Nareswari Bhanuwati

I love this album deeply, and at this rate, will continue to even more. First listen, I must admit it was difficult to digest due to how extensive it is, but it's a really hard grower that no other Taylor Swift album comes close to. I think it's not as sonically cohesive as folklore or evermore, especially with anthology. However, it perfectly encapsulate the darkness or lightness in each songs. For example: I Can Fix Him (no, really I can) captures the essence of a noir western drama that's riddled in its lyrics. The synths of Down Bad eases you into an isolated otherworldly place or phenomenon. The sparkliness and upbeatness of I Can Do It With A Broken Heart captures the essence of the Eras Tour. And so high school... well, it takes you back to high school in 2000s, lyrics honoring the juvenile mischiefs, the freedom of a typical teen years, and sonically, recalls the pop-rock movement. I do think this album is riddled with Taylor's strongest lyricsm given the contexts. Her sarcasm, honesty, bitterness, humor, grief shines in a way last seen in her earlier works. It's as if she's returning to her basics, and finally putting the final nails in those coffins. You can really tell that this album is meant for her self-healing, touching on her youth the mosts or rather, the early death of it from fame, yet disguised as a breakup album. It's ashame that others willfully take lyrics out of context or misconstrute them entirely - looking at you, so high school, title track, and i hate it here. (No, she clearly wasn't trying to romanticise or mock the darker parts of the 1830s - it was to convey how nostalgia or our fantasies often cloud our judgement and make us forget the disturbing reality of our history, which serves to further the message of the song about how any part of reality could never compete with our imaginations, but it's also to point out how innapropriate it seems to blurt it out randomly in a conversation.) My highlights: The Bolter, How Did It End?, Chloe et la, loml, Guilty As Sin?, Down Bad, Robin