Taylor Swift's video for "I Knew You Were Trouble" begins with an ominous -- and lengthy -- bit of voice-over narration. Deep breath:

"I think when it's all over it just comes back in flashes, you know? It's like a kaleidoscope of memories; it just all comes back. But he never does. I think part of me knew the second I saw him that this would happen. It's not really anything he said, or anything he did -- it was the feeling that came along with it. Crazy thing is, I don't know if I'm ever going to feel that way again. But I don't know if I should. I knew he world moved too fast and burned to bright, but I just thought, 'How can the devil be pulling you toward someone who looks so much like an angel when he smiles at you?' Maybe he knew that when he saw me. I guess I just lost my balance. I think that the worst part of it all wasn't losing him. It was losing me."
After that bit of introspective, post-relationship clarity? It's time for Swift to cue up "I Knew You Were Trouble," a catchy pop song with a faux-dubstep bass drop.

While the song is a Top-40 smash waiting to happen, the video continues in the somber mood of Swift's initial monologue. She's shown cavorting in dirty hotel rooms and bathrooms with a scrawny male companion, who runs hot and cold on the pop singer and eventually gets beaten up in a pool hall. (Don't ask.) Later, he's making out with another girl, all while Swift -- in her Debbie Harry Sunday best -- looks on in horror.

"I don't know if you know who you are until you lose who you are," Swift says at the end of the video.

It's like Rihanna's "We Found Love" video, without anything actually scary. At least Swift's song is great.