Earlier in August, Taylor Swift announced her new album on Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce’s podcast “New Heights” basically out of the blue. I was pretty surprised she was even going to release an album this year because of all the stress she has probably had from finishing her two-year “Eras Tour.”
Before the release, there were hints given about the album release, but I honestly didn’t expect her to actually announce anything because we Swifties are notorious for being delusional about Swift’s hints.
With the album’s actual release this past week, it is very intriguing to me. At first listen, it felt somewhat childish, especially when compared to her previous albums in terms of lyricism and beats.
My favorite songs on the album have to be “Wi$h Li$t” because I like how she mentions things that people want, including a yacht life, Balenciaga shades, or even a contract with Real Madrid, to her own personal experience with wanting love and finding it (with Travis Kelce). She then mentions her personal life with wanting kids, which honestly surprised me because she has never mentioned that ever, because she usually mentions some suicidal feelings in the majority of her albums.
This album definitely also had some controversies that went with it. For example, the song “Wood” had lyrics in it that had a weird or even an inappropriate meaning behind them. I also saw on social media or even my own friends saying how this was her “worst album” because she’s going to trend-like with the popstar way.
To add, I later figured out that her song “Actually Romantic” was a response to Charli XCX’s song about her through social media. But, it is very interesting to see how Swift incorporated this pop-like song to also go for controversies or other secret messages.
Overall, I do enjoy this album. I am pleased to see Swift try different genres or like different forms of pop. This album kind of feels like more of her 2015 mega-album “1989” rather than her most recent album “The Tortured Poets Department,” which was more sad. I think this album is made for all ages as well, even though it has swear words in it, but overall, it’s a fun pop album.
