes: "Some day, I'll be living in a big ole city/And all you're ever gonna be is mean." Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe graded the production of the song as "A", complimenting the message of the song which "articulates the distinction between honesty and cruelty so well." On the other hand, Jonathan Keefe from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
lambasted the song for its lyrical content, writing "instead of actually doing something to improve on her inability to find or hold pitch consistently, Swift has simply written a song about how it's 'mean' for people to point out that problem."
Commercial performance
"Mean" was released as a promotional single from Speak Now on October 19, 2010, as part of Countdown to Speak Now, an exclusive campaign by the iTunes StoreITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
. Upon its release as a promotional single, "Mean" debuted at number two on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...
with approximately 163,000 downloads, which led to its appearance on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on the week ending October 30, 2010. "Mean" debuted and peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100, making Swift the first act to claim the chart's top debut (Hot Shot Debut) in three successive weeks. The following week, the song fell off the chart. On the weeking ending November 6, 2010, the song also debuted on Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
at number fifty-five. Upon its release as an official single, "Mean" re-entered Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety. It also re-entered the Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
at number seventeen after its release as a single. On the week ending May 14, 2011, Swift made a record when "Mean" jumped from number twelve to number nine on Hot Country Songs, becoming her 13th consecutive Top Ten hit on that chart. It made Swift one of two women (Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
) to begin their chart histories with 13 consecutive Top Tens dating to the survey's 1944 launch. It peaked at number two for two weeks in June, behind Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music artist. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". Released as the lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" went on to spend five weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...
's "Honey Bee
Honey bee
Honey bees are a subset of bees in the genus Apis, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. Honey bees are the only extant members of the tribe Apini, all in the genus Apis...
.". On the week ending August 14, 2011, "Mean" becomes Swift's 13th song to sell more than 1 million copies which is more than any other country artist in digital history.
Prior to the official release of the song as a single, digital sales accounted for "Mean"'s appearance on international charts. In Canada, the song entered the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
and peaked at number ten. It also made an appearance on the Australian Singles Chart at number forty-five on the week ending November 7, 2010. On July 28, 2011 it became reached number one on the the Mediabase / Country Aircheck Country Singles Chart. On November 29, 2011, "Mean" was certified Platinum by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
. The song was nominated for two Grammy awards, "Best Country song" and "Best Country Solo Performance", on November 30, 2011.
Live performances
"Mean" was first performed at the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 3, 2011. On May 30, 2011, Swift performed the song on The Ellen DeGeneres ShowThe Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
. Swift also performs this song on her Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour is the second concert tour by American country singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, in support of her third studio album, Speak Now. The tour visited Asia, Europe, North America and Australasia...
.
Background and release
The accompanying music video for "Mean" was directed by Declan Whitebloom. It was shot over two days in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, with the Orpheum Theatre serving as its backdrop. The concept of the video was developed by both Swift and Whitebloom, who praised Swift's commitment and involvement with the production of the music video. In an interview with MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
, Whitebloom said that "Mean" is very personal to Swift because lyrically it's about a critic who was a little too harsh on her. However, he added that people can relate to its message, saying "We all have similar stories in our life that hit similar emotional cues, and to open it up and make it broader about lots of people and situations .. makes it much more accessible." Whitebloom described the video as vignettes that feature scenes from all different time periods, from vaudevillian scenes to scenes resembling O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
. He also stated that the video was inspired by Swift's performance at the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
Child star Joey King
Joey King
Joey Lynn King is an American child actress and singer who is known for her starring role as Ramona Quimby in the 2010 adaption of Beverly Cleary's well-known book series with the same title.- Personal life :...
is featured in the video. Prior to the release of the video, Jocelyn Vena of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
predicted that the video of "Mean" will be "a honky-tonk-type performance video, in which [Swift] and her band have a little fun at someone's expense." The music video premiered on Country Music Television
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
on May 6, 2011, at 22:00 EST (03:00 UTC).
