Haven't been this pleasantly surprised by a big artist doing something different since Folklore. Taylor clearly WANTED to get these songs out, regardless of if they were widely consumable or not, and I love that for her.
There aren't any big hits here to bop to while cleaning or dancing at a bar-- this isn't that kind of album. Here we have more quiet contemplation and melancholy with a pop twist, and while it's not really my vibe, it is very very listenable. The few piano ballads peppered across the album, The Manuscript, Peter, etc... are all much more familiar and poignant to me than the stream-of-consciousness soft pop that makes up the rest of the album, with a few exception like FLORIDA!!.
In the hands of a more relatable person perhaps I'd connect more to the majority of the album, but as it stands TTPD is a little too vague and a little too safe. When the surprise second half of the album dropped, I found much more of the connection and vulnerability I was looking for.