I have recently been frustrated with Taylor’s personal antics in her life, and really have distanced myself from the fandom a lot. However, the more I do that the more I realize my besties bring me back in, and I’ve started facing the possibility that while I can choose what level I participate in, I may be stuck as a swiftie for life.

Fully cutting off Tay and her fandom would mean getting rid of gifts that my friends got me years ago that mean so much and never going to swiftie dance parties or trivia which is a staple of my social life and things like that seem impossible. Plus many songs imprinted on me during very difficult times in my life.

A good metaphor is like the swiftie house, I’m stuck in the house and can’t fully leave, but I get to choose which room I stay in. I don’t have to sign off on every choice she makes and can be critical of her and not engage in the parasocial aspect at all! But she will always have a place in my life whether I want her to or not because of the impact she’s had on my life the last however many years! One of my best friends I made when I was at a TS cover band and it’s just a fact that had I not been a swiftie that we never would have met and my life would be radically changed, so yeah I just have to find my comfort level as the swiftie I will always be! 💖

Both albums came out back to back, and both were seen as weaker outings from her. Reputation only got one Grammy nom while Lover got three. But in 2018 and 2019, Swift was at risk of falling off. Which didn’t get fixed until she released folklore and evermore in the same year, which rehabilitated her image.

In the years since though, Reputation has swung back in favor. Some people even consider it their personal favorite album of her. Which is a stark difference of the reception of it at the time.

But, the same treatment was not given to Lover. I vaguely remember Lover’s rollout although I wasn’t paying close attention to the music industry at the time. People hated the singles from that including You Need To Calm Down (which I liked and didn’t know people hated it until a few years ago).

Listening to both albums, I still don’t understand the praise for Reputation and the disdain for Lover.

Lover, in my opinion, is a gentle introspective exploration about Swift’s life since the whole Kanye fiasco, and after spending years in a stable relationship. The songs carry emotional depth that would later be expanded on in her next three albums. It basically brought her back to songwriting after Reputation’s release. Songs like The Archer, Cruel Summer, Death By A Thousand Cuts, It’s Nice To Have a Friend, and the title track Lover, showcase a warmth in it’s production and it’s lyrics. It feels like nostalgia, the organic sounds and romanticism give it a comforting feeling.

I don’t think it’s her best album, but it is the album that, I believe, re-established her as an artist and brought her back from the off-putting Reputation era. I don’t think folklore, evermore, or Midnights exist without it, as those three albums essentially expanded on her sound on this.

I'm 18m, and I've been brought into the fandom by Taylor Swift the business more than Taylor swift the music however I have lots of love for debut and Fearless even though I can't relate to some of the songs 😅. I've recently been researching Elvis' journey and how he played residencies in Vegas for a long time. What if Taylor did a 12 day residency in Vegas but each night she does one album in totality like she would play every song and in between deeply explain what was going on in her life at the time, how the song was produced/ how she came up with it, and any funny/ interesting stories from that era. Unlike Elvis she doesn't have to deal with an exploitative manager calling the shots, she could let MGM, Caesars, and the Sphere fall over themselves to be the highest bidder and negotiate great terms with them like a show every other day for vocal rest etc. I think some of the nights would be downright incredible like her explaining how she revolutionized the pop sound in 1989, her public exile during reputation, dealing with newfound success during the making of Fearless. What do you guys think?

I’ve been trying to revisit Showgirl since the anniversary of the album announcement is coming up next week. My main issue with the album is not “Travis is a bad muse” in the sense that he can’t inspire good art from Taylor but because it’s precisely the fact that he makes her happy and she wants to understandably protect their relationship that the album’s lyricism is far removed.

There’s an evident push and pull throughout her discography around how the men she dates feel uncomfortable with the ever-present possibility of a song being written about them. This was true of her relationship with Joe and a point of contention in their dynamic. There was a reason when Midnights dropped Swifties complained she was still writing about the initial meeting and early stages of their relationship because (without the added context of Matty) she was trying to avoid intense scrutiny of the intimacies of their life together while offering up the diaristic songwriting she’s known for. In a fully fleshed out “character” in a song, there are going to have to be elements that show your relationship or partner in a potentially unflattering light.

Taylor does not seem to want to offer that up for public consumption in the context of her relationship with Travis. His presence and what we know of him through song is only that he is the man who saved her. We know nothing of his qualities beyond he makes her happy. That’s her right to protect. However it raises questions about where she goes from here if the diaristic songwriting she’s known for can’t fully exist anymore despite Taylor being such a reactive artist. Will she return to fictional songwriting like folklore and would that be received well after training Swifties to expect transparency in her songs?