I agree here before I would have fought anyone who compared them as Joni is pretty incomparable but I think this album is up there with her, it’s so exciting to see where she could go next once the shackles of commerciality are dropped the product feels like it should raw and honest. This is truly where Taylor shines and even though I love her poppier albums (this is still a pop album to me) this is what she was born to do and hopefully the critical and commercial success can show her when she pushes herself artistically she will be rewarded.
Exile and This Is Me Trying, especially with the explanation they gave behind the lyrics, had me welling up... But the surprise for me was Epiphany, I’ve always liked it but this performance really made the song click for me, honestly the references to the pandemic went right over my head so I was kinda blown away! Just felt like such a fresh experience all round, this era is just 10/10.
At minimum how can you not get swept up in that bridge? Back when we were still changing for the better Wanting was enough For me, it was enough To live for the hope of it all Cancel plans just in case you'd call And say "Meet me behind the mall" So much for summer love, and saying "Us" 'Cause you weren't mine to lose And then it comes around one more time but a bit different with the added vocals underneath, all before the production swells to match those harmonies just in time for the outro...c'mon goosebumps!
The Disney+ special was pretty much perfect. It's always rewarding listening to somebody so painstakingly cerebral in their approach to songwriting talk about a record, especially when it's actually this fantastic. It's my most played album of the year and it's still shone a light on the themes and interpretations of several tracks in a way I hadn't really considered them before. She also sounded fantastic throughout (which owes a lot to the album catering totally to her voice).
She's lucky I have a hard time adjusting and kept her standing reservation from 2015. I knew she couldn't resist talent forever.
The way OG bumpkins' real estate has increased in value in the last decade and is now at unprecedented highs in 2020... subprime who?
Um excuse me, did you not see @Babyface bring up proof that I have been stanning since 2012 last week?
I do like it of course, but to me in an album full of breath-taking lyrical moments, these feel 'nice' by comparison, and something she could have done before. The themes and emotions she works with across the record are so vast and brilliantly explored that here I'm like oh ok cute at best.
Oh God, yes... I've teared up to August too many times to count this year. One of those songs that cuts the repressed dreamer/hopeless romantic in me like a blade. Evocative, reflective, bittersweet, warm like a summer breeze - it is all the things my soul needs in a song, ddd.
I'm still watching the special (it's gorgeous) but dd at the Illicit Affairs preamble basically just being "THIS ISN'T AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL BY THE WAY"
It's hilarious because I feel like @dodoriazarbon & I share similar taste otherwise! I'm just going to leave this here, because this song destroys me like no other, & this version is so beautiful. The guitar work, her vocals (particularly on the second verse)... Praise it, girls:
Okay so I managed to hold it together for the most part. Her explanations behind mirrorball and this is me trying really hit me. Like FUCK. She also sounded stunning on every song - this year she really had delivered some of the best vocal performances of her entire career. You can tell Taylor feels at home with this album, and so she should. She’s in her entire fucking bag and I love to see it. I feel bad for those who still make a point of actively disliking Taylor for whatever reason like it’s still 2015 and she’s just released that dodgy Bad Blood music video. Like, you’re missing out on folklore...and for what?!!
I think it's great that this album allows us all to imprint somewhere along the line, our own experiences meeting her lyrics and forming connection.
