Okay, Swifties (and normal fans of pop music in general), T.S. has dropped yet another single, which means she will be dropping another masterful collection of tracks inevitably soon. So, are you ready for it?
As her second single, “…Ready For It?,” suggests, I do not think any of us were quite ready for what the ten-time Grammy winning pop star had in store for us. Swift practically left us speechless when she released her first single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” as she makes the bold claim via upbeat, eccentric feeling club music that “the old Taylor is dead.” The way the singer-songwriter so blatantly and hysterically put it may have shocked some of us, but I think we all saw this coming.
As Swift seems to be saying goodbye to the country girl whose music we’ve all had the pleasure of crying our eyes out to for just over the past decade, “LWYMMD” and “…Ready For It?” prove to be pop-like extensions of her last record, 1989. With recurring themes of revengeful relationships and themes related to the highs and lows of relationships, it almost seems as though the two singles could’ve been on 1989 itself. While “LWYMMD” sounds awfully familiar to “Bad Blood,” for obvious reasons, “…Ready For It?” seems to resemble the sultry, dreamy aura of “Wild Dreams,” yet also encompasses the hard-hitting pop and tumultuous tone of “Blank Space,” as these songs both cleverly capture the art of “playing games” while in relationships. Relatable, am I right? Well, as T-Swift says in her second single, “Baby, let the games begin.”
With this drastic, yet highly acclaimed reinvention of herself, there is no doubt Swift should be winning all of the games and even more Grammys in the future. And speaking of games, we have yet to play the “Guess Which Ex This Song Is About” game. Now, in the effort to reinvent herself, she makes this game a little trickier and changes up some of the rules a little bit, but nevertheless we WILL decode all of Reputation if we have to.
So it seems as though “LWYMMD” is not about an ex at all really, but perhaps Kanye West? With simple lyrics like “No, I don’t like you,” it’s very hard to argue with this proposition considering rivalry between the two only seems to be getting worse these days. “…Ready For It?” could be about a number of exes, but with a line like “younger than my exes, but he act like such a man” are we going to pretend that it’s not about the infamous Harry Styles? Also, let’s not forget about that whole ghost reference. Taylor makes one in her song, in which she states “…but if he’s a ghost then I can be a phantom” and Harry has that whole song entitled “Two Ghosts” off of his debut album, which is supposedly an ode to his relationship with the singer *tear*. Of course, Swift and Styles may be nearly perfect human beings individually, but together their relationship sadly seems to have been far from perfect.Her third single, “Gorgeous,” is just as ambiguous, but there are certain clues like eye color, age, accent, and location that are sneakily sprinkled throughout the song. This single is a love song to say the least, but exactly who is Taylor swooning over? Well, from the lyrics we know that this guy is not only gorgeous, but has ocean blue eyes, an accent of some sort, and is younger than the starlet. We can also gather that the two stars probably met at Sunset and Vine, which is referenced. Now, if you’re guessing Joe Alwyn (Tay’s current British beau), so is everyone else. If the attractive actor is the “gorgeous” guy the track is devoted to, this means that the artist is also setting a potential precedent for making music about current lovers, as opposed to that “long list of ex-lovers.”
“Gorgeous” might just be the synth pop serenade we never knew we needed. It slightly reminds us of Speak Now’s “Enchanted,” but is musically and lyrically, much more fun and flirty. The single captures Taylor’s shyness and sweetness as she expresses complete awe and enchantment for her crush’s intimidating beauty, but also captures a provocativeness that strays far from 2010 Taylor, aka “the old Taylor.” Unlike “Enchanted,” “Gorgeous” embodies engrossing electronic beats that make it not only a love song, but also dance music that you can get down to at the club once you’ve had a few drinks in you, or just downright get drunk to at a party so you can casually flirt with oomf and their gorgeous face. Plus, how can I forget to mention that Swift soft-raps the bridge throughout this beautiful banger, which is pretty intoxicating in itself.
If these first three singles are any indicator of what her sixth studio album, Reputation, has to offer, we are in for a treat. It seems like we’ll get a similar pop presence and sultry sound, which she graced us with in 1989. So far, the forthcoming album also appears to exude the same sweetness and sexiness we loved in the fifth album, and may even contain a bit more shadiness in its storytelling, which could make things a little more interesting. The pop star’s last studio album actually went platinum with over 5 million sales, so it is guaranteed that Reputation will probably follow in 1989’s footsteps if the rest of its tracks proceed in the fashion of its first few singles.
So, now that we have some familiarity with T-Swizzle’s up and coming album, I think we might be ready for it… but also we might just totally not be ready for it at all.
If you’ve been jamming out to her first few singles as much as I have and absolutely cannot wait to be blessed by another roaring record, then keep your ears peeled, because Reputation is scheduled for release on November 10th.