The clip, to the singer's latest single Out Of The Woods, was filmed here in November and was released today.
The clip, to the singer's latest single Out Of The Woods, was filmed here in November and was released today.
Popstar Taylor Swift has released her latest video clip featuring New Zealand sand, sea and possibly even some mountains.
The clip, to the singer's latest single Out Of The Woods, was filmed here in November and was released today.
It opens with a shot of Auckland's Bethells Beach, which will be remembered most notably from Dotteralgate - an incident where Swift came under fire from conservationists who claimed her crew put a rare native bird at risk during shooting.
The production team breached their permit by using up to 12 vehicles on the beach, which is home to endangered baby dotterels. They later apologised.
The Herald can confirm no dotterels appear in the video, however.
The clip does seem to feature other notable New Zealand scenery though, including a forest where Swift rolls about in the mud and gets quite dirty, and some mountains which resemble the Southern Alps.
Unlike the Alps, however, the mountains have wolves in them, which follow Swift along a ridge. They are probably CGI.
The video also features Swift, in a blue dress, falling into the ocean.
Out of the Woods is widely thought to be about her past romance with One Direction band member Harry Styles.
In it, Taylor refers to a time date of "last December" citing they "were built to fall apart".
The timing of the video's release is surely strategic - the then-couple rang in 2013 with a sweet kiss at midnight in New York City. A few days later, they reportedly broke up after a falling out while on holiday in Virgin Gorda.
Another clue in the lyrics is a reference to a jewellery item often worn by Harry.
"Your necklace hanging from my neck...Two paper airplanes flying, flying."
The Guardian reports keen-eyed fans of the singer have also noticed the dress Swift wears in the music video and the dress she was seen wearing on a boat, when she cut short the holiday with Styles, are quite similar.
Swift missed the American Music Awards in favour of making the video.
Auckland Council needed to be more welcoming to visiting stars, said councillor Cameron Brewer.
"Auckland Council has spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of ratepayer dollars coming up with a supposedly film-friendly policy, and just when we get the world's biggest music star filming at Bethells Beach, she's publicly humiliated."
Mr Brewer said no dotterels had been harmed in the making of the video.
"The imagery of Bethells is absolutely breathtaking and is now being admired by hundreds of millions of people around the world.
"Auckland Council should roll out the carpet for mega stars like Taylor Swift, not sit there and count the cars, cry foul, and effectively insult the woman. She may have breached her permit by having a few more vehicles but let's not forget the best form of environmental conservation is global exposure. Just ask David Attenborough."
Taylor Swift deserved "a huge thank you for doing Auckland proud", while others "need to eat some humble pie", he said.
