I agree with most of what you have said here BUT I was so happy that Aaron Dessner worked on this album with her since my favorite album is Evermore. Thank you Aaron. "I can kiss him on the mouth with tongue" as Madeleine said. Also, I have the feeling that this album along with her Era's tour finishing up this year, will be the last for a while (besides Rep and Taylor Swift remakes). I can see her winding down to try and lead a so called "normal life". She is now contracted to make at least one movie so she may be taking a break for awhile from her music? We'll see.
Wow! I really love the way you analysed and explained this album. As a Swiftie, I was not fully satisfied with this album. Your video clarifies many many unclear thoughts I had about this album. I also thought some songs were similar to that of the folkevermore era. Loved so long London and fortnight. Thank you so much for this video. I really appreciate this. ❤
you literally can't find this type of content and work elsewhere online, the most clear, centered and objective analysis on taylor and her work all whilst balancing being a swiftie and a reasonable critic
I respect your ability to differentiate between your feelings and opinions as a fan and as a critic SO MUCH, it’s something I need to work on myself and think a lot of other swifties would benefit from tbh
I agree! His critical thinking skills is what makes him interesting to listen to. I can't deal with the delusion, projection and defensiveness from most of the other TS critics.
For real! I feel like in twitter everything is black and white. but i have learned with him more about being critic and objective, and i think that makes me a better fan:)
One thing that’s really pissing me off is everyone complaining that she’s swearing. Don’t like the swearing? Easy solution - listen to the clean version!!! Like my god people just complain about anything.
The clean version of I can do it with a broken heart is so much better than the OG. The clean version of Down Bad is almost better if it wasn't for the sloppy gap in the replaced lines. Taylor's lack of swearing and ability to articulate emotion without it was a USP. Sad that she gave that up but oh well!
Oh - also the Bolter! Many lives >>> fucking lives. Especially. In. This. Song - it's so innocent and country, the swearing simply doesn't fit the aesthetic.
Might sound unrelated, but stick with me here: I work in the TV space and TV writing specifically and there is an interesting thing that happens when watching people write TV for network and TV for streaming. When you write for a show like The Office or Seinfeld, you only get 22 minutes and you can’t say everything you wanna say (re: cursing, sexual language, etc). And so as a result, you have to chop off some really funny shit to make sure you fit those 22 minutes and executive criteria. But what happens with Netflix or HBO Max shows is that there aren’t those time constraints and you can kinda just say or show anything, and boy does it show. Writers get so excited that they can say and write as much as their writer hearts desire, that the end result is a bit messy to say the least. If you ever watch the Office Fan Edition it’s basically just The Office episodes with deleted (often worse) scenes. Fans eat it up, cause isn’t it so cool to get more content from your favorite show, but man, if that’s what The Office was putting out in 2006, it would not have the reputation and legecy it has now. So, I agree with your assessment of her hyper productivity. I think she must be a little resentful and bitter about the restraints of her first 6 albums, especially cause she had a falling out with the main guy in charge, and she can be mad at Scott Bourchetta but that doesn’t mean she has to also disregard all his methods. She started swinging the pendulum the other way as early as with Lover, when we see her in the board room saying she wants this to be a long 18-20 song album. She then felt the gradification and vindication of putting out more through the re-recordings. She must have had a real “I told you so” moment when All 10 Well and Is It Over Now went #1. But that shouldn’t be her sign to throw spaghetti (no matter how yummy the spaghetti is) at the wall. I would love her next album to be a super tight Melodrama type album. 11-12 songs, one sound, tight as hell tracklist, one story, maybe even an interlude. She can clearly make great songs, but she has it in her to make a great album, which is arguably harder.
This is exactly how I feel about this album! I think she still has some great ideas and good lines but they all get so watered down with bland production and plainly bad lyrics... I was super disappointed tbh. Yeah, it might've felt cathartic for her to write this, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be a great product. And sure, she's big enough to not care I guess but that doesn't mean we need to be delusional about the quality of her work. If you need to have a master's degree in swiftology to "get" an album, maybe the album just isn't good at conveying a message and having an impact. I hope she takes her time with the next album to truly work out the good stuff.
Exactly, like someone else said, “Taylor felt that she needed to write this album (as a form of therapy) but did we, the fans, really NEED to hear every single thing she wrote?” No…
I never thought about it that way. What a cool perspective. The funny thing is, Taylor's got a movie script in the works. It'll be exciting to see if the constraints of a limited runtime will make her a better screenwriter
@@SWINDISA literally cannot wait to see what she'll cook up. Maybe she'll have 3 versions, 10 remixes of the soundtrack, be 3 hours long, with her as the writer, director, lead actress, editor, cinematographer, wardrobe consultant, hair and make up person. lol. Our girl likes to do everything.
yeah and they dislike taylor swift enough to take it seriously and assume this is what she means instead of bothering to do any research and use their brains 😭
critiquing a previously pretty- politically silent pop star for a lyric evoking the time of American Slavery in a romantic sense, on an album largely about Matty...an AntiBlack racist is certainly something i'd say is fair. Honestly.
I actually love all the alien stuff in down bad. She’s using it as a metaphor for love bombing and the juxtaposition of the unreality to the reality is kind of the point. You feel swept up and otherworldly when you’re being treated like the chosen one but then you come crashing down and realize it was never true. I love how unbiased and critical you and be of our HBIC though ❤
Yes! The verse where she talks about being left naked in a field and saying people will say she’s nuts if she tried to talk about “the existence of you” kills me because it’s just like that in a lot of those situations. The person who hurt you (usually) has a reputation for being kind and charming, so a lot of people don’t believe they would ever be so hurtful, so you must just be nuts. They don’t believe that you experienced what you experienced. It’s such a layered song.
Yes, the contrast between a glittering spaceship and sweaty gym is jarring, but I feel like that’s the point. It feels out of place because she’s describing feeling out of place after a sudden and intense life event. The songs could use some editing for sure, but I like that Down Bad is all over the place, because that’s what it feels like in that situation.
I will say though, it’s extremely difficult to understand on first listen because of the way it’s structured. The most obvious parts of the metaphor are at the beginning so if you missed it, the rest doesn’t work. It makes sense that casual listeners and critics don’t tend to get it.
As an old married lady of 21 years, I actually also feel like this song is even relatable in a long term relationship. There are times you’re doing so well together and then something can come up to make you be on two different pages and it’s that same feeling. Maybe not as intense a feeling, not as devastating obviously, but still. In a relationship that is stable and includes kids, jobs, a house, pets, & all kind of responsibilities, you might have a weekend away that feels magical and then… you’re back to your real life. You get in a stupid fight and then wonder where did that cosmic love feeling go?
I feel like she had to go to the alien route. Because the only other thing to reference is fairy tales. And if she did that, the criticism would be oh another fairy tale song?
Peter was arguably the best song on both albums. (In my opinion) Peter is about Matty Healy “you said you’d come get me but you were 25” they met when he was 25, also at the end she changes the chorus from “you said you were gonna grow up, then you were gonna come find me” to just “you said you were gonna grow up”…. As in he came back but did not grow up, so to me, that makes sense to be on this album. Also with the Peter losing Wendy line from cardigan & her doing that weird ass “this is about you” thing before it on the Eras tour the same way he did… leaves me to think MAYBE he was also the muse for Cardigan. Idk, just some food for thought and why i definitely see Peter as a great song on this album.
i know you already broke down ttpd in your podcast but id love for you to do a more produced and traditional breakdown. the podcast just feels like two friends talking about ttpd which i love but honestly i prefer a video in the standard style with just you, your camera and your mic
Happy to read this comment. Absolutely agreed. I appreciate the off the bat reaction but I’d love your commentary in a month or later, when this album has sat with us for a while
I’m hoping we get one as well. The other person on his podcast cuts him off so frequently and she can be louder when Zach is more quiet so I end up turning up and turning down the volume so often and this is just me personally but I don’t like how much she swears and so I can’t consume their podcast much but I like his individual break downs and hope we get a more TTPD break down as time goes on❤❤
@@kkrb1212I so agree with you. I love listening to Zach. She surely is a nice person I just don’t like her part in the podcast, it’s so exhausting listening to her. She doesn’t make the podcast better and I would prefer if she would just be a guest from time to time.
@@theswiftologist I will def be interested to hear if any of your views shifted after having the songs around for longer! :D I know even this past week and a half mine have!
Thank you SO MUCH for bringing up Paste Magazine. As a former journalism student and Swiftie, I was incredulous at their hit piece under the guise of an album review. It was infuriating.
The entire Paste article was an absolute circus. It was clearly pre-written and they added in a few sentences about the lyrics last minute. So much of it was objectively false, and the rest was targeting Taylor personally and her fans strictly to get attention. It was pure bait -- the tweet alone about why they didn't include a byline proves it -- and so many other media outlets ate it up. There are plenty of objective critical takes on the album, but this was not one.
She said on her Director on Director talk interview “you don't have to belabor it [art] and polish the doorknob so long you forget to open the door,” and I think she’s been using that philosophy and she’s found success with that philosophy with the re-recording vault tracks, sister folkevermore albums, and the length of the eras tour, but it’s kinda run its course. Like, why not polish the doorknob? If you have the money, time, and resources to do so (and Taylor definitely does) why not have a polished doorknob, song, album, etc. I also think she doesn’t have anyone around her telling her this anymore whether that be her team or her fans. It’s all “you go, Taylor.” When maybe it should be “you go edit, Taylor.” Rules, and limitations, and challenges are good for creativity. Beyonce is a good example of that. She could have wasily seatled in her original style and you go girl pop anthems, but she always is challenging herself. Taylor can do it too and it doesn’t have to be externally enforced rules or limitations, she can give herself the challange. She just needs to stop hearing the crowd saying “more.”
Time? people nowadays have the attention span of a gerbil. I am taking my time with this album. Love your content and your calm discourse about this new project. Social media is a train wreck of histrionics and over reactions about everything.
Yes it's slowly growing on me daily when I first listened I couldn't get on board I think this is one that I'll fall in love slowly I hated Rep for years then fell in love with it a few years ago I think it could happen the same way.
I agree and that’s what I love about finding so many thoughtful creators in the midst of so much ridiculousness. I actually think it might make us better as a society over all in the end, because the people who want more nuance will become even more intentional about finding each other ❤
Taylor hit the depth of her mid 30s. you start becoming truly self-aware because you stopped caring about what other people think. It’s raw and real. I’m 41 and I felt this album to my core.
I don’t understand the disturbing obsession people have with Taylor and Travis, it’s so creepy. I can’t imagine it being healthy for a relationship either when people are out here planning their wedding and if they’re gonna have kids. Just beyond disturbing and para social
I feel like I have had to literally be the one swiftie who is basically saying you just don’t get the album. So many new swifties are saying they like her because she has individual eras and her story telling yet their favorite albums are always her pop albums with catchy songs.
I didn't mean people shouldn't like her catchy songs and whatnot, I just meant people say they love when she branches out to try new things but when she does it is often met with skepticism. The sound of this album is definitely very interesting and not for everyone.
@@notcxle2663 one of my favorite songs is look what you made me do. Totally stepped outside her boundary but genius. There's just something about this album. I wouldn't really call any of the songs genius. She's honestly recycled a lot of her sayings and themes to a track that often over powers her vocals
@@krystademilio1256interesting - that’s the song I least liked on Rep. but that album was my introduction to her music and I got hooked on to going through her discography . I love all her eras. But tastes vary and can change so someone not being crazy about this album does not mean they are not a fan. If u ask me I feel she did this album for herself - to get through a really bad period in her life as it is now evident more than anything else. A bit self indulgent which is why there r mixed reviews. Personally I love it and the more I listen the better it gets
Zach, phenomenal intro. I'm seated for Tay's messiness, frustration and anger; & annoyed at "hot takes" who don't know the lore, are poking for click bait, and not doing analysis. Meanwhile, this albums are GREAT but has half a dozen skips. Maddy's recommendation to have split it into two separate drops (by a fortenight) is a great idea. Edited to make shorter within 15 minutes of posting.
I personally love TTPD, but I'm very aware that I'm a big swiftie, I'm familiar with the lore and have had time to sit with the album. I completely agree with you on most of your points. Is this a bad album? NO, absolutely not!! But, I don't think it's her best album. That is partly because Taylor has set a very high bar with her discography, but also, I think that Taylor had so much to say and is obviously very talented that sometimes the message didn't always land the way she wanted. The Paste article was actually ridiculous and, like you said, your words lose their merit when you don't put your name on it. That being said, no one should receive death threads and the fact that people go to the length of (verbal) violence is absurd. I do think that Taylor receives more criticism than most artists about having a similar sound on multiple albums, given the fact that most artists stick to one genre of music, but we should want her to keep challenging herself to be great/better/BEST.
Zack, you deserve to get PAID for this kind of content, truly. If I weren't already a patron, I'd be rushing over to sign up now, b/ c this is the kind of quality journalism I want to consume! I don't agree with all of your points, but you are def. making me think, and I can tell you didn't rush to any of these assertions quickly or lightly. Bravo!
YES thank you, I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since debut but recently I’ve felt completely alienated by most of the fandom just because I don’t care to talk about her current boyfriends and exes beyond what’s in the music. I find it funny that it used to be that fans focused more on the music and the general media focused more on her boyfriends and now it almost feels flipped.
I agree with you, I see swifties criticising the media for always talking about her love life BUT most of the time now online its always the swifties who immediately speculate.
Would you ever consider doing a video about your favorite lyrics in her discography? & what makes them so great? I found your commentary on show not tell really insightful as a fellow writer (not songs, novels). Would love to get some content diving into her writing style & what sets her apart from her peers.
