Taylor Swift - "Lover" [New Album]

If you remove some of the tracks in which she's at her most slappable (she just can't help herself can she?) and a few from the bland middle section then there's a perfectly decent 12-track album in here.

I totally get ME! as a lead single. Cruel Summer would have been better as a follow-up but we all know Ms Swift favours headlines over music so I suppose You Need To Calm Down did the trick there. I agree with Lover being such an obvious Christmas single though, especially with the music video treatment it's been given.

I find the criticism of her having nothing new to say a bit baffling though to be honest. Yes a lot of the songs on here are just straightforward love songs, but I find that quite refreshing compared to the petty woe is me stuff we've had from her of late. We've not really heard this kind of thing from her since gooey-eyed teenage Taylor, and the general summery breeziness of it all works for me.

And this is coming from someone who just yesterday was convinced I could never like another Taylor Swift album again, such is the level of my irritation at everything she bloody says or does.
 
Yeah, it’s really NOT a disaster at all.

I’m not sure I NEED Taylor Swift to continually innovate and say something new. It’s quite nice to just have an act who’s happy to do what they’re good at.
 
I really like "Paper Rings" so far...which is really downright SILLY and not REMOTELY deep or musically progressive.

AND ALL THE BETTER FOR IT
 
I have no desire to listen to a whole album, but what's the London inspired song like that the Evening Standard were looning about this evening..
 
I’d say London Boy is in the bottom quartile of this album
 
I generally don't mind more of the same, but everything is just the weaker counterpart to something she's done before. With that said it has plenty of 7.5/10 moments in "Cruel Summer", "The Man", "Paper Rings", "False God"... the latter actually stands out as the only real new sound she's pedaling this time
 
POP! said:
but everything is just the weaker counterpart to something she's done before.
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I would agree with that. I suspect there are a few growers here, mind.

But it’s far from a “disaster” either way.
 
Slave said:
I would agree with that. I suspect there are a few growers here, mind.

But it’s far from a “disaster” either way.
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Agreed. My knee jerk reaction to reputation was that it was a bit shit but I ended up loving about 50% of it to various degrees.
 
There are a few songs on the album that I would love to see videos for. Visually I think it could be a very strong campaign.
 
Halli said:
I have no desire to listen to a whole album, but what's the London inspired song like that the Evening Standard were looning about this evening..
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I can’t quite decide whether I love or hate London Boy yet.
 
Is it too early to do a rate ? :)

05 I Forgot That You Existed
09 Cruel Summer
07 Lover
09 The Man
08 The Archer - this would be a 10 if it had a chorus!
07 I Think He Knows
06 Miss Americana... - Halsey much?
09 Paper Rings
07 Cornelia Street
05 Death by a Thousand Cuts
06 London Boy
07 Soon You'll Get Better
10 False God - this is my favorite currently , Slant Magazine compared this to Carly Rae and I hear it/probably why I love it.
07 You Need to Calm Down
06 Afterglow
07 ME!
05 It's Nice to Have a Friend
07 Daylight

Per usual, as a 12-track album it would be much stronger but still a solid effort overall.
 
It took a few listens, but I've really warmed up to the album. For so many tracks, it actually flies by quickly and it has a helluva lot of lovely moments.

Early faves:
It's Nice To Have A Friend
Paper Rings
Lover
The Archer
Cruel Summer
 
Was All Too Well a FLUKE huh Taylor? :evil: been waiting for another soundalike clone since 2012 but oh no, she's like let's have a Style part 4.
 
06 I Forgot That You Existed
09 Cruel Summer
08 Lover
10 The Man
07 The Archer
08 I Think He Knows
06 Miss Americana...
08 Paper Rings
09 Cornelia Street
03 Death by a Thousand Cuts
04 London Boy
11 Soon You'll Get Better
08 False God
10 You Need to Calm Down
08 Afterglow
08 ME!
05 It's Nice to Have a Friend
05 Daylight
 
Still early days but...

08 I Forgot That You Existed
09 Cruel Summer
09 Lover
08 The Man
07 The Archer
06 I Think He Knows
08 Miss Americana...
07 Paper Rings
09 Cornelia Street
09 Death by a Thousand Cuts
08 London Boy
07 Soon You'll Get Better
08 False God
09 You Need to Calm Down
07 Afterglow
08 ME!
07 It's Nice to Have a Friend
07 Daylight
 
-01 I Forgot That You Existed
08 Cruel Summer
02 Lover
08 The Man
09 The Archer
04 I Think He Knows
06 Miss Americana
05 Paper Rings
07 Cornelia Street
05 Death By a Thousand Cuts
08 London Boy
08 Soon You'll Get Better
07 False God
08 You Need To Calm Down
09 Afterglow
05 ME!
05 It's Nice To Have a Friend
06 Daylight

averages out at 6/10.

not quite an unspeakable disaster, I must confess. I still find it very disappointing that she's reduced herself to essentially Spotify-bops-by-numbers and lost so much of the Swiftian qualities which even Reputation had in abundance. Even The Man, a pretty good song melodically, has some really generic production to contend with. Afterglow is the best song overall, and Cruel Summer the best uptempo.

Shockingly it has a better Metacritic score (80) than 1989 (76), and in fact her highest EVER, which is just nonsense of the first degree.
 
