Album review: Taylor Swift - Lover

Taylor can't catch a damn break with these albums.

With 1989 Taylor had to prove that she could be one of the Pop girls full time after people (including her record label) questioned her dabble into it with Max Martin on Red. Then with Reputation Taylor had to show that she could be a hardened bitch after being called out by a Kardashian. Then with Lover she had to show that she's fine and that all that drama 'n' shit is above her now.

Taylor's existence thus far has been trying to appease and be reactive through her music. Reputation got its fair share of shit from critics and fans. So of course Taylor was going to switch from black 'n' white shoots and gothic fonts, to pink dip dye, candy floss and glitter...only for her debut song to then get trashed for sounding too happy-go-lucky.

A bitch can't win. Even when she's winning.

Trash leading singles aside, Lover is a return to form. But more than that, it's Taylor returning to herself.

Reputation grew to be an album that got critiqued more on people not liking Taylor's image and adopted persona more than not liking the music itself. Granted. The music wasn't particularly great. And to chop an album because you don't like how someone is looking and acting during its promotional run is a little unfair and a slippery slope to grade music on. If every album were critiqued in this manner, many a Hip-Hop album would get scored low as hell. Amy Winehouse's Black to Black would not be critically acclaimed and neither would Britney Spears' Blackout. But this character that Taylor was adopting was what was making the music bad. A clear connection. But one that many overlooked to just trash Taylor for wearing a black hoodie and loving snakes...I guess.

Taylor gets doo-doo'd on all the time for being fake. But she's always shown who she is in her music. Even on an album like Reputation. Whilst it may have seemed like Taylor was hiding behind a character; that bitterness, pettiness and sticking her thumb to her nose was who she is, or was at that time. It was understandable. 'Hey. If people don't like me. Then let me be a hyperbolic version of who they think I am and show them a NEW me'. But for a girl who has always been seen as being fake, to play what many saw as a character fuelled the narrative that she didn't like in the first place and unknowingly thrust her not-so-best character traits up to the light for all to see. She was proving haters right. It backfired. Lover is an admission that Taylor realises she took a misstep. Sometimes its best to just let shit go and just be. For better and for worse. And if people don't like it, they don't like it.

Reputation was fuelled by everybody else's perception and opinion of who Taylor was, and she let that define the album and affect her way too much. Lover is instead fuelled by Taylor's views of herself in relation to those close to her. Taylor found her way back to her true love. Herself. And the music on Lover is centred around things and people close to her heart.



Taylor's songwriting is at the heart of the every song as its always been known to be. She has a clear knack for writing good Pop songs. And much like Mariah Carey, she has a very particular way in which she uses words and constructs melodies regardless of who she's working with. Taylor will always get props from me for that. But one term I would never use to describe Taylor is effortless. Some songs feel like she's trying too hard. It's crazy right? That we can knock somebody for trying too hard. But when Taylor tries to hard, her lyrics sound ham-fisted and the end result is songs like "ME!", "You need to calm down" and "Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince". It comes off corny and is part of the bleed over from Reputation that this album didn't need. Taylor is at her best when she just sings from her heart and not her head.

When Taylor does sing from the heart, we get great songs. "Cruel Summer" is one of the best songs on the album. Why this wasn't released as a single and made the album opening track will remain a mystery to me. It's also an instance where a song perfectly encapsulates the album imagery. I listen to it and I see Taylor running through a park in her denim cut-offs and Ariana oversized sweatshirt. "Paper rings" is another great song which should've been a single. A Punk / Pop song about being so in love with somebody that you wouldn't give a fuck whether they proposed to you with a Tiffany ring or one made from chippy paper. "Lover" is frank and beautifully earnest, as well as being a nod back to Taylor's Country roots. And "Afterglow" feels like a companion to "Lover", being an apology to the one you love after you've make a complete mess of things. Then there's "Soon you'll get better" with the Dixie Chicks, which is a double whammy of being a song dedicated to her mother's battle with Cancer and co-signing a group who got Blacklisted back in 2003 for openly saying that they did not support President Bush.

