Taylor Swift and Ryan Reynolds are teaming up to create a very funny Match.com commercial that perfectly tells the story of 2020. The new advertisement also has another significance: It's the first time re-recorded music from Swift's old albums has been shared with the public. More on that later.
Reynolds first tweeted the ad, writing, "A match made in hell is still a @match. Latest work from @MaximumEffort #2020LoveStory."
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Maximum Effort is the 44-year-old actor's creative company and is described in its Twitter bio as a company that makes "movies, TV series, content and cocktails for the personal amusement of @VancityReynolds. We occasionally release them to the general public."
In the ad, viewers see a larger-than-life Satan bored in what appears to be hell. The demonic creature gets a notification alerting him that he has a new match, and he then huddles under a picturesque bridge in what looks like Central Park, waiting for his potential, new love. A young woman enters the frame and introduces herself. Her name? 2020.
“Match is responsible for bringing millions of people together and even in this dumpster fire of a year, people somehow found love on Match,” Reynolds said in a statement sent to TODAY. “We just imagined what a ‘2020 match’ would look like and this video was the natural, slightly warped result. Also, this stuff gives me something to think about during the board meetings.”
Throughout the ad, we see the pair enjoy the fruits of an empty New York City, as well as partake in some very 2020 experiences, like toilet-paper hoarding. Midway through, Swift's 2008 hit song "Love Story" plays, but as Swift explained in a tweet, this version is a recent re-recording.
The 30-year-old musician posted on Twitter: “Okay so while my new re-records are NOT done, my friend @VancityReynolds asked me if he could use a snippet of one for a LOLsome commercial he wrote so… here’s a sneak peak of Love Story! Working hard to get the music to you soon!!”
"Love Story," the lead single on Swift's second album, "Fearless," was first released on Sept. 12, 2008. One of the bestselling singles of all time, the song went on to sell 18 million copies worldwide.
Swift is in the process of re-recording her first six albums after failed attempts to negotiate with record executive Scooter Braun, who owned the rights to much of her catalog and recently sold it to a private equity company. Swift has said she will not work with the company because when it purchased her catalog, the arrangement allowed Braun to continue to profit financially from her work.
In November, Swift shared an update with her fans on Twitter. Part of her statement said: “I have recently begun re-recording my older music and it has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling. I have plenty of surprises in store.”
Last week, Swift surprised fans with the release of "Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions" on Disney+, a concert film that shows the pop star and her collaborators on her most recent album playing it together in the same room for the first time. "Folklore" was released in July.