Taylor is definitely overexposed right now so that's feeding into it. I feel like this should have been released after the eras tour finished or after her next rerecording.
Yeah, it's really overwhelming. I feel like Speak Now TV didn't have it's chance to shine, and now I feel it's the same with 1989 TV. I don't think we were ready for a new 30+ song album.
@@iain9757lol I was waiting for the album cuz where I am the album was releasing midday and not midnight, and I felt excited but also a bit overwhelmed when I realised it was a double album. I had just finished listening to the first album and then I saw the next and was like, ‘oh.’
@@xoxo.pochaccoFR, I love Speak Now tv but I think it did not get to shine cuz right after that was 1989 tv and then TTPD. There is often too much to take in and then not enough time to appreciate any one thing cuz there is too much to judge. A lot of music is not a bad thing, but it can be overwhelming.
im pretty sure it was just that so she could save face after joe left her. her fanbase thrives off her villainizing people in the public eye so she can both victimize herself and paint herself as a heroine, risen from the ashes of oppression.
Not saying I know, but maybe it shows a lack of restraint on her part. Maybe she already had written A bunch of songs during that period of her life & thought "well I already wrote these. I might as well use them". I mean, clearly there were multiple songs on the double album which could have been cut, but weren't. 🤷♂️
Not saying that Matty was right for her, but I can understand how it was much more than a fling to her. We have to understand that they had already had a fling years ago, and that it ended for reasons that only they know, but it seemed like they both thought maybe one day they would end up together. What she is trying to communicate in the album, is that she felt, for a long long time, like he was her destiny. So it was not so much about the time they were actually together, the heartbreak had more to do with the idealization she had made about him in 10 years, and the disenchantment that comes with realizing he was not the person she thought he was in her mind at all. It's a tough emotion to process, and even more, considering how vulnerable she was during this period.
It makes sense to me. They had a thing a decade ago when they were young and feelings were extra content. Then she ended a long serious relationship. She rebounds with her "what if" that's she's thought about for a decade, who seems to love bomb and promise her the world (everything that her ex wouldn't/couldn't give her) before ghosting her. She's losing a long term relationship, an intense rebound, AND a what if all within 2 months while also doing a emotionally charged massive tour largely ABOUT her serious relationship.
I just hate that we can't just say that an album is "fine" or "mid". It has to be "GENIUS" or "SH*T" for reviews to work nowadays, and both her hardcore fans and haters are more focus on shouting what they think than really judge the music itself.
Exactly, I also hate the thought that you can be a fan of an artist without thinking every thing they make is a masterpiece. With all of my favourite creatives I think they have better work then other and sometimes they miss. But that’s ok , it doesn’t discredit them as a whole , it’s just life when ur a artist. Taylor is on her 11th albums it’s ok if one is a miss
@@alyssatate122exactly! Green Day are one of my favourite bands of all time, I love lots of their records! But I HATED Father Of All. It just SUCKED to me. I can say that and still be a fan!
i feel like a lot of the big pop acts have been making lackluster albums because they arent hungry anymore and know that their fans will go above and beyond to defend it
@@LadyGaladriel100exactly why i started being interested in her since renaissance until she completely won me over with cowboy carter. she is the only one that puts time and a lot of care in her craft it seems.
Ttpd is masterfully crafted let it be clear. The album is polarising but concept like comparing relation to a new toy , media perception to albatross, running from relationship to bolter , and many other concepts etc. i think people who are more interested in production of songs are not understanding lyrical masterfullness of ttpd.
I think the problem with the internet is that everything exists in hyperbole. you can’t just say you dislike something, you have to say “this is garbage” or “this is the worst thing i’ve ever heard,” which will automatically make fans of that thing defensive because it feels like that person is attacking them and their interests. Like, in the Paste article, the author makes jokes about how her “poetry” is essentially unpolished and bad, meaning that anyone who relates to it might feel as though their intelligence and feelings are being insulted (and that might make them want to attack). Everyone definitely has a right to share their opinion and why they dislike something, but I think we get into tricky territory when we start making moral judgments. And the same applies in the reverse, with fans that make moral judgments about all “haters.” The internet would be a much nicer place to be if people could just say they like something or dislike something without it turning into a grand statement about whether something is “objectively” good or bad.
that article also started with a joke about sylvia plath's suicide ??? the entire piece was bizarre and honestly its kinda hard to take it seriously when all i can think of is that the author seems to personally hate taylor and the review comes as heavily biased (an i say this not even as a swiftie)
I totally agree!! I’m a Taylor fan, but that doesn’t mean I think she’s above all criticism. It’s just that I rarely ever see nuanced critiques of her work, it’s only ever “this is the worst thing I’ve ever heard, it’s absolute garbage,” which ofc makes fans feel attacked and shamed for liking her music. The other day I said to my friend that one of the lyrics from TTPD was stuck in my head and I liked the album so far, and they immediately said “oh my god it’s literally the worst thing I’ve ever heard, even all the Swiftie I know are making fun of how bad it is.” I have no problem with people critiquing her, but a lot of times it feels like people can’t do that without making fun of the people who do like it or attacking her as a person, as opposed to critiquing the music itself. I also get really tired of people saying she’s always trying to play the victim. People have been saying that literally her entire career, with the Kanye thing, Dear John, All Too Well, even when she was expressing her feelings about being taken advantage of by older men when she was barely an adult or being treated in a misogynistic way, she’s always been told she’s just playing the victim and trying to ruin the careers of her exes. I think she’s entitled to her experience. Yeah she’s a billionaire and one of most successful people in the music industry ever, so it’s hard to feel bad for her in that sense, but literally every single thing she does is put under a microscope and analyzed to death on the internet, whether it’s valid criticism or not. I couldn’t handle the level of scrutiny she’s always under, no matter what she does, there will always be swarms of people attacking her in the media, and that has to get to you after nearly two decades. It’s not relatable to most of us, but I don’t think she’s necessarily playing the victim by expressing in her music how that much attention and scrutiny has affected her over the years. Not including actual critiques of her music, she does get a lot of just straight up hate, thousands of people were posting online about what a psychopathic narcissist she is and that she should burn in hell, because she didn’t hug Celine Dione when she accepted her last Grammy. I certainly couldn’t handle the level of scrutiny at all times, I think she’s allowed to feel tired of it, and if she wants to write a song about it, she’s entitled. Her music has always been personal, that’s not a new thing. If you don’t want to listen to her personal experience, that’s fine, but I don’t think it’s fair to say she can’t express her experience just because she’s famous and rich. She can still be a human with feelings and be famous, they’re not mutually exclusive.
@@kittyscreativecorner Literally thank you!!! I’ve been a Swiftie for the better part of a decade and while I’m not saying that she’s perfect, I’m saying LET MY GIRL FUCKING BREATHE.
Love or hate Elon Musk (personally I dont care about him) but I heard once a quote from him (dont know if he took it from someone else) where it went something like, in modern times you need to appeal to 60~70% of the people, and be controversial enough for the rest to hate you if you want the most popularity possible. And I think there is a lot of truth to that and why a lot of people gravitate towards wat you wrote
Took the words right outta my mouth. "A lore-dump for die-hard fans to decipher." THIS!! I'm a fan of Taylor's music, but I'm not an "easter-eggs" fan. I don't want to hear coded messages about her ex bfs or Kim K. And i feel that TTPD is swallowed in easter eggs that i don't care about.
I commonly end up replacing her life in the tracks as the life of another person (for example, Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus to me is about ex-friends who still stalk each other on social media) because I honestly don't care about Taylor's personal life. I care about her art, not about her as a person- same as like every artist
People keep saying this and it has me so confused maybe I am too deep into the lore so I dont notice but I cant think of any easter eggs in her songs like that. In fact I viewed it as though you have to not engage with the drama so you can enjoy it because "which one is about who" just straight up doesnt work like that anymore. I didnt like cassansdra because I placed it in her lore, and I straight up refuse to believe thank you aimee is about kim K
This album is for the fans!. She said its an album she NEEDED to make to get through her personal difficulties. Shes an artist and art is where she pours it all out. I think because of the eras tour, the entire GP was hyped up. But TTPD is the most personal album she's put out. Real swifties understand this. Nobody was expecting a full pop 1989 album now. Were you?
I'm a die hard fan and I can't bring myself to give a shit about anything she talks about in this album. Because they're too specific and not relatable.
you put into words exactly how I felt about this situation. I like a lot of Taylor's music, but I want to be able to critique even my favorite artists without being crucified for it. there's no reason to worship these musicians the way we are.
@@RobertaTMS_ maybe to some it is…but I consider myself a Swiftie however I’m not about to run through the trenches for her either. I’m not gonna do all of the things other “dedicated” Swifties are doing.
@@tayluvofficialbut.. she’s a person. Like you can love her art and relate to her story and how she writes but “worshiping” her is ultimately taking the humanity out of her. She’s a human person who does good and bad things, can be “problematic” can make good medium and bad art. Acting like she’s above any of that is kind of insulting to Taylor Swift the human woman.
I'm a hardcore OG Swiftie, however, I'm not that big of a fan of this new album. I like it, but she definitely can do better than this. Also, I'm getting tired of those swifties who put Taylor on a pedestal and think a critique = attack. Ngl, sometimes it's so embarrassing to be a swiftie and it has nothing to do with Taylor.
Foreal haha. And like all the swifties I personally know are great and totally normal people. I think it’s just the chronically-online internet swifties that freak everyone out
What you said about how Taylor is better at writing fiction is so true. She's an amazing story teller, and I think that it really shines in fictional songs where she's not tethered to the confines of her popularity and celebrity status. Because it's not just that fiction can be more relatable for a not famous person, she just has so much more creative freedom when she doesn't HAVE to talk about romance, or the specific romance that she's dealing with. I think I just wasn't very interested in hearing vague songs about what Taylors going through romantically. She has every right to want to sing about it and put her thoughts into words, I just personally find her music is more poetic and meaningful when she steps out of what she goes through normally.
I wonder if one day this translates into yet another art medium where she can flex this superpower she has for fictional storytelling in a new way.... obv I always still want her to make the music she wants to make, but if she slowly learned how to contribute to films in smaller ways, it would be so cool to watch her creativity work..(this is just something I daydream about sometimes-- such as like her providing the story and/or storyboarding of an animated film or made the soundtrack and the storyboarding or directed a live-action film while also providing musical underscore??? the possibilities make me very excited because se is such an ARTIST--- but if taylor herself was SOMEhow lurking this comment page I would say NO PRESSURE girl you do YOU)
@@spoonlegs I think she’d be such a good creative writer to come up with ideas for movies and shows, but you’re right, in the end it’s not our decision. This is what she wants to do, so she has every right to produce this art
I think her personal life lacks of interesting things to write about. She's grown up in a nice privileged upbringing. Most of her drama revolves around exes and kimye feuds. If writing fiction brings the best in her, then so be it. Who knows one day she'll dive into more fantasy and be more unique
I don't know about this. All Too Well being the most obvious example - one of her best regarded songs and very closely about her own life. But also, the split isn't so neat. A lot of her songs are a mix of her own experiences and fiction, right? Which is what lots of artists do? "Great American Dynasty" for example. Like in one sense, clearly fiction because she did not in fact marry the heir to standard oil. But also clearly she's writing about her own experience in the 'maddest woman this town has ever seen / ruined everything' lines.
What I really feel discouraged by is that you can’t even create a video sharing your thoughts about something without kind of proving that you like something/someone by listing all the aspects you like about them. And I get it, the stans are insanely protective of their idols - when your admiration of a person/brand prevents convo about it that is more analytical or critical of that thing, than it’s no longer about admiration, it’s obsession. Thank you for sharing your thoughts because it’s healthy to do so!
I think you also need to do this though because haters will hop on and assume you are one of them and you will have to explain over and over that is not what you are saying.
@@ultravioletpisces3666never had to tell anyone who is a “hater” that I’m not a hater 🤔 the reason I commented about this was because she had to state that she’s enjoyed previous albums and attended concerts, that’s why I commented that we shouldn’t have to defend our opinion because it’s okay to like some things and dislike other things
@@danicee I definitely have had the experience where I say something negative about something I like and people act like I’m agreeing with their stance of completely hating. More times than I can count.
It’s good to know about things you speak strong opinions on. Haters don’t actually know her music they just regurgitate things they hear around town. She was saying she actually knows the content on which she speaks.
I found myself skipping that part of the video entirely, because it's starting to get old to have to listen to people defend themselves as if you have to be a fan of something to be able to critique it at all. If you haven't listened to and enjoyed TS before, you can't possibly have a valid opinion? It's so annoying.
Large segments of the Beyhive, Barbs, and Swifties as fandoms scare me lol. Any genuine critique, constructive thoughts/feedback, or any opinion you give that is not positive & involves breathing results in pitchforks. If you are a 'fan' making death threats you need serious help. Great video, Kayla!
In general, I think releasing a 31 track new album is a huge mistake, especially if all the songs sort of blend together. 7-12 track albums work because they give people a bite size taste of the artist and the tracks themselves get more attention; I really think she shot herself in the foot with that
Taylor has literally never put an album below 13 but I do think that she should’ve put out the 16 song album waited a month or so, and then put out the rest of it
@@KnarfSteinthat's the problem. Albums work like books. You can't just say "oh chapter 12 is fine just ignore the rest". Of course you can listen and like a specific song but people are talking about "album" not a specific song. An album needs cohesion, flow and structure which is not present in ttpd. People can like 1 or 2 songs and still not like the "album".
As a swiftie, this album is not the best. I think there's a point in the album where I get lost. Yes, I did like the album but as a massive fan of other albums, this one is weaker. Also, while I like her music a lot, it is too long. Folklore is my favorite album and I will say that one is her absolute best album. It is not about her and yet, it feels hugely personal and raw. Shout out to evermore that is also fantastic. TTPD is an okay album but it's not the best. And Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus is ridiculously underrated.
I wish she wouldn’t have made it a double album. I think there are probably 13 songs worthy of release. Not 13 hits or masterpieces, but 13 songs at least decently strong.
I think this album isn't good because Taylor frames herself as the underdog in the story when she clearly isn't anymore. She is a billionaire with seemingly unlimited social power in her hands. She is not humble anymore -- I am not saying she is egotistical. I am saying she is incredibly wealthy in the sense that she owns 8 houses, has a private jet, and can afford the production costs of a 2-year-long stadium tour. She can't write from a humble place anymore because she grew out of that 10 years ago. Folklore and Evermoe felt like growth in Taylor's skills and persona that I was waiting for -- Midnights and TTPD felt like her backsliding into a place she is too old for. There are great songs on both, but as stand-alone projects-- Midnights and TTPD are dated and lifeless compared to the previous works.
She's never been an underdog. She was born to two billionaire parents, one of whom bought major stock in the record label that signed her before it did. She's always been sheltered and privileged. You're so right about the regression of her brand, though.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 Taylor is the poster child of wealthy white privilege-- no one is denying that. A 16-year-old girl in country music singing about being a 16-year-old girl in the post-9/11 era did make her the odd one out. Her team (and herself) used the fact that she stuck out like a sore thumb in country music to market herself as the underdog and someone to root for. That's what I was getting at, but I didn't really specify-- sorry :)
I still think that Midnights is "the rumored lost album Karma" but reworked. About TTPD I don't know. For me it feels like it would have worked better as a poetry book? I really liked Fortnight and Florida! and TTPD and I can do it with a Broken heart are catchy but the album is too long to remember the entirety of the album after listening 1 or 2 times.
I wish Taylor had dedicated herself to only rereleasing her TV albums for at least 4-5 years, especially because fans are already getting vault songs they’d never heard before. But when she’s releasing all her re-recordings with previously unreleased work AND new albums it’s forcing her to write completely new material when it’s clear she’s creatively drained. The fact that she even decided to surprise release TTPD as a double album shows she’s so high on the praise she’s been receiving the past few years that she lost perspective. No one was asking for a double album, they just wanted it to be good. Taylor lives for the charts and the awards now, but it’s at the cost of her own fans getting tired of her material.
Yes, that chart, records and awards hunger of hers are ruining her music... I wish she takes a break after Eras Tour and the release of rep TV and Debut TV But I doubt she'll do that at all... 🥲
I'd go even further and say that she is surrounded by yes-men that will oblige to anything she wants cause they're too scared to challenge her even if it's just creatively, and the worst of all, i think she has devolved again from that long-awaited and welcomed maturity she displayed in folklorevemore back into that perpetual victimhood state, it's just so tired at this point, she’s well into her 30s now, that shtick is not cute anymore
I think a large part of the critique for this album is general Taylor Swift fatigue. She's released 8 albums in the past 4 years, 9 if you count The Anthology as separate from the rest of TTPD. Genuinely, it's too much. It almost feels like she's just releasing music just to release it, not because of any artistic integrity. And when she releases these albums with so many songs and so little time between each major release, it doesn't give many the true staying power that songs from her first 6 albums did. A friend of mine once compared her releases to fast fashion, and I truly think that they were on the nose with that. Churned out, seemingly no effort, just in it for the money, forgettable releases that all feel nearly indistinguishable from each other. I love Taylor's work, but this has just become too much. I really hope she's seeing the negative feedback to this album and takes it to heart. If she didnt release anything for like 2-3 years and then came out with a new album, I think that'd be best.
its important to remember that out of those 8 albums, half of them have been rerecords. folklore and evermore might've started this new popularity but they went under the radar for most people outside of fan/music spaces. fearless, red, speak now and 1989 aren't brand new albums, they were rerecords which began because of the importance of her owning her own art, so the criticism can only really apply to midnights and ttpd, which their biggest issues are that of over-exposure. granted, neither album has reached the standard of folkmore as albums in my mind but they both contain amazing songs. i would liken midnights and ttpd to albums like red, reputation and lover which (as much as i love them) arent her strongest albums even if they contain some of her best songs. however, people who dont rlly interact with taylor's music much naturally dont understand that half of her releases are re-records with music written years ago, they just know that she's popular and believe that she's money hungry if they do know that they are re-records instead of understanding the reason she's doing it. i think she's going to release reputation tv and taylor swift tv and then take the break you hope for her (which i also hope for because i think the struggle with the last 2 studio albums come from how busy she has been recently so she hasn't been able to polish her work as much before release) but calling her music fast fashion is a little too far considering the fact that she wrote 4 of the new albums over a decade ago
Her schedule is an album every 2 years, all those rerecordings were only released for the sake of taking ownership over them they are NOT meant to be an era whatsoever, dummy
I agree with most of your statement…this album it’s HARD to like and get through (talking about the anthology) I mean it’s 2 hours long….thats a movie and almost starts to feel like a choir at some point. I had to give it a couple of more listen to finally start liking a couple of songs in there….
i think she'll focus more after the eras tour (there are some good songs from ttpd but midnights is overrated and i like 1 song from that album). and i only think midnights and ttpd are the albums which arent good in the past few years. lover, folklore, evermore were ok i gues
Midnights winning AOTY was frustrating, but if this album wins next year then I'm no longer tuning into that portion of the grammys. There's no point if they're going to pick Taylor every time.
I agree with it being frustrating if only for the fact that it was released in 2022..... it's probably a Grammy's problem but I can't help but be frustrated on behalf of the amazing albums released in 2023 that Midnights was up against for aoty
Midnights definitely didn't deserved AOTY... Not at all, it's not even her best pop album, SZA deserved a lot more I'll just give up on grammys if she end up winning with TTPD tbh
I think a big problem around Taylor Swifts brand is the easter egg hunts. I am a fan, but I genuinely don't think there are as many clues into her personal life as fans believe there are. So all the discourse around "is this song about about Joe or Matty?" "How could she give some much of this album to Matty?" Isn't helpful to her and her fans not getting dogwalked by the wider media landscape who don't have all that "lore". Like, she rose to fame as a teenager who dropped scathing clues about her ex's, that is the marketing strategy she still uses and it really works, and she has always and will always write from a very personal place as do most artists. But for the love of fucking god NONE of these songs are fundamentally "about" anyone they're all about her. Even if you think it hints to one relationship or another, she was still in that relationship. She's the focal point. Like she's a 34 year old woman, she's not the same teenager writing her older albums and I genuinely think a lot of TTPD is about that
the only reason people are injecting Matty is because they’re as bad as the gaylor’s. Just new weird drama that has no meteor or backing, and just serves to be a weird “I know something you don’t” flex/troll. It’s honestly ridiculous.
I honestly don’t care about the criticism, I just can’t get behind ANY album being reviewed ONE HOUR after it’s released. That’s just insane there’s no way you can make a well thought out and fair review without re-listening and sitting with the music for awhile. Like they couldn’t have possibly listened to the album more than once before writing their review. I can’t even remember what all the songs sound like after one listen.
@@DaBlueAxolotl1 if you listen and watch Eminem’s Stan it will make sense. the music video is an experience you deserve to have 😂 The term began being colloquially used within the last decade give or take as a name for overly obsessed fans. Cringe behavior.
