Taylor Swift’s Reputation dropped today. To promote it, she debuted yet another single on last night’s TGIT programming on ABC. ABC’s Thursday night programs are quite popular, and Shonda Rhimes is known to be a Tay-fan, so I have to think that all of this was corporate and artistic synergy. It wasn’t a live performance, it was a pre-taped, faux-intimate candlelight performance at Taylor’s Rhode Island home, likely during one of her “Secret Sessions.” What cracks me a little bit is that the whole point of Taylor’s Secret Sessions is that she invited true-blue Snake Fans to her home to hear the album FOR THE FIRST TIME. And yet all of the girls in the video know all the words to the song. Was this particular Secret Session more like a bootcamp to memorize the lyrics in the least amount of time? Here’s the video:
Once again, doesn’t it feel like… there’s a weird tone to the songs on Reputation? I don’t want to say that Tay has lost her mojo, but this album doesn’t really have a through-line. This is a straight up ballad, and maybe it’s just this particular performance, but it doesn’t seem like a great song, and it certainly doesn’t “fit” with songs like “Ready For It” and “Look What You Made Me Do.”
As for the critical and financial reaction to Reputation, well… I mean, the album is going to sell. The album is already selling well, and it will probably be one of the most successful albums of the year, if not THE highest selling album of the year. But sales are not the same as positive critical reception. Taylor’s last album, 1989, was hailed as one of the greatest pop albums of all time (it was not) and there was a ton of positivity from music critics and music professionals for that album. That’s not the case with Reputation. If anything, the critical trend for this album is a series of thinkpieces about what Taylor is doing wrong, why her rebranding effort has fallen flat, why bubble-gum vengeance is a mixed message, and why she’s simply too white for today’s musical landscape.
People are also discussing all of the lyrical references to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. That’s one of the big problems with tone, from where I’m sitting – the album wants to be about love ballads and Gorgeous Joe, but Taylor keeps whining about Kimye and how they did her wrong… by calling her out on her bulls–t and lies. Vulture did a comprehensive list of all the lyrical references to Kim and Yeezy – she would have been better off singing about ex-boyfriends, right?
Photos courtesy of Taylor’s ABC video.
It will sell but the songs are trash. But it will sell because Swifties want her to break records and they want concert tickets.
I also love but also hate the overdramamtics of Swifties on such a basic album. I think the first day sales will be massive but it will drop off a cliff in a few days
I don’t get her.
I never have.
She’s like a 2000’s version of Debbie Gibson, member her fellow olds?
At first I felt, well maybe I don’t get her because she’s ‘country,’ and I’m not into country per se as a genre.
Then she went all the way pop and that shake it off song I heard was like a hardware store commercial jingle. I couldn’t understand why ‘the kids’ were all over it. She can’t sing, and can’t dance. I then just assumed she was some Mozart of pop jingly song writing- what people sometimes say, but again I don’t hear it.
I did like that Zayn song she sing on this past summer. But his voice is front and center and it was his genre not hers – in fact I didn’t realize that was even her auto tuned AF voice in the background ’til I heard it for the 30th time in the car.
I like 1989 and its the only album of hers I own or like. But stans will do anything for their faves. There were people with 5 copies of the album. Whereas someone like Adele probably has fewer people buying 5 million versions of her album because she doesnt fleece fans for $$. Heck Beyonce sold her tour before Lemonade even dropped.
Its basic but Swifties like basic I guess.
You’re right. She’s 2017’s Debbie Gibson (who I loved back in the 80s). Bland. Too safe. Barely memorable.
I couldn’t put a comparable “singer” that described how I felt for her.
OMG Debbie Gibson!! You have hit the nail on the head.
I don’t think Taylor’s album will sell as well as her others. The pre-sales and beginning sales are her hardcore fans who would buy anything. I think there will be a huge drop off next week. I don’t get the feeling that anybody really likes the album. There’s buzz about her “return” but nobody is saying how great the songs are. The singles don’t do anything for me. I half way like “Ready For It” but the change in tempo for the chorus kills it.