If you consider Taylor’s last two years, her relationship with Joe coming to an end, the conception of the Era’s tour and the extreme hard work, being lonely, being somewhat isolated for a while, the whole Ratie thing, being vulnerable, the new relationship with Travis and her mom’s ongoing illness. These songs seem like Throwing up her emotional pain. I can always find songs I like on her albums. I think this was a risk for her to put out as she often does not portray well. Good video.
honestly the way that online fandoms are now compared to how they used to be is really disheartening. i'm sure there have been thinkpieces about it, but the general inability to have a conversation online about ANYTHING has really driven me off a lot of platforms and out of fandom spaces generally. i'm not saying we didn't have discourse - og tumblr is literally famous for being feral - but it never felt like the conversation STARTED with someone telling you to unalive yourself the way it does now. everyone is just so mad for no reason. anyway great video as usual!!! thanks for churning out content like this, YOU are one of the writers/critics i consistently come back to for good, earnest takes
I love Taylor's music and have all the lyrics memorized but I couldn't care less about her "lore". So to me Down Bad was a contrast between the sort of ethereal, "cosmic", feeling you feel when you're in love vs. the "down", grounded, more realistic version of it when it all comes crashing "down". Hence bringing up staring at the sky, yearning for that "heavenly" feeling again. ---- From my perspective the difference in the vibe of the verses vs. the chorus makes sense. Hopefully my comment does too lmaoooo
Tell them. Also re: Liz Rose, i absolutely agree. I think part of the magic of that collaboration was that Taylor was working with a woman. I’d love to see her work with female producers because (and I love the Jack and Dessner collabs) it would inevitably bring something different out of Taylor. Jack is a talented and capable producer who has been able to work with many different artists and is very able to produce for those artists in vastly different ways. But I think it is undeniable that working with a female producer or producers of color would absolutely bring something different to the table and perhaps help Taylor elevate her artistry.
Fr though, in six years they’ll love this album; reputation was not very well received and the critics I have seen love it now, they call it underrated but when it was released it was a lukewarm reception.
This album has a lot of satire and irony, starting from the title, which is so obviously sarcastic, that’s the point!! The Problem is that people expect it to be another Folklore and it’s not! TTPD is almost ruining that image, burning it down, if you will… 🔥 Taylor is mocking the idea of being a picture perfect good girl, the sage archetype that Folklore/ Evermore was catering to… TTPD, centered around forbidden romance delivered through unhinged exaggerated emotions, is a story of breaking free from social norms and people’s expectations. It is filled with dark humor, satire, even mockery. She is in her Harley Queen Era!! 😈 The undergoing narration of this album is what Reputation pretends to be…A True Female Rage 😡 It’s interesting that Reputation despite its dark aesthetic is a love album. Meanwhile, in TTPD she is dressed like a bride or a Disney princess, Ariel herself, all white, the undergoing theme is dark and wretched…
OK, some text based arguments for The Alchemy being a Travis song: *Why all the football metaphors if not? She doesn’t usually choose her imagery willy nilly. *Alchemy: the process of turning mundane things into gold. Nobody thought Matty and Taylor were golden, but Miss Americana and the best tight end in the NFL? People went nuts. *The placement in the album. We’ve just had 14 tracks taking us through the Joe breakup and Matty interlude, ending with The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived: “Good riddance,” “I don’t miss you,” “I don’t miss what we had,” … why would she go back all of a sudden to the beginning of the relationship for one track? Makes more sense to me that this is a pivot away from the past and towards the future, and then we just get that gorgeous meditation on the industry in Clara Bow *The joke “Heroine with an E,” sure it coulddd be Matty making fun of himself, but the first 14 tracks indicate he is maybe not a drug-free as it had seemed, and isn’t just as likely that Travis made fun of Matty by saying, essentially, “Yeah, babe, YOU’RE my drug of choice.” OK, that’s it 💫
Well written and insightful analysis! Thank you! Although I would add that I personally love Anthology, but agree that it seems out of place with TTPD. I wish it had been released more than 2 hours later. I don't think it's getting the slow, thoughtful attention it deserves because people can only get through the first 15 songs on TTPD before they are overwhelmed. Maybe her missive about closing the chapter truly is the reason why she released it all at once. It's a purge. I hear a woman who held a secret obsession in her heart for 10 years, only to come face to face with the reality of an addict. But that dream had been her secret hope of rescue from "the prophecy." Imagine the heartbreak-- but also the world-shaking range of emotions-- disappointment, anger, hurt, hollowness, etc. If that secret fantasy had been holding her up for years...Now that it's gone she may have experienced an existential schism and certainly felt an aching hole. No wonder the album is long and sometimes chaotic, and definitely inconsistent. The release seems hasty because it's an emotional purge. Editors be damned! She's ready to move on. I love it, and see greatness, but am still processing the fallout.
@@urvenicebitch bullying in general. But I was also thinking about who the swifties are all bullying. Ever since TTPD came out, any sort of criticism isn’t allowed. Edit: actually, ever since ttpd is announced.
Yeah wish all the swifties would. I love a lot of Taylor's songs, but my god the bullying of the swifties to her critics, her ex's, her boyfriend's ex's (Travis's ex Does not deserve that), and other female artists is exactly what turns me off from Taylor and her fan base. It's a cult like MAGA.
its why I don't like associating with Swifties anymore. only they can make a 45 minute long video moaning and bitching about something thats 95% subjective
My individualistic opinion is, I’m enjoying this non-edited version of albums. The scathing, vulnerable, tyrannical, forever heartbroken raw version of an artist. All the scribbles and legit art pieces combined in a double album. I believe this album is the closest that we will ever get to know our favourite artist Taylor Swift personally.
exactly! i think she’ll find a middle ground eventually, but it’s fun and fine to have a brutally honest album that’s not completely concise or cohesive, she doesn’t need to worry about the numbers anymore
This is hands down your best analysis yet, Zach. Every point is clear, well supported, and elegantly phrased. Your unconditional sympathy for Taylor mixed with your willingness to objectively critique the changes to her recent writing make you completely unique among people talking about her work right now, and a breath of fresh air in a world of nuance-less stan culture. As a writer, it’s cathartic to hear a non-hater give a technical breakdown of all the things that irritate me about TTPD. I feel like I can stop brooding about them now because another fair-minded person agrees with me.
I absolutely agree with you that a visit to Liz would benefit Taylor lol I enjoy your videos, even when you are critiquing my favorite tracks. I love this album. There are some soul crushing songs on here. There are some tragic bops. Who’s Afraid…is my favorite and I don’t care if it’s too long-she does put narcotics in her songs 😅 I completely get the Travis stuff is creeping you out, it’s so weird how obsessed people are with who Taylor dates. It’s not newsworthy when they hold hands or he opens a car door. This album has turned everyone into music critics- when political commentators give a full review, while completely missing all of the meaning, it’s really just a hate bandwagon. Thank you for your honest reviews from a writer that is a fan perspective. You always give me something to think about 😊
The thing that has been pissing me off is the fact that people shit on her for naming her album The Tortured Poets Department because it's a a stretch to call herself a tortured poet. And I'm just thinking that people absolutely did not understand a single thing about the album's name or theme....
Love your hot takes Zack. I love that you’re not a brain dead swiftie as many other youtubers are. You constantly challenge the status quo and broaden the conversations to be had! I wish Taylor’s writing was more consistently great (looking at you, So High School😐). She’s got the artistry and the brains to do it, but seems bogged down. She and Jack can do some serious sonically different music like Fresh Out The Slammer and Guilty As Sin as you mentioned (both my faves from this album and her discography). I love Aaron’s work too and would like to see him being challenged more as well. My gripe with the Anthology is that I expected it to have a different sonical sound like the main album (debatable but I love the country elements without going truly back to her roots). What we got was folklore and evermore which had been done back to back. Like in your podcast yesterday, the second album wasnt needed and couldve easily been combined to the main whilst continuing the story and not diluting the material.
You always have so much to bring to the table Zach! Thank u for another amazing video with so many thoughtful takes and new perspectives to the conversation. Just wanna say that I’m a big fan of yours and hope you keep doing what you’re doing and reaching more and more people. Sending love from Brazil 💚
the best word i have to describe what this albums makes me feel is _unsettled._ it's the kind of feeling i get when i experience art that is so raw and visceral that i kind of feel like i shouldn't be looking at it. like, "did this person mean to release this?" i mean that as a full hearted compliment btw. it takes a lot to bare yourself like that, especially if you're taylor swift at her literal highest level of fame and you know everyone is going to be hearing this album. it's definitely an album that necessitates for you to sit with it and the truth is that casual listeners just aren't going to do that. ttpd reminds me of weezer's pinkerton. both of these albums are raw and uncomfortable and were not initially received well by critics. pinkerton went on to become a cult classic and is considered the band's best album. ttpd is going to be that for her. not necessarily be considered her best album but it will be appreciated differently ten years from now once the distance has given people time to digest it. i do think it's not perfect and wish it was tighter but there's so many emotions in this record that i truly do think the anthology was necessary for me to digest ttpd. in many ways, to me ttpd is her sitting me down and saying, "here's what i did and I'm not perfect" and obviously as a lifelong fan of her that is going to cause reactions in me that make me uncomfortable. but then the anthology is her telling me, "and here's _why_ i did those things, i hope you understand. i am human." I can't help but admire her for that, even if the record isn't technically or critically perfect.
The crazed sycophants need to realize that no one is perfect - not even Taylor. I believe this album is going to be debated for a quite a while. However, I am taking my time with this one because I live for the lyrics. So Long, London - totally made me cry. Was I expecting that? Hell no...but that was my experience. Others might not feel the same, but that's okay, too. Your take on all of this is so on point that I sometimes feel like you're in my head! You are a true fan who can also give an honest critique and that is why I love this channel.
I’ve been a fan since Fearless and this new album had left me a bit cold upon the first hearing. While I I could pinpoint the faults of the album very early on it was harder for me to see its virtues. Watching your reaction and the videos with Madeline has helped me a lot with that. It takes a while to digest and I enjoy it a lot more after a few days. But even though I see its brilliance now there is still something off. Your critical approach while still being a hardcore fan is fantastic and refreshing. I LOVED this video.
Dude, I don't get it how Zach can be able to NOT see how _The Alchemy_ is indeed about Travis 😂 I know it's just our _interpretations_ of it, but I will entertain your thoughts on it, on the LIGHTER side of the conversation (please, everybody, no frenzie, it's just an opinion): My definite proofs it's about him are 1) it's at the end of the standard edition, so she concludes narrating her double break up at track #14 and then she spares a bone to her current labrador, because why not, and then proceeds to a bigger issue of discussing fame at the final track, _Clara Bow_ ; 2) there are several lines in the song where she didn't _have to_ use a football metaphor, there were things that not only rhyme, but would also make a cleaner cut for the song, like you point out yourself; everything is always so intentional with her, I can't help thinking it was not a comparison, but a signature; 3) this one is even more ridiculously speculative 😂 but maybe because I'm kinda psychic (kind of, it's a long story 😅) I can literally **SEE HIM DOING THR JOKE**, I can totally see him moving his head mockingly in that very Travis-way and saying "but this time with an E", i can hear his voice saying that LoLoLoL he is a professional jokes man, my friend... The fact that most people deem Kelce incapable of making a her0inE spelling joke is frankly a little dehumanizing and not nice to him at all, I mean, he is not an English professor at Harvard, but he is not illiterate as well; much instead, he has a very specific and endearing type of intelligence, which makes him capable of talking to ANYONE and make them comfortable, and that's probably what drew Taylor towards him in the first place, so.... AGAIN, before responding, everybody in the fandom, just remind this is SUBJECTIVE, and we all might as well be wrong and the song is about someone named Peter from 17 years ago 😂 so feel free to speculate in a FUN way and disagree POLITELY on the matter, because that's the sole motivation behind love songs like these, to be fun and light, not to open a case with the FBI 😉 Edit: typos, my screen is lagging a little
I agree with you that Who's Afraid is unfocused, though very visceral, but I think the song is absolutely leveraging deliberate exaggeration and humor--at least as much as Look What You Made Me Do, which is another song where Taylor both Makes Points™, taking a wounded but triumphant posture, and simultaneously winks at her audience. The "what if it is/what if they did" lyrics on Who's Afraid, in my opinion, function like the Right Said Fred sample--those lines are extremely common distorted thought patterns that people with anxiety deal with, and I think they highlight both the extent of her paranoia and the absurdity of it. Great video overall, thanks for your honesty and your insight!
Strikes me as a somewhat rhetorical sarcastic song that is a reaction to something genuinely felt in the moment. Its not trying to analyse and make conclusive statements its her way of dialing up the absurdity on something that people have dismissed her on in the past. Also I really don't know how you can't just infer what she means when she mentions the circus and the teeth its not rocket science lol
I’ve barely gotten through the first part. I’ve listened constantly and I’ve formed my own opinion. I don’t read reviews because they come out so quickly that they obviously don’t understand the record. Taylor Swift is a complicated writer and it takes a while to get it. TTPD is a magnificent piece of work. I think it’s the best and most honest work. I listen to you because you do wait and listen many times before you make your decisions. Next week I’m going to start on the second record. Is she going to release a hard record? That it’s only on streaming is confusing.