I’m a swiftie but this album was so mid. She put so many strange lyrics that makes the songs sound more like poems put to a melody, which I get is the point of the album but she just doesn’t do it in a way the works well.
I agree completely. I think the concept of an album at the edge of poetry and songwriting is really cool, but imo this was terribly executed. I do think the lyrics read like free verse poetry, but the problem is they don't read like good free verse poetry. As poetry, it's awkward and lines aren't as thought out and well crafted as they should be. Good poetry involves a lot of thought, editing, and rewrites to be good. Every single word carries weight and has to be carefully considered. I don't think the lyrics meet that threshold for good poetry. On the flip side, as a piece of music, I often found the lyrics to feel unconnected from the music, making the work feel incoherent. While the idea was interesting, it felt like a first draft that no one bothered to edit.
it's not her style of songwriting and maybe she could do better if she practices, she's always been more on the simple direct scenarios and stating exactly how she's feeling (The Story of us, all too well, cruel summer, cornelia street) rather than this verbiage stuff
I don't think this is a bad album at all, but I think there's a few reasons it was underwhelming. one reason was that it was just too many songs. it's hard to make an album cohesive when its two hours of music another is that it was probably pretty rushed. I mean I'm assuming most of this was composed and recorded during her tour, re-recordings, promotion for her movie, etc, not to mention her breakup. I'm not sure why she didn't take more time on it. I think she still has this fear that she will become irrelevant as she gets older, but I really don't think that will be true for her but maybe that is why she wanted to release it during the height of her fame. The main reason in my opinion, though, is that the songs aren't always very interesting musically. I don't think the songs themselves are bad, at least most of them I thought were good songs. but its all just a beat, some harmonies, and instrumentation that sounds kind of dull or in the background. I think if more interesting things were happening musically, the perception of the album would be a LOT different. the last is that Taylor is the most famous person in the world right now basically so. people expect a lot from her
Completely agree. I didn't even realise how samey her songs were until my bf pointed it out and now I can't unhear it! The thing is, we shouldn't expect her to change up the genre every album, but I think everyone should improve on what they've made before. This is why I love Reputation so much, because there was a lot more experimentation, and then Folklore/Evermore were so raw and emotional.
Some of the criticisms are weird and absolutely are in bad faith, but I don’t think all criticism is bad. I’ve seen some people say this is the album that is the “most” Taylor Swift album, warts and all, so I can see why it would be polarizing for many. And while I’m an avid Swiftie and have been for years, I’ve seen some of the more sensible Swifties with a brain being attacked over their opinions on this album. In the comments of your other post, I mentioned that another TH-camr, Swiftologist, and how he’s been repeatedly bullied by other Swifties for things like saying Midnights didn’t deserve Album of the Year at the Grammys, plus his more neutral stance on Taylor’s boyfriends. He’s not fawning over Travis, and her exes don’t become public enemy number one once the breakup happens. That’s not to say he hasn’t made jokes, but he isn’t harassing people or making death threats.
tbh on the swiftologist thing, i think a lot of people dislike him less for his specific opinions and more for the way he holds himself as extremely pretentious and essentially behaves like the physical embodiment of catty stan culture. he definitely shouldn't be getting harassed and plenty of swifties cross the line on multiple occasions, but in terms of like, "swiftie creators," he's definitely very easy to dislike.
@@plnkblue I can see that, but I respect that he’s not afraid to express his opinion and express it boldly. As he pointed out in his comments section, he doesn’t constantly have to say “BUT IT’S JUST MY OPINION!” every time he says something remotely unpopular.
@@plnkblue That surprises me! I love swiftologist. I don't always agree with him, but I always enjoy hearing his well-considered opinions to see where we compare and contrast, and as someone who isn't in journalism I feel like I learn a lot from hearing how his background informs his opinions on things. I can see how the cattiness can be a detractor for some, but I just see it as something fun and not too serious, just chatting and joking around
Honestly, I love this album. But it is so frustrating to see other swifties freak out at people for having a different opinion. It’s okay to not have the same taste in music. Like no two people are gonna have the exact same taste. I don’t get why it’s so hard for people to get that. While I feel that some of the critiques against her have been a little unfair, I totally understand that everyone has a different opinion and that’s okay
I agree Telimena. And I think the key to what you said is “critiques against her.” Critiques of someone’s music, the kind that can make someone better at their craft, are expected. But there are way too many “reviewers” who use their platforms to personally slam celebrities because they think it’s fun and it gets them clicks. And then fans play right into it by taking the bait. If they were ignored, they’d stop, or the haters could all hang out in their echo chambers with each other.
YEP and the people saying that criticism of this album is “misogynistic”…no it’s not?? It’s criticism of a MUSIC ALBUM, something that has happened to multiple artists 😂
@@lordfreerealestate8302 it does, but some of these critiques are done through character assasination. The Paste Magazine review was more of a critique on her persona then of the music. I think most agree that her music is not her selling point, it's her stories.
i feel like she’s in drake mode rn (no wonder they’re good friends lol) views was mid, and instead of him doing better, he just made one of the worst albums of 2018 (scorpion), then just keeps getting consistent at making dogwater after he stopped using ghostwriters /hj. MIDnights is the views of her catalog, and ttpd is 100% the scorpion. it’s just the beginning.
Imagine her releasing her version of Honestly, Nevermind and For All The Dogs. Then one of the genre’s greatest artists (Kendrick equivalent of Pop) decided to diss her. Then she made a good single responding to the diss.
I think the lyrical delivery on this album is messy and clunky, yet because of the way Taylor's PR, you cant seem to criticize the album without it being less than a 9/10 but to me it really doesn't deserve it. CNN gave the album a poor review when it was released, then flipped completely to a 10/10 out of nowhere claiming it was simply "something you have to get used to overtime." Which I thought was bs. Like people are afraid to just be honest about anything Taylor puts out now, because they're afraid of the Swifties or her PR. Her praise online is starting to feel artificial now.
The biggest problem of the album that everyone seems to be missing is that lyrically she was attempting to be ironic and tongue and cheek, so very different to folklore/evermore, but the sound was so serious and dull that the satire of the lyrics just didn't land at all. Massive let down.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 Just because a joke doesn’t land doesn’t mean it isn’t there though. In an album with songs titled “Down Bad” or “loml,” and lines like “I’m having his baby, no I’m not, but you should see your faces” I think it’s fair to have that interpretation.
Yessssss. Like she makes ironic / tongue and cheek work great on Blank Space etc., it's not that she can't do it, but it really doesn't work with this production. Great point!
I mean not a swifty here, I think she wants more to share her bad experience (that even billionaires have them surprise!) and make “relatable music” as she always did. Her music at most was always around hate, relationships and etc, the reputation album was almost entirely JUST AS A RESPONSE to hate really. Which at that time was worse than now. I think she knows she’s privileged, she just makes music and it’s not very fun to hear rich people singing about how rich happy and privileged they are, especially to her type of demographic
@@Butterfly-tw1ej girl how dare she say no one would care if she died? she literally is loved by the music industry, loved by the academy, loved by millions of fans, she fills arenas everywhere she goes in the world, and she dares say no one would care if she died? like it’s so disingenuous and i would believe if a teenager would’ve written that, but not a grown ass woman who says they’re so mature they don’t need therapy she’s just manufacturing suffering in order to appear relatable so that to make more money, which is completely opposed to the idea and concept of making art. she’s making a product
you’re allowed to not like an album, but man is the “she’s playing the victim” argument exhausting when literally every artist sings about their lives. please develop critical unique thinking
TTPD for me is like 10% bad songs, 70% mid samey songs, and 20% really solid songs. for the first time since evermore, including re-records, i find myself going back and listening to songs off this album again. but holy shit the bad moments are downright cringe
@@ultravioletpisces3666idk if that's true. I like most of the songs of the artists I listen to. I often listen albums beginning to end without even being tempted to skip a song. Idk, maybe I'm the weird one
@@stellasdoesstuff I tend to like entire albums myself but most people seem to disagree whether it’s a casual listener skipping to only the ones they like or reviews I’ve read.
Another thing that rubbed me wrong about TTPD is the line in Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me “Isn’t that what they all said, that I’ll sue you if you step on my lawn” Right after she sued a collage student for using publicity available info to track her private jet…? Like… Anyone else find that a little weird..? :’)
She didn't "sue" anybody; her team threatened legal action, but there's obviously nothing they can do because what that student did doesn't break any laws and uses public data that is shared for the safety of every person who uses airplanes to travel. It was a dumb thing to do, but I honestly don't even know if it was something she herself requested, or if it was a stupid decision made by her security team. That's the point; people jump to conclusions and think she's out here handing out lawsuits to any person who even looks at her wrong, when in reality she didn't even countersue the person who sexually harassed her for more than a single dollar in court.
Also the whole point of the song is "You should be". So yeah. It actually tracks fine with what happened. And she's more than justified in threatening action when it puts her in danger. That's what people don't see about her actions, the context is wildly different when you're that famous. Your comment has actually made me appreciate the song more
You mean how her team tried to get a millionaire who works in the airplane industry to stop releasing her information after he did the same thing to another celebrity until he became their friend? Like if you are going to write this at least know something about the situation…..
I'm a Swiftie and I was really let down by this album. Her writing was really not good on this album and it's shocking. Some of the songs on the new album I really like, but I'd be fine if she never wrote music again. I couldn't tell the songs apart either. And I think there's something wrong with the fact that her songs sound like a 19 year old is writing them when she's in her 30s, whereas Folklore and Evermore were more mature.
It's insane how different folklore and evermore are from this. Even midnights was lyrically and melodically better. I think so long london is the only song that I find myself listening to, the others have corny lyrics (and I do understand that some of them, like the gta line, are there to set the tone and go along with the feeling of the song) but they just weren't enjoyable to listen to. Plus, so many songs just kind of blended together sound wise, and it isn't 100% Jack Antonoffs fault, but it does feel like she didn't want to try anything new and so the sound that came from it was pretty bland and boring. Even the more upbeat songs didn't really get me very into the album. It's a shame because I love Taylors writing and melodies in past albums, and this one completely missed the mark for me.
I’ve been a Swiftie since the beginning and I totally agree. Nearly all 31 songs sound sonically the same, and it’s not even good!! All of her “from the vault” tracks gave her the impression that *everything* she writes needs to be released. These definitely could’ve stayed in the vault permanently. They’re all about the same thing, so trim the fat a little!!! This album was her first official flop for me
@@All-ze9cl ah yes, folklore & evermore !! Absolutely wonderful bodies of work, IMHO I will stand by and say they both are Taylor’s best 😳 I remember when I first listened, I really did enjoy it & was amazed that the sound was so different from anything she had made before.
I’m not a stan but I have some friends that are and we’ve debated about her lyrics a few times. You worded this so well, because I am of the mindset that when she does write songs that relate to her life and her former relationships, the lyrics hint at her being emotionally stunted because she hasn’t had the opportunity to live a normal life so it sounds as if she’s in college, experiencing life events later. That’s definitely an issue children of the entertainment industries experience, not something that is discussed often in regards to musicians and singers but definitely a topic mentioned for actors. Tbh I think musicians and singers have been encouraged to have fleeting relationships because of the instability of the industry, traveling all the time and needing to constantly tour. Every time an album comes out I assume there will be a song about a past relationship that is usually described in a negative light, which is terrible because it’s not promoting healthy relationships. The only song I recall being positive was the one alluding to Taylor Lautner, which had to have been released at least 3 albums ago…
Comparing Taylor Swift to Jojo Siwa is actually wild. Atleast, Taylor isn't stealing songs ☠️ if anything that Jojo is trying to be is a Miley Cyrus wannabe.
i listened to some of the songs. i'm not a swiftie, never have been but what really changed my mind about her and her music overall is her album 1989. i really liked the singles. and i agree, she's a great storyteller. i had to stop listening to TTPD because it was just too depressing for me and on that day I wasn't feeling great emotionally anyway. But it did open my heart to her pain and I have more compassion for her now. I think she needs a break from music, and from just being in the public eye in general after her tour is over. and honestly, after listening to the lyrics, she needs therapy if she's not already in therapy or she should at least look up the word codependency cause that's the message i got from her lyrics. she's a codependent and can't seem to be on her own for very long, always moving from one relationship to the next is unhealthy to me if you don't put a break/pause in between those relationships to really get to know yourself, your wants/needs, your unhealthy patterns, and learn to like yourself first. otherwise, you'll just fall for any guy that lands on your lap and most of the time, the guys aren't great. so i hope travis is a good one but i still stand by she needs therapy and a break.
Building on this the ‘art is subjective’ argument is a sorry excuse. The interpretation and enjoyment of art is of course largely subjective, but all art can be critically analysed and broken down by its context, construction and intent. In fact not doing so is more harmful. If we couldn’t be critical about art then anyone could put out some lazy regurgitated product and say ‘it’s just your opinion that you don’t like it’. Critical thinking and accountability should always be employed, so no. Art is not purely subjective.
There are tracks that I really love, but my overwhelming feeling while listening was that there was too much similarity between tracks, as mentioned in the video. I got bored. Which is not something I have said about other TS albums.
the songs were also far too long for how long the album was. A lot of the songs were just too long for being kinda mediocre and other songs just could've gone by the waste side. (I did rlly like some songs tho)
Yeah I got about halfway through the album before I stopped because I could not fathom listening to another 15 songs 🥲 I am not passionate about anyone enough to allocate time out of my day to listen to 30 songs. Also kind of weird to think people SHOULD give you that much time of day when you’re a literal superstar :/
It would be fine if she didn't take herself so damn seriously. Calling urself a "poet" when u make white girl pop music is so silly. And I LOVE white girl pop music.
taylor swift is a “tortured poet” in the same way that beyoncé is a “struggling backup dancer” and gaga is a “starving artist”. except taylor isn’t a poet
I’m a huge Swiftie and I agree with you Kayla. It makes me sad when artists whose work I love have such toxic fandoms. I know a lot of amazing Taylor fans who haven’t put her on a gigantic pedestal in the clouds, but of course we’re overshadowed by the ones who have made being a Swiftie their entire personality. There are some TS songs I don’t like, and while I think Folklore was genius, I never really liked Evermore as much. As fans, we should be able to have those opinions without other fans acting like we stole their three cats.
Agreed! I personally feel like listening to TTPD, it's a cry for help from Taylor. I love most of her songs, the downside is how fandoms romanticize toxic depictions of love through this songs, or how pushing through depression for work is okay, etc etc. Its heart breaking to see how we forget artists have feelings and flaws hence why it's important to critique and respect opinions. If we keep treating them like gods who magically produce amazing albums , never falter, are always right , there's no room for growth.
I wouldn't really call myself a Swiftie, but I do enjoy her music and to me, both the hate and praise this album is getting are overblown. I think the album is fine. Not a masterpiece, but also not the worst thing she's ever created. I do think that the humor in this album is going over people's heads. A lot of the lyrics are meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I also think that there are a lot of bad, clunky lyrics on this album that are completely straightforward though. I think that both the swifties who say that critics are missing the point of the album and the critics who say that Swifties are using the humor as a shield to excuse bad writing are correct. I don't think that the title is meant to be taken seriously, given that she's pretty snide about her ex thinking of himself as a tortured poet in the title track. She says she laughed in his face for using a typewriter, and called them both "modern idiots". songs like "Down Bad", "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) and But Daddy I Love Him" are also clearly tongue-in-cheek . There are also a lot of good or even excellent lyrics in this album that are getting overlooked bc the bad ones stick out so much. Some of the bad ones are also being taken out of context though. I think the concept for the album is interesting, but half-baked. If she had cut out some of the overwrought, overwritten ballads, I think the humor would have come across a lot better. To me, it seems like Taylor didn't really know what she wanted this album to be, and it ended up being a bit muddled as a result. I think that putting out an original album during the Eras tour and re-recordings was a mistake. Her attention was divided and I doubt that she was able to devote enough time to the album. I think part of what made Folklore and Evermore so great was that she wrote them during a time when the only thing she could do was focus on creating music. Also she needs to stop working with Jack Antonoff. Lmao
I love this album and absolutely knew that critics and most of the general public would hate it. You are correct that this album is badly written and produced, but that's why I find it so fascinating. I don't know if it was intentional on Taylor's part, but in my opinion, the production of TTPD accurately captures Taylor Swift's hatred, anger, and fatigue of being Taylor Swift. I don't want to project anything on to her, but when you sing about how much you want to k*ll yourself on three albums in a row and all your fans care about are which song is about which guy you dated, that has to be depressing. Really think about: would ANYONE want to be Taylor Swift right now? I'm sure Taylor wanted her career to be successful, but had no idea how damaging this level of fame is. I know that Taylor's a grown woman, but TTPD makes it clear that nobody knows what Taylor is going through, myself included. We have know idea what's going to happen to her once the Eras tour is over, but I hope to god that she is okay. Anyways, rant over, your insight is fantastic once again, and you're so right about Aaron Dessner 😭
but when you sing about how much you want to k*ll yourself on three albums in a row and all your fans care about are which song is about which guy you dated, that has to be depressing...WOW since i only listen to her singles, i had NO idea she sang about su!c!de three albums in a row. however, since taylor villainizes everyone and everything to victimize herself, so she can be the heroine risen from the ashes, i would take that with a grain of salt. i think she is very calculated in the things she admits or alludes to.
Sure, I'd be Taylor Swift right now. I mean, like many of us, I'm also depressed and fatigued and angry most of the time and it would be nice to at least get to wear the pretty dresses. Also, isn't a big part of the story that Taylor Swift choose to be Taylor Swift right now, that what Joe was offering her was getting to step away from the level of fame she has and she was not able/willing to do that?
@@marykay7878 That is a good point, but that's why I also said that nobody knows her and we don't know what's going on inside her head. Maybe she is making this up to be victimized, maybe she isn't. Again, we don't know, and maybe we'll never know
@@melaniedavis-kay7599 true that. i also dont feel that sceptical about her feelings, i am more sceptical about her accounts about how other people wronged her. her feelings are not really up for our scrutiny.
@@camipco If you feel like that, would you want to travel internationally week after week to perform 3 hour shows in front of thousands of demanding fans? Do you want fans, the media, and the haters alike all on your doorstep waiting to hound you outside? Do you want AI porn to be made of you just because you're dating a guy on their football team? Do you actually want to be the most famous person alive that NO ONE will ever relate to you? It's not just pretty dresses. And yes, Taylor did choose this, but again, I don't think she knew how damaging this level of fame is. And Joe would only help a minor problem with that, not having the media slut-shame her.
I’ve never liked a Taylor Swift album as much as I like this one. Everyone has different preferences and that’s okay. People need to take this less seriously.
Most people like it. It's broken global records and is absolutely dominating the charts. The people complaining on here don't realize how out of sync they really are.
@@automnejoy5308 well thats a bit rude to say that people are out of sync for not liking the album or all of the songs. Maybe the like some songs, could be 5 or 10. Maybe they didn't at all. Doesn't mean they're wrong or dumb for not understanding it. They just dont like it as much. I don't like it as much as her other albums I love. But I like some songs that I relate to myself or characters like Katniss Everdeen lmao.
@@barbicel Sorry, I just saw your comment, so this is a belated reply. I didn't mean to say your opinion matters less if you don't like the album or only somewhat like it. What I meant by "out of sync" was that some people in this comment section were acting like their dislike of the album was the mainstream opinion, and that's simply not the case at all.
At this point, diehard Swifties is at the same level of annoyingness as diehard Armys. You can't talk anything negative about them. You can't critique them. A slight critique makes them question your morality, humanity.
I don't like her new album or her music like it's not for me and that's okay. But I hate when people say "you don't get the metaphores" like i get them, i just don't like them. Also I think people need to stop putting her on a pedestal you can like her music and everything, there's nothing wrong with that but denaying valid critisism and making ir seem misogynistic it's not helping her case. We also have to take to account that she is a millionaire white cis woman, she does have problems (like anyone else) but oportunities, work, etc are not one of them. If she was a poc woman she wouldn't have half the awards she has, and i will die on that hill.
On the last part: she definitely has the halo that race, wealth, and celebrity put on work that's just so-so. Even people in the social justice community can't wrap their head around the fact there aren't any good billionaires.
You always have the most nuanced takes on here, it’s refreshing. I agree with everything you said on this album. There’s something incredibly Orwellian and culty about stan culture censoring criticism of big artists like Taylor. Also, would love to see an Arctic Monkeys video from you!
@s1mperadicator13 A reviewer is allowed to do as they please, there’s no guidelines to follow. It’s called free speech, and stan culture is getting in the way of it. Plus, there was plenty of other articles that reviewed the album poorly including Stereogum, Pitchfork, and NME so you’re talking smack here.
