ALBUM REVIEWS: Lover - Taylor Swift

I decided to walk myself through my least favorite album by my favorite artist here.

If you managed to survive the dissertation to Reputation, congratulations! My problem with Lover extends beyond the album itself and into the era as a whole. Lover, in essence, became the polar opposite of everything Reputation was. Where Reputation said to shut up, Lover allows room to be walked on again. Where Reputation looked beyond the noise, Lover fed into the noise. Where Reputation didn't care what you thought, Lover showed every ounce of insecurity and people-pleasing that still exists. In essence, it made me want to shake her and ask why she needs so much outsider approval. 

Surprisingly, I originally enjoyed the singles. Me! did not take itself too seriously and I enjoyed that. The Archer is a beautiful ballad, and Lover the title track is killer lyrically. She let the pressures to be political in the celebrity era get to her and it bled into everything. I do not mean to, oh who am I kidding.

So much of this era became politically woke clout chasing, right down to trying to make parts of her previous eras political power moves and it disgusted me. Disgusted me so much I actually quit on Taylor Swift for a while. It is only recently I began to "forgive" her for destroying her past self to please twitter people trying to cancel her. In a lot of ways, I avoid Lover so I don't have to think about her doing that. She didn't NEED to defend her politics. She could have simply said who she voted for like in the past with Obama. Anyone who listens to her already would have known she has no issue with gay people. She didn't need to put an african-american person as her love interest in a music video just to make sure no one thought she was some racist when she's never done anything to imply it. The depressing thing is, if she hadn't done so much of the clout chasing to begin with, I wouldn't have even THOUGHT about the man being included in the Lover video, but nothing felt honest and authentic anymore. "Oh, here's Taylor again proving she is "liberal" enough to be a main pop girl! Applause!" My anger only deepened with the album being subpar, her trying to change Reputation era into something else, and False God existing. 

I, however, told a Swift-loving friend I think it was time I reassessed the album. We are now 2 albums and almost 2 re-recordings away from Lover. It has been 2 years, and likely a year and a half since I dared to play the Taylor album that made me sell my merch only to buy it back and let it go 2 eras later. Folklore and especially Evermore softened my anger. This anger is to be discontinued, as long as she doesn't change the lyrics to Better Than Revenge on the Speak Now re-recording to try and kiss the butts of her haters again. 

I am trying now to view the album outside the lens of my anger and strictly into the lens of the music and where it played into her career. Obviously, outside my anger, I could very well enjoy some of the songs on Lover. Just a lot less than normal.

The album begins with "I Forgot That You Existed", a song I had once tried to forget. I don't think the melody didn't quite work for the song. I always kind of liked the pettiness of the song. The chorus just makes me laugh a bit, not for being bad but the genuine bitterness underneath the "I forgot you existed", oh it was so peaceful and quiet! It was magical! I like PARTS of the song, but not my favorite.

Everyone raves about "Cruel Summer", and it isn't a BAD song. It is certainly one of the better Lover songs, but I for some reason just never felt like the chorus fits the song super well. I return to the song for the bridge though. An eh chorus can be a bit forgiven because the other parts of the song aren't bad at all. It is, by the way, not the Bananarama song.

You know, I think she shouldn't have released Lover as a pre-album single. I wouldn't have had such high expectations. I would've went in with the toilet expectations I had for 1989 and going "well it wasn't as bad as I was thinking after hearing Welcome to New York!" But Lover is such a BEAUTIFUL song that it sucks the rest of the album didn't match this quality. This song made me think we were getting like, Red or Speak Now lyricisms again and powerful emotion. I feel like Lover has 2 sides and I only liked one side of the record. 

I didn't mind "The Man" as a song but I have always disliked that one line where she says "when everyone believes you, what's that like?" Considering statistically men are less believed in sexual assaults, have higher rates of suicide after trauma due to the concept that men cannot be weak, emotional or cry (also noted as "toxic masculinity") and with the MeToo movement a woman can say you harmed her and ruin your entire life whether it is true or not. I feel the line was um, poorly chosen. I do however love the nature of the song coming directly at the way she has been criticized in her dating life and writing style for years yet a man does it and no one says ANYTHING. She would be the man if she did this and was not a woman. 

I always liked "The Archer", I think in general my favorite Lover tracks are the ballads, which isn't uncommon for me with Taylor Swift albums. I know many disliked the very minimal production but I cannot imagine this song done another way. I found it beautiful and introspective. Worthy of "song 5" status.

