Make Decider a Preferred Source More On: Taylor Swift Where To Watch The 2026 VMAs For Free: Time, Channel, How To Watch Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards What’s Your Perfect ‘Saturday Night Live’ Episode? ‘Adults’ Cast Says Hilary Duff And Taylor Swift Have Open Guest Star Invites: “She Can Genuinely Play Whatever She Wants” ‘Ted Lasso’ EP Jamie Lee Says Taylor Swift Has An Open Invite If She Wants To Ever Swing By the Set: “We Would Love It” Taylor Swift is such a big star that they have to make up new awards to give to her. Actually, Swift won some traditional Video Music Awards at MTV’s annual awards ceremony this weekend, with her music video for “The Fate of Ophelia” taking home the Video of the Year award at the end of the night. But presumably to showcase her latest video for “Patient Zero,” a single from her expanded The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore album (which is last year’s The Life of a Showgirl, appended with four all-new songs), Swift was also given the Artist Director award. This is a totally real award honoring musicians who direct their own videos, and it will absolutely be given many, many times in the future, rather than just whenever Swift agrees to appear on a broadcast.
Completely coincidentally, this award coincided with Swift premiering her “Patient Zero” video during the awards. Swift’s latest directorial effort boasts a bigger-name cast than some wide-release movies, even discounting the superstar’s own appearance; Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell are heavily featured in this dramatization of the song’s story, about two ex-girlfriends commiserating over the same toxic guy. Sounds pretty straightforward, but as with all things Taylor, questions may arise. Decider is here to serve as patient zero for all of your frequently asked questions.
What is “Patient Zero” about, specifically?
The lyrics in Swift’s chorus-first song construction makes it clear: The song’s narrator is speaking to a woman with whom she shares an ex-boyfriend (or an about-to-be-ex-boyfriend, anyway), recognizing that they now mutually understand certain experiences of that guy’s toxicity (“The devil on his shoulder under his halo,” as she puts it with some geographic confusion; isn’t the head, not the shoulder, “underneath” the halo, traditionally?). She compares that toxicity to an actual infection; “When the toxins take their hold, you’d rather die than let it go,” she sings. She offers her empathy services if the new girlfriend wants to break it off: “I was patient zero,” referring to being the first exposed to this metaphorical disease. (“Index case” would admittedly be a less catchy title.)
OK, but who is the song about, specifically?
I’m not Taylor-ologist, but others have spotted tons of Easter eggs that would be near-invisible to the untrained eye. Relatedly plenty of fans have wondered if the ex she’s writing about here is actor Joe Alwyn. It would make sense; their relationship lasted awhile, and he has a generally low-key reputation; the song clearly isn’t about someone who is already well-known as trouble. Alwyn is currently dating actress Sarah Pidgeon, though who knows if Swift has her, someone else, or no one in particular in mind when singing toward an ex’s ex. Of course, songs can also be largely or entirely made up, but that’s not really Swift’s brand.
What’s the deal with the video?
At first, it looks like Swift is simply an invisible echo of the woman she’s singing to, played by Dakota Johnson. As the woman’s relationship with the man (Farrell) plays out, Swift is there, dressed identically to Johnson, singing about what she has experienced, and what Johnson is experiencing now: the dark side of this seemingly handsome and upstanding guy. Seems pretty straightforward; a visual way of saying “I’ve been in your place and I know what you’re going through.” In the rich tradition of Swift’s beloved “All Too Well” video, there’s also a mid-song break for the overqualified actors to have a vague fight demonstrating the guy’s toxic, accusatory behavior.
In the home stretch, though, the video pulls out a twist. There’s footage of Farrell slipping something into a drink, and there are faster cuts between Johnson and Swift in similar situations, as well as more slow-motion shots of a falling drink as established earlier in the video. Eventually, we see blood on a carpet, with Taylor spelling out “run” in the liquid.
The video ends as it began, with Johnson visiting a gravestone. It becomes clear that Swift’s character wasn’t just the ex who left before Johnson moved in; she was murdered by Farrell’s character, and has been (whether literally or metaphorically) haunting Johnson’s relationship as she moves toward a similar conclusion. It’s not too late for Johnson, however; she’s seen visiting Swift’s grave, with the implication that she might be able to avoid this terrible fate.
Now, this added dimension does fit in with Swift’s dabble in gothic storytelling, and it’s always neat to see a video that doesn’t forget that the form can tell its own story, independent of (or expanding on) the song in question.
That said, layering a murder story on top of a toxic-partner story seems kind of like a hat on a hat. On top of which, doesn’t that feel a little insensitive and self-aggrandizing, to compare a bad relationship to being murdered? Maybe Swift did suffer through some genuine abuse at her ex-partner’s hands, in which case she’s more than entitled to have her say. But the tone of the song is more poppy and playful (albeit at a mid-tempo pace); it doesn’t feel like it’s exorcising demons of actual abuse. So to playfully add a gothic murder plot via a starry music video feels a little off-key.
Does “Patient Zero” have anything to do with Dakota Johnson’s new movie?
While there is definitely some kind of fraught dynamic between Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway in the new thriller Verity, there’s no formal connection between the video and the film. However, if you would like to see a movie about an ex-girlfriend who may be haunting her boyfriend’s new relationship, there is in fact a little-seen thriller about that, though probably with less female solidarity than Swift’s song: The Intruder, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, is on PlutoTV.
Why isn’t Taylor Swift’s ‘Patient Zero’ video on YouTube?
It’s not clear why Swift’s video isn’t yet on YouTube (at least not officially; some have already bootlegged it there), but it should turn up there soon. In the meantime, it was exclusively streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music via Swift’s linktree page.
