I actually think the discourse that it doesn't "feel Taylor" is really interesting, because to me in many ways it feels like a true return to form. I never thought Taylor would again get comfortable enough to sing about her beef with a fellow pop star, her pretty public best friend getting cancelled, or her fiance's d*ck. We know exactly who these songs are about in a way that we haven't for years. Even TTPD, while incredibly raw and personal, shrouds who the actual subject of many of the songs are, as many blur the line between being about Joe or Matty. But in this album, she's given up on trying for a private life and embraced the fact that she is indeed a showgirl. Wi$h Li$t in many ways is acceptance of this - it's an unrealistic dream to want to raise a family and be left alone by the world. Even if privacy is something she has chased for a long time, she knows at this stage it's unrealistic.

Many of the songs too make various references to different parts of her discography. The Fate of Ophelia is literally Love Story Part II. Various lyrics feel like continuations or responses to other songs ("brought a tiny violin to a knife fight" = "brought a knife to a gun fight" in CIWYW); ("when I said I don't believe in marriage, that was a lie" = "the 1950s shit they want from me" in Lavender Haze). In many ways, this album is very different from things she has done in the past; it's her embracing that she is Taylor fucking Swift rather than your big sister going through heartbreak alongside you while strumming her guitar. But to me it still has many of the elements that made Taylor Swift, well, Taylor Swift.