People are only calling it poetry because that’s the theme of the album. If it wasn’t called The Tortured Poets Department, no one would be calling it poetry. Folklore was leagues more poetic. I like Tortured Poets, but people are being silly. It’s not hard to understand the album.
It seems like she's trying to present herself a tortured artistic genius. But instead of trying to frame herself as a deep poet, she should prove that through the strength of her lyrics ... which she didn't.
So, I play around with my online persona, I've been a teen girl online, an old man, a middle aged Dad, etc. I like doing this because it is just SUCH a great way to collect objective data; in other words, if I say the exact same sentences, just one is out of the mouth of a teenage girl, and the other an elderly man, how will the words be taken? Applying this to the conversations about Swifties, I would say two things: 1) Compared to other online groups, I have not found Swifties to be especially vicious (compared to let's say The Barbs, or the way any black person critiquing country music will be treated). There's just a LOT of Swift fans, so if you dislike something Taylor does, a lot of people will disagree, but I have not found them to be especially cruel. 2) Where I have felt a lot of cruelty is posting under a female persona in support of Taylor Swift in male spaces. That gets vicious. So I think their defensiveness of her, and seeing all critique as coming from a misogynistic place, has some validity. Out of all my online personas, 'teenage girl', which is Swift's demographic, gets hated for merely having opinions on most things more so than any group. If we want Swift fans to be less defensive, we have to attack that problem, instead of telling them to preemptively chill.
I have observed this, as well. Thank you for this further confirmation. Also, some people don't seem to realize that a huge percentage of her fans are millennial or gen Z women who grew up with her and never stopped loving her. Of course, some people do realize this and they mock that demographic, too.
@@automnejoy5308 Here are some i think sounds almost the same: 1. Down bad + imgonnagetyouback 2. Fortnight + The Tortured Poets Department + The Alchemy 3. loml + Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus + How Did It End? + Peter + Cassandra + The Manuscript 4. I Hate It Here + thanK you aIMee (the guitar sounds almost the same but faster on the diss track) 5. Fresh Out The Slammer + I Can Fix Him ( No, Really I Can ) The only songs i listen to in loops are: - I Hate It Here ( my fav ) - The Black Dog - Peter
Her music and herself are not remarkable in any way and that is precisely why many average persons feel attached to her persona/music. And that is also why they feel personally attacked and offended when someone does not find her music appealing.
The funniest thing to me about the Swifties who can't accept any sort of criticism about Taylor or TTPD is definitely that one of their main lines of defense is that this album is just too lyrically smart for the haters to understand when nothing about TTPD is remotely complex poetry. I'm not saying it's bad but it's not like she's saying anything particularly difficult to grasp nor did she use obscure, complicated metaphors lmao. Yes, she used a lot of convoluted metaphors but that doesn't make them hard to understand when conceptually most of the songs on the album are quite simple. Don't get me wrong, there are some interesting concepts like, a relationship postmortem on "How Did It End?" & "The Albatross" allusion but there's also big misses like the corny alien metaphors on "Down Bad"
The corny reference of alien in down bad was supposed to be like that because its a glitter pen song on album like 3-4 other , so high school, icdiwbh etc. And if people understood her metaphors there wouldn't have been debate regarding 1830s line where she refers romanticism of that time and urge to go back in that time but self contradicts by saying its a mind game etc. General public did not understood the meaning of song. Secondly learn to differentiate between fun songs and lyrically inclined deep songs , it might help understand Taylor discography better.
@@Flixtex See, I don’t believe that the alien metaphors were meant to sound as corny as they do. Yeah, I agree So High School is completely unserious but the verses & bridge of Down Bad has an earnestness to them that just didn’t work for me. As someone who loves satire more than anything, it failed at that attempt in my eyes. The chorus was great at conveying that goofiness but the rest of the song was not. The issue w the 1830s line was never about the complexity of the metaphor bc first of all, it wasn’t a metaphor. She was referring to the literal 1830s. The problem is ppl took the line completely out of context. I don’t think it’s bc they misunderstood, I think that’s mostly bc they wanted to talk shit without actually knowing the context. Half of the ppl I heard talking about that line completely isolated it from the rest of the verse. I know how to differentiate between a fun, silly song & a serious, earnest one just fine. Just bc the point of a song w goofy lyrics is to be goofy it doesn’t mean I’m automatically gonna like it bc it’s goofy. Just like how I’m not automatically gonna like a serious song w serious lyrics. You can’t tell me that So Long, London was meant to be a goofy song but I think the lyric: “I kept calm & carried the weight of a rift” is such a forced metaphor it sounds goofy & out of place. I generally enjoyed that song but it doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t like that one line.
I have literally never understood her or her appeal as a cultural figure. I just don't see how her art contributes anything unique or boundary-pushing to society. Maybe that's the point, but it's not for me.
I don't think every song out there has to be boundary pushing or unique, but if it isn't going to be that, then it still needs to be a good song. There weren't many good songs on this album in my opinion.
because she’s a white woman lol. It’s so simple 💀 It’s almost like white woman are the major voting block for the political parties in america. She’s “relatable”
@@All-ze9clthe thing is, if it’s not intellectually stimulating then it has to be the best of the best from a purely aesthetic pov for it to garner such praise. In her case she is neither which begs the question of why and what makes her so special then?
That’s how I feel about her, too. Her music is not made for me. And that’s okay! I have friends who this music is made for and they love it. I’m happy for them that they have something new from their favorite artist. I’m also allowed to be a little annoyed that she’s inescapably everywhere rn when I would like to consume other things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@aR0ttenBANANA I agree with your sentiment. I think Taylor has made unique and just genuinely solid and good music in past albums like folklore, evermore, midnights, and basically everything from 1989 on. So I get why she’s so big. I just don’t think these songs were of the same caliber as her older stuff.
I love this album, and TS, but neither are above criticism. I do genuinely think that there are songs that are too smart for a snap judgement first listen critique, but I also don't love every song on this album. I've definitely read and listened to a few reviews that don't think they are reviewing her persona and absolutely are. And I've read a Lot of fandom discourse that refuses to accept incredibly valid opinions and criticisms because parasocial attachments are empathy blinders (among other reasons.) I definitely agree about the stan culture poisoning the well, and broadly letting people criticize things. Bad faith criticism still chafes the hell out of me though.
I’m a casual swiftie and I didn’t like the album at first but tbh it did grow on me I have a different song stuck in my head everyday. Not sure how she does it tbh
I do agree that some swifties are EXTREMELY delusional in the sense that anyone that dislikes Taylor is a misogynist. But like the “touch me while you’re bros play gta” line is SUCH low hanging fruit like? What about “you swore that you loved me but where were the clues, I died on the altar waiting for the proof”?
In my opinion TTPD as an album has what multiple Taylor Swift songs have had in the past which is satire, tongue in cheek references, hyperbolic language, and an overall unserious tone. Take for instance, You Need To Calm Down or Hits Different. Lyrics like “I come back harder than a ‘90s trend” from Willow and “sit quiet by my side in the shade and not the kind that’s thrown” from Paris. Like, those lines are so unserious! And YNTCD and Hits Different are talking about serious things but in a lighthearted and at times, dramatic way. This has always been apart of Taylor’s songwriting, I just think that a lot of people don’t really love this style and are used to it in singles mostly. I personally love it and so I like the album. I think it’s kinda one of those things where some people get it and some people just don’t . Another thing that I’ve seen some people mention is that albums take time to digest, especially a double album with 31 songs. Some people are quick to declare that they don’t like an album from one listen and that’s okay. If you don’t care to give it more time than by all means don’t but you can’t really make a nuanced review of an album that hasn’t had time to marinate. It think it’s just important for people to understand the limits of their assessment of something.
I think you just summarized why I like this album so much, and her music in general. Also, yeah, I knew I liked some songs right away, but others, I needed to listen to more than once to fully understand them.
As a die-hard swiftie, I do not think it is right, cool, or fun to be horrible to others whom don't agree with an opinion. I think it's rather disgusting. People are allowed to have their own opinions. I don't 100% agree with your opinion, on this album, but I do think your thoughts, feelings etc. are very much valid and should be respected. All my love❤
We used to have a saying in this county. “I might not agree with your opinion but I’ll fight for your right to express it” things have changed in the last decade or so
Its honestly fascinating to me that so many people apparently hate this album. Personally, it’s one of my favorite things she’s ever done. People not vibing with the sound is something I can totally get, even though I would deeply disagree about the songs all “sounding the same.” But I honestly think that a lot of the backlash from fans is due to the fact that the album is calling them out directly for their parasocial entitlement rather than spoon-feeding them the “breakup tea” they were all expecting. It a lot like Reputation, in a way; people expected a big clapback album and got something that was 85% falling in love. People expected TTPD to be the sad girl autumn breakup album, and instead they got an album about harmful situationships and bitterness over the double edged sword of fame. Its really just a continuation of the feelings that inspired the album to begin with; people feel entitled to a specific story or performance, and are pissy that they didn’t get what they wanted in the way that they wanted it. I also think that, while its fair that it won’t appeal to people universally, to expect a woman who has always written autobiographically to suddenly condense herself to writing mostly third-person observational stories is a bit of an unachievable demand. When she writes her songs as a means of processing her own life and experiences, it makes sense that they’re going to embody the narrative of her “lore.” But I also don’t think you need to know that “lore” to enjoy or comprehend her work, even one as definitively tied to her public persona as this one. This album has so many songs commenting on themes beyond just her personal life, such as the mourning of youth, chronic nostalgia, societal expectations of women and the double standards they face for merely existing, the gaping maw of public audiences and how viciously we treat celebrities, and the cyclical nature of trauma and how it effects our behavior in the long run. You can remove the “Taylor Swift” from just about any song on the album and boil it down to its bare essentials incredibly easily. But unfortunately, I think that’s something most listeners are incapable of doing. For better or for worse, Taylor *has* essentially tied her own life and mythology into her work, and thus people will always be attempting to scavenge it for clues to piece together a definitive “narrative,” rather than taking the songs for what they actually are: stories and poems and sentiments about the world and emotions at large. If you listen to the way Taylor herself talks about her songs, especially the little IHeartRadio and Amazon Music blurbs she did for this album, you can see how she discusses them in third-person, how she sings from the perspective of a character (even if the character is just her reflection in a mirror; the reflection still is separate from the flesh and blood) and always tries to bring the focus onto the emotion, idea or experience-NOT the who and the what and the her of it all. But the obsession with celebrity consumes so many people, and for most listeners, Swiftie or not, all they wind up wanting to think about or consider is “what man is this song about?” I honestly just think that people are making this more deep than it actually is. She was feeling some things, she wrote about it, then released it. I love it, and I love the lyricism and the sound and the inherent thematic elements. Other people don’t, and that’s fine. And anybody shouting from the rooftops about the Matty Healy and Joe Alwyn of it all simply need to touch grass.
this is absolutely it. also I feel like even the swifties who say they're diehard are having such a negative response to this record because they're kind of holding her to unrealistic standards, like the 'reinventing' of herself and her sound is the standard now. In reality, she went through the deterioration of her longest relationship, then another whirlwind relationship all while she was touring and in another era of extreme overexposure. I think she just had some shit to say and the anthology is exactly that, a bunch of disconnected stories that she wanted to release and did because she could.
@@craftystargazer2443 Yeah. I like to take the album very much on its own merits, separate from the "Joe and Matty and Taylor" of it all, because I think there is a lot of genuinely incredible storytelling and commentary within the songs even just on their own, with no external context. But if you do know and care about the "lore," you can also tell that a lot of this album's concept was adapted to the situations she was experiencing in 2023. I think that a lot of the anthology was probably written "after she turned in Midnights," in that 2022 period like she said, because they feel very separate from the emotions of 2023 (The Albatross, I Look In People's Windows, I Hate It Here, The Prophecy, Peter, Robin) and that the main album explores the whole of the 2023 stuff. Announcing the Joe breakup, the Matty fling and all of the public backlash to it, and being on the Eras Tour while it all happened. I actually think this album is an incredibly fascinating inverse to Reputation, which is why that album feels almost like a sister to it. She made Reputation after being publicly "cancelled" on a massive scale and choosing to go into hiding/begin a private, new romantic relationship. But she made TTPD while at the absolute biggest peak of her career and popularity, while having her relationships be broken down and scrutinized directly within the public eye. It's a complete reversal of emotions, but also perfectly parallel. You can still take the "lore" out of it all and enjoy/analyze the songs as they are, and they stand up imo, but if you *are* somebody who knows their stuff and cares about it too, then the logic behind the album's themes and story makes a lot more sense when you contextualize it like that. (Also as a Speak Now girlie, I love how Speak Now coded TTPD is too fsdfdsfds. The fact that the response to the Matty relationship is so similar to the response to the John Mayer relationship back then, like BDILH is literally just Ours 2.0. The fact that she left the "comfortable but boring" relationship to go to the more "passionate" one (Back To December > Dear John). The fact that most of TTPD was written and recorded WHILE she was also teasing, promoting, and releasing Speak Now TV..... like that is also a huge reason why I love TTPD so much and I cannot lie sdfdsfds)
Ugh I agree with everything you said exactly!!!!! The other huge problem is people claiming their critical “opinions” are somehow more valid than positive ones. They claim swifties are too aggressive and I won’t deny they can be but if you comment on a twitter thread of fans discussing her music with a negative and arrogant opinion that’s arguably baseless, it’s not going to be taken well. No one has to coddle your feelings, if you have an opinion that needs to be expressed SOOOO badly you should be solid enough to stand on it and easily debate aspects of your argument. People are just brutal. No one cares that you don’t like something, move on and simply ~don’t listen to it~ ya know?
I so appreciate Kayla's perspective here and honestly, the fanatical Swifties TERRIFY me. I like her and have since her days of teardrops on her guitar. Yeah. THAT long. But ever since TTPD dropped, my feeds have been inundated by her. The comment sections make me feel sick, both the unnerving parasocial defense from some of the Swifties and the jealous, hateful comments by those who dislike her just because she's EVERYWHERE right now. And the fact that people giving critiques are too worried about their safety to actually show themselves or get messages from people telling them to be safe if they choose to post a video essay on ANYTHING related to her makes my jaw drop. No artist is free from critique. You make art and others (qualified or not) are going to voice opinions, feedback and even distain for it. As Kayla says, you sign up for it as an artist and you either let it consume you or you simply move forward and make more art, for better or worse. It is a weird time to enjoy her music and just ENJOY it without deconstructing her lore (real and fabricated). I agree with a lot of this video and it's weird that I have to say Kayla is brave for doing her role as a content creator and video essayist.
I feel like the"victim" thing comes from how lyrics are written in general. In music as a whole, most songs are either written about partying or about feeling sad or angry. Songs that are like "I'm doing so great, guys!" are usually incredibly cheesy, and a whole album of that would probably be horrible to listen to. Think ME! by Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie. It's not impossible to make happy songs that aren't tacky, it's just really difficult. No Choir by Florence and the Machine is my favorite example of a really beautiful song written about something positive. Like, yeah, Taylor is probably doing pretty well emotionally at this point, I'd imagine, with all the resources she has at her disposal. Still, in order to write songs, she has to pick through her moments of sadness and anger and use those as inspiration. It's so weird cause like, yes, she's a person who feels things, but she's also so incredibly privileged at this point. She has to be relatable to make music that people will like, but her lifestyle is just so far away from anything that regular people experience.
This exactly. I do think that Taylor can write a happy album without it being boring as long as she takes her time writing it (and less Jack produced songs on the album) so she can write a cohesive yet new album/era. Maybe being sad and heartbroken is the norm in music before but in this generation, especially after pandemic, people gravitate towards anything positive. If Taylor writes positive music or something inspirational, it would definitely push her music and her career forward.
I'm not a Taylor Swift fan but I feel like it would be interesting for her to release an album entirely about her experiences being a superstar. She's is extremely privileged but her level of stardom comes with unique challenges and it would cool to see someone with first hand experience talk about them.
Personally, I love the album. I'm a huge fan. I do feel like it is fair critique to say, for example, some songs sound the same, some DO, not all, for me at least. While I think that the rampant hate for Swifties and Taylor alike is annoying ,as a fan of her, I just want to listen to her and love it. HOWEVER, some of us are so annoying. Every time I say she's my favourite artist I have to follow up with "I'm not one of THOSE swifties." Taylor can be critiqued, and she should be. While I love her, I'm not blinded by it, and not obsessed with her either, those people are downright creepy. I just think she has a great personality and music to match. I do wish I could just like Taylor in peace, without being made fun of, but hey, there is so much more serious things going on in the world for me to get that affected by some teasing. I don't care whether someone dislikes Taylor, in fact, shes not for everybody and thats fair.
Honestly this is a big reason I disconnected myself from her fandom and stan culture. Unfortunately she is probably one of the most hated celebs and you can’t just like her because people will assume you’re a type of way. I love her music but I don’t care about her personal life nor do I care if you don’t like her music. I do think she has some great qualities (her songwriting is strong) but if you don’t vibe with her I don’t care. It sucks because I just want to listen to her without people criticizing me for listening to her. You get attacked if you hate her but you also get attacked if you like her, it’s an endless cycle.
die hard swiftie here, folklore and evermore are my favorite albums of hers by far, and i find myself going back to those two constantly. I do really really like TTPD, but i agree that it all sounds somewhat similar, and each song doesn’t have much individuality compared to the next. I like the vibe of florida and i can fix him no really I can, those ones felt different. I know she’s very close with jack but i truly wish she’d branch out and get more producers on her music. i do however think this album gets better with repeated listening. My first multiple listens i thought it all sounded extremely alike, but later on learned to appreciate each. I felt the same for midnights when it came out, but now realize how different each track is.
I'm just tired of the people that base their "Taylor Swift is not a good writer" just by the lyric "touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto". For me, it's clear that at least 98% didn't even heard the song and just saw online that there was this lyric and they were like "yeah! Finally something to criticize!" and started to make a bunch of fuss about it. It's not that I'm against criticizing, I do find the album to be in the production quite equal which can be detrimental for it, but I do see a lot of people who just go out to judge for clout or just hating.
It goes the same way with the "Taylor just contaminates the earth with her excessive use of planes" and how everyone made it a online joke, even tried to cancel her, when in reality there's a whole bunch of other people who uses their jets even more and they don't say a thing.Take Elon Musk for example, he's like in the 4th place of the more used just behind Travis Scott and Kim Kardashian. Is anyone hating on him? No, because he's a man that has a lot of money thanks to a company that everyone thinks is because of his intellect, when in reality no. He just bought it and has a lot of scientists that work for him that are the real brain. But no one cancels him, quite the opposite people admire him. So for me, a lot of the hate that Taylor receives it's just for hating. 10% because they really don't like her music, which is okay, 70% just to hate what's popular and what girls like, 20% just hating for fun.
@@pinguitay I agree with you on some parts, but people DO criticize those who are killing the planet aside from her. The reason Taylor got more hate is because she has speaked up for the preservation and care for the environment before, seemingly wanting to help the world. How can you pretend to "care for the planet", then proceed to do the equivalent of 7 trips around the world with your private jets, this in the limited time that is 2023?
The reactions I get whenever someone asks me how I feel about Taylor Swift and I say I’m fairly in the middle are always so wild… it’s like I grew a second head or something the second I say I like some of her songs but not others, think she’s fairly alright, etc. the “everything has to exist in hyperbole” statement is so true
Swifie here who liked a good amount of the album, especially the second side; thank you for making this video. Somtimes Swifties forget what music criticism is
Like I get that Taylor works with a lot of the same people on album production because as a woman in the music industry, she would feel safe with them. (Remember Max Martin was Dr. Lukes mentor and I feel like that was a reason they didn’t jump on Red Taylor’s Version) but also like, I get it, “Getaway Car” slaps, but does Jack have to be on everything?! For everyone?! I wanna know what happened with Liz Rose - cause Taylor was at her best when she had an editor and Liz arguably curated the original”All Too Well”.
I didn’t realize there was a connection between Max Martin and Dr. Luke. It is very interesting that Ariana chose to work with Max again for her album covering some similar ground, ie the breakup of a pivotal relationship and a controversial follow up relationship. I do wonder about Liz. I know they stopped working together after the original release of Red. I’m curious how much any affiliation with Big Machine has to do with that. I believe that’s the reason why, despite Taylor being able to bring back some of her other prior collaborators for the Taylor’s Versions, she wasn’t able to bring back her primary producer for her country records, Nathan Chapman.
i get that she feels safe with these male producers... but what if she worked with female producers more? i loved when she worked with imogen heap. i wish they would collaborate again
Midnights was Taylor’s version of Views and TTPD is her Scorpion/CLB. Taylor knew she could put little to no effort into her music and still make banks.
