It’s day 3. My mind overflows with Taylor Swift. Each waking moment she haunts me. I see her face in my coffee…Actually that’s latte art, this barista is really talented.

Yeah ok you caught me, it ain’t that serious. I’m having a good time with these albums so far. They continue to improve, I continue to learn the lore, and the end result is some 20-odd pages of reviews so far that some of y’all have so graciously bothered to read up to this point. Our interactions in the comments have kept me energized and waking up excited to keep going. Let’s get started!

**RED (2012)**

**State of Grace**

Wow, this sounds so different from her other music. It’s so refreshing. If I had bought this album on release I’d be blown away. Mosaic broken hearts is too good of a line to be a throw away here. Making art out of the broken pieces is a powerful visual. Interestingly, I wrote and deleted a whole thing about the concept of grace for a song on the previous album and deleted the whole thing and now here we are. I don’t look at track lists ahead of time so this was kind of surprising.

Acoustic version: even without the poppy production behind it, the acoustic version still doesn’t sound like her previous music. I thought it would, but it’s so delicate and her vocal register is applied so differently from the first albums. I think I like it with the pop clothes on, but it sounds like a completely different and beautiful song when it’s stripped down.

**Red**

Oh we’re doing colors for sure. Hey I’ve heard the way she says red in the chorus here in a video game. I thought it sounded really cool and had no idea what it was! What does it mean that forgetting him was trying to know somebody you’ve never met? I could sit with that one for a minute, it’s like looking at a photograph negative. Re-e-e-ed, re-e-e-ed. I won’t mind having that stuck in my head. Much better than Love Story. If a girl told me loving someone is like driving a Maserati down a dead end street, I’d encourage her to make sure the brakes work. That’s a fast car and a short road.

Post-wiki: This song is about Jake Gyllenhall? I don’t know anything about that guy, truthfully. But having found out who Dear John is about, my first impulse is to check the age gap and I feel dirty for that. Sorry, Taylor…I checked.

Music video: I feel like I’m repeating myself but I love the concert footage videos. Seeing how she performs songs, and how she projects her feelings into the crowd is a lot of fun. She clearly puts herself into it fully. I think a lot of people ‘think’ they put themselves all the way into something, and never have a situation where they really, truly do. When it happens, everyone can tell. I think I figured out that line about forgetting him was trying to know somebody you’ve never met. Was this a superficial relationship for Jake G, but a meaningful one for Tay S? Why am I so invested in that?

Original demo recording: this isn’t as powerful or exciting as the final version. Cool of them to include it on the deluxe edition, but I think it’s a weaker product.

**Treacherous**

Unrelated but as someone who has never used apple products, I’m appreciating the presentation of the apple music app. I used Spotify for a little bit at the beginning of this and Apple’s version is so much cleaner by comparison. I’m mostly a Google guy but someone gave me an apple music playlist so I tried it on a whim and I’m happy I did.

Still enjoying the new sound for this album but I’m not clicking with this song.

I later listened to the original demo recording of this one, and while I enjoyed the softer production, I’m still not clicking with it. Maybe it’s just too contemplative and as you can tell by the absurd word count of this review series, I’m not a very contemplative person. Well, as I typed that I was whistling along with the melody so maybe it’s getting to me a little.

**I Knew You Were Trouble**

I’ve heard this in passing but this is the first time I’m actually listening to it. What a huge shift from her other hits. Super catchy and fun. Drown E E E Eeeeeng, that’s gonna be stuck in my head. The synth bass has a lightly dubsteppy kind of vibe to it which I really like. My last fling with music was in 2012 when dubstep was everywhere. Hoping that the pivot to this type of sound doesn’t undermine the quality of her lyrics going forward.

Post-wiki: Oh, it’s about HIM. Cool that her biggest hits can still have some narrative backing to them. I’m glad this song was successful because it’s a big step forward musically.

Music video: OK, this has to be a new director. The visual storytelling here is massively improved. Hot take, but music videos that use scenes before or after to help bookend the music really elevate the art. Especially when the musical artist is part of that decision making process. Major credit to Taylor forexpanding her art’s vision, and it always feels like when we have scenes ahead of or following the song, it’s because they’re elevating the direction of the video. I needed to see a greasy dude in a leather jacket abandon Taylor in the desert to enhance my experience with the song. I just did.

