A Binary Song By Song Review of Taylor Swift's New Album
Taylor Swift has been back in our life all summer. She dropped a few singles, some were good, some were “meh.” This past Friday, she shared the rest of her album, “Lover” with us. Taylor Swift is one of the few artists that I will go out of my way to listen to when a new album is released. I have given it a few listens, both as background music and while I’ve been focused; I decided to sit and listen to each song again and write about each song and rank it on the binary scale.
If I like the song, it gets a “1.” If I don’t like it, it gets a big fat “0.”
Here goes:
“I Forgot That You Existed”
Well, we’re right out of the gates with a quick-hitting, short, to the point, bitter sounding Taylor song. Kind of on brand for T. Swift. Someone pissed her off and now she has moved on so swimmingly that she forgot that this person existed. Given the title of the entire album, this is an appropriate song. It sounds like she is really just reading a letter that she wrote to someone. She sprinkles in her trademark giggle at the ridiculousness of this entire situation.
I actually don’t mind the beat of the song, it’s catchy and summer’y, which is nice with all this Pumpkin Spice Latte nonsense that has invaded our lives this past week. However, the beat doesn’t help me get past that these are the types of songs that I don’t like from T. Swift.
Rating: 0
“Cruel Summer”
I thought this might be a cover of the incredible 80’s song by Bananarama, which made me very excited. It also forced me to have to like this song a bit more than I think I would have if it had a different title.
There are multiple moments when I am not sure if Swift does stuff in her songs (or writes entire songs) with her tongue firmly placed in her cheek. One of those moments is in this song when she delivers some lines with an intonation that mimics Cardi B where her voice goes way up in order to make lines rhyme. It happens at the 20 second mark with, “Devils roll the dice/Angels roll their eyes” which isn’t a bad set of lines.
This song has grown on me with multiple listens.
Rating: 1
“Lover”
My wife and I have talked about when Swift might go back to the country side of things. This song feels like the closest she has come in the last few albums. It’s loaded with cliches, as country songs tend to be. As I type this, the song is playing and I just don’t like it. I was underwhelmed when I heard it the first time as a single, maybe because it didn’t fit the sound of a summer single from Swift.
I just don’t really like the sound and I think after the first two songs on the album it feels a bit out of place.
Rating: 0
“The Man”
This song feels like a third rail for any man to write about… I rolled my eyes on my first listen to “The Man”, but I did get a kick out of the Leo DiCaprio dig she slips in. However, it’s very much on the nose without any nuance in the writing (“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can/Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man” “If I was a man/then I’d be the man”). Maybe that’s what she was going for, to make guys feel uncomfortable or roll their eyes. I
The one saving grace for this song, is that it has a little bit of Haim in the sound. If you don’t know Haim, you should.
Rating: 0
“The Archer”
Now we’re at the point of the album where it’s starting to feel like it doesn’t have a steady, stable sound. Nothing to really grab onto and feel grounded. “The Archer” builds slowly and solidly but then never fully crescendos into a final climax. I like the message of the the song, Swift is dealing with being “the archer and the prey” a fair point that no one could argue. I appreciate the honestly of the song.
Rating: 1’
“I Think He Knows”
If “The Archer” left me wondering what this album is all about, I Think He Knows opens the door to a new section of Lover.
This is the first song that really made me stop and pay attention. From the line, “He’s got that boyish look I like in a man” delivered very quickly, to the chorus that comes out of nowhere and is super fun and upbeat, “He’s got my heartbeat skipping down 16th avenue” this song belongs on summer playlists this Labor Day Weekend.
Rating: 1
“Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince”
Here’s our “Taylor Swift goes for the Lorde sound” song. It’s bit gritty, with a haunting harmony; lines like “It’s you and me that’s my whole world/ they whisper in the hallway she’s a bad bad girl” feels like a grab at the younger audience that she might be losing to Lorde and Billie Eilish.
Rating: 0
“Paper Rings”
If “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Price” was a grab at Lorde, “Paper Rings” is a grab at the old Taylor Swift, the one from Fearless, particularly the chorus, “I love shining things/but I’d marry you with paper rings.” Swift might admit to us that she is rapping in the verses of this tune, and I think it works.
This song grew on me. It’s fun and a small homage to the old Taylor Swift, who can’t love that?
Rating: 1
“Cornelia Street”
Good golly this is a great song. Another one that grabbed me the first time I listened to it. Before I did any research on the song I would have thought that Ed Sheeran wrote this one or at least had his hand in some of the lyrics, but it turns out Swift wrote this one all on her own (“Lover” and “Daylight” are the other two with that distinction).
I’m a sucker for songs that drip nostalgia, and this one does that for me. Lines like, “I get mystified by how this city screams your name” and “I hope I never lose you/I’d never walk Cornelia Street again.” I also really like the beat, a constant synth sound. It’s also one of those songs that makes Swift sound like herself.
