Taylor Swift and Dakota Johnson Share Colin Farrell in ‘Patient Zero’ Music Video

After days of being patient, Taylor Swift dropped her “Patient Zero” music video Sunday night at the MTV VMA awards. The singer released the single Friday accompanied by her “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore” expansion album. The new Disc 2 featured four songs: “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.” In the music video Dakota Johnson plays the new girlfriend of Colin Farrell, Swift also appears in the video as his past lover. “If you wanna party with somebody / who might know about the devil on his shoulder under his halo,” the lyrics to the moody track read. “When the toxins take their hold / you’d rather die than let it go / But if you’re sick of him, I got you / I was patient zero.” “I’ve gotta be honest, / I’ve been expecting your call / No, it’s not a bad time at all,” the song continues. “I heard somebody saying there’s trouble in paradise / And my lips are sealed tight now / It’s not for me to tell someone else what to do.” In a Friday interview with Capital FM, Swift explained that the song was inspired by experiences she and her friends have had with women dating their exes reaching out to them for advice. “The story behind me writing the song ‘Patient Zero’ is that I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, and one of my friends told us that she had been reached out to by the new girlfriend of an ex of hers, asking for guidance on if she had had the same experiences with this guy,” she said. “Everyone in our group just immediately started saying like, ‘Oh, I’ve been through that too,’ and telling the stories of when this kind of reach out had happened for them.” Swift shared in an Instagram announcement that she returned to Sweden to work with longtime collaborators Max Martin and Shellback for the additional tracks. “About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind… You gave The Life of a Showgirl the biggest first week for an album in history,” Swift wrote. “I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album. Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs.” She added, “I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made.” Along with dropping the video the MTV awards show proved to be a huge night for her. Swift received the first-ever MTV VMA Artist Director Honors. The new award is designed to honor the “groundbreaking musical artists” whose contributions and efforts behind the camera have “expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling.” Swift, who was chosen as the award’s inaugural recipient, is a seven-time nominee and four-time VMAs winner for Best Director. Over the years, the “Life of a Showgirl” singer-songwriter has taken more control of her visual output. She has directed many of her own music videos, including those for songs like “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Opalite,” “The Man,” “cardigan,” “willow,” “Anti-Hero,” “Bejeweled,” “Lavender Haze,” “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” “Karma (feat. Ice Spice)” and “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone).” In 2021, she also helmed the short film for the 10-minute version of her “Red” track, “All Too Well,” which starred Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien.