We Hereby Conduct This Post-Mortem
New Music Friday 4/19/24
The big story this week is obviously Taylor Swift, and don’t worry I have TONS to say, but I wanted to at least give you a little of something else first. This week I get to see one of my favorite artists live. Great Good Fine Ok is always a wonderful show so I am very excited for the good vibes I’ll be receiving on Tuesday night. This is also the last little bit of April before I have my jam packed May concert schedule with a total of 5 shows on the books (and potentially one more will be added). Last year I went to 27 shows and this year I want to hit 30 for my 30th year so I am well on my way to be on track for that goal.
My favorite single of the week: Change Your Mind - Knox
I fell in love with this band when I found their song Not The 1975 because the algorithms know far too much about my interests and they were right. This band is the perfect blend of pop rock that I am a sucker for. With this release they add a little folky flair that is popular at the moment thanks to another favorite of mine, Noah Kahan. It’s catchy, it’s fun, and it’s relatable. This artist is one to watch, not only for his talent but for his humor. When people online said he was bold to drop on the same day as Taylor Swift, he jokingly posted a clip of his most popular song, the one that got me into him, and said “Taylor I’m not the only one who wrote a song about Matty Healy.”
An album I was anticipating (and one I wasn’t): The Tortured Poets Department - Taylor Swift
Leave it to Miss Swift to always have something (or more likely several somethings) extra up her sleeves. We got enough songs to fill two whole albums on Friday, and I have spent lots of hours since listening to the album over and over again while I digest the material. I have a LOT of thoughts and some rather mixed feelings about it overall. The last time we got a brand new Taylor album I also had mixed feelings within the first few days of the release and I grew to enjoy and appreciate it so take all the following with a grain of salt and just hear me out.
This is an album that Taylor needed to write more than any of her other albums, she’s said so herself, and you can tell. Lyrically, this album is so personal it almost feels like we’re reading her diary. With that level of unprecedented vulnerability from her, it’s almost uncomfortable to listen to at times. And I think that is exactly the point. Taylor used this album to show us all exactly who she is: a deeply emotional, sometimes flawed individual (aka a human being) who is often uncomfortable with the level of devotion she inspires. In past albums, Taylor has taken shots at her haters, her critics, and her exes (which of course is present in this album too) but this is the first time she’s taken a shot directly at her fans. In several songs and in the post she made on release night, she basically tells her most devoted fans that they need to calm down. Unfortunately, reading comprehension seems to be lacking in the general population, and therefore some Swifties, and I’ve seen lots of fans online continuing to offer up a lot of the same opinions and discussions that Taylor said she dislikes. While this is not surprising, it is disappointing and sadly, that is just the way modern fandom for artists on her level goes. I recognize the irony of me writing all that and then continuing to write this post and I also want to be clear I am not above a fun theorizing session amongst friends and deciphering the Easter eggs Taylor leaves just for her fans. But there’s a difference between a text to your bestie saying “ooh this song maybe is about X” and writing a Twitter thread about how you think Taylor is secretly not straight, commenting negative things on the social media posts of the people you think are the subject of a song, or sending legit death threats to people having different opinions on the music than you. I feel like we’ve come to a point in time where fandom (not just Taylor’s, I’ve seen this across the board in the last couple years) is so toxic that it doesn’t know how to be anything else. But that’s a larger discussion for another time and a lesson for me to just not look at the online discourse and experience this piece of art without outside influence.
While we all thought this album would fully be about her breakup with Joe, the album is actually, unfortunately, mostly about her ill-fated, short-lived (or semi long term if you count the rumors from literally a decade ago) fling with Matty Healy. As a long time fan of both Taylor and The 1975, their fling was almost weirder to me than it was to her fans who didn’t know who he was before they got together. I knew it wasn’t a good fit but Taylor did it anyway because, as she says in her defiant But Daddy I Love Him, it was her choice (mistake) to make, her reputation to play with, her feelings to gamble with. My mixed feelings about the relationship has lead to some mixed feelings about the songs that came out of it but if I can remove the lore from the music, I can appreciate their beauty in a way. While people may clown her for writing a whole album of depressed girl lyrics for a fling with a problematic man that barely lasted a month, let us remember this is the same woman who wrote a 10 minute song about a 3 month relationship when there was much less at stake both personally and professionally. Taylor feels things quickly, deeply, and intensely and that’s part of why we love her and can feel connected to her songs. And let’s face it, Joe has several albums dedicated to his relationship and the circumstances that led to his breakup with Taylor. Folklore in hindsight was definitely her realizing the relationship wasn’t going to last despite the fact that she claims it was about fictional characters, whether she was lying to us or to herself only she can know.
While lyrics have always been Taylor’s strengths (despite some occasionally cringe ones), they are usually paired with music that is as nuanced and as strong her as her words. This time around, I don’t feel that as much and I feel it may be time for her partnership with Jack Antonoff to be set aside. They have produced some truly incredible music throughout their years of collaboration but I no longer think they are pushing each other to do their best work. In this case, it also probably led to some awkward recording sessions. Taylor and Jack have been friends and partners for over a decade but Jack in recent years has also become close with Matty. Not only did he help produce a handful of songs of The 1975’s latest album but he is also now signed to the record label that began with the signing of Matty’s band. I clocked two different songs where there were melodies that were reminiscent of The 1975’s last album. That may have been an intentional creative choice given the subject matter of the songs, but it’s possible it’s also Jack running out of ideas, or maybe a little of both. Not that he’s lost his talent or that he’s diminishing Taylor’s (because she would never allow that), but I think on a creative level they’ve both gotten as much out of each other as they can at this point and I’d love to see what happens when they both try something new.
The anthology section of the album I feel is much stronger. This half was mostly produced by Aaron Dessner (her partner for Folklore/Evermore) and I think because her partnership with Aaron is newer, it still feels fresh and interesting. His production seems to match better to the subject matter of the album as well. I don’t think a song where she talks about being suicidal over a man should have a fun synthy beat behind it. Aaron’s more stripped back style matches the vibe so much better in my opinion. I also connect more with the songs on the back half on an emotional level so automatically those rank higher for me. Overall, it is an incredibly beautiful album that for me loses some of it’s beauty in the production and in the discourse around it. That being said, it’s still a Taylor Swift album so I still love it and will continue to listen and uncover more layers of feelings, both hers and my own.
My favorites from the standard: Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, Florida!!!, So Long London, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
My favorites from the anthology: I Hate It Here, The Prophecy, I Look in People’s Windows, The Black Dog
If you’d like to check out this week’s recommendations, as well as all my favorites this year, check out my playlist! (Sometimes I even throw a song I didn’t talk about on there just for fun)