Taylor Swift, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT ⭐️⭐️⭐️❌❌
Taylor Swift’s eleventh album arrives hot on the heels of what was probably her biggest year so far. This monumental hype has resulted in this album getting a lot of extreme reactions on the internet. It’s either the greatest album ever, or the worst album ever. But the truth is that this might be the most middle of the road album in her discography.
Musically, the album is fine. It does suffer from being a bit monotonous, but there’s enough variation and manic flourishes when needed that I didn’t find it boring or difficult to sit through. But it has a very toothless, dreary quality, which doesn’t match the recently found bite in her lyrics. But even her lyrics, which are now her proclaimed bread and butter, sometime lean on well-trodden Swiftian tropes maybe a bit too much.
But with all of that said, it’s still a solid pop album that most artists would be proud to call their own. Plenty of moments that you find yourself humming later. But it just doesn’t meet the otherworldly expectations that Taylor has set for herself.
Favorite song: “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”
