Taylor Swift - Reputation (November 10, 2017) Album • Page 84

I think expecting the worst after LWYMMD, and getting three bad songs in a row as tracks 1-3, really put me on track to think this was gonna be laughably bad—and there are some truly garbage songs on here, to be fair. But now that I’m 4 or so listens in, it’s clear that there are like 10 decent/good/great tracks here, which is good enough for me.

 

You are correct. It's a catchall term for anyone obsessed with an artist. Beliebers, Swifties, The Beyhive, etc.

 

Thanks for clearing that up! I'll take that term over "fan-girling" any day.

 

This is why we can’t have nice things will be huge.

 

Getaway Car is the "Style" of this album. It is magical.

 

Yes.

And Holy Ground is 38 on that Vulture list so it’s void.

 

I'm never going to stop wanting another album like Red from her, so that will probably always color my initial expectations. That's just one of my favorite records ever, and I think the blend of sounds and influences is really well executed. This seemed a little one note to me at first, and it's definitely the least she's evolved from a previous record, but it's still a very strong pop album.

 

Speak Now to Red is arguably my favorite record-to-record stretch in the pop genre.

This record is good. I am sure it will grow on me, but it doesn't have the excitement of any of the previous records on my first listen. This feels like a collection of singles versus a complete record (which, understandably, is the Taylor Swift market).

 

Disagree on the evolution comment. This is at least four exits on the highway past 1989. You might not like the evolution, but it 100% exists.

 

i'm cackling i think she's just fucking w everyone at this point.

 

Habe to wait until after work to listen but damn reading these comments are interesting, I'm super anxious to see how I feel about it

 

All I can think of

Joey: Like this. (pointing to the picture) Pictures of cute babies we don’t know. We..we can’t have that.

Janine: Joey, it’s Anne Geddes. She’s a famous artist.

Joey: Look I don’t know this baby. I don’t know if she’s a famous artist or not. You know, and I don’t want to be a jerk but you’re changing too much around here.

 

Anyone else get the vibe this could’ve been a pretty great visual album?

 

I'm not saying there's no evolution, but it's the first time for her where I've felt like a fair number of songs would have fit comfortably on a previous record.

 

agreed

 

Ehhh still disagree.

1989
"I Wish You Would", "How You Get the Girl", "This Love" would all fit on Red pretty easily. Considering "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "WANEGBT" is on there too, I don't think the singles are that far out of line.

Red
"Starlight", "Stay Stay Stay", "Lucky One", "Everything Has Changed"... hell, even "All Too Well" if you ignore the lyrical perspective.

 

Gave up on the list once I saw they put Starlight at 93

 

Just listened to the record, wasn't a fan prior, still not a fan. Jack did a great job on the production (as usual), I just don't relate to anything she writes, not that I expected that going in.

Anyway, this album will do MONSTER numbers in its first few weeks, but does anyone else get the vibe that female driven pop might be a dying genre? While TS is clearly the biggest star in that genre, others have had some fairly mediocre or downright disappointing years. Katy, Miley, and Lana all released albums that went over like a wet fart, in regards to sales and charts.

Lorde put our arguably the strongest album this year in this genre, and she hasnt been able to even buy a "hit". Gaga struggled with Joanne, Pink had a strong first week (aided by concert bundles), and some of the other smaller female artists have struggled to take that next step.

Was the hey-day of female pop stars 2008-2013? It seems music has shifted among younger listeners, to be almost exclusively hip hop and electronic based. Looking at the Hot 100 only 9 of the top 50 songs are female led pop songs (not including Cardi B). The days of the interesting female pop star seem to be fading and even though Taylor sells like crazy and has a huge fan base, I just dont find her or her music compelling like the way Blackout was for Britney, or Gaga's Fame Monster, or well, anything Madonna did pre-Hard Candy.

Even though the genre might be slipping commercially, wish there were more females willing to push the limits of the genre with intelligent and innovative music.

At least we still have Beyonce, Robyn and Rihanna, right?

 

I'd give you "This Love" and "How You Get the Girl" for fitting on Red and "Stay Stay Stay" for fitting on Speak Now, but that's about it.

I think you're underestimating the growth from Speak Now and Red. Sonically, they may not be worlds apart, but you can really hear how much she grew up and how much she refined her songwriting in those two years. Speak Now feels very noticeably younger to me, to the point where I can't imagine most of those songs being on there.

As for Red to 1989, using the outliers on Red to argue that there wasn't much evolution there is kind of a cop out. There were definitely indicators of where she was going, but the jump to the 1989 sound and writing style absolutely remains her biggest departure from one album to the next.

 

I was thinking about it while listening to this album, less in terms of sales and more in successful album releases. From where I sit, Katy and Miley simply released bad albums, bad enough that their fanbases couldn't even save them. Joanne is super mixed, but it didn't have any singles that hit the mainstream in any recognizable way.

Lorde and Kesha are two great examples of releasing great albums this year, but yes the sales themselves were a bit disappointing.

I honestly think it's less about female pop stars and their sales, and more about sales in general these days. A TON has to be done to really make a big mark on sales (or simply being Adele), it's a tough sales world these days

 

...because it should be lower? Lol I dislike that song so much.

 

That's a fair point, as to be honest my fandom really starts with Red.

Idk man. I get your larger point on outliers, but if you were a time travelling executive producer who switched out "I Knew You Were Trouble" for "All You Had To Do Was Stay" I don't think I'd notice anything was amiss.

 

Ha, that's fair, but I've never thought "Trouble" fit anyway. I'll call my time traveling producer to ask!

 

...why? Its a perfect bubbly fun pop song that encompasses everything that is fun about her music