Taylor Swift did another surprise drop of of second album this year “evermore.” Her ninth studio album surprised fans as the sister album to “folklore” dropped earlier this year in July. My unpopular opinion is that “folklore” isn’t my favorite album. I do like a lot of the songs but my favorite Taylor swift album remains “Lover” followed by “Reputation.” Specifically because when “Reputation” came out I was dealing with a lot of friend drama and growing pains and when “Lover” came out I proposed to my fiancée. However, “evermore” as an extension of “folklore” has a slightly different feel and a lot of the songs hit me harder. So, as a further extension of the new Taylor Swift section of this blog I thought I’d break down some of my thoughts on the album.

willow

I’m going to be super basic here and say Taylor’s first signal is actually my favorite song off this album. This is saying something because my favorites are usually some obscure song that doesn’t even make it to the radio (for example, “Haunted”). This also shouldn’t be a surprise as the old Christmas/Victorian vibes it gives off are very much my aesthetic.

Taylor’s also made it abundantly clear that this is a witchy song (again I’m very much into this!) with her remixes. So far, the Dancing Witch, Lonely Witch, and Moonlit Witch versions have dropped in the past few days (Moonlit is the best.) Willow is a great song to just vibe to and I have been–every morning as I start my workday.

Favorite Lines:

• “As if you were a mythical thing–like you were a trophy or a champion ring.”
• “I come back stronger than a 90’s trend”
• Anytime she sings “follow” or “hollow”

champagne problems

Champagne Problems is a weird one for me. I don’t really relate (happily engaged to my high school sweetheart) but I think it’s a really pretty song. I like just vibing to this one, too but It doesn’t make me want to cry like other people. But I did see someone say in some reaction chat that it’s really important to talk about this one, especially the line “She would have made such lovely bride, what a shame she’s fucked in the head.” I think this is really important because she wasn’t ready for an engagement people think there’s something wrong with the woman. I think it’s an important commentary on mental health and how we treat women and marriage. Overall, the piano and cadence of this song make it really pretty, I just can’t relate to it as much.

Favorite Lines:

• “Bustling crowds or silent sleepers…”
• “You had a speech you’re speechless.”
• “Flannel cure”
• “She would have made such a lovely bride, what a shame she’s fucked in the head.”

gold rush

“gold rush” starts out with a few lines that remind me of Christmas carolers. Taylor said this album is supposed to be the Fall/Winter to “folklore”‘s Spring/Summer. This started making a lot of sense to me here even though I felt like “folklore” was a Fall album at the time. Then it hits a strong beat and a key change and into more of Taylor’s amazing poetic lyrics.

Favorite Lines:

• “I don’t like anticipatin’ my face in a red flush”
• “I don’t like slow motion, double vision in rose blush”
• “With your hair falling into place like dominoes”
• “With my Eagles T-shirt hanging from your door”
• “At dinner parties, I call you out on your contrarian shit”

’tis the damn season

This song feels like the saddest Hallmark movie ever. So obviously, because I love drama, I love it. I really Think Taylor’s voice comes out strong on these albums, especially in songs like this. “‘Tis the damn season” as a phrase is so sassy and sarcastic that it’s kind of fiery after years of tame, dare I say, censored Taylor. Not that her first few albums were bad, just–innocent. The amount of raw emotion between “folklore” and “evermore” with lines and voice like this shows how much Taylor has grown as a women and a songwriter, but also gives us deeper, more complex emotion to really mull over in some of these tracks.

Favorite Lines:

• “You could call me ‘babe’ for the weekend”
• “The holidays linger like bad perfume”
• “Time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires”
• “So I’ll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends / Who’ll write books about me if I ever make it”

tolerate it

As far as her track 5 songs go, this one fell a little short for me… and I can relate to this one. I think a lot of people can relate to the feeling of putting 110% into a relationship and getting nothing in return; whether it’s a lover, a friend, a relative, etc. But for some reason, this one doesn’t hit me as hard as even Champagne Problems.

Favorite Lines:

• “Where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire?”
• “Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life”

no body, no crime

Like Taylor, I also enjoy true crime podcasts, so when she straight up out Carrie Underwood’ed Carrie Underwood I actually screamed. This song is phenomenal and makes me feel powerful. After this year, we all need a good country girl power murder ballad, I think.

Favorite Lines:

• ” Her husband’s acting different and it smells like infidelity” – The way she sings “infidelity” gets me!
• “Sleeps in Este’s bed and everything” – my favorite lines in this song are 100% because of the way she sings them

happiness

This one hits hard in an almost nostalgic sad kind of way. Like the kind of love that you miss for the fond memories but know it was bad for you. I actually relate this one more to friendship than romantic relationships but this is another one I think is a universal feeling.

