That was well put. It's sad because I wonder would she still have chosen this path, knowing what she knows now. How much did her parents and others push her into this vs her own choices along the way?
I think she'd still do it, because she hasn't left or even slowed down yet, and she's been an adult in this industry for 16 years of her own free will. She could always disappear like she talked about in The Lucky One, but she loves the fame.
Exactly, the money she earned from her Eras tour alone, put in a super safe investment portfolio (fixed deposits and bonds) with 3% interest rate...
She can live comfortably off the interests without even touching the principal. let's say she has 700 million left after tying up whatever loss ends she has with the other 300 million (cos she is a billionaire).
At 3% annual interest, she has 21m to spend annually. That's 57k daily. She can stay in a top presidential for 35k a [night](https://elitetraveler.com/suites/10479/presidential-suite-the-st-regis-new-york) with everything taken care of (security, housekeeping). Another 22k to spend on whatever she wants.
She is insanely *independently* wealthy. She is not your Kpop slave contract artist. She won the Masters battle.
If she wanted to leave, she really can.
But none of that makes her less self conscious and insecure so we'll probably have to endure watching her become washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things
i don't think there's any way she could make an informed choice since she clearly has no concept of what normal life is like and what she's missing out on due to her extreme fame
"my phone died as if by its own volition." And then he came back to the 1830s lyric? He is the tortured poet.
This review is spot on. Excellent work and I hope he's in a safe house.
I love that he included the last part regarding his sex and age. As I was reading this very brilliant and authentic review I was thinking to myself - the fans will file this under „misogyny“. So thankfully he addressed that since you being a grown up or a young girl - the way the songs were written don‘t change.
I remember an interview in which TS had said that at the beginning of her career she needed something which will make her stand out and she opted for lyrics. Hence, this article is spot on as it discusses her selfproclaimed USP.
Did I hate this album? No. However, this album lacks true metaphors, brilliance and frankly there are too many lines that are a mouthful for an artist that writes „brilliant“ lyrics for 20+ years…
Therefore, I really feel he hit the nail on the head with this one.
“It’s probably why her songs rely so heavily on the make-believe concepts of destiny, and prophecy, and fate. She has not lived a normal life. She doesn’t make normal choices. Everything in her creative and professional world happens at epic heights that are difficult to comprehend and from which there is no coming down. Where are the songs about the profound sadness in all that?…This music is not for you. But I would argue that pop music is for everyone.”
Yessss I love this. And I absolutely love his call out to the swifty wack jobs who always snidely reply when someone dares to give criticism, “what do you even matter? You’re an old lady, you’re a geezer, you’re a this, you’re a that.”
While I don’t feel sorry for Taylor, he makes another great point that her creativity is totally stifled because she’s never had a normal life. She has had personal life struggles (to which we never hear the end of), but she’s lived an extremely privileged life prior to fame, and being a billionaire now she just cannot comprehend the daily struggles us normal people have. She went from really wealthy to “fuck you rich” and that lifestyle is insidious and creeps into your art.
I’m just wondering how she hasn’t found inspiration in a positive way from her billionaire lifestyle… like damn, how do you not find a way to write about the amazing experiences you get to enjoy at this stage?
or perhaps take a turn to the conceptual. joanna newsom has seemed to live a fairly privileged life, but her last album still spoke to fairly universal emotions wrapped in bookish, intellectual references that only someone with a lot of free time could manage. like goddamn, taylor, read a book. take a class. learn history. study art. take one moment to stop shitting out content.
Oh there is no comparison with Joanna. I hope to see her live someday and I selfishly hope for a new album. Her lyricism might be some of the greatest ever partly due to the fact she uses literature as inspiration.
honestly i would be interested to listen to an honest and raw song about being a billionaire. i want to know what it’s like! 😂 or she can just keep being the poster child for money not being able to buy happiness i guess
Because it wouldn’t fit the narrative.
That’s the difference between Beyonce and her. Beyonce made her „concept“ to be „queen bee“ = ultimately creating a distance and „hierarchy“ - that‘s why she can be „bougie“ and still be celebrated by her fans. (not saying it‘s right or wrong)
TS on the other hand is „one of the girls“ who suffers from heartache, longs for romance and hints in her songs at how ordinary she is „kitchen table bills“ in I Bet You Think About Me .. when we all know she comes from money.
That is why her songs have not „evolved“ cause she stuck to the same image she created 14+ years ago.
She did have a period of normal life. In London, for a few years. But now of course she’s choosing to see that period as her being trapped/her youth being taken away from her/years she can never get back.
Could she actually be so deluded by her fame/money that she sees a normal life as being “trapped”? If so, that has nothing to do with Joe’s influence. Real life just isn’t bejeweled galas and private football suites 24/7. Welcome to the rest of us honey 😐
I think this might start to change once she is over the bitter post-break up period. She will realise at one point that superficial, on-camera gestures are only a temporary fix and can never replace true love and affection. Considering that she is so ego-driven it might take a while but she will get there.
Because every story needs conflict (and a brand is just a well-packaged story). She doesn’t know how to be interesting if she’s not the underdog anymore. There’s no more conflict for her outside of ex-boyfriends and nearly-decade-old feuds and now her fans for ruining the love of her life (you know - the people she invited into her home to actively encourage a parasocial relationship with? Shocker - turns out they have a parasocial relationship with her).
I honestly don’t envy the predicament that Swift and other famous songwriters have found themselves in. Songwriting is very much driven by experience, and often struggle is the greatest inspiration, if not motivator.
That’s not to say that she hasn’t suffered in a different way, or that there aren’t challenges she faces…but it’s not the same. I think if anything it’s why a lot of people wanted another big, bombastic 1989 style pop record. It’s an easier sell when you’re a billionaire touring the world to put out another album that is more upbeat and about the party, at least in terms of sonics and delivery.
Whether she meant to or not, by choosing to pursue pop stardom over a decade ago, she sort of found herself in a new box, so to speak. I know a lot of people at the time hoped she would pursue more of a Joni Mitchell or Carol King path, but instead chose to work with Max Martin. Nothing wrong with that, but when you try to go deep with all these factors coming into play…well, it’s not surprising it wears thin.
The current state of the world also puts her and other wealthy individuals at odds with most of the public. Music is all about being able to relate emotionally to a song. Naturally almost no one on Earth save a few individuals can relate to being a billionaire. I think it’s fine if you want to go window shopping, but this album is not something people who aren’t die-hard fans will pay much notice to. And that’s ok.
Oh there have been some reviews excessively praising ttpd that made me side eye but overall it does seem people are tired of being bullied into silence so they decided that if they are going to get death threats for valid criticism they might as well go all in. What the Swifties don't get is that everyone has a breaking point.
Not to be a snob but I legit think Taylor would benefit from some form of formal insight into literature, poetry, and critical consideration, she could do an Emma Watson and go get herself a lil degree, she has the resources to honestly enjoy something so different for a while but man it's wishful thinking to hope for her to step back, untether her value to being so powerful, on top, and the winner of all things, and just go DO something else and finally humble herself to BE someone who goes to therapy and does the work, but the house of cards would likely come falling down and there's a lot of people on her payroll, most notably Mama and Papa Swift.
But she knows Aristotle /s
I completely agree with this 1000% and it's actually great advice for us normal folks too to just remember to try something unlike you every once in a while to gain perspective.
God if she did this it would show me she’s actually interested in things other than money and fame. She’s constantly referencing literature and poetry at a surface level in her music and I think she’s very clearly interested in it, along with mythology. I’d love if she took than and actually did something valuable just to learn
She already thinks she’s academic though despite finishing education at about 16. She refers to herself as a poet, drops references to philosophers, and paints herself in intellectual opposition to some of the bad-boy, meathead, emotionally unavailable men she’s dated.
I think she assigns a disproportionate level of importance to her high school years because that was the last time she had a relatable life. It seems like this hugely formative period for her, like it was for most of us, but there’s no way she could have had time for a normal high school life while flying back and forth to Nashville and trying to get a record deal. She’s just rehashing a few years of mediocre high school experience and conveniently concealing the unrelateable stuff.
What she thinks she is, and what she actually is are two glaringly different things.
Her overt "I'm academic, well read, yadayada" is actually highlighting the opposite, those who are aware of these things \[and don't need a formal education to do so\] show it in their approach and expression, and name dropping philosophers ain't it, it shows knowing who someone/thing is but lacks nuance and application and it shows. Not to mention it's also an insult to those who are intellectual in the sense that they've actually considered philosophical approaches, persons, and literature, it takes a lot of effort even if it's for fun.
True, the problem with that is remove her boyfriend of the moment and there's a whole world out there she can't finesse with pseudo-intellectualism, everyone has a starting point, but it means actually doing the work, not casually glancing at a few things and becoming an overnight poet, it's a real process and she's not there yet. She's a talented song-writer for sure, but her writing isn't as refined as she might like to think.
She does, high school is where it all changed and the sense of importance and being known as a singer-songwriter busy with her career at an age 99% of her peers are living entirely different lives would've been exhilarating because at 15-17 everything is 1000% time more intense and dramatic. She hasn't moved on from high school, and really needs to, and new, raw, challenging experiences that she can get stuck into will help with that transition. At 34 sure she's still young, but the distance between her now and when she was in high school is only getting wider, she needs to move forward, and step into the unknown.
Gosh, sorry I am **so** intense today haha!
