When the first single from Taylor Swift's "Reputation" album was released, I was quite skeptical and sure I would hate the album. "Look What You Made Me Do" was a complete 180 turn away from her previous effort, "1989" (which I had liked). There was something of a type of "innocence lost" being shown in her lyrics and her melodies...and yet at the same time, it seemed she was able to parody herself and not take herself too seriously (i.e. "The old Taylor is Dead" bit). After listening to the whole album, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I think this is a much more mature Taylor on these recordings. The style fits in perfectly with what is being given to us on pop radio and Swift is the queen of being able to capitalize on pop offerings of the day. As far as sales go, the album broke records for sales within the first week it was released.
While, there are some tracks I could do without, some definite picks are "End Game", '"...Ready For It?", "I Did Something Bad", "Getaway Car", and "New Year's Day". The last track in particular is one of the sweetest heartfelt melodies I have ever heard from Taylor. Watching her performance of that song on the Tonight Show and dedicating the song to Fallon's mother who had recently passed away, brought tears to my eyes. Even thinking about it makes me emotional.
All in all, I think this is a strong work from swift. I look forward to keeping it in my ipod for quite some time.