About to give this my first listen.

 

Kind of tentative as I haven't been impressed with the material so far this era and I am finding her more and more insufferable. '1989' was a fantastic pop album though and I am willing myself to like this.

 

Let's see how this goes.

A strong album! End Game will of course be a single, I can see I Did Something Bad being popular and having a great video. I really loved Delicate at first listen. Dancing With Our Hands Tied is SUCH a fantastic surprise! Could imagine a DJ Fresh remix. Dress is the most meh track for me, plus the lyrics are so used. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice things is also a surprise, definitely takes off from where Look What You Made Me Do left off. The singles of course are strong, I'd say I would like an era like this:

 

Single 3: End Game

Single 4: I Did Something Bad

Single 5: Delicate

Single 6: Dancing With Our Hands Tied

 

And this is just after 2 listens.

First listen rate:

 

01.5 ...Ready For It? (still think the verses are one of the most tragic things I have heard this year)

05.0 End Game (Future is actually the highlight on this - these kind of lyrics are exactly what I was hoping the album wouldn't be full of)

00.0 I Did Something Bad (what a f***ing mess, the production is awful and the lyrics again are tragic and show she just doesn't get it)

06.0 Don't Blame Me

08.0 Delicate (the first song to be at all likable, the chorus really is incredibly melodic and actually rather lovely)

03.0 Look At What You Made Me Do (still absolute shite)

05.0 So It Goes...

08.0 Gorgeous (I was hoping for more songs similar to this on here but the standard has been much worse so far)

07.0 Getaway Car

06.0 King Of My Heart (why is the production on this album so jarring and why does she insist on pretend rapping over potentially good songs - so much wasted potential)

06.0 Dancing With Our Hands Tied (again I was enjoying until that trashy production on the chorus, ffs)

05.0 Dress

-01.0 This Why We Can't Have Nice Things (possibly one of the worst songs of the year? on what planet was she on when she thought this was good)

06.5 Call It What You Want (trying to be this album's 'Wildest Moments' but it is lacking a chorus and ends up feeling pleasant but flat)

04.0 New Year's Day

 

 

NOPE. '1989' must have been a fluke because this is even worse than I was expecting. I was expecting it to be bad lyrically but was at least expecting some strong choruses and undeniably high production value and I got neither.

 

I'll keep 'Gorgeous', 'Delicate', 'Getaway Car' and at a push 'Call It What You Want' but even that is kinda disposable. What a massive comedown from '1989' where I genuinely enjoyed every song.

This is EVEN better than 1989 was on first listen! I remember 1989 took two or three listens for its amazingness to properly sink in whereas this one is an instant wow. Initial highlights from the album tracks are probably End Game, Don't Blame Me, Getaway Car and This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things. I think So It Goes..., King of My Heart and Dress are probably the only "filler"-type songs and they are still very very good fillers. 1989 had just as many "fillers" (the last three tracks) and that's a shorter album.

 

Once again Taylor has SMASHED it out of the park and this is the best album of the year for me. Will it become my favourite Taylor album, time will tell! It's currently a close fight between Speak Now and 1989 for that depending whether I'm on a country day or a pop day, maybe reputation will take over 1989?

how has she managed to make this album sound so contrived and void of any creativity i'll never know, surely has to be a contender for one of the worst of the year? 1989 was great but this is a massive step down.

This is EVEN better than 1989 was on first listen! I remember 1989 took two or three listens for its amazingness to properly sink in whereas this one is an instant wow. Initial highlights from the album tracks are probably End Game, Don't Blame Me, Getaway Car and This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things. I think So It Goes..., King of My Heart and Dress are probably the only "filler"-type songs and they are still very very good fillers. 1989 had just as many "fillers" (the last three tracks) and that's a shorter album.

 

Once again Taylor has SMASHED it out of the park and this is the best album of the year for me. Will it become my favourite Taylor album, time will tell! It's currently a close fight between Speak Now and 1989 for that depending whether I'm on a country day or a pop day, maybe reputation will take over 1989?

omg apart from King Of My Heart being filler, we legit have the exact same opinion on everything else!!!!

It’s an album of two halves for me. Half is lovely, romantic, 80s synthy production. And half is bitter punches in the face with really clunky lyrics that show that Kim and Kanye got under her skin way too much and clouded her songwriting abilities.

