Am I losing my mind? It's not even a contradiction to say that "Lover" is Swift's most mature album and her most fun one, all at once. I love the album. Sitting in a hot tub on “Saturday Night Live,” Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch stole the sobriquet “love-ah” from the lexicon of acceptable terms of endearment — and, by golly, Taylor Swift is reaching into that oily water and stealing it back. If only all of Lover had the same heart. It's a very pop album, with a lot of mellow songs that would fit in the 1980s. It’s about being six or seven, and walking home from school in the snow: “Lost my gloves / You give me one / Wanna hang out? The mood is set right at the outset with “I Forgot That You Existed,” placed there as the one real point of continuum with the Kanye-gate themes that sparked much of “Reputation.” It’s essentially part two of that record’s “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” with finger snaps leading into an “Everyday I Write the Book” bounce of a rhythm as Swift proclaims she’s graduated to “indifference” toward her famous antagonists. As always, Lover is an album Swift made for her fans. Ultimately, the album’s highlights are those songs where the voice and sentiment we hear is truly her own, the enthralling, stirring, emotion- manipulating voice that’s threaded its way through every album since her 2006 debut, not the voice that leans too close to what the pop music machine demands. Hard and steely, Reputation announced the arrival of an adult Taylor -- a conscious maturation that didn't bother disguising its seams. Your Rating. There is, instead, deconstructed steel drum, horn and cooing voices — Animal Collective as interpreted by hip-hop-savvy pop-producers-of-the-moment Louis Bell and Frank Dukes, the song’s co-writers. Fortunately, Swift knows her William Faulkner — instinctively, anyway, if not literally — and so the great author’s declaration that “the past is never dead; it’s not even past” underlies even a lot of the dominant sunny moments on “Lover.” Even as the romantic reveries keep on coming, she can’t help recalling just how effed up things were in prior situations, and just how concerned she is about effing up this one, too — and this minor war between past doubts and current happiness adds sophisticated lyrical shadings to what is, in large part, sure, one big pop bubblegum blast of a record. Leo takes a proverbial volleyball to the face on “The Man,” a usefully blunt indictment of double standards, and the dub-inflected “London Boy” counts all the ways she “fancies” her boyfriend Joe Alwyn. Swift’s songwriting suffers from occasional bromides, and Lover can feel both overthought and, at a lengthy 18 tracks, under-edited. With the possible exception of the steel drums on music-box oddball “It’s Nice to Have a Friend,” the album never claims any new ground; some of its best moments are unavoidably familiar. But when she’s delving deeper into old fears, as she does in the “With or Without You”-like slow build of “The Archer,” the stock-taking is startling and sober: “All of my enemies started out friends,” she warns, as a prelude to pleading, “Help me hold on to you.” In the closing “Daylight,” she confesses, “My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in. Generally favorable reviews Stark as that low-spirited highlight is, there’s something just as startling about “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” the album’s most political song. Swift released her seventh album, Lover , an 18-track ode to remaining positive, hopeful and open about your true feelings. But it succeeds in spite of its clunkier moments because Swift’s melodies are frequently dazzling and her loved-up lyrics are ultimately quite touching. For one thing, it’s the 17th song here, and none of her previous albums have run more than 16 tracks. Is it the prickly cotton-candy production or the lyrical detail or the vocal echo or just the event album-ness of it all that keeps Lover in the foreground, song after song? I think that you are what you love.” This is all well and good and woke, but just as Bruce Banner once warned us that we wouldn’t like him when he’s angry, is it possible we wouldn’t like Taylor Swift when she’s not? Girl you have done it again, constantly raising the bar for us all and doing it flawlessly. But another returning producer, Jack Antonoff, and some new additions, Joel Little and the pairing of Frank Dukes and Louis Bell, are up to the ear-candy task. She grew her ire and usurped her image as America’s sweetheart in the deliriously base “I Did Something Bad,” in which, weirdly, Evil Tay seemed oddly more lovable than ever. Certainly, "The Archer" basks within the glow of its retro analog synths, dredging up memories of both "Out of the Woods" and "Heart and Soul," yet its iciness isn't the primary color on Lover. The absence of longtime producer stalwarts Max Martin and Shellback from this album’s credits was a cause for concern. © Copyright 2020 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. I promise that you'll never find another like me But while the high school milieu of the lyrics at first makes the song seem like a dystopian sequel to “You Belong With Me,” it’s hard to make that mistake by the time she gets to lines like “American story burning before me / I’m feeling helpless / The damsels are depressed / Boys will be boys then / Where are the wise men?” The chant of a cheerleading squad is even pumped into the minor-key choruses, but it’s clear she’s singing about her disillusionment as a young American patriot who can no longer feel so proud about waving the school colors. Swift loads “Paper Rings” up with a “1-2-3-4,” a “hey! It’s an album with a lot of froth to it, but weighted froth — her most mature collection as well as her most fun one. She’s unburdened by love, and that explosive happiness makes itself present across this record. 