'Lover' Among Taylor Swift's Career Best

by Tyler Glover
During Taylor Swift's single, "Look What You Made Me Do" from her previous album, Reputation, she proclaimed that the old Taylor could not come to the phone because she was dead. Following quite possibly the biggest controversy of her career thus far, Swift embraced this dark time in her life with an album that embraced the snake persona she had been assigned. With her good girl image tarnished and all of the bad press, she went very dark with Reputation and it appeared that the rumor of her death was true.
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However, on August 23rd, Swift released her highly anticipated seventh full-length album: Lover. Upon listening to this album, it appears that the reports of the old Taylor Swift's demise were premature. Everything her fans ("Swifties") loved about her all of these years is right here on Lover. It’s an album that is extremely romantic, living up to its name entirely. The album conveys all of love's complex components those who fall in love go through. Whether it’s the transition from friendship to romance, the fragile beginnings of a relationship, the admiration for your partner, the fear of losing it, or just dealing with the world together, Lover has a song that covers it.

But even with an album called Lover, Swift does not resist the urge to call out some haters at times. The album begins with her singing probably one of the most cutthroat kiss-off songs of her career with "I Forgot That You Existed." Swift even giggles at times during the song in a carefree bop that sings "I forgot that you existed/It isn't love, it isn't hate, it's just indifference." It begins the album with a great energy but an energy that really does not represent the love that Lover has to offer. But honestly when listening to the entire album, it really tells a story and the purpose of this song appears to be a transition from embracing the dark side of Reputation and moving onto the pastel world of Lover.

After "I Forgot That You Existed," Swift sings about the fragility of a new relationship in one of the standouts, "Cruel Summer." She sings about a beautiful romance in "Lover," where she sings at one point "I promise to be overdramatic and true to my lover." "Lover" is quite possibly the most romantic song Swift has ever done. It is a song that sounds like it could play a wedding for one of the slow dances. In fact, some YouTube videos have shown this has actually already happened. In one of the best songs on the album, "The Man," Swift approaches how people have viewed her as a woman throughout her career but if she were a man and did things the exact same way, she would be THE man. It has a great beat, very catchy, and very relevant to the conversation about gender equality going on today.

Another standout on the album is called "Soon You Will Get Better" featuring the Dixie Chicks. This song is about her mother's battle with cancer. This song really is reminiscent of the music Swift put on her Grammy winning second album, Fearless. She is very vulnerable, and any listener can hear the struggle and the emotion in this song. One of the best things when listening to music is to truly feel the artist is authentic. There is no question of this in this song.

Other great songs worth listening to are the previously released singles "ME!" featuring Brendon Urie and "You Need To Calm Down." "ME!" is a great power anthem about self-love while "You Need To Calm Down" tackles Swift’s haters, those who oppose the LGBTQ community and the media for pitting successful women against each other. Swift has a way of penning these anthems with a combination of strong lyrics, undeniable energy and good will to help any listener feel empowered to do battle in this world. The final standout is "Cornelia Street." In it, Swift sings about events that happened on this street with someone and how if their relationship ended, she could never walk that street again. This song really showcases what Swift is great about and one of the reasons I feel she is as successful as she is. In this song, she sings the story of something in her life but makes it feel completely relatable to the listener while also giving enough details to be able to distinguish that these events happened to her. With an album that features 18 songs, some of it does feel like filler, like "I Think He Knows," "Paper Rings," "False God" and "It's Nice To Have A Friend." However, even these songs are really enjoyable to listen to, especially "Paper Rings."

This is definitely a solid album. Upon multiple listens, I honestly didn’t skip a single song. One great thing about Lover is that Swift seems to understand certain things may not be someone's cup of tea, but she offers multiple opportunities so that there is something for everyone. The ultimate way to sum up the album is to say that Lover combines the '80s pop sound of 1989 and the strong lyricism of Red to make one of Swift’s best albums to date.

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