ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Reputation - Taylor Swift

 It is time for my dissertation. 

I am sure many an artist has this album within their discography. The one in which they tried something new or different, for them at least, and upon release it was deemed a failure to the fans. No one liked it. The critics destroyed it. The masses attempted to squash any enjoyment of it. 

Reputation is THAT Taylor Swift album. But this requires me to step into backstory a bit.

Firsthand, I was one of the few Swift fans who did not think in fact, 1989 was a step forward. Lyrically, it was a step backwards. I felt someone who needed so loudly to scream "I am happy!" must be trying to convince themselves. I felt the era was ridden with signs of Taylor's insecurity with herself, looking for perfected outside approval. HOWEVER, I was part of the original Taylor Swift fan forum which used to be connected to her website (Taylorconnect!), and we had a lot of different fans who came with 1989. I was not mature enough to understand an album that was lyrically less mature than many of her previous works. I was somehow just mad she went pop, when in reality I like a lot of pop music. I just didn't find the era to represent Taylor very "authentically". 

Secondarily, we must discuss the social media downfall of Taylor Swift, starting with the Kanye West and Kim Kardashian scandal. Yes, because WITHOUT this, Reputation makes little to no sense. It is definitely an album perhaps only true fans could sit and understand the concept of upon release. We shall timewarp to 2016. 

I want to say, profusely, I do not think Taylor was a perfect human being. No one is. She originally denied any communication about the song happened, which caused Kim to go on snapchat and post that Kanye did in fact call her about the song Famous. However, he mentioned the tongue in cheek line of "I think me and Taylor still might have sex." He never once mentioned the line "Why, because I made that bitch famous." Which is the line Taylor complained about. He then goes on to put a made up nude figure of her in his bed in the Famous music video. But Kim Kardashian, due to the original statement she made, began using the snake emoji for Taylor. And in turn, many haters did, and the media turned against "America's Sweetheart". Taylor was now every level of bad, problematic, and belonged in your nearest trash can. During this time, suddenly all those grand 1989 friends left, and some of the hop on fans did too. She was "cancelled". And I think Taylor in a later interview defined what cancelling really is well, suggesting they don't hope for any redemption. Being cancelled basically is equivalent to being told the world would be better off without you. It was also noted in the Miss Americana documentary that during the 1989 era, Taylor had developed disordered eating and had lost a bit too much weight. Which I note this because of the publicity during Reputation era on her sudden fuller figure. A reminder: disordered eating causes your metabolism to slow up and struggle, so when returning to a regular normal diet, you will actually end up retaining more weight than previously.

Now we get into Reputation era - where she reclaims the snake. Actually, she made a giant inflatable one for the tour and named it Koryn. Because why not? "Look What You Made Me Do" was right out of the gate chastized as another one of Taylor's "victim-playing" antics, poorly written, and there were even op-eds about how the song was supposedly "abusive". Man, she took up a lot of rent free space in critics minds. "...Ready For It?" was deemed immature by the 1989-loving base while they still quietly jammed to Shake It Off as if that is not one of the most lyrically immature Taylor Swift songs that exists. No, Taylor was not pretending to "shake it off" anymore. She did not come in sword fighting however. The album represents a great deal more. 

Taylor Swift here, in this album, said no critic or ex would define her. She did not need good press, or compliments. She gave the middle finger to the entire industry, every pop culture magazine, and even the casual reader. This album was, no doubt, for the true fan who had followed her since her early days. Who could read between the noise and know her as a person. This was not meant for some 1989 loving grammy critic who thinks she was done after that. It is not made for the casual listener, who on first glance will likely find the album a bizarre shift and unauthentic. 

The album, despite being destroyed by critics, went on to being the best-selling album of 2017. Now why does this matter? It sold over a million copies on opening week and was released in November. A whole year of albums went by, and her album was only released for close to 2 months of 2017 and it sold better than anyone else. Secondarily, despite all the fake articles suggesting that the Reputation tour struggled to sell tickets, it became the HIGHEST GROSSING U.S. TOUR IN HISTORY. And it was smaller than her other tours, because it was an arena stadium tour.

Keep on lying to yourselves critics, keep spreading your fake Taylor Swift is over party. 

