The Swiftening – Pt 3: “reputation”

(The Swiftening Series: 1. folklore | 2. Lover | 3. reputation | 4. 1989 | 5. Red | 6. Speak Now | 7. Fearless | 8. Taylor Swift)

When I began this Taylor Swift album review series, I was probably the most nervous to get to this album. When I say I never really connected to Taylor Swift’s pop era, I really mean I never connected much to her reputation album. Allow me to explain.

See, up until 2017, I had a very particular image of who Taylor Swift was. To me, she was the diminutive, beautiful girl with an acoustic guitar and a head full of blonde curls. Swift was all cowboy boots and sundresses and sweet love songs. When she was bitter and angry, it was directed at a man who wronged her. Maybe he cheated on her or broke her heart or didn’t pay her the attention she deserved (or all three). What I missed about Swift was her infamy, I think.

I was, like, ten when Swift won the 2009 VMA award for Best Music Video, and Kanye West interrupted her acceptance speech to announce how much Beyoncé deserved that award over her. I remember it being big news, and I remember maybe briefly thinking that West was kind of a jerk, but otherwise had no further feelings about or investment in the conflict. But it’s kind of wild to think about now, right? Like a perfect bubble of uncomplicated celeb drama, before we would even begin to understand how far West would go off the rails, or how absolutely big time famous Swift would get. I have a feeling a lot of observers at the time must have imagined this event as a blip – probably in a few years Swift would be a footnote of the music industry and West would be just as big-time famous and beloved as he was at the time.

I also have really never had the patience for celebrity drama, even as I’ve gotten old enough to understand it. Swift’s beefs with celebrities over the year kind of… never really found themselves into my world. I was somewhat aware that she and Katy Perry were feuding over something (Recap: It was backup dancers. Yes. Really.) but that was it. And while I was aware of her second feud with the Wests, (Recap: Kanye put the line “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex /
Why? I made that bitch famous (Goddamn)” in his song “Famous.” He apparently got clearance from Swift for the first part of the line, but didn’t ask about the second, and she was angry at him for implying that he was the reason for her success. Then Kim Kardashian released a video of Swift approving only the first part of the lyric as “proof” of her approving the entire lyric, so lots of people called her a liar and it was a whole thing.), again, celebrity drama is just not really my thing, and I wasn’t a fan of either West or Swift at the time.

So having all of this fly over my head a bit, my first perspective on reputation was… “is it really that serious?” Swift was in her bad girl era, dripping in snake imagery and black fishnets and knee-high leather boots, singing about how she was despised and betrayed. It kind of made the popular media image of Swift at the time make sense to me – obviously she was exaggerating all of this for clout, none of it was that big of a deal and she was just “playing the victim.” I mean, how else had she gone from America’s girl-next-door to this?

In the years since and having listened to and absorbed as much Swift content as I now have… I think that was a wrong assessment to make. As rich and powerful and famous as Swift is, I don’t think any of that could have truly protected her from the no doubt overwhelming force of journalists, music reviewers, fans, and random strangers from every walk of life spending their time telling you, in no uncertain terms, that whatever bad thing that happened to you was your fault, and/or that it wasn’t your fault but you exaggerated how bad it was, and/or that you deserved it even if it wasn’t your fault and you didn’t exaggerate it… etc. I also think Swift, like any young female musician from basically any era, has always been a victim of misogyny and has always had her every action analyzed and considered in the worst faith possible.

If you disagree, and you think Swift is overblowing the pain her infamy has caused her… well, there’s not much I can really do to convince you. And, this album probably isn’t for you. If it’s anything, reputation is unified in its themes of Swift adopting the view of her most vocal critics and playing with her image as a manipulator and liar. If you don’t believe that, than you won’t believe in this album. It’s that simple. And yes, it also has some pretty cutting and well-written moments. I mean, Swift is a really talented songwriter, and even in a genre that really (really, really) doesn’t suit her, there are some songs with lyrics that make me feel like I need to sit down for like an hour just to process it all. …But there’s also some pretty awkward and bad moments, too. This is my least favorite album of Swift’s so far, and I have a suspicion it will remain that way.

reputation is a dark album, pulling from trap, rap, hip-hop, and electronic influences. Trading in her acoustic guitar and pop structure for these genres is… well, it’s a choice. I don’t want this review to move on before I acknowledge how iffy it is that Swift reaches for several traditionally black genres when she wants to depict herself as an evil manipulator and then immediately mostly drops those influences as soon as it’s clear they don’t serve her. Swift is not the beginning or ending of the long and insidious tradition of white appropriation of black music styles but… I can’t possibly pass judgment on this album without pointing that out. Beyond that, though, I just really don’t think Swift’s writing style works well in these genres. With styles so focused on tight, complex rhythms and powerful hooks, Swift’s method of writing long-form poetry is often awkwardly shoehorned into the melodies of these songs.

This is apparent from the very beginning of the album, with “…Ready For It?” The lyrics are actually pretty competent and catchy for most of the song until it gets to the refrain of “Baby, let the games begin.” I know this is such a teeny tiny thing, but these lines have always bothered me. If you say that sentence normally, you’ll probably add stress to the word “games.” But in the song, the stress is on “Ba-” “the” and “-gin”, and it just sounds awkward. When so much of the rest of the song has flow and natural rhythm, it sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s made even worse by the fact that this line gets repeated with so much emphasis at the climax of the song. It kind of ruins a song that I probably would have no problems with otherwise.