I hate that people see her fans and only see one kind like there's the crazy kind but there's so many other less crazy fans. (No offence to Kayla tho love her)
I'M SO GLAD SOMEONE SAID THAT SHE NEEDS TO STOP WORKING WITH JACK ANTONOFF, THEY MAKE BOREDOM TOGETHER. 😭 no catchy hooks, no memorable beats, everything sounds the same, it's tired and it sucks the life out of the listeners.
Thank you for saying that not all Swifties are toxic and/or defend Taylor to the death, and for giving your opinion in such a respectful way. Personally, I did like the album, but I didn't feel attacked by your words at all, since, as you yourself said in the video, music is subjective, and we all have the right to have an opinion about it, although with due respect to people who don't think like us. Really, thank you :)
I always look forward to hearing your take on topics, especially ones such as this that migth even be considered "hot button" but you always take such a great even stance, it is always so refreshing. You can see the inherent factors at work on either side of many different issues while clearly and succinctly explaining your point of view. Thank you for all your hard work on this channel. 100K GET READY
It even sucks to see people in these comments not allow a person to like or dislike the album. Yes, it's not just swifties defending the album, but people going out of their way to tell enjoyers why the music sucks. Seriously, music is meant to be perceived in your own way. You will never, and I mean NEVER be able to force someone to follow your stance on music. That's a journey someone makes on their own.
I’ve been listening to her music since her debut album. I don’t care about the easter eggs. I stopped listening to the part 1 of the album halfway through because I got bored with it and found the writing of the lyrics unusually clunky. Tried part 2 and had better luck but honestly deleted the entire double album within 24 hours. I’m fine skipping the whole thing and waiting for the next album while enjoying the previous ones that came before. TTPD is solely for her cult-like fandom. The whole Matty thing is too ridiculous anyway.
I love all the comments starting with "I'm a swifty, but..." Surely this album should make it clear that she isn't much of an artist to begin with and she's more about the money. She had help from producers on her first albums, and those weren't even THAT great, they were just bland enough to be liked by enough people. She's a billionaire who always flies private and is happy to act like a cult leader. Y'all fell for a marketing gimmick and you can't let it go. She's not that great.
This is exactly how I feel when I don't like a popular movie. I have made a comment on a review for "Saltburn" and every response was that I'm "stupid" and "just don't understand." You can understand something, and even appreciate the think they were trying to do, and still dislike the outcome
You're so right about swifties shooting themselves in the foot with all the policing and lack of nuance. While trying to make one point (you just don't get it , or it's made for fans, or you just don't get poetry or music) they prove 10 other points to their haters in the same comment section
The one thing we can all agree on and the one i hope she takes from all of this (cause she obviously cares A LOT for criticism) is that she desperately needs to get new collaborators for the next project, cause Jack, Aaron and her as a trio have reached a dead end (i would say since MIDnights but the well has definitely and unanimously considered been dried now)
I fully love this album but I don't get upset when I see other people saying they don't like it. How someone else feels about it literally has no impact on me at all. I might not necessarily always get their point of view but I'd never try to tell them they're wrong. I dislike one of Taylor's most popular albums she's ever made and people give me shit for it all the time and I just think it's stupid. Even people who are fans of her are allowed to have different opinions and like certain vibes off specific albums more than others.
The problem isn't people saying they dislike it. The problem is people INACCURATELY stating or implying that their dislike is somehow the majority reaction. People in this comment section are acting like the whole world also hates it like they do, when it is in fact #1 in over a dozen countries and occupying ALL top 14 song slots on the Hot 100. This is the first album EVER to accomplish that. I mean, COME ON.
This is not a good review/critique/overview either. I am not a die hard swifite by any means, but a casual listener. I did not like midnights and I have no problem critiqueing Taylor, but even in this video where you acknowledge the misogny in some Taylor critques and pose yourself as a more objective lens, your critiques can't be justified. It is a cheap critique to take one light hearted lyric out of context to declare that the whole album doesnt have any lyrical value. "Touch me while your bros play grand theft auto" is a funny line, and no other artist apart from Taylor it seems, is expected to be serious 100% of the time. If I said Born to Die by Lana Del Rey was a badly written album becasue of the absurd lyric "my pussy tastes like pepsi cola", that wouldn't be a valid critique because I have taken a lyric out of context and ignored the rest of the work. Again, the critique that instead of listening to music, you are being fed Swiftie lore is also cheap. The songs are vague enough that I have seen swifties debate what song is about what. The songs themselves are vague, but they are still personal. It is not Taylor's fault that there intense public interest in her life and so people dissect her work. I could say the same about The Weekend, about how his music details his relationship with Bella Hadid and various other public relationships, so therefore I don't want to music that's just The Weekend's lore, but that's also a cheap critique. It is not Taylor's fault that her personal life gets media attention, and her song writing shouldn't be discredited because people think about Matty Healy when they listen to a song. That is completely absurd. The songs sounding the same is a fair critique, but a good album has sonic cohesion. This need for Taylor Swift to change herself every album IS misogynistic. Ed Sheeren, Travis Scott, Drake etc... have discographies with indistinguishable sounds album to album. Why can she not reside within a genre- why must she reinvent herself? Music reviews were published mere hours after the album released. Unlike other artists, Taylor does not send her albums to these reviewers beforehand. How on earth can you listen to 31 songs once and them immediately start critiquing it with any semblance of sense and value. These 'trusted' and 'real' critiques as you say, were after clicks. And they sure got them. There is no way you can digest that album fast enough to write a coherent review on it in their turnaround time. It's not any criticism of substance. Most of the criticisms in these articles talked about her jet use and other things that wasn't music. Did that happen in reviews of Beyonce's Cowboy Carter? She uses her jet more than swift, after all. What is happening here is people are seeing something primarily women are enjoying and so to feel intellectually superior, they 'critique' the music with very little substance. 'How are all these women crying over the lyric "Touch me while your bros play grand theft auto" haha, they must be so stupid to think this is good music! I'm smart and I know this is bad music!' That's what the criticism sounds like, even yours. You can dislike the album, it's not my cup of tea either, but this video has disspaointed me. I was hoping to find some reasonable criticsm and also praise where its due, but you repeated the flawed rhetoric of people who don't know how to actually critique something.
while i haven't listened to the album (and thus do not have any opinion on it), i don't think that it's fair to call this video a true critique of the album itself. This video is a critique of the metanarrative, of the behavior of stans and the proliferation of stan culture surrounding the album. This is a video that could just as easily be made about the BTS Army or the Beyhive or the Barbs. As someone who doesn't listen to pop music, I have witnessed stan pile-ons entering my music sphere and it poisons the well of measured criticism. Taylor Swift is not special, merely a framing device for an important, and I think you'd agree with that assessment. i'm not disagreeing with your points about Ed Sheeran and Drake's albums, but they seem wildly afield from the discussion of this video. I'm not disagreeing that reviews were definitely circulated specifically for clicks, because that's capitalism at work, comrade. But I think the premise of your critique is flawed and doesn't meaningfully engage with the text.
@@BrightesteFaeri How are they "wildly afield"? If Kayla wants to criticize stan culture, why pick only on Taylor? Why not discuss all these other artists?
@@automnejoy5308 it's called "being focused." just because you're talking about one thing does not negate that thing being true for other, similar things. you don't have to mention those other things either; that's the work of other people to take your analysis and expand upon it elsewhere, and to maybe develop new ideas from that. if i had to guess why Taylor is the topic, it's because Taylor is in the zeitgeist right now. It's not "picking on" to discuss the zeitgeist.
@@BrightesteFaeri It is if you don't do it fairly or intelligently. Using one single out of context lyric to defend your argument is not what I would call "being focused." I'd call that lazy, disingenuous or both.
Hey, as a swiftie (I even have dedicated fan account on twitter), I absolutely agree. The thing is, I like that album. But I absolutely understand the criticism the album gets and I accept it. I for example didn't like Midnights all that much, which is certainly an unpopular opinion amongs swifties. I feel like the whiplash Swifties get just for being Swifties is not justified at times and borderlines bullying, but at the same time, Swifties can be incredibly cruel and ruthless themselves. It's sad, really, for us people who are here just to enjoy music.
6:54 nah you liked those bc she shapeshifted to be this shy little astute poet to fit Joe aesthetic and she even heavily heavily credits his attributes to this album in her award acceptance speeches, in her zane Lowe Apple Music interview and in the long pond studio sessions. He was responsible for a whole bunch of melodies and lyrics. Ironically she recycled these melodies on midnights and ttpd 🤦♀️ I’ve always been a swifty since 2008 but this year I’ve learned so much about her and between that and the new album and all the cash grabby stuff going on lately. It’s just a real disappointment:/
I'm sorry but if you're crediting joe for the success of folklore and Evermore then you've lost the plot. he wrote one verse. he does not hold a single pen to Taylor's artistry
8:37 personally when i say (or just think) "you dont get it" i do not mean it as a "its too smart for you" is more of a "you dont connect with it" and thats fine. Ofc we will all connect and see ourselves in different things bc we have different life experiencies and thats okay thats cool.
Oh, Melanie Martinez stans can be awful. Some of them are cool, but I remember when a TH-camr gave portals a bad review some of her stans sent him and his wife death threats and gore
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I dont think we regular swifties are agaist opinions or criticism... but i do think that artists, not only taylor, are getting a lot of hate for releasing "not excelent" albums when we are not paying any money at all for their work... its not like we live in the 90s anymore... i literaly have never give direct money to this woman.... and she gave us 30 songs... (of course shes making profit, but not in the same way) Criticism is one thing and is totally fine (HTHAZE doesn't like lots of Taylors songs, but he is not being attacked on media) But we shouldnt destroy artists, or try to show they are overrated, for making "bad" art... we should just move on.
The discourse around Taylor Swift is insane to me. Her diehards thinks she’s a perfect baby angel that consistently puts out flawless music and, no, that’s not how being an artist works. She’s gonna out out your occasional stinker and that’s okay. But on the other side, the vitriol against Taylor Swift is WILD. Twitter seemed to take a certain amount of glee in this album not getting amazing reviews, which is kind of unhinged. And I will never forget going to my sister in law’s house for family dinner a few months ago, copping to liking some of Taylor’s music, and her telling me “you’re lucky you married into the family, otherwise I would tell you to get out”. She was kidding (probably…) but still. I can’t think of another artist that gets that kind of a response. Like “oh you like Phish? Get the fuck out of my house”.
Republican pundits tell their followers to hate her. Also, the album received mostly positive reviews. Conservatives and people who just didn't like it are spreading lies that it was negatively reviewed. It really wasn't, and it's a massive commercial success as well.
@@randomtinypotatocried I hope they took their time, I mean honestly they have decades of material to work with. Going all the way back to when Pearl Jam was boycotting Ticketmaster in the 90s for being a monopoly, we’ve been known this and the government even tried to stop the merge of ticket master and live nation, due to fears of monopoly and they still let it go through! I have no idea why!? But probably bc they benefitted off of it in some way. They need to fix things. Other nations have been able to work out laws and regulations, such as tickets not being able to be sold for more than they were bought for. And the concert tickets in those places are also a lot more reasonable. Just looking at Europe tickets for the eras tour, the highest ticket cost is what nosebleeds in America cost. I looked at UK eras tickets and the highest price I saw was like 1.5k. The cheapest ticket to go to her show in Miami because of scalpers, is 1.7k…. It’s ridiculous. The least they could do is make regulations about how much tickets can be resold for…
Is it, though? Seems like you're justifying bashing a woman based on her skin color and wealth, when you wouldn't do the same to all the legions of men of that same skin color who are that rich or richer.
@@automnejoy5308 Yes it is different and yes you are correct that I wouldn't do it to all "legions" of men but I would do it to rich, white men. I hate on them more than anyone lol duh. So what is your point?
Off topic, but its such a cute easter egg of all of your videos catching the chiptune outro credits music and then figuring out the reference or connection back to the video subject. It`s a pretty small thing but it gives me exactly one crumb of dopamine every time, and I thank you for it!
not enjoying something is fine.. but constantly having to say you dislike something and nitpicking out of context lyrics and production to pretend it's bad.. is just immature. it's okay to not get something. it's okay to not be the intended audience. art is both subjective and objective. fighting that every album must stick to an extremely superficial, stiff standard is.. taylor does take criticism. she just doesn't take hate and she's grown to be more confident in herself and her work. she's not trying to wow the gp with every release anymore. she's happy with sharing secrets with fans, being more relaxed and intimate. releasing albums for herself aswell as anyone who'll listen. some fans can be over the top but they're always a minority that's exploited by others to shame the fandom..and especially young women and girls. swifties just want to enjoy her without others imposing weird hate and unhelpful "criticism". it's hard not to be pissed off when every release comes with push back. especially when the same isn't done for male artists.. we aren't over here sharing deep thoughts about any male artists work, are we? no.. hell, we just all had to sit back and watch two grown men have a rap battle.. where they just insulted each other.. ttpd is taken out of its context, entirely in alot of cases. the concept and double album is misinterpreted. people look at the top layer of the constant media circus and assume she's just pushing music out for the money or charts. taylor herself has said that she used to take breaks between albums but recently she's just felt so free and so passionate.. she's genuinely writing that much and she wants people to hear it. she doesn't just want to keep it to herself. ttpd has been in the works for 2 years. it wasn't rushed. the lyrics and storytelling is on par with everything else she's done, i would argue that it's better in many ways and parts than folkmore. the production is also more interesting than in some of folkmore. she experimented a little and the meanings behind the songs are actually really interesting and go far beyond some speculation. it's funny that you mention easter eggs because taylor has already said that she doesn't actually think that far ahead and intertwine things so deeply.. as some fans may believe. her actual eggs tend to be pretty obvious. like how the hint for the double album was just her mentioning and referencing the number 2. aaaand there's songs on ttpd that criticise the idea that she's a character and her life is on display. she doesn't like the constant need that some obsessive fans and media have to be "in" her personal life. yes, she's very open in alot of ways but that's not an excuse for her to be picked at and exploited. she gives us as much as she feels comfortable with and tells us to relate it to our own experiences not hers. she likes the idea of us being more friends, it's more like a sleepover where you chat about everything in life. it's not about ravaging through someone's person to find every little detail. anyway.. point is. if this album was released by anyone else it would be herald for being different, out there, cool, sexy and would gain a fandom.
I'm not frustrated with the people who just didn't like the album (though I heard it grows on you with re-listening), but chronically online folks having a meltdown over the 1830 line or purposefully not understanding why So High School is the way it is make me wonder if reading comprehension is still a thing. That being said, completely agree that some swifties really need to chill out and stop embarrassing themselves.
that whole 1830s controversy was so concerning to me, it really shows the downfall in reading comprehension which is terrifying to me, although I think alot if that was people purposely misinterpreting the lyric for a quick dunk.
Honestly I don’t think it was a reading comprehension thing, I think it’s just that 1. It sounds cringy, 2. It’s really unnecessary to include in the song, 3. It sounds like she’s trying to cover her tracks as a WW that wants to live in the 1800s, 4. It’s written poorly, 5. The way she mentions not wanting racists nonchalantly is low key funny, and tone deaf bc fucking duh
@@bobsburgers8497 it most definitely is, it shows a culture moving towards anti-intellectualism or the idea that 'the curtains are just blue' - the line is from the perspective of a child's game, which is why the delivery is so blunt and nonchalant and the 1830s were specifically chosen, not because she actually wants to live there, but because (in line with the focus of the album) it was the height of the Romantic poetry movement, which in many ways she emulates as a writer. and when criticising this line, people cherrypicked rather than looking at it in context. she goes on to say 'nostalgia is a mind trick' and that if she'd been there she'd hate it too because of the society of the time. the whole song kind of touches on how she hates the world and society and how she wishes to escape but even in the romanticised past (which is not just a thing she does but a common thing atm, even with the 1830s which link to people's love of bridgerton and the regency period) it was awful. but instead of listening to a whole song people pinpoint on one lyric without even considering that there could be more to it.
@@katy-hn2jm did you not read anything I wrote. I was literally saying regardless of her intention it didn’t translate well. And that’s for multiple reasons, there comes a point when it’s the writers fault and not the readers. Even though she’s criticitizing it (and not enough imo), it’s just tone deaf for her, a white woman to still proclaim love for that time period , without the racism thingy. It just sounds like she’s trying to cover her tracks, and honestly she just should’ve not included it or found a better way to say she longs for a time period bc of the literature and not the social norms. And I’m sorry but in this stance people are correct and don’t need to listen to the whole song imo. A lot of the context was within the lines they’re criticizing. And it just sounds clunky and cringey too. Sorry if this sounds like imma Taylor swift hater, but I am 💀
@@bobsburgers8497 i read everything you said and yes you do need to contextualise a line to understand what it means - you can say the line is clunky at worst but it's not racist. People don't even criticise the whole line, they can't even be bothered to read the next few words to actually understand the intention. if ppl took shakespeares lines out of context and analysed them the same way they look at taylors songs they would come to similar conclusions
As a Swiftie, my opinion about her recent albums also the same Midnights and TTPD are her not great albums, I feel like she should now depart to this style where she's the central figure of her songs because I'm getting tired of that, her songwriting style is more appreciated if she is sings about other perspectives, she's not the main character but rather the storyteller of her songs.
Taylor is definitely overexposed right now so that's feeding into it. I feel like this should have been released after the eras tour finished or after her next rerecording.
Yeh even if you’re a huge fan 30ish songs is HUGE
Yeah, it's really overwhelming. I feel like Speak Now TV didn't have it's chance to shine, and now I feel it's the same with 1989 TV. I don't think we were ready for a new 30+ song album.
i agree, i think people would've appreciated it a lot more if it came at a later time. because it's not a bad album at all.
@@iain9757lol I was waiting for the album cuz where I am the album was releasing midday and not midnight, and I felt excited but also a bit overwhelmed when I realised it was a double album. I had just finished listening to the first album and then I saw the next and was like, ‘oh.’
@@xoxo.pochaccoFR, I love Speak Now tv but I think it did not get to shine cuz right after that was 1989 tv and then TTPD. There is often too much to take in and then not enough time to appreciate any one thing cuz there is too much to judge. A lot of music is not a bad thing, but it can be overwhelming.
I'm more shocked that she let Matty Healy get to her that much. I thought it was a fling and she was having fun.
im pretty sure it was just that so she could save face after joe left her. her fanbase thrives off her villainizing people in the public eye so she can both victimize herself and paint herself as a heroine, risen from the ashes of oppression.
Not saying I know, but maybe it shows a lack of restraint on her part. Maybe she already had written A bunch of songs during that period of her life & thought "well I already wrote these. I might as well use them".
I mean, clearly there were multiple songs on the double album which could have been cut, but weren't. 🤷♂️
Not saying that Matty was right for her, but I can understand how it was much more than a fling to her. We have to understand that they had already had a fling years ago, and that it ended for reasons that only they know, but it seemed like they both thought maybe one day they would end up together. What she is trying to communicate in the album, is that she felt, for a long long time, like he was her destiny. So it was not so much about the time they were actually together, the heartbreak had more to do with the idealization she had made about him in 10 years, and the disenchantment that comes with realizing he was not the person she thought he was in her mind at all. It's a tough emotion to process, and even more, considering how vulnerable she was during this period.
There is also the fact she clearly knew she is in the wrong in the Joe relationship and that she doesn't want or can't fathom with that yet.
It makes sense to me. They had a thing a decade ago when they were young and feelings were extra content. Then she ended a long serious relationship. She rebounds with her "what if" that's she's thought about for a decade, who seems to love bomb and promise her the world (everything that her ex wouldn't/couldn't give her) before ghosting her.
She's losing a long term relationship, an intense rebound, AND a what if all within 2 months while also doing a emotionally charged massive tour largely ABOUT her serious relationship.
I just hate that we can't just say that an album is "fine" or "mid". It has to be "GENIUS" or "SH*T" for reviews to work nowadays, and both her hardcore fans and haters are more focus on shouting what they think than really judge the music itself.
Exactly, I also hate the thought that you can be a fan of an artist without thinking every thing they make is a masterpiece. With all of my favourite creatives I think they have better work then other and sometimes they miss. But that’s ok , it doesn’t discredit them as a whole , it’s just life when ur a artist. Taylor is on her 11th albums it’s ok if one is a miss
@@alyssatate122exactly! Green Day are one of my favourite bands of all time, I love lots of their records! But I HATED Father Of All. It just SUCKED to me. I can say that and still be a fan!
People call albums mid all the time but mid is just seen as a synonym for bad for most on the internet
i feel like being called mid is worse than being called SH*T
i mean. plenty of people call albums fine or mid all the time? what are you talking about lmao
it's gotten so deranged that someone tweeted that being a swiftie in 2024 is like a jewish person during 1938...
relax please
@@flamesaredew i am but go off
Even Kanye would be stumped for words at that - gawd damn 💀
That’s obvious rage bait are you media illiterate
This was rage bait... I'm Jewish myself and saw that same account posting antisemitic stuff too
i feel like a lot of the big pop acts have been making lackluster albums because they arent hungry anymore and know that their fans will go above and beyond to defend it
I want to see what Rihanna does when she finally decides to come back.
the whole elite is going through a drakification proccess
Except Beyonce
@@LadyGaladriel100exactly why i started being interested in her since renaissance until she completely won me over with cowboy carter. she is the only one that puts time and a lot of care in her craft it seems.
