I am listening to it now! My daughter is attending an album drop party at her friend's house this afternoon, and among the snacks we are bringing, we included this in @TaylorSwiftsPickles honor.
I am listening to it now!
My daughter is attending an album drop party at her friend's house this afternoon, and among the snacks we are bringing, we included this in @TaylorSwiftsPickles honor.
Sonically, the album is genuinely great. Lyrically, it's absolutely not her most representative album and it definitely missed the marked for me, although I've enjoyed plenty of the songs...
Sonically, the album is genuinely great. Lyrically, it's absolutely not her most representative album and it definitely missed the marked for me, although I've enjoyed plenty of the songs contained in it.
It's pretty obvious that this is an experimental work for her that's pretty different to the melancholic, solemn, and confessional style she had been going for for a big part of her career - and especially in recent years - and instead an attempt to have more bubbly/jolly/witty/semi-comedic etc. music. It's also contained some of her most, uhm, inappropriate lyrics ever, which - aside from 1 song (Wood) - I genuinely find welcome, as I find no reason for female sexuality to (still) be a taboo.
I will be enjoying it a lot in the future, as I have done with her entire discography at this point, but - aside from Eldest Daughter - no other song of this album has made me truly feel anything lyrically the same way most of her albums (especially the post-2019 ones) have; It's something I'm definitely going to vibe to (and generally dance to) a lot, but not something I'll be bawling my eyes out from at 03:00.
My tier list for the entire "The Life of a Showgirl" album:
S: The Fate of Ophelia, Elizabeth Taylor,
A: Father Figure, Eldest Daughter,
B: Opalite, Ruin the Friendship, Cancelled, Actually Romantic, The Life of a Showgirl (ft. Sabrina Carpenter)
C: Honey
D: -
E: -
F: Wi$h Li$t, Wood
Edit: bumped down "Honey", on second thought
Edit 2: bumped RtF up from tier E to tier B after I had an mini breakdown listening to it
What's a song you'd recommend (any album) to someone who isn't a Taylor Swift fan and wonders why her music is interesting? (I have a niece who is a fan.)
What's a song you'd recommend (any album) to someone who isn't a Taylor Swift fan and wonders why her music is interesting? (I have a niece who is a fan.)
I actually wrote a pretty long reply when this album was announced, explaining why it's kind of impossible to give out a representative singular song, as well as suggesting my subjective best...
I actually wrote a pretty long reply when this album was announced, explaining why it's kind of impossible to give out a representative singular song, as well as suggesting my subjective best tracks from each album (minus this one, of course).
But, let's be honest - people really just want to listen to one or two songs out of curiosity; most folks would not check out a 2-hour playlist just to make an educated decision if the first few songs they'd listen to don't pull them in. In which case, the best song I could recommend you is one that's closest to your interests. From a quick look at your profile and your previous comments in ~music, it looks like the best matches for your interests would be the Folklore album and the Evermore album, both of which fall somewhat into the indie folk genre, although not exclusively. Meaning, I would probably suggest you "cardigan" from folklore and "willow" from evermore. The jazziest thing from her discography would probably be "False God" from Lover, but I never really actually felt it was actually jazz-y, so I wouldn't want to get your hopes up.
That said, my personal favourite album is Midnights I even left a bunch of easter eggs about that on the tildes minecraft server v2 world download, and my favourite song from that album would be "Would've, Could've, Should've" - a song I've probably bawled an entire a family-sized soda bottle of tears to.
Didn't feel right to recommend a non-solo song for folklore, IMO. Or in general - it's something I tried to avoid for the most part. But also, exile doesn't really feel truly representative of...
Didn't feel right to recommend a non-solo song for folklore, IMO. Or in general - it's something I tried to avoid for the most part.
But also, exile doesn't really feel truly representative of folklore to me; I find exile to be a lot more thematically fitting with evermore, to the point I often forget it's a folklore song to begin with. It's a great song, don't get me wrong - but in my mind I find the cardigan/august/betty trifecta, seven, and mirrorball to be the optimal songs to suggest, especially considering my own personal biases.
Fair, I just really love the vocal blending of Swift and Vernon in Exile, and was not thinking of the best representation of Folklore. Cardigan is probably in the top songs of Folklore when you...
Fair, I just really love the vocal blending of Swift and Vernon in Exile, and was not thinking of the best representation of Folklore. Cardigan is probably in the top songs of Folklore when you consider only doing songs without guest artists, although I quite like the drum machine and electric guitar in peace that makes it a fun vibe and worth recommending (although it is not a strong representative sample).
I think this is genuinely a worse album than The Tortured Poets Department, which already was pretty bad. I don't think this album has a clear identity, I don't understand the Showgirl aesthetic...
I think this is genuinely a worse album than The Tortured Poets Department, which already was pretty bad. I don't think this album has a clear identity, I don't understand the Showgirl aesthetic if none of if it present in the music. There's no camp, it doesn't have that old-school Hollywood tone that is associated with Showgirls.