I'm gonna make a case for _Who's afraid of a little old me?_ , just because I like the song a lot, so beware my bias, but: sometimes it's interesting to a casual listener to stumble upon something in the album that is COMPLETELY undecipherable, misterious, scary even, so they'll keep thinking about it later (and come back to ry understand it). Not the Tok kids with the attention span of a goldfish, of course, but any curious not a fan listener who might genuinely be intrigued by this. Like, we get most of the references -- "they say not everything is about me, but what if it is?", clearly an everyday excuse of the businessman, trying to convince her that the sell out of her masters was just "pure business", which it could have been; but she believes she has enough evidence, including details we weren't there to know about, to think that it was a punch deliberately thrown at her to bully her. Wouldn't she be in her right to be PISSED OFF, then? To stop being generalistic and moral à lá the 1989 era and steaight out become an unkillable **WITCH**, the woman who refuses to comply? In this context, one could even argue that the incoherence of the song is intentional and an additional craft detail of the form: because she is mad in pain and anger (in the song, not super right now), she's choosing a rambling and paradoxal form for the poem, instead of a beautiful decassilable; she throwd herself down like people who are crying tears of anger usually do, but right after the comma she's threatening someone's life -- the format of "poem" is matching the sentiment. Again, we all swifties will have various strong opinions about it, but the casual listener? That certainly takes people aback, and it might as well be intentionally put there as a focal point to just bring more people to the social debate around the album, a business move (which subtly would be another irony in itself). COUNTERPOINT: I'll give you that in **this** album it's a little too much; all of what I had just said would work like a charm... If the album didn't have "The Albatross", "thanK you, aIMee", "Peter", "Robin", "Florida", "CSSM", "But Daddy I Love Him", "I can do it", etc.. some of these are excellent songs, some not, but my defense would work if she had PAIRED this absolute "find the value for X" of a song that is "Who's afraid", where she's being spiteful and disturbed with a straight face, with one of the ones where she's interrogating and reflecting on her fame, like "The Albatross" or "I can do it"; instead we got multiple songs covering one too many angles on the same subject (for instance, even in "CSSM" she mentions changing skins and characters and moods over the years, so.... Repetitive af?)
I am a casual Swift listener but, understood most of the album. I knew in some songs she jabbed herself instead of blaming others. I knew she was also trying to close the chapter on a part of her life or past. She wanted to unload and free up herself from emotional baggage. Stop looking backward and look forward. It was kind of a reckoning with her life. Her adult self. It will be time that ultimately decides the album. Whether it was so so or brilliant. As a long time Led Zeppelin fan I know how their albums got trashed by the rock press when released. That did not stop people from buying them. And over the years many albums declared substandard or not too good when they came out ended up in10 or so years being seen as brilliant. And some not. I've heard Reputation was panned when released. For me hearing and watching the videos from that album is what drew me to learn and appreciate Taylor's music and be curious about the artist. I hear today it is reassessed as a really good album,. But, just like TPS the album Reputation was a disappointment for many when released
The increasing inability of people to think even barely critically about the media they consume, particularly within the fanbase, has reached dizzying heights. I expected some of it, for exactly the reasons you described, but the shippers in particular are getting ridiculous, especially with The Alchemy. The discourse surrounding this song is particularly absurd if you just take the time to actually listen to what she says in the song. I mean, I’m not an expert on Travis Kelce by any means, but I’m pretty sure that he hasn’t expressed anything about having a drug habit in the past. So a plain text reading of the lyrics gives rules him out pretty quickly when you hear/read, “he jokes that it’s heroin but this time with an “E”.” This time. Because it’s not the first time that substance has been part of the conversation. Yes, she’s using sports imagery, but that’s hardly new or unusual for Taylor. Again, plain-text reading shows that she keeps coming back to the theme of returning, rekindling something (“what if I told you I’m back?”, “I haven’t come around in so long / but I’m coming back so strong”, “that child’s play back in school”, “I’m making a comeback to where I belong,l “the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me,” etc.). She repeatedly frames herself as the queen, the champion, the star player. Her. Not the person she’s singing to. And then by the end of the song she calls herself the trophy (“there was no chance, trying to be / the greatest in the league / where’s the trophy? / he just comes running over to me”). It’s literally right there if you just *read the lyrics*. You wanna go a step further and actually draw inferences, miniature history lesson: alchemy was the medieval version of chemistry, where the primary focus was turning base metal (usually lead) into either gold or the elixir of life. So she’s coming back to something that she tried before that didn’t work out due to unspecified shenanigans, and she’s comparing it to pseudoscience that tries to turn something basic, common, and actually poisonous over the long-term, into something valuable or life-sustaining. Y’all still wanna make it about Travis? 🤷🏻♀️
Zack can you do a video on Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? The song is vague and also feels like so many things: a a genuine reflection on how fame treats young women as Taylor said; Taylor actually threatening and warning everyone not to mess with her, kind of owning her reputation for draconian control and retaliation; and sometimes reads as a justification for her behavior, even maybe referencing punching down at Olivia. Just analyzing it. Can you do a video on TTPD addition to Taylor talking about fame?
I doubt highly that Matty is going to write anything "explaining his side of Taylor. " Matty doesn't write negative on his exes. He actually says nice things. Recently a reporter stopped him walking and said, "what did you think of the "diss track." He was really puzzled and said, "what? Diss track?" And the reporter said what Taylor wrote about you and Matty realized what the reporter was asking and he said, he hasn't heard all of it yet but he is sure the album is good. And he walked on.
Love your takes, you have an incredibly rational, balanced view. I don’t always agree with you, but that’s ok. Keep up the high quality work! For me, TTPD is a career highlight, nuanced, ironic, clever and gut wrenching in places. Themes of love/heart break, fame and some nostalgia are covered so well. People just don’t get it😂 and like you said, don’t give it time to digest it properly.
It seems I may be in the minority, I'm not too deep in the lore (didn't even know who Matt Healey was and "Lover" ws the first Swift album I listened to from front to back) but this is currently my favourite record of hers lol
I desperately need someone to do an insane deep dive into the Taylor and Matty lore because “the DECADE played us for fools”?!? My mind is blown that this man has haunted her for so long
Check out either, or both, pop apologists and kara's bookshelf. Both creators are fans of BOTH The 1975 AND Taylor. Particularly Kara. But it gives you a lowdown on when they met and other details.
@@kristennicole5080you're welcome! Kara's bookshelf explains the album and Matty. Pop apologists give some juicy gossip and backstory on matty. Recommend both!
I think anthology announcement still could’ve been done at 2 am, but she’d not release the whole thing for like at least a week or something, she could drop the bonus tracks from the different editions and also let the first part stand on its own better
I feel like the flow of down bad and who’s afraid of little old me is okay? Idk maybe it’s just me but I don’t find them clunky or disconnected. I think every line is who’s afraid of little old me is calling out a different criticism that she has received in the past and I love how dramatic it is. And I know some songs don’t “need” to be on the album because they don’t fit the theme of whatever but I don’t mind personally. I don’t have to listen to them I’d I don’t want to and just because I don’t care for them doesn’t mean it’s not someone else’s favorite. I like so high school. It’s a cute glitter gel pen song and I’m a sucker for those. This album is a little all over the place and messy, but that’s something I also enjoy about it. I am a mess. I can relate lol. And I like that Taylor didn’t feel the need to appeal to the masses for this album. She wrote these songs because she needed to heal and she’s sharing it with the people that actually care.
This is some incredible insight and excellent critique, I love your suggestions and your rebuttals, and you've crystalized a lot of things I like and dislike about the album that weren't totally clear to me. I think many people have an impulse to conflate what is good and bad with what they like and dislike, because they generally want to think of themselves as having good taste, and the right opinion. So they'll go to bat for things that they personally like because any criticism against it is also, in their mind, a criticism of them. "I like this song, I have good taste, and I like good things, so therefore this song must be good." That's not a great way to enjoy art, because now instead of enjoying songs, you're constantly on the lookout for anyone saying they don't like your song, and who by extension MUST think you have bad taste. (The solution is just to enjoy the songs you enjoy, but to stop assuming that that alone inherently makes them good. That way you can engage with thoughtful criticism without feeling personally attacked.)
I really appreciate how articulate and knowledgeable you are. You’re the only Taylor swift commentary I can listen to because you are balanced and grounded. Thank you for your content!
Clever and insightful analysis as always. You're the true voice of the TS cinematic universe and you sum up many of the points I have about TTPD. And I can't tell you how many people come up to me saying that this album is the beginning of the end for Taylor, like girl what??? 😂😂
I think it’s a good album but could have used some editing… some songs did not fit at all on the record. Ie) robin, peter, so high school, alchemy, thank you Aimee and hot take Fortnite
I loveeee your Swift content, but I would love if you reviewed albums that some considered “flops” in the pop world, examples include Artpop, Witness, Miley’s canceled “she is coming” EPs, stuff like that.
Thank you for your well thought out response. I love watching all your videos and trust what you are saying because you put in the research. This is by far my favorite album so I am not able to read the critics reviews because it hurts too much. I didn’t like Lover or Midnights at all, so I’m not a Swiftie that just likes ALL her work but this album is something else.
Zach, here is my take on what you said about critics: I understand that you try to position yourself in a “middle ground” space, and you believe that this allows you have a completely “objective” bird’s eye view that isn’t tainted by either fanaticism or blind hate. However, I do think you are also falling into a bias by trying to stay objective, because well - objectivity doesn’t actually exist. As someone who studied Sociology in university, I can tell you that pretending to want to study/analyze something that you are a part of from an objective perspective will always be misleading, it’s utopian, it’s impossible. That’s my problem with journalism, this obsession to be “objective” and always see “both points of views” and “find the middleground” when the absolute TRUTH is a concept that does not exist. We are always speaking from a certain established position, a certain background we can’t erase, and I believe the best kind of journalism is the one that acknowledges that position, makes it transparent, and understands that we are speaking from a specific history with the topic at hand, a certain set of beliefs. I feel it is unfair for you to say that Rob Sheffield isn’t objective because he is a fan. So that means that people that are fans can’t be critical of the thing they love? Just because someone is a fan doesn’t mean he can’t be objective, just like you claim to be. He is speaking as a music critique that has been a follower of Taylor’s music for a while (which he speaks about), and he has an opinion on this album that is completely valid. Maybe you don’t agree, but it’s his experience with it. Other critics that haven’t connected with this album and maybe don't like it, are ALSO speaking from their own histories with Taylor’s music. No one is coming to this (or any opinion ever, be it political or entertainment) without a personal subjectivity that’s intertwined there. And in that sense, so are you. There isn’t an objective truth about this album that somehow you are going to get to by “taking off” different hats. I am a fan of Taylor’s , and I believe I am very capable of critical thinking. With that said, I believe that this album is her best work ever and I have a handful of reasons why I believe that (which I won’t go into because it’s not the place). I don’t think my condition as a fan makes this opinion less valuable or real. Music is SUBJECTIVE. You can try to create all the rules you want, like “pop music should sound like this” “albums should tick this and that box” but the reality is that music is ART, and ART is ever changing, dynamic, subjective, it connects to a part of us that is not RATIONAL. Of course there are works of art that are better than others, but if someone is creating something artistic that is resonating with SO MANY PEOPLE, then that means something. And being critical doesn’t necessarily mean trying to find things that are wrong with it just to prove that you are “objective”, of course nothing is going to be perfect, perfection doesn’t exist. Being critical also means analyzing, understanding, breaking things down, which you do SO well and it’s why I love your videos. But when there is something that massively resonates so much with so many people, maybe people should try to understand why that is. No one has the right to tell someone else that they can’t feel a certain way about art. The only thing that matters when critiquing art is being respectful and open minded. That’s it.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 It just so happens that some of the most acclaimed art projects that are now revered were very criticized when they first came out. And it’s usually the more complex ones. I wholeheartedly believe this is a masterpiece of a double album and my “condition” as a fan doesn’t make that opinion less valuable - not even from a technical standpoint. I think it’s important to listen to all opinions but without ever losing sight that we are not lab rats taken from our habitat to observe a phenomenon without any outside interference.
I just wrote pretty much the same thing and then I found your comment. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 Everytime someone says "just because you're a fan doesn't mean you have to praise everything she does". Well, DUH. Obviously. Have you ever considered that I'm praising this because I ACTUALLY see that much value in it? 🤯 Almost everything he """objectively""" counts as flaws are actually things I LOVE. Complaining about the "overwriting" on this record? Saying she should "show not tell"? Says who???? Why should she abide by these rules? I love her "flowery prose" or whatever! And that's only one example. Ugh. Whatever. I'll just enjoy it while they "objectively" complain... 🥱
ok so yes, we all see our own objective value in art, making our views inherently subjective, because they are OUR OWN views. and I completely understand your point that journalism can never be objective because we cant ever completely separate ourselves from our biases. however, that completely negates the purpose of journalism and CRITICISM in the first place. Journalism and Art Criticism as a practice strives for objectivity in the name of judgement and analysis. Sure, it can never be perfect, but when you’re a journalist, you’re professionally obligated to try. to try to approach things from all angles and sides. About Rob Sheffield- he’s not being critical. Being critical means pointing out the merits AND flaws, and he’s praising her unrelentingly in order to keep his insider access. And “objectivity doesn’t exist” is a paradox, when thinking about truth in a philosophical context, which proves that you shouldn’t judge something solely from one angle, but multiple. And that’s what criticism and journalism strives for. You can judge this album as a fan AND a critic, inhabiting the role of one or the other, or both. TRUE CRITICISM isn’t striving for a middle ground (i hate that word), but for decisiveness, to get as close to universal truth as possible. And in my opinion, as someone who studies philosophy, universal truth does exist. Just because you can’t hear the tree fall in the forest, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. You can love something and think its great without it actually being the greatest thing in the world. either ways it’s all semantics. we can all enjoy what we want to enjoy, and criticize what we want to criticize. lets all live happy lives guys.
