"ME!" feels like it was composed by a computer program to me. "Stay, Stay, Stay" isn't my favorite song she's ever written, but it at least resembles what a human relationship is like.
After a couple full listens, these are the ones I like the most: Cruel Summer* Lover* The Archer Paper Rings Cornelia Street Soon You'll Get Better* False God Daylight * = favorites
Wow!!! This turned out even better than I was hoping (and I was already looking forward to it a lot). I'll easily be able to listen to this a lot without skipping anything. I wasn't as cold on Me! as some people to begin with, but I think it works really well where it's placed in the album.
On my third listen, "Cornelia Street" was the standout for me. So many good songs on here. "London Boy" and "I Think He Knows" both improved for me on this listen. I still don't like "ME!" or "You Need To Calm Down" very much. It's not that they bad songs really, but when an album has so many fantastic songs and already has so many tracks, they just seem kinda superfluous to me.
Isn't Cruel Summer a Masseduction outtake? I know St Vincent originally had a track called Cruel Summer that was supposed to be the b-side to New York. Jack A produced both albums and it looks like Annie Clark has a writing credit on it. Anyway, not a Swift fan, but its cool that all the fans seem to dig it. She truly delivers for her fanbase, I can't tell you how many people on my socials have posted pics with 3 or 4 copies of the physical album that they purchased, not sure who is still using CDs, but her fandom is MASSIVE.
STV has a song called Cruel. And Taylor knicks some of the melody from that song. Hence the writing credit. I wonder if there’s more STV involvement in the song on top of that.
I don’t hear an interpolation of Cruel in the Swift track, I think it’s just a Jack/Annie track that they gave to TS, good song either way.
Top 3 for me are Cruel Summer, The Man, annnnd maybe I Think He Knows. Need to get a few more listens in
Miss Americana was my favorite on first listen and I'm gonna listen again but right now I'm listening to Red
Haven’t read the thread yet, anyone mention that London Boy is just She’s American from the other perspective?
it doesn't sound like Taylor screaming that "devil" line at the end of the bridge, so i assume it's Annie. but if it's Taylor, it's my favorite Tay vocal part ever, haha. it also sounds like there's a second female voice doing some harmonies, but it's doesn't sound like Taylor's voice.
Really?? it has a rasp to it that I can't recall ever hearing from her before, and I am in love with it.
Even listening to it right now, I swear it's not Taylor's voice! Either way though, it's the highlight of that song for me, I keep listening to that 2 second section over and over hahaha. I love a good belty rasp.
I get having the last, climactic burst of ME! at the end of the album, but I think it would have been a really powerful ending with Afterglow -> It's Nice To Have A Friend -> Daylight
A lot of this has grown on me, but the sequencing is weird and the songs I don’t really like are kinda sprinkled evenly throughout, so it’s kinda like in each third of the album there’s a song or two that takes me out of it
It also bugs me that she recycles the same vocal inflection thing like five times on this album where she does kind of a yelp up a fifth from the note she was on, and it’s always in the prechorus. Off the top of my head it’s at least on Cruel Summer, I Think He Knows, Paper Rings, and ME! and it was on Getaway Car too. Not a bad thing by itself but using the same effect in the same place in multiple songs kinda bothers me