Curious to see what the sales will be after this coming week. Her singles have underperformed on the charts, I agree the buzz for this album isn’t as strong. Still, a mild success for Taylor Swift would be a monumental hit for almost anyone else so it’s not like this album will be anywhere close to a dud.
It was bad compared to her other ones. Very autotuned, not very catchy in my opinion. There were only a few good songs and they were filled with too much autotuned. Also, it was just plain disappointing. I don’t care about her relationship with Joe, nobody does. I wanted more songs about Calvin and Tom, and the summer of 2016. I wanted Taylor doing what Taylor does best.
Joe might be the guy whom Taylor is super in love with but he’s her worst muse.
“Joe might be the guy whom Taylor is super in love with but he’s her worst muse. ”
Happy love stories are rarely material for good love songs.
@Nanny
Disagree, Beyonce has plenty of happy love story songs and they’re amazing. I know plenty of love songs which are amazing. Taylor just can’t write any good happy love story songs, doesn’t mean everyone can’t.
some of the songs she wrote for harry in 1989 were actually quite happy though. he was totally her best muse.
I think you guys have very different taste in music than me. 🙂
“Happy love stories are rarely material for a good love song” For some reason that reminded me of Paul Anka’s ’74 hit, Having my baby.
Co-signed. I enjoy Taylor Swift’s music generally, but this album doesn’t know what it wants to be, and the style really doesn’t work for her.
I read through the lyrics earlier and…. my God. It’s so embarrassing.
Outside of that, it’s not exactly relatable, which I think will be a bigger issue. Heartbreak, vaguely worded, and unrequited love… fine, package it up, sell it to teenage girls. Songs about other millionaires being mean to you… not so much.
All the references to booze and sex sound exactly like a 14 year old wrote them – one with no experience of either.
‘Joe might be the guy whom Taylor is super in love with but he’s her worst muse.’
he really is, he’s uninspiring if i have to go by her recent songs (and i’m a fan of her music).
@ell
His love songs are as bland as his picture looks. I wonder what will happen if they break up though. It’s very clear through this album she’s super super in love with him. I wonder if she might write good break up songs about him.
The album doesn’t make sense as far as judging how ‘in love’ she is. She started writing these songs before she got serious with Joe as she had a break-up and a PR romance in between all of this and she writes throughout all of this as is evident. So if she goes so hard for Joe, it means she was at most dating him for a few months which sounds like typical Taylor. I’m convinced some of these feelings are inspiration from her good times with Calvin. Intense relationship and intense break-up with lingering feelings (the Nils Sjoberg debacle, they still had feels about it).
If anything the album is about how hard it rocked her world and ego that she got bad press and that she though being ‘bad’ e.g. cheating/overlapping/running away with Tom on a love tour that she now confirmed was fake (but she doesn’t attract drama according to her?) would deflect from that bad press. When that backfired too, she started dating the boy she liked before meeting Tom? OK, that’s just cray cray. How is that love?
She seems like she went through a rough period and started dating a boy who is so devoted to her to offset all the negativity she got from the media and Kimye tbh. The fact that she’s his 1st real relationship (intense) and she’s a celebrity on top of that? That boy is going to be shooketh when she’s finished this period in her life.
She’s like a female Drake to me, she likes the idea of a great love and puts the person she ‘loves’ on a pedestal only to realise that real love is not always butterflies and rainbows. Passion doesn’t sustain and some fights or boring times cannot be resolved in 90mins like in the movies :/ When she realises that, she bolts. Like she sings herself, she needed a reason to break-up with Calvin. Girl had no drama and got bored 🙂 And then had too much drama and wanted simple love again. She’s exhausting and emotionally stunted.
@Artemis, you’re right that the timeline doesn’t match with joe. calvin was probably the inspiration to most songs, and that annoys her, and it’s way she’s telling all her fans it’s all about joe lol
2 things i disagree with though:
– i can’t see anywhere where she admitted the thing with TH was just PR
– some people aren’t cut for long term relationships, and that’s ok. we don’t all have to settle.
