Reputation Review

by Alex Shaffer, Editor in Chief

It’s no secret that Taylor Swift had a rough go around with the media over the last two years. It wasn’t much of a surprise that Swift’s sixth studio album would be a glorious showdown of her side of the story on reputation.

Reputation sold 1.05 million copies within the first four days of its release. The last album to sell this many copies in a week was Adele’s 25. On the album Swift talks about her meticulous relationships that never seem to last.
In my opinion this is the best Swift album yet. She always seems to know how to captivate her audience with every song. The 1989 album did this to me and reputation is doing just the same.

The album starts off with …Ready For It?. This is an extremely intelligent choice by Swift. Not only does the song seem to prepare you for the album, but it is such a powerful song that it gives the listener high hopes for the album. The next song features two unlikely cameos. With both Future and Ed Sheeran on the same song with Taylor Swift End Game is really the end game for ultimate collaborations. The song is about Taylor Swift’s big reputation and how the world perceives her. It seems to create the foundation for most everything Swift needs to say about her media troubles. I Did Something Bad is the next song and it is my favorite song. It seemingly talks about how Swift felt about everyone telling her she was wrong and, how she ultimately persevered and didn’t care what the haters say. The next song is a classic Swift love song. Don’t Blame Me is all about how love should make you crazy, “don’t blame me love made me crazy if it doesn’t you ain’t doin’ it right.” However, in this song, Swift doesn’t seem to be talking about a breakup, but a forbidden or not yet fulfilled love, as she does in another of my favorite songs, Dress. Dress is a more sexualized song and something that Swift yet to do with her young audience now appealing to an older audience and audience that has grown up with her, Swift now sings more mature content. Delicate follows Don’t Blame Me and it’s not the most delicate song, but it’s definitely catchy. I really like it, but I wouldn’t say it’s a song you throw on repeat. It’s more of a song you throw in the mix to breakup a playlist. Next is the most infamous and controversial song of the album. Look What You Made Me Do is seemingly all about how swift is jumping off the deep end and really trashes everyone who has done her wrong she sets the story straight. The music video for the song seems to talk about the “KimYe” (Kim and Kanye West) situation and how she was called a snake and, how she had given Kanye permission to write what he did in his song ‘Famous’. At the end of the extremely catchy tune she shows a scene in the video where all of her past selves are arguing with each other and the famous Kanye stealing the microphone moment is addressed with Swift asking to be ‘excluded from this narrative’ as she did on stage. I am going to quickly go over So It Goes, King of my Heart, and Dancing With Our Hands Tied as they are all beautiful songs I just don’t favor listening to them. They’re all love songs and are a bit slower than the rest of the album. Both Gorgeous and Getaway Car are amazing songs that I like. They both show a new yet familiar side of Swift’s music and I think it’s definitely a style we can all gladly get used to. Now one of the best songs on the album simply because it is so funny is This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. It’s all about her extravagant life and how one person made it crumble. Who this song is about is unknown, but it’s guaranteed to get a few laughs out as you listen. It is actually one of my favorite songs from the album. After that is another good song, Call it What You Want, it’s not my favorite, but I definitely listen to it nonstop. Following that is probably the most sensual song on the album and that is only because the first time I heard this song Swift was performing on the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon and he had talked about his mother dying and squeezing his hand three times and one of the lyrics in New Year’s Day is ‘squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi, I can tell it’s gonna be a long road’ this made the already sad and beautiful song better.

This is personally one of the best albums I’ve ever listened to. It has a song for everyone, and is an amazing combination of witty lyrics and revolutionary music. I would rate this album 8/10. I really like Swift’s music and this new album does not disappoint.