Popular Post liam13 Posted April 23 Popular Post Share Posted April 23 You know what should take a fortnight? Album reviews. - Bloomberg Spoiler The way we digest new music needs to be fixed. Within less than 24 hours of Taylor Swift's release of The Tortured Poets Department and her surprise anthology, the internet was flooded with an inescapable number of reviews. In the New York Times, Lindsay Zoladz said Swift's 11th LP is "sprawling and often self-indulgent" and "full of detailed, referential lyrics that her fans will delight in decoding." But as a long-time admirer of Swift, I have to ask: Where's the "delight" in staying up until dawn to finish listening to an album as if it's a college paper we're cramming to complete by the morning? And it's not only the professionals causing the shift. Review culture goes far beyond opinions from music critics now. In the age of half-baked hot takes on online forums, anyone with a smartphone can word-vomit their thoughts into the ether. Many hope they get picked up by the algorithm. To avoid spoilers, fans (or just curious listeners) either have to shun media entirely or digest new music immediately — which is like inhaling a whole cheeseburger in one bite. There's no chance to savor it. No time to even taste it. And quite frankly, it's exhausting. Spoiler An anonymous staff writer for Paste Magazine — whose byline was excluded for "safety" reasons — began the publication's review with the jab that "Sylvia Plath did not stick her head in an oven for this!" It took nearly 700 words to get to the substance of the album itself. If you're willing to launch a litany of petty, exclamation-pointed digs at an artist — "2013 called and it wants it capricious, suburban girl-who-is-taking-a-gap-year wig back!"— at least have the decency to put your name on it. In the Atlantic, Spencer Kornhaber said Swift is "having quality-control issues," echoing other publications like the New York Times, which said that Swift "could use an editor. " But consider the irony of saying that in a review that was released not 12 hours after the album. Likewise, Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield labeled it an "INSTANT CLASSIC" and called it "wildly ambitious." You're telling me you've fully digested a two-hour double album of 31 songs in that amount of time? Such quick determinations discredit the nature of both plaudits and criticisms. I wholeheartedly agree with this article. Thoughts? 32 8 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirrtydiana Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 They're not slick with the cheeseburger line lol Dont they get the album in advance? It's 2024, we don't need "critics" anymore. with streaming anyone can listen to the music and make their own opinions. With that said, I'd trust user reviews more than these paid people who think are the most important part of music 5 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwiftLover Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 ATRL told me she has zero impact, panned & only consumed by her fans. Maybe try the girls with wigs, critical darlings & actual global impact 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post raisetheroof Posted April 23 Popular Post Share Posted April 23 I whole-heartedly agree. TTPD is an album with lyricism that takes multiple listens and an honest dissection to fully comprehend. Most critics with negative opinions seemed, based off their reviews, to have listened to it once, noticed the lack of obvious and catchy pop melodies as well as the few out-of-place (and yes cringy) lines, and then simply ran with it. Likewise, the 100-reviews coming in after an equally short time frame are obviously part of the same problem. 23 2 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mezik Posted April 23 Popular Post Share Posted April 23 I think it applies to more than just Taylor though too though. You have artists like Lana, Beyoncé, Ariana, and even Kacey Musgraves getting 100s or high 90s for each album they put out when in reality that's not the case. The only 'perfect' album I'd say that's been release by a main stream act in the last 5-6 years is Renaissance. Sure Taylor shouldn't be getting 100 for TTPD, but she certainly shouldn't be getting 10/100 or 36/100 either - it just reflects more poorly on the 'reviewer' (if you can call them that) than anything else. Not everything is gonna be, nor should be, a perfect album, but just because it isn't perfect doesn't mean it's a horrible album either. 14 5 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaggedGalaxy Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 But OTH need something to latch onto to help them cope 8 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liam13 Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 1 minute ago, dirrtydiana said: I'd trust user reviews more than these paid people who think are the most important part of music you mean the reviews with people saying etc. "it's taylor swift so it's sh*t" with a 0? sure 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OrgVisual Posted April 23 Popular Post Share Posted April 23 But the earliest reviews are the most positive (The "100" from RS and Independent were the first ones to be published) 3 1 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellebrity98 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 second fanbase won't approve this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Blue Rose Posted April 23 Popular Post Share Posted April 23 one mildly received album out of 11 and all of the sudden we need to stop reviewing albums? 62 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OrgVisual Posted April 23 Popular Post Share Posted April 23 And of course this article on Bloomberg is written by a Swiftie herself 10 1 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 8 minutes ago, dirrtydiana said: They're not slick with the cheeseburger line lol Dont they get the album in advance? It's 2024, we don't need "critics" anymore. with streaming anyone can listen to the music and make their own opinions. With that said, I'd trust user reviews more than these paid people who think are the most important part of music you're not subtle with your Taylor hatred. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimbo Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 7 minutes ago, SwiftLover said: ATRL told me she has zero impact, panned & only consumed by her fans. Maybe try the girls with wigs, critical darlings & actual global impact What do wigs have to do with ANYTHING? When tf did this weird ass narrative start? 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liam13 Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 5 minutes ago, OrgVisual said: But the earliest reviews are the most positive (The "100" from RS and Independent were the first ones to be published) they talk about it too, go give a read. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HASHTAGPOW Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidnightsAtPeace Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 (edited) Trashing her as a person or dragging her personal life into your review to justify your very low score isn't very professional. Critics are encouraging each other to lower her total score, and her more positive reviews are getting deleted and replaced with negative ones. I'm not saying you're entitled to like an album, but something very fishy and odd is going on behind the scenes. Not to mention Genius is also deleting millions of views for no reason. I'm not Nicki Minaj but this is giving sabotage Edited April 23 by MidnightsAtPeace 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pop Art Posted April 23 Popular Post Share Posted April 23 This reminds me of that one leaked album review of Anti before the album came out with fill in the blank sections for a quick review turnaround. 1 1 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peroxide Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Blue Rose said: one mildly received album out of 11 and all of the sudden we need to stop reviewing albums? For an album that's as rich, dense and lyrically ambitious as TTPD yeah I'd be side eyeing a professional review that was published a few hours after the album dropped - I'd say the same about an album as rich as Cowboy Carter too. For projects of this scope - sit with the music and let it get into your skin before you come to a conclusion. I'm still unsure what to make of The Anthology because there's just so much content to digest… and I've been listening to this thing on repeat since Friday If it's an Ava Max release - fine. But a record like this is a bit different. Edited April 23 by Peroxide 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liam13 Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 3 minutes ago, Pop Art said: This reminds me of that one leaked album review of Anti before the album came out with fill in the blank sections for a quick review turnaround. this review reads like a whole bunch of nothing i guess this is the opening/album introduction, which is not that bad but kiii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop Art Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 2 minutes ago, liam13 said: this review reads like a whole bunch of nothing Well they wrote the review when there was nothing yet to review, so that makes sense. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comedor Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 So it's just an issue when she gets the lashings? Where was this energy when the RS 10/10 came out soon after the album dropped? Miss me. PANNED.gif 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solar Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 I like reading music critics reviews, they usually point out stuff I didn't notice + I can contrast my experience with the music. That's it. The problem starts when listeners seek validation through this publications. 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonGosling Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 That makes total sense. It's not just the negative reviews but also the positive ones that do not sound like the reviewers really listen to the album to be able to dissect it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liam13 Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 1 minute ago, Comedor said: So it's just an issue when she gets the lashings? Where was this energy when the RS 10/10 came out soon after the album dropped? Miss me. PANNED.gif they address it in the article too, why dont yall read instead of assuming 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamanearthling Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 This album release is iconic! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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