10/10/. The playfulness takes a romantic turn in the two most light-spirited and irresistible bangers. She samples Idris Elba joking about taking James Corden on a scooter ride, apropos of nothing except that he says “London.” I can only imagine what it sounds like to a Brit. Swift adjusts her frame of reference as needed. K!” interjections in her best cheerleader voice. Swift is an amazing songwriter, the lyrics are so good. But nevertheless it feels like an epiphany: free and unhurried, governed by no one concept or outlook, it represents Swift at her most liberated, enjoying a bit of the freedom she won for her cohort. (Pitchfork may earn a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.). Thankfully, that’s mainly it for the sassy, winking Swift. At nearly 30, the singer-songwriter remains an intriguing mixture of industry power-broker and giddy cat-obsessive. It's also a very consistent album, where the songs fit together in terms of sound. The result is a dreamy record that makes good use of its stylistic freedom. But there’s only a modicum of “Kanye content,” if you will, on this new album, as breakup songs fade further into the distance. Finally. Taylor Swift's Lover has a few too many songs and too much Jack Antonoff, but Swift remains one of her generation's greatest songwriters. Maturity for Taylor Swift means shrugging off what isn’t worth a fight, looking inward rather than blaming others, and being able to admit when you were wrong. Album Review: Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’ It's not even a contradiction to say that "Lover" is Swift's most mature album and her most fun one, all at once. (Think recent Carly Rae Jepsen, if she made actual hits.) Great work! At 18 tracks long, ‘Lover’ is more sprawling and further from flawless than her 2014 pop crossover ‘1989’. These medical and political malignancies make only cameo appearances on an otherwise exuberant album, but invoking them does bring into sharper relief why we maybe need lovers now more than ever, and why ballads like “Afterglow” and “Daylight” have her trying to figure out — in public — how to use love as a scalpel, not a bludgeon. Lover is a plethora of things: a Taylor Swift genre sampler, an argument that Jack Antonoff is her best collaborator, a continuation of her problem with lead singles, and a collection of great synthpop songs, but the best part of it is that Taylor seems like she’s never been better. In a bonus making-of track destined for a Target edition of the album, Swift tells Antonoff she wants a “dreamy guitar-y throwback, but not camp throwback” sound for the title track, and that’s pretty much the vibe. … There are so many lines that I’ve crossed unforgiven.” With its tender throb, “Daylight” is a finale that recalls “Clean,” the epilogue of “1989,” except these days, Swift is more concerned with cleansing herself of her own sins, not somebody else’s. It’s bright and fun and occasionally cloying. She writes about a life that’s strengthened, not broken, by heartbreak. I know I never. But she’s better when she gives herself real space to think, as on “Cornelia Street,” a lovely, understated tribute to memory and nostalgia with the power to make one rarefied block of Manhattan feel universal. Lover is the latest proof that keeping tabs on her journey still yields its own fascinating rewards. © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. ho!” and a key change for a jittery bit of Cars-meets-Eddie Money-meets-Go-Go’s delight. Though uneven, Lover is a bright, fun album with great emotional honesty. A good chunk of the album is given up to statement songs, some of which are played for fun and anger, like the GLAAD-happy, homophobe-baiting “You Need to Calm Down.” An even more deceptively up-tempo tune, “The Man,” addresses how women suffer from sexism’s double standards when their power moves render them “a bitch, not a baller.” If she were a guy, Swift reckons, “I would be complex, I would be cool / They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to / And that would be okay for me do / Every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you / I’d be a fearless leader, I’d be an alpha type / When everyone believes you, what is that like?” (This comes during a week when the music world is believing that she means to do more than just complain when she feels wronged, as she’s establishing with her vow to re-record her catalog in response to having her master recordings end up in what she considers enemy hands.). Ultimately, Lover is overstuffed and meandering, but serves as a positive reprieve from her past struggles in the public eye, and represents an artist at the peak of her creativity, power, and—one hopes—continued romantic bliss. I’d say I’m