@Artemis – I fell in love with my now fiance about 10 minutes after I met him. Your timeline of how long it takes you to be in love with someone isn’t everyone elses. Just a thing to think about…
@ell: From her own lyrics about Tom
– Tom was a rebound
– Tom was the ‘reason’ she was looking for to dump Calvin
– she didn’t trust him but flew him around the world because she can and he didn’t see it coming when she was done with him
Getaway Car basically describes how Tom was into it but she wasn’t, it was just fun and games for her. Seeing how everything was so…deliberate, she played the game the most and Tom was the fool who believed it was all real and going to last (longer than it did).
@Erica_V
And you comparing your actual relationship with TS’s juvenile attempts at real love just shows why this woman sells so much records. If every relationship needs to be commercialised, who can tell what is real and what is not? Not sure if even TS knows at this point.
Most of her relationship fly high and crash and burn in the space of 6 months tops. Her longest relationships are a year yet everytime she sells any relationship like ‘THE ONE’ has finally arrived but all that ever happens is another album that made her richer than the previous ones 🙂
Real love survives hiccups but hers never lasts long enough to weather actual downs in the relationships. They just end.
And TS herself pointed out she met Joe at the MET:
Nights back when you met me
Your buzzcut and my hair bleached
Joe was just put on hold so she could tour around Europe with her rebound Tom first and journal everything with tabloids like People mag hmm 😀
Then when that didn’t work she finally realised it was Joe who was going to be her next album theme…i mean true love 😉
As soon as she is going to be in the public again, we’ll see how long Joe can get with the programme of date nights that end up being described in People mag and lovey dovey photo ops. All of her exes had the advantaged of being experienced in relationship and fame, Joe has neither and doesn’t even have a career to rely on when it falls down. And it will fall down.
And for my personal opinion about love (something I do think about): love is just a man-made concept to simplify the chemical reaction that happens in our brain (which would be much closer to lust that love). It’s why some people go crazy and obsess over the object of their infatuation when the feeling is not mutual or being withheld on purpose or unintentionally. It mimics how people respond to drugs (dopamines, adrenaline and all that, I’m not a scientist) which is why some people love the feeling of love but not actual human beings. I think real love is a deep strong friendship that grows over time and cannot be measured in feelings but actions and reactions to situations that aren’t in our control as those matter the most since we encounter them the most. I get instant attraction, it’s lovely and natural as anything else but I don’t believe in LOVE at first sight. Glad you are engaged with your love, no shade 🙂
@Artemis all the song says is that he was her rebound, not PR. which we already knew. although TH being perfectly happy to PR (he clearly loved it) was part of the thing, obviously.
and as far as long term love goes, i struggle to see why that should be a criticism to TS. maybe she doesn’t WANT a long term relationship. i don’t see what’s the problem with that.
@ell:
If her (and Tom) decided it to flaunt in front of the cameras and TS knew in the back of her mind that it wasn’t love for her, then yeah, it’s PR. It was a 180 from her very real long-term relationship and served no purpose but to provide some tabloid fodder to deflect from the bad press. So many celebs hook up left, right and centre without selling it for the cameras. Tom didn’t seem to realise what TS’s end goal was which makes it funny looking back at the situation but pathetic for him (which was even more obvious with his interview with Taffy). TS was out for herself as usual. I could’ve respected it much more it was coordinated effort but of all the men she dated, she picked the least offensive dude to use for some PR because she couldn’t do it with all the douchebags in the past since she liked them too much.
Maybe she shouldn’t act as a victim then and make albums about being wronged and hurt and act innocent (there’s been overlap with a lot of her relationships). People who casually date get over it, they don’t make a career out of pointing out how wronged they were especially when you love the dramz. Maybe she shouldn’t do the Swift Boyfriend Rollout with articles referencing the new man being ‘The One’ 3 months into the ‘relationship’.
If she wants to hook up, hook up and own it, stop pretending to be a dainty little flower waiting for her prince. Girl understands herself and men better than we realised; she’s an adult now and the TH PR disaster proved that. It’s more disingenuous for her to rope in Joe after all that mess and pretend she’s only looking for True Love.
