Released: November 10, 2017
Label: Big Machine
Duration: 55 Minutes
Everyone knows the story of Taylor Swift. Her ever-changing "reputation" from country-girl to pop princess to vengeful diva, and her latest LP Reputation attempts to take advantage of this career arc.
It's impossible for me to approach this album without bias, but not for the reasons one might expect. I don't have anything against pop music (Lorde's Melodrama is one the year's strongest records), or even against Taylor's music (I enjoyed several of her singles from her last album, such as "Blank Space" and "Wildest Dreams"). It is merely the new "dark Taylor" persona that Swift is presenting through her latest run of singles that set my expectations low, and it is impossible to divorce someone like Taylor Swift as a person from the art she makes.
Still, I hoped against hope that the non-singles would prove stronger. They didn't. Reputation is a mess. Beyond the over-use of trap, African-American Vernacular English, and other hip-hop derivatives by one of the whitest artists on the airwaves (something someone with a more nuanced perspective on culture could likely tear apart), almost every track on the album has some sort of horrible aspect to it. Rather than repeat criticisms in some loose way, it's honestly just easier to go song-by-song and air my worst grievances with each.
1. ...Ready For It?: The album opens with the song that could most blatantly be described as trap. And Taylor Swift doing trap is a mistake, I don't care what anyone says.
2. End Game: This track features guest rap verses from Future... and from Ed Sheeran. If there's one artist who comes across as even more wimpy and white than Taylor Swift, it's Ed. At least there's thematic consistency in this atrocity.
3. I Did Something Bad: A voice I believe to be Taylor Swift herself starts doing some vocal dubsteppy "brap brap dududud duh" noises during the post chorus and it takes everything with in me not to laugh out loud when I hear it.
4. Don't Blame Me: Of the heavily trap-influenced songs, this one is the most passable. And also the most forgettable.
5. Delicate: Delicate sounds vaguely like atmospheric dream pop, except that it builds up to nothing and has some of the worst examples of Taylor using "slang", as well as a falsetto effect that sounds less like Taylor showcasing her singing chops and more like Alvin and the Chipmunks.
6. Look What You Made Me Do: This was the song that started it all, and it still comes across more like a bad parody than anything else. From the Right-Said Fred lifted chorus melody to the "old Taylor can't come to the phone right now" section, I spend most of this track about how serious Taylor is laughing. That's a bad sign, Ms. Swift.
7. So It Goes...: Just when you thought you had escaped the rattling trap hi-hats, they come back with a vengeance.
8. Gorgeous: This single comes across as a parody of today's eighties-influenced synthpop tracks, with the goofy baby intro and hilariously bad lines like;
"You should think about the consequence
Of your magnetic field being a little too strong
And I got a boyfriend, he's older than us
He's in the club doing, I don't know what"
And;
"You're so gorgeous
I can't say anything to your face
'Cause look at your face"
The Guardian, since they apparently music sometimes when paid enough, noted Taylor's skill at lyricism in their 4/5 star review. What album did they hear?
9. Getaway Car: Any song that opens with "It was the best of times" is an automatic fail in my book. More so when it's a white woman trying to do tough trap music.
10. King of My Heart: This song is all over the place, moving between a traditional modern pop sound for the verse into a heavy trap beat during the chorus, and the two do not mix well.
11. Dancing With Our Hands Tied: Something about Taylor's rushed vocal delivery in the verse just agitates me. The chorus is okay but sounds so indistinct from the other enthusiastic synth-lines on the record that I'd be hard pressed to identify it out of context.
12. Dress: During this track, Taylor utilizes a falsetto that is far more nasally and short of breath than usual, only worsened by high-pitched moaning that is not as sexy as both Taylor and myself wishes it was.
13. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Meme titles by non-comedy artists are unacceptable.
14. Call It What You Want: I don't want to go to far into the Taylor Swift-Kanye West feud, but when Taylor says "all the liars calling me one" in this song, I can't help but cringe at how ignorant Swift is of mental health issues and her own part in the "drama".
15. New Year's Day: The closing track of Reputation is easily the best song on the album, a completely passable piano ballad. It is rather sweet, and is the most natural and genuine performance on the album.
Coming into Reputation, I had hoped the low quality of the singles had been a fluke, and that the finished product would be a completely passable pop record. For me personally, that is not the case. While some of the songs are catchy, at this point in Taylor's career I'd be more concerned if they weren't. Catchy was the minimum requirement, but Reputation offers little else, and instead chooses to fill itself with questionable decisions and laughable lyricism.