Favorite Lines:

• “I can’t face reinvention/I haven’t met the new me yet”
• “No, I didn’t mean that/Sorry, I can’t see facts through all of my fury”
• “There is a glorious sunrise/Dappled with the flickers of light”

dorothea

Do not hate me, but… this is my least favorite song on the album. It’s fun but I don’t think it’s her strongest either in metaphors or story telling. This is actually a skip for me because there are so many other songs I’d rather listen to. I don’t hate it but I think it’s one of her weaker songs.

Favorite Lines:

• “The stars in your eyes/Shined brighter in Tupelo”

coney island

I adore “coney island” This song is so interesting because it’s set in a place that a lof of us think of as the epitome of nostalgia. She further goes into this with lines like “We were like the mall before the internet” which brings a kind of retro vibe the the overall feeling of the song. This combined with remembering past love is pretty powerful. Coney Island is also a place associated with fun and Taylor relates the happy parts of each relationship with amusement park attractions as she remembers them. It’s a really cool juxtaposition that gets me every time I listen to it.

Favorite Lines:

• “Did I close my fist around something delicate?/Did I shatter you?”
• “‘Cause we were like the mall before the Internet/It was the one place to be/The mischief, the gift wrapped suburban dreams/Sorry for not winning you an arcade ring”
• “Were you waiting at our old spot/In the tree line by the gold clock”

ivy

This is my second favorite song. There’s a lot I love, it’s a pretty song that fits the kind of old song vibe that “willow” follows. I love ivy covered houses and have always wanted to live in one since I was a kid. Also I choose to read this song as a regency era women who is in an arranged marriage but falls in love with another woman. So this one is gay and you can’t convince me otherwise and if I haven’t convinced you well it’s still a gorgeous song.

Favorite Lines:

• See entire song.

cowboy like me

If Taylor started out in modern country with her debut album. then she’s come full circle into old, classic country with “cowboy like me” The slow cadence and hitting hard off-beats give this song a strong foundation; while metaphors like “you hang from my lips like the gardens of Babylon” make the song what it is and lift it up to be one of the best tracks on this album. A song about finding your same brand of pain in another person, “cowboy like me” is a complex song that gives me something new to focus on every time I listen to it.

Favorite Lines:

• “Now you hang from my lips/Like the Gardens of Babylon”
• “Forever is the sweetest con”

long story short

This song is amazing! I’ve been listening to it non-stop. I think after 2020 we needed a good song about healing and moving on from your old image and Taylor delivered. I can relate– being almost 3 years out of college and just starting to heal from that specific brand of chaos– I’m finally settling in to who I am as an adult. Long story short I will be okay and this song is going to be on my 2021 Spotify Wrapped.

Favorite Lines:

• “Like the war of words I shouted in my sleep”
• “If the shoe fits, walk in it ’til your high heels break”
• “And I fell from the pedestal/Right down the rabbit hole”

marjorie

I can’t even listen to this song. I’ve listened to it twice and then put it in the bin of songs that are really pretty but make me ugly cry like “Soon You’ll Get Better.” My grandfather was one of my biggest fans and he passed away my junior year of school. It always hits me because he wanted to see me get my degree, but he didn’t make it that far. The line “I can hear you singing to me now” hits me so hard because he always used to sing silly songs to us. He was always singing, especially “Molly Malone” and I would dance for him. So while “marjorie” is a beautiful song I really can’t listen to it right now in my life unless I really want a good cry.

Favorite Lines:

• “Never be so polite, you forget your power/Never wield such power, you forget to be polite”
• “I should’ve asked you questions/I should’ve asked you how to be/Asked you to write it down for me”
• “I’d think you were singing to me now”

closure

This songs cool with the way it plays with unexpected beats and tones. The notion of not needing someone’s closure is interesting. There are plenty of moments and relationships in my life that I’d love closure for but if the person actually reached out I think I’d tell them off… or ignore them. I think this song is good for reflection on how far you’ve come from negative relationships and influences.

Favorite Lines:

• “And seeing the shape of your name/Still spells out pain”
• “I’m fine with my spite/And my tears/And my beers and my candles”

evermore

This song is my not-so-love letter to 2020. Lyrics like “I’ve been down since July.” and feeling helpless levels of pain really resonated with me, but so didn’t the end where she talks about the pain not lasting. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m excited to go see my family again. It’s nice for the reminder that this pain won’t be forevermore.

Favorite Lines:

• “Gray November/I’ve been down since July”
• “Writing letters/Addressed to the fire”
• “Can’t remember/What I used to fight for”
• “Barefoot in the wildest winter”
• “This pain wouldn’t be for/Evermore”

Overall, “evermore” is a great winter album and is honestly fueling my witchy heart. Taylor has said that “folklore” was meant to be the Spring/Summer album and “evermore” is the Fall/Winter counterpart. So since my favorite seasons are Fall/Winter it make sense that this would be my favorite of the two. Also, the aesthetic of these albums is our new wedding theme.

What are your favorites on the “evermore” album? Sound off in the comments!

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