NEX Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Warning: This will be a very lengthy and detailed overview of the entire album focusing on each track individually. So, buckle up if you're interested. I won't be focusing too much on the lyrical shortfalls, I already did that here. *When I talk about melodies I refer specifically to vocal melodies. Fortnight (feat Post Malone) Lyrics: 8 | Melodies: 9 | Production: 7 | Verdict: Good This song starts exceptionally well. The production and the melodies are top notch and are seriously infectious. Then around the 2 min mark Jack Antonoff seemingly decides to get heavily involved and starts convoluting the sound with a lot of unnecessary layers, blips and twinkles. The production starts getting more and more intense at which points it starts to drown out the main synth melody, and as a result the song begins to lose its catchiness. I get that they were probably going for a massive buildup, but it ended up harming the replayability of the song instead. Still a good track though. The Tortured Poets Department Lyrics: 3 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Poor Quite a smooth and melodious track overall. But of course, at this point everyone knows its lyrical shortfalls in the second verse. The Charlie Puth line is simply too jarring and doesn't work. Unfortunately, it's not the worse lyrical offender from the song. The lyrics and the delivery in its two separate bridges are way worse. Bridge-1 namedrops Lucy and Jack and is delivered in a very unpleasant tone, and Bridge-2 is very wordy for no particular reason. This track could have been pretty good if the second verse was rewritten and if the song ended around 2:45 min mark. Unfortunately, it goes on and on for nearly a whopping 5 minutes and the production stars getting very unfocused towards the end. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys Lyrics: 1 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 7 | Verdict: Delete Sonically this is a fairly decent track. However, it's an absolute abomination lyrically. She leaned so hard on the toy metaphors that the entire song ended up being one giant meta-sleaze. I counted 20 unique toy metaphors, with pretty much every single sentence of the song containing some kind of references to toys or dolls. Now, metaphors on their own aren't bad. In fact, they are quite a powerful tool in any musician's arsenal. However, metaphors are most effective when used sparingly, to highlight or to emphasize the preceding non-metaphor lines. Compare this to Billie's What Was I Made For, which beautifully captures the essence of being a doll, but also a general feeling of losing purpose and not being able to enjoy life, and she achieved that without using a single tacky metaphor. Taylor's writing has always been clear of these type of rookie mistakes. Her clean, relatable writing is what got her where she is in the first place. Whereas metaphor-galore was always what plagued Katy Perry's writing. So, this song is very out of character and there's literally no amount of tweaking that can be done to it to save it. Delete Down Bad Lyrics: 2 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Delete Similar situation to the previous track. Once again, the song is stuffed to the brim with alien and cosmos metaphors to the point where it becomes suffocating and the real meaning of the song gets lost in the process – I counted 19 unique alien/cosmos metaphors in this one. The opening line - "Did you really beam me up in a cloud of sparkling dust just to do experiments on?" - is absolutely diabolical. Yes, it makes sense if you squint really hard and scratch your head a few times, but do you really want to do that with music? Throughout the entire song?? It's like she was trying really hard to sound extremely poetic on some of these songs, but ended up with something really forced and confusing and genuinely embarrassing. Both this and the previous track are some of her worst written songs to date. The production is also far from spectacular - it's more of a "vibes" song than anything else. I don't think anything could be done to save this one either. Delete So Long, London Lyrics: 6 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 5 | Verdict: Mid That intro is really annoying. And the production is a little confusing because it doesn't go well with the lyrics at all. The lyrics are ok, but somehow aren't focused enough and don't capture well what she's trying to convey. Lots of unnecessary metaphors on this one as well, but at least they are not as suffocating. Overall, a very poor choice for Track 5, which was always meant to serve as the emotional centerpiece of her records. But Daddy, I Love Him Lyrics: 9 | Melodies: 8 | Production: 1 | Verdict: Rework The biggest crime committed on this record is the absolute mismatch of this song's emotion with its production. This is such a unique and interesting song in Taylor's discography, taking the listener on a wild and unpredictable ride. It's like she's pulling the curtain and spilling it all out without fear of repercussion, dragging her team, the general public and her most annoying fans in the process. The lyrics are full of mischief, spectacle and suspense. But then the production is an absolute nothingburger. The verses barely have a pulse and the production on the chorus sounds like it was made by an intern in GarageBand. It's so bland and basic and just trudges along instead being used to highlight the drama that's unfolding within the lyrics. There's an easy fix to this song: it needs to have a rock production, something in the vein of Behind These Hazel Eyes or even Taylor's own Better Than Revenge. This is still a great song though, the production is just frustratingly terrible. Fresh Out of Slammer Lyrics: 4 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 8 | Verdict: Delete The first of the "Western" style productions on the album, which is a breath of fresh air after a string of poor production choices - that outro is really good. Unfortunately, it's another track where the prison metaphor was overdone to the point of death. However, the most unforgivable drawback of this song is her vocals during the chorus where she employs that airy head voice which she simply can't pull off AT ALL. You can say anything you want about Taylor's live vocals, but she normally sounds great with her studio vocals, just not on this song. That's exactly the same vocals she tried to pull off on Dress and I Think He Knows. Truly horrendous and unpleasant experience. Delete Florida!!! (feat Florence + The Machine) Lyrics: 7 | Melodies: 9 | Production: 8 | Verdict: Good This is the only song on the album that has clean and crisp production. You can actually hear the instruments; and you can hear their voices clearly too – the production doesn't drown them. The rest of the album's production sounds like it was recorded in the neighbour's bathroom – it's too muddy, muted and placed too far behind the vocals. They could have used more of this song's sound throughout the record to much greater results. The banging gets a little annoying towards the end, but it's a good track overall with good lyrics and melodies. Guilty as Sin Lyrics: 10 | Melodies: 10 | Production: 7 | Verdict: Excellent Classic Taylor here - she truly snapped on this one. Excellently written, with infectious melodies -possibly the only song with smash potential on the album. The production drags it a little though. It's like they couldn't commit to either a pop or a rock sound and decided to go with something very middle of the road. A more rock style production would have been an absolute killer on this song and turned it into a certified classic. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? Lyrics: 5 | Melodies: 5 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Bonus Track It's a weird little song. This is the second Western style production track, even if the commitment to the sound was rather half-hearted. She's leaning hard on the witchery imagery here. Lyrically it's a little too self-indulgent. Melodically it's very mid and not catchy at all. Production is also fairly boring and super Jack Antonoff'ed. Very mid track overall, but at the same it's somewhat fun and very much "for the fans only", so it would make a cute little bonus track if she put it onto a variant. I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) Lyrics: 8 | Melodies: 8 | Production: 8 | Verdict: Good The third and final Western style track. Certainly the best out of them in every single department. Short, sweet and very much to the point with an unexpected twist right at the very end. Her vocals are very pleasant on this one. loml Lyrics: 10 | Melodies: 10 | Production: 10 | Verdict: Excellent Beautifully written, amazing melodies, fitting production and well conveyed emotion. The song hits from start to end with no mistakes in any of the departments. Truly an outlier on this album. Only the first part of the chorus repeats at any other point of the song, with the rest of the lyrics being unique, which is very reminiscent of All Too Well's structure. Pure excellence. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart Lyrics: 7 | Melodies: 5 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Bonus Track Another weird ass song. But certainly very fun… in an unhinged way. Pretty interesting lyrically, a little weak melodically, and very Mastermind style delivery. And the main production element (the synth that runs throughout the entire song) was also lifted straight from Mastermind. In a world where the dreadful Mastermind didn't exist, this may have been a better track. Either way, it's such a massive sonic outlier that it feels like it shouldn't be on the main album. Make it a bonus track together with the Who's Afraid of Little Old Me and suddenly you have a great "for the fans" deluxe edition. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived Lyrics: 9 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 4 | Verdict: Rework A similar situation to But Daddy I Love Him in terms of lyrics/production mismatch, although not as egregious. The production in the first half is generally fine, because it was meant to be chill. Although, I really don't like how she sings on top of the instrumental melody in the verses, i.e. matching the vocal melody with the instrumental melody note for note – she's never done that before and it sounds really dull. Luckily she switches it up in the pre-chorus and the chorus. Unfortunately, the production in the extended bridge/outro is really crying for something different, something rockier, something darker, something more crisp. The current production is very muddy and doesn't capture the anger in her delivery at all. Other than that it's a