Release Date: April 19, 2024 Label: Republic Records Length: 65:08/122:21 Produced By: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, Patrik Berger Rating: 5.9 Review by: Alexander Hellene Highlights: “The Tortured Poets Department,” “Florida!!!”, “Wendy,” “So High School”
I wonder if the most popular artist of the time tells us most of what we need to know about the time. Swift is narcissistic, petulant, intelligent, educated, and cynical - Pretty much describes the modern world.
When I saw you mention in the review that Taylor Swift had a song called "Cassandra", I got curious about whether it was a cover of the ABBA song of the same name, so I looked it up on YouTube (the Swift one, that is) and listened to it.
It's not the same song, but to my surprise, just like ABBA's "Cassandra", Swift's song is clearly based on the Greek myth of Cassandra (who was cursed by Apollo to always deliver true prophecies but never be believed). In "The Aeneid", Cassandra warned the Trojans about many events pertaining to the fall of Troy, including the Greeks hiding inside the Trojan Horse. They, of course, didn't listen, and their city was destroyed.
Both songs (ABBA and Swift) are about a woman whose warnings went unheeded, and both heavily use symbolism related to the myth of Cassandra in their lyrics.
However, there are some important differences. Swift's song is told from the point of view of the unbelieved prophetess herself, and is angsty and spiteful in tone (a mix of "poor me" and "I told you so"). ABBA's song is told from the point of view of a person who should have believed Cassandra but didn't, and is mournful and regretful in its lyrics. Personally, I find the latter more compelling.
Also, ABBA's song, to my musically untrained but picky ears, is much better musically in every way (composition, voices, instrumentation, etc), and feels shorter than Swift's song despite being 50 seconds longer.
ABBA’s songwriting and warmth is leaps and bounds above Swift’s, at least on this album. Good observations about the song—she is very whiny.
Here are my notes for Swift’s “Cassandra”:
“More piano and subtle electronic percussion. What was Taylor Swift warning everybody about that they didn’t listen? More anti-Christian imagery to show the hypocrisy of everybody who apparently doesn’t think she’s the greatest thing and sliced bread. The thing with a lot of these songs is that there’s no catharsis. There’s no moment that really sends tingles down your spine. On a couple of tracks she does hit an anthemic chorus, and at least provides some modicum of release from the quite effective tension she can create with these songs. However, this one is another interstitial piece that should be a break between more fiery material. Another one that should be left on the room floor. More songs does not equal good.”
"What was Taylor Swift warning everybody about that they didn’t listen?"
That's a good question. I just looked it up to see if there's an answer, and the leading theory seems to be that it's about some beef between her and Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
"More anti-Christian imagery to show the hypocrisy of everybody who apparently doesn’t think she’s the greatest thing and sliced bread."
If the article I linked above is correct, these lyrics from the song may be referring to the Kardashian family (depicting them as greedy, faux Christians, etc):
"The family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line
They all said nothin’
Blood’s thick, but nothin’ like a payroll
Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul"
That's another problem with her: I don't want to have to do a bunch of homework about a singer's personal life to understand a pop song, especially if the homework reveals that it's about unrelatable squabbles between celebrities. That's not to say that artists' personal lives shouldn't influence their music, but it's their job to take the personal and make it universal enough that the song can resonate with people who have no idea of how the song came to be written. It shouldn't be up to the listener to have to perform research about the artist's life to appreciate the song. Before the social media era, no one would have dared to attempt such a thing, nor would it have worked.
No kidding! You need to do a dissertation to understand what she’s singing about. Great artists make the personal universal. She makes the personal even more inscrutable and personal.
You nailed it in the first paragraph: “mid.” Everything about her is mid. Her looks, her music, her lyrics, her. Yeah yeah. I’m a 44 yr old married white guy with kids and a mortgage and a job and hobbies, I’m not her target audience, etc. But there is nothing remarkable about her or her music at all. It’s just…there. It’s why I truly feel her fans are a cult. I’ve always ready the perfect summation on the internet (I can’t remember where): Taylor Swift is music for female incels. That’s just 🤌🏻👌🏻.
Thanks for taking one for the team so we don’t have to. I hear the occasional song on the radio with one of my daughters in the car (she’s a fan, but not an obsessive one). Shit is brutal.
I differ only in that I do think she’s a good-looking woman; not my type, but she’s good-looking.
