definitely i wish you would, followed by style, out of the woods, and clean
― ufo, Friday, 25 March 2016 14:55 (eight years ago) link
gotta be Bad Blood
― flappy bird, Friday, 25 March 2016 16:15 (eight years ago) link
'Style' or 'new romantics', but 'style' is still one of her best songs, imo
― Nourry, Friday, 25 March 2016 16:46 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tw8jOyzomU
― how's life, Friday, 25 March 2016 18:01 (eight years ago) link
^^^^^
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 25 March 2016 18:07 (eight years ago) link
the "he's so tall and handsome as hell" one, but I only know the singles. Maybe I should get this whole album. I like Taylor Swift. Even "Shake It Off" grew on me eventually.
― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 25 March 2016 18:26 (eight years ago) link
YOU ARE IN LOVE
― j. winters (josh), Friday, 25 March 2016 18:38 (eight years ago) link
StyleBlank SpaceOut of the WoodsThis LoveHow You Get the GirlShake It OffWildest DreamsI Know PlacesNew RomanticsI Wish You WouldAll You Had to do was StayClean
― droit au butt (Euler), Friday, 25 March 2016 19:16 (eight years ago) link
actually put Clean on top of New Romantics
"This Love" is gonna miss out but I love it a lot, the Nathan Chapman song but with gorgeous synths bubbling on the chorus. some days I think it's the best here.
― droit au butt (Euler), Friday, 25 March 2016 19:19 (eight years ago) link
Biggest problem with "This Love" is the lyrical reference to "wildest dreams" coming so soon after a song called "Wildest Dreams". I expect that's meant to be a narrative device but it doesn't feel like it when listening.
― Tim F, Friday, 25 March 2016 20:54 (eight years ago) link
Style by a mile.
― piscesx, Friday, 25 March 2016 20:57 (eight years ago) link
"wildest dreams" and "style" were my initial favorites, but the radio edit version of "wildest dreams" might've somehow cheapened it for me (as ridiculous as that sounds).
liked this performance of it, though:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGDkg3QiJmk
― dc, Friday, 25 March 2016 21:01 (eight years ago) link
idk, sounds almost like it could be a waxahatchee song there. uh...i mean that as a compliment. (could see how ppl would feel the exact opposite.)
― dc, Friday, 25 March 2016 21:07 (eight years ago) link
Lately I've been wondering which direction she'll go in next (it's conceivable she'll release another album this year, though I wouldn't be surprised if she took a bit more time between releases this time). She can hardly push more pop, so it seems her options are either to make 1990 or to start pushing on more tangential directions.
I'm not sure that there's a clear rulebook - the recent-history precedents for pop stars "maturing" while still in the limelight that i can recall off-hand were all premised on pop's (then) relationship with r&b. The standard manoeuvre seems to be just to ignore the issue while the going's good.
― Tim F, Friday, 25 March 2016 21:55 (eight years ago) link
i can only imagine an alt-country authenticity grab or another version of 1989 and for some reason i feel the latter is more likely
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 25 March 2016 22:03 (eight years ago) link
who knows though. would love for her to surprise me with the power pop record red hinted at for instance
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 25 March 2016 22:05 (eight years ago) link
anyway this is either "new romantics" or "you are in love" or, surprisingly, "i wish you would"
Yeah I can imagine her drifting back towards (a more crit friendly version of) country but it feels too soon? Like she needs a New Jersey before that would start to seem like the best option.
would love for her to surprise me with the power pop record red hinted at for instance
Can we get Bhaskar and Antonoff to be the creative directors for the next project?