Rating: 1
“Death by a Thousand Cuts”
Starting with “I Think He Knows” we are treated to some very solid songs. “Death by a Thousand Cuts” is one of the ones that I’m not crazy about in this stretch. I mean, it’s fine but it doesn’t hold up against “Paper Rings” and “Cornelia Street” and it also is followed by another fun song in “London Boy.”
Rating: 0
“London Boy”
Swift dips into the mid-2000s song ploy of referencing places in a city to connect with the listeners. In “London Boy” she sings about Camden Market, Highgate, West End, Brixton, Shoreditch, and tosses around the word “fancy” with reckless abandon. It’s a catchy tune and worthy of the Summer BBQ playlist.
Rating: 1
“Soon You’ll Get Better (feat. Dixie Chicks)”
The Dixie Chicks are back! Leave it to Swift to give them a shot; I love it. This is a sad, sad song. Given the content and context, I can relate to it having had both parents battle cancer and losing my dad five years ago to the damned disease.
Here’s what Swift had to say on YouTube about it (credit Elle.com):
"There’s a song called 'Soon You’ll Get Better' that was really, really hard to write. and it was a family decision to even put on the album, and I think songs like that that are really hard for you to write emotionally, maybe they’re hard to write and hard to sing because they’re really true. We as a family decided to put this on the album. It’s something I’m so proud of. I can’t sing it. It’s hard to emotionally deal with that song. You’ll understand what I mean in a couple of hours."
Rating: 1
“False God”
A super chill song that I like, but I don’t know why. it’s got a little Drake sprinkled in, both in the delivery and the music.
We’re also at the point where we have to realize that this album has 18 songs; we’re in the home stretch…
Rating 1:
“You Need to Calm Down”
The single that gained the most attention by a mile. I like this one, the video is fun, even though there are some issues with the messaging; Swift’s effort to come across as an ally is a tad too much on the nose, especially while she is also unpacking her beef with Katy Perry.
Rating: 1
“Afterglow”
An apology song? From T. Swift?
Whoa… okay. “Hey, it’s on me, just don’t go/meet me in the afterglow.”
I’m on the fence with this one. I think the chorus puts it over the top, though. Another moment where it just feels like Swift gets to sing without anything being contrived.
Rating: 1
“ME”
Another tongue in cheek moment with a sprinkle of the Fearless album in there. The drum line brings us all to high school football games, the duet with Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco gives this one a different sound.
I find it curious that Swift buried some of her singles deep in the album. This was her first single from “Lover” and I didn’t like it much as a stand alone song. I think it’s a bit better within the album after listening to fifteen songs before it. Sadly, it’s just not a song I really like. This time as I sit on the fence, I fall on the zero side…
Rating: 0
“It’s Nice to Have a Friend”
Taylor’s making a friend at school to the sound of steel drums and maybe some sort of marimba and a horn tossed in for good measure. This song is clever, as it is written and performed like something a group of first graders might sing at a recital. The lines are choppy, the music is simple, and I can picture a music teacher at the front of the stage mouthing the words to the kids. Obviously, the words are a tad too mature, which also makes the song interesting to a degree. It’s a quick one, only 2:30 on the clock.
Rating: 1
“Daylight”
The final song of the album, written by Swift on her own, doesn’t actually sound like her. It’s kind of strange, but we are reminded that it is indeed a Taylor Swift song when it finishes with a recorded quote from the singer.
The song fits with the end of an album, hopeful and reflective: “You gotta step into the daylight and let it go.” I also appreciated the little callback to her album “Red” when she sings, “I always thought that love would burn red.”
The album finishes with Swift saying, “You are what you love.”
This has always been the uncomfortable juxtaposition for me with Swift. She spends a lot of time on the album writing about the haters and the things she doesn’t like or the things she feels powerless to change, but then kind of shoehorns that last quote in there, almost to make herself feel better. She’s a complicated person, which makes her interesting and enticing and frustrating and confusing.
It’s also why I find myself listening to her songs and albums because it feels like she is at least trying to say something, which is not the case with a lot of pop-music right now. At times it falls flat, at other times people take her too seriously, and other times she misses the mark.
That’s why Taylor Swift is Taylor Swift.
Rating: 1
OVERALL ALBUM SCORE: 12/18
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I’d say Lover is a tad too long as an entire album. The middle of the album is really solid, particularly the six song stretch from “I Think He Knows” to “London Boy.” Those were the songs on my first listen that took hold for me and will be in my rotation of songs I listen to this fall. Some of the songs feel out of place or like they could be part of their own album.
Toss your thoughts in the comment section and feel free to suggest another album I can give a binary score to!