Before you grow attached to my blog, we must get something out of the way: I am a HUGE Taylor Swift fan. I do mean the caps. And unlike many of the things I have made part of my life throughout the years, it hasn’t been just a phase and it hasn’t made me feel an ounce of embarrassment up to the present moment. I just stan for this girl, alright?
A key element of my continuous support and admiration of Swift was my coming of age alongside her music. I fell in love with my first Taylor Swift bop when I was 13 (hehe), and throughout the next seven years, I grew up with her music gradually turning into what it is today. I devotedly listened to all the albums, memorised all her songs, watched a shitload of badly filmed YouTube vids of her live performances, and still didn’t have enough because, well, I connected with her message. I related to the stories she was telling through her art and I rooted for them instead of closure for my own. Isn’t that what music is really about? Years later, I would do the same with artists like Lorde and twenty one pilots.
Photo source: personal archive.
Reputation walked into my world and turned it upside down at a point in my life when I didn’t care much for Taylor anymore. I was listening to old records of hers to relive the nostalgia, yes, but I definitely haven’t found as much insight in them as I once did. And it wasn’t surprising: her previous album, 1989, was released when I was 16. Now, I was on the brink of turning 20, and my mind was busy processing some chunky food for thought: becoming an adult, recovery, struggling to keep my life together, carrying on when love didn’t make much sense. The last two years of Taylor’s career up until that point made it seem as though she didn’t know what she wanted, and that made me kind of look down on her, because I didn’t know what I wanted and I wasn’t happy with that, either. Little did I know what was about to come. Taylor’s new record, reputation, was unexpectedly announced in summer 2017, and later released on the 10th of November the same year. The birthday of yours truly, isn’t that ironic?
Reputation took its time to grow on me, and although it hasn’t been on repeat on my music player like 1989 was, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and seeing what Taylor has to offer for this new era. I was indeed taken aback by her sudden and dramatic change of style, but mostly by the sincerity of her lyrics. More than anything, reputation is a confession, a bouquet of lessons learned the hard way, a survival kit for when you’re young, you’re a woman, you’re the centre of attention and you make mistakes. And I have a few thoughts about it that I want to put down.
First of all, is reputation worth a listen?
If you’re into pop music, the answer is yes. Swift has taken a huge leap from the playful country vibe and the romantic dance pop style that have brought her worldwide stardom, and explored the synth pop influences that can be slightly felt on her previous record. The album is electric and experimental, and frankly different from anything else out there. It does take a few listens to get used to it, even for those unfamiliar to Taylor’s music – my first listen of reputation was tiring and it made me feel as though all songs sounded the same… which they do, to the extent that makes the album cohesive and balanced. But the more you listen to it, the more you like it and if you’re unsure whether it’s worth buying, give it a listen on the streaming platform of your choice.
Photo source: personal archive.
In terms of production, reputation is the product of a small team, more prominently Jack Antonoff, Max Martin, Shellback and Swift herself, who executively produced the album. It was interesting to see the same producers making 1989 what it was come back and deliver just as brilliant of a result, but in a totally different style. The choice of producers also made reputation feel like a small, personal project, not surprising when you think about the meaning behind the lyrics and the message of the album. The album contains 15 tracks and it has benefitted from a collosal promotion campaign that soon reaped incredible success, selling more than a million copies in the US within the first week and becoming 2017’s best-selling album there.
I am no music expert, but if I were to express my opinion and provide a rating for the album, I would give reputation 4 out of 5 stars. It’s pop, it’s fun and it’s different. And for the first time in Taylor’s career, I think it has something for everybody.
Now, moving on to the lyrical content of the album.
Love & romance
Photo source: Reputation - Volume 1, by Taylor Swift.
And I can’t let yo go, your hand prints on my soul
It’s like your eyes are liquor, it’s like your body is gold.
- End Game
It wouldn’t be a Taylor Swift album if it didn’t talk about love. Ridiculous stereotypes aside, love does play an important part in the story of reputation, and is also shown in different ways. Falling in love and meeting your ride or die, your partner in crime in …Ready for It? Intense love that hijacks your world and changes you for good in Don’t Blame Me. Love sprinkled with bad choices, heartbreak and anxiety in Getaway Car. Healing through love in Call It What You Want. A dessert of many flavours, but unlike on any of her previous records, Swift explores sexuality and intimacy in a very open, candid way. Songs like Dress and So It Goes… delve into the intricacies of a mature relationship, but also build on the blind hope that this one love might be different and, for the first time, might have a happy ending.
The album finishes with a sensitive ballad called New Year’s Day. The concept is simple, yet intriguing: there is something romantic about kissing someone when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, but it doesn’t compare to having that one special person staying over to help you clean up on New Year’s Day. So much more lies beyond this image, though. The song is also about feeling comfortable in a pair of sweatpants and dark circles under your hungover eyes in front of somebody who saw you in an elegant dress and perfect make-up the night before. About having somebody staying behind willingly when the lights have gone out and the room no longer looks as magical as it used to. Again, about meeting the one. And I think this is why New Year’s Day is a splendid summary for love as it is written about in reputation.
Fame & media
Photo source: Reputation - Volume 2, by Taylor Swift.
People started talking, putting us through our paces,
I knew there was no-one in the world who could take it,
I had a bad feeling.
- Dancing With Our Hands Tied
As already suggested by the title, reputation talks about the downsides of being a celebrity and the price Taylor pays for being in the public eye. Just like with romance, this is not a new theme in Swift’s music, with songs on previous records exploring the dark side of fame and the singer’s toxic relationship with the media (The Lucky One, Blank Space, I Know Places, etc.). Reputation’s take on fame is substantially more aggressive and painfully honest, Swift showing that she is done with fighting against the windmills of gossip. Songs such as I Did Something Bad, Look What You Made Me Do and This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things highlight the artist’s awareness of her own flawed reputation and her proactive stance on owning her identity again, after being taken away from her forcibly. This is Taylor’s way of responding to everything that’s been said about her throughout the last couple of years, both by the press and on the internet, by people who somehow thought they truly knew her. And reputation is, obviously, proof that they didn’t.
Resilience & finding yourself
Photo source: Reputation - Volume 2, by Taylor Swift.
If you’re anything like me,
There’s a justice system in your head
For names you’ll never speak again,
And you make your ruthless rulings. Each new enemy turns to steel
They become the bars that confine you,
In your own little golden prison cell…
But Darling, this is where you meet yourself.
- If You’re Anything Like Me
More than anything, Taylor’s latest record explores the journey of finding yourself. Each song on the album goes back to the same question: am I the person that the world insists I am? If not, who am I? Really, is everybody who they pretend to be? As somebody who once brought disdain upon herself for looking, sounding and seeming picture perfect all the time, Taylor finally comes clean in reputation and admits to being human by showing her greatest weaknesses and claiming her mistakes as her own. The discussion is pushed further to include a philosophical standpoint: in the 21st century, it is so easy for one to curate their own identity. Show their best features and conceal their flaws and insecurities, put up a shield of bravado and play-pretend to survive, when in fact, this is not . People are more complicated than that, they are made out of more than just one thing and they lie somewhere in between polarly opposite valences. And accepting that is only the first step in truly finding yourself.
Listening to reputation was one hell of a journey, and it came into my life at the right time. As I am growing up and slowly finding out more about myself, I need to accept who I am before I manage to move forward. Because I’m not the only one in this confusing situation, I also need to stop judging people because, well, I don’t know them. The only person that I truly have the chance to know is myself, and I must work from there. And having somebody that I look up to arrive to the same conclusions and preach them in her art is the sign that I am on the right track.