very good and emotional song that was an obvious choice for Track 5. The Alchemy Lyrics: 7 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 4 | Verdict: Mid Infectious chorus melodies, but super dull verses. Ok lyrics. Production is seriously lacking though. It's very translucent, uninspired and barely there. Again and again with this album, the production is what drags it down even when the rest is seemingly ok. Clara Bow Lyrics: 8 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Mid A fitting closer to the album with sparse and more chill production. Interesting lyrics, especially the ending where she namedropps herself. Very dull melodies unfortunately. Not much else to say about this. A very mid track. Final thoughts There's a massive underlying problem with this album – the production does not match neither the lyrics nor the emotion of the record AT ALL. The mood of the record leans hard on feelings of anger, despair and disdain; the recurring lyrical themes involve killings, deaths, suicide, guns, witchery and cemeteries; there's always fear, hatred, anxiety and depression somewhere in the mix. However, the production of the album is not only all over the place, it's also almost never in tune with the lyrical content. The album demands darker, clearer and heavier production. Instead we got very muddy, very middle of the road, uninteresting production choices over the course of the entire album. It's not only sonically incoherent, it's also very dull for most part. I think a lot of disconnect with this record from the non-fans comes from the sound of it. Simply nothing draws you in on your first few listens, and not everyone will be willing to give a record this mammothly long more than one or two spins – hence the overwhelmingly negative reception. Lyrically it's also really sloppy in many places, which takes away quite a few points from it. The overuse of metaphors to sound extra poetic ended up ruining several tracks. A lot of the tracks are also overly self-indulgent, which is perhaps an odd thing to say about a Taylor Swift record, but this album in particular is very inaccessible to a casual listener because of how much it leans on very unrelatable specifics that only the fans may be able to decipher. There are a few moments of brilliance, but sadly, they are often overshadowed by production mistakes. Overall, this is one of her weakest efforts to date. It's far from great, but frankly it's not terrible either. I would firmly place it only right above her debut. The rest of her discography is considerably better. Lyrics: 6.5 | Melodies: 7.5 | Production: 5.0 | Verdict: Very Underwhelming 3 10 3 7
Popular Post NEX Posted June 23 Author Popular Post Posted June 23 This thinkpiece!! The obsession is real. I'm not reading all that 22
Janet Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Decent verdicts. Except you could delete the whole album and just keep Guilty As Sin and loml 1 1
Kayseri Mantisi Posted June 23 Posted June 23 I see nothing but spills, good review bestie Swifties who try to drag other people for "not reading a book" "being illiterate" "not being able to understand the words" etc etc will probably ironically call your thread an essay and won't even bother reading it though. Or they might bring up the album's ChArT sUcCeSs!1!1!1! 4 2 3
kimberly Posted June 23 Posted June 23 loml and Florida!!! were the main/only highlights for me, agree with your thoughts on those. Verdict: 2-song EP + 4 bonus tracks 1
Hurem Posted June 23 Posted June 23 19 minutes ago, NEX said: Verdict: Very Underwhelming This is fitting for this album. Tortured Listeners Department 1 1
greento Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Well I like this album a lot and so does the GP it seems shame the same can't be said for Cowboy Carter 2 3
NoOneDiesFromLove Posted June 23 Posted June 23 36 minutes ago, NEX said: My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys Lyrics: 1 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 7 | Verdict: Delete 37 minutes ago, NEX said: Fresh Out of Slammer Lyrics: 4 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 8 | Verdict: Delete /deletethread 3
laqqinq Posted June 23 Posted June 23 35 minutes ago, NEX said: Warning: This will be a very lengthy and detailed overview of the entire album focusing on each track individually. So, buckle up if you're interested. I won't be focusing too much on the lyrical shortfalls, I already did that here. *When I talk about melodies I refer specifically to vocal melodies. Fortnight (feat Post Malone) Lyrics: 8 | Melodies: 9 | Production: 7 | Verdict: Good This song starts exceptionally well. The production and the melodies are top notch and are seriously infectious. Then around the 2 min mark Jack Antonoff seemingly decides to get heavily involved and starts convoluting the sound with a lot of unnecessary layers, blips and twinkles. The production starts getting more and more intense at which points it starts to drown out the main synth melody, and as a result the song begins to lose its catchiness. I get that they were probably going for a massive buildup, but it ended up harming the replayability of the song instead. Still a good track though. The Tortured Poets Department Lyrics: 3 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Poor Quite a smooth and melodious track overall. But of course, at this point everyone knows its lyrical shortfalls in the second verse. The Charlie Puth line is simply too jarring and doesn't work. Unfortunately, it's not the worse lyrical offender from the song. The lyrics and the delivery in its two separate bridges are way worse. Bridge-1 namedrops Lucy and Jack and is delivered in a very unpleasant tone, and Bridge-2 is very wordy for no particular reason. This track could have been pretty good if the second verse was rewritten and if the song ended around 2:45 min mark. Unfortunately, it goes on and on for nearly a whopping 5 minutes and the production stars getting very unfocused towards the end. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys Lyrics: 1 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 7 | Verdict: Delete Sonically this is a fairly decent track. However, it's an absolute abomination lyrically. She leaned so hard on the toy metaphors that the entire song ended up being one giant meta-sleaze. I counted 20 unique toy metaphors, with pretty much every single sentence of the song containing some kind of references to toys or dolls. Now, metaphors on their own aren't bad. In fact, they are quite a powerful tool in any musician's arsenal. However, metaphors are most effective when used sparingly, to highlight or to emphasize the preceding non-metaphor lines. Compare this to Billie's What Was I Made For, which beautifully captures the essence of being a doll, but also a general feeling of losing purpose and not being able to enjoy life, and she achieved that without using a single tacky metaphor. Taylor's writing has always been clear of these type of rookie mistakes. Her clean, relatable writing is what got her where she is in the first place. Whereas metaphor-galore was always what plagued Katy Perry's writing. So, this song is very out of character and there's literally no amount of tweaking that can be done to it to save it. Delete Down Bad Lyrics: 2 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Delete Similar situation to the previous track. Once again, the song is stuffed to the brim with alien and cosmos metaphors to the point where it becomes suffocating and the real meaning of the song gets lost in the process – I counted 19 unique alien/cosmos metaphors in this one. The opening line - "Did you really beam me up in a cloud of sparkling dust just to do experiments on?" - is absolutely diabolical. Yes, it makes sense if you squint really hard and scratch your head a few times, but do you really want to do that with music? Throughout the entire song?? It's like she was trying really hard to sound extremely poetic on some of these songs, but ended up with something really forced and confusing and genuinely embarrassing. Both this and the previous track are some of her worst written songs to date. The production is also far from spectacular - it's more of a "vibes" song than anything else. I don't think anything could be done to save this one either. Delete So Long, London Lyrics: 6 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 5 | Verdict: Mid That intro is really annoying. And the production is a little confusing because it doesn't go well with the lyrics at all. The lyrics are ok, but somehow aren't focused enough and don't capture well what she's trying to convey. Lots of unnecessary metaphors on this one as well, but at least they are not as suffocating. Overall, a very poor choice for Track 5, which was always meant to serve as the emotional centerpiece of her records. But Daddy, I Love Him Lyrics: 9 | Melodies: 8 | Production: 1 | Verdict: Rework The biggest crime committed on this record is the absolute mismatch of this song's emotion with its production. This is such a unique and interesting song in Taylor's discography, taking the listener on a wild and unpredictable ride. It's like she's pulling the curtain and spilling it all out without fear of repercussion, dragging her team, the general public and her most annoying fans in the process. The lyrics are full of mischief, spectacle and suspense. But then the production is an absolute nothingburger. The verses barely have a pulse and the production on the chorus sounds like it was made by an intern in GarageBand. It's so bland and basic and just trudges along instead being used to highlight the drama that's unfolding within the lyrics. There's an easy fix to this song: it needs to have a rock production, something in the vein of Behind These Hazel Eyes or even Taylor's own Better Than Revenge. This is still a great song though, the production is just frustratingly terrible. Fresh Out of Slammer Lyrics: 4 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 8 | Verdict: Delete The first of the "Western" style productions on the album, which is a breath of fresh air after a string of poor production choices - that outro is really good. Unfortunately, it's another track where the prison metaphor was overdone to the point of death. However, the most unforgivable drawback of this song is her vocals during the chorus where she employs that airy head voice which she simply can't pull off AT ALL. You can say anything you want about Taylor's live vocals, but she normally sounds great with her studio vocals, just not on this song. That's exactly the same vocals she tried to pull off on Dress and I Think He Knows. Truly horrendous and unpleasant experience. Delete Florida!!! (feat Florence + The Machine) Lyrics: 7 | Melodies: 9 | Production: 8 | Verdict: Good This is the only song on the album that has clean and crisp production. You can actually hear the instruments; and you can hear their voices clearly too – the production doesn't drown them. The rest of the album's production sounds like it was recorded in the neighbour's bathroom – it's too muddy, muted and placed too far behind the vocals. They could have used more of this song's sound throughout the record to much greater results. The banging gets a little annoying towards the end, but it's a good track overall with good lyrics and melodies. Guilty as Sin Lyrics: 10 | Melodies: 10 | Production: 7 | Verdict: Excellent Classic Taylor here - she truly snapped on this one. Excellently written, with infectious melodies -possibly the only song with smash potential on the album. The production drags it a little though. It's like they couldn't commit to either a pop or a rock sound and decided to go with something very middle of the road. A more rock style production would have been an absolute killer on this song and turned it into a certified classic. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? Lyrics: 5 | Melodies: 5 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Bonus Track It's a weird little song. This is the second Western style production track, even if the commitment to the sound was rather half-hearted. She's leaning hard on the witchery imagery here. Lyrically it's a little too self-indulgent. Melodically it's very mid and not catchy at all. Production is also fairly boring and super Jack Antonoff'ed. Very mid track overall, but at the same it's somewhat fun and very much "for the fans only", so it would make a cute little bonus track if she put it onto a variant. I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) Lyrics: 8 | Melodies: 8 | Production: 8 | Verdict: Good The third and final Western style track. Certainly the best out of them in every single department. Short, sweet and very much to the point with an unexpected twist right at the very end. Her vocals are very pleasant on this one. loml Lyrics: 10 | Melodies: 10 | Production: 10 | Verdict: Excellent Beautifully written, amazing melodies, fitting production and well conveyed emotion. The song hits from start to end with no mistakes in any of the departments. Truly an outlier on this album. Only the first part of the chorus repeats at any other point of the song, with the rest of the lyrics being unique, which is very reminiscent of All Too Well's structure. Pure excellence. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart Lyrics: 7 | Melodies: 5 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Bonus Track Another weird ass song. But certainly very fun… in an unhinged way. Pretty interesting lyrically, a little weak melodically, and very Mastermind style delivery. And the main production element (the synth that runs throughout the entire song) was also lifted straight from Mastermind. In a world where the dreadful Mastermind didn't exist, this may have been a better track. Either way, it's such a massive sonic outlier that it feels like it shouldn't be on the main album. Make it a bonus track together with the Who's Afraid of Little Old Me and suddenly you have a great "for the fans" deluxe edition. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived Lyrics: 9 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 4 | Verdict: Rework A similar situation to But Daddy I Love Him in terms of lyrics/production mismatch, although not as egregious. The production in the first half is generally fine, because it was meant to be chill. Although, I really don't like how she sings on top of the instrumental melody in the verses, i.e. matching the vocal melody with the instrumental melody note for note – she's never done that before and it sounds really dull. Luckily she switches it up in the pre-chorus and the chorus. Unfortunately, the production in the extended bridge/outro is really crying for something different, something rockier, something darker, something more crisp. The current production is very muddy and doesn't capture the anger in her delivery at all. Other than that it's a very good and emotional song that was an obvious choice for Track 5. The Alchemy Lyrics: 7 | Melodies: 7 | Production: 4 | Verdict: Mid Infectious chorus melodies, but super dull verses. Ok lyrics. Production is seriously lacking though. It's very translucent, uninspired and barely there. Again and again with this album, the production is what drags it down even when the rest is seemingly ok. Clara Bow Lyrics: 8 | Melodies: 6 | Production: 6 | Verdict: Mid A fitting closer to the album with sparse and more chill production. Interesting lyrics, especially the ending where she namedropps herself. Very dull melodies unfortunately. Not much else to say about this. A very mid track. Final thoughts There's a massive underlying problem with this album – the production does not match neither the lyrics nor the emotion of the record AT ALL. The mood of the record leans hard on feelings of anger, despair and disdain; the recurring lyrical themes involve killings, deaths, suicide, guns, witchery and cemeteries; there's always fear, hatred, anxiety and depression somewhere in the mix. However, the production of the album is not only all over the place, it's also almost never in tune with the lyrical content. The album demands