@@cattd00 As I said in my comment, of course you can strive for objectivity, but only when you first make those biases transparent. My criticism comes when journalists try to pretend like they have no biases, because that DOESN'T EXIST (this happens in political journalism a lot, for example). As I said before, I believe people can be a lot more "objective" (ie: see different points of views, and be open minded), when they let those biases be known. As far as Rob Sheffield goes, that is your opinion about him. It's valid as your opinion, but I mean I have a different one. When it comes to critiquing art, my opinion here is that there is not an ABSOLUTE OBJECTIVE TRUTH about something, because art is complex and dynamic, and certain things resonate with certain people for different reasons. You can be as technical as you want, there are songs that are perfect in terms of musical technicalities, and still no ones moved by it. Of course If you want to be that person that acts like you’re a professor of creative writing, or a music professor, and Taylor Swift is your student, and you feel entitled to grade her papers and correct her work, you do you I guess. But that’s not at all how I would choose to experience her work, I want to savour it, to understand it, to break it down, to FEEL it. But that’s how I choose to consume my music when I connect to it. Regardless, if someone wants to pick out flaws in it and state the things you would change, that's fine, you do you, what I'm critiquing is not that specifically, but rather pretending and acting like that critique is the ABSOLUTE objective truth, and if you don't see it or don't agree then you're "blinded by fanatism" or you just "can't accept the truth".
You’re honestly one of my favorite pop culture UA-camrs, especially when it comes to Taylor swift. Just so well spoken and thoughtfully worded your videos are great! Personally I diss agree that you need like a PHD in Taylor swift to “get” this record. Like sure, it’s lore heavy, but my dad doesn’t care about Taylor’s personal life at all and he understood the album plenty
I confess I did feel the Travis vibe when I first heard the Alchemy but then I listen to you and I thought twice. I love your videos and I bow to your extensive knowledge about Tay Tay's life. I simply enjoy her songs and I don't think to hard about that but I enjoy the fact that you take a more objective take on her work. I find you delightfully in formative. F the haters.
I love that she’s not afraid to come off as unlikable at times. Of course, we’ll only know what she wants us to know, but it seems she was willing to pull back the curtain more than ever. Did I like Ratty then? No. Do I like him now? Hell no. But I now understand that they had more history than I realized. His “love bomb and dip out” was more shocking and devastating to her than the slow demise of her American Thanksgiving Main Course.
Bravo! Incredibly coherent analysis, Zach. Taylor's fandom somehow got so loud and out of touch with reality. It's all about raging at every person who has critical different perspectives - not only the dumb ones -, wheter they regard her artistry or her personal life itself. It's nuts and has very negative effects on the thorough appreciation of her albums.
Thank you so much for this!! The album haters have been sooo annoying this past week. I feel like people on the internet are just bored and want to get mad at something and right now it’s Taylor Also, I feel like a lot of the negative reviews I’ve seen weren’t even about the music. They focused on her overexposure or the fact that she’s a billionaire (which I am definitely not a fan of btw) and used those things to explain why this album isn’t good even though they have NOTHING to do with the actual writing.
Totally agree. I’m like yeah, being a billionaire is not good, but can we just stick to the writing? Her bank account has nothing to do with her songwriting skills right now, stay focused on the subject for God’s sake!
@@princesstelimena2887 fr. Otherwise it just seems like you have no idea of what you’re talking about and need to bring something else up because you know that you have no preparation on the subject matter. Being a billionaire has its own (serious) problems, but let’s be real: you’re using it as an excuse to hide your ignorance
Agreed, especially when the songs/album gets reduced to which boyfriend or public incident is about, and not the actual song or music or thought put behind the work, and the message that it's trying to convey. I know Taylor has had fun with hinting about what songs are about which boyfriends in the past, but she hasn't done that for several albums (though, of course, excluding thanK you aIMee lmao) that it's just grating to see people talk about the album for the celebrity of it all more than anything else. I feel like a lot of the negativity for the album comes from the aspect of Taylor Swift as a celebrity/billionaire/things we as the public know abouther, rather than considering the actual content of the album and the *fact* that it's an album, not just a diary we're supposed to gossip and gawk at.
21:41 THANK YOU!!! in order to believe the alchemy is about the super bowl/ Travis one has to believe that the nfl is scripted lol, it takes 6 months to press vinyl the math isn’t mathing 💀
i think ttpd is taylor’s most honest and raw album, like old taylor would never admit desperately wanting to get married, going to therapy, turning on her own fans for matty healy, still holding a grudge against kimye etc😭 and i can see the similarities between it and red both are chaotic & honest and multi-muse
I’m begging for you to analyse Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus even deeper than you did on Evolution of a Snake!! I think it’s everything right with the album and it deserves the spotlight
100% agree on letting go of Jack and Aaron I said this to a friend recently that listening back to back folklore, evermore, midnights, and TTPD that it seems like Taylor is in a new artistic peak of her career and she seems to be ready to fully let go of having a song appeals to the radio to actually go full out experimental and even in musical innovation approach but what’s truly stopping her from going there in the similar as Beyoncé post-I am Sasha fierce is her continuing to work with Jack and Aaron, she’s must better at working with songwriter-producers who can have the great acknowledgment of both excellent songwriting and music production while pushing her out of her confront zone and help challenge her lyrically and musically speaking. She can continue to work with Jack but not as maximum as she does, it’s one of the reasons why I love songs like lavender haze and karma bc it wasn’t solely Jack producing/writing them it was other producers/songwriters (soundwave, Jahaan Sweet)
"kill your darlings" is suming it all! I felt she needed more editing since the release of midnights. she have a lot of cool concepts that could've turned with more polishing to ACTUAL masterpieces. + someone else perspective could've helped making more sense cause what make sense in her mind doesn't make sense for a lot of people
TTPD is the first Taylor album since Rreputation (or perhaps Lover) which I absolutely loved within a single listen and didn't have to give more listens to like. I absolutely love TTPD and I have no idea why are people hating on it. Does the title suggest "Dance Department"? Why are people expecting it to be a 1989 level upbeat album? Lol. But even then, there are many upbeat songs. It's just that they aren't upbeat right from the beginning. I pity on those TikTok generation kiddos hating on this album just 'cause their short af attention span can't tolerate the tracks lol They should go and listen to TikTok worthy meaningless tracks instead.
25:30 This made me think of Madonna. Very often in her prime, she'd start working with the producer of the previous album and eventually work with someone new to get a different result...
honestly i LOVE LOVE seeing different theories/interpretations of taylor’s songs but for me “the alchemy” is so clearly about travis and the only reason i find it so hard to see otherwise is because she PLAYED IT FOR HIM AT A SHOW😭😭 idk just to me there’s nooooo way she’s playing her new man a love song ab her old man pretending it’s ab him instead
While she needs to get rid of jack Antonoff, it’s not completely his fault. Without these producers, Taylor would just be a girl on a stage singing acoustic songs with acoustic arrangements. I’ve heard her version of blank space on a guitar and it sounds nothing like the final product. These producers have given Taylor a space in her current career by giving her other formats like Lana Del Rey. I’m surprised no one can caught the obvious influence of Billie Eilish’s happier than ever inside “the smallest man that ever lived” The overdrive that comes into Taylor’s voice on “were you sent by someone “ HALFWAY into a song where she tells us how much she hates someone is a total knock off of Billies “I don’t relate to you..you made me hate this city”.
Finally a sane take💀 i had to log off twitter the day it was released bc of all the clout chasers trying to grasp any opportunity to put out controversial topics or commentary while reading too much between the lyrics to find out which ex to attack and it was so frustrating. I really agree on the part about not needing another 15 songs that don't add to the plot or the production quality and that it would be really interesting for her to expand on the producers that she works with! Thankful to have an objective voice in this sea of brainrot. I hope your pillow is silky cold on both sides 😋
Wholeheartedly agree that people are being super weird about her and Travis. Its really, really uncomfortable to watch. Literally everything from declaring that they are "end game" to slow motion zoom ups on Travis' fingers talking about the "Scout's honor" line in So High School. Like, ew. We don't know these people. I would be horrified if people did that about my relationship.
I completely agree that after folklore everything is just a mix of Taylor, Jack, Aaron, and what they are comfortable doing together! While it is all amazing, and we have a great hits, there is no evolution of sorts…. Would love to see something completely different! Florida!!… 1989 tour Trouble version vibesss ❤
Thanks for your critique, Zach! You always get me thinking. For me TTPD needed a lot of repetition. After a week it’s feeling more cohesive, but I think that’s because I’m getting used to it. I view it as a giant “catch us up” session - basically closing chapters while telling us what she’s learned. Kind of like when you get together with a good friend you haven’t seen for a while and stuff just comes spilling out. Closing the Matty Healy chapter required providing a lot of information because she hid the importance of that relationship for a decade while secretly swirling him into all of her poems. She grinds the Kimye axe one more time, but there’s some new information: “This turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” along with “I win.” There is some material that doesn’t fit my notion of “Let’s review what I’ve been up to and what I’ve learned, then we’re going to leave this behind” but it’s my working theory. Sonically I love this album, though eventually there might be a few skips. She may or may not rein herself in for the next album - I agree that now that she’s in charge, who knows? Only recently she said during a speech that she’s been doing a lot less what other people think she should do and a lot more of whatever the hell she wants. I’m here for it, messy or tidy. 🤩
Great overall review! But I disagree with what you said about journalists revealing their identity at the cost of personal safety. No one deserves to feel threatened or harassed for doing their job, and it is also the employer's responsibility to guarantee a safe working environment for all employees and take care of their employees first and foremost. The employees only owe the magazine the work they are paid for, they do not sign up for harassment and trauma that some swifties can cause. And I say that as a part of the fandom.
i mean plenty of journalists wrote negative critiques under their own name. i feel like if you want to write a meaningful critique of someone you should have to put your name to it. writing anonymously to me has the same merit as a reddit post or tiktok comment. you can say anything if you can hide after (that’s why reddit and tiktok comments can get so harsh and cruel). i think attaching your name to something means you feel strongly enough to be held to those words. and co-incidentally the past review is the meanest one so…
I hear these criticisms, thank you for delivering them in a fair and valid way! I also still disagree. I think the breadth of this album is the choice, is the risk, as an acknowledgment of the breadth of her fandom. Speak Now to Folklore Swifties. She knew the critics would respond this way, she didn’t have to release it now in the middle of her record-breaking tour. She made the choice not to edit. I think the power is she can do she did! Because who’s to say what she “should” do when we are going to disagree about what should is anyways (proven beautifully in how we’re tearing apart these songs). This album captures a moment of time in her life. It is messy. (All Too Well did the same, captured a moment, just wrapped prettier) Now, she’s lashing out. The length is symbolic of that. She’s alienating a lot of casual listeners. That’s fine, she was turning into such a mono-culture and she always has the masses coming for her every move (unlike how any other celeb is treated). The timing of this release tells you all you need to know about this album! It’s fucking crazy! And I love it. P.S. I love Robin & Peter. Fan since ‘06 and I wouldn’t want to not have these songs.
I think Taylor originally wrote The Alchemy for Matty, but after the breakup and new relationship with Travis she decided to change a lot of lyrics because she didn't want to talk about how crazy the chemistry was between her and Matty because it would devalue what she has with Travis now. The heroine line would have definitely been original if my theory is correct. It's possible that some of the lines that were written for Matty ironically fit for Travis. But the final product of the song was meant to be for Travis and Taylor has confirmed that when she posted, "It's the closest my heart has come to exploding" line tagging a review that specifically talks about the Alchemy being about Travis.
Zach idk what you did different in the sponsor message, but you look like a perfect cherub in it off some Greek painting 😩 need the skincare routine you're glowing
On the topic of the large volume of releases along with the obvious gaming the charts theres something else going on, I think Taylor just doesn't know how to stop writing at this point in her career its essentially become habit and what that means is she has alot of songs in her arsenal that dont really fit on a particular album but she still feels she wants to share and the anthology is her way of dumping them into a slightly incoherent "second album" so me the anthology isn't its own album its just kind of, a collection of miscellaneous songs which im fine with.
Check out Rocket Money for free: RocketMoney.com/swiftologist #rocketmoney #personalfinance
Ttý😊
I agree with most of what you have said here BUT I was so happy that Aaron Dessner worked on this album with her since my favorite album is Evermore. Thank you Aaron. "I can kiss him on the mouth with tongue" as Madeleine said. Also, I have the feeling that this album along with her Era's tour finishing up this year, will be the last for a while (besides Rep and Taylor Swift remakes). I can see her winding down to try and lead a so called "normal life". She is now contracted to make at least one movie so she may be taking a break for awhile from her music? We'll see.
Wow! I really love the way you analysed and explained this album. As a Swiftie, I was not fully satisfied with this album. Your video clarifies many many unclear thoughts I had about this album. I also thought some songs were similar to that of the folkevermore era. Loved so long London and fortnight. Thank you so much for this video. I really appreciate this. ❤
you literally can't find this type of content and work elsewhere online, the most clear, centered and objective analysis on taylor and her work all whilst balancing being a swiftie and a reasonable critic
Zach is a literal gem.
no exactly. i’ve genuinely learned so much about how to look at her music both as a fan and objectively from watching zach’s videos lol
exactly! it feels so rare to find someone that loves her work but isn't afraid to criticize her (fairly)
Being a swiftie and being a reasonable critic are like night and day. The cracks show.
Yes. I wish more people would watch his videos to see plenty of swifties aren't crazy cult members.
"I won't even address the gaylors, because I don't negotiate with terrorists" I'M FLYING
💀
LITERALLY
Someone needs to give an envelope about them to the FBI 🕵🏻👮🏻
I KEEP SEEING THEM CLUTCHING AT STRAWS
That was a good one Zach.
I respect your ability to differentiate between your feelings and opinions as a fan and as a critic SO MUCH, it’s something I need to work on myself and think a lot of other swifties would benefit from tbh
Same❤❤
I agree! His critical thinking skills is what makes him interesting to listen to. I can't deal with the delusion, projection and defensiveness from most of the other TS critics.
For real! I feel like in twitter everything is black and white. but i have learned with him more about being critic and objective, and i think that makes me a better fan:)
One thing that’s really pissing me off is everyone complaining that she’s swearing. Don’t like the swearing? Easy solution - listen to the clean version!!! Like my god people just complain about anything.
facts
The clean version of I can do it with a broken heart is so much better than the OG. The clean version of Down Bad is almost better if it wasn't for the sloppy gap in the replaced lines. Taylor's lack of swearing and ability to articulate emotion without it was a USP. Sad that she gave that up but oh well!