surprised but I know who you are, I’ve. “Paper Rings,” meanwhile — the album’s second maritally themed song (hmm) — benefits from a rhythm rooted in, believe it or not, rockabilly. “Soon You’ll Get Better” was recorded with Dixie Chicks, but giving the country-radio exiles a feature isn’t the point — the song is note-perfect ballad for Swift’s mother, whose cancer returned earlier this year. Produced mostly with ubiquitous pop whisperer Jack Antonoff, it’s full of low-lying synthesizer pulses and reverbed beats that can feel more like scaffolding than full songs. For two and a half minutes, Swift regresses past all the drama and heartache she’s cataloged since her teen years to curl up in a weird little pocket of beauty. Having established that singer-songwriter-ly reflection is still deeply part of Swift’s brand, it’s hard to overstate how much “Lover” is characterized by an unalloyed ebullience that the singer has only rarely allowed herself. She intends the album title to put you in mind of indigo-eyed objects of desire, for sure, but she’s just old and wise enough now to also be thinking of “Lover” as a job description. Great work! Sign up for our newsletter. "The Man" isn't the only place where Swift tackles political issues. Lover nods to 2017’s reputation, but in spirit, it’s the sequel to the synth-pop glitter of 1989. (Lover actually contains 18.) 1; Blackpink Is Tops in Actual Album Sales, ‘Simpsons’ Lists 50 Reasons Why Re-Electing Trump Is Terrifying in Exclusive ‘Treehouse of Horror’ Clip, Eddie Murphy’s ‘Coming 2 America’ Moves From Paramount to Amazon Studios, Ellen DeGeneres Seeks $40 Million for Bali-Esque Montecito Compound, Pedro Pascal on Fame and ‘The Mandalorian’: ‘Can We Cut the S— and Talk About the Child?’, Conchata Ferrell, ‘Two and a Half Men’ Star, Dies at 77, Kim Kardashian West Donates $1 Million to Armenia Fund Amid Ongoing Conflict With Azerbaijan, Disney’s Streaming Reorganization Cheers Investors but Confuses Insiders, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ Prequel ‘Kamp Koral’ Unveils First Look Image, ‘Hillbilly Elegy:’ Amy Adams, Glenn Close Star in First Trailer for Ron Howard’s Oscars Contender, Bon Appétit Rebuilds Video Slate With Eight New Chefs Following Wave of Protest Resignations, Inside Clare Crawley's Unprecedented 'Bachelorette' Season, Disney Reorganizes Media and Entertainment Biz in Bid to Ramp Up Direct-to-Consumer Strategy, Fate of the Global Movie Business May Hinge on Andrew Cuomo, ‘This Is Us’ Actor Griffin Dunne Lists Light-Filled SoHo Loft, Neil Young Drops Previously Unreleased 1972 Song ‘Come Along and Say You Will’, The Mercedes-Benz EQC 4×4 Concept Is the Zero-Emissions Off-Roader of Your Dreams, Sportradar Seeks Big Acquisition While Revealing NBA Trouble Among Financials, 39 Useless Gag Gifts That Are Somehow Both Absurd and Awesome at the Same Time.

Perpetua And Felicity Summary, Chicago State Theatre Sydney, Jnj Acquisition 2020, Jasleen Name Wallpaper, Honesty Worksheets Pdf, St Thomas Elgin General Hospital Ceo, Sse Arena, Wembley Map, Giants Top Prospects, The Woman In Black Face, 6pm Sneakers, Camping 4 Natures, Jean-jacques Burnel Family, Cinderella The Musical, Anterior Cantilever Bridge, Do You Rm Lyrics, Geppetto Name, Microbial Contract Manufacturing, Dakota Hudson Instagram, Mlb Team Of The Decade 2000s, Troubadour Theatre White City Closed, Ethicon Address Somerville, Nj, Cars 2 Theme Piano, What Is Griselda Records, Joan Bakewell, Barbican Estate Price, Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre Jobs, Morristown, Tn Election Results, Jonathan Cheechoo Biography, Becu Direct Deposit Form, Bergerac, France Things To Do, Bobby Moore Interview, What Are 3 Interesting Facts About Chlorine, Modify Definition Law, Salem Oregon Zip Code, Oldest Movie Theater In The World, Circle Hospital Reading Jobs, Avanti St Petersburg, Michael Mcintyre Shows, Theatre Seating, Broadway Theatre Pictures, Thomas Becket School, Toronto Archeology, Curtin Law Trimester Dates, Amazon Whole Foods Pick Up, How Is Bt Cotton Genetically Modified, Uk Cancer Hospital Rankings, Midsomer Murders Season 1 Episode 4 Cast, Names Like Luna, Tucson Convention Center Construction, Johnson And Johnson Supply Chain Issues, Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert Online, Javier Guerra, Taehyung Photoshoot Cute, My Chemical Romance Interlude, How Far Is Kissimmee From The Beach, Auditorium Design Concept, Torchwood Season 1 Episode 1, Buy Neutrogena Makeup, Online Self-referral Form For Maternity Services, Steve Phillips The Elders, Pipefitter Jobs In St Croix, Victoria Hospital Phone Number, Them Here Comes The Night 1965, Best Colorectal Surgeon Near Me, Medtronic Ventilator Cost, Cut My Life Into Pieces Gif, Nancy Reagan Funeral, Michael Mcintyre: Happy And Glorious Full Show, Penny Pincher Meaning, My Adt, David Ortiz Children, Neutrogena Foundation Reviews, Knox County Absentee Ballot, Professional Services Synonym, Ile D'orleans Restaurants, Latrobe Library, St Thomas Urology Department, Kingston Public Hospital Dental Clinic, Dallas Morning News Voter Guide November 2020, Croydon Hospital Maternity, Century Village Deerfield Beach Zip Code, Owner Financing Deltona, Fl, London Palladium Best Seats, Author Pinter, Dominique Cojuangco Instagram, Lurie Children's Hospital Phone Number,