Ttpd is masterfully crafted let it be clear. The album is polarising but concept like comparing relation to a new toy , media perception to albatross, running from relationship to bolter , and many other concepts etc. i think people who are more interested in production of songs are not understanding lyrical masterfullness of ttpd.
I think the problem with the internet is that everything exists in hyperbole. you can’t just say you dislike something, you have to say “this is garbage” or “this is the worst thing i’ve ever heard,” which will automatically make fans of that thing defensive because it feels like that person is attacking them and their interests. Like, in the Paste article, the author makes jokes about how her “poetry” is essentially unpolished and bad, meaning that anyone who relates to it might feel as though their intelligence and feelings are being insulted (and that might make them want to attack). Everyone definitely has a right to share their opinion and why they dislike something, but I think we get into tricky territory when we start making moral judgments. And the same applies in the reverse, with fans that make moral judgments about all “haters.” The internet would be a much nicer place to be if people could just say they like something or dislike something without it turning into a grand statement about whether something is “objectively” good or bad.
THIS
that article also started with a joke about sylvia plath's suicide ??? the entire piece was bizarre and honestly its kinda hard to take it seriously when all i can think of is that the author seems to personally hate taylor and the review comes as heavily biased (an i say this not even as a swiftie)
I totally agree!! I’m a Taylor fan, but that doesn’t mean I think she’s above all criticism. It’s just that I rarely ever see nuanced critiques of her work, it’s only ever “this is the worst thing I’ve ever heard, it’s absolute garbage,” which ofc makes fans feel attacked and shamed for liking her music. The other day I said to my friend that one of the lyrics from TTPD was stuck in my head and I liked the album so far, and they immediately said “oh my god it’s literally the worst thing I’ve ever heard, even all the Swiftie I know are making fun of how bad it is.” I have no problem with people critiquing her, but a lot of times it feels like people can’t do that without making fun of the people who do like it or attacking her as a person, as opposed to critiquing the music itself.
I also get really tired of people saying she’s always trying to play the victim. People have been saying that literally her entire career, with the Kanye thing, Dear John, All Too Well, even when she was expressing her feelings about being taken advantage of by older men when she was barely an adult or being treated in a misogynistic way, she’s always been told she’s just playing the victim and trying to ruin the careers of her exes. I think she’s entitled to her experience. Yeah she’s a billionaire and one of most successful people in the music industry ever, so it’s hard to feel bad for her in that sense, but literally every single thing she does is put under a microscope and analyzed to death on the internet, whether it’s valid criticism or not. I couldn’t handle the level of scrutiny she’s always under, no matter what she does, there will always be swarms of people attacking her in the media, and that has to get to you after nearly two decades. It’s not relatable to most of us, but I don’t think she’s necessarily playing the victim by expressing in her music how that much attention and scrutiny has affected her over the years. Not including actual critiques of her music, she does get a lot of just straight up hate, thousands of people were posting online about what a psychopathic narcissist she is and that she should burn in hell, because she didn’t hug Celine Dione when she accepted her last Grammy. I certainly couldn’t handle the level of scrutiny at all times, I think she’s allowed to feel tired of it, and if she wants to write a song about it, she’s entitled. Her music has always been personal, that’s not a new thing. If you don’t want to listen to her personal experience, that’s fine, but I don’t think it’s fair to say she can’t express her experience just because she’s famous and rich. She can still be a human with feelings and be famous, they’re not mutually exclusive.
@@kittyscreativecorner Literally thank you!!! I’ve been a Swiftie for the better part of a decade and while I’m not saying that she’s perfect, I’m saying LET MY GIRL FUCKING BREATHE.
Love or hate Elon Musk (personally I dont care about him) but I heard once a quote from him (dont know if he took it from someone else) where it went something like, in modern times you need to appeal to 60~70% of the people, and be controversial enough for the rest to hate you if you want the most popularity possible. And I think there is a lot of truth to that and why a lot of people gravitate towards wat you wrote
Took the words right outta my mouth. "A lore-dump for die-hard fans to decipher." THIS!! I'm a fan of Taylor's music, but I'm not an "easter-eggs" fan. I don't want to hear coded messages about her ex bfs or Kim K. And i feel that TTPD is swallowed in easter eggs that i don't care about.
I commonly end up replacing her life in the tracks as the life of another person (for example, Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus to me is about ex-friends who still stalk each other on social media) because I honestly don't care about Taylor's personal life. I care about her art, not about her as a person- same as like every artist
People keep saying this and it has me so confused maybe I am too deep into the lore so I dont notice but I cant think of any easter eggs in her songs like that. In fact I viewed it as though you have to not engage with the drama so you can enjoy it because "which one is about who" just straight up doesnt work like that anymore.
I didnt like cassansdra because I placed it in her lore, and I straight up refuse to believe thank you aimee is about kim K
This album is for the fans!. She said its an album she NEEDED to make to get through her personal difficulties. Shes an artist and art is where she pours it all out. I think because of the eras tour, the entire GP was hyped up. But TTPD is the most personal album she's put out. Real swifties understand this. Nobody was expecting a full pop 1989 album now. Were you?
I'm a die hard fan and I can't bring myself to give a shit about anything she talks about in this album. Because they're too specific and not relatable.
@@teddyeatspudding you can speak for yourself. There are a lot of people, maybe older women who relates.
you put into words exactly how I felt about this situation. I like a lot of Taylor's music, but I want to be able to critique even my favorite artists without being crucified for it. there's no reason to worship these musicians the way we are.
Agree 💯
I think the same, "The Swfities" are a cult, I didn't know about Melanie Martinez, but Lana del Rey happens the same. It's embarrassing.
@@RobertaTMS_ maybe to some it is…but I consider myself a Swiftie however I’m not about to run through the trenches for her either. I’m not gonna do all of the things other “dedicated” Swifties are doing.
Nah, I will worship her till the end ... Go cry about it, y'all just jealous
@@tayluvofficialbut.. she’s a person. Like you can love her art and relate to her story and how she writes but “worshiping” her is ultimately taking the humanity out of her. She’s a human person who does good and bad things, can be “problematic” can make good medium and bad art. Acting like she’s above any of that is kind of insulting to Taylor Swift the human woman.
I'm a hardcore OG Swiftie, however, I'm not that big of a fan of this new album. I like it, but she definitely can do better than this. Also, I'm getting tired of those swifties who put Taylor on a pedestal and think a critique = attack. Ngl, sometimes it's so embarrassing to be a swiftie and it has nothing to do with Taylor.
As a Swiftie I 100% agree with this!
Foreal haha. And like all the swifties I personally know are great and totally normal people. I think it’s just the chronically-online internet swifties that freak everyone out
👎
+1
i agree with this, most of the songs seemed like word vomit and wasn't going anywhere
What you said about how Taylor is better at writing fiction is so true. She's an amazing story teller, and I think that it really shines in fictional songs where she's not tethered to the confines of her popularity and celebrity status.
Because it's not just that fiction can be more relatable for a not famous person, she just has so much more creative freedom when she doesn't HAVE to talk about romance, or the specific romance that she's dealing with. I think I just wasn't very interested in hearing vague songs about what Taylors going through romantically. She has every right to want to sing about it and put her thoughts into words, I just personally find her music is more poetic and meaningful when she steps out of what she goes through normally.
I wonder if one day this translates into yet another art medium where she can flex this superpower she has for fictional storytelling in a new way....
obv I always still want her to make the music she wants to make,
but if she slowly learned how to contribute to films in smaller ways, it would be so cool to watch her creativity work..(this is just something I daydream about sometimes-- such as like her providing the story and/or storyboarding of an animated film or made the soundtrack and the storyboarding or directed a live-action film while also providing musical underscore??? the possibilities make me very excited because se is such an ARTIST--- but if taylor herself was SOMEhow lurking this comment page I would say NO PRESSURE girl you do YOU)
@@spoonlegs I think she’d be such a good creative writer to come up with ideas for movies and shows, but you’re right, in the end it’s not our decision. This is what she wants to do, so she has every right to produce this art
I think her personal life lacks of interesting things to write about. She's grown up in a nice privileged upbringing. Most of her drama revolves around exes and kimye feuds. If writing fiction brings the best in her, then so be it.
Who knows one day she'll dive into more fantasy and be more unique
Maybe for the 12th album, she should create a character/alter-ego and base the album off that character’s story (like how Mariana had Electra Heart)
I don't know about this. All Too Well being the most obvious example - one of her best regarded songs and very closely about her own life. But also, the split isn't so neat. A lot of her songs are a mix of her own experiences and fiction, right? Which is what lots of artists do? "Great American Dynasty" for example. Like in one sense, clearly fiction because she did not in fact marry the heir to standard oil. But also clearly she's writing about her own experience in the 'maddest woman this town has ever seen / ruined everything' lines.
What I really feel discouraged by is that you can’t even create a video sharing your thoughts about something without kind of proving that you like something/someone by listing all the aspects you like about them. And I get it, the stans are insanely protective of their idols - when your admiration of a person/brand prevents convo about it that is more analytical or critical of that thing, than it’s no longer about admiration, it’s obsession. Thank you for sharing your thoughts because it’s healthy to do so!
I think you also need to do this though because haters will hop on and assume you are one of them and you will have to explain over and over that is not what you are saying.
@@ultravioletpisces3666never had to tell anyone who is a “hater” that I’m not a hater 🤔 the reason I commented about this was because she had to state that she’s enjoyed previous albums and attended concerts, that’s why I commented that we shouldn’t have to defend our opinion because it’s okay to like some things and dislike other things
@@danicee I definitely have had the experience where I say something negative about something I like and people act like I’m agreeing with their stance of completely hating. More times than I can count.
It’s good to know about things you speak strong opinions on. Haters don’t actually know her music they just regurgitate things they hear around town. She was saying she actually knows the content on which she speaks.
I found myself skipping that part of the video entirely, because it's starting to get old to have to listen to people defend themselves as if you have to be a fan of something to be able to critique it at all. If you haven't listened to and enjoyed TS before, you can't possibly have a valid opinion? It's so annoying.
Large segments of the Beyhive, Barbs, and Swifties as fandoms scare me lol. Any genuine critique, constructive thoughts/feedback, or any opinion you give that is not positive & involves breathing results in pitchforks. If you are a 'fan' making death threats you need serious help. Great video, Kayla!
In general, I think releasing a 31 track new album is a huge mistake, especially if all the songs sort of blend together. 7-12 track albums work because they give people a bite size taste of the artist and the tracks themselves get more attention; I really think she shot herself in the foot with that
Taylor has literally never put an album below 13 but I do think that she should’ve put out the 16 song album waited a month or so, and then put out the rest of it
I mean, no one is forced to listen to every song in TTPD. So far, I've listened to TTPD and Fortnight, and I enjoy both of them.
31? 😮that’s a whole 2 albums right there
@@KnarfSteinthat's the problem. Albums work like books. You can't just say "oh chapter 12 is fine just ignore the rest". Of course you can listen and like a specific song but people are talking about "album" not a specific song. An album needs cohesion, flow and structure which is not present in ttpd. People can like 1 or 2 songs and still not like the "album".
@@KnarfSteinin addition you literally buy an album. You bought that shite and you're telling me you're not supposed to listen to them?
As a swiftie, this album is not the best. I think there's a point in the album where I get lost. Yes, I did like the album but as a massive fan of other albums, this one is weaker. Also, while I like her music a lot, it is too long. Folklore is my favorite album and I will say that one is her absolute best album. It is not about her and yet, it feels hugely personal and raw. Shout out to evermore that is also fantastic. TTPD is an okay album but it's not the best. And Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus is ridiculously underrated.
I wish she wouldn’t have made it a double album. I think there are probably 13 songs worthy of release. Not 13 hits or masterpieces, but 13 songs at least decently strong.
chloe or sam or sophia or marcus and loml are the best songs on the album
"It is not about her and yet it feels so personal and raw"
Loved that line
This is a great comment, thanks for sharing!
folklore and evermore are her best work 100% agree
I think this album isn't good because Taylor frames herself as the underdog in the story when she clearly isn't anymore. She is a billionaire with seemingly unlimited social power in her hands. She is not humble anymore -- I am not saying she is egotistical. I am saying she is incredibly wealthy in the sense that she owns 8 houses, has a private jet, and can afford the production costs of a 2-year-long stadium tour. She can't write from a humble place anymore because she grew out of that 10 years ago. Folklore and Evermoe felt like growth in Taylor's skills and persona that I was waiting for -- Midnights and TTPD felt like her backsliding into a place she is too old for. There are great songs on both, but as stand-alone projects-- Midnights and TTPD are dated and lifeless compared to the previous works.
She's never been an underdog. She was born to two billionaire parents, one of whom bought major stock in the record label that signed her before it did. She's always been sheltered and privileged. You're so right about the regression of her brand, though.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 Taylor is the poster child of wealthy white privilege-- no one is denying that. A 16-year-old girl in country music singing about being a 16-year-old girl in the post-9/11 era did make her the odd one out. Her team (and herself) used the fact that she stuck out like a sore thumb in country music to market herself as the underdog and someone to root for. That's what I was getting at, but I didn't really specify-- sorry :)
I still think that Midnights is "the rumored lost album Karma" but reworked.
About TTPD I don't know. For me it feels like it would have worked better as a poetry book? I really liked Fortnight and Florida! and TTPD and I can do it with a Broken heart are catchy but the album is too long to remember the entirety of the album after listening 1 or 2 times.
I don't really get how she poses herself as an underdog ? I don't think she's ever done that
so you can't wrote about feeling heartbroken when you're rich? the feelings are the same my man
I wish Taylor had dedicated herself to only rereleasing her TV albums for at least 4-5 years, especially because fans are already getting vault songs they’d never heard before. But when she’s releasing all her re-recordings with previously unreleased work AND new albums it’s forcing her to write completely new material when it’s clear she’s creatively drained.
The fact that she even decided to surprise release TTPD as a double album shows she’s so high on the praise she’s been receiving the past few years that she lost perspective. No one was asking for a double album, they just wanted it to be good.
Taylor lives for the charts and the awards now, but it’s at the cost of her own fans getting tired of her material.
i think this is a very good take
It's kind of what the Pitchfork review said, she's constantly immersed in her old sound she can't move or look forward
Yeah I think she definitely needs a break. To just live a little and focus on other things and then come back after gaining some new experiences.
Yes, that chart, records and awards hunger of hers are ruining her music... I wish she takes a break after Eras Tour and the release of rep TV and Debut TV
But I doubt she'll do that at all... 🥲
I'd go even further and say that she is surrounded by yes-men that will oblige to anything she wants cause they're too scared to challenge her even if it's just creatively, and the worst of all, i think she has devolved again from that long-awaited and welcomed maturity she displayed in folklorevemore back into that perpetual victimhood state, it's just so tired at this point, she’s well into her 30s now, that shtick is not cute anymore
I think a large part of the critique for this album is general Taylor Swift fatigue. She's released 8 albums in the past 4 years, 9 if you count The Anthology as separate from the rest of TTPD. Genuinely, it's too much. It almost feels like she's just releasing music just to release it, not because of any artistic integrity. And when she releases these albums with so many songs and so little time between each major release, it doesn't give many the true staying power that songs from her first 6 albums did. A friend of mine once compared her releases to fast fashion, and I truly think that they were on the nose with that. Churned out, seemingly no effort, just in it for the money, forgettable releases that all feel nearly indistinguishable from each other.
I love Taylor's work, but this has just become too much. I really hope she's seeing the negative feedback to this album and takes it to heart. If she didnt release anything for like 2-3 years and then came out with a new album, I think that'd be best.
its important to remember that out of those 8 albums, half of them have been rerecords. folklore and evermore might've started this new popularity but they went under the radar for most people outside of fan/music spaces. fearless, red, speak now and 1989 aren't brand new albums, they were rerecords which began because of the importance of her owning her own art, so the criticism can only really apply to midnights and ttpd, which their biggest issues are that of over-exposure. granted, neither album has reached the standard of folkmore as albums in my mind but they both contain amazing songs. i would liken midnights and ttpd to albums like red, reputation and lover which (as much as i love them) arent her strongest albums even if they contain some of her best songs.
however, people who dont rlly interact with taylor's music much naturally dont understand that half of her releases are re-records with music written years ago, they just know that she's popular and believe that she's money hungry if they do know that they are re-records instead of understanding the reason she's doing it. i think she's going to release reputation tv and taylor swift tv and then take the break you hope for her (which i also hope for because i think the struggle with the last 2 studio albums come from how busy she has been recently so she hasn't been able to polish her work as much before release) but calling her music fast fashion is a little too far considering the fact that she wrote 4 of the new albums over a decade ago
Her schedule is an album every 2 years, all those rerecordings were only released for the sake of taking ownership over them they are NOT meant to be an era whatsoever, dummy
I agree with most of your statement…this album it’s HARD to like and get through (talking about the anthology) I mean it’s 2 hours long….thats a movie and almost starts to feel like a choir at some point. I had to give it a couple of more listen to finally start liking a couple of songs in there….
i think she'll focus more after the eras tour (there are some good songs from ttpd but midnights is overrated and i like 1 song from that album). and i only think midnights and ttpd are the albums which arent good in the past few years. lover, folklore, evermore were ok i gues
@@ShadO7359 Agree about midnights being overrated. There were some good songs but that album did NOT deserve an Album of the Year Grammy.
Midnights winning AOTY was frustrating, but if this album wins next year then I'm no longer tuning into that portion of the grammys. There's no point if they're going to pick Taylor every time.
I don’t like how she won an award for her last album and used her speech as promotion for her next album. Felt like a circlejerk.
I agree with it being frustrating if only for the fact that it was released in 2022..... it's probably a Grammy's problem but I can't help but be frustrated on behalf of the amazing albums released in 2023 that Midnights was up against for aoty
@@spoonlegs ikr! It technically shouldn’t have even been there
I wanted GUTS to win, and I really thought SZA's album would win. I didn't think Midnights would win. And I'm a Swiftie!
Midnights definitely didn't deserved AOTY... Not at all, it's not even her best pop album, SZA deserved a lot more
I'll just give up on grammys if she end up winning with TTPD tbh
I think a big problem around Taylor Swifts brand is the easter egg hunts. I am a fan, but I genuinely don't think there are as many clues into her personal life as fans believe there are. So all the discourse around "is this song about about Joe or Matty?" "How could she give some much of this album to Matty?" Isn't helpful to her and her fans not getting dogwalked by the wider media landscape who don't have all that "lore". Like, she rose to fame as a teenager who dropped scathing clues about her ex's, that is the marketing strategy she still uses and it really works, and she has always and will always write from a very personal place as do most artists. But for the love of fucking god NONE of these songs are fundamentally "about" anyone they're all about her. Even if you think it hints to one relationship or another, she was still in that relationship. She's the focal point. Like she's a 34 year old woman, she's not the same teenager writing her older albums and I genuinely think a lot of TTPD is about that
the only reason people are injecting Matty is because they’re as bad as the gaylor’s. Just new weird drama that has no meteor or backing, and just serves to be a weird “I know something you don’t” flex/troll. It’s honestly ridiculous.
I'm a Taylor Swift fan and I definitely agree that nuanced reviews, whether positive or critical, should always be welcome.
I honestly don’t care about the criticism, I just can’t get behind ANY album being reviewed ONE HOUR after it’s released. That’s just insane there’s no way you can make a well thought out and fair review without re-listening and sitting with the music for awhile. Like they couldn’t have possibly listened to the album more than once before writing their review. I can’t even remember what all the songs sound like after one listen.
It was wild the first time I heard the term Stan. And I’m like. You guys know where that’s from, right? You don’t want to be like Stan.
YES! The lore of that one got lost along the way… a stan is a scary ass obsessive person with no identity of their own 😂
I had the same reaction when I learned that people were using that term. It's not a good thing to be hahaha
Someone pls explain to me what is a Stan I live under a big rock 😐
@@DaBlueAxolotl1 if you listen and watch Eminem’s Stan it will make sense. the music video is an experience you deserve to have 😂 The term began being colloquially used within the last decade give or take as a name for overly obsessed fans. Cringe behavior.
