LOVE
- The imagery - the photos, the costumes, the makeup from this era are SO GOOD. Exquisite taste all around.
- The musical cohesiveness is giving 70s (and might have fit the midnights aesthetic better)
- The Fate of Ophelia music video is one of her best ever
- The movie theater behind the scenes experience
LOVES (Friend's Version)
- The production is 100/10
- It's giving sassy/horny rep
- Opalite makes my wiggle my toes lol
- BECAUSE TAY TAY's DICK IS BIGGER. Bruv I got goosebumps.
HATE
- The lack of actual showgirl cohesiveness in the lyrics.
- The movie theaters played the clean versions.
- The lyric videos have too much going on. Who thought "hey let's use this kaleidoscope feature" cause it ain't it.
- The track list as a whole doesn't fit. I'd honestly take off CANCELLED! and Ruin the Friendship and add Clara Bow and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart because those two are way more the vibe!
HATES (Friend's Version)
- I'm not getting the "behind the curtain" showgirl aspect. The theme is throwing me off.
- Cancelled is cringey.
- I'm so over hearing about high school.
1. The Fate of Ophelia
Fave lyrics: The venom stole her sanity
Thoughts: I liked this one from first listen. It's got a real hauntingly sultriness.
Taylor talks: She said it combines a Shakespearean storytelling of Ophelia with the blending of modern lyrics.
Fave lyrics: They say I'm bad news, I just say, "Thanks"
Thoughts: The way I just have been randomly singing ELIZABETH TAYLOR in that catchy melody this weekend. It's the new FLORIDA!!!
Callback: In '...Ready for It' she has a lyric that references one of Elizabeth's exes. "Burton to this Taylor".
Fave lyrics: I had a habit
of missing lovers past
My brother used to call it
"Eating out of the trash"
Thoughts: This one makes me shimmy my shoulders upon every listen. The lightning strike lyric had me thinking of that photo of her in Miami from The Eras Tour. But then people were saying on tik tok that she's definitely read Fourth Wing with the references to lightning strikes and onyx nights.
Fave lyrics: I can make deals with the devil because my dick's bigger
Thoughts: This is one of my faves on the album because it's a little angry and a lot arrogant and that is the kind of shit I love. Did I gasp when she said her dick's bigger? You betcha. But like in the best way.
Callback: I had never heard the word "interpolation" but it's all over the place with this album and especially this song.
Fave lyrics: Every eldest daughter
Was the first lamb to the slaughter
Thoughts: My biggest issue with this song is the title. Eldest Daughter doesn't fit the entirety of the song. I love the way it starts but very quickly loses the point. It's one of her bottom track fives for sure. But the melody and music is still so good because of course it is.
Callback: The way she sings I'm not a bad bitch, and this isn't savage sounds similar to the way she sings I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale in White Horse.
Fave lyrics: Dare I say none? 😬 I loved the 50 cent and Abigail call outs though!
Thoughts: This was most definitely the biggest let down based solely on the title of the song. I thought we were getting something heartfelt and raw on the deterioration of a friendship and how hard that loss can be (ahem Blake?) but this turned out to be another song about a friend of hers from high school. I see both sides of the swifties who hate and those that love these throwback to high school. As a very nostalgic person I understand getting swept up in memories and the would've could've should've, however, I don't need the specific imagery of second period or wilted corsages. I typically love her detailed lyricism but with this subject matter I would've liked something more broad. Honestly I love the music and I'm annoyed it was "wasted".
Callback: This is thought to be about the same friend she wrote Forever Winter for. I prefer that song so much more because its focus on mental health. FW was a RED vault track and that's what Ruin the Friendship feels like it is. Like by itself it's a nice song but it doesn't fit this album at all.
Fave lyrics: You think I'm tacky, baby
Stop talking dirty to me
It sounded nasty, but it
Feels like you're flirting with me
Thoughts: This was another one that totally threw me off based on the track name. I don't think any of us Swifties thought this one was going to be a response to Charli xcx's Sympathy is a Knife (which is a song and beef I didn't know existed until now). But honestly, I think it's just a very tongue in cheek way to say fuck off to someone who keeps giving you so much attention and in Taylor's words "a one-sided adversarial relationship with you that you didn't know about".
Callback: Is this an interpolation of Weezer's Beverly Hills? It sure as hell sounds like it.