Autotune really kills things for me. It’s so over used and the robotic whine really grates my last nerve. I was super sad the other day when a song I liked came on but I had the radio turned down so all you could really hear was the autotune whine. Not sure if I’l be able to really enjoy the song again. I’ve basically stopped listening to pop music because of it, and now country is going the same way.
same, not a big fan of autotune at all.
there are some good songs on this album though on a second listening; don’t blame me and getaway car stand out the most to me.
I hate autotune! It reminds me of most plastic surgery. It’s supposed to subtly improve, but it’s obvious and unnatural. What’s the point?
I wouldn’t want to pay for an album if I could just listen to or watch all of the songs online before the album is even for sale in the store. Singers and bands used to release 1 song before the album came out just to get people interested in buying the whole thing . Things have changed these days
for the better, i think. my dad always complained of the amount of crappy records he spent money on lol
Yep. I think the number of songs TS released prior to the album shows a bit of panic about how it would be received on her part (1/3 of the album before it actually dropped), but as a consumer, I prefer to know what I’m getting.
Yup. I’m happy to buy an album if I like most of the songs on it, and now that I can be sure I’ll enjoy it or just buy the one song I like if the rest are crap I’ve wasted so much less money. It’s motivation for artists to put effort into the whole thing, not just get one or two good singles and the fill the rest of the space with junk.
It used to bug me when I was a teenager buying records. Although, even though I wasn’t happy with garbage album filler, I still knew every word to every song:)
I don’t like her, she irritates me.
But. The singles make so much more sense now with the whole album. Ready for it sounds phenomenal with the following song with Ed Sheeran.
Up until LWYMMD, I was impressed. Then I was lost.
I’d give it a C. It’s not cohesive to me (and she always cares about being cohesive).
And I do respect her trying to go for a new sound.
Mixed reviews where? Think pieces don’t count as reviews. This isn’t me talking as a fan or anything. The reviews are literally 4/5 stars and she currently has an 81 on meta critic which is higher than any of her previous albums.
Yes, I was confused with that, too, the reviews are not mixed – they are good.
Same here, I don’t like her but all reviews where I’m at have been 4/5 so far. Either way, wasn’t it at Celebitchy we discussed how ratings for albums are determined? Or am I remembering from somewhere else?
Basically it’s the editor of the paper (not the journalist who writes the review) who decides which rating to give the record and then the journalist has to write a piece filling in with that number in mind. It’s pre-determined which is why you can get such wonky seemingly bad reviews of albums coupled with really high scores. I don’t take music critics seriously for a second anymore since I realised that :/ Some papers straight up make deals with the record labels too about which score to give this or that particular band… it’s basically nonsense.
Wow really? I mean I guess I shouldn’t be shocked but that sucks. And explains why a review is good but is also bad at the same time.
OK, I didn’t know that. Just have to say that where I live, the main radio station for a younger alternative audience has slots for “Artist of the week”. Those can be bought. In many cases it has nothing to do with merit or, say, the music fitting well with the rest of the program.
“Some papers straight up make deals with the record labels too about which score to give this or that particular band… it’s basically nonsense.”
I would believe that for more lifestyle-oriented mags, but do you think The NY Times does this? Their review was pretty positive.
I’m not a fan (I will mindlessly sing along and I don’t hate her- just not a fan), and a lot of the lyrics I saw were dumb as hell, but those think pieces are not indicative of the reviews. They may be lukewarm, and this is probably her least impressive album, but I didn’t see any reviews I would call negative.
Another plain song.. honestly, though I’m disliking her personality more and more, I expected her new music to be better and more catchy.
Her time is over.
Nah, she’ll be fine – and I say this as a decidedly non-fan. The album is getting good reviews and she has a lot of very …intense fans.
In terms of her public look at me antics and massive manipulations involving other celebs, I think her time is over. Of course she still has fans. So does Michael Jackson and he was a pedophile. But he went fairly low key after great success until the very last year or so. I’m hoping Swift goes low key too. She’s hateful damaging person.
I’m underwhelmed.
My exact sentiment. Like, this is what we all waited for?? Meh.
I’ll be honest. I have never knowingly listened to a Taylor Swift song (if I have I had no idea it was her. I can be a little oblivious at times.
