Tag: album

First of all hello to all new followers! I blog mostly book reviews but every so often I’ll write about concerts or musicals I’ve been too or in this case an album that I really love. I’ll check out everyone’s blogs in a little while as I have quite a few to read and I want to take a good look at everyone’s blogs and read peoples posts.

Now on with today’s post…

At the time I’m actually writing this post it is Taylor Swift’s new album, Lover, release date. It’s absolutely no secret that Taylor Swift is my favourite solo artist (to the extent she’s probably the only person I’d cry in front of if I ever met her) and I have loved her music for well over ten years now so I’m at that stage now where I would just buy anything she released as I know that I’m bound to like it.

Taylor’s last album reputation wasn’t an instant love for me in the slightest, it was only when certain events happened in my life that I started to click with the lyrics and truthfully that era ended up being on of my favourites of hers so I’m somewhat anxious to hear the new music. I loved the message that the album had and the confident, independent, don’t care what people think about you feeling that reputation came with both from the songs and the powerful presence that Taylor had and from the singles from Lover I’m feeling this album will have a completely different vibe. It’s also worth mentioning that as I’ve been a fan for so long I still have a certain country Taylor expectation so her latest few albums have been growers more than instant loves for me!

I have held off listening to the album all day so I could sit down properly and listen and write this post so I can’t wait to finally get listen.

I’ve not really done many posts like this but here we go…my attempt to write my thoughts, track by track, of Taylor Swift’s Lover album –

1. I Forgot That You Existed

I think this song is the perfect track one on Lover. It’s the perfect introduction to the style of music that is on this album. I adore the way that Taylor speaks some of the lyrics too, it adds to the meaning of the song. It’s an appropriate first song too as it’s about moving on from the haters which reputation focussed largely on so it’s the perfect bridge between both albums. I think if you’ve ever been in the situation where people ever called you out for something or if you’ve hated someone and have moved on you will relate to the happy place you get to when you just move on.

2. Cruel Summer

From what I’ve seen on Twitter, this song appears to be a particular fan favourite! It explores a relationship taking place over the summer. I love the verses of this song as they’re so crazily catchy but personally for me, the chorus is going to be a grower. I can see this becoming a song that I really love after a few listens though. Also Taylor screaming about the devil in this song?! How unexpected was that! You can already imagine the crowd screaming this line back at Taylor when she tours this album.

3. Lover

Vocally Taylor sounds fantastic on this song. As with Cruel Summer I think this song with absolutely be a grower. I like it now but not to the extent that I would say it was a favourite from the album. The second half of this song however is so good and I could listen to that part on repeat so I can’t wait for the rest of the song to grow on me. This song you can already imagine the stage set up for this one. Adding to this one as I’ve just watched Taylor’s VMAs performance of this song. Listening to this song acoustic makes me love it a whole lot more – what a performance!

4. The Man

I think Taylor sums up what every single female has thought at some point during this song. It’s basically going on about how her life could be different if she was a man, would she have had the same stick if she was a man, would she have got to where she wanted to in life quicker etc? Taylor effortlessly weaves in parts of her life and writes about how she thinks things would’ve gone down if she was a man. The song is insanely catchy and definitely one of my favourites on the album. Regardless of the fact that I love this song, I think that it’s so important for someone with Taylor’s influence to do something that recognises gender equality and she does it so fantastically in this song.

5. The Archer

I’m so sad to say that this was my least favourite of the songs Taylor released prior to Lover being released. I do like this song and I know that I’ll look back at this post in a few weeks and think how did I not love this track. I think my issue is that so many people were comparing this song to All Too Well, and for me you just can’t compare these two songs. I’m very intrigued to hear Taylor to sing this song live too as I feel it could be one she strips back to an acoustic performance.

6. I Think He Knows

This song is Taylor embracing rap and it completely works! Its perhaps a different kind of song for Taylor for this reason but it still manages to contain moments that are so Taylor, for example it’s full of parts that you can instantly sing along to. When the song started I initially wasn’t overly sure but whilst writing this I’ve played this song on repeat about five times so it’s safe to say I like it! I have zero chance of ever being able to sing along to the rap part though!

7. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

I feel like this song is a nice combination of old Taylor and new Taylor, it fits perfectly on Lover but at the same time it would fit on her previous albums too. I like the lyrics, I like the catchiness of it – after first listen this is one of my favourites from Lover. Lyrically it has a nice nod to the old Taylor in terms of high school, marching bands, prom dresses but then on the other hand she’s singing about America losing it’s glory which brings us straight back into present day. I hope this song ends up being a fan favourite as I need to see Taylor sing this song live.

 8. Paper Rings

You know those songs you hear and within the first 10 seconds you know that you instantly love it? Well for me, Paper Rings is one of those songs! It reminds me of the catchiness of Stay, Stay, Stay from Red or a song that you’d hear in a teen movie. It’s a pure pop hit and is one of those songs that you can imagine dancing happily along to at Taylor’s next tour. It’s a toe tapping hit and if this doesn’t end up being a single I’ll be very disappointed as I think it’s the best song on the album. I’ve been stuck writing about this song longer than I should admit as I’ve just been playing this song on loop, I absolutely love it. I already know this song is going to end up being in my list of favourite Taylor Swift songs of all time.

