Taylor Swift‘s Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, arrives in select theaters and on Netflix on Jan. 31, and the streaming service has officially released the first trailer for the film. Miss Americana focuses on Swift’s life from her year away from the public eye, which ended with the release of her 2017 album reputation, through the arrival of her most recent album, Lover, and its subsequent promotion.
Let the games begin 🎉
MISS AMERICANA — in select theaters and on Netflix January 31. pic.twitter.com/YJSsQmgDgC
— Netflix Film @ Sundance (@NetflixFilm) January 22, 2020
“Throughout my whole career, label executives would just say, ‘A nice girl doesn’t force their opinions on people,” Swift says in a voiceover at the beginning of the trailer. “A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you,’” she says in the clip. “I became the person everyone wanted me to be.”
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The footage moves through clips of Swift recording Lover, the singer on her Reputation Stadium Tour and performing shows after Lover‘s release, as well as a brief moment of Swift hugging boyfriend Joe Alwyn. The trailer also previews the movie’s focus on Swift’s newfound political presence, which she declared in 2018 with an impassioned letter urging voters in Tennessee to elect the Democratic candidate for Senate.
“I feel really good about not feeling muzzled anymore. And it was my own doing,” Swift says in the clip. “There’s nothing that feels better than this moment.”
The documentary features a scene in which Swift speaks with her father and other members of her team about releasing the letter, which her dad is against for safety reasons. After lamenting the fact that she did not speak out against Donald Trump two years prior, Swift told her father that she would be sharing the letter.
“This was a situation where, from a humanity perspective, and from what my moral compass was telling me I needed to do, I knew I was right, and I really didn’t care about repercussions.” Swift told Variety. “My dad is terrified of threats against my safety and my life, and he has to see how many stalkers we deal with on a daily basis, and know that this is his kid. It’s where he comes from.”
Swift’s previous silence had been noted by many, and the singer herself is described as incredulous when looking back.
“Every time I didn’t speak up about politics as a young person, I was applauded for it,” she reflected. “It was wild. I said, ‘I’m a 22-year-old girl — people don’t want to hear what I have to say about politics.’ And people would just be like, ‘Yeahhhhh!’”
The title of the documentary comes from Swift’s song “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” a song from Lover that acts as an allegory for the current political climate in the United States.
“Even if you don’t know the song,” director Lana Wilson said, “I see the movie as looking at the flip side of being America’s sweetheart, so I like how the title evokes that too.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Dimitrios Kambouris/VMN19