I don’t get her appeal, I mean I’ve never gone to YouTube and sampled her stuff or anything. I just don’t care enough.
But the posts on her on this site certainly leave an impression. LOL!
I’m confused – I have read six reviews today from Rolling Stone to the Guardian which were all excellent. I’m not a Taylor fan, I have maybe bought two songs of hers before. But this album looks like it is being well received
+ NYT, Variety, Entertainment Weekly
Her parents and she have massive power, influence and money. I don’t buy into what critics or anyone tells me is good. We need to decide for ourselves if we each like her music. Ignore the press.
I think it’s a decent-to-good pop album but it doesn’t excite me the way 1989 does, which did a great job of touching on that nostalgic 80s sound while giving it a contemporary update. Some of the songs are really fun and catchy, which is FINE, pop music is popcorn for a reason – it’s comfortable and fun. As I stated below, I’ll give her team credit for trying a different sound. Lyrically, though, she can and has done better, so it’s a mild let down in that regard.
(I will say it’s better than Katy Perry’s last effort, which does not speak well of Perry’s team. I mean, really, this is not a competition that should be so one-sided given Katy Perry’s earlier hit albums.)
I need her to ditch these bangs, though. Curly hair is fine, but the bangs do not frame her face properly when styled.
I didn’t see any bad reviews, either. Just saying not a lot of growth and not better than her previous albums.
I would read the more serious ones from this weekend.Not so much.
I love this website but don’t understand this overthinking and this announced fictional demise of Swifty. Her songs are for pre-teens like my son who finds her music good and she will sell like she always does. All the shopping malls and radio stations play her songs. If she does a bit less than her previous albums, it won’t be a significant drop.
Agreed, culturally she’s unimportant. She’s the McDonalds of pop. She’ll need to review her product once in a while. But she’ll be fine. She wants to sell a lot, surrounds herself with a team that makes that happen for her and that’s it. Like Ed Sheeran, she wrote a few good songs, made a lot of money and now has a team that makes it work regardless of quality.
yeah, there is tons of criticism that can said about TS, but all reviews seem pretty good tbh.
She will probably break records with this album, because she has her millions of devoted fans. She had great reviews, because she always has.
But look at the charts for her singles. I think her first one stayed #1 for a couple weeks and then fell off the charts. None of her others did well. Compare that to her last album. I think I read “shake it off” was #1 for 11 weeks until it was replaced by her next new single. She was dominating. She is no longer dominating the charts and I think that’s something to talk about. She still has millions of fans but the general public is not interested.
She’s the McDonalds of pop.
LMAO. It’s the truth. People don’t have to enjoy or like her music but facts are facts and her music is generic so it appeals to a wide audience. I listened to a leak of the album and it’s the same song over and over again with even the same words and themes. It goes nowhere.
Your quote also reminds me of a singer-songwriter (Tori Amos?) saying some music is like junkfood (potato chips) and hers is more refined (paté or something, don’t quote me on it :D) and that people are naturally more drawn to the former and that’s normal and OK. It is what it is.
Personally 1989 was a good album and I’m not a fan. I don’t even like her tbh but that album was on repeat. This one, is not.
@Artemis
Lol
This album is probably akin to when McDonalds try to add asian sauces to their burgers! They still sell but probably not as much as the classics, lol.
And yes to the Tori Amos quote, she is right. There are different audiences, different kinds of music. Swifty knows how to play her public who is too happy to buy multiple versions of her albums for concert tickets – like kids buying the happy meal for the toy, if you will.
Yeah but then just like McDonalds tries to pretend to not be as unhealthy as it is, TS tries to be pretend she is authentic and worth the coins she pushes these underage fans to spend on her. The cult-like behaviour she encourages is something that’s too far to me. Especially for a woman who cannot be truthful about her real values (hint: it ain’t music or being an artist).
As long as the parents are guiding their children not to buy every ticket or every album to be the ‘best fan’ in TS eyes, I’m fine with her Mcdonalds Pop.
McDonalds of Pop. McPerfect!!! Post of the day @slowsnow! Plus after listening to her songs, you get indigestion another Mickey D’s similarity….Ha!
