#songs on lover doesn't mean people hate pop taylor

[finnickodaiir]

I'm sorry, but seeing the "you all are constantly hating on Taylor's pop albums" comments makes me think we go to different fandoms

[imhereonthekitchenfloor]

⭐️Now that I have listened through TTPD 6 times, I have reached my magic number where I usually can process an album. Review time⭐️

Review sorted by sections: 2 reasons this is not my usual cup of tea, musicality, lyrics, overall thoughts

I think every Taylor Swift album is good. This is a good album. This is not an album I would ever listen to if it were not by Taylor Swift. The "not my usual cup of tea" comes from the dark emotions and the sound.

The dark emotions are ugly as they are supposed to be. I know us tumblrinas love our high horse and "fake fans never saw Taylor as human" okay but I think I have but also I have an idealized version of everyone in my mind. It's hard to hear Taylor be happy at the time about being with problematic people or partaking in not ideal behavior. This is not what I want to hear from my older sister bestie figure

Musically not much is happening here? Slow tempo. Hard beat. Some synthetic sound as Taylor talk sings to some melody that consists of 2 notes. What happened to actually creating a musical experience with a melody😭😭😭 this is my biggest gripe with Taylor from folklore and on. She sacrifices musicality, and it's only getting worse.

These two combined means Taylor is painting a picture I don't like but isn't even giving me songs that are traditionally fun to listen to. I will say this album feels like an extension of Midnights but the chillness of folklore/evermore. It feels familiar to me. Thank you aimee, Robin, and the manuscript definitely scream sleepless nights looking at her past. The non midnights rejects feel like catharsis songs. Taylor had them in her head and had to release them (thus why they may sound lazy or alike). I love a long album (rip the Lover haters), but I wish there was more differentiation than Taylor's music becoming a chill synthpop melting pot. That's not why I signed on to being a swiftie. I signed on because I love her musicality. That's no longer what she is delivering.

⭐️Musicality⭐️

I feel like Taylor can do whatever she wants at this point and she has enough fans that will eat it up. But like any market, you make changes and you lose customers and gain different customers. She is not going to change to maintain her old fans. That being said, I know SO many people who listened to Taylor and love her country music but don't listen to her pop. I agree with them her country was better. It was so much more musicality focused!!! It was about writing songs that were enjoyable to listen to! And now for the fandoms "this is so satisfying to listen to" we get synth beats with a singular synthetic background instrument. (This is a jack antonoff hate blog btw.) This isn't why I am here!! I have been clear about that from folklore on I was here for the music not some chill song that has poetic lyrics. I might be the only one here for those reasons but I still hear hints of that insane musicality in her songs and I am invested in Taylor personally. That being said:

⭐️Lyrics⭐️

The lyrics are obviously carrying the album. I enjoy debut and would not say that about debut. But it's the truth for ttpd. Lyrics are not why i became a fan but they are what made me invested. The reviews complaining about the album tend to point to the lyrics as nonsense but I think they were very purposeful. But to go back to me being invested in Taylor herself, I WANT to know what the lyrics are about. This "don't paternity test the lyrics" business combined with lack of traditional bops or fun songs (I can do it with a broken heart excluded of course) is SUCH a boring perspective from someone who is invested in Taylor and what happened to her. Yeah yeah she doesn't want us judging her and choosing what's best for her a la who's afraid of little old me and but daddy I love him. However, if I am not here for Taylor personally and I am not here for the musical sound, why am I here? Nostalgia of what once was?

⭐️Closing Thoughts⭐️

Overall, this album is good but stagnant. On a 1-10 scale, I would rate most songs between 4 and 6 with a couple 8's. Midnights was a more dynamic version of this album and was 3-7 with a couple 10's. Debut through lover was the full 1-10 scale. I feel like we are melting towards an average of "good enough". Lyrically Taylor writes poetry. I am not a poet. I am a nosy girl who likes Taylor's melodies. I enjoy the album. Taylor can never disappoint me. Every album my standards for her drop. I will fight anyone who dislikes her. TTPD was not written for me and I get it. But I feel conflicted not being all adoration on the adoration and praise fandom website.