Okay we need some air. I get through a few songs of goodness because I completely destroy a Taylor Swift song. "I Think He Knows" feels like the cringiest one still. The pre-chorus and chorus are just...honestly the worst things I heard from her in my mind. This song did not grow on me at all. There was a few hit pop songs around this time that had a sort of vibe like this and I hated them just as much. I just do not like the production of this song at all. It still grates, it still feels like nails meet the chalkboard to me. 

We switch to my Lover song I liked because obviously, it sounds more like Reputation sonically. I don't know why she tried to pass "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince" as being political in meaning and I try to ignore that aspect entirely because you can't...even...hear it in the song. It obviously sounds to be about her fall from grace as America's Sweetheart, but finding Joe and living happily with him instead of falling into the noise. The song feels like a singular representation of the meaning of Reputation and I love it for that reason.

"Paper Rings" sounds like it tries to be a punk/pop song and it just did not fit. The distortion on her voice really bugs me. It sucks because I always usually like her faster paced songs like Holy Ground. I just don't like the production. A different production and this might have been a song I genuinely loved. 

Okay for starters, I'm taking a fresh listen to Cornelia Street because everyone screamed it was the HAPPY All Too Well, and I just never felt moved by the song an inch. Honestly, I think I like it better now than I did then. Because I'm separated from the screaming expectations of everyone to see it a certain way. It is a sweet love ballad, of god don't ever leave me because I'll never be the same. 

Okay. Here's the big one for me. This song has always sucked for me. I actually tend to like Death by a Thousand Cuts and I think I would be willing to PAY someone at this point to edit out the OFFKEY PIANO THAT COMES IN ON THE CHORUS AND RUINS THE WHOLE SONG. I'm serious. Because that offkey piano gives me an actual headache when I listen to the song so I can't ENJOY THE SONG. The song otherwise is such a good song and it is so angering when ONE THING ruins a genuinely good track. ONE THING!!! 

So upon relistening, if you want a cute pop love song, "London Boy" is actually kinda catchy. The melody certainly is not as irritating as some of the other tracks with random things tossed in. It is just easy on the ears and flows nicely. As long as you don't think too deeply about it.

"Soon You'll Get Better" is one of the lyrical pieces on Lover that stands out. It is about her mother's cancer battle and it so gut-wrenching. It seems almost out of place on Lover, compiled of mostly cute love songs or songs that don't require a lot of emotional thought. 

"False God" was Taylor's moment of trying to an almost Motown-vein RnB/Soul music. It is also her impression of the recent trend in pop of that time of comparing "Sex" to God which annoyed me endlessly. Sex gets old after a while and you got to look at them and wonder what you are gonna talk about. Trust me, eternity is a long time and you won't get away with sitting around worshipping sex as a god. Outside that annoyance, the sax lacks a relevancy to the song at all, the melody seems squeezed in on the verses making it a very messy track. It lacks any good qualities lyrically or melodically to me.

If you want a really ridiculous tongue-in-cheek pop track, "You Need to Calm Down" is actually great. I enjoy it for that value. However, it did annoy me in the video the way she portrayed Christians, because they are certainly not all redneck bigots with misspelled picket signs. But if we are strictly speaking of the Westboro type, no one likes them anyway.

"Afterglow" has grown on me a bit. It seems a poppier essence of "Back to December". Discussing a lover's fight and hating how you treat them. Not wanting to ruin the love they have. Which again I look to the haters who ask if she'd write a song saying she is the problem. There's now TWO of them. Shut up.

I will be the one and only to stand by Me! and its existence. It is a fun pop song. It isn't meant to be so deep, or taken so seriously. I mean it is just a nice self-confidence boosting track that is fun to sing in the car. Not every Taylor song needs to be All Too Well. 

"It's Nice to Have a Friend" is definitely my second favorite Lover track. It is short but simple. This song really represent true, authentic love at its finest and everyone should be striving to find this sort of innocent love. The simpler melodies just add to it and I feel she really outdid herself on this one.

The album closes with "Daylight", which seems to leave her closing arguments on all the "Reputation" era dramas, and saying she has found the light with her lover and seems to have let go of much of the anger. That seems a positive note to leave on.

Lyrics: 6/10 - This is by far one of her worst showings lyrically for many of the tracks. But she still shines in others.

Music: 5/10 - it is very hit and miss musically. I would have liked to hear more consistency. 

Overall: 6/10 - Not as bad now that some of my anger subsided, but still will remain my least enjoyed Taylor album. I feel like in essence, Lover was a transitional period. She likely wasn't sure where to go from Reputation but she wanted to venture away from the dark pop, so she returned with the polar opposite of everything Reputation was. What it transitioned to was beautiful nevertheless and makes up for it.