First proper full listen rate (heard some of them more than once from the earlier leaks when just a couple of songs leaked):

 

10 ...Ready For It? (really hits as an opener, it hypes you up so much to hear the rest! Let the games begin indeed x)

10 End Game (ok this is HUGE, has to be the next single, if this isn't a multi week number 1 I'll be shocked! Ed sounds so much better on a song like this than the dreary Westlife cast off he's currently peddling)

11 I Did Something Bad (HUGE, LORD JESUS CHRIST the production!!!)

09.5 Don't Blame Me (this GOES OFF)

07.5 Delicate (this feels a bit off in the tracklist as it's more subdued coming after two bangers, but it's subtly lovely and I can see this being the grower that really creeps up on you on further listens as you pick out different bits)

10 Look What You Made Me Do (still as much a tune as first listen *.*)

08 So It Goes (I think some of the other songs on the album do this vibe better but I love the chorus!)

09.5 Gorgeous (the lyrics still make this for me, totally nails that unrequited crush feeling and the production is lovely)

09.5 Getaway Car (v 80s, not QUITE a highlight for me but this is deffo gonna be a fan fave)

09 King Of My Heart (again love the production and chorus *.*)

07.5 Dancing With Our Hands Tied (boppy enough but others on the album do this better)

07 Dress (nice vibe but I can't imagine me going back to it much outside of just listening to the whole album

09 This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things (gives me slight Royals teas in places, I love the melody but it's deffo gonna be one the "haters" can go for lyrically lmao)

08.5 Call It What You Want (definitely growing on me a lot)

07 New Years Eve (lovely at its core but it sounds like it should be a bonus track on Red or sth, it feels a bit off coming after the bangers and slickness on offer prior to it, I think it will grow as a standalone song as I go back to it)

 

Not loony at all x I get th comments about the production being quite homogeneous, but that works as a bod of work for me.

10.0 ...Ready For It?

08.5 End Game > Ed sounds so good on this! Would love to hear him on a grander pop track like this in the future. Future also sounds great. <

09.0 I Did Something Bad

08.0 Don't Blame Me

09.0 Delicate > The production elevates this massively for me! So lush. It reminds me a tiny bit of 'Just Luv Me' by Britney (except not as raw)! <

07.0 Look At What You Made Me Do

06.0 So It Goes...

07.5 Gorgeous

11.0 Getaway Car > So euphoric. Instant fave! Hardly surprising with it essentially being OOTW pt 2 <

08.0 King Of My Heart

07.5 Dancing With Our Hands Tied

07.0 Dress

08.0 This Why We Can't Have Nice Things > I really like this until it gets to that stupid middle 8 part where she's like "see, I can't even sing that with a straight face. Lolololol" it's really immature and everything that I hate about her... It's a bop though <

08.0 Call It What You Want

07.0 New Year's Day > Sweet, but it is definitely 'Red' album track. <

 

Ryan Adams released his version of '1989' and this album is pretty much what you would get if Lorde did the same thing :lol:

 

Overall, it's good, even if it's a bit too much like Lorde for my full enjoyment. Some of the lyrics are a bit grating/immature, but most of the time I can overlook them. Doesn't compare to 1989 for me but I don't think I ever expected it to, so I didn't have too high expectations.

 

'Getaway Car' is definitely my fave :wub:

Re-reading the 1989 thread. Found this interesting tidbit..

 

The next album sales will collapse as casual fans like me won't be gettin it after this mess.

:kink:

Fastest album to ever reach #1 on US iTunes supposedly!

 

Also every track seems to be album only atm? :(

Also has anyone else brought it from iTunes yet? Ive bought all songs released so far but the album is showing at full cost, is it just me?

“I Did Something Bad”

 

...no kidding.

Fastest album to ever reach #1 on US iTunes supposedly!

 

Also every track seems to be album only atm? :(

Yep, album only in the US except for singles/promo releases. It isn’t available on Spotify for me either and I’ve been relying on iHeartRadio for full songs (which can only go so far).

 

Definitely agree with End Game being the next single but we need the US to let Ready For It finish its course and then destroy the new year charts with that single. Could you imagine Ed being the #1 selling single of the year two years in a row? *.* I Did Something Bad/Dancing With Our Hands Tied/Getaway Car are also amazing. I feel that the album starts off so strong that as you go on, the quality starts slipping and then you wake up again near the end of the album.

 

(Anyone else catch the I Did Something Bad clue in the Ready For It video?)

Annoyed this will not be on apple music for a week. effort to listen to it elsewhere? Puhlease

Wow, this has sold 800k in its first HOUR on US iTunes alone!

lmaoooo the album only tactic did work in the end :rofl:

She’s gonna debut with 2m+ in the us

82 on metacritic which I'm impressed af with, hope that holds as I was expecting about 20 lower!

 

Also are those US iTunes sales confirmed anywhere?!

 

Having my first official listen not from leaks rn *.*

Interestingly divisive reactions must say