But given that her looks have nothing to do with her music, and I’m criticizing music here, I can’t disagree with your observations. As Dylan said in his comment, Swift has some undeniably good TRACKS, but not so much albums.
Oh and one more thing…she has always come off as (and still does) such a tryhard. Her attempts at being cool or edgy or daring are just so…fucking…lame.
She’s like the ugly girl in high school who was a 2 and got a bit prettier when she grew up, but not beautiful. Say she’s a 5 or 6 now. But she tries to act and come across like she’s a 10, only it turns everyone off and makes her seem more like a 4. That’s Taylor Swift. Mid in every way.
Very try hard. It’s disappointing more than anything because she’s obviously talented and is a good lyricist. I wish she’d use that talent to do something interesting. Even if she stayed in the country or pop realm, there’s so much more that could be done. Most of the songs on this album sound very underwritten. When you’re relying on arrangement and production on EVERY SONG to liven up a chord progression that doesn’t change, you need to try something new.
The title track is really the most fully written thing on here.
Kudos to you, Alex, for trudging through Taylor Swift's new album. I doubt she'll ever release anything truly terrible, but it's astonishing how MOR her recent work has been. Given that she's the most popular artist in the world at this point.
Last year, when I was driving several hours a day for work, I resolved to listen to as much of Taylor Swift's catalog as I could tolerate.
Some revelations: -Speak Now is her best album, full stop.
- She is a fantastic singles artist, but her albums are almost always too long and have way too much filler.
- Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights are genuinely hard to listen to. Very mid, lots of needless swears, and a severe lack of hooks.
- Seriously, after Lover, the hooks all but disappear on her albums, save for a couple stellar singles ("Cardigan," "Anti-Hero").
Really good observations. Yes—too many of these songs are hook-free. “Fortnight,” “Down Bad,” and the title track are the only ones with hooks I can still remember. Well, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” as well, but it’s a very whiny one.
I don’t know how long Swift’s other albums are, but here, even the standard version should’ve been cut in half. I’d have cut “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “The Alchemy,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”, “loml,” “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and “Clara Bow,” and maybe put “Wendy” and “So High School” from The Anthology instead. That’s a 10-song album that’d be in the 7.0-7.5 range.
I wonder if the most popular artist of the time tells us most of what we need to know about the time. Swift is narcissistic, petulant, intelligent, educated, and cynical - Pretty much describes the modern world.
In this case, I certainly think it does. Taylor Swift certainly resonates with tens of millions of people for a reason.
When I saw you mention in the review that Taylor Swift had a song called "Cassandra", I got curious about whether it was a cover of the ABBA song of the same name, so I looked it up on YouTube (the Swift one, that is) and listened to it.
It's not the same song, but to my surprise, just like ABBA's "Cassandra", Swift's song is clearly based on the Greek myth of Cassandra (who was cursed by Apollo to always deliver true prophecies but never be believed). In "The Aeneid", Cassandra warned the Trojans about many events pertaining to the fall of Troy, including the Greeks hiding inside the Trojan Horse. They, of course, didn't listen, and their city was destroyed.
Both songs (ABBA and Swift) are about a woman whose warnings went unheeded, and both heavily use symbolism related to the myth of Cassandra in their lyrics.
However, there are some important differences. Swift's song is told from the point of view of the unbelieved prophetess herself, and is angsty and spiteful in tone (a mix of "poor me" and "I told you so"). ABBA's song is told from the point of view of a person who should have believed Cassandra but didn't, and is mournful and regretful in its lyrics. Personally, I find the latter more compelling.
Also, ABBA's song, to my musically untrained but picky ears, is much better musically in every way (composition, voices, instrumentation, etc), and feels shorter than Swift's song despite being 50 seconds longer.
ABBA’s songwriting and warmth is leaps and bounds above Swift’s, at least on this album. Good observations about the song—she is very whiny.
Here are my notes for Swift’s “Cassandra”:
“More piano and subtle electronic percussion. What was Taylor Swift warning everybody about that they didn’t listen? More anti-Christian imagery to show the hypocrisy of everybody who apparently doesn’t think she’s the greatest thing and sliced bread. The thing with a lot of these songs is that there’s no catharsis. There’s no moment that really sends tingles down your spine. On a couple of tracks she does hit an anthemic chorus, and at least provides some modicum of release from the quite effective tension she can create with these songs. However, this one is another interstitial piece that should be a break between more fiery material. Another one that should be left on the room floor. More songs does not equal good.”
"What was Taylor Swift warning everybody about that they didn’t listen?"
That's a good question. I just looked it up to see if there's an answer, and the leading theory seems to be that it's about some beef between her and Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a60551837/taylor-swift-cassandra-lyrics-meaning-kim-kardashian/
"More anti-Christian imagery to show the hypocrisy of everybody who apparently doesn’t think she’s the greatest thing and sliced bread."
If the article I linked above is correct, these lyrics from the song may be referring to the Kardashian family (depicting them as greedy, faux Christians, etc):
"The family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line
They all said nothin’
Blood’s thick, but nothin’ like a payroll
Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul"
That's another problem with her: I don't want to have to do a bunch of homework about a singer's personal life to understand a pop song, especially if the homework reveals that it's about unrelatable squabbles between celebrities. That's not to say that artists' personal lives shouldn't influence their music, but it's their job to take the personal and make it universal enough that the song can resonate with people who have no idea of how the song came to be written. It shouldn't be up to the listener to have to perform research about the artist's life to appreciate the song. Before the social media era, no one would have dared to attempt such a thing, nor would it have worked.
No kidding! You need to do a dissertation to understand what she’s singing about. Great artists make the personal universal. She makes the personal even more inscrutable and personal.
Obscure celebrity feuds. How relatable.
You nailed it in the first paragraph: “mid.” Everything about her is mid. Her looks, her music, her lyrics, her. Yeah yeah. I’m a 44 yr old married white guy with kids and a mortgage and a job and hobbies, I’m not her target audience, etc. But there is nothing remarkable about her or her music at all. It’s just…there. It’s why I truly feel her fans are a cult. I’ve always ready the perfect summation on the internet (I can’t remember where): Taylor Swift is music for female incels. That’s just 🤌🏻👌🏻.
Thanks for taking one for the team so we don’t have to. I hear the occasional song on the radio with one of my daughters in the car (she’s a fan, but not an obsessive one). Shit is brutal.
I differ only in that I do think she’s a good-looking woman; not my type, but she’s good-looking.
But given that her looks have nothing to do with her music, and I’m criticizing music here, I can’t disagree with your observations. As Dylan said in his comment, Swift has some undeniably good TRACKS, but not so much albums.
Oh and one more thing…she has always come off as (and still does) such a tryhard. Her attempts at being cool or edgy or daring are just so…fucking…lame.
She’s like the ugly girl in high school who was a 2 and got a bit prettier when she grew up, but not beautiful. Say she’s a 5 or 6 now. But she tries to act and come across like she’s a 10, only it turns everyone off and makes her seem more like a 4. That’s Taylor Swift. Mid in every way.
Very try hard. It’s disappointing more than anything because she’s obviously talented and is a good lyricist. I wish she’d use that talent to do something interesting. Even if she stayed in the country or pop realm, there’s so much more that could be done. Most of the songs on this album sound very underwritten. When you’re relying on arrangement and production on EVERY SONG to liven up a chord progression that doesn’t change, you need to try something new.
The title track is really the most fully written thing on here.
Kudos to you, Alex, for trudging through Taylor Swift's new album. I doubt she'll ever release anything truly terrible, but it's astonishing how MOR her recent work has been. Given that she's the most popular artist in the world at this point.
Last year, when I was driving several hours a day for work, I resolved to listen to as much of Taylor Swift's catalog as I could tolerate.
Some revelations: -Speak Now is her best album, full stop.
- She is a fantastic singles artist, but her albums are almost always too long and have way too much filler.
- Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights are genuinely hard to listen to. Very mid, lots of needless swears, and a severe lack of hooks.
- Seriously, after Lover, the hooks all but disappear on her albums, save for a couple stellar singles ("Cardigan," "Anti-Hero").
Really good observations. Yes—too many of these songs are hook-free. “Fortnight,” “Down Bad,” and the title track are the only ones with hooks I can still remember. Well, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” as well, but it’s a very whiny one.
I don’t know how long Swift’s other albums are, but here, even the standard version should’ve been cut in half. I’d have cut “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “The Alchemy,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”, “loml,” “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and “Clara Bow,” and maybe put “Wendy” and “So High School” from The Anthology instead. That’s a 10-song album that’d be in the 7.0-7.5 range.