#2: Sorry, the Old Taylor Can't Come to the Phone Right Now
why? cause she's too tired from carrying the entire pop industry on her back. plus, an AI-bot that roasts your music taste
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2020 will undoubtedly be remembered for a lot of terrible things. The COVID-19 pandemic. A nationwide racial reckoning. Electing the first WOMAN into the White House, and a woman of color too!! But for pop music fans and the entirety of the Millenial/Gen-Z cutoff generation (‘98 gang rise-up), this year will also go down in our collective memory as the year Taylor Swift dropped not one, but TWO surprise albums. Two surprise indie albums.
Swift released folklore on July 24, giving us absolutely zero notice and no chance for fans to even speculate on any unrealistic theories that come up after an album of hers is announced. (Although, this TikTok theory of Taylor and Harry Styles committing vehicular manslaughter has me thinking.)
Four months later, which felt like both one year and one week simultaneously, Swift dropped evermore, a 17-song powerhouse of a record that she calls the “sister album” to its indie-folk predecessor. Both albums focus on a central theme of storytelling, something Swift has really honed in on throughout her career. But on folk/more, while Swift does dip into her own personal life for inspiration, the bulk of the songwriting is borrowed from the stories of her family, historical figures, and her own imagination.
Sister albums are hardly a new concept. Neil Diamond’s done it. Bruce Springsteen’s done it. Rappers have been doing it for years. But it’s the carefully-cultivated narrative around Swift’s new albums that sets folk/more apart.
Swift personally promoted the album across all her social media. She set a clear aesthetic picture of what vibe she was going for with folklore. After the initial announcement, images from a massive black-and-white photoshoot of her looking forlorn in the woods were released. An essay explaining exactly how she wanted her album to be interpreted was published on all her accounts. evermore followed a similar pattern, with Swift using the same imagery and themes to propel her sequel.
“It feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel forward” - an excerpt from Swift’s announcement of her ninth studio album, evermore
In other words, the genre Swift was stepping into might’ve been new, but relentlessly marketing her projects as new “eras” was a classic Swift move…and it paid off.
USA Today called folklore “her most introspective and emotionally raw album yet,” and evermore received a 7.9 rating from Pitchfork. It’s pretty astonishing to see how much positive praise two back-to-back albums recieved. It seemed this year that Swift was untouchable, and she could do no wrong. Her star-studded team of industry-loved producers such as Jack Antanoff and Aaron Dessner helped with that.
All this to say, even though she is one of the most successful and listened-to pop stars of the decade, folk/more was still so refreshing. A welcome indulgence amidst the backdrop of horrible things that happened this year. A leap of faith within the pop music industry that has been lacking of any sort of substance and originality for so long. With folk/more, Swift gave us something fun to experience.
Think about it for a sec: who else does our generation have where we stay up all night listening to a 17-song record all the way through? Who else releases a project that dominates your entire social media feed? Who else can you talk about with a total stranger and (if they are a fan) have an entirely-opinionated discussion about all their albums? Music is usually so personal, and admitting to liking popular music is usually seen as a guilty pleasure, but that’s never the case with Swift.
I realize that obviously not everyone had this experience in 2020. There are certainly shining stars in all genres across the musical spectrum. Maybe you have your own version of Taylor Swift that your own friend group has bonded over for years (if you do I’d love to hear about them!) It’s the sheer popularity and reach that Swift has that made her really stand out this year.
Now that I’ve outed myself as a total lifelong Swiftie, I will go back to listening to “happiness” on a loop and staring at the ceiling.
Rec Corner
welcome to the rec corner! every week, i will take this opportunity to dump whatever i’ve been listening to that I think is good enough to share, as well as just some good reads that will make you #cultured
i can’t stop laughing about: this AI bot that roasts the f*ck out of your music taste. it’s the mason-jar-candle-from-target-bad for me.
i can’t stop listening to: Maggie Rogers’ second studio album(!!): Notes from the Archive: 2011-2016.
current favorite: celadon and gold
i legit can’t stop thinking about:
this Elle magazine article about a Mizzou j-school alum falling for …. Martin Shkreli.
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