feel like it’s more of a matter of when she does not if she does. but pop banger taylor is fun in the interim too
I get wanting to have a concise project with a more distinctly cohesive sound, but the sprawl of Red is why it's going to eventually be regarded as her best album.
I hope that the fan fave element of Red helps boost her confidence in the album. Like don't get ur validation from the Grammys sis!! Sometimes I wonder what the follow up album would've sounded like if she had gotten the Grammy tho.
There are songs I skip from Red but not rly because they're awful but cause I don't like them as much as others on the album. But every time people post which songs they'd cut from Red I disagree. I don't find the lows on Red as bad as the lows of 1989, Reputation, or I guess Speak Now which all have some of my least favorite songs in her catalog. And I find the highs in Red higher except some phenomenal songs from Speak Now which are even. I don't think Red has any of my least faves from her. I think red and fearless have the least amount of tracks I skip. I don't skip any fearless tracks
Speak Now has some bangers like Sparks Fly, Haunted and December but I agree I think Red is her best overall.
Speak Now has so many top tier Taylor songs. Sparks fly, dear John, enchanted, last kiss, haunted, etc etc. And Mine has one of her best lines in "You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter" even tho I think someone born into wealth romanticizing being broke is annoying lol.
My one hope for TS7 is that she’ll finally learn how to sequence an album. I’ve shuffled around Red onward and been able to make a much more satisfying album each time.
Eh, I think “Welcome to New York” and “Bad Blood” are way worse than anything on Red. I’ve really come to love every track on that record, even the ones I didn’t like at first. And the peaks are higher on Red, and there are more of them. The peaks on Speak Now are also higher for me than the ones on 1989, but that album really does have consistency issues, which I don’t think Red does. I would reduce Reputation to a six-song EP before cutting a single track from even the deluxe version of Red.
it's amazing how much better 1989 is with "new romantics" as the opener and "wonderland" in place of "bad blood"!!!!
I put "You Are In Love" in the place of "Bad Blood" and I love it. Could have gone with either of the other b-sides, too. I just don't think "Bad Blood" belongs on that record at all. It really kills the flow of the second half, for me.
I feel like the aesthetic and overall mood/songs of Red feel more timeless to me (except the big singles) which helps give it the magnum opus feel. Not that her music has ever been like obscure or inaccessible lol but 1989 and reputation feel more like leaning into trends to me which isn't a bad thing necessarily but they don't have that same feel as a result.
"You Are In Love" is SO great, it's just super a b-side to me because it doesn't really fit the theme of 1989. I get rly emo thinking about her singing it at the 1989 Hyde Park show and getting all choked up.
It's just my favorite of the three b-sides. Also, while it's not really a thematic fit with 1989, I think it's got this sonic feel reminiscent of Tunnel of Love/"Secret Garden" era Springsteen that matches well with the more downbeat second half of that record. Could definitely have "New Romantics" in that spot, though.