@@carlgrimeseyepatch27 oh god… now that you say that I think I know some Stans 😬
I’m a swiftie but this album was so mid. She put so many strange lyrics that makes the songs sound more like poems put to a melody, which I get is the point of the album but she just doesn’t do it in a way the works well.
an album of “tortured poetry” sounding like poems…. wow who could’ve guessed
@plnkblue they just said they know thats the point of the album, it just isn't implemented in a way that works well. No need to be rude
I agree completely. I think the concept of an album at the edge of poetry and songwriting is really cool, but imo this was terribly executed. I do think the lyrics read like free verse poetry, but the problem is they don't read like good free verse poetry. As poetry, it's awkward and lines aren't as thought out and well crafted as they should be. Good poetry involves a lot of thought, editing, and rewrites to be good. Every single word carries weight and has to be carefully considered. I don't think the lyrics meet that threshold for good poetry. On the flip side, as a piece of music, I often found the lyrics to feel unconnected from the music, making the work feel incoherent. While the idea was interesting, it felt like a first draft that no one bothered to edit.
it's not her style of songwriting and maybe she could do better if she practices, she's always been more on the simple direct scenarios and stating exactly how she's feeling (The Story of us, all too well, cruel summer, cornelia street) rather than this verbiage stuff
@@plnkblue It's not refined at all in terms of craft.
I don't think this is a bad album at all, but I think there's a few reasons it was underwhelming.
one reason was that it was just too many songs. it's hard to make an album cohesive when its two hours of music
another is that it was probably pretty rushed. I mean I'm assuming most of this was composed and recorded during her tour, re-recordings, promotion for her movie, etc, not to mention her breakup. I'm not sure why she didn't take more time on it. I think she still has this fear that she will become irrelevant as she gets older, but I really don't think that will be true for her but maybe that is why she wanted to release it during the height of her fame.
The main reason in my opinion, though, is that the songs aren't always very interesting musically. I don't think the songs themselves are bad, at least most of them I thought were good songs. but its all just a beat, some harmonies, and instrumentation that sounds kind of dull or in the background. I think if more interesting things were happening musically, the perception of the album would be a LOT different.
the last is that Taylor is the most famous person in the world right now basically so. people expect a lot from her
I completely agree!
Completely agree. I didn't even realise how samey her songs were until my bf pointed it out and now I can't unhear it! The thing is, we shouldn't expect her to change up the genre every album, but I think everyone should improve on what they've made before. This is why I love Reputation so much, because there was a lot more experimentation, and then Folklore/Evermore were so raw and emotional.
Some of the criticisms are weird and absolutely are in bad faith, but I don’t think all criticism is bad. I’ve seen some people say this is the album that is the “most” Taylor Swift album, warts and all, so I can see why it would be polarizing for many.
And while I’m an avid Swiftie and have been for years, I’ve seen some of the more sensible Swifties with a brain being attacked over their opinions on this album. In the comments of your other post, I mentioned that another TH-camr, Swiftologist, and how he’s been repeatedly bullied by other Swifties for things like saying Midnights didn’t deserve Album of the Year at the Grammys, plus his more neutral stance on Taylor’s boyfriends. He’s not fawning over Travis, and her exes don’t become public enemy number one once the breakup happens. That’s not to say he hasn’t made jokes, but he isn’t harassing people or making death threats.
tbh on the swiftologist thing, i think a lot of people dislike him less for his specific opinions and more for the way he holds himself as extremely pretentious and essentially behaves like the physical embodiment of catty stan culture. he definitely shouldn't be getting harassed and plenty of swifties cross the line on multiple occasions, but in terms of like, "swiftie creators," he's definitely very easy to dislike.
@@plnkblue I can see that, but I respect that he’s not afraid to express his opinion and express it boldly. As he pointed out in his comments section, he doesn’t constantly have to say “BUT IT’S JUST MY OPINION!” every time he says something remotely unpopular.
@@plnkblue That surprises me! I love swiftologist. I don't always agree with him, but I always enjoy hearing his well-considered opinions to see where we compare and contrast, and as someone who isn't in journalism I feel like I learn a lot from hearing how his background informs his opinions on things. I can see how the cattiness can be a detractor for some, but I just see it as something fun and not too serious, just chatting and joking around
Honestly, I love this album. But it is so frustrating to see other swifties freak out at people for having a different opinion. It’s okay to not have the same taste in music. Like no two people are gonna have the exact same taste. I don’t get why it’s so hard for people to get that. While I feel that some of the critiques against her have been a little unfair, I totally understand that everyone has a different opinion and that’s okay
Critique often pushes artists to do better and be better.
I agree Telimena. And I think the key to what you said is “critiques against her.” Critiques of someone’s music, the kind that can make someone better at their craft, are expected. But there are way too many “reviewers” who use their platforms to personally slam celebrities because they think it’s fun and it gets them clicks. And then fans play right into it by taking the bait. If they were ignored, they’d stop, or the haters could all hang out in their echo chambers with each other.
YEP and the people saying that criticism of this album is “misogynistic”…no it’s not?? It’s criticism of a MUSIC ALBUM, something that has happened to multiple artists 😂
Exactly. No one has to has to like TTPD and can freely point out the errors in it.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 it does, but some of these critiques are done through character assasination. The Paste Magazine review was more of a critique on her persona then of the music. I think most agree that her music is not her selling point, it's her stories.
i feel like she’s in drake mode rn (no wonder they’re good friends lol) views was mid, and instead of him doing better, he just made one of the worst albums of 2018 (scorpion), then just keeps getting consistent at making dogwater after he stopped using ghostwriters /hj. MIDnights is the views of her catalog, and ttpd is 100% the scorpion. it’s just the beginning.
lol midnights is so much worse than ttpd.
Imagine her releasing her version of Honestly, Nevermind and For All The Dogs. Then one of the genre’s greatest artists (Kendrick equivalent of Pop) decided to diss her. Then she made a good single responding to the diss.
That’s the best way to put it
I think the lyrical delivery on this album is messy and clunky, yet because of the way Taylor's PR, you cant seem to criticize the album without it being less than a 9/10 but to me it really doesn't deserve it. CNN gave the album a poor review when it was released, then flipped completely to a 10/10 out of nowhere claiming it was simply "something you have to get used to overtime." Which I thought was bs. Like people are afraid to just be honest about anything Taylor puts out now, because they're afraid of the Swifties or her PR. Her praise online is starting to feel artificial now.
@@GeteMachineit’s so dystopian like taylor is their cult leader.. whatever she releases, they say “yes” and praise it.
The biggest problem of the album that everyone seems to be missing is that lyrically she was attempting to be ironic and tongue and cheek, so very different to folklore/evermore, but the sound was so serious and dull that the satire of the lyrics just didn't land at all. Massive let down.
I feel like they say "it's satire" to the bad parts of the songs to avoid admitting to themselves that not everything she writes is perfect.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 Just because a joke doesn’t land doesn’t mean it isn’t there though. In an album with songs titled “Down Bad” or “loml,” and lines like “I’m having his baby, no I’m not, but you should see your faces” I think it’s fair to have that interpretation.
the album is a grower. I can tell you that.
idk why she’d even attempt irony with a fanbase like hers lmao. half of them haven’t even reached the Satire unit of their language arts classes yet
Yessssss. Like she makes ironic / tongue and cheek work great on Blank Space etc., it's not that she can't do it, but it really doesn't work with this production. Great point!
i hate her fake victim complex on this album so bad
As a fan, I can't agree more, it doesn't seem very mature imo
I mean not a swifty here, I think she wants more to share her bad experience (that even billionaires have them surprise!) and make “relatable music” as she always did. Her music at most was always around hate, relationships and etc, the reputation album was almost entirely JUST AS A RESPONSE to hate really. Which at that time was worse than now. I think she knows she’s privileged, she just makes music and it’s not very fun to hear rich people singing about how rich happy and privileged they are, especially to her type of demographic
@@Butterfly-tw1ej girl how dare she say no one would care if she died? she literally is loved by the music industry, loved by the academy, loved by millions of fans, she fills arenas everywhere she goes in the world, and she dares say no one would care if she died? like it’s so disingenuous and i would believe if a teenager would’ve written that, but not a grown ass woman who says they’re so mature they don’t need therapy
she’s just manufacturing suffering in order to appear relatable so that to make more money, which is completely opposed to the idea and concept of making art. she’s making a product
@@naomisdiary9835 metaphors exist, honey
you’re allowed to not like an album, but man is the “she’s playing the victim” argument exhausting when literally every artist sings about their lives. please develop critical unique thinking
TTPD for me is like 10% bad songs, 70% mid samey songs, and 20% really solid songs. for the first time since evermore, including re-records, i find myself going back and listening to songs off this album again. but holy shit the bad moments are downright cringe
I legit only listen to to like 3-4 songs on repeat… cause none of the others hit for me
Well this is normal for most albums-- even though I disagree, personally. But I mean… absolutely most albums hit just like that for most people
@@ultravioletpisces3666idk if that's true. I like most of the songs of the artists I listen to. I often listen albums beginning to end without even being tempted to skip a song. Idk, maybe I'm the weird one
@@stellasdoesstuff I tend to like entire albums myself but most people seem to disagree whether it’s a casual listener skipping to only the ones they like or reviews I’ve read.
What wore some of your favourite songs
Another thing that rubbed me wrong about TTPD is the line in Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me “Isn’t that what they all said, that I’ll sue you if you step on my lawn” Right after she sued a collage student for using publicity available info to track her private jet…? Like… Anyone else find that a little weird..? :’)
she also threatened to sue the reporter that wrote an article on how neo-nazi groups crowned her their aryan princess
She didn't "sue" anybody; her team threatened legal action, but there's obviously nothing they can do because what that student did doesn't break any laws and uses public data that is shared for the safety of every person who uses airplanes to travel. It was a dumb thing to do, but I honestly don't even know if it was something she herself requested, or if it was a stupid decision made by her security team. That's the point; people jump to conclusions and think she's out here handing out lawsuits to any person who even looks at her wrong, when in reality she didn't even countersue the person who sexually harassed her for more than a single dollar in court.
That happened because Taylor has stalker's and she didn't want her location info being shared everywhere which is understandable
Also the whole point of the song is "You should be". So yeah. It actually tracks fine with what happened. And she's more than justified in threatening action when it puts her in danger. That's what people don't see about her actions, the context is wildly different when you're that famous. Your comment has actually made me appreciate the song more
You mean how her team tried to get a millionaire who works in the airplane industry to stop releasing her information after he did the same thing to another celebrity until he became their friend? Like if you are going to write this at least know something about the situation…..
I'm a Swiftie and I was really let down by this album. Her writing was really not good on this album and it's shocking. Some of the songs on the new album I really like, but I'd be fine if she never wrote music again. I couldn't tell the songs apart either. And I think there's something wrong with the fact that her songs sound like a 19 year old is writing them when she's in her 30s, whereas Folklore and Evermore were more mature.
Swiftie here 🙋🏻♂️ I most definitely agree with you here. Sooo many lines did not make sense & we’re very out of place IMO. 😬
It's insane how different folklore and evermore are from this. Even midnights was lyrically and melodically better. I think so long london is the only song that I find myself listening to, the others have corny lyrics (and I do understand that some of them, like the gta line, are there to set the tone and go along with the feeling of the song) but they just weren't enjoyable to listen to.
Plus, so many songs just kind of blended together sound wise, and it isn't 100% Jack Antonoffs fault, but it does feel like she didn't want to try anything new and so the sound that came from it was pretty bland and boring. Even the more upbeat songs didn't really get me very into the album.
It's a shame because I love Taylors writing and melodies in past albums, and this one completely missed the mark for me.
I’ve been a Swiftie since the beginning and I totally agree. Nearly all 31 songs sound sonically the same, and it’s not even good!! All of her “from the vault” tracks gave her the impression that *everything* she writes needs to be released. These definitely could’ve stayed in the vault permanently. They’re all about the same thing, so trim the fat a little!!! This album was her first official flop for me
@@All-ze9cl ah yes, folklore & evermore !! Absolutely wonderful bodies of work, IMHO I will stand by and say they both are Taylor’s best 😳 I remember when I first listened, I really did enjoy it & was amazed that the sound was so different from anything she had made before.
I’m not a stan but I have some friends that are and we’ve debated about her lyrics a few times. You worded this so well, because I am of the mindset that when she does write songs that relate to her life and her former relationships, the lyrics hint at her being emotionally stunted because she hasn’t had the opportunity to live a normal life so it sounds as if she’s in college, experiencing life events later. That’s definitely an issue children of the entertainment industries experience, not something that is discussed often in regards to musicians and singers but definitely a topic mentioned for actors. Tbh I think musicians and singers have been encouraged to have fleeting relationships because of the instability of the industry, traveling all the time and needing to constantly tour. Every time an album comes out I assume there will be a song about a past relationship that is usually described in a negative light, which is terrible because it’s not promoting healthy relationships. The only song I recall being positive was the one alluding to Taylor Lautner, which had to have been released at least 3 albums ago…
As a swifty, i feel like this era is just..... jojo siwa but its somehow excusable because shes mega famous, im swying this as a swiftie
omg i was thinking this the other day! its like jojos edgyness but with the whole woe as i poet
what? you're comparing 'karma is a bitch blah blah' to masterpieces like propechy, how did it end, florida, the smallest man?
Comparing Taylor Swift to Jojo Siwa is actually wild. Atleast, Taylor isn't stealing songs ☠️ if anything that Jojo is trying to be is a Miley Cyrus wannabe.
i listened to some of the songs. i'm not a swiftie, never have been but what really changed my mind about her and her music overall is her album 1989. i really liked the singles. and i agree, she's a great storyteller. i had to stop listening to TTPD because it was just too depressing for me and on that day I wasn't feeling great emotionally anyway. But it did open my heart to her pain and I have more compassion for her now. I think she needs a break from music, and from just being in the public eye in general after her tour is over. and honestly, after listening to the lyrics, she needs therapy if she's not already in therapy or she should at least look up the word codependency cause that's the message i got from her lyrics. she's a codependent and can't seem to be on her own for very long, always moving from one relationship to the next is unhealthy to me if you don't put a break/pause in between those relationships to really get to know yourself, your wants/needs, your unhealthy patterns, and learn to like yourself first. otherwise, you'll just fall for any guy that lands on your lap and most of the time, the guys aren't great. so i hope travis is a good one but i still stand by she needs therapy and a break.
Literally, I thought the exact same thing. The girl needs therapy.
Building on this the ‘art is subjective’ argument is a sorry excuse. The interpretation and enjoyment of art is of course largely subjective, but all art can be critically analysed and broken down by its context, construction and intent. In fact not doing so is more harmful. If we couldn’t be critical about art then anyone could put out some lazy regurgitated product and say ‘it’s just your opinion that you don’t like it’. Critical thinking and accountability should always be employed, so no. Art is not purely subjective.
Thank you for your always nuanced take on the material!
Hi, hinged Swiftie here. I really like the album for personal reasons and can totally understand why it doesn't resonate with everyone.
There are tracks that I really love, but my overwhelming feeling while listening was that there was too much similarity between tracks, as mentioned in the video. I got bored. Which is not something I have said about other TS albums.
the songs were also far too long for how long the album was. A lot of the songs were just too long for being kinda mediocre and other songs just could've gone by the waste side. (I did rlly like some songs tho)
Yeah I got about halfway through the album before I stopped because I could not fathom listening to another 15 songs 🥲 I am not passionate about anyone enough to allocate time out of my day to listen to 30 songs. Also kind of weird to think people SHOULD give you that much time of day when you’re a literal superstar :/
It would be fine if she didn't take herself so damn seriously. Calling urself a "poet" when u make white girl pop music is so silly. And I LOVE white girl pop music.
taylor swift is a “tortured poet” in the same way that beyoncé is a “struggling backup dancer” and gaga is a “starving artist”. except taylor isn’t a poet
The whole song "The tortured poets department" is making fun of a man who acts like a tortured poet.
I’m a huge Swiftie and I agree with you Kayla. It makes me sad when artists whose work I love have such toxic fandoms. I know a lot of amazing Taylor fans who haven’t put her on a gigantic pedestal in the clouds, but of course we’re overshadowed by the ones who have made being a Swiftie their entire personality. There are some TS songs I don’t like, and while I think Folklore was genius, I never really liked Evermore as much. As fans, we should be able to have those opinions without other fans acting like we stole their three cats.
Agreed! I personally feel like listening to TTPD, it's a cry for help from Taylor. I love most of her songs, the downside is how fandoms romanticize toxic depictions of love through this songs, or how pushing through depression for work is okay, etc etc. Its heart breaking to see how we forget artists have feelings and flaws hence why it's important to critique and respect opinions. If we keep treating them like gods who magically produce amazing albums , never falter, are always right , there's no room for growth.
I wouldn't really call myself a Swiftie, but I do enjoy her music and to me, both the hate and praise this album is getting are overblown. I think the album is fine. Not a masterpiece, but also not the worst thing she's ever created. I do think that the humor in this album is going over people's heads. A lot of the lyrics are meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I also think that there are a lot of bad, clunky lyrics on this album that are completely straightforward though. I think that both the swifties who say that critics are missing the point of the album and the critics who say that Swifties are using the humor as a shield to excuse bad writing are correct. I don't think that the title is meant to be taken seriously, given that she's pretty snide about her ex thinking of himself as a tortured poet in the title track. She says she laughed in his face for using a typewriter, and called them both "modern idiots". songs like "Down Bad", "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) and But Daddy I Love Him" are also clearly tongue-in-cheek .
There are also a lot of good or even excellent lyrics in this album that are getting overlooked bc the bad ones stick out so much. Some of the bad ones are also being taken out of context though.
I think the concept for the album is interesting, but half-baked. If she had cut out some of the overwrought, overwritten ballads, I think the humor would have come across a lot better. To me, it seems like Taylor didn't really know what she wanted this album to be, and it ended up being a bit muddled as a result. I think that putting out an original album during the Eras tour and re-recordings was a mistake. Her attention was divided and I doubt that she was able to devote enough time to the album. I think part of what made Folklore and Evermore so great was that she wrote them during a time when the only thing she could do was focus on creating music.
Also she needs to stop working with Jack Antonoff. Lmao
Love your analysis!
I love this album and absolutely knew that critics and most of the general public would hate it. You are correct that this album is badly written and produced, but that's why I find it so fascinating. I don't know if it was intentional on Taylor's part, but in my opinion, the production of TTPD accurately captures Taylor Swift's hatred, anger, and fatigue of being Taylor Swift. I don't want to project anything on to her, but when you sing about how much you want to k*ll yourself on three albums in a row and all your fans care about are which song is about which guy you dated, that has to be depressing. Really think about: would ANYONE want to be Taylor Swift right now? I'm sure Taylor wanted her career to be successful, but had no idea how damaging this level of fame is. I know that Taylor's a grown woman, but TTPD makes it clear that nobody knows what Taylor is going through, myself included. We have know idea what's going to happen to her once the Eras tour is over, but I hope to god that she is okay.
Anyways, rant over, your insight is fantastic once again, and you're so right about Aaron Dessner 😭
but when you sing about how much you want to k*ll yourself on three albums in a row and all your fans care about are which song is about which guy you dated, that has to be depressing...WOW since i only listen to her singles, i had NO idea she sang about su!c!de three albums in a row. however, since taylor villainizes everyone and everything to victimize herself, so she can be the heroine risen from the ashes, i would take that with a grain of salt. i think she is very calculated in the things she admits or alludes to.
Sure, I'd be Taylor Swift right now. I mean, like many of us, I'm also depressed and fatigued and angry most of the time and it would be nice to at least get to wear the pretty dresses.
Also, isn't a big part of the story that Taylor Swift choose to be Taylor Swift right now, that what Joe was offering her was getting to step away from the level of fame she has and she was not able/willing to do that?
@@marykay7878 That is a good point, but that's why I also said that nobody knows her and we don't know what's going on inside her head. Maybe she is making this up to be victimized, maybe she isn't. Again, we don't know, and maybe we'll never know
@@melaniedavis-kay7599 true that. i also dont feel that sceptical about her feelings, i am more sceptical about her accounts about how other people wronged her. her feelings are not really up for our scrutiny.
@@camipco If you feel like that, would you want to travel internationally week after week to perform 3 hour shows in front of thousands of demanding fans? Do you want fans, the media, and the haters alike all on your doorstep waiting to hound you outside? Do you want AI porn to be made of you just because you're dating a guy on their football team? Do you actually want to be the most famous person alive that NO ONE will ever relate to you? It's not just pretty dresses. And yes, Taylor did choose this, but again, I don't think she knew how damaging this level of fame is. And Joe would only help a minor problem with that, not having the media slut-shame her.
1: great video as always!
2: GOD BLESS AARON DESSNER AND THE NATIONAL
I’ve never liked a Taylor Swift album as much as I like this one. Everyone has different preferences and that’s okay. People need to take this less seriously.
Agreed, I love this album and it’s shocking to me that people on either side are this worked up about it.
Same.
Most people like it. It's broken global records and is absolutely dominating the charts. The people complaining on here don't realize how out of sync they really are.
@@automnejoy5308 well thats a bit rude to say that people are out of sync for not liking the album or all of the songs.