The album itself is a Max Martin & Shellback production, outside of the handful of Jack Antonoff produced tracks toward the end of the album. It was influenced by RnB and dance music, taking on quite a bit of synths and pulsing drums. I think the album underneath the electronic beats shows some of Taylor's best vocal works as well. I would also like to note this is, in essence, the only Taylor Swift album that did not come with extra tracks in the form of a reissued edition or deluxe edition. Reputation still stands, and she did no press interviews to promote the album. She proved she did not need them, despite them saying her campaign against them was a "Trumpian" thing to do and the next thing you know they are suggesting Taylor Swift is a white supremacist. God, they'll do anything for clickbait won't they? 

Taylor defined the album later as a cathartic album, about finding love despite the noise. She defined many of the tracks as stepping into an altar ego, what the press and critics made her to be versus what was really going on behind the scenes. Her reputation had never been worse, and somehow amongst this she found the right priorities and realized she could be grateful to those who stood by her at the worst. Those were her true friends, true partners.

Now that I gave you an essay on everything you would need to understand to APPRECIATE the album, we can get back to discussing music instead of tabloid garbage. 

The album begins with the bombastic "...Ready For It?", and it works as a very grand entrance into the album itself. I feel like it captures both themes in one song. One, where the critics had made her seem self-centered, love-obsessed, and deceptive. The other hand, the love theme of the album, where she sees someone she is romantically interested it. I originally was not quite sure how I felt about her almost melodically rapping per say, but I think it fits the attitude of the song very well. 

"End Game" is a collaboration between her, old friend Ed Sheeran, and rapper Future. Fun fact, this is the only time she had a rapper on an album-released version collaboration. The only other song of hers to include a rapper is the Bad Blood remix from 1989, which was not an album version and it included Kendrick Lamar. I always felt like the song leans into the love-crazy theme where she supposedly wants tabloid press around her relationships, or as some say, she only dated guys so they could break up and she would have inspiration for her next album. Aren't people insane? I feel like this song got a little overloaded on the features, but her verse at the end is just great and keeps me coming back. 

"I Did Something Bad" steps into the altar ego pretty powerfully. The song sounds a bit confessional, as if she is admitting to using people, lying to them, and that it feels "good" when doing so. It appears she defends it by suggesting this is how the world works. Reading more into the lyrics though, it seems for one the people involved and being toyed with, were already playing her like a toy. "If he drops my name then I owe'em nothing, if he spends my change then he had it coming." or "I never trust a narcissist, but they love me." (To be clear, if you are an empathetic, kind person, Narcs will definitely love to...abuse your kindness!). The bridge really brings it together with the "they're burning all the witches even if you aren't one..." and says to just light her up. The bed description I have for the song is bad ass. 

"Don't Blame Me" quickly became my favorite. It is an RnB influence ballad and includes some of her best vocals. That chorus just hits right every single time. The song references a bit of the suggestions she plays guys rather than loves them, however the song is heavily centered on an imperfect person falling in love and the person bringing out the better in them. "Once was poison ivy but now I'm your daisy." This is one of those songs that makes me wish I had seen the tour because I know that was AMAZING live...

A softer part of the album begins here with "Delicate", and I thought it was an amazing shift from the darkness to some of the softness. Her reputation has never been worse, so he must like her for who she is. Delicate discusses falling in love truly, and being afraid of expressing your feelings. It was the take away hit from Reputation that got the most airplay and the most people seemed to appreciate despite the other GEMS existing on the whole album. First expressions of love are "delicate" and the feelings can be easily hurt.

I love how the shift goes from here to "Look What You Made Me Do." She has begun to find love, to see into herself and see her true relationships. Now the ANGER comes. She is mad they've made her out to be a snake, a liar, a deceptive bad person. And then they blame her for all the horrible made up stories, implying she did something to cause it. She is now taunting them back, well look what you made ME do now. And somehow it is abusive for the victim to come back and say something about their abuse? Come on now. This song is often criticized by fans too but I personally love it. It is a great song especially if you just need a way to say buzz off you know. The chorus actually interpolates Right Said Fred. They approved her to do it, they apparently loved the dark take of it. Who would've thought "I'm Too Sexy" would work here?

The album then turns to "So It Goes..." and I am probably the only crazy person to notice these things, but I feel like So It Goes was meant to sort of "close" chapter one of the album because Ready For It begins with three dots, and So It Goes ends with those dots. It starts shifting toward the "romance" more, meeting him in the dark. I absolutely love the chorus and bridge of this track. Very easy to get lost in. 

