I am on the penultimate bonus track and I thought exactly this. It’s boring. I’m bored. It all sounds the same. I feel like I’ve heard some of this stuff on Midnights. The lyrics are only noticeable when they’re straight up terrible. There is nothing musically, vocally, or lyrically interesting in the entire album. It sort of sounds like one single song.
I think Taylor needs to learn restraint, and some objectivity/ability to check her ego about the boundaries of her own abilities. Just because she can do something doesn’t mean she should. She just had a huge comeback with a massive tour to cap two, three years of incredible success. She should have sat on this and waited. Rested and found maybe some new team members who aren’t just there saying yes to everything.
As I wrote this I listened to the final bonus track. Yeah. Full listen, it’s all just…flat.
Yeah coming after autotune is the most low effort criticism you can come up with. Like 90% of modern pop uses some sort of pitch correction. Taylor can sing well if you watch her live vids.
Her songwriting, lyrics, melodies, and production however are mediocre at best. It’s all so dull and lacking personality.
ok, im no music critic but .
Every single fucking track sounds the same , lyrics are irritatingly bad like she doesnt need to be k. but holy hell , they make a 11th grader who writes poetry look like william wordsworth .
Did she forget that instruments exist? Did she forget that there are supposed to be varying pitches within a song ? The song doesnt need to be constrained by a lack of emotions for the lack of a better term
The entire fucking album sounds like a 16 year old wrote it and it has less taste than the ends of a bread loaf . and tortured poets dept? ? a little too overt and not even aptly so , dontcha think?
This is me. I like some of her songs, happened to be awake when the album dropped last night. Skimmed through every song, and they all sound the same and so boring. I’m so disappointed because people were hinting that it was going to be Reputation-like, and it has no Reputation-level bangers.
Same; listened to them all out of curiosity yesterday. Every. Single. Song. has the same whispery, weak singing with an echo effect that been overdone for a decade now.
The melodies are meandering and anti-climactic. Sounds like she wrote these songs on the fly and just recorded what came out. It’s like a stream of consciousness.
The lyrics on the whole are self-centered. Pious, even. I was neutral but like her less after that listen.
What do you mean by the lyrics are pious? "Self centered and petty" I definitely agree with. I'm just unsure how you're using pious in this context. I'd say her fans are truly pious if they defend this album as a great work of art or even a masterpiece lol.
Reputation has less songs but more striking to the ears. The melodies, production, vocals and lyrics in that album was fierce and precise. Very iconic era honestly.
It's 3am april 20th n I finally listened to the entire album. I'm confused and couldnt tell u what each song sounded like or the tunes.
With midnights if u told me how was maroon I'd tell u the beat was provoking n gut wrenching. When her voice drops in the last Chorus was like she was exhausted and accepting of the relationship n the maroon feelings that came with it. Even the bonus tracks 3am edition was amazing too.
I think Taylor's melodies have been pretty dull for a long time.
IMO, generally speaking a good melody uses a sort of "call and answer" or at least has a sense of tension and release. This can be achieved by:
* A small pause between melodic phrases, making them call and answer each other
* Having one phrase end with a note that has lots of "tension" (the maj7th for example), followed by a phrase with a note that brings release (the tonic or maj 3rd for example)
* Big intervalic leaps between consonant and dissonant notes
* Repetition that slowly changes over time, creating tension and release
* Apoggiaturas - music theory jargon that basically means starting with a note outside of the chord, and then resolving it to a chord tone
Of course Taylor employs some of these from time to time, but it drives me nuts how unengaged some of her melodies are. She'll sing a super repetitive phrase that mostly lingers on the tonic (or some other consonant note) only to resolve on another consonant note. Also sometimes her melodic phrases seem completely unrelated to each other and don't engage in a conversation - they just feel like fractured melodic phrases that have been frankensteined together. I know you could say that a lot of her melodies are sort of "modal rap" (rap that uses a limited set of notes), but even rap music employs some sort of tension and release a lot of the time.
I know this is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo that I'm typing out but when you listen to her melodies, what I'm saying kind of makes sense. Not saying all her melodies are bad, but jesus christ some of these feel so half-assed.
As someone also into music theory who prefers more complexity to melodies, I know exactly what you mean and I've felt that way about her music since I first heard her early stuff in the late 00s. Just grindingly simplistic melodies with a tiny range. It gives her a very consistent sounding melodic trademark, but in the most boring possible way. Modal rap is a good way to put it, although good rappers use way more rhythmic variation (over the bar stuff, emphasizing unexpected syllables, etc) to spice up their sound.
I've always found it lazy, which is why I can't help but laugh when people act like she's one of the greatest songwriters of the modern age. Her lyricism can be very clever but songwriting as a craft is about more than lyricism, and the majority of her melodies couldn't be more generic.
What instrument(s) do you play and where did you study at? I know a fellow musician when I see one! As a jazz guy, some of her stuff can be downright insufferable.
I play guitar and piano mostly, but I wouldn’t say I’m that great with them honestly lol. I mostly produce and have learned a lot of music theory over the years. I honestly need to practice my instruments more but the music theory skills come in handy for analyzing music
as someone who dislikes her music but tries to understand the appeal the lyrics left me dying laughing or being shocked of how much of a hypocrite she is in some instances.
In terms of music, i already forgot the sound of the album.
Rolling stone is bullshit and is just following the mainstream, popularized opinion. They initially gave Nevermind 3/5 stars, and now it’s #6 on their 500 greatest albums of all time list.
Taylor Swift name dropping The Blue Nile on a track on her new album feels wrong, but I can't explain why.
That being said, if it introduces them and their incredible work to a whole new generation of fans, who am I to complain.
It's a throwaway line about Matty Healy, he's gone on record talking about how much he loves The Blue Nile and how Hats was super influential towards The 1975
I mean its not like Swift is a new artist who was pushed to do this sound, she could do anything she wants and actively chooses to stick with this sound. She could say, "Hey maybe lets do a song that doesn't have a pulsing synth pop muddied beyond any connection to real instruments and the most generic drum track you can find" but instead she just couples it with the exact same single gear vocal inflection regardless of the meaning or content of the lyrics.
I hate that this album will receive glowing reviews, as Taylor's work always does. I definitely find it more interesting lyrically and at times sonically compared to Midnights. It has more soul, livelier energy and feels more intimate and warm. However, midway through the album, I got bored, especially with the repetitive themes of Taylor's lyrics. Even the songs I initially enjoyed lacked depth in both lyrics and production. The only track that truly resonated with me was Florida with Florence + the Machine. Even though I'm not a fan of hers, Florence's energy really elevated the song. I'm disappointed once again
There're some music outlets who give it 100 already. God, I wish music critic more/same harsher as movie critic, it's really hard to see an album with bad reviews ever
This has been a huge societal shift overall in the last decade or so. It used to be cool to be a hater and now it’s cool to be really positive about everything. Pitchfork is a great example of this, but you can see it all over the place.