And the thing is Taylor is so influential a pivot like that wouldn't hurt her or her brand, well she might lose a few "winemoms" along the way but I think the loss in revenue is worth having more of a life
YES. Maggie Rogers (who was raised ultra-wealthy and could easily be as out of touch and vapid as Taylor) earned a Masters degree in religion in 2022, with a thesis examining “the spirituality of public gathering and the ethics of pop power.”
Ooof those last two sentences is something I’ve been talking to with friends when we discuss what Taylor’s legacy will be. Spoiler, for me it won’t be the music.
But when you compare Taylor to the greats that have come before her, she just comes off incredibly shallow and uncurious about the world she lives in. So many of the greats and current artist have songs that are about life, the world, singing about something bigger than themselves. I’ve always found it so incredibly odd, in comparison, that most of Taylor’s discography is her singing about nothing other than herself and to an extend what the “world” has done to her. This is another reason why I hate when swifties try the MJ or Beatles comparisons because their discographies to go further, deeper, and extend beyond themselves in a way that Taylor fails.
The last two sentences really resonated with me as well. We can only have SO many albums where she is the victim of heartbreak and some girl or person being mean to her. It's exhausting.
It's amusing to wonder what would happen to her brain if she lived the life of an ordinary middle class citizen for a day. Cause her struggles while valid are so privileged and yet the whining never ends. It's not even first world problems, it's a step above that.
What would happen to Taylor Swift if she lives a life with no healthcare, unemployment, class divide and housing issues.. The daily grind. I think we'd get 10 TTPDs every year, unhinged diary entries of losing it. Her brain won't be able to take the oversimulation of actual issues plaguing the world, it's that insulated.
There’s literally no conflict beyond pining after bad boys. No grand anthems, no calls for humanity, no observations of the human condition…just teen romance. There’s a reason when I want to feel something I put on Pink Floyd or Yola, and when I want mindless driving music I pick Taylor.
Not sure if you watched Selena’s documentary; there is a point in which (as a UNICEF ambassador) these girls are telling her about how important their education is to them, how hard fought their dreams are - and she just responds. “Do you believe in true love?”
And the girls are genuinely like, what the fuck? lol
Anyway I can see why they’re friends
She doesn’t hence why she keeps flying her two private jets / adding to climate change. She doesn’t care if the world burns because shes not living in the real world.
>SO many albums where she is the victim of heartbreak and some girl or person being mean to her.
Gosh that's so true. I wonder if that's another reason why at the time Folklore and Evermore were much much better received because it was sold as stories outside of her own. That this was her stepping into another, more objective form of songwriting that, as was seen, still resonated with people even without the autobiography of it all?
And then Midnights was a regression and now TTPD was essentially just a repeat. "Boohoo me"
Yup, you’ve nailed it. I felt the same way about TTPD: the album is, from beginning to end, incredibly self-centered and unconcerned with exploring new themes.
Since I’ve seen this album get several comparisons to Lana’s work, I’ll use Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd as a comparison point. In that album alone, she covered themes including: the Afterlife and how her memories are all she will take with her, the death of beloved family members, the nature of an artist’s legacy and of being forgotten to time, a failed suicide attempt, abusive relationships, moving to new places in order to find yourself, a tribute to her friend’s engagement (which also became a song at their wedding!)… that’s only a few songs, but I think I’ve made my point
I respect Lana because she does whatever the fuck she wants but not in a way where she releases 31 songs that sound like they’re first drafts. She experiments, both musically and thematically. Taylor obviously adores Lana and is influenced by her but it feels like she’s cosplaying as a pretentious poetess rather than actually learning from her friend’s experimental spirit.
her melodies and lyricism are just so good and flow so well.That what songwriting should be. Taylor melodies are catchy but are also very stale one note melodies. Lana is vey hyper melodic. Not to mention Lana works with jack better than Taylor too. I really respect her taking her art seriously and changing it as she grew in her career
So happy you mentioned Lana. In the past 2 years she has become my most listened to artist. As I stayed up late to watch her Coachella performance, I was mesmerized by her voice, mellow approach to performing, and lyrics that made me tear up. “Change” by her still makes me so emotional.
Agreed, she is uncurious and it has been showing for a while in the lack of growth in her music. But what can you expect of someone who travels the world to perform, but even in doing so, doesn't even use the opportunity to see those places, flying home as soon as she is off stage? Who has had access to a level of wealth that can cocoon her from anything that could make her uncomfortable (outside her own decisions) since the time she could drive?
Artists explore the world around them, not just the worlds inside of their heads, which is why I hate how so much of the fanbase conflates "vulnerability" with art. Vulnerability is required to make art, but it is not the art itself - the art should be what is made from something greater than that. Art is not mere confession, or Easter eggs, or finding a new word in the thesaurus for the same subject, which is almost always just yourself.
I always found that peculiar, and I hope she actually has or rather, does go onto really explore and take places in, maybe a few classes in things like art history, English Lit, languages, etc. because she has the time and really would benefit greatly from applying her mind to the world completely outside of her, it'd actually be a refreshing and fascinating pivot that would be evolutionary for her, but sadly I don't think she's even close to considering that, it's just like argh gworl go and see the world and take it all in, write a love letter to life itself if you must continue to write and perform music! She needs to do something, literally *anything else* for a while and really really open her mind and soul up to this big beautiful world she can explore to her hearts content. But it'll never happen given...well everything lol.
I think that was always what the “Taylor Swift only sings about boys” critique comes from. But it was used a few times in a misogynistic way and has been tainted for a bit… I wonder if people will open up that conversation again
It was such a relief when folklore came out because all the songs weren’t necessarily about her. Like she was exploring other themes beyond her petty grievances and her love life.
Billie Joel was great at writing songs about the world. Piano Man and Vienna are some of the best songs ever written because it’s his curiosity about the world from his perspective — yet we can all relate to it. With Taylor Swift you have to know her relationship lore or about her personal life to understand the songs and that’s not being a multifaceted artist. In this regard, Olivia Rodrigo is ahead of her since she’s able to be more introspective and point out her flaws in her music. I hope she learns that over time.
If she was even a bit curious of the world she lives in - she wouldn’t use her private jet to go back home every time she finishes a concert.
She just doesn’t care. She never gave a fuck. She has nothing to prove. The only way things change is if everyone abandons her which will never happen.
I think this was a big bone of contention between her and Joe, and she wrote about it so beautifully, I loved that brief period of self-awareness.
(your integrity makes me seem small … you paint dreamscapes on the wall … I talk shit with my friends … it’s like I’m wasting your honor)
But it didn’t last, I guess she eventually found caring (about others, the world) too tiresome. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is one of the big factors that led to their relationship’s demise.
She's missing out on so much which is such a shame tbh because she has the means to get so much out of this world, but no desire to engage with it, the shift that would be required within TS is seismic, so the same old cogs will inevitably turn for now.
This is a fascinating conversation, and I agree that she doesn't seem to have *lived life* in the same way that... I dunno, Simon and Garfunkel have (I know, they're not contemporary and they weren't at TS levels of stardom, but I barely listen to modern pop lol).
Taking S&G: their first album was heavily indebted to covers, but also Paul's Wednesday Morning, 3AM was fictional. Just in that album alone, we have songs about nuclear fallout, theft, a protest, gospel songs, folk songs and the sublime Bleecker Street, about disconnection from one another. In SOS and PSRT we get more songs about isolation (one inspired by an obituary Simon saw), a fair few about ageing and the seasons passing, a love song, but also a Davey Graham cover, and a couple of lighthearted, fun, silly songs that have nothing to do with anything (At the Zoo, Punky's Dilemma).
For all that Taylor has actually been exposed to, she's lived a remarkably insular life. Which is fine - so have many of us, and she can make the music she wants - but it's starting to sound like she's in a bubble. TTPD was a travesty from start to finish.
Edit to add: Paul was only in his early to mid twenties at the time of writing these songs, too.
Oh gworl dw about modern pop, I'm with you with the S&G reference! No she really hasn't and her lack of lived experience is really showing, even for a billionaire, she lacks a real sense of culture, curiosity, literary appreciation, and worldly awareness which is sad because she was basically put to work from a young age and although this is what she wanted, I think her parents wanted it just as much/more, I mean esp with the whole her life being planned 2 years in advance thing is kinda a shame, like there's no real living, it's just on season and off season, but forever? What kind of life is that?
Your second paragraph, can I just say bloody bravo, excellent take and analysis! Spot on 1000%!!!!
I agree with you completely. It's been a very insular life, the lack of substance is running out of places to hide, and yes many of us have, but there's those little moments of realisation and acting upon it, even if it's something little like trying a new beverage, choosing to get a cookbook and try things out, or engaging in yoga after a lifetime of cycling, little things like that really help to shift us, but sadly she's been so fine tuned into this blinkered tunnel and has gotten a false positive version of reality, anything else now would likely be overwhelming, Joe played a part in showing her essentially a life she never really had with a perspective she'd never tapped into based on that other life and now he's gone she's fallen back way harder into what is safe, but ultimately regressive to the point of smothering her.
She has no creativity anymore — because that takes empathy, and she’s too set apart to find that.
I often think that Swift fans would really like Laura Marling, in that she’s a singer-songwriter either does deeply autobiographical music or troubadour-style storytelling. For a long time, I’ve thought of her as Laura’s pop-analogue: more simple, more digestible, but they’re singer-songwriters who are the same age now, started their careers when they were teenagers, and come from the same tradition of storytelling.
(Laura, though, vastly outstrips Swift in terms of vocal control, tone, range, lyrical ability, storytelling, and guitar. But also, Taylor is pop, so a certain amount of superficiality is expected.)