Oh - also the Bolter! Many lives >>> fucking lives. Especially. In. This. Song - it's so innocent and country, the swearing simply doesn't fit the aesthetic.
And she's grown up! Can't she swear like chill. When Ariana, Demi, Cardi and Nicki does.. that's okay?
They literally, but they (whiners and moaners) literally have never read a Romantism poetry book EVER, like, they were so dirty plants grew on them
Might sound unrelated, but stick with me here: I work in the TV space and TV writing specifically and there is an interesting thing that happens when watching people write TV for network and TV for streaming. When you write for a show like The Office or Seinfeld, you only get 22 minutes and you can’t say everything you wanna say (re: cursing, sexual language, etc). And so as a result, you have to chop off some really funny shit to make sure you fit those 22 minutes and executive criteria. But what happens with Netflix or HBO Max shows is that there aren’t those time constraints and you can kinda just say or show anything, and boy does it show. Writers get so excited that they can say and write as much as their writer hearts desire, that the end result is a bit messy to say the least. If you ever watch the Office Fan Edition it’s basically just The Office episodes with deleted (often worse) scenes. Fans eat it up, cause isn’t it so cool to get more content from your favorite show, but man, if that’s what The Office was putting out in 2006, it would not have the reputation and legecy it has now. So, I agree with your assessment of her hyper productivity. I think she must be a little resentful and bitter about the restraints of her first 6 albums, especially cause she had a falling out with the main guy in charge, and she can be mad at Scott Bourchetta but that doesn’t mean she has to also disregard all his methods. She started swinging the pendulum the other way as early as with Lover, when we see her in the board room saying she wants this to be a long 18-20 song album. She then felt the gradification and vindication of putting out more through the re-recordings. She must have had a real “I told you so” moment when All 10 Well and Is It Over Now went #1. But that shouldn’t be her sign to throw spaghetti (no matter how yummy the spaghetti is) at the wall. I would love her next album to be a super tight Melodrama type album. 11-12 songs, one sound, tight as hell tracklist, one story, maybe even an interlude. She can clearly make great songs, but she has it in her to make a great album, which is arguably harder.
This is exactly how I feel about this album! I think she still has some great ideas and good lines but they all get so watered down with bland production and plainly bad lyrics...
I was super disappointed tbh.
Yeah, it might've felt cathartic for her to write this, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be a great product. And sure, she's big enough to not care I guess but that doesn't mean we need to be delusional about the quality of her work. If you need to have a master's degree in swiftology to "get" an album, maybe the album just isn't good at conveying a message and having an impact.
I hope she takes her time with the next album to truly work out the good stuff.
Absolutely love this take! Totally makes sense why so much TV just isn't as good as what we got 10+ years ago
Exactly, like someone else said, “Taylor felt that she needed to write this album (as a form of therapy) but did we, the fans, really NEED to hear every single thing she wrote?” No…
I never thought about it that way. What a cool perspective. The funny thing is, Taylor's got a movie script in the works. It'll be exciting to see if the constraints of a limited runtime will make her a better screenwriter
@@SWINDISA literally cannot wait to see what she'll cook up. Maybe she'll have 3 versions, 10 remixes of the soundtrack, be 3 hours long, with her as the writer, director, lead actress, editor, cinematographer, wardrobe consultant, hair and make up person. lol. Our girl likes to do everything.
Ngl, sometimes being a swiftie is embarrassing....and it's not because of Taylor.
The 1830s controversy is soooo strange and weird…
People with much more free time than comprehension skills strike again.
I think that’s 90% people who just saw the line cut out of context without the whole “you made it not fun, it wasn’t fun even then” thing
yeah and they dislike taylor swift enough to take it seriously and assume this is what she means instead of bothering to do any research and use their brains 😭
Seriously! I do love that it has opened a conversation around critical thinking!
critiquing a previously pretty- politically silent pop star for a lyric evoking the time of American Slavery in a romantic sense, on an album largely about Matty...an AntiBlack racist is certainly something i'd say is fair. Honestly.
I actually love all the alien stuff in down bad. She’s using it as a metaphor for love bombing and the juxtaposition of the unreality to the reality is kind of the point. You feel swept up and otherworldly when you’re being treated like the chosen one but then you come crashing down and realize it was never true. I love how unbiased and critical you and be of our HBIC though ❤
Yes! The verse where she talks about being left naked in a field and saying people will say she’s nuts if she tried to talk about “the existence of you” kills me because it’s just like that in a lot of those situations. The person who hurt you (usually) has a reputation for being kind and charming, so a lot of people don’t believe they would ever be so hurtful, so you must just be nuts. They don’t believe that you experienced what you experienced. It’s such a layered song.
Yes, the contrast between a glittering spaceship and sweaty gym is jarring, but I feel like that’s the point. It feels out of place because she’s describing feeling out of place after a sudden and intense life event. The songs could use some editing for sure, but I like that Down Bad is all over the place, because that’s what it feels like in that situation.
I will say though, it’s extremely difficult to understand on first listen because of the way it’s structured. The most obvious parts of the metaphor are at the beginning so if you missed it, the rest doesn’t work. It makes sense that casual listeners and critics don’t tend to get it.
As an old married lady of 21 years, I actually also feel like this song is even relatable in a long term relationship. There are times you’re doing so well together and then something can come up to make you be on two different pages and it’s that same feeling. Maybe not as intense a feeling, not as devastating obviously, but still. In a relationship that is stable and includes kids, jobs, a house, pets, & all kind of responsibilities, you might have a weekend away that feels magical and then… you’re back to your real life. You get in a stupid fight and then wonder where did that cosmic love feeling go?
I feel like she had to go to the alien route. Because the only other thing to reference is fairy tales. And if she did that, the criticism would be oh another fairy tale song?
Peter was arguably the best song on both albums. (In my opinion) Peter is about Matty Healy “you said you’d come get me but you were 25” they met when he was 25, also at the end she changes the chorus from “you said you were gonna grow up, then you were gonna come find me” to just “you said you were gonna grow up”…. As in he came back but did not grow up, so to me, that makes sense to be on this album. Also with the Peter losing Wendy line from cardigan & her doing that weird ass “this is about you” thing before it on the Eras tour the same way he did… leaves me to think MAYBE he was also the muse for Cardigan. Idk, just some food for thought and why i definitely see Peter as a great song on this album.
EXACTLY! Peter is a great song and is one of my favorites
Yes! The Peter Pan theme linked between Cardigan and Peter... makes Peter so necessary I think. Matty you never grew up to love your Wendy 😢
I think you're spot on but also that makes her guilty as sin.
i know you already broke down ttpd in your podcast but id love for you to do a more produced and traditional breakdown. the podcast just feels like two friends talking about ttpd which i love but honestly i prefer a video in the standard style with just you, your camera and your mic
def on the list when i've had more time with the record!
Happy to read this comment. Absolutely agreed. I appreciate the off the bat reaction but I’d love your commentary in a month or later, when this album has sat with us for a while
I’m hoping we get one as well. The other person on his podcast cuts him off so frequently and she can be louder when Zach is more quiet so I end up turning up and turning down the volume so often and this is just me personally but I don’t like how much she swears and so I can’t consume their podcast much but I like his individual break downs and hope we get a more TTPD break down as time goes on❤❤
@@kkrb1212I so agree with you. I love listening to Zach. She surely is a nice person I just don’t like her part in the podcast, it’s so exhausting listening to her. She doesn’t make the podcast better and I would prefer if she would just be a guest from time to time.
@@theswiftologist I will def be interested to hear if any of your views shifted after having the songs around for longer! :D I know even this past week and a half mine have!
Thank you SO MUCH for bringing up Paste Magazine. As a former journalism student and Swiftie, I was incredulous at their hit piece under the guise of an album review. It was infuriating.
@mrj8644I💀💀💀
@mrj8644real
The entire Paste article was an absolute circus. It was clearly pre-written and they added in a few sentences about the lyrics last minute. So much of it was objectively false, and the rest was targeting Taylor personally and her fans strictly to get attention. It was pure bait -- the tweet alone about why they didn't include a byline proves it -- and so many other media outlets ate it up.
There are plenty of objective critical takes on the album, but this was not one.
@mrj8644did not find their suicide joke about a real woman who really did kill herself funny at all personally
I have only heard about Paste from the Swifties… what a great way to appear relevant - get a fan base talking about you
She said on her Director on Director talk interview “you don't have to belabor it [art] and polish the doorknob so long you forget to open the door,” and I think she’s been using that philosophy and she’s found success with that philosophy with the re-recording vault tracks, sister folkevermore albums, and the length of the eras tour, but it’s kinda run its course. Like, why not polish the doorknob? If you have the money, time, and resources to do so (and Taylor definitely does) why not have a polished doorknob, song, album, etc. I also think she doesn’t have anyone around her telling her this anymore whether that be her team or her fans. It’s all “you go, Taylor.” When maybe it should be “you go edit, Taylor.” Rules, and limitations, and challenges are good for creativity. Beyonce is a good example of that. She could have wasily seatled in her original style and you go girl pop anthems, but she always is challenging herself. Taylor can do it too and it doesn’t have to be externally enforced rules or limitations, she can give herself the challange. She just needs to stop hearing the crowd saying “more.”
Time? people nowadays have the attention span of a gerbil. I am taking my time with this album. Love your content and your calm discourse about this new project. Social media is a train wreck of histrionics and over reactions about everything.
YEP this
💯💯💯
Yes it's slowly growing on me daily when I first listened I couldn't get on board I think this is one that I'll fall in love slowly I hated Rep for years then fell in love with it a few years ago I think it could happen the same way.
I agree and that’s what I love about finding so many thoughtful creators in the midst of so much ridiculousness. I actually think it might make us better as a society over all in the end, because the people who want more nuance will become even more intentional about finding each other ❤
Taylor hit the depth of her mid 30s. you start becoming truly self-aware because you stopped caring about what other people think. It’s raw and real. I’m 41 and I felt this album to my core.
I don’t understand the disturbing obsession people have with Taylor and Travis, it’s so creepy.
I can’t imagine it being healthy for a relationship either when people are out here planning their wedding and if they’re gonna have kids. Just beyond disturbing and para social
This why Joe said the media is incredibly invasive
I feel like I have had to literally be the one swiftie who is basically saying you just don’t get the album. So many new swifties are saying they like her because she has individual eras and her story telling yet their favorite albums are always her pop albums with catchy songs.
Как люди посмели любить запоминающийся песни, 😂
Or they just don't like it....This is a very different sound and definitely not for me. Not into it :( :(
I didn't mean people shouldn't like her catchy songs and whatnot, I just meant people say they love when she branches out to try new things but when she does it is often met with skepticism. The sound of this album is definitely very interesting and not for everyone.
@@notcxle2663 one of my favorite songs is look what you made me do. Totally stepped outside her boundary but genius. There's just something about this album. I wouldn't really call any of the songs genius. She's honestly recycled a lot of her sayings and themes to a track that often over powers her vocals
@@krystademilio1256interesting - that’s the song I least liked on Rep. but that album was my introduction to her music and I got hooked on to going through her discography . I love all her eras. But tastes vary and can change so someone not being crazy about this album does not mean they are not a fan. If u ask me I feel she did this album for herself - to get through a really bad period in her life as it is now evident more than anything else. A bit self indulgent which is why there r mixed reviews. Personally I love it and the more I listen the better it gets
Zach, phenomenal intro. I'm seated for Tay's messiness, frustration and anger; & annoyed at "hot takes" who don't know the lore, are poking for click bait, and not doing analysis. Meanwhile, this albums are GREAT but has half a dozen skips. Maddy's recommendation to have split it into two separate drops (by a fortenight) is a great idea.
Edited to make shorter within 15 minutes of posting.
You've been busy babe. We appreciate it! ❤
I personally love TTPD, but I'm very aware that I'm a big swiftie, I'm familiar with the lore and have had time to sit with the album. I completely agree with you on most of your points. Is this a bad album? NO, absolutely not!! But, I don't think it's her best album. That is partly because Taylor has set a very high bar with her discography, but also, I think that Taylor had so much to say and is obviously very talented that sometimes the message didn't always land the way she wanted. The Paste article was actually ridiculous and, like you said, your words lose their merit when you don't put your name on it. That being said, no one should receive death threads and the fact that people go to the length of (verbal) violence is absurd. I do think that Taylor receives more criticism than most artists about having a similar sound on multiple albums, given the fact that most artists stick to one genre of music, but we should want her to keep challenging herself to be great/better/BEST.
Zack, you deserve to get PAID for this kind of content, truly. If I weren't already a patron, I'd be rushing over to sign up now, b/ c this is the kind of quality journalism I want to consume! I don't agree with all of your points, but you are def. making me think, and I can tell you didn't rush to any of these assertions quickly or lightly. Bravo!
he does get paid! as he should :)
YES thank you, I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since debut but recently I’ve felt completely alienated by most of the fandom just because I don’t care to talk about her current boyfriends and exes beyond what’s in the music. I find it funny that it used to be that fans focused more on the music and the general media focused more on her boyfriends and now it almost feels flipped.
I agree with you, I see swifties criticising the media for always talking about her love life BUT most of the time now online its always the swifties who immediately speculate.
