Let me start by saying that I am not a Taylor Swift hater, this is just my opinion on the upcoming “Reputation” (and some other things), so to all Swifties out there if you are going to comment please don’t be hateful. We are all entitled to our opinions, and just like I respect your love for her, please respect my thoughts.
I was never a big fan of early Taylor Swift, even though I did like some of her songs such as “Tim McGraw” and “Whitehorse” to name a few. I respected her as a songwriter, but didn’t like her PR created persona or the magical story they created around her, which started disintegrating as the years went by. I also hated the victim narrative her team gave her (or that she gave herself, I have no way of knowing who started that) as she started becoming more well known. It was always about how people had wronged her (the boys, the press, her friends, others), but it was never about her owning up to her mistakes, and it became annoying (OK, maybe not never because in “Back To December” she does admit the relationship failing was her fault).
“Red” was an album I enjoyed and I was really surprised by “1989”. I loved most of the album especially because it felt she was growing both musically and as a person. The fact that she started poking fun at herself was a brilliant change and departure from that ingénue that had been carefully crafted.
Unfortunately, the whole KimYe thing happened and the victim narrative took place once again. What KimYe did by recording and making that conversation public was petty (and probably illegal) but the way Taylor and her team handled the situation was terrible. Sure, she couldn’t have known what her emotional response would be, but she did know he was doing the song, so she had the chance to contact him and ask to listen to it or read the lyrics before the release. If he declined then at that point she should have said: “Well, I can't support you then” and whatever backlash happened afterwards would have been on Kanye alone. I think her team tried to cover things up the wrong way because if she had been honest from the beginning and admitted the mistake of trusting him that would have left KimYe with nothing else to do. Unfortunately because there was a recording of her agreeing to something, it all backfired.
This is an excellent article by Eliza Thompson for Cosmopolitan, which focuses on how supposedly Taylor currently views the media as her enemy. To be honest, I would love to see her break free from the manufactured image her team created a long time ago (I think she is kinda getting there).
Anyway, back to “Reputation”. I didn’t like “Look What You Made Me Do” when I first heard it (loved the video by Joseph Kahn, her transformation and all the hard work behind it), but the track felt poorly produced and if it wasn’t for the video, it would have felt like the victim narrative once again. “Ready For It” and “Gorgeous” I also did not like … they just don’t feel like good tracks (like “1989”) or lyrics, and she has always been known for her great lyrics (though I will admit I do like the earlier version of “Gorgeous”, Taylor and piano would have been much better than the overproduced version that was released).
Which brings me to “Call It What You Want”. This has been a welcome addition after all the other tracks released and my favorite song from the album so far. It has a similar vibe to “I Don’t Want to Live Forever” (which I think would have been a brilliant direction for this album), without being overproduced.
She is finally letting everyone know that she doesn’t care about what you think about her new relationship (or her life in general), she is happy and that is all that matters to her. That is empowering. There is no victim playing and she owns up to making mistakes, which is good and normal because we are human. The only thing I am not such a big fan of is the chorus lyrics (because I feel the rest of the song is very powerful and it takes a bit from it). However, I do hope the rest of the album follows this direction.
Will the album be successful? Sure. Taylor Swift has the most loyal fan base (and that is due to her hard work connecting with her fans), but I am not sure if it will be because the album is good or because fans are pre-ordering multiple copies of it for the chance to get in line to buy tickets to her concerts (to me that would suck because as an artist you wouldn’t know if people bought your album because they wanted or because they felt pressured to. It can't be all about breaking records).
In my opinion, multiple pre-orders or purchases from one person should not count. Sure, you can buy the album, the vinyl, download it, stream it and whatever other method there is, and those should count. Heck, if you buy 2 or even 3 copies (as gifts or for yourself because you are a super fan), they should count. But come on, getting boosts for pre-ordering 13 album copies (not sure if per day or for the duration of the promotion) to get the chance to get in line for concert tickets? No … those 13 copies should not count. Having fans purchase 2 volumes of the “Exclusive Target Magazine” that each comes with the “Reputation” album? … No, those should not count since technically it's the magazine that includes the CD and not the other way around. To me, those are not legit album sales (just like to me album’s included in concert tickets should not count as sales). I understand she wants to ensure her fans get concert tickets, not the bots or scalpers (even though most artists play the resale market), and I also understand there are free boosts (some which are also high boosts if I am not mistaken), but it feels like those with more money have a better shot at getting a higher spot in line, and that she is also charging more for the tickets (once you add up all the money you spent for the paid boosts to the final ticket cost).
Let’s remember there is no tour announced yet or official start date (though there will be one for sure), and that even with a priority place in line there is no guarantee you will get the tickets in the end. So, I believe that to be fair to other artists towards album sales counts, "sales" from this TaylorSwiftTix campaign should not count or it should have started once the tour is announced and not as a way to benefit from excessive pre-orders to get boosts before the album is released.
(I do wonder how many “Reputation” albums would she have sold for real if it wasn’t for all the tricks. Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever know).
In the meantime, I will purchase Call It What You Want, because I think it is a song that has value, and will imagine different lyrics for the chorus.
Links to some of my previous articles: