(I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the studio right now.) Swift is doing something at least a little bit like rapping. It means a continued de-emphasis - one that began on her last album, “1989” - of the sorts of dense narratives that were so integral to her early career. That means a shift away from her signature melodies to an approach that uses her voice as an accent piece, or seasoning - the difference between songs that are 24K Taylor and ones that are merely Taylor-plated. Swift is as effective a distiller of everyone else’s pop ideas as she was at charting her own sui generis path. Some things are lost, to be sure, but it turns out that Ms. Swift’s strengths, she barrels ahead here, finding ways to incorporate it into her arsenal, and herself into it. “Reputation” is a public renegotiation, engaging pop music on its terms, not hers.Īnd even though what’s au courant in pop - post-Drake lite-soul noir, or gothic but plain dramatists like Halsey and Selena Gomez - doesn’t necessarily play to Ms. “Reputation” is fundamentally unlike any of her other albums in that it takes into account - prioritizes, actually - the tempo and tone of her competition. Swift chasing that good feeling, pushing back against a decade of following her own instincts. Swift is 27 now, and the things she used to deny herself - in song, at least - are no more.īut it is also Ms. Swift has cursed (“damn” doesn’t count) it’s the first time she has sung about consuming alcohol (and repeatedly at that) and it’s the vehicle for her most overt songs about sexual agency. The bombastic, unexpected, sneakily potent “Reputation” is many things: It’s the first album on which Ms.
The target is herself - her innocence, her naïveté, the way in which striving to be flawless is perhaps the ultimate flaw. “I Did Something Bad,” which comes third on her new album, “Reputation,” has all the hallmarks of a classic Swift assault: lyrics about men who are out of their depth sprinkled with just enough details to imply grave shortcomings.īut the chorus is something different: “They say I did something bad/Then why’s it feel so good?” On the surface, it’s an awakening, but really, it’s a takedown. She is a songwriter and performer who has long thrived on antagonism (it’s one of her two poles the other is swooning), and no pop star of the modern era has communicated the contours of her disappointment with such emotional precision and melodic sophistication. Taylor Swift is known for the kiss-off, the eerily intimate way she dismantles those who have wronged her.
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