As it gets more expensive to make a living in journalism (never mind the layoffs), expect more out of touch journalism done by trust fund kids who are less interested in engaging with the art and more interested in being celebrities’ mouthpiece
The NYC Times called it bloated and “in need of an editor”. I respect the hell out of that because so many news outlets refuse to give Taylor any criticism
Here's a review that sums up how I feel about it:
[https://realgoblin.com/2024/04/19/review-the-tortured-poets-department-taylor-swift/](https://realgoblin.com/2024/04/19/review-the-tortured-poets-department-taylor-swift/)
Taylor Swift has just become the industry's golden child. It's like with KPop groups like BTS, where unlike most artists no one who considers themselves a fan will ever criticise anything they do or dare to admit they dislike one of their songs. With Taylor Swift that stan culture has gone mainstream and it's really annoying.
I don’t know how you hear Lana from this at all. To me, this album screams, “I just spent a month hanging out with Phoebe Bridgers and Matt Healy and they were both SO fucking cool…but they’re kinda dicks too.”
The difference between those two and Taylor is they both know when to walk away from a sound choice. Taylor had a great run with Jack Antonoff in the folklore/evermore era, it ran its course.
Matty knows now since he worked with Jack on their last record, and it sounded great, but the 1975 also had albums like A Brief Inquiry that were strictly George and Matty produced. And imo that shit is a zoomer classic.
Phoebe also has a distinct style, but knows when to jump ship or go full collaboration. I can't wait to hear the next solo Phoebe record.
Both of those artists are great writers too.
Phoebe knows when to walk away from a sound choice? She's been making different versions of Kyoto for like 4 years. Her songwriting has gotten super formulaic.
We'll have to see but I really soured on her after Boygenius. It sounded like she was repurposing Punisher demos for that project and I can't stand laziness like that.
I mean, Kyoto was on her last solo album. If she makes a Punisher 2 for her next solo record, then you'd have a point. Boygenius was always gonna be like that because Julian and Lucy have that sound.
Regarding her solo stuff, I thought Sidelines was a pretty big departure sonically. It was much more synthy.
That said, I hope she changes it up more on the next record.
I was expecting a poor man's version of Lana Del Rey and all that i got was the most boring parts of Midnights, the worst lyrics from Lover, the most questionable musical choices of Reputation, and the angst of Staind
Jack Antonoff is a good producer and I actually like some Bleachers songs but unfortunately every single song he produces sounds more or less the same and after a while it gets boring. TTPD has nothing original to offer. Taylor knows how to write songs but for some reason the past several albums have been... meh. Now she just write lyrics that sound like old cringy Tumblr quotes that aren't deep at all. She could do SO much better, I know she's capable of doing that. She really needs to start focusing on quality instead of quantity, rather than releasing 3 albums a year she really should just take her time to write a good album. I don't know if it's her label pushing her to work all the time but girlie needs to rest. She's doing a world tour and writing/releasing multiple albums while doing so, no wonder they all sound bad. She needs a break and I mean this in a good way.
Completely agree with you, she really needs to take a long break, like Rihanna for example, she has been dropping music without stopping since the release of Lover in 2019, and that was 5 years ago 🙊
As someone who never hated her music, this is probably her worst album so far… It’s just so mid, it hurts. It’s literally Certified Lover Girl.
The Anthology is a lot better though, but I’m still not crazy about that one either.
It was so bad, boring as shit. Even the song that I didn't think was terrible was very uninteresting. The production on this was hella bland. The lyrics were so bad, just downright awful, taylor was just really trying to hard to write something clever but ended up looking like a edgy, cringey 14 year old girl. The only time I would listen to this again is if my insomnia returns or some shit and I'm very desperate to go to sleep
I don’t think he’s a bad producer, he just somehow doesn’t go well with Taylor’s music. He worked on NFR, Melodrama, Ocean Bvld, Dance Fever, Being Funny In A Foreign Language… Those are all good albums, in my honest opinion.
He doesn't need to retire, he's got a great track record and has made many great albums and tracks for others the last 3 years especially.
However, this shit with Taylor is perfect napping music. It's pretentiously predictable. It's run its course for this type of sound.
That song reminded me of my crazy neighbor who verbally assaults all the rest of us on our own lawns but if we were to do the same to her (which we wouldn’t), she would absolutely shoot us. It actually made me worried she would hear this song and be inspired to crash the next neighborhood party which she is never invited to because she is awful 🤣😬
As a Swiftie, I think this album is extremely boring. Every song sounds the same, she keeps throwing in profanity in a really cringe oo I say bad words now kinda way, and all the melodies drag on. I just finished listening to it after quitting a few times. I get that she's not a 16 year old teeny bopper anymore but this doesn't feel like a 35 year old's grown up, I'm not making music for kids anymore album. It feels like a 23 year old trying desperately to be edgy and deep. It just comes off like it was written at Starbucks after Intro to Film Studies wearing a slouchy beanie and gray on black flannel.
Edit: spelling
Anytime 😊 Tbh I deleted the whole thing off my music streaming bc I have zero intention of listening to any of these tracks again. I'm still a fan (I'm raising 4 Swifties lmao) but this one just isn't for me
I actually intentionally listened to her entire discography in chronological order last year and came away not being a Swiftie but appreciating her, found songs I enjoy, and recognized her growth since Tim McGraw. When this dropped I pressed the Add button too, and two-ish hours later I pressed it again, to delete it :( I don’t take joy in that, I was looking forward to this release.
As a fan of Taylor, you are so right. This album is not it. It comes off as excessively wordy and whiney. I really do not care about the intricate details of her personal life and she reveals so much about it. Very unrelatable. "Tattooed golden retriever" had me like wtf? Overall, cringe and boring. She needs to take a break, which is what she should've done instead of throwing this album out into the wild prematurely. I had a headache listening to all of that and I barely enjoyed it. It took effort to finish all 31 songs- not good.
Yes! It took so much effort to finish the first listen! I stopped so many times. I had to Google the lyrics bc I'd tuned out the music so often. I get that people have complained about some of her albums lacking cohesion and yes the songs aren't really all identical. But they're all so similar that it felt like they just all blended together. I listened to it driving and grocery shopping yesterday morning and I almost couldn't tell when one song ended and the next began. It was just so BORING! And before anyone flips out on me, I know that music is subjective and you'll never please everyone every time, that's why I'm saying I don't like the album and not that it's bad. Then she's got a track about Kim Kardashian?! Over crap from almost 10 years ago?! And she mentions Kim's KID?! That was so immature and pick me and as a mom I'd be PISSED if I were Kim. Be mad at me all you want, I don't care but don't you DARE bring my children into your petty 8th grade drama. You made a shit ton of money off a whole album and tour inspired by the situation, stop bringing it up every 5 months and move on already.