I've never thought Swift was that strong of a song-writer, I think her lyrical ability is largely overestimated. But I do think her run from 1989 to Midnights (barring reputation) is pretty good. I love 1989, I still think it's her best album, it's what got me to like her as an artist in the first place. I really like Lover even though I understand a lot of people don't really like it even among Swift fans. Folklore and Evermore are good, even if I didn't fall all over them like a lot of people. And I love Midnights. But it's like she's empty now after that run. It's like she's lost the sense of self she developed through that album run. I won't speculate as to the cause of that since I classify that as celeb drama. But these past two albums feel like she's grasping at straws artistically.
She needs to take a break and only make music when she has something to say.
I am listening to it now!
My daughter is attending an album drop party at her friend's house this afternoon, and among the snacks we are bringing, we included this in @TaylorSwiftsPickles honor.
Honestly, I'm genuinely honoured, it's really sweet you thought of my username when getting snacks. Enjoy the listen!
Sonically, the album is genuinely great. Lyrically, it's absolutely not her most representative album and it definitely missed the marked for me, although I've enjoyed plenty of the songs contained in it.
It's pretty obvious that this is an experimental work for her that's pretty different to the melancholic, solemn, and confessional style she had been going for for a big part of her career - and especially in recent years - and instead an attempt to have more bubbly/jolly/witty/semi-comedic etc. music. It's also contained some of her most, uhm, inappropriate lyrics ever, which - aside from 1 song (Wood) - I genuinely find welcome, as I find no reason for female sexuality to (still) be a taboo.
I will be enjoying it a lot in the future, as I have done with her entire discography at this point, but - aside from Eldest Daughter - no other song of this album has made me truly feel anything lyrically the same way most of her albums (especially the post-2019 ones) have; It's something I'm definitely going to vibe to (and generally dance to) a lot, but not something I'll be bawling my eyes out from at 03:00.
My tier list for the entire "The Life of a Showgirl" album:
S: The Fate of Ophelia, Elizabeth Taylor,
A: Father Figure, Eldest Daughter,
B: Opalite, Ruin the Friendship, Cancelled, Actually Romantic, The Life of a Showgirl (ft. Sabrina Carpenter)
C: Honey
D: -
E: -
F: Wi$h Li$t, Wood
Edit: bumped down "Honey", on second thought
Edit 2: bumped RtF up from tier E to tier B after I had an mini breakdown listening to it
What's a song you'd recommend (any album) to someone who isn't a Taylor Swift fan and wonders why her music is interesting? (I have a niece who is a fan.)
I actually wrote a pretty long reply when this album was announced, explaining why it's kind of impossible to give out a representative singular song, as well as suggesting my subjective best tracks from each album (minus this one, of course).
But, let's be honest - people really just want to listen to one or two songs out of curiosity; most folks would not check out a 2-hour playlist just to make an educated decision if the first few songs they'd listen to don't pull them in. In which case, the best song I could recommend you is one that's closest to your interests. From a quick look at your profile and your previous comments in ~music, it looks like the best matches for your interests would be the Folklore album and the Evermore album, both of which fall somewhat into the indie folk genre, although not exclusively. Meaning, I would probably suggest you "cardigan" from folklore and "willow" from evermore. The jazziest thing from her discography would probably be "False God" from Lover, but I never really actually felt it was actually jazz-y, so I wouldn't want to get your hopes up.
That said, my personal favourite album is Midnights I even left a bunch of easter eggs about that on the tildes minecraft server v2 world download, and my favourite song from that album would be "Would've, Could've, Should've" - a song I've probably bawled an entire a family-sized soda bottle of tears to.
Suggesting Folklore and not going with Exile? Bold move IMO
Didn't feel right to recommend a non-solo song for folklore, IMO. Or in general - it's something I tried to avoid for the most part.
But also, exile doesn't really feel truly representative of folklore to me; I find exile to be a lot more thematically fitting with evermore, to the point I often forget it's a folklore song to begin with. It's a great song, don't get me wrong - but in my mind I find the cardigan/august/betty trifecta, seven, and mirrorball to be the optimal songs to suggest, especially considering my own personal biases.
Fair, I just really love the vocal blending of Swift and Vernon in Exile, and was not thinking of the best representation of Folklore. Cardigan is probably in the top songs of Folklore when you consider only doing songs without guest artists, although I quite like the drum machine and electric guitar in peace that makes it a fun vibe and worth recommending (although it is not a strong representative sample).
I think this is genuinely a worse album than The Tortured Poets Department, which already was pretty bad. I don't think this album has a clear identity, I don't understand the Showgirl aesthetic if none of if it present in the music. There's no camp, it doesn't have that old-school Hollywood tone that is associated with Showgirls.
I've never thought Swift was that strong of a song-writer, I think her lyrical ability is largely overestimated. But I do think her run from 1989 to Midnights (barring reputation) is pretty good. I love 1989, I still think it's her best album, it's what got me to like her as an artist in the first place. I really like Lover even though I understand a lot of people don't really like it even among Swift fans. Folklore and Evermore are good, even if I didn't fall all over them like a lot of people. And I love Midnights. But it's like she's empty now after that run. It's like she's lost the sense of self she developed through that album run. I won't speculate as to the cause of that since I classify that as celeb drama. But these past two albums feel like she's grasping at straws artistically.
She needs to take a break and only make music when she has something to say.