Jake's Music Reviews: Taylor Swift's Reputation

It’s been two years since 1989 (the album). The knock-out pop sensation took home the Grammy for Best Album. Did she deserve it? No. Did she get it? Yes.

Since then, Taylor Swift has altered her persona to a I-will-do-what-I-want-to-do-because-I-naturally-feel-inclined-to-do-what-I-want-to-do pop singer. Some of her song titles feel like they are actually that long (ex. This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things).

Her album is a concoction of mixed emotions, revealing Taylor Swift as a conflicted songwriter. Taking sudden pivots, she flip-flops her, and the listener’s, attention. She sings of her past discretions and lack of regrets. Immediately, she switches to describing nostalgic tales. The constant back-and-forth is reminiscent of eating a large meal, burping, realizing there is now more room left in your stomach, eating more, burping, and continuing the loop until the end of time. Now, there are positives that come out of that. You get to eat a lot. That’s how I feel about this album. Constant good and constant bad.

These quick twists and turns mark the low-points of the album, resulting in forgettable songs like “Dancing with Our Hands Tied” and the aforementioned “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” Not only are there unnecessary and unimportant tracks, but there are some that many will deem so bad that they must be deleted and never heard again. I’m looking at you, “Look What You Made Me Do.”

It’s terribly unfortunate that there are poorly crafted songs on this album because there are wonderful glimpses of a pop singer-songwriter working at full creativity and ingenuity. Songs like “Delicate” and “Getaway Car” sound like we’ve heard them for years, drawing back the best memories that in reality have no association with them. And there are other songs that are just well-made pop songs, evoking a need to dance, like “Don’t Blame Me” and the bittersweet “New Year’s Day.”

In all, it has its ups and its downs. Its downs are really bad and its ups are really good.

Listen to it. Or don’t. I do not care.

3 of 5 Jake Stars

Reputation - Taylor Swift