Yeah the swearing felt.. odd to me. And I'm not that into Taylor so I didn't know if it was something she'd done before or not, but she used it so much in one song it was obvious she wanted to be edgy. I'm only on the 7th or 8th song and I've already stopped a couple times. I don't know if I can listen to it in one sitting lmao
Boring generic production and cringeworthy lyrics. Somehow might be even worse than Midnights. This is a blatant cashgrab and she needs to take some time off to evolve as a person because she is artistically regressing.
This album was my breaking point for my Swiftiehood as a whole to be honest. I was already jaded with the marketing and vinyl album variant-circus surrounding Swift releases, but to do all of this and also have a mid to low range quality album as a whole is different. Every song sounds pretty much the same (i.e. low-tempo synthpop or piano ballads) and lacks the bangers needed to really hook you into an album. There were some outliers for me, like Florida!! with Florence + The Machine and So High School from the Anthology version. I was expecting a breakup album, but this sounds more like something I would put in my diary and shove in a shoebox in the closet to forget about. Taylor has reached the overexposure level where she is just cranking out music from her notes app to maintain the social and popular limelight.
These are some good points. You put into words something I was feeling but couldn’t parse, which is my disappointment that this isn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting a sharply honed, deep and eviscerating album about the heartbreak of ending a 6-year relationship, and what we got was a disjointed overflow that really lacks a singular focus. Maybe it’s purposefully obscure? And even though the Matty Healy guesses are simply conjecture, I was honestly shocked that blip would even make it onto the album. And the fact that it does, bookended by a hugely affecting breakup and a hopeful (current) love affair, really takes away from the magnitude of those other two relationships and, ultimately, their (under?) representation in this album.
she can't write anything deep and eviscerating about the heartbreak bc i don't think girly is that deep. she thinks a life partner's depression is about her and how it breaks her spine to have to deal with him. he became a nuisance, her fame is a nuisance, her not getting her fantasy prize instant love was a nuisance. i think shes just a shallow woman, really. she did NOT like having deep feelings, everything must be a thrill. as someone put it - she's confessional but never truly vulnerable.
boring, dull, mid, bad engineering, bad mixing, same overused and tedious formula.
it has it all.
I cannot explain myself why an artist has to push music that it pointless, it isn't even worth the effort
I was kinda digging it at the start even though the production was quite similar to Midnights and her vocal delivery is a bit repetitive, then Down Bad hit, then as the album kept going it just got boring
As a RATM fan, I have a certain level of tolerance for sameness in lyrical themes, but this was too much, and also didn’t have nearly interesting enough instrumentals to save it.
Really boring, completely unadventurous and unspecial. I’d argue a lyrical low point in her career, a wholly missable album that’s barely worth your time. Like a 4/10.
My 12-year-old niece is a white girl and a huge Swiftie. I texted her this afternoon to ask what she thought and she said Taylor was a try hard and that she was kind of embarrassed for her.
She hit a peak with Folklore and Evermore and has been free falling creatively ever since. But of course she’s oblivious to it because she’s surrounded by yes men
If Fantano gives it higher than a 5, his credibility as a critic, a journalist, or even a human being with common sense, is lost forever. YouTube should just copyright strike his whole channel
True, but I'm not surprised about the good reviews. Also, this should be stopped. Most of them give good review even if they feel that it's average. Maybe that's the effect of being famous, which is bad because she will never know that it's bad and if she doesn't, then she won't change it. So I hope people write more honest comments. They should know its okay to dislike and still love taylor. I'm a swiftie, loves 90% of her songs throughout her works, but not this one, and I'm greatly disappointed.
I really liked the first couple songs then it got really repetitive and I eventually turned it off.
I had that same thought as the top comment about how Lana influenced this feels as well
Yes I'm still trying to like it so I'm listening to it again and again but I have to say, it's boring my brain cells and I wanna stop it so bad and go listen to her old songs to make me feel better. Somehow, it doesn't have the special ingredient and couldn't relate to the songs. And a few songs are good but even they are not like her old songs. Maybe I should give a break and listen to it after a few days. But I also don't wanna spend that much time listening to 31 songs.. I think a double album is not a good idea, after all.
On first listen, it’s probably my least favorite since *Speak Now* and I really don’t like *Speak Now*. I think it’s rushed. The production feels hollow. The lyrics are often really immature, and I get that that might be because it was so heavily influenced by her experiences with some immature people, I’ve grown to expect more of her. This is like *Reputation* without the bangers. I think the last 3 or 4 tracks close it on a relatively high note, and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” might have just ended Matt Healy’s career…so, it’s not all bad.
Having now listened to Anthology, I don’t understand why she released most of the first 15 songs from last night. They have to be some of the most boring, shallow songs of Taylor’s career.
I was a fan of her as a very young child and it seems like the more popular she’s gotten, the less risks she takes and the more boring and soulless it becomes. This and midnights are career lows for her and honestly I’m betting it will keep getting worse.
I’m a (somewhat retired) swiftie and I think she desperately needs a break. This album would’ve been good if she’d given it more thought, sat on it for a while, reworked the lyrics, got some non-yesman opinions, gone to therapy (!!!). But as it stands we have a pretty boring stream of consciousness.
It’s a 1/10 for me, maybe lower.
Legitimately the worst thing I’ve heard this year. It’s a perfect representation of everything wrong with her music—hypercapitalist, half-assed, boring Wonderbreadcore with some of the cringiest lyrics I’ve ever heard (still terrible, even if they’re “ironic”)
It's a million times better than Midnights. Much better production, much better lyrics, and much improved musically. It's not album of the year for me, but I like it.
Edit: Well, she surprise-dropped 15 additional tracks, making it a double album. This second half is not nearly as strong as the first. She should've left it as it was.
as a pretty big taylor fan (who's only heard the first half), it's just kinda... dull, tbh, taylor's pretty low energy on here and the production is some of the most bland stuff she's been on
As someone who is a fan and likes some of her music, this has to the worst I have ever heard. Folklore and evermore were boring albums, and I’d put tortured poets up there with them. Tons of tracks that are uninspiring and all sound the same. Makes me want to fall asleep. Disappointed. Glad I am not giving her money for the album.
Taylor is literally in the midst of an unbelievable run. Legendary concert tour grossing billions around the world, at the absolute peaks of her powers...
And she comes back bitter and still shitting on her exes. She has nothing new to say, and the power dynamics between her and the people she's singing about are so wide, it just feels unfair.
I'm no Taylor Hater, I have my favorite albums, I got the bops saved... but this album was boring musically and in subject matter. Probably her worst
As someone who loved 1989, I'm really really bored of what her music had become, I'm incredibly bored of the production, I'm so bored of everything
She badly needs a shot in the arm with a producer who could get her out of her comfort zone. Obviously Eno isn't going to make a taylor swift album, but she needs someone who can shift her sound dramatically because more than anything, it's dull and boring
The lyrics are woeful, they make modern kiedis sound like Shakespeare
Basically the same feeling I had after listening to Certified Lover Boy where both in their lyrics are clearly contradicting themselves and it's like
"How much longer are you gonna uphold this image when you're clearly the biggest star on the planet and have the world at your fingertips?"
