Taylor Swift - evermore (December 11, 2020) Album • Page 44

This is exactly how I feel!

 

I largely agree with this. Evermore feels less intentional to me than folklore did. With evermore, I get the feeling the vocal and words would have existed exactly as they do no matter what the music was doing, whereas they were more symbiotic in folklore.

This is not a "good or bad" thing, for me. They're very different, even though they do feel related to each other. Probably a big part of why evermore feels distinctly like a middle album to me. As is, it doesn't feel finished. Which, fine. Taylor doesn't need someone's closure but I, the listener, need hers. Would've been a bummer to end it on The Empire Strikes Back.

 

I feel ya here for sure, it does feel middle-album-y in that sense, like she's holding back and chilling a bit before the big finale. I expect the 3rd album to end with a 20-mintute epic telling the life story of a young woman living her life in the spotlight, from birth to death.

ok maybe i went a bit too far, but I agree with ya

 

I also pretty much agree with this. I think it's why I have a really hard time with "which do I like better". Because the answer is folklore, but it's not like it's because evermore isn't also amazing at what it's doing, folklore is just more catered to my interests. I want the big moments like the bridge of last great american dynasty and the crash that happens near the end of august, or songs with multiple parts going on like how much the "sweet tea in the summer" line changes the direction of seven. I feel like some of those things are missing a little. Evermore feels more in vein with how I perceive the National, who I can never quite get into. There's beautiful stuff happening, but it doesn't completely blow my mind as often.

But just want to be clear that when I say I like folklore more, I mean it's my #1 album of the year compared to evermore being just like a top 10 album of the year. It's still amazing and I'm still really happy/can't believe we got it.

 

You said what I was trying to say in a much better way. Well said.

 

agree with all this as well, you're in my brain

 

Evermore has stuff that could have fit perfectly well on older TS albums, but Folklore felt brand new and different. I think that's why I haven't really felt the urge to return to Evermore yet.

 

I prefer folklore's first half and evermore's second half

IMO, evermore is a pretty significant step up lyrically from folklore so I'd probably choose the former if i had to pick

but i don't have to pick !!!

hell yeah

 

I'll admit I haven't listened that closely, but I'm not hearing this huge step up in lyrics that everyone else seems to be saying. I thought folklore's lyrics were generally great and this just feels more of the same to me?

And while I'm being mr. hot-takes, I like No Body, No Crime a lot but I don't think it belongs in this project. Should've have been saved for a later album imo.

 

I also can't get behind this being a huge step up lyrically, I think if anything it's the same level. Though I do have to admit, there are more than a few moments on this album where a line or two feels a bit more forced whereas everything on folklore feels perfectly smooth

 

I think what I mean when I say these lyrics are notably different is that this is the first album she's ever made where it feels like the lyrics were the deciding factor on just about every song. What makes it different is that this is true of song after song, whereas she dropped the more intense lyrical tracks like this more sparingly in the past. You know, mixed in with the stuff she thought would do well on radio.

 

I am probably explaining this badly, but... alas.

 

No I got you

 

I think evermore is more nuanced and detailed as a storytelling album. I also think the fact that these songs are sadder really lets her twist the knife with some of her most devastating lines ever (the grocery store receipts bit in “marjorie,” or the “footnotes in the story of your life” line in “tolerate it”). I’m personally a lot more taken with the lyrics here, but that’s probably the country fan in me.

 

happiness continues to just hit so damn hard.

 

For whatever it's worth, lyrics on both albums absolutely destroyed me in the best possible way. They touched on different pain points though, which is very interesting.

 

jesus, is any one else out here sobbing while listening to marjorie? masterclass...

 

the delayed bridge of "ivy" kind of game me my ultimate taylor swift moment, in terms of a song just suddenly exploding, so i don't really need it as much from the other songs

but again listen to "dorothea" on headphones or pay attention to what happens to "cowboy like me"'s arrangement after every verse and tell me again how these songs could just be loops beneath her vocals. also: the opening/coda of "gold rush"? and "happiness," the production and instrumentation of which certainly isn't static?

EDIT: i just noticed there are TWO bridges in "ivy." how dare she

 

“Evermore” and “Closure” are the least standard song structures on either album though...

 

I think a lot of the difference people are ascribing to these albums is a mirage. Folklore seemed more surprising and unpredictable because it came out of the blue and was a whole new sound. Evermore seems “redundant” or “less intentional” because it came a few months later.

They’re very blatantly two halves of a whole.

 

here's the ultimate arbitrary reason i prefer evermore: bryan devendorf plays on it

 

lyrically all i'll say is that both "tolerate it" and "happiness" feel like a new level for her, a level that she's approached before (cf. "all too well") but her craft has improved so much over the years that she occupies it more effortlessly

i also think it's hilarious that "happiness" is about closure and "closure" isn't really

 

in conclusion

whoaoaoaoh

goddamn

 

What if they’re not two thirds of a trilogy, but two quarters of a year-long project where each album reflects a different season/seasonal shift?

 

well she has been spending lots of time with JV......