Yes, total indigestion after a Taylored Swifty Meal Box!!!! I asked my son not to play her music in the car, poor thing. But I love to listen to other stuff he likes so I’m not an organic-only dictator. Junk food but good junk food, I say! For instance, The Weeknd Whooper.
Haha true. I’m super confused at her refusal to denounce the Neo Nazis and Aryan goddess stuff, I mean even Papa Johns did that. However, I have seen on other sites that she sent cease and desist orders to those sites as well. I also think she was shady with the Kanye stuff, but going back and looking at the evidence, he never told her about the made her famous lyric, and that’s what she addressed in her Grammy speech.
Sorry but the hatred of Taylor Swift by this site and some commentors is bizarre. And I don’t even like Taylor Swift. She truly is like fast food pop.
Next.
Born and raised performing country music where artists are shunned for speaking out against their audience (Dixie Chicks anyone?) probably in my uneducated guesstimation, is why Taylor doesn’t call herself anything more than a musician, doesn’t try to speak out politically, doesn’t try to change or shape the world around her, and chooses to work with Shonda Rhimes as away to show she’s not a Nazi sympathizer.
Could she still be all these terrible things and my guess be way wrong? Sure. Go read the leaflet from her album where she basically says you only know the version of someone they show to you. She’s savvy…who’s she referencing there?? Herself? The Kardiashian-Wests? Katy Perry? The list goes on and on.
Girl just wants to make some music and make some money. And she’s done it…critical acclaim or not.
Taylor got some good reviews despite a lot of self created negative press.
The album should do well not as well as 1989.
I actually really like this song, although I agree that this album doesn’t seem “sonically cohesive”. There’s a bit too many songs about Joe, I wanted more dirt, but that’s just because I like gossip. It seems fun! It also seems like she was releasing some of the worst songs first, which is an odd strategy. But yeah…where are you getting mixed reviews from?
I used to be a Taylor fan. I normally bought her albums the day they came out. I will not be purchasing this album at all. Everything I’ve heard so far is rubbish. I must say I didn’t really like 1989 either. Fearless and Red are actually good albums, but she lost the run of herself somewhere mid 2013.
Fearless is actually the country album I’m least compelled by. I thought Speak Now was her strongest country effort, minus “Better Than Revenge,” which is just an immature and unkind song. Red has some good songs, but kind of suffers form an identity crisis because it can’t decide if it’s country or pop.
This is the first song from this album that I liked on the first listen. It’s simple, but I like that. I wouldn’t expect it to be a single, but it’s a good filler song like “All Too Well” on Red.
The New Year’s Day song is boring AF. I didn’t even watch it all the way to the end…if it’s your thing cool but it didn’t hold my attention. It’s just meh.
So we can stop with the fans saying Kayne is the one obsessed with her, right?
I am not a fan of either Taylor or Kanye but I think it can can be both. I think it was a mutual beneficial obsession and “using” as it kept both of them in the press for a long time. That video of his was gross and her reaction was gross. However I do think at this point Taylor is the only one who still cares about their feud.
She needs to check her ego at the door. Her audience she has now probably will still be in the future. They will age with her. She got her fame by writing her he done me wrong songs, or we will be together forever and ever. That’s her niche. This is a woman who doesn’t like her reputation smeared, even by the truth, but her clap backs don’t work. Kim proved, by holding onto that tape until Taylor wouldn’t stfu, that she can play dirty. If I was her, I’d stick to the original plan, love stories gone wrong. Can’t wait till her threads disappear, it’s too hard not to comment on this woman child.
falling as flat as her HAIR. OMG that hair guys…no no.
I’ve been listening to it at work. It’s not as inspired as 1989, but the album tracks are definitely better than the singles. I’ll give her the credit that she was trying out a different sound, but it’s definitely more generic pop sounding – serviceable as a pop album if nothing else. I can see myself using it as a work out album but nothing I’ll be going back to years later the way I do “Style” or “I Know Places.” Ah well, they can’t all be smash hits.