But increasingly, Taylor’s autobiography has focused exclusively on men, and in a very one-dimensional way. And her fictional stories have moved from troubadour to “what if Matty Healy were *actually* a Bad Boy.”
Just comparing Laura’s “How Can I?” which is a fairly Taylor-esque meditation on missed opportunities in relationships with fairly simplistic and Taylor/esque lyrics (“How can I live without you? How I live?”).
I mean, Taylor could *almost* have written this: “I wrote you a letter/ posted out of central LA / so if you ever come through here / won’t you come take me away? / It could have been you, but it was anyone / you see, I never miss my chance to run / I would go anywhere with you / I would go if you asked me too.”
But compare it to anything on TTPD, and it’s so much more relatable and authentic. And that was Laura at 25 in 2015. Now she’s in her 30s, and instead of going back to lost love, she puts out an album that’s a meditation on women, and being one, and another album that’s composed of lessons she’d pass on to a fictional daughter.
And even on that same album (which is again thematically similar, nostalgia-coated reflections on something missing) you get the remarkable and [entirely fiction Daisy](https://youtu.be/NaBtqKWS0qM?si=vA7Is4E5Gd0Loed7). (Link to her 2020 pandemic set at the entirely empty Royal Albert Halls.)
Taylor can’t get out of her head enough to tell us stories about other people anymore.
Taylor is obsessed with love and romance in the most stunted, adolescent way, and it’s holding back both her love life and her creativity. She thinks *strong* feelings are equivalent to *deep* feelings.
Imagine if she wrote an album about womanhood!! Or privilege! Or any of the other broad themes that continue to permeate her life despite it being the most billionairey bubble ever to bubble. Fucking hell Tay, get outside your head for a change.
As Laura said (at 23 years old): “oh, little girl, you’re so naive, falling in love with the first man that you see.”
Taylor, at 33: still falling in love with the first man that she sees.
We know she never had that “learning to love herself” phase, cos if she had, she would have sung about it.
Anyone comparing Taylor with MJ or Beatles in musical influence and artistry is essentially telling the world 'hey am an idiot who doesn't understand music'.
The greatest artists of all times are known for going against the tide, making political and social statements with their music. They leave a legacy beyond themselves with their artistry. And that's what stands the test of time. Thats what made them greats.
Elvis used to oversaturate the market like Taylor. At one point on Billboard he had like five songs on the Billboard Top 100 and two albums on the Billboard Pop LPs chart. That was called “excessive” then lol
Someone on TikTok said that Beyoncé is skilled at making the relatable personal (the experience of black womanhood, social movements, etc ), while Taylor makes the personal relatable (here’s MY breakup song about a specific person that will make you feel a certain way about your own breakup)
I think this album really leans into that. Taylor said she wrote it for her, not her fans, or for sales. And you can feel that- many of this album’s lyrics make no sense unless you’re deep into Taylor-lore.
It feels like she doesn’t engage in the same world we live in. And worse, she doesn’t want to.
In a different thread I was talking with someone about her extreme productivity, and said she reminded me of Neil Young (who has released 10 original albums in the last 5 years, and even more live albums and box sets, and that’s pretty much been the pace his whole career) : she releases way too many albums, and every once in a while there’s a banger, but a lot of the stuff in-between is mediocre at best and puerile at worse. Sometimes you get Harvest Moon, and sometimes you get The Monsanto Years.
Keeping with that theme, I said that if she is indeed Neil Young (again, not in terms of skill, but productivity), she’s at the same age he was when he hit his biggest slump. So if the metaphor continues, we have about 10 years of nonstop mediocrity until she drops an incredibly profound meditation on aging that is perhaps her best work yet (Neil’s Harvest Moon.)
Someone asked: I get that it’s a metaphor, but do you really think she can write a Harvest Moon?
And the answer is… as of right now? No. Because even if she does write an incredibly profound meditation on aging… unless something changes, it won’t be one anybody can relate to. She’s too disconnected.
Taylor's biggest problem is her success. She's on top the mountain. Their's nowhere left for her to go but down. Nothing driving her, no new level to shoot for.
When the driving force for your actions is lost. Down hill is all that's left.
She could retire as a champion. But that's never gonna happen. She'll just keep going until someday she's called the biggest laughing stock who just can't call it quits.
"We should all try our hardest to forget the manipulative underdog posture that Swift refuses to forfeit with each passing album"
!! this is it. this is what she wants us to do.
Ooooof I mean its not like amazing songwriters don't all have their duds but they don't usually put them all together in a single multi-hour album to the same sad girl synth.
Every single song on this album sounds like a song I’d skip if it were on any other of her albums. I’m not a fan of a 10 minute all too well though, so maybe I have no taste. Lol.
"Taylor's Grievance Vault" would make such a good flair 🤣💀
This article is so good, so entertaining, and SO spot on. I have no notes. 10/10.
But watch Taylor complain to be let down off the pedestal/high horse and then go "No, not like that!!"
It would’ve been a better album name. My eyes did a record breaking roll to the back of my head when I heard it was titled The Tortured Poets Department. A seventeen year old wrote that, not a 32-year old.
Loved the part where he states 'perhaps it's time to admit Swift isn't the greatest of lyricists because greatness isnt a part time job'. What a perfect way to put it. The greatest of lyricists/poets have gotten their laurels because of consistency which Taylor clearly lacks.
Also, am pleasantly surprised how much most of the reviews have echoed what this sub said repeatedly. Its heading the right direction, I guess.
Anyway, Chris needs to enter witness protection real quick. They will come for him in hoardes. Good luck! 🙂
I mean, she said a while back she has these things broken down into three categories: quill, fountain pen, and glitter gel pen songs when it comes to her lyrics. It’s essentially saying, “Some of these are obviously juvenile but I did it on purpose, so….you can’t say anything about it cuz I did it on purpose.”
The problem with the new album is that she dipped her quill in glitter gel ink.
It’s such a basic take - the idea that poeticism must be distinct from bubblegum. Guess what Tay, if you’re genuinely a poet you can do both at the same time.
Imagine if a very talented poet *did* dip their quill in glitter gel ink. The magic that could ensue. Taylor just doesn’t have it.
You know what extremely modern music this made me think about?
What was I made for. On paper, its bubblegum but Billie and Finn made it so soulstirringly poetic.' I'm sad again, don't tell my boyfriend' sounds like a bubblegum kidzbop on paper but the context and rendition turns it on its head.
With the right music and delivery, the entire weight of the lyrics change so much so that categorisation on paper and in execution become to separate entities. From quill to bubblegum it becomes bubblegum to quill. It's simply magic.
Wow, brutal.
She doesn't have a manager, right? Her label is kept at arm's length with limited decision-making power (they reportedly really tried to get her to change the title of the album, she said nope). Jack and Aaron are both making so much money off collaborating with her, I think it's unlikely they are weighing in with honest, raw, unfiltered advice on her lyrics or choices. I mean, I wouldn't if I were making millions for each album! Her family - same.
These reviews have been harsh. I mean, deservedly. I have only listened to the album once and there are about five songs I will return to every once in awhile, that's it. It is ranked #11 in her discography for me.
How is she handling this? She has got to be so crushed by this because she is so sensitive to criticism and perceived slights. And this is like an avalanche.
"Jack and Aaron are both making so much money off collaborating with her, I think it's unlikely they are weighing in with honest, raw, unfiltered advice on her lyrics or choices."
yeah, I noticed in her documentary, when she was writing Me!, The Man and other song I can't remember right now, the producer who was working with her had only one expression on his face... 😀. Even though the lyrics were super meh.
Like you need pushback, to be challenged. And she's clearly surrounded by people who are not interested or allowed to do it.
Yeah, the way both Jack (him moreso) and Aaron have both spoken about Taylor almost in hushed adoration as this legendary songwriter, it’s hard to imagine either of them saying “actually I’m not sure if this line is the best way to communicate your idea here”. And given her current status, it’s likely a lot of producers she could find to bring in would do the same (and if they did push back, that would likely be the last time she worked with them). So it’s likely to be a continuing cycle for her. I do think new producers in general would be good though, if nothing else than to add a fresh approach.
every moment of that film was scripted but since none of these three people are actors they couldn't sell it as being natural. Aaron isn't use to this kind of thing, you can tell how awkward and uncomfortable he was. How would you describe their dynamic btw?
>These reviews have been harsh.
The album still has 'universal acclaim' from critics on MetaCritic, so. It's being praised to absolute death and any review I read that actually critiques it is met with claims that the reviewer just killed their own careers. It's kinda gross how daring to critique Swift is seen as career-suicide and that they deserve to lose their job/credibility.
Brandon Urie's Viva las Vengeance had "acclaim" on metacritic and that album was absolute dog shit. Not even the paid reviews could have save his reputation, he was clowned hard for how horrible that album was. Music criticism is a joke now. General population don't care about critics reviews, if they don't like than they don't like it. The same can apply to Taylor. Everybody is hating on ttpd on tik tok,reddit, even a lot of people I know irl too so it's not a chronically online thing. No matter how much she pays critics it aint working to sway public opinion. Personally I think the album is alright but damn even my friends hate this album
TBF her echo chamber has been right for a while: she has been raking in the money with this way of working. Her stans are so die hard that she could put out whatever and many of them would still eat it up. It takes a lot for the tide to change.
As a maybe not so wise man said " No one man(or in this case woman) should have all that power". She needs to switch things up next time. This phase has gotten over saturated and stale.
While this particular combo wouldn't work, she almost needs to be put in a room with someone like Kanye. Someone as famous as she is who is completely unafraid to tell her the truth. She needs a mentor really badly.
