Throughout the music video, the artist seems to be addressing the camera and engaging the audience through over dramatic gestures and miming to go with the lip sync. For example, Taylor accompanies the line 'we broke up the first time' with a gesture to show the number. This establishes her own personality, also assisted through many costume changes that show her style to be quite geeky and not necessarily fashionable. This promotes the song as the audience can relate to the artist being like them. However a strong artist identity is constructed through not changing her hair and make-up, shown in many beauty shots that portray her as beautiful and aspirational.
The performance drives the video as we mainly focus on the artists singing and dancing that isn't necessarily supposed to look choreographed. This matches the comical element of the video as many of the background characters are dressed in comedic monkey costumes. However the performance element not only includes dancing but also playing instruments. This reflects the merging of both pop and country, and appeals to both fan bases. There is also a heavy inclusion of a narrative as we see the artists acting out moments in her personal life as well as singing to the camera. The story plays out, creating a sense of development. However, by the end of the music video the artists finds herself in the same predicament of resenting her boyfriend again - creating a cyclical narrative at the same time.