One note – for her next one, I’d like to see her songs editors work on better sound cohesion on her pop work. Both 1989 and reputation have a general theme that’s interrupted by one or two songs that are just completely out of line with the rest of the album’s sound. Red is still the worst offender in that regard (can’t decide if it’s pop or country), but it’s definitely an art she’s lost since her country days.
I will say that there’s definitely a minor hip hop influence on some of the songs, which is….vaguely uncomfortable given the history with Kanye. I feel like I owe that guy to buy his next album for paying actual money for “Look What You Made Me Do.”
My daughter and I had fun in the car singing along to her songs when both were still teenagers. We liked 1989 well enough. This album is just boring.
How pray tell can you and your daughter be teenagers at the same time? Or am I just not comprehending your first sentence?
lmao i think they meant daughterS
I think they meant when her daughter and Taylor Swift were both teenagers.
It’s Lorelei Gilmore!
Her sale numbers are inflated. Her fans bought so many each that it can’t be sustained and like her songs will free fall. Her album numbers are meaningless.
No one should ever forget that her daddy bought 50,000 copies of her first album to inflate sales.
She’s critic proof.
I bought a copy for my daughter today and listened to it on the drive home. There are a couple songs that I honestly enjoyed and the rest was fairly meh. However, “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” is deliciously delusional and bitchy about the Kimye situation and oh so catchy. I literally laughed out loud at one point.
I am not sure why her fans are not more upset about the fact that their star forces them to shill out as much money as possible to be able to get concert tickets. I find that pretty indecent considering that most of her fans are teenage girls and she is inciting a bidding war among them and having them buy multiple copies of her album. As a multi millionaire? Good looking out for your fan base. NOT.
They’re young and impressionable. And her brand of petulant, high school-esque drama speaks to their own experiences in a big way. I don’t think they have the means just yet to understand how they’re being ripped off. Their parents would, hopefully, put the breaks on over-the-top spending, but then again, when has that ever stopped teenagers sometimes?
I’m wondering if there will be a backlash when some of the fans that dropped big bucks for a better place in line don’t actually get tickets because they were outspent by other Swifties.
what an utterly unremarkable song.
Can we discuss how her hair is back to the old style? I liked the shorter do better.
My CD delivered at home this morning after I left for work so I haven’t been able to listen yet and it’s slooooowly killlling me!!! I’ve been reading reviews online tho and I’m very confused by this it’s getting terrible reviews comment. It’s not at all. It’s getting great reviews. By both fans and non fans.
I read Getaway Car is the Hiddles song. Confessing to cheating on Calvin with Tom. It’s not a bad song about him tho.
My BFF already has our bottle of wine chilling to drink while dancing in the kitchen tonight!
How basic
Basic is so 2014.
I think the think pieces attached to the high ratings confuse people, including myself. The Guardian rating was 4/5 but the review wasn’t nice. The metacritic score seems to indicate it’s not the best but not the worst.
GC isn’t a bad song about Hiddles but it makes her come off like a jerk.
Can I just say that the korean group BTS is going to make it big in the US soon ( AMA performance, Jimmy Kimmel and Ellen appearance and then an song with Steve Aoki, all in November) and that their fandom and success will overshadow Swift‘s soon anyway. Believe me, the Kpop hype will come and these fans will are even more hardcore when it comes to sales and concerts. Mark my words.
Yay! Fellow ARMY! And agreed to what you’re saying. Kpop is so much better than “western” pop music nowadays.
I always say, “I’m not a Taylor Swift fan,” but I won’t deny that when her songs play, I ended up singing along and liking them. It’s sort of like when I’d really like a song and Shazam it to find out I liked Justin Bieber or One Direction.
I covertly like her stuff, but this time, I’m just kind of “Meh.” I love Kimye, and they brought the receipts. She needs to let that go and give us some good Calvin Harris/Hiddleston done me wrong songs.
Getaway Car will be for you then.
Meh, think pieces don’t equal reviews and the big outlets are surprisingly giving this album good reviews. Score on metacritic is apparently better than her past albums and they’ve uploaded ten or eleven reviews from the major outlets.