Another example of a reoccurring songwriting problem happens in “Getaway Car,” a song that is just… oooh… just so close to working for me. The chorus has good drive, and the concept is fun but there’s just… no build? The verses are soft and the chorus is just a little too slow for my tastes. I feel like a song with as strong and exciting a concept as this one has would be able to drive up the tension. I don’t need it to be as bombastic and loud as the rest of the album, necessarily, but I feel like it’s a little limp. I mean, Swift drives tension in a lot of other soft songs later in her discography – “Cruel Summer” and “champagne problems” come to mind – so perhaps this is just a skill Swift hadn’t yet developed.

Tension problems abound, however, in probably my least favorite song of the package, “Look What You Made Me Do.” This song is… well, I’ve always found it baffling, really. In many ways, it’s the spiritual successor to “ME!”, another big smash hit of Swift’s with absolutely zero build or tension. But this one is perhaps worse, because at least “ME!” didn’t even tease a build. Meanwhile, this track has a big, bold build-up in the pre-chorus into an… absolutely boring, flat, nothing chorus. I understand that this is an intentional choice, but I just don’t think it works. I’ve noticed many people comparing this song to “I’m Too Sexy” as if that’s a huge compliment and I really can’t understand it, honestly.

Thematically though, “Look What You Made Me Do” is probably the thesis statement for one of the big threads of this album, and one I’ve briefly alluded to in the introduction. reputation is Swift’s album addressing the haters, and I think I’ve come around to respecting that. If there’s one thing Swift is, it’s honest. She’s honest about her heartbreaks and relationships, yes, that’s always been the case, but now she’s sitting down and opening up about her infamy and the media’s perception of her. This is kind of an unusual thing for a musician as big as Swift nowadays. I mean, sure, some artists might lightly allude to the struggles of fame but none I can think of are so blunt about the corrupting influence of having your every move analyzed.

There’s a lot of self-awareness in this album, too, which is something that I maybe didn’t realize until I started listening to it a lot (and watching the live recording of the final leg of her American reputation stadium tour, which is on Netflix and pretty dang entertaining). Where I initially thought the bad girl image Swift took on was a serious one, I have a feeling that I was mistaken there… mostly.

I mean, okay, let’s look at “I Did Something Bad.” This is a pretty straightforward song in terms of what this album is. It’s heavily electronic and very melodramatic. A lot of buy-in into Swift’s “player and manipulator” character. But like… can we take a look at the chorus for a second? “They say I did something bad / Then why’s it feel so good?” Perhaps a bit cliché, but these are not the lyrics of a Swift seriously invested in the reality of herself as a coldhearted manipulator. I mean, alongside the so cheesy it loops back around to being kind of catchy “ra-ta-ta-ta” interlude between each chorus… I mean, it’s all in good fun, isn’t it? That alongside the music video for “Look What You Made Me Do,” which is deeply invested in portraying Swift in all her many iterations with the most irony and humor possible… I mean, it’s obviously just a fun role Swift is playing, much like the many other roles she has played over the course of her career. It’s a sound she’s unused to and interested in experimenting with, and it’s self-aware in a way that’s unique and compelling.

And there are songs I love unironically on this album. Fewer than usual, but they’re there.

Though it took me a few listens, “Dancing with Our Hands Tied” finally clicked with me when I realized how much the song reminded me of the slightly emo t.A.T.u-styled music that formed a huge base of the stuff I listened to in the late aughts on the internet. Like the kind of music that would be played over a YouTube slideshow of some anime couple. I know that doesn’t sound like a compliment, but I really mean it as one. It’s such a specifically nostalgic sound that actually works really well with the subject matter of the song, that of a doomed romantic relationship. It’s also got this great energy that I feel would be really fun to dance to (RIP dancing).

“Gorgeous” reminds me a lot of Lover. It’s Swift adopting the parts of these new genres she’s exploring that actually seems to really suit her. It’s cute and flirtatious and features some Swift-branded comedy and cheekiness that doesn’t make me want to cringe (a big win).

And probably my favorite off the album, “Delicate” gets to something I think was missing from a lot of the rest of the album. Again, it’s Swift using some genre elements that actually work for her, but it’s also a lot more genuine than a lot of the rest of it. Yes, it’s still talking about reputation, but it’s a lot softer and more vulnerable, Swift seemingly holding onto a relationship that, despite all odds, is surviving the heavy pressure her fame and infamy puts on her. Every part of the song feels like the hesitant optimism of a person used to heartbreak deciding to trust someone again.

So yes, there are some stinkers on this album. With some ill-suited stylistic decisions, some songs that dissolve into an auditory applesauce of bass and electronic beats, and Swift doing her best impression of a white person pretending they’re “urban”… regardless, there’s some gem of beauty located in the center of reputation. I won’t be calling it a favorite anytime soon, but I think it’s convinced me that Swift generally knows what she’s doing when she picks a direction. As much as I don’t fully understand it, Swift went for the unique feeling of this album with all the honesty and energy she had, and I can respect it. Especially considering how much of this album seems to reflect the albums it leads into.

Rather than an error, a blip in the otherwise harmonious discography of Taylor Swift, I think reputation has earned its place. It may be the awkward, slightly ugly stepchild of the rest of the albums, but there’s something here to love. I’m glad I forced myself to see it.

Next time, it’s the star child, the beloved one… 1989.

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