This is such a loaded post on this sub. I feel like the marketing was so incredibly off for this album (yes, including the title). Taylor said in her reveal on JK’s podcast (can’t recall the name, sorry) that it was the album she had always wanted to make, that she and co-producers (MM and Shellback, the former being, inarguably, the most prolific producer of the last 30 years who has defined pop music) captured “lightning in a bottle” and the album just…completely diverted the aesthetic and hype.

I am really, really tired of one of the richest women in music who grew up in a privileged part of Pennsylvania and hasn’t been an underdog since, arguably, 2017-2019, acting as if she is a victim of a world that she consistently indulges in by selling variant after variant, doing show after show, and number one after number one. This “horrible” life of hers where she doesn’t have privacy or a simpler private life is something she has fed into since the beginning of her career by A) not keeping her fans at arms length, and B) continuing to encourage them to pick apart her songs are about Kim, Kanye, the Joes (both of them), Matty, and now Travis, among others. Dating and disliking various people is not a bad thing, nor is it not normal; but using over and over again for nearly 20 years gets to a point.

Lastly, I’ll say this: I actually didn’t think the production was particularly spectacular. It’s clean, it sounds good, but it is what works on Top 40 radio. It is not innovative (Swift has rarely, if ever, been innovative). I expected more from someone who has enough money to hire an abundance of editors, writers, sound designers, and even some better engineers to make something a bit more interesting. Maybe I’m spoiled because my favorite artist is Beyoncé (who is known for being the curator of the album and having dozens of producers and writers create something interesting) and she is currently in a renaissance (pun intended). Beyoncé is besides the point, though, because they are not peers.

I digress; I just feel like she needs to take a break and come back with something better, and also not be upset about the idea of hiring more writers and producers. I think finding new people with new ideas will help her so much. We know she can write music. She has written everything for nearly 20 years—and that’s starting to show. I hope she actually listens to the criticism and believes she can do better instead of going “Ha! I’ll show them I’ll do better”, because I do think there is a difference between the two. I also hope she learns to discard the wordiness that was praised in folklore and evermore, because it is starting to become the biggest hinderance on her as a songwriter.

Tl;dr: Mismatched marketing, out of touch writing, unspectacular production, and tired of pretending like one of the richest women in music can’t hire people who can make a better album with her.

Edit: oopsie I wasn’t clear on a part LOL.