darker, clearer and heavier production. Instead we got very muddy, very middle of the road, uninteresting production choices over the course of the entire album. It's not only sonically incoherent, it's also very dull for most part. I think a lot of disconnect with this record from the non-fans comes from the sound of it. Simply nothing draws you in on your first few listens, and not everyone will be willing to give a record this mammothly long more than one or two spins – hence the overwhelmingly negative reception. Lyrically it's also really sloppy in many places, which takes away quite a few points from it. The overuse of metaphors to sound extra poetic ended up ruining several tracks. A lot of the tracks are also overly self-indulgent, which is perhaps an odd thing to say about a Taylor Swift record, but this album in particular is very inaccessible to a casual listener because of how much it leans on very unrelatable specifics that only the fans may be able to decipher. There are a few moments of brilliance, but sadly, they are often overshadowed by production mistakes. Overall, this is one of her weakest efforts to date. It's far from great, but frankly it's not terrible either. I would firmly place it only right above her debut. The rest of her discography is considerably better. Lyrics: 6.5 | Melodies: 7.5 | Production: 5.0 | Verdict: Very Underwhelming I agree with a lot (not all) of what you said. Well articulated. This album (except for a few songs) was not it for me, and that is okay. And I say that solely on the basis of the record and not in correlation to her image, personal life, fandom, or otherwise. She has got way better albums that I enjoy listening to, so it's fine. 1
laqqinq Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Just now, laqqinq said: I agree with a lot (not all) of what you said. Well articulated. This album (except for a few songs) was not it for me, and that is okay. And I say that solely on the basis of the record and not in correlation to her image, personal life, fandom, or otherwise. She has got way better albums that I enjoy listening to, so it's fine. AND no hate to Taylor in any shape, way, form, direction, angle, thought, or action 1
ZacXCX Posted June 23 Posted June 23 26 minutes ago, Kayseri Mantisi said: Or they might bring up the album's ChArT sUcCeSs!1!1!1! 8 minutes ago, greento said: Well I like this album a lot and so does the GP it seems shame the same can't be said for Cowboy Carter This is sending me. Took 18 minutes. 6
TaggedGalaxy Posted June 23 Posted June 23 loml Lyrics: 10 | Melodies: 10 | Production: 10 | Verdict: Excellent 1 1
Tusk Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Two months later and this album is still stepping on people's neck. "7 bars of chocolate" will be immortalized as apart of AOTY in 2025 and the crowd will cheer. 8
Kavish Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Now do one for The Anthology and give I Hate It Here an Excellent verdict or keep it in the drafts. 1 2
NEX Posted June 23 Author Posted June 23 4 minutes ago, Kavish said: Now do one for The Anthology and give I Hate It Here an Excellent verdict or keep it in the drafts. The Anthology is coming as well in the next couple of week. I just need to spend more time with it. Stay tuned for I Hate It Here's verdict 2
Achilles. Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Your comments on My Boy and Down Bad are interesting and somewhat in line with my own. I think the songs expose the difficulty of writing songs with extended metaphors. It works with something like "Miss Americana," because it was a somewhat novel concept and point of view that was obviously informed by her personal experience. My Boy and Down Bad, on the other hand, come across as generic and utilize concepts that have been done to death in pop music. Is there a single female pop star that doesn't have a song comparing herself to a doll in one way or another? Especially when the whole Barbie thing just happened. But I don't really think that they're bad necessarily… just not special. To me, they're the mid filler of the album and her catalog; they're not skips, but they're nowhere near the conversation of her best work. Disagree on a few other points, but I'm glad to see your positive ratings of Florida!!! and I Can Fix Him. I like London and Slammer a lot more than you, though. Can't say I agree about Clara Bow having dull melodies, either, considering it was the first song from the album that I memorized; it still might be the only song on this half that I know all the words to, actually. 2
Hitchhiker Posted June 23 Posted June 23 The way this album have you people seething 2 months later no wonder these other pop girls album are not even cracking sales streams or even invoking any sort of discussion 1
Just a Gay on ATRL Posted June 23 Posted June 23 Taste for recognizing Guilty As Sin is an album highlight! It should be a single.
TaylenaStan Posted June 23 Posted June 23 (edited) Could have been harsher on some songs like The Tortured Baguettes Department (titletrack) or The Flopchemy Fresh Out The Slammer deserves better, but kinda agree with most of the rest @HackAntonoff get a job, stay away form ha Edited June 23 by TaylenaStan 1
pisuke Posted June 23 Posted June 23 23 minutes ago, By the Water said: This album really got you messed up, huh? Yeah, it's THAT bad. 2 1
Recommended Posts