**All Too Well**

Oh yeah ok I didn’t have to worry about the quality of her writing for long. We are back to storytelling after the fun opening stuff. She’s still talking so much about driving in this album! Bro you can’t just be leaving your scarves at people’s houses. She’s talking about being in the car a lot here, so I’m paying close attention for important messages from Taylor here. “You used to be a little kid with glasses on a twin sized bed” excuse me I didn’t consent to this search. I feel like you could draw some columns and drag her relationship songs into a few distinct categories. I’d put this one in the nostalgic relationship trauma column. Dancing around in the refrigerator light is a really solid visual that resonates with me. This song almost sounds like she could have ended up with this guy for the long haul but it went to shit. What a bummer.

“After plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own” it feels weird to say it but this sounds like she’s being open about getting down with somebody for the first time in a song. Idk why but making someone your own sounds really gross in that context. Ugh. Oh damn she just said he kept her scarf. She needs that, scarf season is Taylor season according to my weird review of that one music video and this is going to affect this year’s scarf replacement budget. Oh…I think I understand all the comments about the scarf thing now.

Post-wiki: JAKE GYLLENHAAL IS SCARF GUY!? i’LL ADMIT, i WEN–sorry, capslock. I’ll admit, I went and read an article about their relationship and the fact that his sister Maggie had to deal with the scarf problem is too funny. But if my reading of the scarf metaphor is correct, that’s a little weird man. Your sister’s house? That’s where you take women? For THAT?

**22**

Look, just because my wife and I used to go to diners at 2am for breakfast when we were in our early 20s doesn’t mean you can put that in a song and make me relate to it. Where do you get off? I didn’t start this adventure to get soul read by Taylor swift a decade ago.

The next missed exit I’m going to have with this music is that I got married at 22 and completely skipped the whole partying and nightlife thing after that point. We became happy old people about a year after getting married and it’s awesome. I go to bed at 8pm and I like it. You could say I totally ditched that whole scene.

Music video: I was not invited to girls nights, on account of the y chromosome problem. Looks like it would’ve been fun, but I don’t think my female friends had houses this nice. Party song gets a party music video and I’ve got nothing else to say about it!

**I Almost Do**

This is a more traditional Taylor song but her twang is gone and overall composition is cleaner. Solid improvement, but not clearing the bar of her best older stuff.

**We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together**

Oh yeah, I forgot this song was a thing. My female friends in college were all about it. The conversational start is really fun. As far as anthems go, it wasn’t written for me but I don’t hate it. I’ve never gone through a breakup. Don’t be jealous, it just means I’m dumb about the subject. I can imagine the desire to get back with someone you had something with though. The in cut of her talking about having a conversation with the guy was really funny, I hadn’t heard that part before.

Post-wiki: It’s nice when songs can have such a chill and simple origin story. Ngl, some of these dramatic backstories are rough on me. This one is fun and playful which is exactly what I hoped for.

Music video: Is this another one of the outfits she wore in the Capital One commercial? The big black glasses and colorful outfit look familiar. Why are the What Does The Fox Say? people in this video? The Polkadot and black skirt look didn’t stick around enough, that was peak fashion. Whoever this guitarist is doing the head wobble is giving fun uncle energy and I’m for it. The phone call part of this song is a great decision.

**Stay Stay Stay**

Hey wait. What is this song doing here, we’re supposed to be past this! What’s this twangy little quirky thing that sounds like it could’ve been on the debut album? Jokes aside this song has the same kind of fun energy and message as Mean and I dig it.

**The Last Time (feat. Gary Lightbody)**

This is a pretty heavy song for someone named Lightbody to appear on. I’ve actually heard this one before and I liked the moody energy it gave off. It’s a smoky, almost grungy sort of dirge that I don’t know how to reconcile with the rest of the album so far. I’d love to sing this in the car on a road trip with my sister. Don’t make it weird, we can sing stuff. She’s an incredible vocal artist and I do fine. I do fine!