Synopsis
The video begins with Swift and her band playing a banjo, all dressed in vintage-inspired clothes. The stage is set up like a front yard of a farmhouse. Then, Swift is shown being tied to the tracks by a villain, similar to the song's artwork. The villain and his friend laugh as she sits there helpless. However, Swift and the others are hardly the only victims in the video. A montage of Swift plucking away at her banjo is shown alternately throughout the video with scenes of a boy being bullied while reading a fashion magazine in a locker room by the football team and a girl, wearing a fast-food uniform, who is being made fun of by her peers. Another cut-scene shows a girl who is not allowed to sit with the popular clique at lunch and is forced to eat in the school bathroom. The next scene shows that the stage is transformed into a ritzy nightclub, with the singer all dazzled up in a sparkly flapper gown performing in the big leagues. It is revealed that the boy reading the fashion magazine is now a famous fashion designer; the fast food girl saves up for college and is a big-time executive. Then the villain and his friend get extremely drunk and faint, Taylor rolls her eyes at the scene, effortlessly removes the ropes and taunts them as she leaves. The final scene shows the other girl sitting as an audience watching and applauding as Swift finishes performing.Reception
The music video was met with mixed reviews from the critics. Story Gilmore of Neon Limelight perceived the clip to be "adorable", while Amanda Lynne of Gather.comGather.com
Gather or Gather.com is a social networking website designed to encourage interaction by discussion of various social, political and cultural topics. Its headquarters are in Boston, Massachusetts...
was not disappointed with the video and thought that Swift delivered once again. The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
called the video as effective that puts Swift alongside the underdogs and dreamers. Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
praised the theme of the video which is about self-empowerment clip, writing "her new video for her upcoming single Mean depicts how young people picked on at school rise up and become successful later in life." The same opinion was echoed by Jocelyn Vena of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
who wrote that the video "is the latest entry in an avalanche of empowering clips, which we've seen from artists like Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
("Firework
Firework (song)
"Firework" is a song by American recording artist Katy Perry. The song was written by Katy Perry, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Sandy Wilhelm, Ester Dean, and produced by Stargate and Sandy Vee for Perry's third studio album, Teenage Dream...
") and Pink
Pink (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....
("Raise Your Glass
Raise Your Glass
"Raise Your Glass" is a song by American recording artist and songwriter Pink, released as the lead single of her first compilation album, Greatest Hits... So Far!!!...
")." Ashley Iasimone of Taste of Country complimented Swift's looks in the video which corresponded with the video's art direction. She concluded that "it's difficult to not feel as empowered as superstar Swift.
Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
thought that the message in the music video was confusing, writing "Is she really equating a professional critic questioning her ability to sing at an awards show to getting bullied because you're different?" Donna Kaufman of IVillage
IVillage
iVillage, Inc. is a media company that is owned by NBCUniversal. The site focuses on categories targeted at women, including Food, Health, Entertainment, Family, Beauty & Style. Additional businesses and brand extensions within iVillage Networks include iVillage UK, NBC Digital Health Network,...
also felt the mixed messages in the video, stating "the video doesn't show Swift being bullied...Instead, she's a kind of savior to the outsider kids, who are all shallow stereotypes." Kyle Buchanan of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
described the video as the most cliched, didactic, self-impressed and studiously unrevealing. Drew Grant of Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
felt that the video tried to disseminate anti-bullying message from a person who has never been bullied by equating it with an evil vision of fairy tale." Sophie Schillaci of Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
noticed that the flaw in the video was the assumption that "mean ole' bullies just rot in their hometown," whereas in reality plenty of successful people are simply mean.
Weekly charts
| Chart (2010–11) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... ) |
45 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... ) |
10 |
| US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
11 |
| US Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
2 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales thresholds) |
|---|---|
| Canada Music Canada Music Canada was a Canadian music television miniseries which aired approximately monthly on CBC Television from 1966 to 1967.-Premise:This series featured various special productions of music and dance, from classical to modern styles.-Scheduling:... |
Gold |
| United States | Platinum |
Release history
| Country | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | October 19, 2010 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| United States | ||
| United States | March 7, 2011 | Country radio |
| United States | May 6, 2011 | CD single CD single A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s... |