Maybe the like some songs, could be 5 or 10.
Maybe they didn't at all.
Doesn't mean they're wrong or dumb for not understanding it.
They just dont like it as much.
I don't like it as much as her other albums I love.
But I like some songs that I relate to myself or characters like Katniss Everdeen lmao.
@@barbicel Sorry, I just saw your comment, so this is a belated reply. I didn't mean to say your opinion matters less if you don't like the album or only somewhat like it. What I meant by "out of sync" was that some people in this comment section were acting like their dislike of the album was the mainstream opinion, and that's simply not the case at all.
At this point, diehard Swifties is at the same level of annoyingness as diehard Armys.
You can't talk anything negative about them. You can't critique them. A slight critique makes them question your morality, humanity.
I don't like her new album or her music like it's not for me and that's okay. But I hate when people say "you don't get the metaphores" like i get them, i just don't like them. Also I think people need to stop putting her on a pedestal you can like her music and everything, there's nothing wrong with that but denaying valid critisism and making ir seem misogynistic it's not helping her case. We also have to take to account that she is a millionaire white cis woman, she does have problems (like anyone else) but oportunities, work, etc are not one of them. If she was a poc woman she wouldn't have half the awards she has, and i will die on that hill.
adding on to your point by saying she’s now a billionaire. i am a huge swiftie but her professional self victimizing is insane.
On the last part: she definitely has the halo that race, wealth, and celebrity put on work that's just so-so. Even people in the social justice community can't wrap their head around the fact there aren't any good billionaires.
You always have the most nuanced takes on here, it’s refreshing. I agree with everything you said on this album. There’s something incredibly Orwellian and culty about stan culture censoring criticism of big artists like Taylor.
Also, would love to see an Arctic Monkeys video from you!
@s1mperadicator13 A reviewer is allowed to do as they please, there’s no guidelines to follow. It’s called free speech, and stan culture is getting in the way of it. Plus, there was plenty of other articles that reviewed the album poorly including Stereogum, Pitchfork, and NME so you’re talking smack here.
People are only calling it poetry because that’s the theme of the album. If it wasn’t called The Tortured Poets Department, no one would be calling it poetry. Folklore was leagues more poetic. I like Tortured Poets, but people are being silly. It’s not hard to understand the album.
It seems like she's trying to present herself a tortured artistic genius. But instead of trying to frame herself as a deep poet, she should prove that through the strength of her lyrics ... which she didn't.
The name "The Tortured Poets Department" is making fun of someone who acts like a tortured poet, Taylor herself isn't saying she it one.
So, I play around with my online persona, I've been a teen girl online, an old man, a middle aged Dad, etc. I like doing this because it is just SUCH a great way to collect objective data; in other words, if I say the exact same sentences, just one is out of the mouth of a teenage girl, and the other an elderly man, how will the words be taken? Applying this to the conversations about Swifties, I would say two things: 1) Compared to other online groups, I have not found Swifties to be especially vicious (compared to let's say The Barbs, or the way any black person critiquing country music will be treated). There's just a LOT of Swift fans, so if you dislike something Taylor does, a lot of people will disagree, but I have not found them to be especially cruel. 2) Where I have felt a lot of cruelty is posting under a female persona in support of Taylor Swift in male spaces. That gets vicious. So I think their defensiveness of her, and seeing all critique as coming from a misogynistic place, has some validity. Out of all my online personas, 'teenage girl', which is Swift's demographic, gets hated for merely having opinions on most things more so than any group. If we want Swift fans to be less defensive, we have to attack that problem, instead of telling them to preemptively chill.
I have observed this, as well. Thank you for this further confirmation. Also, some people don't seem to realize that a huge percentage of her fans are millennial or gen Z women who grew up with her and never stopped loving her. Of course, some people do realize this and they mock that demographic, too.
Idk. I think that has less to do with Taylor Swift and more to do with being a female in male spaces. 😂
i really like some tracks on tortured poets but too many of them sound the same 😭
Agreed!
They really don't. What songs sound the same to you?
Agreed, I hope she works with different producers next time
@@automnejoy5308 Here are some i think sounds almost the same:
1. Down bad + imgonnagetyouback
2. Fortnight + The Tortured Poets Department + The Alchemy
3. loml + Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus + How Did It End? + Peter + Cassandra + The Manuscript
4. I Hate It Here + thanK you aIMee (the guitar sounds almost the same but faster on the diss track)
5. Fresh Out The Slammer + I Can Fix Him ( No, Really I Can )
The only songs i listen to in loops are:
- I Hate It Here ( my fav )
- The Black Dog
- Peter
@@meraki664 yesss i love i hate it here idk why people keep on bashing it
Her music and herself are not remarkable in any way and that is precisely why many average persons feel attached to her persona/music. And that is also why they feel personally attacked and offended when someone does not find her music appealing.
👍
The funniest thing to me about the Swifties who can't accept any sort of criticism about Taylor or TTPD is definitely that one of their main lines of defense is that this album is just too lyrically smart for the haters to understand when nothing about TTPD is remotely complex poetry. I'm not saying it's bad but it's not like she's saying anything particularly difficult to grasp nor did she use obscure, complicated metaphors lmao. Yes, she used a lot of convoluted metaphors but that doesn't make them hard to understand when conceptually most of the songs on the album are quite simple. Don't get me wrong, there are some interesting concepts like, a relationship postmortem on "How Did It End?" & "The Albatross" allusion but there's also big misses like the corny alien metaphors on "Down Bad"
The corny reference of alien in down bad was supposed to be like that because its a glitter pen song on album like 3-4 other , so high school, icdiwbh etc. And if people understood her metaphors there wouldn't have been debate regarding 1830s line where she refers romanticism of that time and urge to go back in that time but self contradicts by saying its a mind game etc. General public did not understood the meaning of song. Secondly learn to differentiate between fun songs and lyrically inclined deep songs , it might help understand Taylor discography better.
@@Flixtex See, I don’t believe that the alien metaphors were meant to sound as corny as they do. Yeah, I agree So High School is completely unserious but the verses & bridge of Down Bad has an earnestness to them that just didn’t work for me. As someone who loves satire more than anything, it failed at that attempt in my eyes. The chorus was great at conveying that goofiness but the rest of the song was not.
The issue w the 1830s line was never about the complexity of the metaphor bc first of all, it wasn’t a metaphor. She was referring to the literal 1830s. The problem is ppl took the line completely out of context. I don’t think it’s bc they misunderstood, I think that’s mostly bc they wanted to talk shit without actually knowing the context. Half of the ppl I heard talking about that line completely isolated it from the rest of the verse.
I know how to differentiate between a fun, silly song & a serious, earnest one just fine. Just bc the point of a song w goofy lyrics is to be goofy it doesn’t mean I’m automatically gonna like it bc it’s goofy. Just like how I’m not automatically gonna like a serious song w serious lyrics. You can’t tell me that So Long, London was meant to be a goofy song but I think the lyric: “I kept calm & carried the weight of a rift” is such a forced metaphor it sounds goofy & out of place. I generally enjoyed that song but it doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t like that one line.
Taylor Swift is Elon Musk for women
I have literally never understood her or her appeal as a cultural figure. I just don't see how her art contributes anything unique or boundary-pushing to society. Maybe that's the point, but it's not for me.
I don't think every song out there has to be boundary pushing or unique, but if it isn't going to be that, then it still needs to be a good song. There weren't many good songs on this album in my opinion.
because she’s a white woman lol. It’s so simple 💀 It’s almost like white woman are the major voting block for the political parties in america. She’s “relatable”
@@All-ze9clthe thing is, if it’s not intellectually stimulating then it has to be the best of the best from a purely aesthetic pov for it to garner such praise. In her case she is neither which begs the question of why and what makes her so special then?
That’s how I feel about her, too. Her music is not made for me. And that’s okay! I have friends who this music is made for and they love it. I’m happy for them that they have something new from their favorite artist. I’m also allowed to be a little annoyed that she’s inescapably everywhere rn when I would like to consume other things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@aR0ttenBANANA I agree with your sentiment. I think Taylor has made unique and just genuinely solid and good music in past albums like folklore, evermore, midnights, and basically everything from 1989 on. So I get why she’s so big. I just don’t think these songs were of the same caliber as her older stuff.
I love this album, and TS, but neither are above criticism. I do genuinely think that there are songs that are too smart for a snap judgement first listen critique, but I also don't love every song on this album. I've definitely read and listened to a few reviews that don't think they are reviewing her persona and absolutely are. And I've read a Lot of fandom discourse that refuses to accept incredibly valid opinions and criticisms because parasocial attachments are empathy blinders (among other reasons.)
I definitely agree about the stan culture poisoning the well, and broadly letting people criticize things. Bad faith criticism still chafes the hell out of me though.
I’m a casual swiftie and I didn’t like the album at first but tbh it did grow on me I have a different song stuck in my head everyday. Not sure how she does it tbh
I do agree that some swifties are EXTREMELY delusional in the sense that anyone that dislikes Taylor is a misogynist. But like the “touch me while you’re bros play gta” line is SUCH low hanging fruit like? What about “you swore that you loved me but where were the clues, I died on the altar waiting for the proof”?
In my opinion TTPD as an album has what multiple Taylor Swift songs have had in the past which is satire, tongue in cheek references, hyperbolic language, and an overall unserious tone. Take for instance, You Need To Calm Down or Hits Different. Lyrics like “I come back harder than a ‘90s trend” from Willow and “sit quiet by my side in the shade and not the kind that’s thrown” from Paris. Like, those lines are so unserious! And YNTCD and Hits Different are talking about serious things but in a lighthearted and at times, dramatic way. This has always been apart of Taylor’s songwriting, I just think that a lot of people don’t really love this style and are used to it in singles mostly. I personally love it and so I like the album. I think it’s kinda one of those things where some people get it and some people just don’t .
Another thing that I’ve seen some people mention is that albums take time to digest, especially a double album with 31 songs. Some people are quick to declare that they don’t like an album from one listen and that’s okay. If you don’t care to give it more time than by all means don’t but you can’t really make a nuanced review of an album that hasn’t had time to marinate. It think it’s just important for people to understand the limits of their assessment of something.
you said this so well
@@recreatio omg thank you 🫶🏽
I think you just summarized why I like this album so much, and her music in general.
Also, yeah, I knew I liked some songs right away, but others, I needed to listen to more than once to fully understand them.
As a die-hard swiftie, I do not think it is right, cool, or fun to be horrible to others whom don't agree with an opinion. I think it's rather disgusting. People are allowed to have their own opinions.
I don't 100% agree with your opinion, on this album, but I do think your thoughts, feelings etc. are very much valid and should be respected.
All my love❤
We used to have a saying in this county. “I might not agree with your opinion but I’ll fight for your right to express it” things have changed in the last decade or so
Its honestly fascinating to me that so many people apparently hate this album. Personally, it’s one of my favorite things she’s ever done. People not vibing with the sound is something I can totally get, even though I would deeply disagree about the songs all “sounding the same.” But I honestly think that a lot of the backlash from fans is due to the fact that the album is calling them out directly for their parasocial entitlement rather than spoon-feeding them the “breakup tea” they were all expecting. It a lot like Reputation, in a way; people expected a big clapback album and got something that was 85% falling in love. People expected TTPD to be the sad girl autumn breakup album, and instead they got an album about harmful situationships and bitterness over the double edged sword of fame. Its really just a continuation of the feelings that inspired the album to begin with; people feel entitled to a specific story or performance, and are pissy that they didn’t get what they wanted in the way that they wanted it.
I also think that, while its fair that it won’t appeal to people universally, to expect a woman who has always written autobiographically to suddenly condense herself to writing mostly third-person observational stories is a bit of an unachievable demand. When she writes her songs as a means of processing her own life and experiences, it makes sense that they’re going to embody the narrative of her “lore.”
But I also don’t think you need to know that “lore” to enjoy or comprehend her work, even one as definitively tied to her public persona as this one. This album has so many songs commenting on themes beyond just her personal life, such as the mourning of youth, chronic nostalgia, societal expectations of women and the double standards they face for merely existing, the gaping maw of public audiences and how viciously we treat celebrities, and the cyclical nature of trauma and how it effects our behavior in the long run. You can remove the “Taylor Swift” from just about any song on the album and boil it down to its bare essentials incredibly easily. But unfortunately, I think that’s something most listeners are incapable of doing. For better or for worse, Taylor *has* essentially tied her own life and mythology into her work, and thus people will always be attempting to scavenge it for clues to piece together a definitive “narrative,” rather than taking the songs for what they actually are: stories and poems and sentiments about the world and emotions at large. If you listen to the way Taylor herself talks about her songs, especially the little IHeartRadio and Amazon Music blurbs she did for this album, you can see how she discusses them in third-person, how she sings from the perspective of a character (even if the character is just her reflection in a mirror; the reflection still is separate from the flesh and blood) and always tries to bring the focus onto the emotion, idea or experience-NOT the who and the what and the her of it all. But the obsession with celebrity consumes so many people, and for most listeners, Swiftie or not, all they wind up wanting to think about or consider is “what man is this song about?”
I honestly just think that people are making this more deep than it actually is. She was feeling some things, she wrote about it, then released it. I love it, and I love the lyricism and the sound and the inherent thematic elements. Other people don’t, and that’s fine. And anybody shouting from the rooftops about the Matty Healy and Joe Alwyn of it all simply need to touch grass.
this is absolutely it. also I feel like even the swifties who say they're diehard are having such a negative response to this record because they're kind of holding her to unrealistic standards, like the 'reinventing' of herself and her sound is the standard now. In reality, she went through the deterioration of her longest relationship, then another whirlwind relationship all while she was touring and in another era of extreme overexposure. I think she just had some shit to say and the anthology is exactly that, a bunch of disconnected stories that she wanted to release and did because she could.
@@craftystargazer2443 Yeah. I like to take the album very much on its own merits, separate from the "Joe and Matty and Taylor" of it all, because I think there is a lot of genuinely incredible storytelling and commentary within the songs even just on their own, with no external context. But if you do know and care about the "lore," you can also tell that a lot of this album's concept was adapted to the situations she was experiencing in 2023. I think that a lot of the anthology was probably written "after she turned in Midnights," in that 2022 period like she said, because they feel very separate from the emotions of 2023 (The Albatross, I Look In People's Windows, I Hate It Here, The Prophecy, Peter, Robin) and that the main album explores the whole of the 2023 stuff. Announcing the Joe breakup, the Matty fling and all of the public backlash to it, and being on the Eras Tour while it all happened.
I actually think this album is an incredibly fascinating inverse to Reputation, which is why that album feels almost like a sister to it. She made Reputation after being publicly "cancelled" on a massive scale and choosing to go into hiding/begin a private, new romantic relationship. But she made TTPD while at the absolute biggest peak of her career and popularity, while having her relationships be broken down and scrutinized directly within the public eye. It's a complete reversal of emotions, but also perfectly parallel. You can still take the "lore" out of it all and enjoy/analyze the songs as they are, and they stand up imo, but if you *are* somebody who knows their stuff and cares about it too, then the logic behind the album's themes and story makes a lot more sense when you contextualize it like that.
(Also as a Speak Now girlie, I love how Speak Now coded TTPD is too fsdfdsfds. The fact that the response to the Matty relationship is so similar to the response to the John Mayer relationship back then, like BDILH is literally just Ours 2.0. The fact that she left the "comfortable but boring" relationship to go to the more "passionate" one (Back To December > Dear John). The fact that most of TTPD was written and recorded WHILE she was also teasing, promoting, and releasing Speak Now TV..... like that is also a huge reason why I love TTPD so much and I cannot lie sdfdsfds)
Ugh I agree with everything you said exactly!!!!! The other huge problem is people claiming their critical “opinions” are somehow more valid than positive ones. They claim swifties are too aggressive and I won’t deny they can be but if you comment on a twitter thread of fans discussing her music with a negative and arrogant opinion that’s arguably baseless, it’s not going to be taken well. No one has to coddle your feelings, if you have an opinion that needs to be expressed SOOOO badly you should be solid enough to stand on it and easily debate aspects of your argument. People are just brutal. No one cares that you don’t like something, move on and simply ~don’t listen to it~ ya know?
I so appreciate Kayla's perspective here and honestly, the fanatical Swifties TERRIFY me. I like her and have since her days of teardrops on her guitar. Yeah. THAT long. But ever since TTPD dropped, my feeds have been inundated by her. The comment sections make me feel sick, both the unnerving parasocial defense from some of the Swifties and the jealous, hateful comments by those who dislike her just because she's EVERYWHERE right now.
And the fact that people giving critiques are too worried about their safety to actually show themselves or get messages from people telling them to be safe if they choose to post a video essay on ANYTHING related to her makes my jaw drop.
No artist is free from critique. You make art and others (qualified or not) are going to voice opinions, feedback and even distain for it. As Kayla says, you sign up for it as an artist and you either let it consume you or you simply move forward and make more art, for better or worse.
It is a weird time to enjoy her music and just ENJOY it without deconstructing her lore (real and fabricated). I agree with a lot of this video and it's weird that I have to say Kayla is brave for doing her role as a content creator and video essayist.
I feel like the"victim" thing comes from how lyrics are written in general. In music as a whole, most songs are either written about partying or about feeling sad or angry. Songs that are like "I'm doing so great, guys!" are usually incredibly cheesy, and a whole album of that would probably be horrible to listen to. Think ME! by Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie. It's not impossible to make happy songs that aren't tacky, it's just really difficult. No Choir by Florence and the Machine is my favorite example of a really beautiful song written about something positive. Like, yeah, Taylor is probably doing pretty well emotionally at this point, I'd imagine, with all the resources she has at her disposal. Still, in order to write songs, she has to pick through her moments of sadness and anger and use those as inspiration.
It's so weird cause like, yes, she's a person who feels things, but she's also so incredibly privileged at this point. She has to be relatable to make music that people will like, but her lifestyle is just so far away from anything that regular people experience.
This exactly. I do think that Taylor can write a happy album without it being boring as long as she takes her time writing it (and less Jack produced songs on the album) so she can write a cohesive yet new album/era. Maybe being sad and heartbroken is the norm in music before but in this generation, especially after pandemic, people gravitate towards anything positive. If Taylor writes positive music or something inspirational, it would definitely push her music and her career forward.
I'm not a Taylor Swift fan but I feel like it would be interesting for her to release an album entirely about her experiences being a superstar. She's is extremely privileged but her level of stardom comes with unique challenges and it would cool to see someone with first hand experience talk about them.
Personally, I love the album. I'm a huge fan. I do feel like it is fair critique to say, for example, some songs sound the same, some DO, not all, for me at least. While I think that the rampant hate for Swifties and Taylor alike is annoying ,as a fan of her, I just want to listen to her and love it. HOWEVER, some of us are so annoying. Every time I say she's my favourite artist I have to follow up with "I'm not one of THOSE swifties." Taylor can be critiqued, and she should be. While I love her, I'm not blinded by it, and not obsessed with her either, those people are downright creepy. I just think she has a great personality and music to match. I do wish I could just like Taylor in peace, without being made fun of, but hey, there is so much more serious things going on in the world for me to get that affected by some teasing. I don't care whether someone dislikes Taylor, in fact, shes not for everybody and thats fair.
Honestly this is a big reason I disconnected myself from her fandom and stan culture. Unfortunately she is probably one of the most hated celebs and you can’t just like her because people will assume you’re a type of way. I love her music but I don’t care about her personal life nor do I care if you don’t like her music. I do think she has some great qualities (her songwriting is strong) but if you don’t vibe with her I don’t care. It sucks because I just want to listen to her without people criticizing me for listening to her. You get attacked if you hate her but you also get attacked if you like her, it’s an endless cycle.
die hard swiftie here, folklore and evermore are my favorite albums of hers by far, and i find myself going back to those two constantly. I do really really like TTPD, but i agree that it all sounds somewhat similar, and each song doesn’t have much individuality compared to the next. I like the vibe of florida and i can fix him no really I can, those ones felt different. I know she’s very close with jack but i truly wish she’d branch out and get more producers on her music. i do however think this album gets better with repeated listening. My first multiple listens i thought it all sounded extremely alike, but later on learned to appreciate each. I felt the same for midnights when it came out, but now realize how different each track is.
Exactly my thoughts!
I'm just tired of the people that base their "Taylor Swift is not a good writer" just by the lyric "touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto". For me, it's clear that at least 98% didn't even heard the song and just saw online that there was this lyric and they were like "yeah! Finally something to criticize!" and started to make a bunch of fuss about it. It's not that I'm against criticizing, I do find the album to be in the production quite equal which can be detrimental for it, but I do see a lot of people who just go out to judge for clout or just hating.
