Kim Nguyen

3.5 — I would love to see Taylor explore and refine her music in this genre. I am still waiting for Red, the folklore version. The album is good, but it needs refining. There’s a lot of repetition within the songs. It’s hard to tell the songs apart. The album seems prematurely released and out of season. Despite Covid and all, it is the summer. The aesthetic of the album is all autumn and winter. I can’t relate to tea and cardigans right now. And i felt this way about the release of the song Lover. There’s just a lot of sadness to these songs, and I don’t think it meets the moment, which is to say it’s not instilling hope, not that it’s not upbeat or a bop. Finally, I understand Taylor’s needs for privacy. So I appreciate her story telling that is less personal in her newer albums. That said, I don’t see any reason to be invested in any of the characters she’s writing about.