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 (ten months 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 (ten months 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 (ten months ago) link