Fave lyrics: Um none?
Thoughts: The music is great, the melody is fun, but I can't relate to a single line so it's ehh on the lyric front for me. I get she's just trying to say we all have different things on our wish list and she just wants that quiet life with #87 but I agree with my friend Dev when she called it "out of touch".
Callback: It's giving rep vibes so much which is why I can't hate it.
Fave lyrics: I took him back and then
Stepped on a crack
And the black cat laughed
Thoughts: This is so Sabrina coded in the best way. All those sexual innuendos are fun as hell especially with that super dancy 70s music to back it up. If you like when Sabrina does it or Cardi or Lorde or Beyonce, but not when Taylor does it then maybe you just don't like Taylor and you could've just said that. Sorry not sorry but I think this song is fun as hell.
Callback: The fact that she went from the "smallest man who ever lived" to a "redwood tree". A Jackson 5 interpolation?
Fave lyrics: Did you girl boss too close to the sun?
Thoughts: It's about Blake, right? Someone said possibly Sophie (since it's spelled in the British way and the "matching scars" line is about Joe) but I'm still thinking Blake - at least in the beginning of her legal battle? I think on the surface it's a fucking bop and super tongue-in-cheek but if I think about it too much I do feel the ick. Because there is cancelled and there is CANCELLED! Like the way she was villainized pre-rep is one thing and I do think that is what she is relating the lyrics to but there is also certain CANCELLED! that there is no coming back from - friend or not.
Callback: Again giving me all the rep vibes.
Fave lyrics: You could be my forever night stand
Thoughts: I loved hearing the inspiration for this song and how she flips "honey" from being passive-aggressive to genuinely sweet.
Fave lyrics: She's dancing in her garters and fishnets
50 in the cast, zero missteps
Thoughts: I really love the sound. I can easily say that about every single song on the album. I love that Sabrina is featured on it with her. Just a couple of showgirls showing up and showing out.
Callback: Taylor at her storytelling once again clearly mixing fictional characters with her own story. This song is the perfect closer for this album and the best way to end the song with the callback to The Eras Tour. Um and a JoBros interpolation of Cool? Hmm.
Overall, I really like it but I do not love it. It's not a perfect album for me the way so many of hers have been in the past. But it's more good than bad. I've still had it on repeat since it dropped. I still wake up singing a different song. I think it's fun as hell! It doesn't deserve the hate it's getting but to be a true fan of anything is to have criticisms and opinions. The way you or I feel doesn't even matter because she is clearly so proud of it and that's got to feel great as an artist 20 years in.
Current TLOAS Ranking:
- Father Figure
- Opalite
- Elizabeth Taylor
- The Fate of Ophelia
- Actually Romantic
- Wood
- Honey
- The Life of a Showgirl
- Eldest Daughter
- Ruin the Friendship
- CANCELLED!
- Wish List
Current Discography Ranking:
- Reputation 9.33
- Folklore 9.17
- Evermore 9.11
- TTPD 1 8.40
- Speak Now 8.35
- Midnights 8.09
- TTPD 2 7.73
- 1989 7.68
- Red 7.31
- Lover 7.22
- TLOAS 7.16
- Taylor Swift 6.42
- Fearless 5.92
I was busy at work when Taylor announced the theater experience. I immediately went on my Fandango app to buy tickets. Winter Park was sold out. Fashion Square was sold out. Altamonte had seats available at 5:30 PM and I, BOOM, panic bought 4. Ha! Val and I had been talking about celebrating the album release somehow that evening so this seemed like the perfect way to do just that. I had an extra ticket so she invited her lovely neighbor, Rose. I flew out of work like I never have before and made it to the theater at 5:20 PM. I found my fellow Swifties and off we went to find our seats. I loved that there wasn't a single preview, and if that wasn't enough, it started with the Eras Tour countdown clock. The mems! We got to see her new music video for The Fate of Ophelia which I think is top tier and she's had some truly iconic videos. We also got a behind the scenes glimpse of all things choreography, perfect plank falling, and the star of the video - Mr. Sourdough himself. At the end Taylor (the cutie sitting next to me not the one on the screen) screamed "PERIODT!" and the whole place roared with laughter including myself. We watched her talk in her director's chair about the inspiration behind each song and then bopped along as each lyric video played. It was a fun ass time. I love Taylor and I love that her music has created this insanely cool community.
