While it wasn’t supposed to come out until today, the world was treated toTaylor Swift’s latest music video for new single “Blank Space” a day early whenYahoo accidentally made the video public for a short time yesterday. Thankfully, the country singer turned pop star had another trick up her sleeve: an interactive app that acts as a companion to the video.
The singer announced the app on Good Morning America, where the hosts played around with it and complimented the singer on her ability to play crazy.
The app is a 360⁰ immersive experience, and the perfect thing for fans who can’t get enough of Swift. It lets you follow the singer through the video as if you were in the house with her. She is singing along just as she does in the video (with the song playing in the background), but unlike the linear clip, in the app you aren’t limited to seeing only what she’s up to.
Instead, while Taylor runs off to another room to fight with her love, you can stay and watch other characters who don’t actually appear in the official video. The butler, the artist and the gardener all have their own storylines (small as they may be), and you can choose to walk around with them while listening to “Blank Space”. On top of that—and perhaps more importantly—are the Swift-related objects scattered throughout the set, just waiting to be found.
There are a total of forty one secret, semi-hidden trinkets around the mansion, all of which need to be found to finish the “game”. Each of these has some sort of meaning behind it, and some of them will only be understood by true Swift fanatics. For example, my favorite object (spoiler alert for anyone who was planning on playing) is a TV that has nothing playing on it but grey static and lettering in the top left corner that says “Track 3”. This is a reference to a track that was accidentally uploaded to iTunes about a week before the album was released. The “song” was several seconds of static, and yet it went on to sell exceptionally well…until the mistake was realized and everybody’s money was refunded.
The hope is that as fans begin to play with the experience, they’ll go to social to share what they’ve learned and help others find the hidden treasures. The app feels a lot like an old school online game, where people used to go to message boards to get cheat codes and unlock secrets hidden in the game. Since this is Taylor Swift we’re talking about, expect the race to collect all forty one objects to be fierce, and the online discussions around it to be vibrant.
While you only have the four and a half minutes of the actual video to find as many objects as you can (or just wander around and have fun, it’s your choice), you can restart the song, and the app will keep track of what you’ve found.
The app is available on all Android and iOS mobile devices at no charge.
“Blank Space” was shot over three days in September at two different Long Island, NY locations. Most of the video with Taylor were filmed at the Oheka Castle, while some of the interior scenes were staged at the Woolworth Mansion. After two days of filming with Swift, a second unit crew kept going, taking much of the photography and that would later be used to finish constructing the world that lives within the app.
Follow Taylor Swift Through Her "Blank Space" Music Video With New Immersive App
The interactive experience will live on the American Express Unstaged app, where for a period of time it will be the main focus, but not the only content available. In addition to Taylor’s video, the additional content, and a link to purchase 1989, users can explore the rest of the AMEX Unstaged content, including hundreds of live performance videos. This includes the upcoming live performances that are a part of the company’s new Artists In Residence program that was launched last month.
The partnership between Taylor Swift and AmericanExpress has become a very tight-knit one recently. Not only did they sponsor the creation of this app, but they are the main partner when it comes to the presale of her just-announced world tour.
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