Music video: concert footage and black lipstick with a red skirt. Sephora is alive and well on this stage. This is what I wanted for this music video. Don’t complicate it. The composition and vocal performances do more than enough to completely envelop the senses. My favorite TS song so far.

**Holy Ground**

Talk about a tempo change. I guess this is the only way to get out of the mood of the last song, you gotta drive out with a persistent drum line. “The story’s got dust on every page,” inject that tactile and layered visual metaphor right into my femeral artery, dude. Sadly, I felt this song was otherwise unremarkable.

**Sad Beautiful Tragic**

We are drifting further and further away from the wows at the start of this album with each track. They aren’t bad, I was just promised a lot of fun up front and I feel like I’m being told to feel things. I bought a ticket to splash mountain and halfway through I’m being asked by the guy sitting next to me in the log boat whether my feelings of regret are strong enough to get me to stop making the same mistakes. Guess I’ll put my arms down and think about my choices.

**The Lucky One**

This is a tough one to listen to. It feels like she’s talking about all the drawbacks of young fame and how things feel hollow. It’s a tough subject to be sure and I get what she’s going after with it. She’s writing a conclusion where the guy ends up choosing privacy over the spotlight, and she thinks he made the right choice. I heard something about how her most previous boyfriend, I forget his name, was getting flak for protecting his privacy and hiding Taylor from the spotlight. I wonder if the people who didn’t like that ever listened to this song and changed their minds.

**Everything Has Changed (feat. Ed Sheeran)**

Who is Ed Sheeran? The only thing I know about him is that he has a ketchup tattoo because it was all over the front page of Reddit at some point. Oh, oh, I recognize this song now. No clue where I heard it before but the chorus is really good.

Something I’ve grappled with throughout this process is that even when lyrics are really straightforward, it can be surprisingly challenging to perceive the message correctly. I know all these words I’m reading, but if you asked me what this song was about after a single listen I couldn’t tell you. She just wants to know him better, and something changed but I couldn’t tell you what changed. Everything, apparently!

**Starlight**

I thought she said I’m a Barbie on the boardwalk at first. I went to Oppenheimer instead, I haven’t seen the other one yet.

I wonder if it’s hard for her to cut loose and have fun at this point in her life. She’s omega popular now, she’s in her 20s, but these moments of being able to dance and forget about all the noise must be few and far between. For that reason, I don’t mind listening to a song about it.

**Begin Again**

It looks like this is the last song on the album before some acoustic versions. Sad to hear Taylor talking about how she felt like all love does is break and burn and end. And the turn here, “on a Wednesday in a cafe, I watched it begin again,” is a nice melancholy way to get it back. Of all the love songs so far, this is the first one I legitimately enjoy.

Music video: TAYLOR ON A BIKE. The color pallet of this music video deserve their own essay. This is incredibly well edited. Paris is a fitting location for a song about the phoenix-esque qualities of love. That might be a clunky phrase but I stand by it.

Who is this guy who didn’t think she was funny? Was it the scarf guy?? I guess sometimes the place you leave your scarf isn’t always ideal but it doesn’t mean you have to be cold all winter, you just gotta go out and get some more warm clothes. How’s that for final thoughts. Wait, was Red also about scarf guy?? I gotta go read the wiki. I’ll see you in the wrap up.

**The Wrap Up…oh actually** there’s a deluxe version of this album. Taylor, this is too many songs. Ok, hold on hold on.

**The Moment I Knew**

She’s writing about how this guy said he would be here, and I legit thought I was on the wrong track because of the next song title.

This song is SAD. That moment of realization she’s describing, falling out of love in real time, is hard to hear about. I hope that never happens to me. I don’t know how I’d explain it to my wife afterward!…I thought that was funny but I doubt she’ll laugh.

**Come Back… Be Here**

Taylor, you JUST SAID. Don’t let yourself get sucked back in, you literally just had the realization. Maybe I’m not meant to connect these two tracks but there sure are a lot of reasons to take them as one whole. If the idea is to show how complicated feelings can be, it worked. Alternatively, I’m being a blockhead and this song is about a completely different situation, in which case it would help me a lot if they were separated a little bit in track order. I guess I’ll find out on the wiki.

