Taylor Swift cements her bad girl status in “Reputation”
The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now… why? Cause she’s too busy reinventing herself, topping the charts and breaking records with her highly anticipated studio album “Reputation,” which was officially released on Nov. 10.
According to the New York Times, the album was produced by Jack Antonoff, Max Martin and Swift herself.
The album was unlike anything Swift has done in the past, even though we saw a glimpse of her edgier side in “Bad Blood” in her last album, “1989.” Reputation is aggressive, edgy and independent. No knight in shining armor riding on a white horse, no teardrops on her guitar. If I could describe “Reputation” in one word, it would be BAM! (I bet you just read that in chef Emeril’s voice.)
At first, I was skeptical of the new Taylor. However, every pop princess has to get her rebellious bad girl phase out of their system, even if it’s only for a single project. Britney Spears went through her “My Prerogative” phase, Christina Aguilara had her iconic “Dirrrty” phase and Rihanna was a good girl gone bad, except her phase actually stuck.
It is now Swift’s turn to take the reins, one of the world’s biggest country-turned-pop artists who has finally unleashed her interpretation of the bad girl, which has probably been brewing inside of her for years. I knew it had to happen eventually between the Calvin Harris, Tom Hiddleston, Katy Perry and West drama. Surely, this was the last straw for TSwift. (Insert snake emoji)
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Taylor Swift album if there weren’t any sneaky, detailed lyrics weaved into almost every track.
“Getaway Car” was rumored to be about Tom Hiddleston and Calvin Harris. *Sips tea.* In the first verse she sings, “I struck a match and blew your mind/ But didn’t mean it/ and you didn’t see it.” Could this be referring to Hiddleswift’s short-lived romance?
In “I Did Something Bad” Swift sings “But if he drops my name, then I owe him nothin’ / And if he spends my change, then he had it coming.” Definitely a jab at Kanye West as he mentioned Swift in his song “Famous” last year.
There were plenty more examples of lyrics with hidden meanings, but I’ll leave those up to the Swifties to decipher.
My favorites from Reputation had to be “Dress,” “New Year’s Day” and “Delicate.” All three songs were tenderer and less malicious, even though malicious is always fun too. The songs sounded like they could’ve easily belonged to one of her previous albums.
The old Taylor is still there making great music that her long-time fans will adore, even if Swift insists the old Taylor is dead and gone. But for those who are new to TSwift music, “Reputation” is far from what they might expect from the former teenage country star.
The song lineup:
1.) …Ready for it?
2.) End game (Featuring Future and Ed Sheeran)
3.) I Did Something Bad
4.) Don’t Blame Me
5.) Delicate
6.) Look What You Made Me Do
7.) So it Goes…
8.) Gorgeous
9.) Getaway Car
10.) King of my Heart
11.) Dancing With Our Hands Tied
12.) Dress
13.) This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
14.) Call it What You Want
15.) New Year’s Day