Taylor Swift’s Patient Zero Music Video Sparks Debate Over Grave Scene

Taylor Swift unveiled her new music video during Sunday night’s VMAs – and it has already generated a lot of conversation among her devoted fans.

During this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, the I Knew You Were Trouble performer was presented with the first ever VMA Artist Director Honours prize, in recognition of the many self-directed videos she’s released in recent years.

In honour of this, Taylor also unveiled the video for her latest single Patient Zero, co-starring Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson, the latter of whom presented the singer with her award.

The Patient Zero video – which aired on TV as part of the VMAs broadcast, but has not yet been officially shared on Taylor’s official channels – stars Dakota as a woman in a seemingly perfect relationship with Colin’s character, who is being haunted by her partner’s ex, played by Taylor herself.

As the video progresses, it emerges that the character played by Taylor was actually killed by Colin, with her ghost trying to warn Dakota about suffering a similar fate, as viewers discover she, too, is seemingly being poisoned.

One shot towards the end of the video has already sparked a whole lot of speculation, as Dakota is seen standing at a gravestone that reads “1986 – 2022”.

Taylor, as her own album of the same name confirms, was born in 1989, leading “Swifties” to speculate as to exactly what the significance of the year 1986 could be…

Patient Zero is one of four new tracks by Taylor to be featured on The Encore, a deluxe edition of her album The Life Of A Showgirl.

Since its release last week, The Encore has been widely derided by critics, although Taylor is still on course to occupy the top three slots on the UK singles chart with tracks from the deluxe release.