**Girl at Home**

This song sounds like the metro. The hook being a harmonic monotone is what’s giving me that vibe. Maybe it’s just me but Taylor doesn’t need to be helping this dude keep his current girlfriend. It’s very generous to help him not be a cheater but if he’s trying to, it’s too late. No need to pat him on the butt and send him back to that poor other girl.

**Final Thoughts on Red (Deluxe Edition)**

This album was a lot more melancholy than I expected going in, and especially after listening to the first four tracks of the album. I guess it can’t be all party all the time. I’m leaving this album feeling much more complicated ways than I did the previous albums, which I count as a victory. We haven’t completely left Young Taylor behind, but she’s showing the beginning of an evolution and I like where it’s going.

**Non-Album Songs**

**Ronan**

I had the background to this song ahead of time and decided to review it here since it did get released at this time, even though it didn’t make the album. Taylor is doing her now well-developed visual descriptions which is what I’m here for. I was worried about whether the kid made it through but it sure sounds like the worst happened. That’s devastating, and this song is super respectful and well presented for the situation. I wish this song didn’t exist but I gained a lot of respect for Taylor because it does.

**Both of Us (B.o.B. feat. Taylor Swift)**

I’m a sucker for some ukelele. OH DAMN. This is the real Swift/Kanye presidential ticket. What a strange mashup this is. It doesn’t work, and that works somehow.

**Highway Don’t Care (Tim McGraw feat. Taylor Swift & Keith Urban)**

Ayy, I hate this. Glad Taylor got to collaborate with Tim McGraw but I’m finishing this song only out of obligation and because she’s singing about the shotgun seat on the highway, and I’m collecting all the passenger’s seat lines for an exhibit at the Met.

**1989 (2014)**

**Welcome to New York**

I’ve heard this one! It was on accident but it counts. This song isn’t about anything and feels like something written for the opening credits of Sex and the City. That’s not a diss, if it was the opening song I wouldn’t skip the intro every time. As far as commercialized music goes though, this is one of the Zales ad songs of all time. All that said, it is a good way to start an album. Peppy, light, glitzy.

Post-wiki: Ah, she moved to New York. And I did hear this song recently because it was teased on Saturday Night Football back in September! I haven’t gotten into the hidden messages stuff, but I’ve seen it mentioned a few times on the wiki and I want t o take a second to say that I think it’s really cool to do stuff like that. From what I saw while scouting around on r/taylorswift, she doesn’t do those anymore. The time for stuff like that has sort of passed so it makes sense, digital media, yada yada. But even though I feel like I might be missing out by not researching it more, I also feel like that’s appropriate because it was really for the people buying the albums and reading the booklets.

**Blank Space**

We have achieved rhythm! “I know you’ve heard about me” haha, yeah – what a way to say ‘date me if you’re brave enough.’ Have I heard this chorus before? I HAVE. I’ll write your name. Damn dude this is Taylor owning her reputation and having fun with it. I love it, so empowering. Poison Ivy vibe. Hey, I don’t want tortured love.

Voice memo: this is the third voice memo at the end of the album, so you’ll be getting these in reverse order as you read. Hi from the future! Unlike the other two voice memos, there are clear gaps in what she’s written so far, and sounds so much more like she’s working through it. I wish they were all this messy. She’s kind of got the melody and the vocal rhythm down, she’s just filling in the words as she finds them. THAT is informative and makes a lot of sense. It’s a natural construction over time and as she shows with these different methods, each song comes together using whatever tricks or methods it needs to use to get made.

Music Video: WHAT ARE THOSE HORSES DOING INDOORS. There’s a lot of wealth on display here, wew. NOW THERE’S A DEER INSIDE. The production is great, the set pieces are fun and it captures the vibe. No notes.

**Style**

I’d say this sounds like Miami Vice but the cyberpunk backing track has me feeling like CD Projekt Re-e-e-e-ed. This song is so casually romantic. Much more relaxed and confident, less in-your-face about feelings. I’m impressed.

Music Video: This had such a neon lights feel, so it’s a confusing choice to start the music video in the woods. Why aren’t we in Bladerunner? The screen and mirror work here overlaying the faces is a lot of fun, though. The longer this goes on, the more it feels like there wasn’t a real vision here, just a bunch of interesting shots to try out. The shots work but the music video doesn’t in my opinion.