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Spotify numbers after two days

8.0m The Man
7.2m Cruel Summer
6.9m I Forgot...
5.2m I Think He Knows
5.3m Miss Americana
5.4m Paper Rings
4.8m Cornelia Street
4.3m Death By...
4.4m London Boy
3.9m Soon You'll Get Better
3.8m False God
3.7m Afterglow
3.1m It's Nice to...
3.0m Daylight

So on that basis, Cruel Summer and The Man as fourth and fifth singles?
 
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Jark said:
Spotify numbers after two days

8.0m The Man
7.2m Cruel Summer
6.9m I Forgot...
5.2m I Think He Knows
5.3m Miss Americana
5.4m Paper Rings
4.8m Cornelia Street
4.3m Death By...
4.4m London Boy
3.9m Soon You'll Get Better
3.8m False God
3.7m Afterglow
3.1m It's Nice to...
3.0m Daylight

So on that basis, Cruel Summer and The Man as fourth and fifth singles?
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I could live with that.
 
Possibly The Man is doing the best because it is the first track on Spotify's new releases playlist.

I'd go with Cruel Summer now while there's still some summer left...
 
-1 I Forgot That You Existed - truly one of the most limp major album openers I've ever heard. The sense of foreboding this instilled was very much not appreciated
10 Cruel Summer - I was of course skeptical of her nicking the title of one of the best 80s pop songs but this is very good indeed if as Jark said Getaway Car II. Obvious lead single, really.
03 Lover - I dig the retro feel of the backing track, but the rest is so bland and sugary...
08 The Man - I do like this but it would seriously benefit from some edge or bombastic musical elements. Far too pleasantly produced.
09 The Archer - As I said earlier in the thread, this is good but should have been an 11, if not overtaking Out of the Woods as her career best had she let it go off.
00 I Think He Knows - This gets a zero because I've listened to it 4 or 5 times and can't recall a single thing about it. Utterly pointless.
07 Miss Americana - more strings, and lyrics literally about anything else and this could have been quite something...
07 Paper Rings - I fully reserve the right to despise this is three weeks (or days)
06 Cornelia Street
03 Death By a Thousand Cuts
08 London Boy - fine it's 'adorkable'
08 Soon You'll Get Better - Beautiful, but not something I see myself coming back to a lot
10 False God - Perhaps the most sonically adventurous track on a largely by-the-numbers album. Adore.
09 You Need To Calm Down
9.5 Afterglow - How the living fuck is the title track a single when she has this. Clueless.
02 ME! - A few points for Brandon being sexy af.
02 It's Nice To Have a Friend - I like the background ooohs, noticed absolutely nothing else.
06 Daylight
 
The album is such a mess. All the positive reviews praising this piece of mediocrity are honestly pissing me off so much just like with Sweetener except this is much worse than Sweetener.

I'm getting a cute 5 track EP out of it and that's it.
 
06 I Forgot That You Existed - One of those songs that builds up to something big, then just fizzles into nothing.
08 Cruel Summer - It's good and I suspect it'll grow even more on me.
06 Lover - I like the Johnny Cash vibe here. This kinda sound suits her a lot. But the song itself is a bit bland.
06 The Man - It sounds the same from start to finish, but overall enjoyable. Not seeing it.
06 The Archer - Love the sound. But still deciding on this. Quite obviously a slow burner though.
03 I Think He Knows - This is why people hate Taylor Swift.
09 Miss Americana - This is really good! The chorus could have had more punch, but the verses are amazing.
06 Paper Rings - It sounds almost too familiar. But it does have something very nostalgic about it.
08 Cornelia Street - The lyrics are really good here. I love this sound on her.
06 Death By a Thousand Cuts - It eventually builds into something decent. But ultimately filler.
07 London Boy - Cute but stupid. Basically Taylor Swift personified.
05 Soon You'll Get Better - YAWN.
10 False God - Oh now THIS I love. The production is basically R&B, so naturally it's the best thing on the album for me. It has that smoothness and honesty.
08 You Need To Calm Down
08 Afterglow - Quite good. Should've been further up the album.
05 ME!
04 It's Nice To Have a Friend - Rubbish
05 Daylight - Mostly rubbish.
 
This album needed a good PRUNING. There's so much redundant garbage in there, especially the 2nd half.
 
I was going to listen to it this afternoon while I was out for a walk, and just looking at the track list took more out of me than a 90 minute stroll.
 
Ok “False God” is officially in my T Swift top five - it is the slightly more prudish but lyrically superior “Warm Blood” we all needed. :disco:
 
The only thing this and Sweetener share is the fact you can make a VERY good 6-8 track album with a bit of trimming but at least the former was not a convoluted bloated MESS. TayTay needs some quality control stat.

EDIT: whoops now! (single edit) So Arian's was 15 tracks long as opposed to this being 18 so both had an unnecessary very long tracklisting
 
Well there are 3 good songs on Sweetener so that's not true. At least Lover has 7 or 8.

Although on the other side of the coin, nothing even 20% as good as No Tears, so.
 
I wonder if the project she has up her sleeve of re-recording all her old albums will help her see of what she was capable of before and we'll get some SAD TAYLOR again come 2021.
 
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