― Tim F, Friday, 25 March 2016 22:22 (eight years ago) link
I really enjoy this record. Hard choice between Welcome to New York, Style, Bad Blood, Out of the Woods, Wildest Dreams, and I Know Places.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 26 March 2016 01:59 (eight years ago) link
Yeah who could possibly say which of those six songs is better
― Tim F, Saturday, 26 March 2016 02:12 (eight years ago) link
'out of the woods' is. duh
― carly rae jetson (thomp), Saturday, 26 March 2016 05:00 (eight years ago) link
i would be surprised if she didn't do one more hyper-pop album. "shake it off"+ "blank space" + "bad blood" were just too successful i think for her not to take one more whack at the piñata. i hope i'm wrong tho, this one lost a lot of the emotional intimacy of her previous records which i would pin on this album almost feeling like an experiment in how popular she could push her music to be.
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 26 March 2016 06:41 (eight years ago) link
Agree with that.
― Tim F, Saturday, 26 March 2016 07:58 (eight years ago) link
glad that the consensus is coming round to this being her worst album
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Saturday, 26 March 2016 10:46 (eight years ago) link
also have no idea where she goes immediately from here - in terms of her persona as well as sound. agree that it's too soon for the Return To Country (more's the pity)
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Saturday, 26 March 2016 10:49 (eight years ago) link
hmm consensus? it's at least her 2nd best album, after Speak Now! or is this non-ILM consensus?
― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, 26 March 2016 11:14 (eight years ago) link
i mean the couple of posts above mine!
non-ILM pop fans probably think this is her best, unfortch
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Saturday, 26 March 2016 11:25 (eight years ago) link
y"all think Speak Now is the best? i think Red.
agreed there'll likely be another hearty whack at the pop piñata.
― dc, Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:10 (eight years ago) link
not her best ('Fearless' always), but probably 2nd or 3rd best (I'm still divided between '1989' and 'Red' for the 2nd place). But it's better than 'Speak Now' and 'Taylor Swift' , for sure.
But I would prefer if she didn't continue this pop path.
― Nourry, Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:17 (eight years ago) link
imo Red's her worst album, too many compromises between different sounds, the big singles are her most superficial ("Bad Blood" doesn't really exist, it's just 4 minutes of silence on the better pressed cds). she has no perfect albums ("Better Than Revenge") but Red's the most bloated, by unnecessary duets; and I dare anyone on this thread to try to hum "I Almost Do" from memory.
― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:18 (eight years ago) link
can def hum that! :)
― dc, Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:19 (eight years ago) link
I think Red's still her worst but y'all know that already. 1989 is better realized but almost as uneven; I can't remember the last time I head the album tracks.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:20 (eight years ago) link
I don't know what are the 1989 singles after "Bad Blood" but I listen to "This Love", "Clean", and "How You Get the Girl" all the time.
― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:23 (eight years ago) link
I hope in 2016 she changes her name to Taylor Shithead and just releases an ep of punk covers.
― how's life, Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:29 (eight years ago) link
it's the singles that handicap 1989, not the album tracks
she's had filler and missteps before but none of the bad songs on previous albums are as awful as the worst on 1989
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Saturday, 26 March 2016 12:31 (eight years ago) link
I guess you're forgetting songs like 'the last time' and 'everything has changed'. The duets with Ed Sheeran and the guy from snow patrol are clearly the worst thing she has made.
― Nourry, Saturday, 26 March 2016 13:34 (eight years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 26 March 2016 14:11 (eight years ago) link
there are several songs on 1989 worse than "everything has changed" (which prob wouldn't be nearly as reviled as it is here if ed sheeran didn't contribute)
― dyl, Saturday, 26 March 2016 15:48 (eight years ago) link
"New Romantics" is the greatest song she will ever write.
― oh, boy, .GIF! That's where I'm a Viking! (edwardo), Saturday, 26 March 2016 16:00 (eight years ago) link
feelin like this poll is one of those ones where erryone is like "it's style so I'm voting for my pet favorite"
― How Butch, I mean (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 26 March 2016 18:15 (eight years ago) link
Yeah I almost voted Clean on that count, but decided to be honest and went with Style. (But somebody else please vote for Clean.)