**Out of the Woods**

Wow, I’ve heard this chorus too. My wife didn’t listen to this album but these tracks must’ve just been in everything. This song is about a relationship, but in a way she hasn’t covered before. The idea that the relationship is in trouble and she’s watching to see how it’ll play out. Usually we’re already at a conclusion in her songs, but here it’s suspended in motion. Treading familiar ground without retracing steps.

Music video: Song about the woods = we’re in the woods. Was that so hard, Style Music Video? The growing vines and chasing wolves with the dark woods really make this feel like a scene from Harry Potter. Waiting for centaurs or a big spider to appear, but I got a mountain scene instead. Beautiful scenery on display here. I like how it’s transitioned from woods to mountains to ocean and back again. They’ve done a good job of using visual storytelling that matches the concepts instead of the written words in the verses.

Post-wiki: I had a sneaking suspicion this was about a specific person. She dated Harry Styles, the last song was called Style… the stamen of a flower has a style, but it also has a stigma… I’m floating way too far off course here. I don’t have any idea who Harry Styles is, I’ve just heard his name before. I hope he got out of those woods.

**All You Had to Do Was Stay**

This could be called a retread, unlike the last one. This feels different, but under the hood this is Should’ve Said No again. You can’t trick me, I’m listening to all these in a few days, not a few years. We’re still in the glitzy zone, but this track was a little monotonous.

**Shake It Off**

They played this song as the Chiefs left Mile High Stadium and I was being bombarded by messages saying I had to live up to my joke about reviewing all of Taylor’s Swift songs. This was playing when I said “it can’t be that much.” Whatever, I’m dancin’ on my own and making the moves up as I go. Oh, I hadn’t heard that breakdown part before. Do girls like guys with good hair? What’s that about?

Music video: Ballerinas? Breakdancers! Hanes underwear commercial? Cia!! J Lo? Bro this music video is a lot of fun. I’m not sure how you could have fit any more personality into this thing. The way she dances in this one is so goofy and fun. Iconic.

**I Wish You Would**

This music was written to listen to over footage of fast, expensive cars driving through unspoiled landscapes in middle Europe. Oh, sorry no, that was a Forza Horizon 6 trailer. If I was still worried about Taylor leaving the storytelling and creative language behind, this is where I’d get very worried. This feels surface and more about the vibe, which is fine, I’m down for some of these.

Voice memo: this is the second memo I heard at the end of the album regarding her writing process. This time, she’s got the music track and is applying her writing over the top of it. This sounds so much more 80s than the final track, haha. Still not a deep dive into how she writes, more showing something that already feels like a pretty solid draft.

Post-wiki: I didn’t learn anything from the wiki, but I noticed that the first verse started in a guy’s car driving past her street. She’s not in the passenger’s seat in this verse, that seat is empty. This should have been an indicator for me to pay closer attention, but I was tricked by the musical arrangement into thinking this was an empty song. I have failed, and I am ashamed. But in order to continue moving, I must shake it off.

**Bad Blood**

Next to Love Story, this is the Taylor track that gets stuck in my head the most often. As I’ve said previously it’s been about a decade since I stopped listening to music; even still, I wake up with a song stuck in my head most mornings and it’ll linger all day. For this song, since I didn’t really know the lyrics, I’d just get the first part of the chorus on loop with even fewer words. Cuz baby now we got baaaaad blooood, you know it is baaaad blooood, so take a look at the baaaaad blooood, cuz baby there’s prooooooblems. Over. And Over. And sometimes it turns into Ke$ha. We’ve got aaaad blooood, and now we got a little bit tip-syyyyy DJ blow my speakers up TONIGHT GONNA FIGHT till we made a really deeeeep cu-u-ut… This has turned into something very silly.

I’ve been trained now to wonder who this song is about. I’m gonna guess Scarf Guy or John Mayer and I’m leaning Scarf Guy because blood is red. Yes that’s my reasoning, and if I’m right you better apologize for rolling your eyes.

Post-wiki: Leave me alone. Stop, stop rolling your eyes. It was about an industry friend trying to backstab her and derail her tour, not a guy. Moving on!