We then go to "Gorgeous", a very cutesy love song. I don't think it is a Taylor Swift album without some cute level love song. It references thinking someone is so beautiful but being too afraid to actually say anything to them. Also it includes the line "I guess I'll just stumble on home to my cats" which is just iconic in itself.

If you missed 1989, which god knows why you would when this is right here and just as good, "Getaway Car" exists. I give it to Antonoff, while having his signature 80s synth production, it does not totally take you out of the album. I feel it does fit the song. I imagined this was her saying goodbye to her exes in which she knew weren't right for her but she wanted love like everyone else. She then is turning to the one who truly does love her for who she is and sees HER. Not her fame, not her talents, but her.

"King of My Heart" was actually my least favorite from the album and I will admit, it still is. I do not like the production for this song as much, but I do appreciate the lyrics for what they are. She had moreless given up on finding true love and was fine on her own, but now she is finding herself falling for this guy. And while he doesn't have all the expensive tastes of her previous exes, he takes her to a place she has never been or felt before. 

"Dancing With Our Hands Tied" was my other favorite of Reputation. The song reminds me of a different sort of Out of the Woods. Out of the Woods referenced feeling this impending end to a relationship, the sort of feeling wondering which side is going to get up today and struggles with anxiety. "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" covers a similar anxious feeling, but at the beginning of a romance after experiencing so many bad ones. The tabloids will ruin it, you won't be enough, and all these impending dooms to keep her from falling in love. Instead, she finds herself dancing with him and wishing she had tried harder to keep the love going. 

This then shifts to "Dress", I guess I cannot call it her most sensual song anymore because "False God" happened, although I like to pretend it didn't since I did not like Lover much and I hate songs comparing sex to God. No, you did not become God because you give a good time in bed. No, sex is not God because it feels good. Just STOP with this crap already. Now that my mini rant is over let's get back to the pre-Lover most sensual Taylor song. Wildest Dreams gave us a small work toward sexuality being discussed more with "his hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room." and before that there was Treacherous which very mildly walked the line. Point is, this was not a sudden shift to Oh my god Taylor Swift wrote a song discussing SEXXXX???? Yes. whoopdedoo. Lots of people do it. I don't mind Dress. I find it lyrically a bit cliche, and the singing of the chorus kind of annoys me so I don't return to it much. But I can see how it plays into the album still.

The album returns a small bit to the gossip with "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things", which many hated and called petty...as if...the entire album doesn't have a certain amount of "petty" written on the forehead of it...If you got this far in and you just NOW think there is an ounce of petty on Reputation then you missed the entire point. Go back and restart. Here is a shift though to more a narration from where she is now, she took an axe to her mended fence with Kanye after the original VMAs incident. 

and to clue you in, in case you didn't hear even Obama call Kanye a real JERK for doing it, when Taylor Swift won her VMA back in 2009, Kanye got on the stage. He took her microphone, and said "Imma let you finish, but Beyonce made the best video of ALL TIME!" Now Beyonce was very classy and when she won an award later, let Taylor come on stage and finish her speech. "Innocent" on Speak Now referenced the incident and suggested Taylor forgave him, and during 1989 it appeared her and Kanye had truly mended the bridge and were okay. And then Famous and snake-gate happened...

To return to the song, while chastising those who hurt her, she gives cheers to her now boyfriend, her mother, and the friends who stood by her despite all the noise. 

We then shift to a beautiful ballad "Call It What You Want". I think it was referenced this way because so many critics have something to say about her romance, and she discussed despite all the noise, the good things he did instead to stand by her. "Trust him like a brother, yeah at least I did one thing right." And in the retrospect of the album and everything this kind of always brought tears to my eyes. It is like the rainbow after the rainstorm, the thing telling you it is all going to be okay. Real love.

The album closes with "New Years Day", a piano ballad ode to he who stuck with her after the party was over. While many leave you to clean up the mess, he was picking up the bottles with her to clean up. And few people want to stick around to clean up a mess. I thought it was a beautiful metaphor for standing by someone in their worst moments and a beautiful closer to the album. The excess noise had left, it was just him and her. We were left with that.

Lyrics: 8/10 - The lyrics fell flat in some places, although I enjoyed the story of the album, but to say it was Speak Now lyrically would be going way too far for me. It is beautiful in its own way.

Music: 9/10 - Sonically very good for the most part. I think I more took the point off for the two songs I did not completely fall in love with.

Overall: 9/10 - I will be defending this album until the day I die. I have become the Reputation apologist. And you managed to survive my dissertation. Thank you.