[startreatment]

i feel like i can say this here so i’m just gonna let loose but i think jack doesn’t challenge taylor and that’s why midnights is so…. i hate to say uninspired but that’s how it feels. like, maybe if we weren’t rehashing similar themes in previous albums over and over again with some pretty mediocre beats in the background it’d be fine but someone needs to light a fire under taylor or something, im not even saying this in a “she’s a horrible songwriter” type of way… it just feels like she’s gotten too comfortable and has become maybe stagnant in a way?? like i enjoy karma and sweet nothing is cute but when you look at the lyricism on this album vs her recent work it doesn’t feel cohesive. like she could do better. i’ve seen the argument that people “just hate fun” but that isn’t the truth, we can have fun with taylor… literally look at lover & 1989, it’s just so like “that’s it?”.

first of all, i am so flattered that you came in my inbox to bitch, love you for that <3 second of all, YES!!! COULDN'T FUCKING AGREE MORE!!!!!!! i couldn't put my thoughts into words, but you said it perfectly! yeah, she's fucking rehashing the same themes and i'm sick of it. folklore and evermore are outliers in this, because she very masterfully mixed up her own stories and stories she made up, which is one of the reasons they felt so fresh and exciting, despite both having jack in the credits. i don't want to be an asshole and say that artists are only good when they struggle and suffer, but how many times can you tell the same falling-in-love story? sure, having new perspective can be fun, especially when it's a retrospective/reflective thing, but at this point it just feels... reductive? idk. like, the fact that it's a popular thing for swifties to be like "false god belongs on reputation", or "high infidelity is so evermore!", or "paris sounds like something off 1989" is not good. doesn't necessarily mean she's constantly writing the same song (even though it feels like it sometimes, especially if you rearrange them a bit), it just shows that all three of those pop records are not entirely, and i'm sorry to say this, sonically cohesive. lately, it feels like she just puts most of the songs make it onto her records and very little gets left on the cutting floor or whatever. i do not think songs like mastermind/vigilante shit/paris belong on an album like midnights, purely because i don't think they fit the ~vibe. and that's a problem, at least to me! when i first saw the tracklist, i was So Excited. a 13 track album?? finally, she's gonna pick the very best songs instead of making a bloated 16+ track mess (looking at you, lover)!! oh, wait.. there are 8 more tracks? yeah, that's taylor alright.

i know nothing about music industry, but what i do know is that the most exciting music taylor swift has ever made was heavily influenced by

a) working with a new producer, stepping out of her comfort zone (1989, folklore)

b) going through a horrible break up (red)

c) having Shit to prove to losers and people who doubted her abilities (speak now and 1989)

so yeah, i also agree that she needs to be challenged, needs to try something she hasn't done before. she's incredibly talented and hard-working, to see her waste her time/money/mental resources on shit like midnights when i KNOW she can make shit like 1989, red and folklore, is upsetting.

[taylor-on-your-dash]

but taylor has relased "messy" singles, for example wildest dreams, which is literally about a one night stand, so how is cruel summer different?

Right, so as a veteran Swiftie, I need y'all to take a seat for 5 minutes because none of you guys seem to remember what the Lover era was like. I know what a lot of you boil this down to, and it's usually "If Cruel Summer was picked over 'ME!' as the lead single Lover would've been more appreciated as an album!"

No, it wouldn't.

Taylor never - and I mean never - puts her best songs as her lead singles. She just doesn't. She puts the songs she knows are going to be the most commercially successful and radio friendly (family friendly and usually under 3 minutes and 30 seconds) as her lead singles. This is why she picked the poppier tracks off of folklore and evermore to be the leads and not some of the best songs off the albums, because she knows what will sell.

ME! was picked because it would get stuck in people's heads. The same reason We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together was picked (and people hated that song when it first came out because of how overplayed it was), the same reason Shake It Off was picked (remember that people hate this song), and the same reason that Look What You Made Me Do was picked (have we all forgotten the worldwide reaction to that song and how hated it was). Taylor doesn't pick the best songs for her lead singles. She picks the song that shows off the album's sound, the general vibe, and what will create a load of attention. ME! is the song with the album's vibe, it's commercial enough for radio, it has the general vibe, and a feature to bring in a new audience as well.

Cruel Summer is a commercial pop song as well and if it was as overplayed as ME! was back in the day, people still would've hated it as much as they did The Man and You Need To Calm Down. People would've gotten sick of her screaming in the bridge. People would've gotten tired of it being played everywhere. People would've gotten sick of it because it was catchy. Because it's a summer song, it would've been unavoidable the entire summer.

Want to know why I know that? Because people still didn't like Taylor in 2019. I know this is a hard concept for a lot of younger Swifties to grasp, but people genuinely just did not like her. Some people didn't start to change their opinions on her until the full unedited phone call between her and Kanye was released in 2020. Whether you are going to agree with my take or not, that is just a fact. People still would not have liked Cruel Summer for that reason alone. Not to mention that Taylor was now being more politically open about her opinions on Trump, abortion, and LGBTQ+ rights. It wouldn't have changed the public perception of her, people still would've criticized it to hell and back, the conservatives would've still heavily criticized everything she was doing in that era, and people still would've hated it.

