Taylor Swift - Folklore

chic and if you'll permit a slice of trenchant social commentary, lucrative

but i haven't heard the album yet so i dunno if that's what she's even doing

it's a projection based on the characters being named after blake lively's daughters

i know i prefer to think of the narrative as queer but i'd never insist on it and i guess taylor swift wouldn't either

but the arguable issue in swift's case is moreso that - same as it ever was - it's chic for straight presenting artists to co-opt queer culture/sensibilities... but i haven't heard the album yet so i dunno if that's what she's even doing.

tbc I do not think she is doing this! there are definitely clicks to be gotten by straining to include her in "the queer canon" tho. and I do think if there were more queer pop stars who were anywhere near her popularity level, ppl wouldn't be able to get away with that take. or they'd at least have a rougher go of it.

Sam Smith is another obvious one.

and of course also tbc I should have absolutely no say or influence on what goes in that "canon" I just found this instance funny xp

imo what's really annoying about that headline is not capitalizing "is," which is a verb

a lot of the initial push to read the triptych as a queer, sapphic love story has, in my estimation, come from kaylors who have oriented their lives around the theory that taylor swift is closeted

what's a "kaylor"?

you know maybe it's better if i don't explain that

(stans who believe karlie kloss and taylor swift were romantically involved)

https://www.theringer.com/music/2017/11/9/16625462/taylor-swift-karlie-kloss-kaylor-tumblr-shipping

thanks! figured it was a 'ship, but I have never heard of Kloss before

but also if taylor swift actually wrote a song suite about three women in love, that's totally awesome 2 me

hard to feel co-opted when a great writer is making a high school love triangle feel emotionally vivid and complex to me

I'm assuming TS knows that and this is an attempt to turn nationalist tropes on their head, but singing about homeland is always a bit dicey.

― akm, Tuesday, 28 July 2020 16:32 (yesterday) link

when i listened to this for the first time i definitely assumed it was about her breaking up with america rather than just a dude, and bon iver blurting "so step right out!" was the voice of all the conservatives who turned on her after she starting being vocal about politics. i like the song fine but i like it more this way than just as a "the last time" redux

yesterday the enjambment in the first verse of "seven" really fucked me up

you know maybe it's better if i don't explain that

this is definitely the kind of knowledge that, upon gaining it, wipes something more useful out of your brain

singing about homeland is always a bit dicey.

IMO it’s a better line for the metaphor than any alternative I can think of — “You’re not my country anymore”? My “nation”? Those don’t really work for a relationship (which can actually feel like a “homeland”).

"polycule" would have been more au courant

The clunky metaphor is actually the next line — “You were my town, now I’m in exile...”

“Town” is weak; something like “home” would be better, but she already said “homeland.”

(clunky metaphors are kind of her thing, though)

Whoever annotates the Genius.com entries for Taylor Swift songs has an annoying tendency of flagging lyrics just to point out very slight similarities with lyrics from previous songs of hers (like, literally, a repeated word).

Yeah, I saw some of those notations last night, those drive me nuts.

i feel like i've learned something about myself vis a vis taylor bcuz every time i listen to "invisible string" my mind expects her to say "isn't it just so funny to think / all along there was some invisible string / tying you to me?" instead of "isn't it just so pretty"

'hoax' is so devastating and may have become my favourite taylor swift song. her closers are always sick but this is the first one that's completely devoid of hopefulness or optimism

"you knew it still hurts underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart - but what you did was just as dark" ;_;

“Isn’t it pretty to think” recalls the closing line of The Sun Also Rises, no?

you're right:

Isn't it pretty to think that the sun...also rises?

There isn't a single album which wouldn't be improved by a couple of omissions, this one no exception; but I like Lover as much as the best songs on this one.

I agree with this. High points in Lover are as high as the best tracks here, and the stretch in the middle is as good as folklore or Red. On the other hand, I think folklore comes out on top because even if you could remove a couple tracks here to improve it, I can't find anything that makes you want to skip here; no cringe tracks. And I have nothing against her cringy stuff, I enjoy them the same way I appreciate the most idiotic McCartney stuff; but this album feels stronger without them.

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I'm getting some really pleasant R.E.M. vibes here, esp. w/"Illicit affairs" (I'm thinking of the likes of "Half a world away")

I like the way "Illicit Affairs" doesn't resolve, musically or narratively. It goes into the bridge and never comes back.

Has anybody seen the bridge?

someone call phoebe

Bridgers to Babylon

I suspect Swift might be more into "Bridge to Terabithia."

That might be the harshest thing anyone has ever said about Taylor Swift.

I like the album a lot, but JFC she is milking her fans with these staggered merch and single drops. I mean, obviously no one has to buy all of this shit, but I genuinely feel bad for these young stans that are feeling pressured to buy everything to show their support.

I really liked the cardigan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

this is always the strangest moment of the new Taylor Swift album thread

Bridge to Terabithia was my favorite book in elementary school because I'm never not hovering over the surface of my deep emotions, so I have been feeling deeply validated by this album

Hopefully someday there will be an ILM Taylor tracks poll so I can vote for "invisible string"

I just accidentally closed my mp3 player app while playing invisible string and it was living death.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/taylor-swift-remains-silent-as-fans-doxx-and-harass-music-critic-over-folkore-review

that Tapes n' Tapes album did getba better score

Menomena, too

I assume I'm in a very small club when I say I miss Menomena

Guillemots

I heard what turned out to be Invisible String randomly, really like it a lot! Heard another one I didn't like so I'll stick with just this track for now and try another in a couple of weeks

a couple of mit grads made an algorithm that tells you "if you liked 'Invisible String', listen to 'peace' next"

I didn’t realize that doxxing/harassment was going on. Why doesn’t she say something?

maybe she's upset that two Architecture in Helsinki albums got higher scores

the cardigan demo really highlights the vocal melodies and performance in a nice way. Must have been too dark in that cabin to find the vocal mic's gain slider, though.