Would you ever consider doing a video about your favorite lyrics in her discography? & what makes them so great? I found your commentary on show not tell really insightful as a fellow writer (not songs, novels). Would love to get some content diving into her writing style & what sets her apart from her peers.
definitely!!!
also i feel like the dad in “but daddy i love him” is her fighting against her fans and the media
If you consider Taylor’s last two years, her relationship with Joe coming to an end, the conception of the Era’s tour and the extreme hard work, being lonely, being somewhat isolated for a while, the whole Ratie thing, being vulnerable, the new relationship with Travis and her mom’s ongoing illness. These songs seem like Throwing up her emotional pain. I can always find songs I like on her albums. I think this was a risk for her to put out as she often does not portray well. Good video.
honestly the way that online fandoms are now compared to how they used to be is really disheartening. i'm sure there have been thinkpieces about it, but the general inability to have a conversation online about ANYTHING has really driven me off a lot of platforms and out of fandom spaces generally. i'm not saying we didn't have discourse - og tumblr is literally famous for being feral - but it never felt like the conversation STARTED with someone telling you to unalive yourself the way it does now. everyone is just so mad for no reason.
anyway great video as usual!!! thanks for churning out content like this, YOU are one of the writers/critics i consistently come back to for good, earnest takes
I love Taylor's music and have all the lyrics memorized but I couldn't care less about her "lore". So to me Down Bad was a contrast between the sort of ethereal, "cosmic", feeling you feel when you're in love vs. the "down", grounded, more realistic version of it when it all comes crashing "down". Hence bringing up staring at the sky, yearning for that "heavenly" feeling again. ---- From my perspective the difference in the vibe of the verses vs. the chorus makes sense. Hopefully my comment does too lmaoooo
I agree. I don’t fell that ii was too much imagery.
I think she should work with Finneas next for her production, and it will give her such a new fresh challenge that she desperately needs.
Tell them.
Also re: Liz Rose, i absolutely agree. I think part of the magic of that collaboration was that Taylor was working with a woman. I’d love to see her work with female producers because (and I love the Jack and Dessner collabs) it would inevitably bring something different out of Taylor. Jack is a talented and capable producer who has been able to work with many different artists and is very able to produce for those artists in vastly different ways. But I think it is undeniable that working with a female producer or producers of color would absolutely bring something different to the table and perhaps help Taylor elevate her artistry.
Fr though, in six years they’ll love this album; reputation was not very well received and the critics I have seen love it now, they call it underrated but when it was released it was a lukewarm reception.
This album has a lot of satire and irony, starting from the title, which is so obviously sarcastic, that’s the point!! The Problem is that people expect it to be another Folklore and it’s not! TTPD is almost ruining that image, burning it down, if you will… 🔥 Taylor is mocking the idea of being a picture perfect good girl, the sage archetype that Folklore/ Evermore was catering to… TTPD, centered around forbidden romance delivered through unhinged exaggerated emotions, is a story of breaking free from social norms and people’s expectations. It is filled with dark humor, satire, even mockery. She is in her Harley Queen Era!! 😈 The undergoing narration of this album is what Reputation pretends to be…A True Female Rage 😡 It’s interesting that Reputation despite its dark aesthetic is a love album. Meanwhile, in TTPD she is dressed like a bride or a Disney princess, Ariel herself, all white, the undergoing theme is dark and wretched…
OK, some text based arguments for The Alchemy being a Travis song:
*Why all the football metaphors if not? She doesn’t usually choose her imagery willy nilly.
*Alchemy: the process of turning mundane things into gold. Nobody thought Matty and Taylor were golden, but Miss Americana and the best tight end in the NFL? People went nuts.
*The placement in the album. We’ve just had 14 tracks taking us through the Joe breakup and Matty interlude, ending with The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived: “Good riddance,” “I don’t miss you,” “I don’t miss what we had,” … why would she go back all of a sudden to the beginning of the relationship for one track? Makes more sense to me that this is a pivot away from the past and towards the future, and then we just get that gorgeous meditation on the industry in Clara Bow
*The joke “Heroine with an E,” sure it coulddd be Matty making fun of himself, but the first 14 tracks indicate he is maybe not a drug-free as it had seemed, and isn’t just as likely that Travis made fun of Matty by saying, essentially, “Yeah, babe, YOU’RE my drug of choice.”
OK, that’s it 💫
Well written and insightful analysis! Thank you! Although I would add that I personally love Anthology, but agree that it seems out of place with TTPD. I wish it had been released more than 2 hours later. I don't think it's getting the slow, thoughtful attention it deserves because people can only get through the first 15 songs on TTPD before they are overwhelmed. Maybe her missive about closing the chapter truly is the reason why she released it all at once. It's a purge. I hear a woman who held a secret obsession in her heart for 10 years, only to come face to face with the reality of an addict. But that dream had been her secret hope of rescue from "the prophecy." Imagine the heartbreak-- but also the world-shaking range of emotions-- disappointment, anger, hurt, hollowness, etc. If that secret fantasy had been holding her up for years...Now that it's gone she may have experienced an existential schism and certainly felt an aching hole. No wonder the album is long and sometimes chaotic, and definitely inconsistent. The release seems hasty because it's an emotional purge. Editors be damned! She's ready to move on. I love it, and see greatness, but am still processing the fallout.
Thanks for the content zacky i was hungry 💀
Stop with the online bullying in general. It’s so uncalled for
online bullying a billionaire?
@@urvenicebitch bullying in general. But I was also thinking about who the swifties are all bullying. Ever since TTPD came out, any sort of criticism isn’t allowed.
Edit: actually, ever since ttpd is announced.
Yeah wish all the swifties would. I love a lot of Taylor's songs, but my god the bullying of the swifties to her critics, her ex's, her boyfriend's ex's (Travis's ex Does not deserve that), and other female artists is exactly what turns me off from Taylor and her fan base. It's a cult like MAGA.
over a freaking album!!!!! it’s insane
its why I don't like associating with Swifties anymore. only they can make a 45 minute long video moaning and bitching about something thats 95% subjective
My individualistic opinion is, I’m enjoying this non-edited version of albums. The scathing, vulnerable, tyrannical, forever heartbroken raw version of an artist. All the scribbles and legit art pieces combined in a double album.
I believe this album is the closest that we will ever get to know our favourite artist Taylor Swift personally.
exactly! i think she’ll find a middle ground eventually, but it’s fun and fine to have a brutally honest album that’s not completely concise or cohesive, she doesn’t need to worry about the numbers anymore
This is hands down your best analysis yet, Zach. Every point is clear, well supported, and elegantly phrased. Your unconditional sympathy for Taylor mixed with your willingness to objectively critique the changes to her recent writing make you completely unique among people talking about her work right now, and a breath of fresh air in a world of nuance-less stan culture.
As a writer, it’s cathartic to hear a non-hater give a technical breakdown of all the things that irritate me about TTPD. I feel like I can stop brooding about them now because another fair-minded person agrees with me.
I absolutely agree with you that a visit to Liz would benefit Taylor lol I enjoy your videos, even when you are critiquing my favorite tracks. I love this album. There are some soul crushing songs on here. There are some tragic bops. Who’s Afraid…is my favorite and I don’t care if it’s too long-she does put narcotics in her songs 😅 I completely get the Travis stuff is creeping you out, it’s so weird how obsessed people are with who Taylor dates. It’s not newsworthy when they hold hands or he opens a car door. This album has turned everyone into music critics- when political commentators give a full review, while completely missing all of the meaning, it’s really just a hate bandwagon. Thank you for your honest reviews from a writer that is a fan perspective. You always give me something to think about 😊
The thing that has been pissing me off is the fact that people shit on her for naming her album The Tortured Poets Department because it's a a stretch to call herself a tortured poet. And I'm just thinking that people absolutely did not understand a single thing about the album's name or theme....
I love watching your videos- it's SO refreshing seeing a swiftie who isn't afraid to offer criticism, which is a very welcome break!
Love your hot takes Zack. I love that you’re not a brain dead swiftie as many other youtubers are. You constantly challenge the status quo and broaden the conversations to be had!
I wish Taylor’s writing was more consistently great (looking at you, So High School😐). She’s got the artistry and the brains to do it, but seems bogged down. She and Jack can do some serious sonically different music like Fresh Out The Slammer and Guilty As Sin as you mentioned (both my faves from this album and her discography). I love Aaron’s work too and would like to see him being challenged more as well.
My gripe with the Anthology is that I expected it to have a different sonical sound like the main album (debatable but I love the country elements without going truly back to her roots). What we got was folklore and evermore which had been done back to back. Like in your podcast yesterday, the second album wasnt needed and couldve easily been combined to the main whilst continuing the story and not diluting the material.
You always have so much to bring to the table Zach! Thank u for another amazing video with so many thoughtful takes and new perspectives to the conversation. Just wanna say that I’m a big fan of yours and hope you keep doing what you’re doing and reaching more and more people. Sending love from Brazil 💚
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the best word i have to describe what this albums makes me feel is _unsettled._ it's the kind of feeling i get when i experience art that is so raw and visceral that i kind of feel like i shouldn't be looking at it. like, "did this person mean to release this?" i mean that as a full hearted compliment btw. it takes a lot to bare yourself like that, especially if you're taylor swift at her literal highest level of fame and you know everyone is going to be hearing this album. it's definitely an album that necessitates for you to sit with it and the truth is that casual listeners just aren't going to do that. ttpd reminds me of weezer's pinkerton. both of these albums are raw and uncomfortable and were not initially received well by critics. pinkerton went on to become a cult classic and is considered the band's best album. ttpd is going to be that for her. not necessarily be considered her best album but it will be appreciated differently ten years from now once the distance has given people time to digest it.
i do think it's not perfect and wish it was tighter but there's so many emotions in this record that i truly do think the anthology was necessary for me to digest ttpd. in many ways, to me ttpd is her sitting me down and saying, "here's what i did and I'm not perfect" and obviously as a lifelong fan of her that is going to cause reactions in me that make me uncomfortable. but then the anthology is her telling me, "and here's _why_ i did those things, i hope you understand. i am human." I can't help but admire her for that, even if the record isn't technically or critically perfect.
The crazed sycophants need to realize that no one is perfect - not even Taylor. I believe this album is going to be debated for a quite a while. However, I am taking my time with this one because I live for the lyrics. So Long, London - totally made me cry. Was I expecting that? Hell no...but that was my experience. Others might not feel the same, but that's okay, too. Your take on all of this is so on point that I sometimes feel like you're in my head! You are a true fan who can also give an honest critique and that is why I love this channel.
I’ve been a fan since Fearless and this new album had left me a bit cold upon the first hearing. While I I could pinpoint the faults of the album very early on it was harder for me to see its virtues. Watching your reaction and the videos with Madeline has helped me a lot with that. It takes a while to digest and I enjoy it a lot more after a few days. But even though I see its brilliance now there is still something off. Your critical approach while still being a hardcore fan is fantastic and refreshing. I LOVED this video.
Dude, I don't get it how Zach can be able to NOT see how _The Alchemy_ is indeed about Travis 😂
I know it's just our _interpretations_ of it, but I will entertain your thoughts on it, on the LIGHTER side of the conversation (please, everybody, no frenzie, it's just an opinion):
My definite proofs it's about him are
1) it's at the end of the standard edition, so she concludes narrating her double break up at track #14 and then she spares a bone to her current labrador, because why not, and then proceeds to a bigger issue of discussing fame at the final track, _Clara Bow_ ;
2) there are several lines in the song where she didn't _have to_ use a football metaphor, there were things that not only rhyme, but would also make a cleaner cut for the song, like you point out yourself; everything is always so intentional with her, I can't help thinking it was not a comparison, but a signature;
3) this one is even more ridiculously speculative 😂 but maybe because I'm kinda psychic (kind of, it's a long story 😅) I can literally **SEE HIM DOING THR JOKE**, I can totally see him moving his head mockingly in that very Travis-way and saying "but this time with an E", i can hear his voice saying that LoLoLoL he is a professional jokes man, my friend...
The fact that most people deem Kelce incapable of making a her0inE spelling joke is frankly a little dehumanizing and not nice to him at all, I mean, he is not an English professor at Harvard, but he is not illiterate as well; much instead, he has a very specific and endearing type of intelligence, which makes him capable of talking to ANYONE and make them comfortable, and that's probably what drew Taylor towards him in the first place, so....
AGAIN, before responding, everybody in the fandom, just remind this is SUBJECTIVE, and we all might as well be wrong and the song is about someone named Peter from 17 years ago 😂 so feel free to speculate in a FUN way and disagree POLITELY on the matter, because that's the sole motivation behind love songs like these, to be fun and light, not to open a case with the FBI 😉
Edit: typos, my screen is lagging a little
a football metaphor does not a Travis make🙄
I agree with you that Who's Afraid is unfocused, though very visceral, but I think the song is absolutely leveraging deliberate exaggeration and humor--at least as much as Look What You Made Me Do, which is another song where Taylor both Makes Points™, taking a wounded but triumphant posture, and simultaneously winks at her audience. The "what if it is/what if they did" lyrics on Who's Afraid, in my opinion, function like the Right Said Fred sample--those lines are extremely common distorted thought patterns that people with anxiety deal with, and I think they highlight both the extent of her paranoia and the absurdity of it. Great video overall, thanks for your honesty and your insight!
Strikes me as a somewhat rhetorical sarcastic song that is a reaction to something genuinely felt in the moment. Its not trying to analyse and make conclusive statements its her way of dialing up the absurdity on something that people have dismissed her on in the past. Also I really don't know how you can't just infer what she means when she mentions the circus and the teeth its not rocket science lol
I’ve barely gotten through the first part. I’ve listened constantly and I’ve formed my own opinion. I don’t read reviews because they come out so quickly that they obviously don’t understand the record. Taylor Swift is a complicated writer and it takes a while to get it. TTPD is a magnificent piece of work. I think it’s the best and most honest work. I listen to you because you do wait and listen many times before you make your decisions. Next week I’m going to start on the second record. Is she going to release a hard record? That it’s only on streaming is confusing.