Post-post-wiki: I didn’t realize it was Katy Perry! Let me tell you, that lady is a firework. I’m not surprised she tried to pull some shit but I’m glad to hear they made up because I don’t want my budding parasocial relationship to include any more celebrities that I’m supposed to hate. John Mayer and Jake the Scarf Guy were enough. I kind of don’t hate Jake but he shouldn’t have taken her to his sister’s house. Moving on.

Music video: What have I been saying this entire time? We need to start more music videos that start with a fight scene. Did I miss the Kendrick Lamar verse in the first track? That was fire. I love how this looks like an action movie. Based on these different scenes, I’d definitely throw this on if it came to Netflix.

**Wildest Dreams**

I don’t understand the appeal of bad boys. I don’t want to understand the appeal of bad boys. That’s not true, but I invite you to pretend with me that it is. I’m not a bad boy. I want to own a motorcycle but, like, a responsible one. I don’t want a girl to look at me and think, ooh he’s one of those *bad* boys. I want my wife to look at me and think, ooh he’s one of those boys who *pays his mortgage on time.* Maybe I’ll pay it a day late next month and see if it thrills her. That’s not going to happen, but I invite you to pretend with me that it could.

Music video: I love the setting. Give me more of Taylor hanging out with giraffes in an enormous yellow dress, why not. Is this guy Indiana Jones? The sand, the biplane, the…barrels? Idk, I caught a vibe. Indiana Jones is famous for his barrels. A little bit of hidden post-wiki action, I see that she’s referencing her grandparents with the names of the two characters in the video. Neat!

**How You Get the Girl**

This sounds like a song that I would’ve heard played in a carpeted McDonalds in 1994, waiting for my 50c six-piece McNugget and plastic hot wheels car. What does this mean – how does this observation help us connect to the music? I think what I’m trying to say is this whole album sounds like it’s being piped into a business to play while you fight with a credit card machine that wants you to insert your card but then it makes you swipe it because the chip reader is broken. I feel like I’m listening to this song while waiting for my order at Lens Crafters. Is this the album that she re-recorded most recently? I think I’ve seen different album art for this one on the subreddit. I’ll find out soon enough, but one thing I’ll be looking for is if it feels less commercial. It’ll probably sound the same but I have hope.

**This Love**

I’m listening with headphones and the L-R movement of this song really makes it sound like I’m in a pool. For all the shit I’ve talked about the plastic feel of this album, the soundscapes are quite pleasant.

**I Know Places**

I’m trying to unravel this metaphor because it feels compelling. Is this about avoiding the Paparazzi? I’d believe that in this part of her career, she probably knows how to get away from public eyes if she needs to. It’s one of the more fun songs on the back half of the album, even if I’m completely off base about the meaning.

Voice memo: uh oh. There are tracks on the end of this album where Taylor’s talking about her songwriting process. This is something I’ve been wanting and thought for sure that it wouldn’t happen – it’s not something artists typically do. Big time gift and risk for her to offer these. If I was looking at whether to buy the deluxe version of this album when it dropped, these would be such a huge differentiator. The fact this song was already so fully constructed when she sat down to record the memo is bonkers and actually makes this less informative! How do you make songs, Taylor? Well, I go like: “fully completed idea” and then basically like that or whatever. Huge “draw the rest of the owl” energy, haha!

**Clean**

Oh shit, it’s raining again, and she’s making me feel like we’re back in the house from In with the Rain. Except the story is more about being glad that she’s out of a relationship, not wanting for the guy to come find her. Actually, no. As I listen, it sounds more like she didn’t see this guy for a long time, and then she did and it was great, and then he was gone again. Maybe he came in with the rain, and then went out with it too. And maybe she’s clean because after that last visit, she’s able to kick her habit, so to speak. Yeah, I learned as we went. I’m capable of learning. That felt like a very ‘end of album’ song, which makes sense because it looks like it was for the regular version. But we’re in the deluxe edition, baybeeeee!

Post-wiki: Bah, the Taylor Swift Fan Wiki doesn’t have any dish about this song. Just noticed that the wiki is hosted on Fandom, though, and I’d like to take a second to say for anyone who will listen, please petition the wiki to migrate off of that site host. They’re up to some despicable shit, and you can learn about it here.

