TSwift Defends Her Reputation With A New LP

Taylor Swift

Reputation

Big Machine Label

Release date: November 11, 2017

By Shawal Ras

Taylor Swift is one of the few musicians who knows how to sell her music very well (hello, she debuted her last three albums – Speak Now, Red, and 1989 - with more than a million unit in the first week aight. Who else can do that nowadays? - aside from Adele - none!) with a really hyped anticipation and instead of a low blow, she delivered!

Reputation, Swift’s first major release since 2014 and her sixth studio album, is pretty much gonna be her fourth million-selling album since it’s already sold 700,000 copies on the first day of the release in the United States only. Major news outlets and music industry insiders already saying it’s gonna be her biggest release by the end of the first week (currently we’re predicting at 2 million units).

Anyway, commercial performance aside, Reputation is undoubtedly a look into the celebrity-driven culture we’re in today. Looking at the booklet accompanying the album, Swift wrote "... my mistakes have been used against me, my heartbreaks have been used as entertainment, and my songwriting has been trivialized as 'oversharing'. We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them that they have chosen to show us,” then she continued with “when this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song, as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test. There will be slideshows of photos backing up each incorrect theory, because it's 2017 and if you didn't see a picture of it, it couldn't have happened right?”

Well said, Taylor. Well said.

The album, packed with 15 tracks, divided into two sections. The first half of the album is driven by heavy beats and dramatic, sharp lines (‘… Ready for It’, ‘End Game’, ‘I Did Something Bad’, ‘Look What You Made Me Do’) while the second half is melody-based (‘… So It Goes’, ‘Gorgeous’, ‘Getaway Car’. ‘Dress’, ‘This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things’, ‘Call It What You Want’, and the final slow track, ‘New Year’s Day’).

And I’m gonna say it: Reputation is her best release so far and even though I love Red and 1989, this album is literally her most sonically and thematically cohesive to date.

Upon my first listen, I was taken aback with the heaviness of the album. Remember how 1989 kicked off with ‘Welcome to New York’? It was rather chill and slow. The rest of the album was rather slow-paced. With Reputation, the album is pretty darn aggressive and it’s hard to like it at first. But, ‘… Ready for It’ is the perfect song to kick off the LP. It encapsulates the whole record - in a good way. It goes up, way up, and then straight down with slower tracks (and her chuckling in ‘This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things’) before it ends with the final, piano-driven paean to her new love interest.

‘I Did Something Bad’ is a standout in Reputation. It’s extremely forceful, the anti-thesis of the singer herself. This one should be a single and from the amount of gossips it is currently generating (true to Swiftian fashion, it’s the guessing game that generates the many news), it WILL be a single. “If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing / I don't regret it one bit, 'cause he had it coming” is truly my fav line from the track.

Another standout from the album is the epic stadium-made anthem, ‘Getaway Car’. Honey, it sounds like it were made for 1989 and you’d want to sing it the loudest you can. It is THAT good. “You were drivin' the getaway car / We were flyin’, but we never get far / Don't pretend it's such a mystery / Think about the place where you first met me.” Ahh I hate being a part of the problem but I have so many theories with the song.

We’re all a mess, to be honest.

Swift’s vocal is the same as ever but her songwriting skills got better. She’s a rare breed that knows how to truly write good pop hooks and straight dive into some of our emotions that we cannot express so easily. Prime example would be in ‘Delicate’ in which she sings about the anxiety rush of dating someone totally new, “Is it cool that I said all that? / Is it chill that you're in my head? / 'Cause I know that it's delicate.”

The low point of the album would be the lead single itself ‘Look What You Made Me Do’. It’s campy to the max, a true nadir of the whole record. The song is driven by hype (theories, theories, theories) and if you look at her history, she tend to do this with her lead singles (see ‘Shake It Off’, ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’, and ‘Mine’). Hype, no matter how unnecessary it is, is good. Every pop star needs it to kick off their big era. Hype = sales = brand awareness = more sales.

Like I said, this woman (and her team) is a marketing genius (alongside Beyonce, of course)!

All in all, Taylor Swift is definitely back with a vengeance. Reputation is definitely the best release of 2017 and it will dominate the charts in the many months to come. Hate her or love her, Swift does have a knack in dropping good pop music.

Standout cuts: ‘I Did Something Bad’, ‘Delicate’, ‘Getaway Car’, '... Ready for It', and ‘Call It What You Want.’

P/s: The album will be available in Spotify by the end of the first week. Hopefully.