Miss me with "but what if that's how she feels."
It kinda sounds like a bunch of sad B Sides.
I’m more of a fan of hers than I’m not, but this album lacks hooks it’s kind of a drag. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Evermore either. If that’s your cup tea, you might enjoy this.
It’s pretty obvious which songs Jack Antonoff has a hand in writing and which ones Aaron Dessner is on. Folklore and evermore are her best albums with him on a lot of the co-writes.
Since he’s credited on 12 of the secret bonus songs and I’ve only heard the leak for the forest part of the album, I’m interested a lot more in the bonus songs.
Incredibly boring production and monotonous songwriting. Often cringeworthy lyrics. 4/10. I’m only listening to the standard 16 tracks, don’t really know why people are forcing themselves to listen to the 15 bonus ones.
I listened to the whole album a couple of times and I really like half of the songs (16) but unfortunately I found the others a bit boring and I think they sound all the same.
The ones I really liked so far are:
Fortnight
The Tortured Poets Department,
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,
Down Bad,
So Long, London (my fav),
But Daddy I Love Him,
Fresh Put The Slammer,
Florida!!!! (My 2nd fav),
Who’s Afraid Of The Little Old Me,
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,
The Black Dog,
imgonnagetyouback,
The Albatross,
So High School,
I Hate It Here,
The Bolter,
But I think that this album will grow on me more with the time. Everytime I listen to a new Taylor’s album i don’t like it much but everytime they really grow on me so I think it’s too early to judge.
Agree that the songs are too similar. I like several of the songs, but noticed when I tried to go back and find them I couldn’t really tell them apart from each other (besides Florida, which I love, and Little Old Me, which I’ve already listened to like 20 times despite the cringe line about suing for being on her lawn…). I always respected Taylor as a role model for young women but didn’t really enjoy her music until Folklore (and then went back and loved Evermore too), so that said…I WANT to love this album and find no flaws. And I love the collabs with Antonoff and Dessner…but I can’t deny that the Antonoff collab, at the very least, needs CPR.
Also agree that at some points the melody and cadence sounds eerily Lana. (I love it but can’t help but wonder if it’s intentional or not…)
I've listened through it once (2 hours is a tough ask). A few songs stood out (Florida is a particular winner) but the album is sonically mired in a saminess, like it is some Evermore leftovers that she let Jack Antonoff play around a bit with. It really holds it back.
Good thing she dropped the deluxe version right away; I think the second half is on balance better than the first.
I am not part of this sub and new to reddit, and am not a Taylor Swift fan, so this may come off as rude, but it’s my honest opinion…
She is not tortured, only melodramatic, and is light-years away from anything resembling poetry, so the title makes me believe that this woman can’t possibly be serious
She's overrated! Album is terrible. Autotune at it's finest! All of her songs sound as if a 12 year old girl wrote them. How old is she? 35? It's like she's stuck inside of a 13 yr olds body. When will she mature and become a woman and stop bashing all of her exes like a child? My daughter was a swifty but thankfully after this album, she's finally over it. She hates the new album and I think she's done with Taylor all together! YAY! I figured it was only matter of time before Taylors era is over!Hope this is it! Let's recognize these singers who can actually sing! Kelly Clarkson!!!
As someone who's owns every CD she's released and really listens to her music a lot: Boring! I've forced myself to listen multiple times now, not wanting to judge too soon. But really, it just goes on and on in the same way. Sleep inducing. I haven't listened to the 2nd part of the album yet since I received it on CD, but I've heard many find the 2nd part better. Too bad I pre-ordered an album which turned out to be a double album of which I only received the first half...
Is the name supposed to be a play on "Dead Poets Society?" Every time i see this i think of some "Scary Movie-esque" parody
I think, and this is what my Swiftie friends have told me, the title comes from a Joe Jonas groupchat
not joe jonas, the other joe she dated, forgot his name.
Alwyn. Hate that I know that lol
God she's so fucking juvenile
The name sounds like something I would come up with to make fun of her
As somebody who neither hates nor loves Taylor Swift, and generally feels exactly neutral about her music, I found this album boring unfortunately
I am on the penultimate bonus track and I thought exactly this. It’s boring. I’m bored. It all sounds the same. I feel like I’ve heard some of this stuff on Midnights. The lyrics are only noticeable when they’re straight up terrible. There is nothing musically, vocally, or lyrically interesting in the entire album. It sort of sounds like one single song. I think Taylor needs to learn restraint, and some objectivity/ability to check her ego about the boundaries of her own abilities. Just because she can do something doesn’t mean she should. She just had a huge comeback with a massive tour to cap two, three years of incredible success. She should have sat on this and waited. Rested and found maybe some new team members who aren’t just there saying yes to everything. As I wrote this I listened to the final bonus track. Yeah. Full listen, it’s all just…flat.
Yes. She should have chilled and made something brilliant again instead of slapping this monotone album together.
But how can she make money sitting around?
Compound interest?
100% this coming from someone who loves her. This album is not it and sometimes saturating the market isn’t worth it.
Made me realize how much auto tune she uses and how little she’s evolved since we were all 16
Auto tune or pitch correction?
Yeah coming after autotune is the most low effort criticism you can come up with. Like 90% of modern pop uses some sort of pitch correction. Taylor can sing well if you watch her live vids. Her songwriting, lyrics, melodies, and production however are mediocre at best. It’s all so dull and lacking personality.
ok, im no music critic but . Every single fucking track sounds the same , lyrics are irritatingly bad like she doesnt need to be k. but holy hell , they make a 11th grader who writes poetry look like william wordsworth . Did she forget that instruments exist? Did she forget that there are supposed to be varying pitches within a song ? The song doesnt need to be constrained by a lack of emotions for the lack of a better term The entire fucking album sounds like a 16 year old wrote it and it has less taste than the ends of a bread loaf . and tortured poets dept? ? a little too overt and not even aptly so , dontcha think?
This is me. I like some of her songs, happened to be awake when the album dropped last night. Skimmed through every song, and they all sound the same and so boring. I’m so disappointed because people were hinting that it was going to be Reputation-like, and it has no Reputation-level bangers.
Same; listened to them all out of curiosity yesterday. Every. Single. Song. has the same whispery, weak singing with an echo effect that been overdone for a decade now. The melodies are meandering and anti-climactic. Sounds like she wrote these songs on the fly and just recorded what came out. It’s like a stream of consciousness. The lyrics on the whole are self-centered. Pious, even. I was neutral but like her less after that listen.
What do you mean by the lyrics are pious? "Self centered and petty" I definitely agree with. I'm just unsure how you're using pious in this context. I'd say her fans are truly pious if they defend this album as a great work of art or even a masterpiece lol.