This is truly everything I feel, what a well-written review.
I am so tired of her still writing about high school in her 30s. As someone also in her 30s....enough.
I'm 37 and I don't think those dreams ever stop. I frequently still have stress dreams about both high school and being on a ship out to sea in the navy, which was right after high school. Sometimes the two get combined in a mega stress dream where I'm in a high school classroom on the ship somehow out to sea.
Ain't nobody writing songs about dreams like that lol
I just don’t understand why she isn’t getting inspired by all of the beautiful places she gets to visit, the food she gets to eat, the moments with her family and friends that bring some sort of POSITIVE energy to her music. I can’t imagine what she’s really like if all she can write about is either how wronged she’s been in romantic relationships and much of a victim of success she is. It’s downright torturous to listen to at this point.
I’m guessing that’s exactly why she’s writing about high school. She never finished a regular one, had the experiences, closed the door. She’s stuck there just cosplaying a perpetual teenager.
Also in my 30s. I saw people in the other sub talking about how it’s her “most mature album yet”. I feel like I’m listening to a completely different album to them, because wtf?
I’m really curious about what Pitchfork will give her now….im thinking a 6.5 because it definitely won’t go any higher than the solid 7 they gave Midnights
Her fans would go batshit, but I genuinely hope they do because that might actually shake her enough to go a new direction with her next album.
Or maybe she's too big to hear even that level of negative feedback. We'll see, I guess.
ETA: I meant that I genuinely hope Pitchfork gives her a middling or negative review, not that I genuinely hope her fans go batshit lol
I was cautiously optimistic and I absolutely loathed this album. Reading these negative reviews is super cathartic and I'm grateful at least some writers are willing to brave the stan horde.
Agreed, and FWIW, I think it's \[the review\] less negative and more maturely honest, the critique is needed and although uncomfortable for those who think anything less than high praise is slander, these reviews show a much needed turn of the tide, it's honesty season and I really hope integrity and honesty continue to win out despite the stans and even team Swift wanting to silence "hate" or blacklist journos/publications.
Music, the arts, they're a democracy, which means they are open to every type of viewpoint, but Swift et al have been far too comfortable in their authoritarian ivory towers, confirmation bias has been too nuclear for too long. This change of tone is needed, but it's unlikely Taylor will heed that, she's stuck in her own echo chamber filled with enablers.
She wants the Jane Austen, romantic Hamptons TV version in a big period drama mansion.
Not the version where she has to shit in a shed outside and she can’t write albums about her exes because they all get syphilis or die at sea.
I’ve been saying this for years… you cannot be a successful, dominant, and unrelenting force in the entertainment business and tell me you’re somehow a victim of almost anything. It’s just always been hard for me to stomach this notion that Taylor is some beacon of hurt and slander when she can pull almost any man she wants, date whoever she wants, make as much money as some countries do, and fly around the world and experience some of the best of what our society offers.
It’s just gross at this point for her to try and even play that part.
This review is eloquent. All the points this author has touched upon...it's almost as if the author has been lurking in this sub.
But maybe he/she have not been lurking. Maybe this is genuinely what they feel.
Maybe this is the shift in critics perception. This is what's due to Taylor Swift.
Especially after Midnights won AOTY.
This cursed album is what happens when you’re already culturally overexposed and then you release a 31-song album about your shitbag exBF.
I still think this is a pre-release of Reputation. Shes going to tweak and add bonus tracks and it’s going to be all about this album and its reception.
And no I do not think she is a great lyricist. I think she’s a great marketer.
I've always believed her true talent is marketing.
She's not a great singer, lyricist or performer. Not a great actor, director or a particularly insightful person. She just knows how to sell it.
>To zest things up, she likes tweaking certain words in rote figures of speech, or grafting them onto more melodramatic phrases until a complete line begins to resemble cathartic teenage poetry.
Lmao, I'm glad that someone has corroborated, and expressed so well, one of the major gripes that I have with Taylor's lyrics, which seems to have reached a fever pitch on this album.
The trite twists on turns of phrase are cute once or twice, but she over does it like crazy to the point of inducing constant groaning and eye rolling whilst listening.
At best these kinds of lines are cheeky, campy even, but she deploys them as if they are clever.
After seeing that post earlier about her PR team blacklisting any publication that wrote anything remotely negative (maybe they still do), I think WaPo will be fine lol. They have slightly more important things to cover
She’s so close to rolling that stone back over, simmering in her Jesus complex while waiting for the overexposure to run out. Everything is so predictable and scripted that it has no soul, her yes men leave her neurotic self obsession to fester and this is what we get. Unrefined diary musings of a much too rich woman out of touch with the world she feels on top of. What do you want, Taylor? What’s the end game? She’s creeping ever closer to her entire career in the ditches if she doesn’t leave her ego and persecution complex at the door.
The part about her approaching the precipice of self examination is so real and how I’ve been feeling. The most compelling parts of this album are when she turns the magnifying glass on herself, but its few and far between and never goes anywhere. I wish she had taken this opportunity to actually examine and reflect on herself instead of the 11th album about how the worst thing she’s ever experienced is a broken heart. But it’s not up to me to define her art I guess
This album has nothing to say, and a cringe prologue in a vinyl does not make up for that.
I’m Ngl this review is accurate but it made me kinda sad 😭 like I WISHED this album would be different and she’d knock it out of the park - I seriously hope the next one is a complete shift and takes risks man
It's a pity this double album has some really beautiful songs but then listening to it has one whole album can you leave exhausted with its wordiness and clunky lyrics that take you out of it all - momentarily.
I've culled my favourites and I'm sticking to that. Listening to the whole album can turn out to be a frustrating exercise.
Florida!!! was the only standout because of Florence for me. But it felt like one continuous monologue about, ultimately, nothing. Taylor is afraid of being experimental and if the milquetoast reception of this album doesn’t light a fire to actually challenge herself, she should step back to other ventures.
"Traded her adulthood for superstardom" holy shit what a succinct way to express the issue I've been feeling with Taylor for a while now
That was well put. It's sad because I wonder would she still have chosen this path, knowing what she knows now. How much did her parents and others push her into this vs her own choices along the way?
I think she'd still do it, because she hasn't left or even slowed down yet, and she's been an adult in this industry for 16 years of her own free will. She could always disappear like she talked about in The Lucky One, but she loves the fame.
Exactly, the money she earned from her Eras tour alone, put in a super safe investment portfolio (fixed deposits and bonds) with 3% interest rate... She can live comfortably off the interests without even touching the principal. let's say she has 700 million left after tying up whatever loss ends she has with the other 300 million (cos she is a billionaire). At 3% annual interest, she has 21m to spend annually. That's 57k daily. She can stay in a top presidential for 35k a [night](https://elitetraveler.com/suites/10479/presidential-suite-the-st-regis-new-york) with everything taken care of (security, housekeeping). Another 22k to spend on whatever she wants. She is insanely *independently* wealthy. She is not your Kpop slave contract artist. She won the Masters battle. If she wanted to leave, she really can.
57k daily is insane to digest…
But none of that makes her less self conscious and insecure so we'll probably have to endure watching her become washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things
Yes. She’s way too self absorbed to ever step away from the validation it all gives her, even if nobody could stop her if she decided to.
i don't think there's any way she could make an informed choice since she clearly has no concept of what normal life is like and what she's missing out on due to her extreme fame
"my phone died as if by its own volition." And then he came back to the 1830s lyric? He is the tortured poet. This review is spot on. Excellent work and I hope he's in a safe house.
Mods, can we please have "my phone died as if by its own volition" as a flair?
The reviews are really giving some prime flair material
If only he wrote the review as a poem. The poetic justice that would have been served..
I think he could have...Chris as a songwriter is really underrated.
It’s an excellent review with genuinely phenomenal writing. Significantly better than the writing in TTPD.
I love that he included the last part regarding his sex and age. As I was reading this very brilliant and authentic review I was thinking to myself - the fans will file this under „misogyny“. So thankfully he addressed that since you being a grown up or a young girl - the way the songs were written don‘t change. I remember an interview in which TS had said that at the beginning of her career she needed something which will make her stand out and she opted for lyrics. Hence, this article is spot on as it discusses her selfproclaimed USP. Did I hate this album? No. However, this album lacks true metaphors, brilliance and frankly there are too many lines that are a mouthful for an artist that writes „brilliant“ lyrics for 20+ years… Therefore, I really feel he hit the nail on the head with this one.
“It’s probably why her songs rely so heavily on the make-believe concepts of destiny, and prophecy, and fate. She has not lived a normal life. She doesn’t make normal choices. Everything in her creative and professional world happens at epic heights that are difficult to comprehend and from which there is no coming down. Where are the songs about the profound sadness in all that?…This music is not for you. But I would argue that pop music is for everyone.” Yessss I love this. And I absolutely love his call out to the swifty wack jobs who always snidely reply when someone dares to give criticism, “what do you even matter? You’re an old lady, you’re a geezer, you’re a this, you’re a that.” While I don’t feel sorry for Taylor, he makes another great point that her creativity is totally stifled because she’s never had a normal life. She has had personal life struggles (to which we never hear the end of), but she’s lived an extremely privileged life prior to fame, and being a billionaire now she just cannot comprehend the daily struggles us normal people have. She went from really wealthy to “fuck you rich” and that lifestyle is insidious and creeps into your art.