But when Taylor gets in her head and overthinks lyrics, thinks get really clumsy. "ME!" is a whole damn mess. "London boy" is a cringe-fest. "You need to calm down" is just plain bad. Each of these songs have a really strong hook and melodies, but the lyrics are doo-doo. Each feels more like an over eager attempt for Taylor to prove something, whatever that something is, when she's no longer at a point career wise or what we see of her personal life, where she has to.

The difference between the songs of the heart and the head also bleed into the sound of this album, which isn't wholly cohesive. Even less so than Reputation and it's certainly no 1989. It is also a very inconsistent album which feels like it's being pulled in different directions. This is no real surprise, because it pretty much reflects how I imagine Taylor feels within herself. She wants to stay silent, but at the same time she's become a commodity who can't always do that. She doesn't want to speak on certain things, but ultimately knows she will, because that's always been the bread and butter of who is she is as a songwriter. She cares less about what other people think, but still cares, which leads to her doing certain types of songs to please. The music on Lover is reflective of all of these different battles that Taylor has had and continues to have, which makes it honest and makes the album feel like a peek into pages of Taylor's diary - but it eschews album tightness. Something of which isn't helped by the overstuffed 18 song tracklist, which could have done with being cut by about 5 songs. And a sequencing which has the album choke on steam a third of the way in.

Taylor has often played victim in the public eye, but her biggest enemy is probably herself. There is a realisation of this on Lover with songs such as "The archer" and "It's nice to have a friend". Self-awareness was something Taylor showed on Reputation. But it was buried in such bitterness and 'what in the actual fuck'-etry that that's all you took away from it. Where Reputation saw Taylor being self-aware as defence mechanism, on Lover her self-awareness feels more like a sense of freeing herself. But that same clumsiness that we've seen from Taylor's plays in the media is still here in the music. Unsurprisingly, because it's a part of who she is.

"You need to calm down" is just a top to bottom 'Gurl, no'. It's basically Taylor standing up and saying 'LOOK AT THIS GAY ANTHEM THAT I WROTE', without realising that songs which are considered gay anthems are the ones which never set out to be. Also, the gays decide what is considered their anthem. Not the artist releasing it. The whole thing was misguided, even if the intention was good. Then you have the Taylor who is unaware of her privilege on songs such as "The man", which tells a tale of how life would be different if Taylor were male. Now, this is a good song and Taylor makes some points. But there is also a tone deafness to the song, seeing as Taylor has reaped benefits from being a white woman in Pop. There are absolutely double standards which Taylor is right in addressing. But to make a whole song about the gender bias and not acknowledge that she's one of the privileged?! Gurl. We have also gotten better songs which speak to the gender double standard from Hikaru Utada ("You make me want to be a man") and Ciara ("Like a boy") which have far more weight given that they are from women of colour.

Whilst Taylor's relationship with the media may yo-yo from taut to fraught, she maintains a great rapport with those whom she works with. The production on Lover is pretty decent across the board. Jack Antonoff's productions were some of the standouts from 1989, which have formed the basis of Taylor's brand of Pop. The two of them make a great team and its clear that there is complete trust between the two of them and it shows in the music. The Joel Little songs are the worst on the album. The production? Great. But the lyrics to each and every one of them are awful.

Taylor can't please everybody and she never will. And as long as she continues to try to, she's always going to be at war with herself. Not the world that she thinks is always against her.

I look forward to hearing an album from Taylor at a point in her life where she cares less what people think and she has a full understanding of her place in relation to everybody and everything. This may be why her earlier albums were so much more distilled in their energy and subject matter. She had less to care about. It's almost sad and makes Lover seem kinda tragic despite the album title. It feels like Taylor is trying to convince herself as much as us that she enjoys the feeling and freedom that comes with choosing love over hate and bitterness. Because when she embraced the latter, everybody shat on her for it. I can't imagine that was a great place to be in mentally anyway. But convincing yourself to be happy isn't a bad thing. It shows a willingness to try and a desire to move in a new direction, and this is definitely reflected in the music on this album. Even if there are some stumbles.

VERDICT: Shoulda put a paper ring on it

Album highlights:
■ Cruel Summer 🏆
■ Lover
■ The Archer
■ Paper Rings
■ Afterglow
■ It's Nice To Have a Friend