Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department (April 19, 2024) Album • Page 25

Other than one of the biggest albums of the last decade her career would have been the same

 

While we wait around, I am going to make a prediction, because why not....

She's using "poetry" a lot in the promo, including the album title of course, and all the imagery is black&white, and I am really getting vibes that this might be a true singer-songwriter type album that focuses on lyrics more than music. At this point, I just assume Jack produced the whole thing. My prediction is it'll be Taylor's version of a downtempo lyric-focused album like Bleachers s/t, the Clairo album that Jack did, his work with Lana, a little bit of Solar Power... just my guess, we'll see

 

Is this a shot at Taylor?

 

I mean, it could be for multiple artists. But Swifties seem to be taking it personally.

 

Billie also isn't wrong, but yes many artists do it, unfortunately. Anyone with reading comprehension can see that Billie says "some of the biggest artists" which is a plural, and not ONLY a dig at one person.

 

Thinking about what the anti-Taylor Swift rollout was, and I guess it was Radiohead giving away In Rainbows? How would one even go about doing something like that these days?

 

obviously there are others who release variants with distinctly different contents other than the color or cover - like Olivia and Bleachers - but the scale at which Taylor has latched onto it is incomparable.

she's not wrong about the wastefulness of it all. to be clear, record manufacturing is inherently wasteful, and variant pressing and collecting just adds to that. but there's a stark difference in the way Taylor approaches it compared to others. there's the annoying argument that Swifties throw around that it's misogynistic to call out Taylor for selling variants when RHCP presses 17 or 18 per album. but several thousand copies across 17 or 18 variants is objectively not as bad as several million pressed across 4 or 5. add to it the demand she generates by unique artwork and bonus tracks and even more will continue to be manufactured (especially when it's advertised as collecting pieces of a larger whole).

 

Billie was clearly just digging at The Story So Far

 

I think The Rolling Stones did a vinyl variant for every MLB team, that was the most insane I have seen

 

oh shit, i forgot about that Stones pressing

 

More like Knocked Loose since they pressed even more
Would not be surprised if Billie knows either or both of those bands.

 

Hit dogs holler, which is why swifties are mad. Billie isn't wrong and obv a lot of artists do it, but if taylor fans are taking it personally, I mean it's because they know it applies to her and she's part of the problem.

I hope more artists speak out about the waste. What irks me is when they brag about having a tour that involves like 10 semi trucks worth of set pieces and stuff driving all over the country and polluting everywhere. Meanwhile, I'm trying to take public transportation more often to do my part lol

 

Oh, she knows them

Knocked Loose Turned Coachella Into a Hardcore Show + Billie Eilish Was There to Watch

 

I think variant collecting is dumb in any situation, in large part because of the waste. I feel ok about collecting vinyl because I listen to my records all the time; they're serving an actual purpose. And it's not like streaming all your music is this environmentally sound option either, for the record! Owning five copies of a record because they're different colors or covers or something has always seemed silly to me, because at minimum four of them are just going to be sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

The issue with Taylor's version (lol) of this is that she knows there are legions of people who will buy every variant just to feel like they are "being a real fan" and "doing their part" to help her break records and shit. And the bonus track approach makes it worse, because those people then end up feeling like the only way they can get the full fan experience is to buy every version of the vinyl to get all the songs. It's borderline predatory, honestly, and the materials waste aspect, PLUS the amount of bandwidth this shit takes up in an already strained production ecosystem...I mean, we should ALL be calling that out. I'm glad such a prominent artist is saying something about it.

But hey, she's learned that playing the vinyl game this way can get her some big ass first week numbers, so she's not going to stop until this strategy either doesn't work or all the accusations about her fueling climate change start to stick!

 

I don’t think folklore is anywhere near the same album without him. That incredible run at the heart of the record from “my tears ricochet” to “this is me trying” is all Jack produced (minus “seven”). It’s a pop sensibility that makes the whole thing much more accessible and contributes massively to the success.

 

His contributions to folklore are really underrated, to the point where he's almost erased as a part of that era. I get that Dessner ends up being the heavier hand, especially with evermore added to the picture, but yeah, it's the Jack part of that album that truly makes it, IMO.

 

I think she should ditch both of them for an album or two. Push herself a bit more again.

 

bring in AG Cook and see what happens

 

Reznor and Finch or bust.

 

Will Yip

 

Surprised no one has said Butch Walker

 

Will Putney

 

Because of course they would.

 

Brandi Carlile and/or Annie Clark would be great

 

Ariel Rechtshaid and Rostam, I mean she's besties with Haim already

and also Dev Hynes