People are OTT about her whether they like or dislike her. I’m not a fan, but her crazy sales can’t just be attributed to crazy fans. She sold something like 800k in one hour when people like Perry and Miley Cyrus, who also have strong fanbases, only sold something like 50-200k in their first week. She’s on track to sell around 2 million in the first week and the only person who outdoes those kind of numbers nowadays is Adele.
Her songs would probably be fine if somebody else sang them. Her voice isn’t pleasant to listen to. Even Madonna’s voice is nicer to listen to. Taylor also doesn’t have much range in terms of interpretative ability.
She should be like Diane Warren who writes for other people, but doesn’t sing.
She’d have a really good career as a song writer for sure. I think she can write evocative lyrics, just not ones that are authentic to her own experience. If her singing career ever winds down in the next decade or so, she could make a good living off of just song writing credits for others.
I thought so as well (judging from 1989 and previous), but this album is reaaaally lacking in quality song-writing. in my opinion, her anger at being exposed has seriously affected her song-making abilities.
Hmm. I read some of the lyrics to her latest songs. Not a good look. If she were a real victim, she’d have a leg to stand on when she says she’s not sorry. But she’s not. And she doesn’t. So everything in this album comes off as not just petulant, but also like the mildly unhinged rantings of a middle-aged white lady who’s raking the teenaged cashier at Wendy’s over the coals because they forgot to put ketchup in her bag.
“I’m not sorry.” I’ll bet. -eyeroll-
“like the mildly unhinged rantings of a middle-aged white lady who’s raking the teenaged cashier at Wendy’s over the coals because they forgot to put ketchup in her bag.”
hahaha! what an amazing comparison. so accurate xD
I miss country Taylor :'(
No strong feelings re Taylor or her music (too old) but her hair is awful, like some late 80s / early 90s semi perm. Yuck.
I know people have different tastes and stuff…but really this song is so Plain!!! Gee !!! are there really good reviews? If so this is white mediocrity at its best.
Who can have this plain voice and sing plain songs and still makes Bank? Yikes.
It’s like a joke to me.
It’s not because she is “too white”. There will always be a demand for artists with talent and who produce good music, especially those who are attractive and white. This album sounds terrible to me, and I say this as someone who admits to listening to Taylor Swift as a guilty pleasure. Red and 1989 has frothy and enjoyable pop music you can sing along to on a road trip. Reputation is trash. She’s getting to old to play this petty game, and this album comes off as incredibly petty and immature. Not only that, but the songs suck. I haven’t really found any of the songs off this album I’ve heard so far to be catchy.
Just a side note – one white blonde artist I’ve been into recently has been Sabrina Carpenter. She is nearly a decade younger than Taylor Swift, and her songs are much more mature and deep than the crap Taylor is releasing right now. Sabrina is underrated, and is still being sold to teeny boppers, but I was surprised to like pop music from a teenager more than what I’m hearing from Taylor.
That song was pretty bland and basic.
But then, I’ve never considered myself a TS fan, never liked any song of hers (and I usually like at least one song on every album I’ve ever listened to, no matter the genre) and can’t understand her popularity. To each his own, I guess.
this sounds like your basic Christian worship song lol. no offense to Christians.
it’s just these are very simple lyrics repeated over and over, with same set of chord combinations for every section in song.
bummer, I had really liked Red & 1989 was fun. now this particular album.. I guess it’s simply not my jam. though I’m sure I’ll hear it everywhere TvT ::sobs:: because Taylor’s marketing team has always been ace despite the quality of her music.
Too much autotune. Almost everyone today is using autotune so much that they all sound the same. I’m not that old but sheesh I feel like it because it’s getting to the point that I’m playing my Mom and Dad’s stuff because at least it’s real!
Totally lip synced on SNL
i was super skeptical about the album as well, but i ended up buying it with itunes credit i had…. and i’m actually quite blown away by it. There are at least 9 songs that I would say are fantastic (none of those are the singles so far imo), and the rest are okay.
Yep. Great album. But I love the single Call It What You Want.
Taylor will sell a lot because she has a horrendous ticket scheme; the more you buy from her website , the better seats you get.