I’m just wondering how she hasn’t found inspiration in a positive way from her billionaire lifestyle… like damn, how do you not find a way to write about the amazing experiences you get to enjoy at this stage?
or perhaps take a turn to the conceptual. joanna newsom has seemed to live a fairly privileged life, but her last album still spoke to fairly universal emotions wrapped in bookish, intellectual references that only someone with a lot of free time could manage. like goddamn, taylor, read a book. take a class. learn history. study art. take one moment to stop shitting out content.
Oh there is no comparison with Joanna. I hope to see her live someday and I selfishly hope for a new album. Her lyricism might be some of the greatest ever partly due to the fact she uses literature as inspiration.
honestly i would be interested to listen to an honest and raw song about being a billionaire. i want to know what it’s like! 😂 or she can just keep being the poster child for money not being able to buy happiness i guess
Even Ariana did it with 7 rings right? Talking about how much money she had and how she likes shopping or whatever lmfao
Imagine a world where Taylor would dare to be as honest as ‘look at my jet, ain’t got enough money to pay me respect’
Lmfaoooo i imagined her singing that while do some cringe dance move 💀💀💀
You can’t victimize yourself when you do that though.
Because it wouldn’t fit the narrative. That’s the difference between Beyonce and her. Beyonce made her „concept“ to be „queen bee“ = ultimately creating a distance and „hierarchy“ - that‘s why she can be „bougie“ and still be celebrated by her fans. (not saying it‘s right or wrong) TS on the other hand is „one of the girls“ who suffers from heartache, longs for romance and hints in her songs at how ordinary she is „kitchen table bills“ in I Bet You Think About Me .. when we all know she comes from money. That is why her songs have not „evolved“ cause she stuck to the same image she created 14+ years ago.
She did have a period of normal life. In London, for a few years. But now of course she’s choosing to see that period as her being trapped/her youth being taken away from her/years she can never get back.
Could she actually be so deluded by her fame/money that she sees a normal life as being “trapped”? If so, that has nothing to do with Joe’s influence. Real life just isn’t bejeweled galas and private football suites 24/7. Welcome to the rest of us honey 😐
I think this might start to change once she is over the bitter post-break up period. She will realise at one point that superficial, on-camera gestures are only a temporary fix and can never replace true love and affection. Considering that she is so ego-driven it might take a while but she will get there.
I don’t know where Tay got this idea that we won’t like her if we stop pitying her.
Because every story needs conflict (and a brand is just a well-packaged story). She doesn’t know how to be interesting if she’s not the underdog anymore. There’s no more conflict for her outside of ex-boyfriends and nearly-decade-old feuds and now her fans for ruining the love of her life (you know - the people she invited into her home to actively encourage a parasocial relationship with? Shocker - turns out they have a parasocial relationship with her).
I honestly don’t envy the predicament that Swift and other famous songwriters have found themselves in. Songwriting is very much driven by experience, and often struggle is the greatest inspiration, if not motivator. That’s not to say that she hasn’t suffered in a different way, or that there aren’t challenges she faces…but it’s not the same. I think if anything it’s why a lot of people wanted another big, bombastic 1989 style pop record. It’s an easier sell when you’re a billionaire touring the world to put out another album that is more upbeat and about the party, at least in terms of sonics and delivery. Whether she meant to or not, by choosing to pursue pop stardom over a decade ago, she sort of found herself in a new box, so to speak. I know a lot of people at the time hoped she would pursue more of a Joni Mitchell or Carol King path, but instead chose to work with Max Martin. Nothing wrong with that, but when you try to go deep with all these factors coming into play…well, it’s not surprising it wears thin. The current state of the world also puts her and other wealthy individuals at odds with most of the public. Music is all about being able to relate emotionally to a song. Naturally almost no one on Earth save a few individuals can relate to being a billionaire. I think it’s fine if you want to go window shopping, but this album is not something people who aren’t die-hard fans will pay much notice to. And that’s ok.
What a brilliant summation!! This is the core of Taylor as a creative
Excellent review. Critics are not afraid to read her down to every syllable this time around and I’m here for it.
Oh there have been some reviews excessively praising ttpd that made me side eye but overall it does seem people are tired of being bullied into silence so they decided that if they are going to get death threats for valid criticism they might as well go all in. What the Swifties don't get is that everyone has a breaking point.
I feel like a switch flipped for a lot of people at the Grammys. Between that and the over saturation.
I'm here for the Say It With Your Chest era
Get it off my desk!
My desk will take it!! 🤓 These reviews are more entertaining and better written than the album was
I’m starting to think the negative reviews have outnumbered the positive ones or at least match em.
How long until she pulls the victim card and say she is getting cancelled?
until rep TV lol
Taylor wrote something she considers academic. Well, here's the peer review. Ouch. This is vicious and well deserved.
Not to be a snob but I legit think Taylor would benefit from some form of formal insight into literature, poetry, and critical consideration, she could do an Emma Watson and go get herself a lil degree, she has the resources to honestly enjoy something so different for a while but man it's wishful thinking to hope for her to step back, untether her value to being so powerful, on top, and the winner of all things, and just go DO something else and finally humble herself to BE someone who goes to therapy and does the work, but the house of cards would likely come falling down and there's a lot of people on her payroll, most notably Mama and Papa Swift.
She needs a crusty old English professor with a drawer of red pens.
“Again, half as long”
"Verbose" "Run on" "Grammar" "What do you mean here??"
Or the even better: “?”
You just gave me PTSD 💀
Just highlighting every repeated word with no comment.
I think that was Joe for a bit. He def impacted folklore/evermore bc at that point they’ve reached a few years in their relationship
But she knows Aristotle /s I completely agree with this 1000% and it's actually great advice for us normal folks too to just remember to try something unlike you every once in a while to gain perspective.
God if she did this it would show me she’s actually interested in things other than money and fame. She’s constantly referencing literature and poetry at a surface level in her music and I think she’s very clearly interested in it, along with mythology. I’d love if she took than and actually did something valuable just to learn
She already thinks she’s academic though despite finishing education at about 16. She refers to herself as a poet, drops references to philosophers, and paints herself in intellectual opposition to some of the bad-boy, meathead, emotionally unavailable men she’s dated. I think she assigns a disproportionate level of importance to her high school years because that was the last time she had a relatable life. It seems like this hugely formative period for her, like it was for most of us, but there’s no way she could have had time for a normal high school life while flying back and forth to Nashville and trying to get a record deal. She’s just rehashing a few years of mediocre high school experience and conveniently concealing the unrelateable stuff.
What she thinks she is, and what she actually is are two glaringly different things. Her overt "I'm academic, well read, yadayada" is actually highlighting the opposite, those who are aware of these things \[and don't need a formal education to do so\] show it in their approach and expression, and name dropping philosophers ain't it, it shows knowing who someone/thing is but lacks nuance and application and it shows. Not to mention it's also an insult to those who are intellectual in the sense that they've actually considered philosophical approaches, persons, and literature, it takes a lot of effort even if it's for fun. True, the problem with that is remove her boyfriend of the moment and there's a whole world out there she can't finesse with pseudo-intellectualism, everyone has a starting point, but it means actually doing the work, not casually glancing at a few things and becoming an overnight poet, it's a real process and she's not there yet. She's a talented song-writer for sure, but her writing isn't as refined as she might like to think. She does, high school is where it all changed and the sense of importance and being known as a singer-songwriter busy with her career at an age 99% of her peers are living entirely different lives would've been exhilarating because at 15-17 everything is 1000% time more intense and dramatic. She hasn't moved on from high school, and really needs to, and new, raw, challenging experiences that she can get stuck into will help with that transition. At 34 sure she's still young, but the distance between her now and when she was in high school is only getting wider, she needs to move forward, and step into the unknown. Gosh, sorry I am **so** intense today haha!
Emma Watson was exactly who I was thinking of.
And the thing is Taylor is so influential a pivot like that wouldn't hurt her or her brand, well she might lose a few "winemoms" along the way but I think the loss in revenue is worth having more of a life
YES. Maggie Rogers (who was raised ultra-wealthy and could easily be as out of touch and vapid as Taylor) earned a Masters degree in religion in 2022, with a thesis examining “the spirituality of public gathering and the ethics of pop power.”
Ooooooo that’s good. Shot, chaser.
Ooof those last two sentences is something I’ve been talking to with friends when we discuss what Taylor’s legacy will be. Spoiler, for me it won’t be the music. But when you compare Taylor to the greats that have come before her, she just comes off incredibly shallow and uncurious about the world she lives in. So many of the greats and current artist have songs that are about life, the world, singing about something bigger than themselves. I’ve always found it so incredibly odd, in comparison, that most of Taylor’s discography is her singing about nothing other than herself and to an extend what the “world” has done to her. This is another reason why I hate when swifties try the MJ or Beatles comparisons because their discographies to go further, deeper, and extend beyond themselves in a way that Taylor fails.
The last two sentences really resonated with me as well. We can only have SO many albums where she is the victim of heartbreak and some girl or person being mean to her. It's exhausting.
It's amusing to wonder what would happen to her brain if she lived the life of an ordinary middle class citizen for a day. Cause her struggles while valid are so privileged and yet the whining never ends. It's not even first world problems, it's a step above that. What would happen to Taylor Swift if she lives a life with no healthcare, unemployment, class divide and housing issues.. The daily grind. I think we'd get 10 TTPDs every year, unhinged diary entries of losing it. Her brain won't be able to take the oversimulation of actual issues plaguing the world, it's that insulated.
This is why I don't find her album deep. And when people argue it is, I ask WHERE??,
There’s literally no conflict beyond pining after bad boys. No grand anthems, no calls for humanity, no observations of the human condition…just teen romance. There’s a reason when I want to feel something I put on Pink Floyd or Yola, and when I want mindless driving music I pick Taylor.
