taylor swift iridescent smoke bombs thread 2019 - lover

Most those artists just had to get in a studio with their instruments and bash it out.

(I mean good luck to Taylor if she actually tried this, but it sounds hella frustrating and futile, I doubt she cares that much.)

should really do it live to address all points and sell the tour as "the last time I'll ever play these songs" then release the netflix special for the summer and the album in the winter and say this is all sounding very familiar when i say it out loud

This one isn't as bad as the first two, but still ehhhhhhhhh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KpKc3C9V3w

I feel like it shoots for a calm, dramatic grandeur, and sort of misses the mark (I think some tracks on 1989 may have achieved it better).

i think this one is good

some restraint and subtlety is nice to hear from her

The chorus doesn't hit as hard as it should.

personally very encouraged by how unconcerned this song is with being a radio single

would be delighted at this point if, outside of the singles, the rest of this album ended up being a bunch of moody, unforced ballads in the mode of this or new years' day from reputation. tons of people are trafficking in big hooks and big choruses in the context of this kind of music rn, none of them possess her singular talent for diaristic, melodramatic emo lyrics. i am super down for more stuff like this where she stretches out those muscles again in the context of tracks that aren't forcing her ideas into the shape of max martin hooks

i LOVE this song

I feel like it shoots for a calm, dramatic grandeur, and sort of misses the mark

I see what you did there.

first song of the era that i'd voluntarily listen to again, so, that's something

Agree with that.

I'm trying not to think about the fact that this means my most optimistic take on this forthcoming album is "maybe there will be a few songs that vaguely recall "This Love" and "You Are In Love"..."

would be delighted at this point if, outside of the singles, the rest of this album ended up being a bunch of moody, unforced ballads in the mode of this or new years' day from reputation.

also in terms of production these sorts of songs don't really bring out the worst tendencies of her taste like when she's trying to make a no 1 hit. ultimately i rate reputation over 1989 and maybe on par with speak now but there's something unforgivable about how dated her idea of pop music is on lots of that record. i feel like i always have a tendency to make peace w that album while i'm listening to it and then i get to "new year's day" and am like "oh right this is what a taylor swift song sounds like, wtf is the rest of this shit?" still tho stuff like "delicate" and "call it what you want" are "moody and unforced" in the way you describe and just on a pure taste level those songs are far more satisfying than ones like "i did something bad" or "don't blame me" that are kinda good in spite of themselves. it feels weird to say that antonoff is her best current collaborator given how mediocre he is generally and how bad "look what you made me do is" specifically but if they followed the path of "the archer", "out of the woods", "call it what you want' and "new year's day" they'd make her best album in years.

this might be one of the 5 best songs she's released since red

it's also just str8 up far more honest songwriting than this other bs she's been putting out

j0rd heavily otm

also in terms of production these sorts of songs don't really bring out the worst tendencies of her taste like when she's trying to make a no 1 hit.

I definitely think the simplicity of the arrangement/production on "The Archer" is a big part of its appeal. It's a bit reminiscent of the keyboard version of "Love Story" Taylor played on the 1989 tour.

Casting back to when her songwriting was at its peak on Red, it occurs to me that a lot of the best songs on that (e.g. "Treacherous", "Holy Ground") really placed the arrangements in a role designed to let her voice carry the show almost by itself (as distinct from all the zany detail you get on e.g "Shake It Off", "Look What You Made Me Do", "Ready For It", "You Need To Calm Down" etc. where the approach seems almost diametrically opposite - Taylor's conversational vocals intended to create a sort of warp and weft with the dynamic arrangement).

Neither of those Red tunes are literally one-note arrangements the way that "The Archer" is, but they share a recognition that Taylor is at her best when the melodic charisma of the top line, the emotional vulnerability of the vocal performance and the relatability and detail of the lyrics all come together. "The Archer" doesn't match those earlier songs primarily because Taylor herself is in second gear, but it feels like it's coming from a similar songwriting perspective.

"Cruelty wins at the movies" is a good line, a refutation (maybe she could call an album Refutation?) of her lyrical approach the last decade. Lately I admire her most over static synth patches like this. In 2014 she could've gotten a song like "The Archer" on the radio by force of will; now it plays philosophically like a cut from Eurythmics' Savage.

i wish there was a little more to it, but it's still quite nice

The verse melody reminds me of the verse melody from Hilary Duff‘s “Come Clean.”

It's a solid album track.

they share a recognition that Taylor is at her best when the melodic charisma of the top line, the emotional vulnerability of the vocal performance and the relatability and detail of the lyrics all come together.

part of what makes "you need to calm down" frustrating to me is that it has a really strong top line, but the rest of it has nothing else you describe and that's precisely why it sucks

Hella lotta info about the track here: https://variety.com/2019/music/news/taylor-swift-the-archer-instagram-chat-video-1203277338/

Kind of a cool song tbh

Another slow one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvUAzpn48xA

her songwriting seems to have just fallen...completely off? idk it seems wild to me that the same person that made "holy ground" and "treacherous" and "all too well" is now churning out rote, hackneyed stuff like this

It's pretty sad.

“the archer” and this are both great idgi

this song specifically sounds like the alt-country record i've been wanting her to make for years. i don't hear rote or hackneyed at all, seems like at least part of this album is gonna be red as recorded by jack antonoff

maybe i'm just being cynical but it sounds almost like a song calculated to be put next to "thinking out loud" on a wedding playlist or something

i mean fair, that's not not what's going on here

can i go... where. you. gooooo

imo her singing improved again

I was surprised by how much I liked the verse to this, but then in the chorus I started cringing at her head voice (which I just dislike) and the way it ended with the word "lover" isolated like it's clever or some shit, and then the bridge devolved entirely into the Will Ferrell/Rachel Dratch SNL sketch and I ended up scowling out the window wishing for something to punch

lol

Yeah, the bridge is really weak

I was surprised by how much I liked the verse to this, but then in the chorus I started cringing at her head voice (which I just dislike) and the way it ended with the word "lover" isolated like it's clever or some shit, and then the bridge devolved entirely into the Will Ferrell/Rachel Dratch SNL sketch and I ended up scowling out the window wishing for something to punch

― brigadier pudding (DJP), Friday, August 16, 2019 12:13 PM (forty-three minutes ago)

i like this song but i also felt like this

Musically it's one of the strongest things I've heard from her since "Teardrops On My Guitar"; it's just kind of a shame about... everything else

max martin is apparently not on this record at all

I dig this new song but yes the bridge is a drag

She just posted the tracklisting, Dixie Chicks on the album

this tracklist leaked about a week ago and i was praying that “death by a thousand cuts” would be a real taylor swift song

i like this song, it reminds me of widowspeak

"with every guitar string scar on my hand" is such an awkwardly phrased line and I don't believe someone somewhere couldn't have suggested an edit

Brad's review of 'Red' is possibly the best piece of music writing I read this year.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-red/

if you'd told me there was a Chan Marshall credit on "Lover" I'd have believed you.

thank you nourry <3

apparently the "hey kids! spelling is fun!" bit is removed from the album version of "me!" lol

WTF?? That was the best part of the song!!!

I have apparently been schooled w/r/t my skepticism of this idea (when it was floated earlier): https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8527959/taylor-swift-re-record-old-songs-regain-control-scooter-braun