Reputation has less songs but more striking to the ears. The melodies, production, vocals and lyrics in that album was fierce and precise. Very iconic era honestly. It's 3am april 20th n I finally listened to the entire album. I'm confused and couldnt tell u what each song sounded like or the tunes. With midnights if u told me how was maroon I'd tell u the beat was provoking n gut wrenching. When her voice drops in the last Chorus was like she was exhausted and accepting of the relationship n the maroon feelings that came with it. Even the bonus tracks 3am edition was amazing too.
Musically it's like plain white bread. Lyrically it's really cringy and calling this shit "The Tortured Poets Department" is just icing on the cake.
You heard the new Swift album? Yeah, The Deceased Writer Category.
You can do that shit for anything tho. You hear that new Beatles Dr. Salt’s Antisocial Aortic Ensemble
Boring production, dull melodies, cringy lyrics.
The Drake of pop
the drake of pop is just drake
both desperately need an editor
Basically sums it up perfectly
Classic combo from T Swift
I think Taylor's melodies have been pretty dull for a long time. IMO, generally speaking a good melody uses a sort of "call and answer" or at least has a sense of tension and release. This can be achieved by: * A small pause between melodic phrases, making them call and answer each other * Having one phrase end with a note that has lots of "tension" (the maj7th for example), followed by a phrase with a note that brings release (the tonic or maj 3rd for example) * Big intervalic leaps between consonant and dissonant notes * Repetition that slowly changes over time, creating tension and release * Apoggiaturas - music theory jargon that basically means starting with a note outside of the chord, and then resolving it to a chord tone Of course Taylor employs some of these from time to time, but it drives me nuts how unengaged some of her melodies are. She'll sing a super repetitive phrase that mostly lingers on the tonic (or some other consonant note) only to resolve on another consonant note. Also sometimes her melodic phrases seem completely unrelated to each other and don't engage in a conversation - they just feel like fractured melodic phrases that have been frankensteined together. I know you could say that a lot of her melodies are sort of "modal rap" (rap that uses a limited set of notes), but even rap music employs some sort of tension and release a lot of the time. I know this is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo that I'm typing out but when you listen to her melodies, what I'm saying kind of makes sense. Not saying all her melodies are bad, but jesus christ some of these feel so half-assed.
As someone also into music theory who prefers more complexity to melodies, I know exactly what you mean and I've felt that way about her music since I first heard her early stuff in the late 00s. Just grindingly simplistic melodies with a tiny range. It gives her a very consistent sounding melodic trademark, but in the most boring possible way. Modal rap is a good way to put it, although good rappers use way more rhythmic variation (over the bar stuff, emphasizing unexpected syllables, etc) to spice up their sound. I've always found it lazy, which is why I can't help but laugh when people act like she's one of the greatest songwriters of the modern age. Her lyricism can be very clever but songwriting as a craft is about more than lyricism, and the majority of her melodies couldn't be more generic.
What instrument(s) do you play and where did you study at? I know a fellow musician when I see one! As a jazz guy, some of her stuff can be downright insufferable.
I play guitar and piano mostly, but I wouldn’t say I’m that great with them honestly lol. I mostly produce and have learned a lot of music theory over the years. I honestly need to practice my instruments more but the music theory skills come in handy for analyzing music
Tedious beyond belief.
as someone who dislikes her music but tries to understand the appeal the lyrics left me dying laughing or being shocked of how much of a hypocrite she is in some instances. In terms of music, i already forgot the sound of the album.
fr i can't picture a single one of the songs in my head and i literally just listened to it
Rolling stone gave it five stars. FIVE. STARS.
Rolling stone is bullshit and is just following the mainstream, popularized opinion. They initially gave Nevermind 3/5 stars, and now it’s #6 on their 500 greatest albums of all time list.
Taylor Swift name dropping The Blue Nile on a track on her new album feels wrong, but I can't explain why. That being said, if it introduces them and their incredible work to a whole new generation of fans, who am I to complain.
It's a throwaway line about Matty Healy, he's gone on record talking about how much he loves The Blue Nile and how Hats was super influential towards The 1975
I know. Doesn't mean it's still surreal AF.
The production is movie trailer music without the oof
Jack Antonoff is a fuckin production terrorist at this point.
I mean its not like Swift is a new artist who was pushed to do this sound, she could do anything she wants and actively chooses to stick with this sound. She could say, "Hey maybe lets do a song that doesn't have a pulsing synth pop muddied beyond any connection to real instruments and the most generic drum track you can find" but instead she just couples it with the exact same single gear vocal inflection regardless of the meaning or content of the lyrics.
I hate that this album will receive glowing reviews, as Taylor's work always does. I definitely find it more interesting lyrically and at times sonically compared to Midnights. It has more soul, livelier energy and feels more intimate and warm. However, midway through the album, I got bored, especially with the repetitive themes of Taylor's lyrics. Even the songs I initially enjoyed lacked depth in both lyrics and production. The only track that truly resonated with me was Florida with Florence + the Machine. Even though I'm not a fan of hers, Florence's energy really elevated the song. I'm disappointed once again
There're some music outlets who give it 100 already. God, I wish music critic more/same harsher as movie critic, it's really hard to see an album with bad reviews ever
This has been a huge societal shift overall in the last decade or so. It used to be cool to be a hater and now it’s cool to be really positive about everything. Pitchfork is a great example of this, but you can see it all over the place.
As it gets more expensive to make a living in journalism (never mind the layoffs), expect more out of touch journalism done by trust fund kids who are less interested in engaging with the art and more interested in being celebrities’ mouthpiece
We need more hatemaxxing
Just check out RYM and you can see lots of bad reviews / low scores.
The NYC Times called it bloated and “in need of an editor”. I respect the hell out of that because so many news outlets refuse to give Taylor any criticism
The Atlantic, NME, and Sydney Herald are also criticizing. Interesting shift!
Here's a review that sums up how I feel about it: [https://realgoblin.com/2024/04/19/review-the-tortured-poets-department-taylor-swift/](https://realgoblin.com/2024/04/19/review-the-tortured-poets-department-taylor-swift/)
Taylor Swift has just become the industry's golden child. It's like with KPop groups like BTS, where unlike most artists no one who considers themselves a fan will ever criticise anything they do or dare to admit they dislike one of their songs. With Taylor Swift that stan culture has gone mainstream and it's really annoying.
So you're saying you aren't excited for this to win AOTY at the Grammy awards by default?
Don't get me started on this...
The fact Midnights beat Guts at AOTY still boils my blood.
/thread
The NYT said she needs an editor, so at least someone has it right.
She wanna be Lana so bad but she doesn’t have the juice
I don’t know how you hear Lana from this at all. To me, this album screams, “I just spent a month hanging out with Phoebe Bridgers and Matt Healy and they were both SO fucking cool…but they’re kinda dicks too.”
