Taylor Swift‘s latest album Midnights has smashed record after record, as the pop singer leisurely strolls to the top of the charts. Another chart-topper, albeit a very different type of chart, is Millie Bobby Brown – whose show Stranger Things dominated the Netflix Top 10 for a lot of this year. With her latest film releasing on the platform tomorrow, Brown has picked out the perfect Swift song from one of the artist’s earlier albums to match her character in Enola Holmes 2.
The sequel will take us back to Victorian England to watch the young detective try to take her businesses to new heights, only to be met with disbelief and confusion over her age, her gender, and the fact she is not her brother, Sherlock. The film sees the return of Brown in the titular role, as well as Henry Cavill as Sherlock, Louis Partridge as Viscount Tewkesbury, and Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes.
Enola Holmes 2 comes out only two weeks after the release of Midnights, Swift’s 10th studio album, which fans have been going crazy for, allowing it to become the most successful release of the last seven years. Brown herself has also been a huge fan of the artist for some time now, and the two met when she went to Swift’s Reputation tour in 2018, resulting in an adorable selfie of the pair together.
Talking to Screen Rant about her Netflix sequel, Brown was asked which Swift song she felt best matched her character the most, and the actress responded with “The Man” from Swift’s 2019 Lover album.
“It explains itself really. If you actually watch the music video, it’s Taylor dressed up as a man, and it’s like what she would do if she was a man. I think Enola would love to be a man because she’d know that she could get further in life. I think it’s a very good song.”
The song looks at and plays with the idea of gendered roles, and how the artist would have been perceived for her past actions and mistakes if she were a man, something that we are sure Brown’s Enola is all too familiar with. The music video shows Swift dressed up as a man to make her point, another similarity found in Enola Holmes, with the character disguising herself to flee the restrictive life her older brothers have decided for her.
As a woman, Enola is constantly undermined and looked down upon, and it doesn’t help that she has the direct comparison of her brother, with whom she shares the same field of detective work and yet is treated very differently. Unlike her brother, she is “not allowed” to make decisions for herself and isn’t considered as capable, despite her obvious intelligence and physical abilities. It is more than likely that the second film will continue to delve into these issues.
Enola Holmes 2 will be available to stream on Netflix form Nov. 4.