AccioEmpireBuilder

You're right... but let them have it. In a world where you could strategize and connect the past, present, and future of your career in a planned, decade-long multiverse-esque project, I would also use the project and resulting plotline to prop up the lowest-selling album in that early run and the fore-runner to a visual album (B'Day). Not a far-fetched idea... but getting used to the bare minimum and being surprised is something most of us seasoned vets have learned to practice. Let them be optimistic.

My thoughts exactly. When she didn't submit The Renaissance film to Best Music Film at the Grammys... that's when I knew this really affected her and the AMC relationship was on ice. Wouldn't even be surprised if they settled with her out of court for breaching contract/NDA. Her team had to work much faster editing than initially planned, which is why I feel we never got one of those crisp edited montages for her runway walk to "Energy" in all of her outfits, as well as a fleshed out "Pure / Honey" ballroom section with interviews. I also have a feeling AMC planned to put their campaign money behind Taylor Swift's campaign, and when Beyonce didn't even submit, Taylor's team using their usual "Great White Hope" PR / marketing push against Beyonce (as her team previously tried to do with the shoddy tour books, the tours themselves, the Disney+ exclusive tour home, etc.) fell apart and Taylor's film didn't even make it to the Grammy nominations stage. In Taylor's perfect world, nominations for both would have come out, and I swear that day Variety would've released a planted story exclusive of Taylor giving hundreds of thousands to her tour staff / dancers.

... Because Harry Styles needs a big single (A "Watermelon Sugar," "Adore You," "As It Was") this era to keep eyes on his catalog and hasn't released "The Waiting Game" for the fall.

As someone on the other side of my initial Carrie Underwood respect... you need to get into Cry Pretty. That era (and Max Martin's sole career contribution "Quitter") were even further pop than Blown Away. She didn't pick any of her crossover pop tracks except "Southbound" as singles though.

Yup. Top 2 pop pre-choruses of all time and it's not #2*. The way the tension in the pre-chorus builds and recedes like a steam locomotive is very cool. You get five stars from me this time, Dr. Luke. *#2?

Thank you! Made the changes.

If anything, I could see "Agora Hills" cousin "Acts of Service" taking off, or even "Aaahh Men" around Halloween.

TBH, her secret weapon is her gift for melodies. My dream Taylor Swift album? 1 anthemic Ryan Tedder record (multi-tracked like Phil Spector back in the day), 1 retro record like Leslie Gore's "It's My Party", 1 Max Martin record (all harps, banjo, and guitar loops, no synths), 1 classic country torch record like Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You," and the rest? Rostam (Vampire Weekend, Frank Ocean, Carly Rae Jepsen), Dev Hynes (Solange, Sugababes), Jimmy Napes / Eg White (Sam Smith), Paul Epworth (Adele), Coldplay, and T Bone Burnett (Safe & Sound). That's it.

The best live performer in history doesn't need 0.00001 per stream, especially when true fans buy the physical editions at full price. No Amazon asterisked, happy meal or value menu-priced albums over here. I also find it interesting she was the first female artist in this group to receive ownership of her masters from shrewd boardroom negotiation and leverage. What motivation does Columbia Records have in the year of our Lord 2026 to promote her streaming and pay Spotify when she's making most of the money? Food for thought.

A key indicator otherwise would be her ability to get sizable chart smashes on her own, but the evidence just isn't there: She hasn't been able to get much Top 10 chart success without group projects since... 2016-2017? Who would've thought "Million Reasons" would be her swan song, and "Stupid Love" the final nail in the 'Top 10 solo chart' coffin? Definitely not me.

Again, I think trolling in threads to grow them like this is my form of ATRL community service: the monsters downvote everything I post, and suddenly they can't downvote anything else of merit for a few hours. Those retaliatory threads they love to make disrespecting every other artist die very quickly with no monsters left to react. That fanbase needs to boost their self esteem. Maybe then they'd stop lashing out at everyone else. A solo #1 hit for the first time since 2011 would help. Get to streaming y'all.

Agreed. The fact title track "Something Beautiful" was rumored to have been in the running for Act III should tell us all we need to know: Miley Cyrus has been working towards this direction for a long time. I don't think this is a Drake x Renaissance submission situation where Miley submitted something and then made an entire album first once she had a hint of Beyonce's direction/sound to be seen as the front-runner (looking at you, Honestly, Nevermind).

Not too shabby for a 13-year old throwaway that leaked years before official release.