I'm gonna make a case for _Who's afraid of a little old me?_ , just because I like the song a lot, so beware my bias, but: sometimes it's interesting to a casual listener to stumble upon something in the album that is COMPLETELY undecipherable, misterious, scary even, so they'll keep thinking about it later (and come back to ry understand it). Not the Tok kids with the attention span of a goldfish, of course, but any curious not a fan listener who might genuinely be intrigued by this.
Like, we get most of the references -- "they say not everything is about me, but what if it is?", clearly an everyday excuse of the businessman, trying to convince her that the sell out of her masters was just "pure business", which it could have been; but she believes she has enough evidence, including details we weren't there to know about, to think that it was a punch deliberately thrown at her to bully her. Wouldn't she be in her right to be PISSED OFF, then? To stop being generalistic and moral à lá the 1989 era and steaight out become an unkillable **WITCH**, the woman who refuses to comply?
In this context, one could even argue that the incoherence of the song is intentional and an additional craft detail of the form: because she is mad in pain and anger (in the song, not super right now), she's choosing a rambling and paradoxal form for the poem, instead of a beautiful decassilable; she throwd herself down like people who are crying tears of anger usually do, but right after the comma she's threatening someone's life -- the format of "poem" is matching the sentiment.
Again, we all swifties will have various strong opinions about it, but the casual listener? That certainly takes people aback, and it might as well be intentionally put there as a focal point to just bring more people to the social debate around the album, a business move (which subtly would be another irony in itself).
COUNTERPOINT: I'll give you that in **this** album it's a little too much; all of what I had just said would work like a charm... If the album didn't have "The Albatross", "thanK you, aIMee", "Peter", "Robin", "Florida", "CSSM", "But Daddy I Love Him", "I can do it", etc.. some of these are excellent songs, some not, but my defense would work if she had PAIRED this absolute "find the value for X" of a song that is "Who's afraid", where she's being spiteful and disturbed with a straight face, with one of the ones where she's interrogating and reflecting on her fame, like "The Albatross" or "I can do it"; instead we got multiple songs covering one too many angles on the same subject (for instance, even in "CSSM" she mentions changing skins and characters and moods over the years, so.... Repetitive af?)
I am a casual Swift listener but, understood most of the album. I knew in some songs she jabbed herself instead of blaming others. I knew she was also trying to close the chapter on a part of her life or past. She wanted to unload and free up herself from emotional baggage. Stop looking backward and look forward.
It was kind of a reckoning with her life. Her adult self.
It will be time that ultimately decides the album. Whether it was so so or brilliant.
As a long time Led Zeppelin fan I know how their albums got trashed by the rock press when released. That did not stop people from buying them. And over the years many albums declared substandard or not too good when they came out ended up in10 or so years being seen as brilliant. And some not.
I've heard Reputation was panned when released. For me hearing and watching the videos from that album is what drew me to learn and appreciate Taylor's music and be curious about the artist. I hear today it is reassessed as a really good album,. But, just like TPS the album Reputation was a disappointment for many when released
Peter is hands down my favorite song on the album. Followed by Down Bad, Guilty as Sin, and imgonnagetyouback
The increasing inability of people to think even barely critically about the media they consume, particularly within the fanbase, has reached dizzying heights. I expected some of it, for exactly the reasons you described, but the shippers in particular are getting ridiculous, especially with The Alchemy.
The discourse surrounding this song is particularly absurd if you just take the time to actually listen to what she says in the song.
I mean, I’m not an expert on Travis Kelce by any means, but I’m pretty sure that he hasn’t expressed anything about having a drug habit in the past. So a plain text reading of the lyrics gives rules him out pretty quickly when you hear/read, “he jokes that it’s heroin but this time with an “E”.” This time. Because it’s not the first time that substance has been part of the conversation.
Yes, she’s using sports imagery, but that’s hardly new or unusual for Taylor. Again, plain-text reading shows that she keeps coming back to the theme of returning, rekindling something (“what if I told you I’m back?”, “I haven’t come around in so long / but I’m coming back so strong”, “that child’s play back in school”, “I’m making a comeback to where I belong,l “the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me,” etc.). She repeatedly frames herself as the queen, the champion, the star player. Her. Not the person she’s singing to. And then by the end of the song she calls herself the trophy (“there was no chance, trying to be / the greatest in the league / where’s the trophy? / he just comes running over to me”).
It’s literally right there if you just *read the lyrics*.
You wanna go a step further and actually draw inferences, miniature history lesson: alchemy was the medieval version of chemistry, where the primary focus was turning base metal (usually lead) into either gold or the elixir of life.
So she’s coming back to something that she tried before that didn’t work out due to unspecified shenanigans, and she’s comparing it to pseudoscience that tries to turn something basic, common, and actually poisonous over the long-term, into something valuable or life-sustaining.
Y’all still wanna make it about Travis? 🤷🏻♀️
Zack can you do a video on Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? The song is vague and also feels like so many things: a a genuine reflection on how fame treats young women as Taylor said; Taylor actually threatening and warning everyone not to mess with her, kind of owning her reputation for draconian control and retaliation; and sometimes reads as a justification for her behavior, even maybe referencing punching down at Olivia.
Just analyzing it. Can you do a video on TTPD addition to Taylor talking about fame?
I doubt highly that Matty is going to write anything "explaining his side of Taylor. " Matty doesn't write negative on his exes. He actually says nice things. Recently a reporter stopped him walking and said, "what did you think of the "diss track." He was really puzzled and said, "what? Diss track?" And the reporter said what Taylor wrote about you and Matty realized what the reporter was asking and he said, he hasn't heard all of it yet but he is sure the album is good. And he walked on.
Love your takes, you have an incredibly rational, balanced view. I don’t always agree with you, but that’s ok. Keep up the high quality work! For me, TTPD is a career highlight, nuanced, ironic, clever and gut wrenching in places. Themes of love/heart break, fame and some nostalgia are covered so well. People just don’t get it😂 and like you said, don’t give it time to digest it properly.
I think the humor at the beginning of the bridge with “but what if it is?” Is the dun dun dun that follows the line
It seems I may be in the minority, I'm not too deep in the lore (didn't even know who Matt Healey was and "Lover" ws the first Swift album I listened to from front to back) but this is currently my favourite record of hers lol
THANK YOU for constantly making sense of senseless chaos 😭😭😭
I desperately need someone to do an insane deep dive into the Taylor and Matty lore because “the DECADE played us for fools”?!? My mind is blown that this man has haunted her for so long
Check out either, or both, pop apologists and kara's bookshelf. Both creators are fans of BOTH The 1975 AND Taylor. Particularly Kara. But it gives you a lowdown on when they met and other details.
@@spiritranger9202 thank you sm!! 🤍
@@kristennicole5080you're welcome! Kara's bookshelf explains the album and Matty. Pop apologists give some juicy gossip and backstory on matty. Recommend both!
I think anthology announcement still could’ve been done at 2 am, but she’d not release the whole thing for like at least a week or something, she could drop the bonus tracks from the different editions and also let the first part stand on its own better
I would love a video explaining the song Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus. It’s a song I don’t quite understand.
I feel like the flow of down bad and who’s afraid of little old me is okay? Idk maybe it’s just me but I don’t find them clunky or disconnected. I think every line is who’s afraid of little old me is calling out a different criticism that she has received in the past and I love how dramatic it is.
And I know some songs don’t “need” to be on the album because they don’t fit the theme of whatever but I don’t mind personally. I don’t have to listen to them I’d I don’t want to and just because I don’t care for them doesn’t mean it’s not someone else’s favorite. I like so high school. It’s a cute glitter gel pen song and I’m a sucker for those. This album is a little all over the place and messy, but that’s something I also enjoy about it. I am a mess. I can relate lol. And I like that Taylor didn’t feel the need to appeal to the masses for this album. She wrote these songs because she needed to heal and she’s sharing it with the people that actually care.
This is some incredible insight and excellent critique, I love your suggestions and your rebuttals, and you've crystalized a lot of things I like and dislike about the album that weren't totally clear to me.
I think many people have an impulse to conflate what is good and bad with what they like and dislike, because they generally want to think of themselves as having good taste, and the right opinion. So they'll go to bat for things that they personally like because any criticism against it is also, in their mind, a criticism of them. "I like this song, I have good taste, and I like good things, so therefore this song must be good." That's not a great way to enjoy art, because now instead of enjoying songs, you're constantly on the lookout for anyone saying they don't like your song, and who by extension MUST think you have bad taste.
(The solution is just to enjoy the songs you enjoy, but to stop assuming that that alone inherently makes them good. That way you can engage with thoughtful criticism without feeling personally attacked.)
The same way it’s best not to assume a song is bad just because you don’t like it …
I really appreciate how articulate and knowledgeable you are. You’re the only Taylor swift commentary I can listen to because you are balanced and grounded. Thank you for your content!
Clever and insightful analysis as always. You're the true voice of the TS cinematic universe and you sum up many of the points I have about TTPD. And I can't tell you how many people come up to me saying that this album is the beginning of the end for Taylor, like girl what??? 😂😂
Another substantive analysis from you, Zack. I love when you break down Taylor's lyrics.
I think it’s a good album but could have used some editing… some songs did not fit at all on the record. Ie) robin, peter, so high school, alchemy, thank you Aimee and hot take Fortnite
IMHO Fortnight and Peter fit perfectly. The others I agree.
Peter and fortnite nop the rest yes
I loveeee your Swift content, but I would love if you reviewed albums that some considered “flops” in the pop world, examples include Artpop, Witness, Miley’s canceled “she is coming” EPs, stuff like that.
I honestly can't wait till you talk about Chappell roan. You introduced me to her, and now im obsessed. i love her. ❤❤❤
That last line 👏🏽 This was spectacular as all your analysis videos tend to be. So well spoken, so fair. Take care!
Anyone else getting broadway vibes on Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? Love this song!❤
Thank you for your well thought out response. I love watching all your videos and trust what you are saying because you put in the research. This is by far my favorite album so I am not able to read the critics reviews because it hurts too much. I didn’t like Lover or Midnights at all, so I’m not a Swiftie that just likes ALL her work but this album is something else.
Zach, here is my take on what you said about critics: I understand that you try to position yourself in a “middle ground” space, and you believe that this allows you have a completely “objective” bird’s eye view that isn’t tainted by either fanaticism or blind hate. However, I do think you are also falling into a bias by trying to stay objective, because well - objectivity doesn’t actually exist. As someone who studied Sociology in university, I can tell you that pretending to want to study/analyze something that you are a part of from an objective perspective will always be misleading, it’s utopian, it’s impossible. That’s my problem with journalism, this obsession to be “objective” and always see “both points of views” and “find the middleground” when the absolute TRUTH is a concept that does not exist.
We are always speaking from a certain established position, a certain background we can’t erase, and I believe the best kind of journalism is the one that acknowledges that position, makes it transparent, and understands that we are speaking from a specific history with the topic at hand, a certain set of beliefs.
I feel it is unfair for you to say that Rob Sheffield isn’t objective because he is a fan. So that means that people that are fans can’t be critical of the thing they love? Just because someone is a fan doesn’t mean he can’t be objective, just like you claim to be. He is speaking as a music critique that has been a follower of Taylor’s music for a while (which he speaks about), and he has an opinion on this album that is completely valid. Maybe you don’t agree, but it’s his experience with it. Other critics that haven’t connected with this album and maybe don't like it, are ALSO speaking from their own histories with Taylor’s music. No one is coming to this (or any opinion ever, be it political or entertainment) without a personal subjectivity that’s intertwined there.
And in that sense, so are you. There isn’t an objective truth about this album that somehow you are going to get to by “taking off” different hats. I am a fan of Taylor’s , and I believe I am very capable of critical thinking. With that said, I believe that this album is her best work ever and I have a handful of reasons why I believe that (which I won’t go into because it’s not the place). I don’t think my condition as a fan makes this opinion less valuable or real. Music is SUBJECTIVE. You can try to create all the rules you want, like “pop music should sound like this” “albums should tick this and that box” but the reality is that music is ART, and ART is ever changing, dynamic, subjective, it connects to a part of us that is not RATIONAL. Of course there are works of art that are better than others, but if someone is creating something artistic that is resonating with SO MANY PEOPLE, then that means something. And being critical doesn’t necessarily mean trying to find things that are wrong with it just to prove that you are “objective”, of course nothing is going to be perfect, perfection doesn’t exist. Being critical also means analyzing, understanding, breaking things down, which you do SO well and it’s why I love your videos. But when there is something that massively resonates so much with so many people, maybe people should try to understand why that is. No one has the right to tell someone else that they can’t feel a certain way about art. The only thing that matters when critiquing art is being respectful and open minded. That’s it.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It just so happens that some of the most acclaimed art projects that are now revered were very criticized when they first came out. And it’s usually the more complex ones. I wholeheartedly believe this is a masterpiece of a double album and my “condition” as a fan doesn’t make that opinion less valuable - not even from a technical standpoint. I think it’s important to listen to all opinions but without ever losing sight that we are not lab rats taken from our habitat to observe a phenomenon without any outside interference.
