Taylor Swift - Lover (August 23, 2019) Album • Page 92

So, Reputation to me felt like Taylor kinda just throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall, and not to say a lot of it didn’t stick, but the record has always just felt pretty disjointed to me. And listening to this, I didn’t really get that “oh this feels out of place” feeling at all.

And I think that’s because this feels like the closest she’s come to creating an album that truly encapsulates all of the reasons we love her since Red. Like she’s certainly trying some stuff here, but imo none of it is like insane out-of-left-field kind of stuff, given her history.

And THEN, I started thinking about how wild it is that this simultaneously also feels like the diametric opposition to Red — in that that record was like a country record with a few modern pop songs, and this one is a massive pop record with a few somber country songs. Idk, just kinda cool to think about how much that record resonated with people, and how making big strides to push her career forward eventually led to recapturing some of that magic by essentially inverting it. Not to mention how doing that has over time made her even more relevant than ever, haha

Sorry for rambling, I felt sincere FOMO today not being able hear this with y’all! Tracks that were immediate loves for me — 10/18 ain’t bad!

Cruel Summer
Lover
Miss Americana
Death By 1000
London Boy
Soon You’ll Get Better
False God
Afterglow
It’s Nice To Have A Friend
Daylight

 

I love her and this album so much. First listen was a much more instant yes than Reputation was first time around and I grew to adore that album. I was worried I wouldn’t connect to the lyrics because she’s in a different place to me at the moment but there were so many moments where I was just like “yes!” Such as “I Forgot That You Existed” and “Death By A Thousand Cuts”.

 

Daylight is definitely getting the Taylor alone with the piano treatment on tour.

 

happy release day!

@personalmaps i think you’ll know the right places to find out which version I should get at target if you wouldn’t mind

 

releasing 4 versions of an album is high key predatory

 

Nice to finally hear it in HQ this morning.

I expect a breakdown of the special editions by the time I get off work today..lol

 

miss Americana gets better with every listen

 

Three listens in

London Boy is still horrific - might just be me being English that makes it so truly awful but hey!

I Forgot That You Existed doesnt work as an opener for me - and is one of the weaker songs (made worse by the cringy fake laughing thing)

Nice to see so many tinges of other current brilliant female artists throughout (I Think He Knows - Carly, The Man - Haim, Miss Americana - Lana)

Overall its a fine album - cutting it down to 13/14 songs would made it better

Oh, and why the weird hatred for ME! on this site?!

 

As of right now, Me! And YNTCD would both make my “13 song cut” so it’s weird that they’re considered the worst two on this by so many in here

 

Not saying I don’t need 15-20 listens more minimum before I’d even attempt resequencing for fun

 

I'm keeping an eye out - so far, it looks like there's one version that has All Too Well demo lyrics and one that has the full "ten minute" version. I'll do a bit of sleuthing to see if anyone has a definitive answer!

I'm real tempted to do my own track by track tbh I love this album so much.

 

@Garrett L. got it - deluxe version 1 has the first draft, deluxe version 4 has the final draft. The pages are on Reddit - I can post them here if people want to see, but don't want to spoil in case someone is really looking forward to seeing it in person first.

edit: for clarity, there doesn't appear to be any version in here that would come close to 10 minutes, so we're still waiting for that myth to materialize. :')

edit 2: someone also made a master post of what's in all the diaries on all the deluxes, like "age 13 - song title" etc.

 

So version 4 is the one we’ve been wanting?

 

It really does feel like a sequel to Red in a lot of ways, which is not to say it sounds like Red. But it's this similar technicolor mix of emotions, told from a different side of the journey. "Maybe I'll write a whole album about that kind of love if I ever find it," she wrote in the liner notes of Red. Well, here it is.

 

depends on what you want, tbh. it looks like version 4 is pretty much the same as the album version with some crossed out lines, version 1 has a few different lyrics.

 

This post has a breakdown of what’s in each deluxe!

 

She’s really gonna make me buy 1 and 4 isn’t she

 

NO ONE IS MAKING YOU DO ANYTHING GARRETT.

 

playing with re-sequencing for fun now.

 

How Cruel Summer was not the lead single from this is baffling

 

I KNOW BUT ALL TOO WELL

tbh I may buy 1 and 4, keep the journal, and give one as a gift to the girl I went to the rep tour with

 

wow cruel summer is gonna be ginormous

 

Yea they definitely gave Annie credit for that vocal melody on “Cruel Summer”. Very cool.

 

So here's a sequence where I'm trying to make it into a more cohesive narrative. I'm choosing to think of the album with three threads running through: politics and self-worth, a past relationship that was intense but didn't work, and a new love that's finally feels like what was missing from all your other relationships. I'm not 100% sure on this yet.

1) The Man
2) I Forgot That You Existed
3) Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince
4) It's Nice To Have A Friend
5) Cruel Summer
6) Death By A Thousand Cuts
7) False God
8) Cornelia Street
9) The Archer
10) Afterglow
11) I Think He Knows
12) Paper Rings
13) Lover
14) Soon You'll Get Better
15) Daylight

bonus tracks:
16) London Boy
17) You Need To Calm Down
18) ME!

 

the man reminds me of something from tegan and sara’s love you to death