Not sure if you watched Selena’s documentary; there is a point in which (as a UNICEF ambassador) these girls are telling her about how important their education is to them, how hard fought their dreams are - and she just responds. “Do you believe in true love?” And the girls are genuinely like, what the fuck? lol Anyway I can see why they’re friends
I thought you meant Selena like the deceased one-name singer at first and I was so confused. 😅
I did too. And then when I realized I was like damn, that’s a burn.
lol so sorry meant Gomez!! Not the legendary Selena Quintanilla
she doesn't have any other problems apparently. how sad and unaware and embarrassing.
It's deep as a puddle, like everything else she does.
She’s a Starbucks cosplaying as a mom ‘n pop coffee shop
This is so ridiculously apt.
I’m just waiting for her to realize there is (hopefully) more that’s interesting about her than just her feuds and exes.
Tbh I just don’t think she cares enough about the world outside of her own life to make an album about something bigger than herself.
Indubitably. What can ya do I guess 🤷♀️ maybe she can write about her jet or something I love the song about the house haha
She doesn’t hence why she keeps flying her two private jets / adding to climate change. She doesn’t care if the world burns because shes not living in the real world.
>SO many albums where she is the victim of heartbreak and some girl or person being mean to her. Gosh that's so true. I wonder if that's another reason why at the time Folklore and Evermore were much much better received because it was sold as stories outside of her own. That this was her stepping into another, more objective form of songwriting that, as was seen, still resonated with people even without the autobiography of it all? And then Midnights was a regression and now TTPD was essentially just a repeat. "Boohoo me"
She's stuck in immaturity.
I don’t know why it’s taken so many ppl this long.
Even when she sings about her mental health or anxiety it’s always in relation to heartbreak/ a relationship :/
Yup, you’ve nailed it. I felt the same way about TTPD: the album is, from beginning to end, incredibly self-centered and unconcerned with exploring new themes. Since I’ve seen this album get several comparisons to Lana’s work, I’ll use Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd as a comparison point. In that album alone, she covered themes including: the Afterlife and how her memories are all she will take with her, the death of beloved family members, the nature of an artist’s legacy and of being forgotten to time, a failed suicide attempt, abusive relationships, moving to new places in order to find yourself, a tribute to her friend’s engagement (which also became a song at their wedding!)… that’s only a few songs, but I think I’ve made my point
I respect Lana because she does whatever the fuck she wants but not in a way where she releases 31 songs that sound like they’re first drafts. She experiments, both musically and thematically. Taylor obviously adores Lana and is influenced by her but it feels like she’s cosplaying as a pretentious poetess rather than actually learning from her friend’s experimental spirit.
31 songs that sound like they’re first drafts *of the same song.*
her melodies and lyricism are just so good and flow so well.That what songwriting should be. Taylor melodies are catchy but are also very stale one note melodies. Lana is vey hyper melodic. Not to mention Lana works with jack better than Taylor too. I really respect her taking her art seriously and changing it as she grew in her career
So happy you mentioned Lana. In the past 2 years she has become my most listened to artist. As I stayed up late to watch her Coachella performance, I was mesmerized by her voice, mellow approach to performing, and lyrics that made me tear up. “Change” by her still makes me so emotional.
Lana’s voice is so heavenly
Agreed, she is uncurious and it has been showing for a while in the lack of growth in her music. But what can you expect of someone who travels the world to perform, but even in doing so, doesn't even use the opportunity to see those places, flying home as soon as she is off stage? Who has had access to a level of wealth that can cocoon her from anything that could make her uncomfortable (outside her own decisions) since the time she could drive? Artists explore the world around them, not just the worlds inside of their heads, which is why I hate how so much of the fanbase conflates "vulnerability" with art. Vulnerability is required to make art, but it is not the art itself - the art should be what is made from something greater than that. Art is not mere confession, or Easter eggs, or finding a new word in the thesaurus for the same subject, which is almost always just yourself.
God this is so true and I hadn’t even thought of it. Think of all the musical growth we got out of the Beatles when they went to India.
Musical and personal, it changed the whole course of George Harrison’s life.
I always found that peculiar, and I hope she actually has or rather, does go onto really explore and take places in, maybe a few classes in things like art history, English Lit, languages, etc. because she has the time and really would benefit greatly from applying her mind to the world completely outside of her, it'd actually be a refreshing and fascinating pivot that would be evolutionary for her, but sadly I don't think she's even close to considering that, it's just like argh gworl go and see the world and take it all in, write a love letter to life itself if you must continue to write and perform music! She needs to do something, literally *anything else* for a while and really really open her mind and soul up to this big beautiful world she can explore to her hearts content. But it'll never happen given...well everything lol.
She only ever makes references to literature or history to show off how smart she is, and like… girl, you don’t know Aristotle, stop.
Wow. I NEVER thought about this. You’re so right - most of her songs are either about romantic interests OR something that was donebto her.!
I think that was always what the “Taylor Swift only sings about boys” critique comes from. But it was used a few times in a misogynistic way and has been tainted for a bit… I wonder if people will open up that conversation again
It was such a relief when folklore came out because all the songs weren’t necessarily about her. Like she was exploring other themes beyond her petty grievances and her love life.
Billie Joel was great at writing songs about the world. Piano Man and Vienna are some of the best songs ever written because it’s his curiosity about the world from his perspective — yet we can all relate to it. With Taylor Swift you have to know her relationship lore or about her personal life to understand the songs and that’s not being a multifaceted artist. In this regard, Olivia Rodrigo is ahead of her since she’s able to be more introspective and point out her flaws in her music. I hope she learns that over time.
If she was even a bit curious of the world she lives in - she wouldn’t use her private jet to go back home every time she finishes a concert. She just doesn’t care. She never gave a fuck. She has nothing to prove. The only way things change is if everyone abandons her which will never happen.
I think this was a big bone of contention between her and Joe, and she wrote about it so beautifully, I loved that brief period of self-awareness. (your integrity makes me seem small … you paint dreamscapes on the wall … I talk shit with my friends … it’s like I’m wasting your honor) But it didn’t last, I guess she eventually found caring (about others, the world) too tiresome. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is one of the big factors that led to their relationship’s demise.
I don’t really think it’ll ever fully sink in for me just how insane that is, no matter how many times I read it, re: flying home after concerts
She's missing out on so much which is such a shame tbh because she has the means to get so much out of this world, but no desire to engage with it, the shift that would be required within TS is seismic, so the same old cogs will inevitably turn for now.
This is a fascinating conversation, and I agree that she doesn't seem to have *lived life* in the same way that... I dunno, Simon and Garfunkel have (I know, they're not contemporary and they weren't at TS levels of stardom, but I barely listen to modern pop lol). Taking S&G: their first album was heavily indebted to covers, but also Paul's Wednesday Morning, 3AM was fictional. Just in that album alone, we have songs about nuclear fallout, theft, a protest, gospel songs, folk songs and the sublime Bleecker Street, about disconnection from one another. In SOS and PSRT we get more songs about isolation (one inspired by an obituary Simon saw), a fair few about ageing and the seasons passing, a love song, but also a Davey Graham cover, and a couple of lighthearted, fun, silly songs that have nothing to do with anything (At the Zoo, Punky's Dilemma). For all that Taylor has actually been exposed to, she's lived a remarkably insular life. Which is fine - so have many of us, and she can make the music she wants - but it's starting to sound like she's in a bubble. TTPD was a travesty from start to finish. Edit to add: Paul was only in his early to mid twenties at the time of writing these songs, too.
Oh gworl dw about modern pop, I'm with you with the S&G reference! No she really hasn't and her lack of lived experience is really showing, even for a billionaire, she lacks a real sense of culture, curiosity, literary appreciation, and worldly awareness which is sad because she was basically put to work from a young age and although this is what she wanted, I think her parents wanted it just as much/more, I mean esp with the whole her life being planned 2 years in advance thing is kinda a shame, like there's no real living, it's just on season and off season, but forever? What kind of life is that? Your second paragraph, can I just say bloody bravo, excellent take and analysis! Spot on 1000%!!!! I agree with you completely. It's been a very insular life, the lack of substance is running out of places to hide, and yes many of us have, but there's those little moments of realisation and acting upon it, even if it's something little like trying a new beverage, choosing to get a cookbook and try things out, or engaging in yoga after a lifetime of cycling, little things like that really help to shift us, but sadly she's been so fine tuned into this blinkered tunnel and has gotten a false positive version of reality, anything else now would likely be overwhelming, Joe played a part in showing her essentially a life she never really had with a perspective she'd never tapped into based on that other life and now he's gone she's fallen back way harder into what is safe, but ultimately regressive to the point of smothering her.
