Not me thinking about tracking down high quality scans of all those backcovers, printing them and making my own clock. All while I stream the album on Spotify. You ain't getting me Ms. Swift.
Taylor Swift - Midnights
- Thread starter Slice of Life
- Start date
I’m speaking on him in general. Maybe I wasn’t clear but my point was Jack is a good producer but he needs an artist with a strong focus to pull it from him.
We’ll have to disagree on at least half of Chemtrails but that’s what I’m saying. His production was getting tired because it felt like a lot of artists going to him at the time only had half an idea. I think he does as he’s directed without challenging it, for better or for worse.
Jack x Taylor is a fantastic combo. Might actually be my favorite and up there with Taylor & Aaron. Mother is the one to blame for how diabolical This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things and London Boy were. He really just adapts to the vision of the artist he's working with.
I’m not that worried about Jack’s involvement given that his output with her has mostly been pretty good. I am a bit worried it will sound like a lot of the other 70s soft-rock inspired albums Jack has been involved in lately, like Solar Power and Sling, because his interpretation of that sound has become pretty stagnant and creatively limiting, to put it mildly. Though like @Mr Blonde said, Jack is only as good as the direction he's been given and the issues with those albums weren't only limited to his production. I do miss the Jack that made me really sit up and take notice, like his production choices across Melodrama and NFR! did. I don’t know if he still has the ambition and inspiration in him to serve another left-turn home run like Venice Bitch and maybe that's too much to hope for from any producer after a lifetime achievement like that, but I'd sure love to see him try!
Taylor and Jack are so comfortable with each other by this point that they know how to make a good song, but they also lack the self-awareness and moderation to avoid the occasional disaster like London Boy. I do think something shifted with the folkmore albums in that respect though - the critical and commercial response to those albums pretty much ensured that she's never going to shill for something as creatively bankrupt as M*! or London Boy ever again and I think as a result she's also becoming more mindful of creating albums as cohesive artistic statements. I do recognize that Aaron Dessner was instrumental in that shift also - there's simply no way folklore would've had something as maniacal as This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things on it next to Dessner's beautifully crafted productions. Jack and Taylor had to up their game to match that level of quality on folklore and it showed. I don't know if Taylor and Jack will have quite the same level of quality control if they are left to their own devices again on this album, so I hope there's some Dessner on the album still.
Either way, the main important thing about the album will be the quality of Taylor's songwriting, because if we've learned anything from the ups and downs and dozens of producers throughout her career, it's that it doesn't matter who produces her if the songwriting's good.
Taylor and Jack are so comfortable with each other by this point that they know how to make a good song, but they also lack the self-awareness and moderation to avoid the occasional disaster like London Boy. I do think something shifted with the folkmore albums in that respect though - the critical and commercial response to those albums pretty much ensured that she's never going to shill for something as creatively bankrupt as M*! or London Boy ever again and I think as a result she's also becoming more mindful of creating albums as cohesive artistic statements. I do recognize that Aaron Dessner was instrumental in that shift also - there's simply no way folklore would've had something as maniacal as This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things on it next to Dessner's beautifully crafted productions. Jack and Taylor had to up their game to match that level of quality on folklore and it showed. I don't know if Taylor and Jack will have quite the same level of quality control if they are left to their own devices again on this album, so I hope there's some Dessner on the album still.
Either way, the main important thing about the album will be the quality of Taylor's songwriting, because if we've learned anything from the ups and downs and dozens of producers throughout her career, it's that it doesn't matter who produces her if the songwriting's good.
Pretty sure that's going to be the mahogany one, though they were all test presses so things might have changed.
I think the album art has been on point for this in giving 90s Fiona Apple/Alanis and a bit of Carole King, even though some of the poses are hilarious. Jack is a generally good producer whose worst tendencies is to lean too much into cheesy 80s John Hughes productions, but this album is “looking” understated so Taylor may have reined him in.
There’s a bit of a recurring theme with people not wanting artists to work with certain successful and reliable producers, for a reason that is unbeknown to me.
Taylor x Jack gave us Out Of The Woods, Getaway Car, Call It What You Want, Cruel Summer, Death By A Thousand Cuts, August, Betty & Gold Rush.
Why would we want to remove that ingredient from the recipe?
Taylor x Jack gave us Out Of The Woods, Getaway Car, Call It What You Want, Cruel Summer, Death By A Thousand Cuts, August, Betty & Gold Rush.
Why would we want to remove that ingredient from the recipe?
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I feel like something is getting lost in this conversation because I don’t think anyone has said that Jack and Taylor haven’t made some great songs together or that Jack being involved means it will be bad. But they’ve been working together since 1989, and at this point in her career I would like to see Taylor expand her pool of collaborators. That’s not to say I won’t like the Jack songs! It’s just that we already have plenty of them. It’s more about wanting my fave to continue pushing her creatively because that’s what has resulted in her best material in the past, some of which yes, Jack was involved in.
I’m hoping Joe’s alter ego William Bowery makes another appearance on this record. I need him & Taylor to destroy me again with more champagne problems.
We haven’t heard it yet so let’s wait and see.
While I do think Jack needs to stop working with all the minor pop girls, him and Taylor definitely have a strong connection. In fact, as I thought more about my “Taylor struggles with big pop songs” thesis, I realize how tied to Jack’s songwriting/production so many of her best pop songs are. He proved with folklore that he can adapt to her sonic changes, so I’ll keep waiting for actual music before ya know, having an opinion on the album dd
This song is good if you pretend to not understand English