― A nationally known air show announcer/personality (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 26 March 2016 18:25 (eight years ago) link
In re her future, I think another big pop album with a few piano ballads, and then a piano ballad album with a few misleading pop singles, then a full-album collaboration with Kendrick, then the country comeback (which will be either post-divorce or post-maternity, maybe both).
― A nationally known air show announcer/personality (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 26 March 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link
new romantics.
― campreverb, Saturday, 26 March 2016 19:06 (eight years ago) link
I guess you're forgetting songs like 'the last time' and 'everything has changed'.
"everything has changed" is a good song! "the last time" would be a all right if someone had written a bridge
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Saturday, 26 March 2016 19:22 (eight years ago) link
I was agreeing with Jordan's comment about emotional intimacy, rather than any implicit suggestion that 1989 is her worst album (it might be! but I go back and forth on the relative greatness of her albums quite a lot). I think she gains as well as loses things in the exchange. There's a kind of monumentality to "Style" and "Wish You Would" and some of the other tracks that benefits from the diamond-like hardness. Funnily enough the path these songs follow was laid down not by the previous Max Martin collabs but "Treacherous", which I would say in some ways is her most polished song before 1989 (give or take "Tim McGraw" obv). But "Treacherous" wouldn't make sense as a Martin co-write because it still covers too much vocal/emotional range, whereas all the Martin tunes operate within a fairly narrow field of declamatory vocal intensity - like you could imagine a Martin co-write capturing the bridge of "Treacherous" (which is the best part!) but not the verses, he'd think they were too tentative. On all of 1989 I'd say only "Clean" bucks that trend; even the Antanoff tracks start at 8 and then push forward relentlessly to 10.
There's also other lines of possibility that are open for her to pick up on: the irrepressible rush of "State of Grace" and "Holy Ground", for instance. But again, I think the closest she can come to capturing the feel of that material while working with Max Martin is something like "New Romantics", which captures that sense of gallop but never feels at risk of stumbling (which is one of the more endearing qualities of the earlier tunes).
If I had to guess I'd say the next album will sound more soundscapey - more 1975 lolwave basically - at least outside the singles. When I saw her in December the middle section where she performed on a high platform with a keyboard, and it was both the best part of the show and the part that she seemed most into - especially the new version of "Love Story" which was a lot like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glx_kpo3wAI
― Tim F, Sunday, 27 March 2016 01:48 (eight years ago) link
the synth version of love story is better than nearly all of 1989
― ufo, Sunday, 27 March 2016 03:25 (eight years ago) link
surely calvin harris will have a hand in some of the new stuff
― art baengels (monotony), Sunday, 27 March 2016 03:28 (eight years ago) link
uuughhyyhhghhhhhhh
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Sunday, 27 March 2016 03:39 (eight years ago) link
"Calvin Harris will have a hand in this": most chilling phrase since "Ed Sheeran duet"
― dc, Sunday, 27 March 2016 03:43 (eight years ago) link
Let's just hope that whatever she does next, it isn't a Bubblegum Bass album.
― MarkoP, Sunday, 27 March 2016 05:00 (eight years ago) link
― dc, Saturday, March 26, 2016 11:43 PM (
"ft. The Weeknd"
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 March 2016 11:32 (eight years ago) link
i mean...yeah, but the last time calvin made music with his gf we got "i will never let you down" sooooooo
― art baengels (monotony), Sunday, 27 March 2016 13:01 (eight years ago) link
clinging to those tabloid reports a few weeks ago about harris refusing to work with her
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Sunday, 27 March 2016 13:13 (eight years ago) link
do i want to know what "1975 lolwave" is :/
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Sunday, 27 March 2016 13:15 (eight years ago) link
imo 'style' could perfectly be a 1975 song, so...