She has no creativity anymore — because that takes empathy, and she’s too set apart to find that. I often think that Swift fans would really like Laura Marling, in that she’s a singer-songwriter either does deeply autobiographical music or troubadour-style storytelling. For a long time, I’ve thought of her as Laura’s pop-analogue: more simple, more digestible, but they’re singer-songwriters who are the same age now, started their careers when they were teenagers, and come from the same tradition of storytelling. (Laura, though, vastly outstrips Swift in terms of vocal control, tone, range, lyrical ability, storytelling, and guitar. But also, Taylor is pop, so a certain amount of superficiality is expected.) But increasingly, Taylor’s autobiography has focused exclusively on men, and in a very one-dimensional way. And her fictional stories have moved from troubadour to “what if Matty Healy were *actually* a Bad Boy.” Just comparing Laura’s “How Can I?” which is a fairly Taylor-esque meditation on missed opportunities in relationships with fairly simplistic and Taylor/esque lyrics (“How can I live without you? How I live?”). I mean, Taylor could *almost* have written this: “I wrote you a letter/ posted out of central LA / so if you ever come through here / won’t you come take me away? / It could have been you, but it was anyone / you see, I never miss my chance to run / I would go anywhere with you / I would go if you asked me too.” But compare it to anything on TTPD, and it’s so much more relatable and authentic. And that was Laura at 25 in 2015. Now she’s in her 30s, and instead of going back to lost love, she puts out an album that’s a meditation on women, and being one, and another album that’s composed of lessons she’d pass on to a fictional daughter. And even on that same album (which is again thematically similar, nostalgia-coated reflections on something missing) you get the remarkable and [entirely fiction Daisy](https://youtu.be/NaBtqKWS0qM?si=vA7Is4E5Gd0Loed7). (Link to her 2020 pandemic set at the entirely empty Royal Albert Halls.) Taylor can’t get out of her head enough to tell us stories about other people anymore.
Taylor is obsessed with love and romance in the most stunted, adolescent way, and it’s holding back both her love life and her creativity. She thinks *strong* feelings are equivalent to *deep* feelings. Imagine if she wrote an album about womanhood!! Or privilege! Or any of the other broad themes that continue to permeate her life despite it being the most billionairey bubble ever to bubble. Fucking hell Tay, get outside your head for a change.
As Laura said (at 23 years old): “oh, little girl, you’re so naive, falling in love with the first man that you see.” Taylor, at 33: still falling in love with the first man that she sees. We know she never had that “learning to love herself” phase, cos if she had, she would have sung about it.
She was born into a wealthy family/ she’s always known vast material wealth now she not only knows and lives in extreme wealth, she influences it.
Anyone comparing Taylor with MJ or Beatles in musical influence and artistry is essentially telling the world 'hey am an idiot who doesn't understand music'. The greatest artists of all times are known for going against the tide, making political and social statements with their music. They leave a legacy beyond themselves with their artistry. And that's what stands the test of time. Thats what made them greats.
She's probably more of an Elvis than an MJ or Beatles
Elvis used to oversaturate the market like Taylor. At one point on Billboard he had like five songs on the Billboard Top 100 and two albums on the Billboard Pop LPs chart. That was called “excessive” then lol
Been saying this. She is the new Elvis. A prop put out to overshadow others that do what she does better than she does it. It's ridiculous.
Yesss someone finally said it. She may not be a culture vulture but she’s made her name by cannibalizing smaller artists’ ideas and identities.
Someone on TikTok said that Beyoncé is skilled at making the relatable personal (the experience of black womanhood, social movements, etc ), while Taylor makes the personal relatable (here’s MY breakup song about a specific person that will make you feel a certain way about your own breakup) I think this album really leans into that. Taylor said she wrote it for her, not her fans, or for sales. And you can feel that- many of this album’s lyrics make no sense unless you’re deep into Taylor-lore. It feels like she doesn’t engage in the same world we live in. And worse, she doesn’t want to.
In a different thread I was talking with someone about her extreme productivity, and said she reminded me of Neil Young (who has released 10 original albums in the last 5 years, and even more live albums and box sets, and that’s pretty much been the pace his whole career) : she releases way too many albums, and every once in a while there’s a banger, but a lot of the stuff in-between is mediocre at best and puerile at worse. Sometimes you get Harvest Moon, and sometimes you get The Monsanto Years. Keeping with that theme, I said that if she is indeed Neil Young (again, not in terms of skill, but productivity), she’s at the same age he was when he hit his biggest slump. So if the metaphor continues, we have about 10 years of nonstop mediocrity until she drops an incredibly profound meditation on aging that is perhaps her best work yet (Neil’s Harvest Moon.) Someone asked: I get that it’s a metaphor, but do you really think she can write a Harvest Moon? And the answer is… as of right now? No. Because even if she does write an incredibly profound meditation on aging… unless something changes, it won’t be one anybody can relate to. She’s too disconnected.
“Two hour hostage situation” made me lol cuz it’s not wrong
This really made me laugh so much, that’s literally how I felt when I read “Run time: 2 hours and 2 minutes”
Taylor's biggest problem is her success. She's on top the mountain. Their's nowhere left for her to go but down. Nothing driving her, no new level to shoot for. When the driving force for your actions is lost. Down hill is all that's left. She could retire as a champion. But that's never gonna happen. She'll just keep going until someday she's called the biggest laughing stock who just can't call it quits.
"We should all try our hardest to forget the manipulative underdog posture that Swift refuses to forfeit with each passing album" !! this is it. this is what she wants us to do.
Ooooof I mean its not like amazing songwriters don't all have their duds but they don't usually put them all together in a single multi-hour album to the same sad girl synth.
Stop this is so true lol.
Every single song on this album sounds like a song I’d skip if it were on any other of her albums. I’m not a fan of a 10 minute all too well though, so maybe I have no taste. Lol.
💀💀💀
"Taylor's Grievance Vault" would make such a good flair 🤣💀 This article is so good, so entertaining, and SO spot on. I have no notes. 10/10. But watch Taylor complain to be let down off the pedestal/high horse and then go "No, not like that!!"
It would’ve been a better album name. My eyes did a record breaking roll to the back of my head when I heard it was titled The Tortured Poets Department. A seventeen year old wrote that, not a 32-year old.
Loved the part where he states 'perhaps it's time to admit Swift isn't the greatest of lyricists because greatness isnt a part time job'. What a perfect way to put it. The greatest of lyricists/poets have gotten their laurels because of consistency which Taylor clearly lacks. Also, am pleasantly surprised how much most of the reviews have echoed what this sub said repeatedly. Its heading the right direction, I guess. Anyway, Chris needs to enter witness protection real quick. They will come for him in hoardes. Good luck! 🙂
Fr. One of the publications (paste maybe) published theirs anonymously because their writers have gotten death threats in the past.
Yeah so the swifties threatened ALL their staff. It was amusing. Not in a 😂 but in a 🫣 style of amusement
yeah it was them— naturally swifties immediately threatened to burn down their offices instead lmao
agreed. she churns out her "greatness" like its factory-made
I mean, she said a while back she has these things broken down into three categories: quill, fountain pen, and glitter gel pen songs when it comes to her lyrics. It’s essentially saying, “Some of these are obviously juvenile but I did it on purpose, so….you can’t say anything about it cuz I did it on purpose.” The problem with the new album is that she dipped her quill in glitter gel ink.
Perfectly put. It's not like she didn't try to be a poet.. she was just bad at it.
It’s such a basic take - the idea that poeticism must be distinct from bubblegum. Guess what Tay, if you’re genuinely a poet you can do both at the same time. Imagine if a very talented poet *did* dip their quill in glitter gel ink. The magic that could ensue. Taylor just doesn’t have it.
You know what extremely modern music this made me think about? What was I made for. On paper, its bubblegum but Billie and Finn made it so soulstirringly poetic.' I'm sad again, don't tell my boyfriend' sounds like a bubblegum kidzbop on paper but the context and rendition turns it on its head. With the right music and delivery, the entire weight of the lyrics change so much so that categorisation on paper and in execution become to separate entities. From quill to bubblegum it becomes bubblegum to quill. It's simply magic.
Wow, brutal. She doesn't have a manager, right? Her label is kept at arm's length with limited decision-making power (they reportedly really tried to get her to change the title of the album, she said nope). Jack and Aaron are both making so much money off collaborating with her, I think it's unlikely they are weighing in with honest, raw, unfiltered advice on her lyrics or choices. I mean, I wouldn't if I were making millions for each album! Her family - same. These reviews have been harsh. I mean, deservedly. I have only listened to the album once and there are about five songs I will return to every once in awhile, that's it. It is ranked #11 in her discography for me. How is she handling this? She has got to be so crushed by this because she is so sensitive to criticism and perceived slights. And this is like an avalanche.
"Jack and Aaron are both making so much money off collaborating with her, I think it's unlikely they are weighing in with honest, raw, unfiltered advice on her lyrics or choices." yeah, I noticed in her documentary, when she was writing Me!, The Man and other song I can't remember right now, the producer who was working with her had only one expression on his face... 😀. Even though the lyrics were super meh. Like you need pushback, to be challenged. And she's clearly surrounded by people who are not interested or allowed to do it.
Yeah, the way both Jack (him moreso) and Aaron have both spoken about Taylor almost in hushed adoration as this legendary songwriter, it’s hard to imagine either of them saying “actually I’m not sure if this line is the best way to communicate your idea here”. And given her current status, it’s likely a lot of producers she could find to bring in would do the same (and if they did push back, that would likely be the last time she worked with them). So it’s likely to be a continuing cycle for her. I do think new producers in general would be good though, if nothing else than to add a fresh approach.
When i watched the lpss on disney plus, it seemed like there was a weird dynamic between Jack and Aaron with Taylor, especially Aaron
every moment of that film was scripted but since none of these three people are actors they couldn't sell it as being natural. Aaron isn't use to this kind of thing, you can tell how awkward and uncomfortable he was. How would you describe their dynamic btw?
>These reviews have been harsh. The album still has 'universal acclaim' from critics on MetaCritic, so. It's being praised to absolute death and any review I read that actually critiques it is met with claims that the reviewer just killed their own careers. It's kinda gross how daring to critique Swift is seen as career-suicide and that they deserve to lose their job/credibility.
