taylor swift iridescent smoke bombs thread 2019 - lover

(new thread needs to be titled "whims, dreams, fears and musings" btw)

Freeform is heavily promoting a new series called Cruel Summer - so that song has been running thru my head all week.

‘1989’ the next re-do?

lol if she re-records/releases this album before she even tours it

she's not doing this one, it wasn't under big machine

nm just remembered that this wasn't on Big Machine mods delete post

xp jinx

“Cruel Summer” was recently released as a single.

ngl it sounds better to me now than it did at the time

loved it at the time, was mystified as to how it wasn't a single then, better late than never I guess?

i didn't know the song until now b/c i avoided listening to this album (thanks "me!"). it's good but i couldn't help but think of parts of other, better songs of hers? like idk i couldn't help but think of the bridge from "out of the woods" for instance. but yeah i guess it's been a fan fav for a while, i had heard mentions of it here n there for years

was mystified as to how it wasn't a single then

You mean a planned 'song of the summer' single for 2020 not happening? Hm, wonder why.

I’ve never connected with a TS song
Is it too late?

xp Eh, it was released in Aug. 2019 (and actually charted, in the Top 40, as an album track).

i think i’ve had the opposite reaction to dyl insofar as i hear “cruel summer” on the radio alongside “anti hero” and “karma” and think, so nice of them to show us what it would be like if those songs were good

oh and i guess this is the song whose writers were added to the olivia rodrigo "deja vu" credits due to a vague similarity in one line

"Cruel Summer," one her best singles, finally hits #1.

The bananarama cover?

Otm

nah, that's "Robert De Niro's Waiting"

The stylistic variety of this album is very refreshing... in that respect, it's rivaled maybe only by Red in her catalog(?)

I think the album has also improved with time, or at least feels like less of a "mixed bag" than it did originally. If you take out "Me!" and maybe one or two other tracks of your choice ("The Man," "London Boys," "Calm Down" – depending on taste), it's actually quite strong. The remaining tracks may not have the highs of other albums (although "False God" comes close), and some of the production touches may be questionable, but the whole thing has a lightness and sense of "fun" that makes it stand out for me.

It's hilarious to me that she premiered the "Me!" video at the '19 NFL Draft.

bad:
you need to calm down
me!

embarrassing but ultimately hilarious:
london boy
the man

i don’t like this song but ppl have made the case for it to me and im like “ok fine”:
miss americana

mediocre but they work in album sequence:
i forgot that you existed
it’s nice to have a friend

the rest:
great, some of her best work

the day this leaked was one of the happiest days of my life. i was on a week-long beach vacation and trying to sneak away from my friends to listen to this file-by-file on dropbox or something

the sequencing sucks and is insane but that goes without saying

(my worst take is that "you need to calm down" is good as hell)

literally my worst take! song SUCKS

I like “London Boys” but I couldn’t rationally “defend it” to a hater.

When i hear london boy all i can think is “i love a london boy, he’s a goy…”

the opening line of “you need to calm down” is hilarious

I also really like “me” and twee Taylor in general (shrugs)

I love “paper rings”

Lover is uneven but also her last “fun” record. She should make another one.

I will never, ever get enough of "Cruel Summer," my theme song for the long COVID summer of '20.

bad:
you need to calm down
me!

embarrassing but ultimately hilarious:
london boy
the man

i don’t like this song but ppl have made the case for it to me and im like “ok fine”:
miss americana

mediocre but they work in album sequence:
i forgot that you existed
it’s nice to have a friend

the rest:
great, some of her best work

lover is definitely an album that seems better in retrospect to me given that she actually articulates a vision for pop music production that goes beyond largely anonymous synth pop. i wouldn’t say it’s exactly a coherent vision, or even necessarily an exciting vision, but at least there are some *ideas* here about what taylor swift pop music could sound like

one does have to wonder if she deeply disliked the process of recording like a normal pop star — trying out diff producers — bcuz she has clearly opted out of that dynamic ever since. or maybe the pandemic just thrust her into this little insular creative bubble