― Nourry, Sunday, 27 March 2016 13:35 (eight years ago) link
i do not like that synthy vers of lvoe story
― johnny crunch, Sunday, 27 March 2016 14:09 (eight years ago) link
I find things to enjoy in every album of hers, even in S/T, but to me Speak Now > Fearless >> Red >> 1989 > S/T.
I voted for "You are in love", which is, to me, clearly the one single track in 1989 that builds upon the songwriting she's been developing since Fearless (the intimacy, the attention to detail, the level of care shown for her characters, the surprising shifts in POVs, etc).
I'd rather see her going in a different direction for her next album; maybe going back to the Speak Now country-pop or improving the Red-era arena rock. I liked 1989; I find intriguing that she's learned to work more with sound and less with words (as Ann Powers said, I think), and the fact that she managed to pull this experiment off so well, considering it pushed her far, far away from where her real strenghts are, is an achievement on itself. But still, nothing in it was as dazzling as "Fifteen", "Never grow up" or "All too well"; that, to me, is where the meat of her songwriting is. Nobody else can write songs quite like those.
― cpl593H, Wednesday, 30 March 2016 16:40 (eight years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 31 March 2016 00:01 (eight years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 1 April 2016 00:01 (eight years ago) link
This is obv her worst single to date.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 9 April 2018 01:44 (six years ago) link
Alfred, do you like “Reputation”?
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Monday, 9 April 2018 01:48 (six years ago) link
In toto? No.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 9 April 2018 01:57 (six years ago) link
Style still rips
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 1 November 2019 13:45 (four years ago) link
I love "I Wish You Would". It has always reminded me of "Dancing in the dark" with all that late-night pent-up angst.
― cpl593H, Monday, 4 November 2019 12:51 (four years ago) link
I listened this SO much in the year or so after it came out, it's kind of hard to revisit it... but the songs that still sound fresh (and slap) for me are "All You Had to Do Is Stay," "Out of the Woods" (surprisingly!), and "How You Get the Girl." Also, I'll always love "Shake It Off" - but when the movie Sing! has screened in your house a dozen or so times, you don't need to hear that again for a while.
Btw, "Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)" is featured in a trailer for a new animated horse movie.
― take it to the pre-chorus (morrisp), Saturday, 3 April 2021 17:27 (three years ago) link
“style” is rather silly but I really love the palm muted guitar chugging, it reminds me of Lindsey buckingham for some reason.
― brimstead, Saturday, 24 June 2023 16:26 (one year ago) link
Amusing to see all of our predictions from 2016 as to what Taylor might do next, none of which really were on point - though it's possible that the direction for Reputation didn't really start to coalesce until later (Kim Kardashian posted the conversation with Taylor in... July 2016 I think?) .
― Tim F, Sunday, 25 June 2023 06:51 (one year ago) link
you at least raised the possibility of a new jersey, which i guess maybe not quite but close enough
no one would have really expected or wanted "bad blood" to be the 1989 track she tripled down on - it was a hit but not the biggest from the album and certainly not the best
― ufo, Sunday, 25 June 2023 13:29 (one year ago) link
Arguably Midnights is her "1975 lolwave" album I guess.
I don't think anyone really anticipated the Folklore/Evermore switch, though in fairness her trajectory had been leaning into harder/sharper for so long (and Lover was less a reversal of that than a pause in place) that it was difficult for anyone to anticipate that she would hard turn into moody singer-songwriter material.
It's weird to think that (say) "Me!" and (say) "Happiness" are the work of the same artist and were released within 2 years of each other.
― Tim F, Sunday, 25 June 2023 14:13 (one year ago) link
some sort of return to more stripped down singer-songwriter material was definitely anticipated (though in this thread it was mostly speculation about a return to country) though i don't anyone quite expected 'piano-driven indie folk with aaron dessner'
― ufo, Sunday, 25 June 2023 21:21 (one year ago) link
Yeah that is what I meant - a leftfield turn rather than a reversion to a previous style.
― Tim F, Monday, 26 June 2023 00:09 (one year ago) link