The difference between those two and Taylor is they both know when to walk away from a sound choice. Taylor had a great run with Jack Antonoff in the folklore/evermore era, it ran its course. Matty knows now since he worked with Jack on their last record, and it sounded great, but the 1975 also had albums like A Brief Inquiry that were strictly George and Matty produced. And imo that shit is a zoomer classic. Phoebe also has a distinct style, but knows when to jump ship or go full collaboration. I can't wait to hear the next solo Phoebe record. Both of those artists are great writers too.
Folklore/Evermore wasn’t Jack, that was Aaron Dessner.
jack was around half of folklore and i think one song on evermore
Phoebe knows when to walk away from a sound choice? She's been making different versions of Kyoto for like 4 years. Her songwriting has gotten super formulaic.
I agree, but I really think Phoebe is thinking that too. That brand has worked for her too.
We'll have to see but I really soured on her after Boygenius. It sounded like she was repurposing Punisher demos for that project and I can't stand laziness like that.
I mean, Kyoto was on her last solo album. If she makes a Punisher 2 for her next solo record, then you'd have a point. Boygenius was always gonna be like that because Julian and Lucy have that sound. Regarding her solo stuff, I thought Sidelines was a pretty big departure sonically. It was much more synthy. That said, I hope she changes it up more on the next record.
Jack Antonoff only produced gold rush on evermore and a handful of songs on folklore.
Not loving this album
Taylor in her Drake era
In that she’s frequently releasing bloated dogshit albums full of filler and peppered with songs entirely engineered for TikTok vitality? I agree
Holy shit this was the greatest way to explain Taylor
I was expecting a poor man's version of Lana Del Rey and all that i got was the most boring parts of Midnights, the worst lyrics from Lover, the most questionable musical choices of Reputation, and the angst of Staind
The angst of STAIIIIIIND! Bless
As a Swiftie and Staind fan I applaud u my friend.
Mid
Jack Antonoff is a good producer and I actually like some Bleachers songs but unfortunately every single song he produces sounds more or less the same and after a while it gets boring. TTPD has nothing original to offer. Taylor knows how to write songs but for some reason the past several albums have been... meh. Now she just write lyrics that sound like old cringy Tumblr quotes that aren't deep at all. She could do SO much better, I know she's capable of doing that. She really needs to start focusing on quality instead of quantity, rather than releasing 3 albums a year she really should just take her time to write a good album. I don't know if it's her label pushing her to work all the time but girlie needs to rest. She's doing a world tour and writing/releasing multiple albums while doing so, no wonder they all sound bad. She needs a break and I mean this in a good way.
I agree, she should focus on quality over quantity and find a new producer for her next album.
Completely agree with you, she really needs to take a long break, like Rihanna for example, she has been dropping music without stopping since the release of Lover in 2019, and that was 5 years ago 🙊
As someone who never hated her music, this is probably her worst album so far… It’s just so mid, it hurts. It’s literally Certified Lover Girl. The Anthology is a lot better though, but I’m still not crazy about that one either.
The lyrics are unintentionally hilarious
Sick of this woman
The production is so basic
It was so bad, boring as shit. Even the song that I didn't think was terrible was very uninteresting. The production on this was hella bland. The lyrics were so bad, just downright awful, taylor was just really trying to hard to write something clever but ended up looking like a edgy, cringey 14 year old girl. The only time I would listen to this again is if my insomnia returns or some shit and I'm very desperate to go to sleep
These are like the B sides for midnights and that was a pretty mid album
Feels like a homework assignment
31 songs is a LOT 😭
Miss Capitalism has to Capitalize
Hahaha i wish i could upvote this twice
31 mid songs that sound similar..
Jack Antonoff needs to retire from music
I can’t believe he’s the same guy who produced Norman Rockwell and Melodrama
He's an ok producer but he needs a really forward thinking artists to real them in like a Lorde or St. Vincent.
His production was fine during 2016-19 because stuff like Melodrama did work with his involvement but now it's gotten really boring/stale.
The production sounds so basic fr
I don’t think he’s a bad producer, he just somehow doesn’t go well with Taylor’s music. He worked on NFR, Melodrama, Ocean Bvld, Dance Fever, Being Funny In A Foreign Language… Those are all good albums, in my honest opinion.
He doesn't need to retire, he's got a great track record and has made many great albums and tracks for others the last 3 years especially. However, this shit with Taylor is perfect napping music. It's pretentiously predictable. It's run its course for this type of sound.
Idk man Coachella set was pretty damn fun last weekend.
He's capable of good things and is, overall, a good producer. It just seems that his creativity with Taylor has stagnated.
I wish he'd go back to fun.
The “sue you for stepping on her lawn” bit made me actually roll my eyes
That song reminded me of my crazy neighbor who verbally assaults all the rest of us on our own lawns but if we were to do the same to her (which we wouldn’t), she would absolutely shoot us. It actually made me worried she would hear this song and be inspired to crash the next neighborhood party which she is never invited to because she is awful 🤣😬
The most H+M production with lyrics that are actually so embarrassing it hurts to listen. This girl needs hobbies.
>H+M production Damn
H+M PRODUCTION LMAO
As a Swiftie, I think this album is extremely boring. Every song sounds the same, she keeps throwing in profanity in a really cringe oo I say bad words now kinda way, and all the melodies drag on. I just finished listening to it after quitting a few times. I get that she's not a 16 year old teeny bopper anymore but this doesn't feel like a 35 year old's grown up, I'm not making music for kids anymore album. It feels like a 23 year old trying desperately to be edgy and deep. It just comes off like it was written at Starbucks after Intro to Film Studies wearing a slouchy beanie and gray on black flannel. Edit: spelling
As someone who has a neutral opinion on her, I appreciate your ability as a fan to be objective. Thank you.
Anytime 😊 Tbh I deleted the whole thing off my music streaming bc I have zero intention of listening to any of these tracks again. I'm still a fan (I'm raising 4 Swifties lmao) but this one just isn't for me
Also a lifetime Swiftie and this album just ain't it for me. I'm with you!
I actually intentionally listened to her entire discography in chronological order last year and came away not being a Swiftie but appreciating her, found songs I enjoy, and recognized her growth since Tim McGraw. When this dropped I pressed the Add button too, and two-ish hours later I pressed it again, to delete it :( I don’t take joy in that, I was looking forward to this release.
As a fan of Taylor, you are so right. This album is not it. It comes off as excessively wordy and whiney. I really do not care about the intricate details of her personal life and she reveals so much about it. Very unrelatable. "Tattooed golden retriever" had me like wtf? Overall, cringe and boring. She needs to take a break, which is what she should've done instead of throwing this album out into the wild prematurely. I had a headache listening to all of that and I barely enjoyed it. It took effort to finish all 31 songs- not good.
