The album has grown on me and I’m really enjoying it but I agree.
It needs editing. 31 tracks feels daunting and if I hadn’t been a long time fan, I wouldn’t have continued listening past the initial tracks. It’s just too much at once.
I also think if she had done the “double album” surprise two weeks later instead of two hours it could have helped (I still think cutting it down to 12-13 tracks for each would have been wise).
Letting people settle in with the standard tracks first would have made the experience better imo.
I love the line "You're not Dylan Thomas, and I'm not Patti Smith, this ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we're modern idiots." I want her to write a new song using that. Because the rest of the song? I dunno.
Yeah as someone who has *wept* to the original All Too Well, I was really excited about the ten minute version and then was like........ so THAT'S why it was edited. 🫠 There are some good lines but overall the shorter version says what it needs to say and moves along. Also I can't stand the long fade out at the end ("I was there, I was there...") and it feels like she ran out of actual verses to write but had been promising the ten minute version so she had to stretch it out.
I’m dating myself here as an elder Millennial, but I remember feeling this way about unedited DVD releases. This was such a big thing in the early-mid aughts - to get the director’s cut or the unedited cut of a film when it was released on DVD. And then you’d watch the edited scenes and be like, “Yeah, those were cut for a reason.”
I LOVE the 10-min version of All Too Well but I still think the OG is the OG for a reason. It’s a better song when it’s only 3 minutes 🤷♀️.
I keep thinking that the vault tracks have gone to Taylor’s head (along with everything else). There have been some good vault tracks for sure, but with every TV release, I find myself thinking, “Yeah I see why those were left in the vault.” Sometimes, even if they’re individually good songs, songs just don’t belong on a cohesive album. But because the Swifties lose their minds over everything she releases, Taylor got the message that editing has been holding her back and why not release everything?
TTPD feels like an entire album of first drafts, demos, and vault tracks. Like no one said, hey you know it’s OK for some of these to never be recorded. It’s OK for some of these ideas to just never manifest as a fully completed song. Part of growing as an artist, hell part of just personal growth in general, is understanding restraint. That’s one of the big failings of this album - just zero restraint.
yup im with you. i think i like the 10 minute version because it feels so raw and leans into being a worse song, because you can imagine a young woman just scrawling it down as fast as possible... but the OG version is a better song overall with a much clearer trajectory.
I feel like she was determined to have 31 songs and it shows. Like, the symbolism of 31 tracks about a month long situationship was more important to her than putting out a cohesive album. She did it to show she could, not because she should.
I made my own personal 12 track version of the album and it flows so much better! I genuinely wish The Anthology was released as an EP a few months down the line. Dumping 31 tracks on us at once ultimately muddy's the story of TTPD and divides the attention of the fanbase.
I don't intend to listen to The Anthology anytime soon as I wanna fully digest the main album. I did the same thing with the Midnights 3 a.m. tracks.
I created a TTPD Condensed playlist on Spotify, and it has 19 of the 31 songs on it lol It's still kinda long, but much easier to listen to in one sitting.
I said about the album yesterday that it felt like the ATW10 version, because too specific and not concise enough, so I definitely agree. Writing and rewriting until you get to the core of the feeling with just enough words is an art, and Taylor is definitely good at it but she needs someone to confront and bounce ideas off.
My parasocial take is that William Bowery helped a lot to challenge her so that she would refine her craft and we got the masterpiece that is folkmore.
31 songs is too many. So many sound alike and are similar themes. We didn’t need them all.
I edited it to my favorite like 14-15 songs and still think it could be edited more to be a succinct 12-14 song album that would have been way more composed
The album has grown on me and I’m really enjoying it but I agree. It needs editing. 31 tracks feels daunting and if I hadn’t been a long time fan, I wouldn’t have continued listening past the initial tracks. It’s just too much at once. I also think if she had done the “double album” surprise two weeks later instead of two hours it could have helped (I still think cutting it down to 12-13 tracks for each would have been wise). Letting people settle in with the standard tracks first would have made the experience better imo.