I just wrote pretty much the same thing and then I found your comment. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 Everytime someone says "just because you're a fan doesn't mean you have to praise everything she does". Well, DUH. Obviously. Have you ever considered that I'm praising this because I ACTUALLY see that much value in it? 🤯 Almost everything he """objectively""" counts as flaws are actually things I LOVE. Complaining about the "overwriting" on this record? Saying she should "show not tell"? Says who???? Why should she abide by these rules? I love her "flowery prose" or whatever! And that's only one example. Ugh. Whatever. I'll just enjoy it while they "objectively" complain... 🥱
👏👏👏👏@@maruchita222
ok so yes, we all see our own objective value in art, making our views inherently subjective, because they are OUR OWN views. and I completely understand your point that journalism can never be objective because we cant ever completely separate ourselves from our biases. however, that completely negates the purpose of journalism and CRITICISM in the first place. Journalism and Art Criticism as a practice strives for objectivity in the name of judgement and analysis. Sure, it can never be perfect, but when you’re a journalist, you’re professionally obligated to try. to try to approach things from all angles and sides. About Rob Sheffield- he’s not being critical. Being critical means pointing out the merits AND flaws, and he’s praising her unrelentingly in order to keep his insider access. And “objectivity doesn’t exist” is a paradox, when thinking about truth in a philosophical context, which proves that you shouldn’t judge something solely from one angle, but multiple. And that’s what criticism and journalism strives for. You can judge this album as a fan AND a critic, inhabiting the role of one or the other, or both. TRUE CRITICISM isn’t striving for a middle ground (i hate that word), but for decisiveness, to get as close to universal truth as possible. And in my opinion, as someone who studies philosophy, universal truth does exist. Just because you can’t hear the tree fall in the forest, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. You can love something and think its great without it actually being the greatest thing in the world.
either ways it’s all semantics. we can all enjoy what we want to enjoy, and criticize what we want to criticize. lets all live happy lives guys.
@@cattd00 As I said in my comment, of course you can strive for objectivity, but only when you first make those biases transparent. My criticism comes when journalists try to pretend like they have no biases, because that DOESN'T EXIST (this happens in political journalism a lot, for example). As I said before, I believe people can be a lot more "objective" (ie: see different points of views, and be open minded), when they let those biases be known. As far as Rob Sheffield goes, that is your opinion about him. It's valid as your opinion, but I mean I have a different one. When it comes to critiquing art, my opinion here is that there is not an ABSOLUTE OBJECTIVE TRUTH about something, because art is complex and dynamic, and certain things resonate with certain people for different reasons. You can be as technical as you want, there are songs that are perfect in terms of musical technicalities, and still no ones moved by it. Of course If you want to be that person that acts like you’re a professor of creative writing, or a music professor, and Taylor Swift is your student, and you feel entitled to grade her papers and correct her work, you do you I guess. But that’s not at all how I would choose to experience her work, I want to savour it, to understand it, to break it down, to FEEL it. But that’s how I choose to consume my music when I connect to it. Regardless, if someone wants to pick out flaws in it and state the things you would change, that's fine, you do you, what I'm critiquing is not that specifically, but rather pretending and acting like that critique is the ABSOLUTE objective truth, and if you don't see it or don't agree then you're "blinded by fanatism" or you just "can't accept the truth".
Waiiit... PEOPLE ARE SAYING STYLE IS ABOUT MATTY????? PEOPLE YOU GOOD???????
You’re honestly one of my favorite pop culture UA-camrs, especially when it comes to Taylor swift. Just so well spoken and thoughtfully worded your videos are great! Personally I diss agree that you need like a PHD in Taylor swift to “get” this record. Like sure, it’s lore heavy, but my dad doesn’t care about Taylor’s personal life at all and he understood the album plenty
I confess I did feel the Travis vibe when I first heard the Alchemy but then I listen to you and I thought twice. I love your videos and I bow to your extensive knowledge about Tay Tay's life. I simply enjoy her songs and I don't think to hard about that but I enjoy the fact that you take a more objective take on her work. I find you delightfully in formative. F the haters.
“Cause baby I could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me”
I love that she’s not afraid to come off as unlikable at times. Of course, we’ll only know what she wants us to know, but it seems she was willing to pull back the curtain more than ever. Did I like Ratty then? No. Do I like him now? Hell no. But I now understand that they had more history than I realized. His “love bomb and dip out” was more shocking and devastating to her than the slow demise of her American Thanksgiving Main Course.
1. I love what you're wearing, the color is everything!
2. I'd simply adore a journalistic style, research-based industry-insight book written by you
Bravo! Incredibly coherent analysis, Zach. Taylor's fandom somehow got so loud and out of touch with reality. It's all about raging at every person who has critical different perspectives - not only the dumb ones -, wheter they regard her artistry or her personal life itself. It's nuts and has very negative effects on the thorough appreciation of her albums.
Thank you so much for this!! The album haters have been sooo annoying this past week. I feel like people on the internet are just bored and want to get mad at something and right now it’s Taylor
Also, I feel like a lot of the negative reviews I’ve seen weren’t even about the music. They focused on her overexposure or the fact that she’s a billionaire (which I am definitely not a fan of btw) and used those things to explain why this album isn’t good even though they have NOTHING to do with the actual writing.
Totally agree. I’m like yeah, being a billionaire is not good, but can we just stick to the writing? Her bank account has nothing to do with her songwriting skills right now, stay focused on the subject for God’s sake!
@@giuliabonechi1864 exaactly!! Like we can definitely talk about her being a billionaire but that’s a totally separate discussion
@@princesstelimena2887 fr. Otherwise it just seems like you have no idea of what you’re talking about and need to bring something else up because you know that you have no preparation on the subject matter. Being a billionaire has its own (serious) problems, but let’s be real: you’re using it as an excuse to hide your ignorance
Agreed, especially when the songs/album gets reduced to which boyfriend or public incident is about, and not the actual song or music or thought put behind the work, and the message that it's trying to convey. I know Taylor has had fun with hinting about what songs are about which boyfriends in the past, but she hasn't done that for several albums (though, of course, excluding thanK you aIMee lmao) that it's just grating to see people talk about the album for the celebrity of it all more than anything else. I feel like a lot of the negativity for the album comes from the aspect of Taylor Swift as a celebrity/billionaire/things we as the public know abouther, rather than considering the actual content of the album and the *fact* that it's an album, not just a diary we're supposed to gossip and gawk at.
21:41 THANK YOU!!! in order to believe the alchemy is about the super bowl/ Travis one has to believe that the nfl is scripted lol, it takes 6 months to press vinyl the math isn’t mathing 💀
i think ttpd is taylor’s most honest and raw album, like old taylor would never admit desperately wanting to get married, going to therapy, turning on her own fans for matty healy, still holding a grudge against kimye etc😭 and i can see the similarities between it and red both are chaotic & honest and multi-muse
I’m begging for you to analyse Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus even deeper than you did on Evolution of a Snake!! I think it’s everything right with the album and it deserves the spotlight
Career highlight!
100% agree on letting go of Jack and Aaron I said this to a friend recently that listening back to back folklore, evermore, midnights, and TTPD that it seems like Taylor is in a new artistic peak of her career and she seems to be ready to fully let go of having a song appeals to the radio to actually go full out experimental and even in musical innovation approach but what’s truly stopping her from going there in the similar as Beyoncé post-I am Sasha fierce is her continuing to work with Jack and Aaron, she’s must better at working with songwriter-producers who can have the great acknowledgment of both excellent songwriting and music production while pushing her out of her confront zone and help challenge her lyrically and musically speaking. She can continue to work with Jack but not as maximum as she does, it’s one of the reasons why I love songs like lavender haze and karma bc it wasn’t solely Jack producing/writing them it was other producers/songwriters (soundwave, Jahaan Sweet)
"kill your darlings" is suming it all! I felt she needed more editing since the release of midnights. she have a lot of cool concepts that could've turned with more polishing to ACTUAL masterpieces. + someone else perspective could've helped making more sense cause what make sense in her mind doesn't make sense for a lot of people
TTPD is the first Taylor album since Rreputation (or perhaps Lover) which I absolutely loved within a single listen and didn't have to give more listens to like. I absolutely love TTPD and I have no idea why are people hating on it. Does the title suggest "Dance Department"? Why are people expecting it to be a 1989 level upbeat album? Lol. But even then, there are many upbeat songs. It's just that they aren't upbeat right from the beginning.
I pity on those TikTok generation kiddos hating on this album just 'cause their short af attention span can't tolerate the tracks lol
They should go and listen to TikTok worthy meaningless tracks instead.
😂😂😂😂 Your disdain for So High School has me convinced it's the next single. I like it. It sounds like 1998 Liz Phair
25:30 This made me think of Madonna. Very often in her prime, she'd start working with the producer of the previous album and eventually work with someone new to get a different result...
honestly i LOVE LOVE seeing different theories/interpretations of taylor’s songs but for me “the alchemy” is so clearly about travis and the only reason i find it so hard to see otherwise is because she PLAYED IT FOR HIM AT A SHOW😭😭 idk just to me there’s nooooo way she’s playing her new man a love song ab her old man pretending it’s ab him instead
While she needs to get rid of jack Antonoff, it’s not completely his fault. Without these producers, Taylor would just be a girl on a stage singing acoustic songs with acoustic arrangements. I’ve heard her version of blank space on a guitar and it sounds nothing like the final product. These producers have given Taylor a space in her current career by giving her other formats like Lana Del Rey. I’m surprised no one can caught the obvious influence of Billie Eilish’s happier than ever inside “the smallest man that ever lived” The overdrive that comes into Taylor’s voice on “were you sent by someone “ HALFWAY into a song where she tells us how much she hates someone is a total knock off of Billies “I don’t relate to you..you made me hate this city”.
Finally a sane take💀 i had to log off twitter the day it was released bc of all the clout chasers trying to grasp any opportunity to put out controversial topics or commentary while reading too much between the lyrics to find out which ex to attack and it was so frustrating. I really agree on the part about not needing another 15 songs that don't add to the plot or the production quality and that it would be really interesting for her to expand on the producers that she works with! Thankful to have an objective voice in this sea of brainrot. I hope your pillow is silky cold on both sides 😋
Great thoughts! Also, very interested in a chappell roan video like you mentioned in the intro!
Coming soon!
Wholeheartedly agree that people are being super weird about her and Travis. Its really, really uncomfortable to watch. Literally everything from declaring that they are "end game" to slow motion zoom ups on Travis' fingers talking about the "Scout's honor" line in So High School. Like, ew. We don't know these people. I would be horrified if people did that about my relationship.
I completely agree that after folklore everything is just a mix of Taylor, Jack, Aaron, and what they are comfortable doing together! While it is all amazing, and we have a great hits, there is no evolution of sorts…. Would love to see something completely different! Florida!!… 1989 tour Trouble version vibesss ❤
The 1989 tour versions are so 👌👌👌
Thanks for your critique, Zach! You always get me thinking. For me TTPD needed a lot of repetition. After a week it’s feeling more cohesive, but I think that’s because I’m getting used to it. I view it as a giant “catch us up” session - basically closing chapters while telling us what she’s learned. Kind of like when you get together with a good friend you haven’t seen for a while and stuff just comes spilling out. Closing the Matty Healy chapter required providing a lot of information because she hid the importance of that relationship for a decade while secretly swirling him into all of her poems. She grinds the Kimye axe one more time, but there’s some new information: “This turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” along with “I win.” There is some material that doesn’t fit my notion of “Let’s review what I’ve been up to and what I’ve learned, then we’re going to leave this behind” but it’s my working theory. Sonically I love this album, though eventually there might be a few skips. She may or may not rein herself in for the next album - I agree that now that she’s in charge, who knows? Only recently she said during a speech that she’s been doing a lot less what other people think she should do and a lot more of whatever the hell she wants. I’m here for it, messy or tidy. 🤩
Great overall review! But I disagree with what you said about journalists revealing their identity at the cost of personal safety. No one deserves to feel threatened or harassed for doing their job, and it is also the employer's responsibility to guarantee a safe working environment for all employees and take care of their employees first and foremost. The employees only owe the magazine the work they are paid for, they do not sign up for harassment and trauma that some swifties can cause. And I say that as a part of the fandom.
i mean plenty of journalists wrote negative critiques under their own name. i feel like if you want to write a meaningful critique of someone you should have to put your name to it. writing anonymously to me has the same merit as a reddit post or tiktok comment. you can say anything if you can hide after (that’s why reddit and tiktok comments can get so harsh and cruel). i think attaching your name to something means you feel strongly enough to be held to those words. and co-incidentally the past review is the meanest one so…
I hear these criticisms, thank you for delivering them in a fair and valid way!
I also still disagree.
I think the breadth of this album is the choice, is the risk, as an acknowledgment of the breadth of her fandom. Speak Now to Folklore Swifties. She knew the critics would respond this way, she didn’t have to release it now in the middle of her record-breaking tour. She made the choice not to edit.
I think the power is she can do she did! Because who’s to say what she “should” do when we are going to disagree about what should is anyways (proven beautifully in how we’re tearing apart these songs).
This album captures a moment of time in her life. It is messy. (All Too Well did the same, captured a moment, just wrapped prettier)
Now, she’s lashing out. The length is symbolic of that. She’s alienating a lot of casual listeners. That’s fine, she was turning into such a mono-culture and she always has the masses coming for her every move (unlike how any other celeb is treated).
The timing of this release tells you all you need to know about this album! It’s fucking crazy! And I love it.
P.S. I love Robin & Peter. Fan since ‘06 and I wouldn’t want to not have these songs.
I think Taylor originally wrote The Alchemy for Matty, but after the breakup and new relationship with Travis she decided to change a lot of lyrics because she didn't want to talk about how crazy the chemistry was between her and Matty because it would devalue what she has with Travis now. The heroine line would have definitely been original if my theory is correct. It's possible that some of the lines that were written for Matty ironically fit for Travis. But the final product of the song was meant to be for Travis and Taylor has confirmed that when she posted, "It's the closest my heart has come to exploding" line tagging a review that specifically talks about the Alchemy being about Travis.
Zach idk what you did different in the sponsor message, but you look like a perfect cherub in it off some Greek painting 😩 need the skincare routine you're glowing
This album is easily in my top 3 now. I could see it taking the top spot even
On the topic of the large volume of releases along with the obvious gaming the charts theres something else going on, I think Taylor just doesn't know how to stop writing at this point in her career its essentially become habit and what that means is she has alot of songs in her arsenal that dont really fit on a particular album but she still feels she wants to share and the anthology is her way of dumping them into a slightly incoherent "second album" so me the anthology isn't its own album its just kind of, a collection of miscellaneous songs which im fine with.