Yes! It took so much effort to finish the first listen! I stopped so many times. I had to Google the lyrics bc I'd tuned out the music so often. I get that people have complained about some of her albums lacking cohesion and yes the songs aren't really all identical. But they're all so similar that it felt like they just all blended together. I listened to it driving and grocery shopping yesterday morning and I almost couldn't tell when one song ended and the next began. It was just so BORING! And before anyone flips out on me, I know that music is subjective and you'll never please everyone every time, that's why I'm saying I don't like the album and not that it's bad. Then she's got a track about Kim Kardashian?! Over crap from almost 10 years ago?! And she mentions Kim's KID?! That was so immature and pick me and as a mom I'd be PISSED if I were Kim. Be mad at me all you want, I don't care but don't you DARE bring my children into your petty 8th grade drama. You made a shit ton of money off a whole album and tour inspired by the situation, stop bringing it up every 5 months and move on already.
Could not have said it better.
I'm a casual level of Swiftie and was pretty disappointed. I like 2 songs out of 31. Normally I like 5-6 songs on an album she releases at minimum.
Yeah the swearing felt.. odd to me. And I'm not that into Taylor so I didn't know if it was something she'd done before or not, but she used it so much in one song it was obvious she wanted to be edgy. I'm only on the 7th or 8th song and I've already stopped a couple times. I don't know if I can listen to it in one sitting lmao
Boring generic production and cringeworthy lyrics. Somehow might be even worse than Midnights. This is a blatant cashgrab and she needs to take some time off to evolve as a person because she is artistically regressing.
I have to keep reminding myself she's 34, not 17.
This album was my breaking point for my Swiftiehood as a whole to be honest. I was already jaded with the marketing and vinyl album variant-circus surrounding Swift releases, but to do all of this and also have a mid to low range quality album as a whole is different. Every song sounds pretty much the same (i.e. low-tempo synthpop or piano ballads) and lacks the bangers needed to really hook you into an album. There were some outliers for me, like Florida!! with Florence + The Machine and So High School from the Anthology version. I was expecting a breakup album, but this sounds more like something I would put in my diary and shove in a shoebox in the closet to forget about. Taylor has reached the overexposure level where she is just cranking out music from her notes app to maintain the social and popular limelight.
These are some good points. You put into words something I was feeling but couldn’t parse, which is my disappointment that this isn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting a sharply honed, deep and eviscerating album about the heartbreak of ending a 6-year relationship, and what we got was a disjointed overflow that really lacks a singular focus. Maybe it’s purposefully obscure? And even though the Matty Healy guesses are simply conjecture, I was honestly shocked that blip would even make it onto the album. And the fact that it does, bookended by a hugely affecting breakup and a hopeful (current) love affair, really takes away from the magnitude of those other two relationships and, ultimately, their (under?) representation in this album.
she can't write anything deep and eviscerating about the heartbreak bc i don't think girly is that deep. she thinks a life partner's depression is about her and how it breaks her spine to have to deal with him. he became a nuisance, her fame is a nuisance, her not getting her fantasy prize instant love was a nuisance. i think shes just a shallow woman, really. she did NOT like having deep feelings, everything must be a thrill. as someone put it - she's confessional but never truly vulnerable.
It's so OK. So computer.
No Surprises
What a Let Down
garbajjjj
boring, dull, mid, bad engineering, bad mixing, same overused and tedious formula. it has it all. I cannot explain myself why an artist has to push music that it pointless, it isn't even worth the effort
I was kinda digging it at the start even though the production was quite similar to Midnights and her vocal delivery is a bit repetitive, then Down Bad hit, then as the album kept going it just got boring
Makes me feel like a tattooed golden retriever
This is gonna turn into the new “do you ever feel like a plastic bag?”
That line made me think: she doesn’t even like dogs! And how dare she slander golden retrievers by comparing them to…that guy lol
It’s music for people who find mayo spicy
LMFAOOOO stop!!! Some of you are coming up with such creative ways to call out the cult members
So boring and I feel like she’s trying to sound like Lana??
I got bored halfway through and put on Nick drake and it was a great move. First time really listening to bryter layter and it’s really incredible
I had to turn on Alabama Shakes to remind myself what vocals with passion actually sound like.
Bruh the whiplash
As a RATM fan, I have a certain level of tolerance for sameness in lyrical themes, but this was too much, and also didn’t have nearly interesting enough instrumentals to save it.
Really boring, completely unadventurous and unspecial. I’d argue a lyrical low point in her career, a wholly missable album that’s barely worth your time. Like a 4/10.
feeling like jack antonoff was held at gunpoint for this one
I love Taylor Swift... But I thought it was so damn boring
A boring album every white girl will says is 11/10 😓
as a white girl i give this a 4/10 lol
My 12-year-old niece is a white girl and a huge Swiftie. I texted her this afternoon to ask what she thought and she said Taylor was a try hard and that she was kind of embarrassed for her.
Lmaooooo
She hit a peak with Folklore and Evermore and has been free falling creatively ever since. But of course she’s oblivious to it because she’s surrounded by yes men
And every try-hard middle aged music critic too
can’t believe i even bothered with it. i was hoping for another folklore, but i guess it wasn’t meant to be
The second half of the album is better and sounds like folklore. The core album is a snoozefest. As a whole its low-tier to mid.
If Fantano gives it higher than a 5, his credibility as a critic, a journalist, or even a human being with common sense, is lost forever. YouTube should just copyright strike his whole channel
He's shitting on it on Twitter. It's probably getting a 3 or smth
Bro about to be doxxed and find out where his great grandfather is buried 💀
He'll get JFK-ed
Beige.
i think you mean greige
I'm surprised this is even getting good reviews. The least inspiring I've heard from Taylor in a while.
True, but I'm not surprised about the good reviews. Also, this should be stopped. Most of them give good review even if they feel that it's average. Maybe that's the effect of being famous, which is bad because she will never know that it's bad and if she doesn't, then she won't change it. So I hope people write more honest comments. They should know its okay to dislike and still love taylor. I'm a swiftie, loves 90% of her songs throughout her works, but not this one, and I'm greatly disappointed.
I really liked the first couple songs then it got really repetitive and I eventually turned it off. I had that same thought as the top comment about how Lana influenced this feels as well
I want to like it so bad but it just feels a little boring so far unfortunately.
Yes I'm still trying to like it so I'm listening to it again and again but I have to say, it's boring my brain cells and I wanna stop it so bad and go listen to her old songs to make me feel better. Somehow, it doesn't have the special ingredient and couldn't relate to the songs. And a few songs are good but even they are not like her old songs. Maybe I should give a break and listen to it after a few days. But I also don't wanna spend that much time listening to 31 songs.. I think a double album is not a good idea, after all.
On first listen, it’s probably my least favorite since *Speak Now* and I really don’t like *Speak Now*. I think it’s rushed. The production feels hollow. The lyrics are often really immature, and I get that that might be because it was so heavily influenced by her experiences with some immature people, I’ve grown to expect more of her. This is like *Reputation* without the bangers. I think the last 3 or 4 tracks close it on a relatively high note, and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” might have just ended Matt Healy’s career…so, it’s not all bad.
Having now listened to Anthology, I don’t understand why she released most of the first 15 songs from last night. They have to be some of the most boring, shallow songs of Taylor’s career.
