"I love you ain't that the worst thing you ever heard" would have been the "darling i'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream" insta caption of the summer, they absolutely bunked the single rollout. Imagine how much better her PR cycle could have gone. I'm going to force someone to let me do an ad hoc on this as a project at work lmao.
I don't think this was safe (then again, I don't think Fearless was safe either). I think it feels safe because it's such an easy listen - and I think it's an easy listen because it's so quintessentially her. It has a lot of sonic diversity, new territory with her vocals, several songs that have no co-writes (which hasn't been a thing for awhile), and as Kayla put it in a conversation we were having, it "takes elements of ALL her styles and solidifies her". That kind of execution can feel safe, but I'd argue it's the exact opposite. There's nothing safe about going all in on yourself, especially when Taylor's achilles heel has always seemed to be an inherent lack of belief that her fans would be happy with JUST her - no spectacle, no drama, no big show. Just Taylor and the words. (Don't get me wrong, I love the spectacle too and she's great at a lot of it. But we never needed that and Taylor doesn't seem to understand why her fans love her the way that they do. It's her most frustrating and humanizing trait.)
There's been a theory circulating that THIS was supposed to be TS6 and Rep was put together at the last minute because she felt like she had to "clear" her reputation first, but I don't think so at all. This very much feels like the work of someone who took a lot of time to come to themselves and to be comfortable expressing themselves. I also think as she reveled in the "death of her Reputation" and no Big Machine interference, she gave herself more freedom to experiment and realized it didn't have to be straight pop, straight country, straight anything. I'm extremely interested to see how she continues to innovate in this next stage of her career.
Yeah people need to stop pretending Rep was some sort of fluke or one off or a mistake. That record slaps. SLAPS I SAY.
Agreed- there are a lot of things I LOVE on Rep, but I will say that I enjoy this breezy mix of genre elements way more on first listen. Rep had to win me over a bit on some songs whereas I like all of these immediately (even ME!, especially without the spelling section.)
I will lay down and die for a lot of Rep. And even the songs I initially disliked (looking at you "End Game") I came around on.
Me and my friend always listen to T Swift albums for the first time together and he was lukewarm on Reputation but we both love this
Quality of the rip buzzes on my speakers at certain spots. Good first listen so far. More subdued than I expected.
Well put. Kinda captures my thoughts and then reveals how the word I was apply was the wrong one. Feeling safe but not being safe because of the reasons you mentioned definitely could be playing into here. I really enjoy this record. She’s fantastic. It’ll grow and morph as all Taylor albums do. Retweet retweet retweet
Message it to me, too. If you can. Also, I heard she got rid of the “spelling is fun” but from Me. Is this true?
So does “Cruel Summer” having any “Cruel” sample or interpolation?? Currently lugging my 40lb toddler around Magic Kingdom in 95 degree heat for 13 hours so zero ways to listen.