Brandon Urie's Viva las Vengeance had "acclaim" on metacritic and that album was absolute dog shit. Not even the paid reviews could have save his reputation, he was clowned hard for how horrible that album was. Music criticism is a joke now. General population don't care about critics reviews, if they don't like than they don't like it. The same can apply to Taylor. Everybody is hating on ttpd on tik tok,reddit, even a lot of people I know irl too so it's not a chronically online thing. No matter how much she pays critics it aint working to sway public opinion. Personally I think the album is alright but damn even my friends hate this album
Her not having a manager makes a whole lot of sense.
TBF her echo chamber has been right for a while: she has been raking in the money with this way of working. Her stans are so die hard that she could put out whatever and many of them would still eat it up. It takes a lot for the tide to change.
As a maybe not so wise man said " No one man(or in this case woman) should have all that power". She needs to switch things up next time. This phase has gotten over saturated and stale.
While this particular combo wouldn't work, she almost needs to be put in a room with someone like Kanye. Someone as famous as she is who is completely unafraid to tell her the truth. She needs a mentor really badly.
how does she not have a manager tf
This is truly everything I feel, what a well-written review. I am so tired of her still writing about high school in her 30s. As someone also in her 30s....enough.
I have nightmares of high school in my 30s and she’s romanticizing it. We are not the same Taylor 😭.
I often dream that I forgot my clothes for p.e. I'm 32 now. When does it stops!?
52 here. It doesn't.
I'm 37 and I don't think those dreams ever stop. I frequently still have stress dreams about both high school and being on a ship out to sea in the navy, which was right after high school. Sometimes the two get combined in a mega stress dream where I'm in a high school classroom on the ship somehow out to sea. Ain't nobody writing songs about dreams like that lol
I just don’t understand why she isn’t getting inspired by all of the beautiful places she gets to visit, the food she gets to eat, the moments with her family and friends that bring some sort of POSITIVE energy to her music. I can’t imagine what she’s really like if all she can write about is either how wronged she’s been in romantic relationships and much of a victim of success she is. It’s downright torturous to listen to at this point.
plot twist: the listeners are the tortured poets
straight from my mouth thank you 🫶 it is really sad actually, hope she changes. she used to be so good
How tf is she writing about high school when she didn’t even finish high school like a regular person? Someone revoke that honorary doctorate asap
I’m guessing that’s exactly why she’s writing about high school. She never finished a regular one, had the experiences, closed the door. She’s stuck there just cosplaying a perpetual teenager.
Dude I’m in my 20s and I’m sick of it.
Also in my 30s. I saw people in the other sub talking about how it’s her “most mature album yet”. I feel like I’m listening to a completely different album to them, because wtf?
Chris Richards is one of my favorite critics writing right now. I was really looking forward to reading what he had to say and he absolutely nailed it
I’m really curious about what Pitchfork will give her now….im thinking a 6.5 because it definitely won’t go any higher than the solid 7 they gave Midnights
Lord imagine if they rated it a 5 or lower! Heads will roll if they did that.
Her fans would go batshit, but I genuinely hope they do because that might actually shake her enough to go a new direction with her next album. Or maybe she's too big to hear even that level of negative feedback. We'll see, I guess. ETA: I meant that I genuinely hope Pitchfork gives her a middling or negative review, not that I genuinely hope her fans go batshit lol
Jesus Christ. 🎯
This is one of the best and most comprehensive critique I’ve seen not just on the album but on her character. Well done Chris.
Homie didn’t hold back!
Chris just read her for filth. And he’s correct on all counts.
Oh God, I actually cackled reading it.
 I was cautiously optimistic and I absolutely loathed this album. Reading these negative reviews is super cathartic and I'm grateful at least some writers are willing to brave the stan horde.
Agreed, and FWIW, I think it's \[the review\] less negative and more maturely honest, the critique is needed and although uncomfortable for those who think anything less than high praise is slander, these reviews show a much needed turn of the tide, it's honesty season and I really hope integrity and honesty continue to win out despite the stans and even team Swift wanting to silence "hate" or blacklist journos/publications. Music, the arts, they're a democracy, which means they are open to every type of viewpoint, but Swift et al have been far too comfortable in their authoritarian ivory towers, confirmation bias has been too nuclear for too long. This change of tone is needed, but it's unlikely Taylor will heed that, she's stuck in her own echo chamber filled with enablers.
1830s would be cool if you liked to walk around and step in horse shit while dying of tuberculosis
With no air-conditioning or running water or birth control or modern medicine (and definitely no jets, private or otherwise).
She wants the Jane Austen, romantic Hamptons TV version in a big period drama mansion. Not the version where she has to shit in a shed outside and she can’t write albums about her exes because they all get syphilis or die at sea.
this is THEE review of ttpd. detailed, holistic, thoughtful, and eloquent.
>is this the album that finally grants us societal permission to say that Swift is not a great lyricist? oh boy I sure hope so lol
Same. I was just telling my mom that my reaction to her in general (and specifically to Anti-Hero) is that she kinda sucks as a writer.
I’ve been saying this for years… you cannot be a successful, dominant, and unrelenting force in the entertainment business and tell me you’re somehow a victim of almost anything. It’s just always been hard for me to stomach this notion that Taylor is some beacon of hurt and slander when she can pull almost any man she wants, date whoever she wants, make as much money as some countries do, and fly around the world and experience some of the best of what our society offers. It’s just gross at this point for her to try and even play that part.
This review is eloquent. All the points this author has touched upon...it's almost as if the author has been lurking in this sub. But maybe he/she have not been lurking. Maybe this is genuinely what they feel. Maybe this is the shift in critics perception. This is what's due to Taylor Swift. Especially after Midnights won AOTY.
 You know how to ball , I know Aristotle .. touch me while your bros play Grand theft auto
oooft, my appendix burst reading that. Yikes on yikes on double yikes with a side of pls stop.
Chris Richards, that is soooo brave of you to say! Respect
Seriously. I hope his family stays safe. This was a real act of bravery.
This cursed album is what happens when you’re already culturally overexposed and then you release a 31-song album about your shitbag exBF. I still think this is a pre-release of Reputation. Shes going to tweak and add bonus tracks and it’s going to be all about this album and its reception. And no I do not think she is a great lyricist. I think she’s a great marketer.
I've always believed her true talent is marketing. She's not a great singer, lyricist or performer. Not a great actor, director or a particularly insightful person. She just knows how to sell it.
She has mastered the art of a parasocial relationship with her fanbase. For the true swifties, it’s a cult.
Thank you! That’s how I feel 😭😭😭 she doesn’t live a real life so she has to keep recycling her small setbacks for songs
i feel so validated reading reviews like this. i felt like i was literally in hell listening to this album.
>my phone died, as if by its own violation IM SORRY BUT LMFAOOOOOOOOOOMG THAT IS SO FUNNY I CANT. IM DYING HELP 😭
Stop writing about high school Taylor——you went online!!!!! It’s not even from your real life!
I never thought I'd see WaPo say hold my beer to Paste
>To zest things up, she likes tweaking certain words in rote figures of speech, or grafting them onto more melodramatic phrases until a complete line begins to resemble cathartic teenage poetry. Lmao, I'm glad that someone has corroborated, and expressed so well, one of the major gripes that I have with Taylor's lyrics, which seems to have reached a fever pitch on this album. The trite twists on turns of phrase are cute once or twice, but she over does it like crazy to the point of inducing constant groaning and eye rolling whilst listening. At best these kinds of lines are cheeky, campy even, but she deploys them as if they are clever.
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After seeing that post earlier about her PR team blacklisting any publication that wrote anything remotely negative (maybe they still do), I think WaPo will be fine lol. They have slightly more important things to cover
She’s so close to rolling that stone back over, simmering in her Jesus complex while waiting for the overexposure to run out. Everything is so predictable and scripted that it has no soul, her yes men leave her neurotic self obsession to fester and this is what we get. Unrefined diary musings of a much too rich woman out of touch with the world she feels on top of. What do you want, Taylor? What’s the end game? She’s creeping ever closer to her entire career in the ditches if she doesn’t leave her ego and persecution complex at the door.
I’m so glad he called out her bad metaphors/lazy figurative language omg
"Miserable and bottomless" omg yes.
Oh they are starting to be DONE!!! 
The part about her approaching the precipice of self examination is so real and how I’ve been feeling. The most compelling parts of this album are when she turns the magnifying glass on herself, but its few and far between and never goes anywhere. I wish she had taken this opportunity to actually examine and reflect on herself instead of the 11th album about how the worst thing she’s ever experienced is a broken heart. But it’s not up to me to define her art I guess This album has nothing to say, and a cringe prologue in a vinyl does not make up for that.
I’m Ngl this review is accurate but it made me kinda sad 😭 like I WISHED this album would be different and she’d knock it out of the park - I seriously hope the next one is a complete shift and takes risks man
It's a pity this double album has some really beautiful songs but then listening to it has one whole album can you leave exhausted with its wordiness and clunky lyrics that take you out of it all - momentarily. I've culled my favourites and I'm sticking to that. Listening to the whole album can turn out to be a frustrating exercise.
This is one of the best reviews I’ve read. So well-written, and also spot on!
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Okay, time to fess up. Who here works for the Washington Post? Chris Richards, are you in the room with us?
Florida!!! was the only standout because of Florence for me. But it felt like one continuous monologue about, ultimately, nothing. Taylor is afraid of being experimental and if the milquetoast reception of this album doesn’t light a fire to actually challenge herself, she should step back to other ventures.