It goes the same way with the "Taylor just contaminates the earth with her excessive use of planes" and how everyone made it a online joke, even tried to cancel her, when in reality there's a whole bunch of other people who uses their jets even more and they don't say a thing.Take Elon Musk for example, he's like in the 4th place of the more used just behind Travis Scott and Kim Kardashian. Is anyone hating on him? No, because he's a man that has a lot of money thanks to a company that everyone thinks is because of his intellect, when in reality no. He just bought it and has a lot of scientists that work for him that are the real brain. But no one cancels him, quite the opposite people admire him. So for me, a lot of the hate that Taylor receives it's just for hating. 10% because they really don't like her music, which is okay, 70% just to hate what's popular and what girls like, 20% just hating for fun.
I agree!
@@pinguitay I agree with you on some parts, but people DO criticize those who are killing the planet aside from her. The reason Taylor got more hate is because she has speaked up for the preservation and care for the environment before, seemingly wanting to help the world. How can you pretend to "care for the planet", then proceed to do the equivalent of 7 trips around the world with your private jets, this in the limited time that is 2023?
The reactions I get whenever someone asks me how I feel about Taylor Swift and I say I’m fairly in the middle are always so wild… it’s like I grew a second head or something the second I say I like some of her songs but not others, think she’s fairly alright, etc. the “everything has to exist in hyperbole” statement is so true
Great and thoughtful video as always Kayla It’s albums like these where I’m eternally grateful you got me into Chappell Roan
Swifie here who liked a good amount of the album, especially the second side; thank you for making this video. Somtimes Swifties forget what music criticism is
Like I get that Taylor works with a lot of the same people on album production because as a woman in the music industry, she would feel safe with them. (Remember Max Martin was Dr. Lukes mentor and I feel like that was a reason they didn’t jump on Red Taylor’s Version) but also like, I get it, “Getaway Car” slaps, but does Jack have to be on everything?! For everyone?! I wanna know what happened with Liz Rose - cause Taylor was at her best when she had an editor and Liz arguably curated the original”All Too Well”.
I didn’t realize there was a connection between Max Martin and Dr. Luke. It is very interesting that Ariana chose to work with Max again for her album covering some similar ground, ie the breakup of a pivotal relationship and a controversial follow up relationship.
I do wonder about Liz. I know they stopped working together after the original release of Red. I’m curious how much any affiliation with Big Machine has to do with that. I believe that’s the reason why, despite Taylor being able to bring back some of her other prior collaborators for the Taylor’s Versions, she wasn’t able to bring back her primary producer for her country records, Nathan Chapman.
i get that she feels safe with these male producers... but what if she worked with female producers more? i loved when she worked with imogen heap. i wish they would collaborate again
Totaly agree with this! I love her work with Aaron, too, but I hope Liz comes back to do another album or she uses other producers that are women
@@billiebee7845c Agreed
@@justjoannak totally! her and Liz were magic
Midnights was Taylor’s version of Views and TTPD is her Scorpion/CLB. Taylor knew she could put little to no effort into her music and still make banks.
I hate that people see her fans and only see one kind like there's the crazy kind but there's so many other less crazy fans. (No offence to Kayla tho love her)
I'M SO GLAD SOMEONE SAID THAT SHE NEEDS TO STOP WORKING WITH JACK ANTONOFF, THEY MAKE BOREDOM TOGETHER. 😭 no catchy hooks, no memorable beats, everything sounds the same, it's tired and it sucks the life out of the listeners.
Thank you for saying that not all Swifties are toxic and/or defend Taylor to the death, and for giving your opinion in such a respectful way. Personally, I did like the album, but I didn't feel attacked by your words at all, since, as you yourself said in the video, music is subjective, and we all have the right to have an opinion about it, although with due respect to people who don't think like us. Really, thank you :)
I always look forward to hearing your take on topics, especially ones such as this that migth even be considered "hot button" but you always take such a great even stance, it is always so refreshing. You can see the inherent factors at work on either side of many different issues while clearly and succinctly explaining your point of view. Thank you for all your hard work on this channel. 100K GET READY
It even sucks to see people in these comments not allow a person to like or dislike the album. Yes, it's not just swifties defending the album, but people going out of their way to tell enjoyers why the music sucks. Seriously, music is meant to be perceived in your own way. You will never, and I mean NEVER be able to force someone to follow your stance on music. That's a journey someone makes on their own.
I’ve been listening to her music since her debut album. I don’t care about the easter eggs. I stopped listening to the part 1 of the album halfway through because I got bored with it and found the writing of the lyrics unusually clunky. Tried part 2 and had better luck but honestly deleted the entire double album within 24 hours. I’m fine skipping the whole thing and waiting for the next album while enjoying the previous ones that came before. TTPD is solely for her cult-like fandom. The whole Matty thing is too ridiculous anyway.
I love all the comments starting with "I'm a swifty, but..." Surely this album should make it clear that she isn't much of an artist to begin with and she's more about the money. She had help from producers on her first albums, and those weren't even THAT great, they were just bland enough to be liked by enough people. She's a billionaire who always flies private and is happy to act like a cult leader. Y'all fell for a marketing gimmick and you can't let it go. She's not that great.
What solo artists don't have help from producers?
Clara Bow should’ve been called It Girls. Thats my hot take. Go watch one of Clara’s movies she’s glorious *steps off pink soap box*
This is exactly how I feel when I don't like a popular movie. I have made a comment on a review for "Saltburn" and every response was that I'm "stupid" and "just don't understand." You can understand something, and even appreciate the think they were trying to do, and still dislike the outcome
As a clueless guy, I usually go to your videos for unbiased insights into these things so thank you so much for what you do Kayla
i LOVE ttpd, but i understand the criticisms people have
Me watching this knowing I’m a Florence fan who only came for Florida 😭
You're so right about swifties shooting themselves in the foot with all the policing and lack of nuance. While trying to make one point (you just don't get it , or it's made for fans, or you just don't get poetry or music) they prove 10 other points to their haters in the same comment section
The one thing we can all agree on and the one i hope she takes from all of this (cause she obviously cares A LOT for criticism) is that she desperately needs to get new collaborators for the next project, cause Jack, Aaron and her as a trio have reached a dead end (i would say since MIDnights but the well has definitely and unanimously considered been dried now)
I fully love this album but I don't get upset when I see other people saying they don't like it. How someone else feels about it literally has no impact on me at all. I might not necessarily always get their point of view but I'd never try to tell them they're wrong. I dislike one of Taylor's most popular albums she's ever made and people give me shit for it all the time and I just think it's stupid. Even people who are fans of her are allowed to have different opinions and like certain vibes off specific albums more than others.
The problem isn't people saying they dislike it. The problem is people INACCURATELY stating or implying that their dislike is somehow the majority reaction. People in this comment section are acting like the whole world also hates it like they do, when it is in fact #1 in over a dozen countries and occupying ALL top 14 song slots on the Hot 100. This is the first album EVER to accomplish that. I mean, COME ON.
This is not a good review/critique/overview either. I am not a die hard swifite by any means, but a casual listener. I did not like midnights and I have no problem critiqueing Taylor, but even in this video where you acknowledge the misogny in some Taylor critques and pose yourself as a more objective lens, your critiques can't be justified.
It is a cheap critique to take one light hearted lyric out of context to declare that the whole album doesnt have any lyrical value. "Touch me while your bros play grand theft auto" is a funny line, and no other artist apart from Taylor it seems, is expected to be serious 100% of the time. If I said Born to Die by Lana Del Rey was a badly written album becasue of the absurd lyric "my pussy tastes like pepsi cola", that wouldn't be a valid critique because I have taken a lyric out of context and ignored the rest of the work.
Again, the critique that instead of listening to music, you are being fed Swiftie lore is also cheap. The songs are vague enough that I have seen swifties debate what song is about what. The songs themselves are vague, but they are still personal. It is not Taylor's fault that there intense public interest in her life and so people dissect her work. I could say the same about The Weekend, about how his music details his relationship with Bella Hadid and various other public relationships, so therefore I don't want to music that's just The Weekend's lore, but that's also a cheap critique. It is not Taylor's fault that her personal life gets media attention, and her song writing shouldn't be discredited because people think about Matty Healy when they listen to a song. That is completely absurd.
The songs sounding the same is a fair critique, but a good album has sonic cohesion. This need for Taylor Swift to change herself every album IS misogynistic. Ed Sheeren, Travis Scott, Drake etc... have discographies with indistinguishable sounds album to album. Why can she not reside within a genre- why must she reinvent herself?
Music reviews were published mere hours after the album released. Unlike other artists, Taylor does not send her albums to these reviewers beforehand. How on earth can you listen to 31 songs once and them immediately start critiquing it with any semblance of sense and value. These 'trusted' and 'real' critiques as you say, were after clicks. And they sure got them. There is no way you can digest that album fast enough to write a coherent review on it in their turnaround time. It's not any criticism of substance. Most of the criticisms in these articles talked about her jet use and other things that wasn't music. Did that happen in reviews of Beyonce's Cowboy Carter? She uses her jet more than swift, after all.
What is happening here is people are seeing something primarily women are enjoying and so to feel intellectually superior, they 'critique' the music with very little substance. 'How are all these women crying over the lyric "Touch me while your bros play grand theft auto" haha, they must be so stupid to think this is good music! I'm smart and I know this is bad music!' That's what the criticism sounds like, even yours. You can dislike the album, it's not my cup of tea either, but this video has disspaointed me. I was hoping to find some reasonable criticsm and also praise where its due, but you repeated the flawed rhetoric of people who don't know how to actually critique something.
I agree with everything you said.
while i haven't listened to the album (and thus do not have any opinion on it), i don't think that it's fair to call this video a true critique of the album itself. This video is a critique of the metanarrative, of the behavior of stans and the proliferation of stan culture surrounding the album. This is a video that could just as easily be made about the BTS Army or the Beyhive or the Barbs. As someone who doesn't listen to pop music, I have witnessed stan pile-ons entering my music sphere and it poisons the well of measured criticism. Taylor Swift is not special, merely a framing device for an important, and I think you'd agree with that assessment.
i'm not disagreeing with your points about Ed Sheeran and Drake's albums, but they seem wildly afield from the discussion of this video. I'm not disagreeing that reviews were definitely circulated specifically for clicks, because that's capitalism at work, comrade. But I think the premise of your critique is flawed and doesn't meaningfully engage with the text.
@@BrightesteFaeri How are they "wildly afield"? If Kayla wants to criticize stan culture, why pick only on Taylor? Why not discuss all these other artists?
@@automnejoy5308 it's called "being focused." just because you're talking about one thing does not negate that thing being true for other, similar things. you don't have to mention those other things either; that's the work of other people to take your analysis and expand upon it elsewhere, and to maybe develop new ideas from that.
if i had to guess why Taylor is the topic, it's because Taylor is in the zeitgeist right now. It's not "picking on" to discuss the zeitgeist.
@@BrightesteFaeri It is if you don't do it fairly or intelligently. Using one single out of context lyric to defend your argument is not what I would call "being focused." I'd call that lazy, disingenuous or both.
Hey, as a swiftie (I even have dedicated fan account on twitter), I absolutely agree. The thing is, I like that album. But I absolutely understand the criticism the album gets and I accept it. I for example didn't like Midnights all that much, which is certainly an unpopular opinion amongs swifties. I feel like the whiplash Swifties get just for being Swifties is not justified at times and borderlines bullying, but at the same time, Swifties can be incredibly cruel and ruthless themselves. It's sad, really, for us people who are here just to enjoy music.
6:54 nah you liked those bc she shapeshifted to be this shy little astute poet to fit Joe aesthetic and she even heavily heavily credits his attributes to this album in her award acceptance speeches, in her zane Lowe Apple Music interview and in the long pond studio sessions. He was responsible for a whole bunch of melodies and lyrics. Ironically she recycled these melodies on midnights and ttpd 🤦♀️ I’ve always been a swifty since 2008 but this year I’ve learned so much about her and between that and the new album and all the cash grabby stuff going on lately. It’s just a real disappointment:/
I'm sorry but if you're crediting joe for the success of folklore and Evermore then you've lost the plot. he wrote one verse. he does not hold a single pen to Taylor's artistry
8:37 personally when i say (or just think) "you dont get it" i do not mean it as a "its too smart for you" is more of a "you dont connect with it" and thats fine. Ofc we will all connect and see ourselves in different things bc we have different life experiencies and thats okay thats cool.
Oh, Melanie Martinez stans can be awful. Some of them are cool, but I remember when a TH-camr gave portals a bad review some of her stans sent him and his wife death threats and gore
It's sad how often you had to remind them that it's just your critique in order to not get harassed and bullied.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I dont think we regular swifties are agaist opinions or criticism... but i do think that artists, not only taylor, are getting a lot of hate for releasing "not excelent" albums when we are not paying any money at all for their work... its not like we live in the 90s anymore... i literaly have never give direct money to this woman.... and she gave us 30 songs... (of course shes making profit, but not in the same way)
Criticism is one thing and is totally fine (HTHAZE doesn't like lots of Taylors songs, but he is not being attacked on media)
But we shouldnt destroy artists, or try to show they are overrated, for making "bad" art... we should just move on.
The discourse around Taylor Swift is insane to me. Her diehards thinks she’s a perfect baby angel that consistently puts out flawless music and, no, that’s not how being an artist works. She’s gonna out out your occasional stinker and that’s okay.
But on the other side, the vitriol against Taylor Swift is WILD. Twitter seemed to take a certain amount of glee in this album not getting amazing reviews, which is kind of unhinged. And I will never forget going to my sister in law’s house for family dinner a few months ago, copping to liking some of Taylor’s music, and her telling me “you’re lucky you married into the family, otherwise I would tell you to get out”. She was kidding (probably…) but still. I can’t think of another artist that gets that kind of a response. Like “oh you like Phish? Get the fuck out of my house”.
Republican pundits tell their followers to hate her. Also, the album received mostly positive reviews. Conservatives and people who just didn't like it are spreading lies that it was negatively reviewed. It really wasn't, and it's a massive commercial success as well.
Taylor swift is popular so it makes her easy to make fun of. Especially since she is a woman who has a fanbase of mostly women.
The US government is suing Ticketmaster so hopefully something is happening soon with the ticket dilemmas
I hope that goes well since it's been a major toss up with all the cases lately with the US government
@@randomtinypotatocried I hope they took their time, I mean honestly they have decades of material to work with. Going all the way back to when Pearl Jam was boycotting Ticketmaster in the 90s for being a monopoly, we’ve been known this and the government even tried to stop the merge of ticket master and live nation, due to fears of monopoly and they still let it go through! I have no idea why!? But probably bc they benefitted off of it in some way. They need to fix things. Other nations have been able to work out laws and regulations, such as tickets not being able to be sold for more than they were bought for. And the concert tickets in those places are also a lot more reasonable. Just looking at Europe tickets for the eras tour, the highest ticket cost is what nosebleeds in America cost. I looked at UK eras tickets and the highest price I saw was like 1.5k. The cheapest ticket to go to her show in Miami because of scalpers, is 1.7k…. It’s ridiculous. The least they could do is make regulations about how much tickets can be resold for…
Rich white woman bashing is different than woman bashing though.
Is it, though? Seems like you're justifying bashing a woman based on her skin color and wealth, when you wouldn't do the same to all the legions of men of that same skin color who are that rich or richer.
@@automnejoy5308 Yes it is different and yes you are correct that I wouldn't do it to all "legions" of men but I would do it to rich, white men. I hate on them more than anyone lol duh. So what is your point?
Off topic, but its such a cute easter egg of all of your videos catching the chiptune outro credits music and then figuring out the reference or connection back to the video subject. It`s a pretty small thing but it gives me exactly one crumb of dopamine every time, and I thank you for it!
not enjoying something is fine.. but constantly having to say you dislike something and nitpicking out of context lyrics and production to pretend it's bad.. is just immature.
it's okay to not get something. it's okay to not be the intended audience. art is both subjective and objective. fighting that every album must stick to an extremely superficial, stiff standard is..
taylor does take criticism. she just doesn't take hate and she's grown to be more confident in herself and her work. she's not trying to wow the gp with every release anymore. she's happy with sharing secrets with fans, being more relaxed and intimate. releasing albums for herself aswell as anyone who'll listen.
some fans can be over the top but they're always a minority that's exploited by others to shame the fandom..and especially young women and girls. swifties just want to enjoy her without others imposing weird hate and unhelpful "criticism". it's hard not to be pissed off when every release comes with push back. especially when the same isn't done for male artists..
we aren't over here sharing deep thoughts about any male artists work, are we? no..
hell, we just all had to sit back and watch two grown men have a rap battle.. where they just insulted each other..
ttpd is taken out of its context, entirely in alot of cases. the concept and double album is misinterpreted. people look at the top layer of the constant media circus and assume she's just pushing music out for the money or charts. taylor herself has said that she used to take breaks between albums but recently she's just felt so free and so passionate.. she's genuinely writing that much and she wants people to hear it. she doesn't just want to keep it to herself.
ttpd has been in the works for 2 years. it wasn't rushed. the lyrics and storytelling is on par with everything else she's done, i would argue that it's better in many ways and parts than folkmore. the production is also more interesting than in some of folkmore. she experimented a little and the meanings behind the songs are actually really interesting and go far beyond some speculation.
it's funny that you mention easter eggs because taylor has already said that she doesn't actually think that far ahead and intertwine things so deeply.. as some fans may believe. her actual eggs tend to be pretty obvious. like how the hint for the double album was just her mentioning and referencing the number 2. aaaand there's songs on ttpd that criticise the idea that she's a character and her life is on display. she doesn't like the constant need that some obsessive fans and media have to be "in" her personal life.
yes, she's very open in alot of ways but that's not an excuse for her to be picked at and exploited. she gives us as much as she feels comfortable with and tells us to relate it to our own experiences not hers. she likes the idea of us being more friends, it's more like a sleepover where you chat about everything in life. it's not about ravaging through someone's person to find every little detail.
anyway.. point is. if this album was released by anyone else it would be herald for being different, out there, cool, sexy and would gain a fandom.
I'm not frustrated with the people who just didn't like the album (though I heard it grows on you with re-listening), but chronically online folks having a meltdown over the 1830 line or purposefully not understanding why So High School is the way it is make me wonder if reading comprehension is still a thing. That being said, completely agree that some swifties really need to chill out and stop embarrassing themselves.
that whole 1830s controversy was so concerning to me, it really shows the downfall in reading comprehension which is terrifying to me, although I think alot if that was people purposely misinterpreting the lyric for a quick dunk.
Honestly I don’t think it was a reading comprehension thing, I think it’s just that 1. It sounds cringy, 2. It’s really unnecessary to include in the song, 3. It sounds like she’s trying to cover her tracks as a WW that wants to live in the 1800s, 4. It’s written poorly, 5. The way she mentions not wanting racists nonchalantly is low key funny, and tone deaf bc fucking duh
@@bobsburgers8497 it most definitely is, it shows a culture moving towards anti-intellectualism or the idea that 'the curtains are just blue' - the line is from the perspective of a child's game, which is why the delivery is so blunt and nonchalant and the 1830s were specifically chosen, not because she actually wants to live there, but because (in line with the focus of the album) it was the height of the Romantic poetry movement, which in many ways she emulates as a writer. and when criticising this line, people cherrypicked rather than looking at it in context. she goes on to say 'nostalgia is a mind trick' and that if she'd been there she'd hate it too because of the society of the time. the whole song kind of touches on how she hates the world and society and how she wishes to escape but even in the romanticised past (which is not just a thing she does but a common thing atm, even with the 1830s which link to people's love of bridgerton and the regency period) it was awful. but instead of listening to a whole song people pinpoint on one lyric without even considering that there could be more to it.
@@katy-hn2jm did you not read anything I wrote. I was literally saying regardless of her intention it didn’t translate well. And that’s for multiple reasons, there comes a point when it’s the writers fault and not the readers. Even though she’s criticitizing it (and not enough imo), it’s just tone deaf for her, a white woman to still proclaim love for that time period , without the racism thingy. It just sounds like she’s trying to cover her tracks, and honestly she just should’ve not included it or found a better way to say she longs for a time period bc of the literature and not the social norms. And I’m sorry but in this stance people are correct and don’t need to listen to the whole song imo. A lot of the context was within the lines they’re criticizing. And it just sounds clunky and cringey too. Sorry if this sounds like imma Taylor swift hater, but I am 💀
@@bobsburgers8497 i read everything you said and yes you do need to contextualise a line to understand what it means - you can say the line is clunky at worst but it's not racist. People don't even criticise the whole line, they can't even be bothered to read the next few words to actually understand the intention. if ppl took shakespeares lines out of context and analysed them the same way they look at taylors songs they would come to similar conclusions
As a Swiftie, my opinion about her recent albums also the same Midnights and TTPD are her not great albums, I feel like she should now depart to this style where she's the central figure of her songs because I'm getting tired of that, her songwriting style is more appreciated if she is sings about other perspectives, she's not the main character but rather the storyteller of her songs.