I’m in the midst of my busiest semester of college yet. As a member of several on-campus organizations and double major in Political Science and English my plate is pretty full. Nevertheless, I made sure that at the stroke of midnight on November 10th I would have time to listen to Taylor Swift’s new album Reputation all the way through. This album release was what motivated me as I spent six straight hours in the library to get my work done. I was going to listen to my queen’s album the second it dropped. At 12:01 a.m. the album was purchased and downloaded to my phone and here are my reactions…
1. OH MY GOD…
After listening to her single releases, I was not expecting much from this album. To be completely honest, I skipped over Ready For It… in order to get what I had been waiting for all day, End Game. Not being hugely into rap and not knowing Future like at all, I was pleasantly surprised that this song was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
2. Why?
I would consider myself a Swiftie for sure. HOWEVER, as I have previously mentioned, I was less than impressed with her single releases. In my opinion, Gorgeous sounds like a song that Chainsmokers were thinking about making, but decided to scrap.So when I got to a certain point in the album I was genuinely confused why she would release her not so great songs as the “previews” to an album which is actually fantastic and will be on repeat for about a month or so for me.
3. Excitement
Next up was “I Did Something Bad” this song is an absolute jam. FINALLY I can listen to Taylor Swift at the gym to get pumped up. There have been previous releases that almost got the job done for the gym, but weren’t quite the right fit. The beat, lyrics, and different effects in this song come together to make my ideal gym jam.
4. Impressed
Track number four, “Don’t Blame Me” really impressed me. In this song, you have classic Taylor singing about love in a sense. However, I’m impressed because this track is infused with soul. Taylor is getting older and this song proves that she is maturing and singing about her experiences in a more developed and experimental way.
5. Thankful
I realize that up until this point I had been evaluating the songs on the album in chronological order. To continue this would be the equivalent to writing a ten page paper for an English class because I just have so many feelings and opinions towards all of the songs. The last song that I feel that I have to talk about is “New Years Day”. This song really proves Taylor’s mastery of creating meaningful and relatable lyrics. Not only that, I also think that this song is most recognizably Taylor and I was really thankful that it made the cut.
After listening to the whole album twice all the way through at the late hours of the night, I had fully processed everything that I felt towards Reputation. While in my opinion, “Look What You Made Me Do”, “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”, and “Gorgeous” could have been a lot better (or left off the album *cough cough* looking at you “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”); I am over the moon about the rest of the album. I think we are going to continue to see T-Swift develop herself into an amazing artist. Happy Listening!
Cover Photo Source: Billboard