This is where I'm at. Can I rank real quick without y'all getting mad? I only became a fan during the 1989 cycle and haven't connected to anything before that (I know, I know, Red, I tried when the TV came out but it still doesn't do a lot for me as a whole) Evermore 1989 Folklore Lover Midnights Reputation
I think where I'm landing on this album is that I both like it a lot and also feel like it's kind of a missed opportunity. It's the first time where I feel like she's regressing, to the point where I hear a lot of little musical ideas, vocal melodies, production flourishes, etc. that she's done before on other songs and is recycling here. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when I pictured a late-night Taylor album, I kind of hoped it would be something different than "1989, but more muted" or "Reputation, but softer." I think there was a new, more interesting path forward in the album's concept that she and Jack didn't take. Again, I still really like this record, but as someone who is obsessed with late-night records, I'd gotten my hopes up for a masterpiece when she announced it, and I don't think it's that.
not gonna fully rank or anything, but to me folklore is easily better than this, but this is easily better than evermore
I only like 7 songs off of Lover. That album came out of a time when I was falling out of love so.....
current ranking (assume this ranking covers TV tracks over the originals, and all associated bonus tracks): folklore evermore Red Midnights reputation 1989 Speak Now Lover Fearless Debut i agree with other sentiments here that i was expecting a more electronic extension of evermore, or a toned down, darker version of rep - in a way, something more like a dark night of the soul album, for lack of a better word. while this definitely isn't that, it does make me rethink how we classify late-night albums as dark and moody. i'm a sucker for those too, but i'm not mad at the shift here.
I'm just gonna quote my last ranking post, lol: We'll see how things play out, but right now, I think Midnights is 6th? Just above 1989, though the highlights of that one are quite high; I just really like when her pop stuff has this vibe, I guess!
I feel like I just did this but it's probably different now haha folklore Red evermore Reputation Speak Now 1989 Lover Midnights Fearless TS Lover was the hardest to rank because it's extremely inconsistent, my edited version would probably slot 4 or 5
Fifth tracks are such a funny bit of Taylor Swift lore to me. Don't recall if I've ever played along and ranked 'em myself, but if I did, that ranking would look surprisingly different from my album ranking.