Whether you love her or you hate her, we all must come to terms that the new Taylor Swift is here to stay.
On Nov. 10, she released “new Taylor’s,” debut album, Reputation. Fans were shocked and confused why it was only released for purchase only in the iTunes store, not on Apple music or Youtube. Despite this roadblock for fans, the album still sold a whopping 1.05 million copies within the first four days of its release.
New Taylor might be here to stay, but certain aspects of the album are reminiscent of the young Taylor we all knew and loved. One particular song that sticks out as being sung by the “old Taylor” is “End Game.” What originally was a reminder of the old Taylor, was that it featured Ed Sheeran, who she previously worked with in 2012 on the well-known song, “Everything has Changed.” After listening to the lyrics in the song, it’s obvious when she references one of her most talked about past signature looks, “So here’s a truth from my red lips.”
Certain aspects of the album still resemble the young Taylor we all knew and loved. Songs like, “Dancing With Our Hands,” “Dress,” and “End Game,” are all clearly about ex-boyfriend’s of hers, which proves old Taylor is somewhere in there, because she is notorious for writing epic breakup songs. Junior Grace Henschel said that she prefers Taylor’s older music and thinks this album compared to previous as, “better but Speak Now with always be my favorite.”
“New Year’s Day,” the song that most resembles older songs like “Mine,” and “Mean,” because they were lighter, a little slower, and comes off as more innocent in terms of music, which is the best part about the album. The early release of “…Ready For It?” and “Gorgeous,” were done on purpose, to set the stage for the tone of this album, as well as her new alter ego. In another early released song, “Look What You Made Me Do,” she refers to her change of heart, with a short but strange pause where she says, “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now…Why? Because she’s dead.”
I think the most loaded song on the album is “Look What You Made Me Do,” especially because of its music video. Unlike her previous videos, this one starts in a graveyard, where a muddy, gross looking version of herself lays under a headstone marked, “Here lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation,” then later in the video, shows herself at the top of a podium, surrounded by fighting versions of herself, all dressed in famous looks that she used to wear, to symbolize the reign that “new Taylor,” is about to take.
The album is new, it’s funky and its cool. Although it does stray from the reputation that Swift previously created for herself, it also debuts the cool, edgy side of her personality that the world didn’t know about.This album should receive four out of five stars, because it lacks the music fans are used to hearing from her, but does show off a new side of Taylor Swift, which is great too.
Emily Eichberg
Commons Editor