Post-post-wiki: I found info on the backstory in regular old wikipedia. Apparently Taylor hadn’t thought about the fact she had been in the same city as one of her ex-lovers, and it inspired her to write this. Judging by the imagery, she took it to a fantasy place where she’s clean from her addiction to the guy, but it involved a last fling. If you take my reading of it, anyway.

**Wonderland**

Who is this story about? I dig that she dressed it up like Alice in Wonderland, though I don’t think the music reflects it that well. Also, this song inhabits the space where all musicians can only say AY AY, AY AY. It’s a dangerous place where creative people sometimes get stuck, like the back rooms. I thought this story would go somewhere, but it kind of got stuck in the AY AY and never made it back out.

Post-wiki: No answers. Both the fan wiki and wikipedia have nothing, as if the information is trapped forever in the AY AY.

**You Are in Love**

Here we go! Buttons on a coat, light hearted joke? We’re in winter clothes protocol, people. Small talk, he drives? THIS IS NOT A DRILL. She’s talking about the chain on his neck, is this the very same guy’s necklace she wore in a previous song? You keep his shirt, he keeps his word? This is a DIRECT inversion of her leaving her scarf and him not keeping his word, namely being stood up at a party. Is this a fantasy song about how Taylor wants things to go? Hold on, she’s singing about understanding why people go to war? What?

Post-wiki: This song is about Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff. I’ve heard of Lena Dunham because she had some very interesting things to say about Odell Beckam Jr, a diva wide receiver in the NFL. Apparently they sat next to each other at the Met Gala and OBJ wasn’t feeling it. Lena said a whole lot about it, and while I want to give her the benefit of the doubt because OBJ is a little bit of a shit, she took it really far. ANYWAY. It’s really nice that her and her partner are so in love that inspired a song that set of a level 5 Weather Driving Scarf Alarm while I was listening to it. They’ve gotta have a pretty amazing relationship. Still don’t get the part about war.

**New Romantics**

This song has a great fusion of old-school Taylor songwriting approach with the more mature perspective, plus the new sound found throughout this album. She’s redefining what romance is, without saying that it’s dead or worse than it used to be. She throws a line about how she got flak from her detractors, but she doesn’t care because she has romance in her life and that’s what makes her happy. I like this song a lot, and it does a good job of capping off the album.

Post-wiki: I just want you to know, I was ready to post this whole thing and I realized I hadn’t checked the wiki for any background on this song. I thought about leaving it but decided to check just in case. And wouldn’t you know it, this song has a whole heap of interesting inspiration points and background lore. I get that Taylor is taking a new approach to dating, she’s not drinking directly from the “boys like me” fire hose anymore, that’s great. But to go from that to the New Romanticism movement in 80s London, a combo of times and places that both heavily influenced the album, and a movement whose music directly informed her sound for several of the songs…She could have made this the title track of the album. I get that 89 is special in its own ways, I just thought this was cool.

**Final Thoughts on 1989**

Is this my least favorite album? No. Its bold direction, clarity and infectiousness are what I want out of Taylor Swift. But it didn’t put it all together the way I wanted it to. This felt like she added some things and lost some things, and hasn’t worked out the exact right cocktail of ingredients to absolutely nail her music. Looking ahead, I’m cautiously anticipating that Reputation might be the album for me. I know absolutely nothing about it, but at the pace we’ve been improving I might get exactly what I want out of the next one. My favorite songs off this album were the hits, for the obvious reason that they were the best at what this album was doing. Blank Space, Shake It Off, and Bad Blood are the three, in no particular order, with a shout out to New Romantics and Clean for being good and nice.

I can tell you one thing for certain. After having read the wiki, and seeing what the media was saying about Taylor Swift, and how she took a hiatus after the album to give the world a break from her, I’m so glad I wasn’t following along in real time. All that BS is so frustrating. I remember the memes about Kanye and Taylor, but I didn’t follow any of the drama and I’m better for it. I’m not going to read any further about it, either, because that’s just not what I’m here for. I’m here for the bops. And also maybe some props.