We need to talk about Taylor Swift’s new video.

Ultra-megastar, talented songwriter and feminist cat-lover Taylor Swift has released the video for her new track, Bad Blood.

In case you missed it, the four-minute video features the 25-year-old as a superhero alongside about a billion famous friends including Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, Cara Delevigne, Hailee Steinfeld, Cindy Crawford, Elly Goulding, Jessica Alba, Ellen Pompeo and Zendaya (Yes, it makes you a bit insecure about the relatively modest size of your own girl gang.)

There are so many things to love about the Bad Blood clip: Physically strong, kickboxing women doing something other than talking about men. Women using typically ‘girly’ symbols of femininity like make-up compacts to kick arse. Tarantino-style explosions. Cat references. Cultural diversity (a bit, at least).

But there’s another view about the video circulating online a bit today: The widely held theory that the whole clip is a dig at Katy Perry, and the resulting question about whether the clip is a bit… well… mean.

Who’s actually in this video, you ask? Post continues after gallery:

Taylor Swift music video.

Selena Gomez as Arsyn.

Taylor Swift music video.

Cindy Crawford as Headmistress.

Taylor Swift music video.

Cara Delevingne as Mother Chucker.

Taylor Swift music video.

Jessica Alba as Domino.

Taylor Swift music video.

Martha Hunt as HomeSlice.

Taylor Swift music video.

Taylor Swift as Catastrophe.

Taylor Swift music video.

Ellen Pompeo as Luna.

Taylor Swift music video.

Mariska Hargitay as Justice.

Taylor Swift music video.

Serayah as Dilemma.

Taylor Swift music video.

Karlie Kloss as Knockout.

Taylor Swift music video.

Kendrick Lamar as Welvin Da Great.

Taylor Swift music video.

Lena Dunham as Lucky Fiori.

Taylor Swift music video.

Hailee Steinfeld as 'The Trinity'.

Taylor Swift music video.

Lily Aldridge as Frostbyte.

Taylor Swift music video.

Zendaya as Cut-Throat.

Taylor Swift music video.

Hayley Williams as 'The Crimson Curse'.

Taylor Swift music video.

Gigi Hadid as Slay-Z.

Taylor Swift music video.

Ellie Goulding as 'Destructa X'.

Taylor Swift music video.

Taylor Swift as Catastrophe.

Taylor Swift music video.

Taylor Swift and Martha Hunt.

Let me back up a little. If you haven’t heard about the Katy – Taylor rift (don’t worry, I hadn’t until yesterday, either), Taylor seemed to throw shade at 30-year-old Roar singer Katy in a Rolling Stone interview last year, when she described the inspiration for Bad Blood using this anecdote:

Perry tweeted shortly thereafter, “Watch out for the Regina George in sheep’s clothing,” — a reference to a Mean Girls character which, according to gossip sites, confirmed the rift between the two.

Then the Bad Blood clip came out this week. And it shows Swift in hand-to-hand combat with an arch-enemy played by Selena Gomez, who is wearing a Katy Perry-style blunt bob. Who gets roundly defeated by Swift’s character in the video – while the lyrics say things about having scars from being stabbed in the back by an ex-friend.

Ouch.

Now, I don’t presume to know the first thing about Perry and Swift’s relationship.

Maybe Katy and Taylor are actually besties and they’re both in on the joke; Maybe it’s a post-post-modern feminist satire about the media’s obsession with ‘catfights’.

Maybe Katy has better things to worry about, and couldn’t care less even if the song is about her, and I should just mind my own business and get back to writing current affairs.

Maybe.

Or maybe the video is about Katy Perry — in which case, isn’t Taylor Swift essentially saying in a very public forum: “Dear Katy: look at my clique of girlfriends. We would like to destroy you”?

If that’s the case, it makes me cry a little bit inside.

Because Taylor Swift has millions and millions of young female fans. And ever since she came out as a feminist last year, she’s been doing her bit to make her female fans feel empowered, and to value female friendship, and to be goofy and clever and comfortable in their own skin.