Not me humming Oath by Cher Lloyd with the Albatross from the 1 minute mark

This is one of the stans then, eh? I’m sorry I feel like this is her worst work yet. I have enjoyed some of her albums previously as well so I’m not a hater but this is just Taylor in autopilot… and where is the great songwriting they speak of?

 

The Charlie Puth line, “tattoo golden retriever”, the whole chorus of But Daddy I Love Him, “I so depressed I act like it’s my birthday everyday”. I’m sorry it’s all so juvenile to me.

 

Hard pass but get your numbers gal x

What’s wrong with BDILH chorus, it’s a fantastic song…

 

She’s no stranger to a weird lyric a la sexy baby, karma is a cat

 

 

I’ve only had a work background listen so far but I enjoyed the 15 new songs as a collective way more than the first 16 songs, so oops that my vinyl will be the less preferred work :lol: I thought ‘Fortnight’ was a good start, but it felt like a bit of a homogenous slog for a while until the Florence collab, which really is fab. From the ‘anthology’ tracks I remember enjoying the back-to-back run of ‘Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus’, ‘How Did It End?’ and ‘So High School’ a lot, I preferred the ‘folklore’/‘evermore’ leaning sounds to the ‘Midnights’ synths which feel a bit more tired, plus the lyrics felt stronger overall. So for now it is quite a bloated project but I’m sure a strong, condensed version could be curated and fingers crossed a lot will grow on me more, has only been a background listen I guess.

This is one of the stans then, eh? I’m sorry I feel like this is her worst work yet. I have enjoyed some of her albums previously as well so I’m not a hater but this is just Taylor in autopilot… and where is the great songwriting they speak of?

 

The Charlie Puth line, “tattoo golden retriever”, the whole chorus of But Daddy I Love Him, “I so depressed I act like it’s my birthday everyday”. I’m sorry it’s all so juvenile to me.

 

Hard pass but get your numbers gal x

I can see this being a marmite kind of album. I personally really like a few of the songs however I don't think it is her best album.

 

What’s wrong with BDILH chorus, it’s a fantastic song…

 

She’s no stranger to a weird lyric a la sexy baby, karma is a cat

 

“I’m having a baby… no I’m not, but you should see your faces”.

 

If you think that’s great songwriting, or even a mature enough lyric for someone in their mid-30’s then maybe we just have different taste. And for the record I also absolutely hate the “sexy baby” line too. Why if she’s just a great songwriter am I cringing so much?

I wonder if she's likely to release the full album on CD. I haven't ordered the first half CD yet, so wondering whether it's worth holding out, or is that a fruitless endeavour, as the extra tracks on Midnights never did get issued physically did they?

 

Also, haven't yet listened to it, what in the DJ Sabrina at a two hour album!! Might have to tackle it in chunks.

A friend of mine said that the album is like all her recent output squeezed through AI adding that it's fine as it is but there's nothing truly memorable in regards of her career there.

 

I haven't listened yet btw.

This is absolutely right for me, like… autopilot Taylor is still fine but it hasn’t grabbed me.

 

There are a few highlights for me (So Long London, Florida, Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me? and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart are strong for me so far) but I’m just not grabbed by it. I am not really in the headspace and nor do I have the energy to analyse 31 songs to find lyrical Easter eggs and pick apart how it might be about Matty or something else, which is on me really :lol: For me the exciting part of being a Taylor fan is the sonic shifts, not knowing what the album would be before you heard it, but this does feel like it’s a couple of the obvious options you might expect mashed together haphazardly in places.

 

Not listened to the second album yet I’m going to listen separately at some point.

I think it’s a better album than ‘Midnights’ (but feel the highs are higher on ‘Midnights’).

 

Really excited to delve into the 2nd half! I’m so pleased with it!!

I prefer midnights I think the songs are really catchy compared to this album.

 

I received the manuscript deluxe today omg I near hit the ceiling as I wasn't expecting it today as I didn't get an email from the shop to say it had been shipped. Lucky the other deluxe cds they have wanted me lol

Edited April 19, 20241 yr by kimberley88

I wonder if she's likely to release the full album on CD. I haven't ordered the first half CD yet, so wondering whether it's worth holding out, or is that a fruitless endeavour, as the extra tracks on Midnights never did get issued physically did they?

 

Also, haven't yet listened to it, what in the DJ Sabrina at a two hour album!! Might have to tackle it in chunks.

The is physical of midnights called midnights 3am but I think they only sold it on the American shop, you can get it on ebay.

On first listen I prefer the second half, and they definitely feel like two different albums.

 

The first I half-agree with what others have said. It’s a fair bit more Midnights than anticipated but more subdued for the most part. The second half of the album digs into more Speak Now / Red vibes I think. It still feels different to any of those but there is a key influence from her previous albums imo

The is physical of midnights called midnights 3am but I think they only sold it on the American shop, you can get it on ebay.

 

No 3am is solely streaming. She did a late night edition that includes the standard ones + 5 of the 7 3am tracks (glitch and Paris excluded) plus you’re losing me, ice spice karma and more Lana snow on the beach! The 3am tracks haven’t ever been properly published physically, only some on this cd sold at concerts in the us

Ok, thanks, going to assume the second half won't get a physical release, and have downloaded the iTunes version of the full album for now.

 

I remember I did eventually buy the 3am tracks on iTunes once it looked like a CD release would never happen, as I like to have an 'owned' copy of everything she puts out.

I'm living for the pettiness of Thank You Aimee

I agree with whoever said the highs on Midnights were higher, but this is perhaps a more engaging listen due to being more varied.

Making my way through for round 2 and immediately it’s clicking way more.

 

Just so good.

 

The pop girls haven’t let me down with their albums so far this year and the SCAMMYs are gonna be v v v interesting next year.

Now THIS is gorgeous review, HATS OFF!

 

"The songs on The Tortured Poets Department are simply not strong enough to support the weight of all that f***ing storyline. It’s starting to feel like the lore is all we have. It’s not enough."

 

https://www.stereogum.com/2260059/premature...ure-evaluation/

Sounding better on 2nd listen than first I feel like this one's gonna be a grower for me rather than instant

I haven't listened to the second album yet.

Okay first listen incoming !

I'm struggling with this tbh as a massive Taylor fan. On one hand, I'm surprised so many people were saying they expected it to be more folkmore bc to me it sounds exactly like a mix of folkmore and Midnights! The problem is the whole thing just sounds too similar to me - folkmore and Midnights all had varied production that helped the songs stand apart, but 31 tracks of this is just so samey. I'm not averse to long albums but they need to justify that with variety.

 

I'm also finding the songs quite hard to follow - this could just be down to Spotify not adding the lyrics tab yet, but I feel so many songs on this have quite odd structures that are stopping me from really remembering much of them? Like it's very stream of consciousness, which worked on folkmore but as I've seen someone else say on Twitter, there she let the music breathe a bit more rather than cramming in as many lyrics as possible. Some are quite cringe - Charlie Puth, the 1830s without all the racists, tattooed golden retriever? Every artist drops a clunky lyric now and then I guess and she's more than made up for it elsewhere.

 

Over the next few days I'm gonna try this more and I'll probably end up trimming down to a more manageable length, but yeah for now it's not leaving a huge impression on me which I'm kinda sad about.