Singer, songwriter, producer and director: the multihyphenate talents of Taylor Swift cannot be ignored. With eyes on a full-length film directorial debut, Swift has cut her teeth on many of her music videos.
Since 2019, the “Fate of Ophelia” star has directed 14 of her own videos – three with partners and the other 11 completely solo. Her albums Lover, folklore, evermore, Midnights, Red (Taylor’s Version), The Tortured Poets Department and The Life of a Showgirl all feature her masterminded visual creations.
And she’s been heavily awarded for her efforts. Of her five MTV VMA Video of the Year wins, four of them were for videos where she sat in the director’s chair – “You Need to Calm Down,” co-directed with Drew Kirsch, All Too Well: The Short Film, “Anti-Hero” and “Fortnight” feat. Post Malone. (Her win for “Bad Blood” was under the helm of Joseph Kahn.) And “The Man” – her first solo directorial experience – took home Best Direction, as did All Too Well, “Anti-Hero” and “Fortnight” at MTV’s venerable show. ATW even earned the Grammy for Best Music Video in 2023, and “Fortnight” was nominated in that same category in 2025.
Scroll below for our ranking of Swift’s self-directed videos. And for more on Swift, check out our rankings of her songs written for movies, her title tracks and her biggest Billboard hits.
(Not included in this list are the home or concert-footage-based videos that she directed throughout her career like “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” from 2008, “The Best Day” from 2009 and 2021, “Christmas Tree Farm” from 2019, “Cardigan (Cabin in Candlelight Version)” from 2020 and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” from 2024.)
“ME!” feat. Brendon Urie
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Album: LoverYear: 2019Co-Director: Dave Meyers
Taylor let go of the serpentine Reputation era by literally exploding a snake into butterflies at the beginning of the video for what would be Lover’s first single. Co-starring a game Brendon Urie as both foil and mirror to Swift’s difficult but lovable protagonist, the colorful and bright visuals – and special effects galore – enhance the saccharine, bubble gum pop of the track.
“cardigan”
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Album: folkloreYear: 2020
For “cardigan,” Swift faced a daunting task – film during the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic. She elegantly carries it entirely on her own, offering an antique and dusted setting that leads her to greener pastures, which then throws her into the sea. Ultimately, she finds her way back home to the cozy comfort of the sweater that launched a thousand cardigans.
“willow”
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Album: evermoreYear: 2020
Sister albums and sister videos: “willow” begins as “cardigan” ends, in the same dusty attic in front of the same stained piano with the same muted aesthetic. This time, there’s company – including a witchlike coven that Swift would transfer to the Eras stage and a sweet love story for the ages.
“You Need to Calm Down”
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Album: LoverYear: 2019Co-Director: Drew Kirsch
A celebrity-filled clip – Laverne Cox! Jesse Tyler Ferguson! Ciara! Adam Rippon! Hayley Kiyoko! Billy Porter! Ru Paul! Ryan Reynolds! And most surprising, Katy Perry! – Swift’s ode to LGBTQ allyship bursts with rainbow-colored sass and pride.
“The Man”
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Album: LoverYear: 2020
Dressed in drag, Taylor upends criticisms thrown at successful women in this lamentation on those double standards, successfully subverting the commentary she’s received through the years. (With a cute, meta appearance as her director-self, asking the male lead – also her – if he can be more likeable.)
“Karma” feat. Ice Spice
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Album: MidnightsYear: 2023
Before “The Fate of Ophelia,” Taylor kept it 100 on the land, the sea and the sky, traversing through space, the ocean and even a yellow brick road in the elaborately cinematic “Karma.”
“I Can See You”
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Album: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)Year: 2023
Metaphorically challenging the state of Swift’s masters at the time, “I Can See You” finds Taylor Lautner, Joey King and Presley Cash breaking the singer out of a vault in a museum with plenty of audacious thrills.
“Bejeweled”
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Album: MidnightsYear: 2022
In a preview of her Showgirl aesthetic, this Cinderellian tale sees “house wench” Taylor oppressed by her wicked stepmother (Laura Dern) and stepsisters (Este, Danielle and Alana Haim), only to find strength through her fairytale-esque godmother (Dita Von Teese), who teaches Swift how make the whole place shimmer. As for the prince (Jack Antonoff)? Well, she ghosts him, obviously – a diamond’s gotta shine.
“Lavender Haze”
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Album: MidnightsYear: 2023
Swift prances around in the aesthetically retro clip, questioning the preconceived notions about her value in a relationship. All, she just wants to “stay in that lavender haze” – the dreamy happiness of content – with her partner, played by transgender activist and model Laith Ashley. (A positively progressive casting choice by Swift.)
“Fortnight” feat. Post Malone
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Album: The Tortured Poets DepartmentYear: 2024
Post Malone and Swift’s chemistry quietly sizzles in the grandiose “Fortnight” that follows the progression of a tortured poet. The noirish approach compliments the fleeting and doomed love affair between the two. (And in a fabulous nod to The Dead Poets Society, Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles appear as mad scientists experimenting on the troubled heroine.)
“Anti-Hero”
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Album: MidnightsYear: 2022
What’s better than one Taylor Swift? Three Taylor Swifts – one as the moral center, one the devil on the other’s shoulder and a giant one, who represents the overwhelming “monster on the hill” and likely Swift’s thoughts on her celebrity. Featuring a hilarious imagining of what her funeral – starring Mark Birbiglia, John Early as her sons and Mary Elizabeth Ellis as her daughter-in-law – would look like, the video ends with the three Swifts sharing a bottle of wine. She thinks she’s the problem, but here, she takes her introspective hit to a whole new level.
“Lover”
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Album: LoverYear: 2019Co-Director: Drew Kirsch
With a gorgeous, mid-century modern appeal, Swift depicts a beautiful ode to devotion, floating through longing and anxiety while building the foundation that houses their passions and intimacy. (Although, she would burn it down during the Eras tour.)
“The Fate of Ophelia”
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Album: The Life of a ShowgirlYear: 2025
After the spark of a flame ignites, the one-take shots of “Ophelia” race through exqusitely drawn evolutions of showgirls – a model for the painting that takes its inspiration from the Friedrich Heiser canvas of the title character (itself inspired by the Milias rendering), a burlesque performer, a go-go dancer, actresses, Busby Berkeley starlets, Vegas performers, and of course, modern pop stars – an elevated and impressive feat of filmmaking.
All Too Well: The Short Film
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Album: Red (Taylor’s Version)Year: 2021
Timeless and bittersweet, Swift captures the feelings of a situationship to end all situationships – with Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien portraying a couple who weren’t built to last. Forged in the personal yet universal, Swift uses all 14 minutes (expanding on the 10 from the song itself) to lay bare a story of love and betrayal – and the longing that’s left at the end.
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