Wildest Dreams

Taylor co-wrote “Wildest Dreams” with producers Max Martin and Shellback. Musically, the song is a synth-pop and dream pop power ballad that incorporates an atmospheric production equipped with string instruments and Taylor’s heartbeat as its beat. The lyrics describe her plea for her lover to remember her well despite the inevitable end of their relationship. She has said the following on the song:

“I think the way I used to approach relationships was very idealistic. I used to go into them thinking, ‘Maybe this is the one — we’ll get married and have a family, this could be forever’. Whereas now I go in thinking, ‘How long do we have on the clock — before something comes along and puts a wrench in it, or your publicist calls and says this isn’t a good idea?’” — Taylor Swift

COMMERICAL PERFORMANCE
“Wildest Dreams” was released to radio on August 31, 2015, as the album’s fifth single. The radio edit of the song was slightly different to the album’s version, using heavier percussion. In the US, it reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Taylor’s fifth consecutive top ten from “1989”.

The single also reached No. 1 on Billboard’s pop airplay-focused charts: Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Top 40. With this achievement, “1989” became the album with the most number of Adult Top 40 number-one songs (five), tying with Katy Perry’s 2010 album “Teenage Dream”.

Later, a remix by Dutch DJ R3hab was released digitally in October 11, 2015.

MUSIC VIDEO
The accompanying music video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who had previously assumed the role for the music videos for the singles “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood” from “1989”. The music video was filmed primarily in the Serengeti plain in Tanzania, with additional shots filmed in Los Angeles. The video premiered on television during the pre-show of the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards on August 31, 2015. Scott Eastwood appeared in the video as Taylor’s love interest. In the video, Taylor plays a fictional actress named Majorie Finn which is a reference to her grandmother, Majorie Finlay (to whom she dedicated the song “marjorie” on her ninth studio album, “evermore“). Eastwood plays a fictional actor named Robert Kingsley, combining Taylor’s grandfather’s name Robert and her father’s middle name Kingsley. Taylor came up with the concept after reading “The Secret Conversations” (2013), a memoir book of actress Ava Gardner who co-wrote it with journalist Peter Evans. Her premise for the video was that in the 1950s, it would be impossible for actors to not fall in love if they were isolated together in Africa. Taylor donated all of the proceeds from the video to wild animal conservation efforts through the African Parks Foundation of America.

LIVE PERFORMNACES
Taylor performed a stripped-down rendition of “Wildest Dreams” on an electric guitar as part of the “Taylor Swift Experience” exhibition at the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live on September 30, 2015. She included the song on the set list of the “1989 World Tour” (2015), where she performed “Wildest Dream” as part of a mashup with “Enchanted“, a song from her third studio album, “Speak Now” (2010).