The Evolution of Taylor Swift’s Music Video Boyfriends: From Country to Country Club

From girl-next-door country to platinum pop to understated indie, Taylor Swift‘s sound has constantly evolved over the course of her blockbuster career. In conjunction with those changes, many facets of her artistic aesthetic have followed suit — and that includes the looks of the men in her music videos over the years, from “Tim McGraw” to “Willow” and beyond.

In her early clips, for instance, the boys she sang about during slow-motion sequences or montages of romantic moments were cute, scruffy, all-American types. Then, over time, they went from looking like they could be cashiers at your local Target store to looking like they should be models in Target’s catalog — stylish and glossy with jaw lines that could cut you in half.

That was the desired look Swift more or less stuck with for several years when casting her male counterparts, until she stopped casting them altogether. For each of the music videos she released while promoting her edgy sixth studio album Reputation, she very meaningfully made herself the sole star of the show — even in videos for explicitly romantic songs like “Ready For It?” and “Delicate.”

Once Lover came out in 2019, however, the men came back into the fold. It kicked off a new trend for Swift, who started bringing in fellow A-listers to play her male leads, from Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie in “Me!” to Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller in “I Bet You Think About Me,” later followed by Post Malone in “Fortnight.”

See how Taylor Swift’s onscreen beaux have changed from 2008 to now by reading Billboard‘s complete list of her music video boyfriends below.