[andruwminyrd]

spotify playlists just because ✨

2022. vibe for 2022

steve harrington - ahoy ladies! (mix of 80s songs & more modern ones. also a mix of songs that reminds me of him & that i think he'd like tbh)

robin buckley - i wanted her to look at me (mix of 80s songs but also sapphic songs <33 same as steve it's a mix of songs that i think she'd like but also that just reminds me of her)

stranger things - friends don't lie. (songs from the series & songs that fits)

NACE - just 'cuse i'm mad at you doesn't mean i want to lose you. a playlist for nancy drew and ace from nancy drew.

the marauders. i solemnly swear i'm up to no good. (songs that reminds me of the gang & that i think they'd listen to)

the foxhole court. he was their family. they were his. they were worth every cut and bruise and scream. a playlist for all for the game by nora sakavic cus my tfc phase came back and i'd deleted my old playlist so i needed a new and updated one <3

that funny feeling. inspired by bo burnhams song by the same title. mainly sad songs from phoebe bridgers, taylor swift and mitski. (others too but those 3 r the main ones)

it was never a phase. a messy playlist with mostly emo & pop punk music (think mcr, fall out boy, paramore and avril lavigne.. tho there r some bratz song in there as well)

you have bewitched me. movie score & classical music.

coming of age soundtrack. typical songs that are in a coming of age movie like lady bird, booksmart and the edge of seventeen.

90s romcom soundtrack. typical songs that are in romcoms from the 90s like 10 things i hate about you, she's all that and clueless.

horror movie soundtrack. mainly inspired by fear street

final girl. she’s the one at the end with a knife in her hand. her friends are dead. she’s on a mission to kill. she’s not so innocent anymore. a playlist for my girls sidney prescott, laurie strode, ellen ripley, alice hardy, grace le domas and so many more.

cottagecore. songs that fits the cottagecore aesthetic.

fine! make me your villain. songs that fits ur favorite villain.

slowburn enemies to friends to lovers. when you don't know if they're gonna kiss or kill each other.

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo. they are just husbands. i am evelyn hugo. and anyways, i think once people know the truth, they will be mure more interested in my wife.

daisy jones and the six. for the book with same title by taylor jenkins reid. will be updated with the songs from the tvshow when it's out (and if i like them ahha)

star crossed lovers. two young lovers, whose love is destined for destruction.

dark academia. think the secret history, dead poets society, kill your darlings, if we were villains.

wasting my young years. it's 2015 and you're on tumblr. (tho some songs are prob from 2016 and up but the vibe is there)

pov its summer. a playlist for the summer

percy jackson. don't feel bad, i'm usually about to die. for the percy jackson series by rick riordan, and getting hyped for the disney+ series.

[artofdying1970]

ranking tswift albums based on how annoying their fans are

evermore: "underrated masterpiece !!!" "why doesn't taylor acknowledge it !!" "the forgotten sister 🥺" i am begging you all to shut up god bless. yes it's good and it's in my top 3 but honestly who cares. it's not getting a grammy btw i'm sorry

reputation: yes it's all subjective and people can have opinions but the way people will keep calling this legitimately her best work (over folklore, even) and choose THAT hill to die on is just beyond me. i don't hate it that much but come on girls. it did not need a grammy for best pop vocal album btw stop lying

speak now: the reason why it took me so long to listen to this one was because of how annoying people were about it lol. another "underrated masterpiece" they called it. unsurprisingly Yeah It's Good (even though sometimes it sounds like christian rock i'm sorry !!!!)

debut: idk how to tell you that calling an artist's debut their worst work is actually a compliment bc it means they grew and improved over the years but People Don't Get That. it's harmless yeah but it's really not for me i guess. it's also really unpolished (which makes sense) so i don't know why people are so surprised it always shows up at the bottom of people's rankings

lover: "guys don't you get it's Experimental" no it's not.. anyways ! i adore this album with all my life i can't lie but some people are unhinged about this one . it's mostly just people insisting that me! and YNTCD were Actually Good single choices and that the man isn't cringy at all. also paper rings isn't pop-punk btw i can't believe i have to even say that

folklore: i promise you you don't need a dictionary to listen to this ok . i can't stand the lakes for its excessive use of the thesaurus and it appears i'm the only one who doesn't but Oh Well

1989: if i hear 'pop perfection' one more time... anyways. it's Very Good yes but is it better than to pimp a butterfly? ... no? lol

red: yes guys all too well is Very Good and Yeah It's On The List Of Some Of Taylor's Best Songs Can We Talk About Something Else

fearless: idk what to say about this one honestly . i rarely see people call fearless their fav album even though it's, surprisingly, Not Bad