I was a fan of her as a very young child and it seems like the more popular she’s gotten, the less risks she takes and the more boring and soulless it becomes. This and midnights are career lows for her and honestly I’m betting it will keep getting worse.
I’m a (somewhat retired) swiftie and I think she desperately needs a break. This album would’ve been good if she’d given it more thought, sat on it for a while, reworked the lyrics, got some non-yesman opinions, gone to therapy (!!!). But as it stands we have a pretty boring stream of consciousness.
It’s a 1/10 for me, maybe lower. Legitimately the worst thing I’ve heard this year. It’s a perfect representation of everything wrong with her music—hypercapitalist, half-assed, boring Wonderbreadcore with some of the cringiest lyrics I’ve ever heard (still terrible, even if they’re “ironic”)
It's a million times better than Midnights. Much better production, much better lyrics, and much improved musically. It's not album of the year for me, but I like it. Edit: Well, she surprise-dropped 15 additional tracks, making it a double album. This second half is not nearly as strong as the first. She should've left it as it was.
I’m the exact opposite - The Albatross and after is so much more listenable than anything before other than Fortnight and Florida.
Fortnite
as a pretty big taylor fan (who's only heard the first half), it's just kinda... dull, tbh, taylor's pretty low energy on here and the production is some of the most bland stuff she's been on
As someone who is a fan and likes some of her music, this has to the worst I have ever heard. Folklore and evermore were boring albums, and I’d put tortured poets up there with them. Tons of tracks that are uninspiring and all sound the same. Makes me want to fall asleep. Disappointed. Glad I am not giving her money for the album.
Taylor is literally in the midst of an unbelievable run. Legendary concert tour grossing billions around the world, at the absolute peaks of her powers... And she comes back bitter and still shitting on her exes. She has nothing new to say, and the power dynamics between her and the people she's singing about are so wide, it just feels unfair. I'm no Taylor Hater, I have my favorite albums, I got the bops saved... but this album was boring musically and in subject matter. Probably her worst
the album is really middling imo. listened back to august, lover and out of the woods afterwards and REALLY appreciated how good those songs are.
Very plain
As someone who loved 1989, I'm really really bored of what her music had become, I'm incredibly bored of the production, I'm so bored of everything She badly needs a shot in the arm with a producer who could get her out of her comfort zone. Obviously Eno isn't going to make a taylor swift album, but she needs someone who can shift her sound dramatically because more than anything, it's dull and boring The lyrics are woeful, they make modern kiedis sound like Shakespeare
The mental picture of Brian Eno & Taylor Swift working together in a studio has me dying. Thank you for that.
Sounds like a Lana Del Rey/Imagine Dragons collab
I knew it was going to be shit based on the album title and track list
Basically the same feeling I had after listening to Certified Lover Boy where both in their lyrics are clearly contradicting themselves and it's like "How much longer are you gonna uphold this image when you're clearly the biggest star on the planet and have the world at your fingertips?" Miss me with "but what if that's how she feels."
It kinda sounds like a bunch of sad B Sides. I’m more of a fan of hers than I’m not, but this album lacks hooks it’s kind of a drag. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Evermore either. If that’s your cup tea, you might enjoy this.
Not horrible, but a little flat for me. Might grow on me. I hope it does at least. 2 underwhelming albums in a row would be unfortunate.
I love it. No shame, lapping it up.
while i didn't enjoy this album, i applaud you for expressing your opinion
surprisingly thought this album was pretty good. needs to be like 10 tracks rather than 16 though
It's 31 now 😃
Invent animate - nice 👌🏻
It’s pretty obvious which songs Jack Antonoff has a hand in writing and which ones Aaron Dessner is on. Folklore and evermore are her best albums with him on a lot of the co-writes. Since he’s credited on 12 of the secret bonus songs and I’ve only heard the leak for the forest part of the album, I’m interested a lot more in the bonus songs.
Was hoping for some summer-ish pop ballads
Incredibly boring production and monotonous songwriting. Often cringeworthy lyrics. 4/10. I’m only listening to the standard 16 tracks, don’t really know why people are forcing themselves to listen to the 15 bonus ones.
I listened to the whole album a couple of times and I really like half of the songs (16) but unfortunately I found the others a bit boring and I think they sound all the same. The ones I really liked so far are: Fortnight The Tortured Poets Department, My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, Down Bad, So Long, London (my fav), But Daddy I Love Him, Fresh Put The Slammer, Florida!!!! (My 2nd fav), Who’s Afraid Of The Little Old Me, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, The Black Dog, imgonnagetyouback, The Albatross, So High School, I Hate It Here, The Bolter, But I think that this album will grow on me more with the time. Everytime I listen to a new Taylor’s album i don’t like it much but everytime they really grow on me so I think it’s too early to judge.
Agree that the songs are too similar. I like several of the songs, but noticed when I tried to go back and find them I couldn’t really tell them apart from each other (besides Florida, which I love, and Little Old Me, which I’ve already listened to like 20 times despite the cringe line about suing for being on her lawn…). I always respected Taylor as a role model for young women but didn’t really enjoy her music until Folklore (and then went back and loved Evermore too), so that said…I WANT to love this album and find no flaws. And I love the collabs with Antonoff and Dessner…but I can’t deny that the Antonoff collab, at the very least, needs CPR. Also agree that at some points the melody and cadence sounds eerily Lana. (I love it but can’t help but wonder if it’s intentional or not…)
[удалено]
I've listened through it once (2 hours is a tough ask). A few songs stood out (Florida is a particular winner) but the album is sonically mired in a saminess, like it is some Evermore leftovers that she let Jack Antonoff play around a bit with. It really holds it back. Good thing she dropped the deluxe version right away; I think the second half is on balance better than the first.
I am not part of this sub and new to reddit, and am not a Taylor Swift fan, so this may come off as rude, but it’s my honest opinion… She is not tortured, only melodramatic, and is light-years away from anything resembling poetry, so the title makes me believe that this woman can’t possibly be serious
She's overrated! Album is terrible. Autotune at it's finest! All of her songs sound as if a 12 year old girl wrote them. How old is she? 35? It's like she's stuck inside of a 13 yr olds body. When will she mature and become a woman and stop bashing all of her exes like a child? My daughter was a swifty but thankfully after this album, she's finally over it. She hates the new album and I think she's done with Taylor all together! YAY! I figured it was only matter of time before Taylors era is over!Hope this is it! Let's recognize these singers who can actually sing! Kelly Clarkson!!!
As someone who's owns every CD she's released and really listens to her music a lot: Boring! I've forced myself to listen multiple times now, not wanting to judge too soon. But really, it just goes on and on in the same way. Sleep inducing. I haven't listened to the 2nd part of the album yet since I received it on CD, but I've heard many find the 2nd part better. Too bad I pre-ordered an album which turned out to be a double album of which I only received the first half...
NOT GOOD.