9. Cornelia Street

I really like Cornelia Street. I can only assume this is the memories that happened when she lived here and I think that everyone can relate to tying memories to a certain place. Cornelia Street is one that I can so vividly imagine ok her inevitable upcoming tour, she’s obviously going to create the street in her tour graphics and walk the crowd through the story which makes me very excited. I know I’ve said this about a lot of the songs but I think this will become a firm favourite of mine. I’m assuming this song is about New York’s Cornelia Street so three guesses what’s just been added to my holiday visit list…

10. Death By A Thousand Cuts

I already know that this song is likely to be my surprising one of the album. That one where you listen and think ‘hmm yeah this one is ok, nothing special but it’s good’ and then within a week it’s suddenly become one of your favourites. Lyrically it’s fantastic and the song captures my attention enough but it’s absolutely going to be one of those songs that grow on you in the best possible way.

11. London Boy

I spent a number of years living in London and my geographical knowledge of the area absolutely stresses me out when listening to this song. Taylor’s idea of spending a day in London is a pure logistical nightmare and some of the places she name drops I just don’t understand why she desires to spend time there. I have a list a mile long of my issues with the places but for one…Camden Market in the afternoon?! I also don’t really like how this song starts with Idris Elba speaking, for me it just feels abit unnecessary and I don’t understand what it adds to the song. Don’t get me wrong this song is unbelievably catchy and if it didn’t feature London places I would love this song but for me at the moment I can’t detach myself from my place knowledge to fully enjoy the song.

12. Soon You’ll Get Better Featuring Dixie Chicks

This song is exactly why I started liking Taylor’s music. It’s so nice that even though she progresses as an artist and brings completely different sounds to each album that she is still able to provide songs that do a nod to the past. It has a very similar sound to The Best Day which is only fitting giving the subject matter of the song. This song is quite possibly the saddest song that I’ve ever heard from Taylor as she sings about her mum’s battle with breast cancer and the experiences she went through with that. I feel like this song will be quite underrated compared to the upbeat songs that are on Lover but I absolutely adore this song and I hope other people love it too as this song shows Taylor in her best, a great song that is tied with such powerful, relatable lyrics. I can imagine given the subject matter that perhaps this will be a song Taylor won’t perform live so much but I truly hope it isn’t the case.

13. False God

All albums have that song that you’re just not sure about and sadly I think False God is that song for me. The thing with Taylor’s songs is that I either love part of it that I get stuck in my head, or the catchy tune or I end up relating to the lyrics then love the song that way. Unfortunately at the moment I haven’t done any of that with this song yet.

14. You Need To Calm Down

You Need To Calm Down was my favourite of the singles Taylor released prior to this album being released. It’s so catchy and I know this will be one of my favourites to see her perform live (this was supposed to be just first impressions but I can confirm it’s one of my favourites to see her perform…did anyone see the VMA performance of this song, it was incredible) as is anyone able to listen to this song without dancing along? Throwing it out there early…Taylors tour is going to be full of so many people wearing gowns and crowns because of this song!

15. Afterglow

I feel this song is so heavily underrated. I’ve barely seen anyone say that it’s on of the favourites from the album but as of now I really love this song. This song deserves way more hype than it’s currently getting as vocally Taylor sounds great plus lyrically it’s a good song too!

16. Me!

I like this song but it’s been played so solidly on radio since its release that with this album its just a skip song for me at the moment. If you listen to a mainstream radio station you’ll have absolutely heard this song at some point. However, having heard the rest of the album now I can completely see why Taylor chose this song to be first single from the album, its a nice nod into the new albums sound. Going to have to google why the lyric, ‘hey kids, spelling is fun’ has been ditched from the album version though.

17. It’s Nice To Have A Friend

To be honest I’m not the biggest fan of this song its just a little too out there for my taste in music. Its ok, but its probably going to be a song I’m always feel indifferent about. However, what I do like about this song is that Taylor sampled a youth music program so they’ll be getting royalties from this song which I think is an incredible way to ensure the future of youth music programs.

18. Daylight

I think Daylight is the perfect end to Lover. reputation was all about how her reputation got tarnished and Daylight sums up so wonderfully how those things will always have happened but you can move on from that and start trusting and loving people again. The voice memo at the end too, what a lovely touch! I don’t think I’ve ever heard an album end with a voice memo weaved in a song but it really should happen more. Taylor’s speeches on tour are one of the things I love the most so the addition of this is fantastic.

In conclusion I like this album. A few of the songs on this album are absolutely incredible songs. However, I always find that the complete change in sound on every Taylor Swift album always takes a little getting into. Despite saying this, at the time of writing this blog it was solely based on first listen, now I’ve listened to the album a fair bit now and I’m very happy to report the more you listen the more you will love this album! What starts off with you think this song is ok rapidly turns into wow, I love this song!

Have you listened to Lover yet? If so, what tracks are you loving?