It's impossible for me to approach this album without bias, but not for the reasons one might expect. I don't have anything against pop music (Lorde's Melodrama is one the year's strongest records), or even against Taylor's music (I enjoyed several of her singles from her last album, such as "Blank Space" and "Wildest Dreams"). It is merely the new "dark Taylor" persona that Swift is presenting through her latest run of singles that set my expectations low, and it is impossible to divorce someone like Taylor Swift as a person from the art she makes.
Still, I hoped against hope that the non-singles would prove stronger. They didn't. Reputation is a mess. Beyond the over-use of trap, African-American Vernacular English, and other hip-hop derivatives by one of the whitest artists on the airwaves (something someone with a more nuanced perspective on culture could likely tear apart), almost every track on the album has some sort of horrible aspect to it. Rather than repeat criticisms in some loose way, it's honestly just easier to go song-by-song and air my worst grievances with each.
1. ...Ready For It?: The album opens with the song that could most blatantly be described as trap. And Taylor Swift doing trap is a mistake, I don't care what anyone says.
2. End Game: This track features guest rap verses from Future... and from Ed Sheeran. If there's one artist who comes across as even more wimpy and white than Taylor Swift, it's Ed. At least there's thematic consistency in this atrocity.
3. I Did Something Bad: A voice I believe to be Taylor Swift herself starts doing some vocal dubsteppy "brap brap dududud duh" noises during the post chorus and it takes everything with in me not to laugh out loud when I hear it.
4. Don't Blame Me: Of the heavily trap-influenced songs, this one is the most passable. And also the most forgettable.
5. Delicate: Delicate sounds vaguely like atmospheric dream pop, except that it builds up to nothing and has some of the worst examples of Taylor using "slang", as well as a falsetto effect that sounds less like Taylor showcasing her singing chops and more like Alvin and the Chipmunks.
6. Look What You Made Me Do: This was the song that started it all, and it still comes across more like a bad parody than anything else. From the Right-Said Fred lifted chorus melody to the "old Taylor can't come to the phone right now" section, I spend most of this track about how serious Taylor is laughing. That's a bad sign, Ms. Swift.
7. So It Goes...: Just when you thought you had escaped the rattling trap hi-hats, they come back with a vengeance.
8. Gorgeous: This single comes across as a parody of today's eighties-influenced synthpop tracks, with the goofy baby intro and hilariously bad lines like;
"You should think about the consequence
Of your magnetic field being a little too strong
And I got a boyfriend, he's older than us
He's in the club doing, I don't know what"
And;
"You're so gorgeous
I can't say anything to your face
'Cause look at your face"
The Guardian, since they apparently music sometimes when paid enough, noted Taylor's skill at lyricism in their 4/5 star review. What album did they hear?
9. Getaway Car: Any song that opens with "It was the best of times" is an automatic fail in my book. More so when it's a white woman trying to do tough trap music.
10. King of My Heart: This song is all over the place, moving between a traditional modern pop sound for the verse into a heavy trap beat during the chorus, and the two do not mix well.
11. Dancing With Our Hands Tied: Something about Taylor's rushed vocal delivery in the verse just agitates me. The chorus is okay but sounds so indistinct from the other enthusiastic synth-lines on the record that I'd be hard pressed to identify it out of context.
12. Dress: During this track, Taylor utilizes a falsetto that is far more nasally and short of breath than usual, only worsened by high-pitched moaning that is not as sexy as both Taylor and myself wishes it was.
13. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Meme titles by non-comedy artists are unacceptable.
14. Call It What You Want: I don't want to go to far into the Taylor Swift-Kanye West feud, but when Taylor says "all the liars calling me one" in this song, I can't help but cringe at how ignorant Swift is of mental health issues and her own part in the "drama".
15. New Year's Day: The closing track of Reputation is easily the best song on the album, a completely passable piano ballad. It is rather sweet, and is the most natural and genuine performance on the album.
Coming into Reputation, I had hoped the low quality of the singles had been a fluke, and that the finished product would be a completely passable pop record. For me personally, that is not the case. While some of the songs are catchy, at this point in Taylor's career I'd be more concerned if they weren't. Catchy was the minimum requirement, but Reputation offers little else, and instead chooses to fill itself with questionable decisions and laughable lyricism.
Score: 2.3/10
Best Track: New Year's Day
Worst Tracks: ...Ready For It?, King of My Heart, Look What You Made Me Do
P.S. If the estate of Ms. Swift would like me to change the review score in exchange for some spending money, they can email me at lokki242@gmail.com. Thanks in advance.
P.S. If the estate of Ms. Swift would like me to change the review score in exchange for some spending money, they can email me at lokki242@gmail.com. Thanks in advance.
