While the exclusion of Rihanna out of the music video seems like a blessing seeing how corny the visual was (no shade), why did Taylor not include a Rihanna drag impersonator? Was it because Rihanna is difficult to impersonate? Was it a slight to her solidified status as a pop icon? And before you start, yes this was before the hiatus was as long as it is now, Adele hadn't dropped a new album too yet and she was included

Rihanna was still bigger than her at that moment

12 minutes ago, Loca said:

Rihanna was still bigger than her at that moment

Wait I hadn't thought about that. So you're saying she got impersonators for people who weren't bigger than her?

19 minutes ago, Loca said:

Rihanna was still bigger than her at that moment

Bigger in the singles department. Other than that, no. Her albums were doing awful numbers, mind you her latest project did like 16k first week , and in terms of tour, she was barely selling sits, during her last tour some of the dates were barely reaching 50% capacity in arenas and let's not forget about that infamous London Wembley date

Edited July 22Jul 22 by TayDuaStan

This was 7 years ago, time flies.

Because she's rihtired

Her including Katy was so sweet. 🥲

10 minutes ago, TayDuaStan said:

mind you her latest project did like 16k first week

You actually being serious about the Anti leak numbers

And Rihanna had sold a lot more than Taylor then, which is fine.

11 minutes ago, JO1s said:

Because she's rihtired

Well she wasn't retired just yet then.

36 minutes ago, Loca said:

Rihanna was still bigger than her at that moment

still is while still rihtired

she knew she's rhitired

1 minute ago, truthteller said:

she knew she's rhitired

How would Taylor have known about the hiatus only 3 years into it? Let's be logical

3 minutes ago, lonnie said:

How would Taylor have known about the hiatus only 3 years into it? Let's be logical

girl..... we're talking about the annual rhilease queen ms Rihanna

9 minutes ago, lonnie said:

How would Taylor have known about the hiatus only 3 years into it? Let's be logical

I imagine Taylor calling Rihanna the day before filming the YNTCD MV like "girl, are you going to come back anytime soon? because I'm filming a video tomorrow and I gotta pick between the drag queen that will dress like you or the one that will look like Cardi".

7 minutes ago, truthteller said:

girl..... we're talking about the annual rhilease queen ms Rihanna

Let's not act like there hadn't been a four year break in between Unapologetic and Anti

1 minute ago, Teneo said:

I imagine Taylor calling Rihanna the day before filming the YNTCD MV like "girl, are you going to come back anytime soon? because I'm filming a video tomorrow and I gotta pick between the drag queen that will dress like you or the one that will look like Cardi".

The thought alone lol

she's always being cryptic so it must be because she was dropping hints that she hates rihanna

I think she didnt include Rihanna because she isnt really pitted against any other female artist like the rest no?

Katy vs Gaga (Roar vs Applause)

Nicki vs Cardi (obvious reasons)

Adele vs Beyonce (25 vs Lemonade aoty)

Taylor vs Ariana (Taylor at the time was trailing behind Ariana on the charts)

She only included non-retired acts

I don't think Rihanna is a popular act to impersonate. Her whole thing was being above-it-all, which is boring to do.

This is 2019 and FENTY is one of the biggest brands in the world.

Rihanna probably didn't approve. Her branding team is TIGHT.

I think she just included the girls that were active at that moment, nothing less nothing more.

She didn't include the biggest female artists like Madonna, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Céline Dion, etc

1 hour ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

I think she didnt include Rihanna because she isnt really pitted against any other female artist like the rest no?

Katy vs Gaga (Roar vs Applause)

Nicki vs Cardi (obvious reasons)

Adele vs Beyonce (25 vs Lemonade aoty)

Taylor vs Ariana (Taylor at the time was trailing behind Ariana on the charts)

1 minute ago, Erreur2 La Nature said:

I think she just included the girls that were active at that moment, nothing less nothing more.

She didn't include the biggest female artists like Madonna, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Céline Dion, etc

A combination of these seem right. The point where this happens in the music video is around the lines about comparing the female pop stars to one another, she likely just picked some of the stars that were currently being pitted against one another in the tabloids and on social media.

Because most queens look like complete bricks when they try to do Rih imo