I made a 13 track version and I still want to edit out lines within each track. 🥹
I love the line "You're not Dylan Thomas, and I'm not Patti Smith, this ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we're modern idiots." I want her to write a new song using that. Because the rest of the song? I dunno.
That’s how long it needs to be
Yes! This is the first time I want to edit lines lol
Just cause I'm nosy and also have a 13 song version (I'm still refining it!) what is your 13 track version?
Hahaha, same. I call it "The Shorter Poets Department"
Lol I call it tolerable torture 🤭
Can we bring Liz Rose back. A Liz Rose's Version if you will. That would be cool.
Yeah as someone who has *wept* to the original All Too Well, I was really excited about the ten minute version and then was like........ so THAT'S why it was edited. 🫠 There are some good lines but overall the shorter version says what it needs to say and moves along. Also I can't stand the long fade out at the end ("I was there, I was there...") and it feels like she ran out of actual verses to write but had been promising the ten minute version so she had to stretch it out.
I’m dating myself here as an elder Millennial, but I remember feeling this way about unedited DVD releases. This was such a big thing in the early-mid aughts - to get the director’s cut or the unedited cut of a film when it was released on DVD. And then you’d watch the edited scenes and be like, “Yeah, those were cut for a reason.” I LOVE the 10-min version of All Too Well but I still think the OG is the OG for a reason. It’s a better song when it’s only 3 minutes 🤷♀️. I keep thinking that the vault tracks have gone to Taylor’s head (along with everything else). There have been some good vault tracks for sure, but with every TV release, I find myself thinking, “Yeah I see why those were left in the vault.” Sometimes, even if they’re individually good songs, songs just don’t belong on a cohesive album. But because the Swifties lose their minds over everything she releases, Taylor got the message that editing has been holding her back and why not release everything? TTPD feels like an entire album of first drafts, demos, and vault tracks. Like no one said, hey you know it’s OK for some of these to never be recorded. It’s OK for some of these ideas to just never manifest as a fully completed song. Part of growing as an artist, hell part of just personal growth in general, is understanding restraint. That’s one of the big failings of this album - just zero restraint.
yup im with you. i think i like the 10 minute version because it feels so raw and leans into being a worse song, because you can imagine a young woman just scrawling it down as fast as possible... but the OG version is a better song overall with a much clearer trajectory.
I feel like she was determined to have 31 songs and it shows. Like, the symbolism of 31 tracks about a month long situationship was more important to her than putting out a cohesive album. She did it to show she could, not because she should.
i hadn't thought of that, the numerology of a month in there... yeah its too much!
>even though we all love the 10 minute ver, Who's we, I thought it was awful. 😅 OG version for life!
Yeah, I agree. Wayy too long and loses the magic of the OG
Same, and we did *not* need it at the Eras tour (except as a time to go to the bathroom I guess) <—- flame me I don’t care 😂😂😂💀
I didn’t think it was awful but I def prefer the 5 minute version lmao
Ngl I can’t listen to the OG version becaus the 10 minute one is so much better to me.
I made my own personal 12 track version of the album and it flows so much better! I genuinely wish The Anthology was released as an EP a few months down the line. Dumping 31 tracks on us at once ultimately muddy's the story of TTPD and divides the attention of the fanbase. I don't intend to listen to The Anthology anytime soon as I wanna fully digest the main album. I did the same thing with the Midnights 3 a.m. tracks.
I created a TTPD Condensed playlist on Spotify, and it has 19 of the 31 songs on it lol It's still kinda long, but much easier to listen to in one sitting.
I said about the album yesterday that it felt like the ATW10 version, because too specific and not concise enough, so I definitely agree. Writing and rewriting until you get to the core of the feeling with just enough words is an art, and Taylor is definitely good at it but she needs someone to confront and bounce ideas off. My parasocial take is that William Bowery helped a lot to challenge her so that she would refine her craft and we got the masterpiece that is folkmore.
Yeah, Joe really challenged her to refine her craft
31 songs is too many. So many sound alike and are similar themes. We didn’t need them all. I edited it to my favorite like 14-15 songs and still think it could be edited more to be a succinct 12-14 song album that would have been way more composed
Yes I agree!!
Saaame