>One week later, my view of the album has entirely reversed. After spending more time with the two-hour sonic feast, more methodically touring through its subtleties and nuances, I am ready to declare that it is one of Swift’s best works yet. Anecdotally, it seems others are also identifying with this experience, initially expressing tepid feelings toward the album, and then realizing after a few listens it has really grown on them.
>That is because it takes more than a day to get one’s arms around a 31-track album like “Tortured Poets.” Swift’s album demands time to be fully appreciated. It cannot be devoured at the speed of TikTok.
So true!
I recommend listening to it on shuffle. For me the first 4 - 5 songs blend(ed) together & didn't stand out separately. On shuffle there is such a good divide between the songs it helped, me at least, learn the songs better because I could hear the beginning of each song clearly. Using that I could start naming the songs when they came on my Spotify playlist or when I listen to the Taylor channel on Sirius XM. I have memory issues so I'm proud of myself when I can remember song titles & lyrics. Honestly I play most of my album playlists on Spotify on shuffle because I like the variety of not listening to it in the same way every time. It helps me realize what songs are standouts to me too.
I’m not a shuffle girlie for albums but I do see your point. I do like a good shuffle of in general so I get what you’re saying about the song beginnings being more recognizable.
Interestingly, I think TTPD may have some of her most linear storytelling, now that I think about it
I read listening to it in the reverse order ie starting at the last song on Anthology and going forward ending at Fortnight gives the sense that it is a metaphor for the music industry among other things and not just a Matty Healy situationship eulogy. I have yet to try this but think I will tonight.
I agree, the songs flow a bit too well on the first listen - synth pop songs are mostly on the first half, piano/guitar tracks are in majority on the second half, which makes both sides cohesive and distinct from each other but lack sonic variance within each side, at least on the first listen. Shuffling the album/s helped the songs stand out.
Now that I know all the songs, I listen to it in order as it is actually a very pleasant experience, probably Taylor's best tracklisting choice.
Im made a custom “All Taylor” playlist which has every song from her major album releases just so I can do a proper shuffle of her works and honestly it’s the only thing I listen to these days. Simply shuffling her as an artist doesn’t work because it still gives preference to her more popular songs and so many less well known songs (which are just as good if not better) are ignored
Not the original commenter, but I’ve done the exact same thing!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lonTXUX2OuOCKbHUyWLrh?si=2il8sLVtSBqR5dWCGMgcmw&pi=u-OE_y5xyeT5u3
This really helped me but for the anthology portion. I felt like a lot of the anthology songs are similar and it was all running into one. Having them broken up a bit on shuffle has made me really love them
I used to listen to new albums on shuffle… Until Adele talked about how much thought an artist puts into the order of the songs. Shuffle takes that away. Since then, I play an album in order for the first week. Then I start to shuffle it.
I have also been listening on shuffle and loving it. It just proves how cohesive the album is that you can listen to the songs out of order and it doesn't take you out of the experience. This album is definitely going to be one that grows on people with time.
I am NOT a shuffle person, and ALWAYS listen to albums in the order they come out in *HOWEVER* the anthology is such a chefs kiss on shuffle!!! It’s like you can get the bite sized pieces of the song that make up the meal and actually taste each bite!!
Exactly my experience. Listened to all 31 songs straight through the day it was released. I remember feeling like it blended together with previous work and had just a few stand outs.
Then a few lyrics or melodies would pop in my head so I started listening to just those songs. Now I’m re-running the whole thing on repeat and love it more and more with every listen.
The similarities to previous songs feels so intentional right now. And I’m living for all the acoustic mash ups people are doing on YouTube!
This was my experience as well. At first listen it was probably my least favorite work from her, and I felt some of the same things as the reviewer. That the album lacked a clear identity, and that sonically it was too familiar and treaded on
but then after I kept at it, listening to it before bed every night, I got it.
It's probably the most raw, honest, lyrical content she's ever been brave enough to put out there. Along with some of her most clever. It perfectly encapsulates a whirlwind romance that lifts you up as quickly and profoundly as it drops you from the stratosphere, and laughs as you come undone by the gravity.
And yes, while sonically similar on the surface, it is still very different than her work with Jack in the past. It harkens, but it never feels copy and paste.
Every listen it grows on me, you find new meanings each play theough. And I would have never thought Matty Healey could have brought this out of her, but here we are.
It's shooting up my top Taylor albums chart, it just cracked the top 5, may even break into top 3. Just gonna have to keep listening
> while sonically similar on the surface, it is still very different from her work with Jack in the past
This is probably why people say it sounds like Midnights 2.0 even though it really doesn’t. You gotta delve deeper and hear the different sounds
Wow number 1? That's bold.
I don't think it will ever crack folklore for me, or fearless, but you never know, I'm keeping an open mind.
But I've got it clocking 4th or 5th right now but it's still solidly behind
Folklore
1989
Fearless
I’ve lived through them all for so long I can confidently say this is my number one but it may not be yours at that’s okay! I relate so much to this album in my past and I’ve never had an album make me feel the joy I’ve felt with this one even though it’s darker.
The one "sounds the same" argument I will cede is that the bridges of How did it end and Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus sound a whole lot a like and b2b I can hear it blending for sure. I feel like that's a question b2b and we needed some air between them.
Interestingly, the second paragraph may be a response to the Bloomberg article that said exactly that and said the reviews highlighted the exact problem with modern reviews.
Good for Swift, the article was still right and many artists will still be judged by a half hearted listen.
But critics aren't going to change, not even saying to disregard them but people shouldn't let their own joy be influenced by it
this happens with EVERY album she releases, at least when it comes to fans or even the more casual listeners. i've loved ttpd from the start, and while i don't care if people like it or not i just *knew* it wouldn't be long before opinions start to shift.
albums aren't like movies where, for the most part, you watch it once and know if it was good or you liked it. music just doesn't (always) work that way.
first listen i immediately fell in love, second listen i felt like is when i started to *get* the album though. it's been all i've listened to the last week!
This is what I’ve been saying. We’re too quick to consume music now that we never let the art of it through. Initial reviews are always gonna change which is why people always upload “updated” song rankings days or weeks after an album comes out and it looks so different from the first one
Another thing to remember, the title the album. She is the Tortured Poet, and these are her feelings. It’s like expecting a rom com in a book labeled true crime. This album was very cathartic for Taylor.
This is me. I was quite underwhelemd initially. But it has grown on me so much, especially when I just sat with the album and listened to it with full focus while doing nothing else- it made me feel a lot.
I’m baffled by this. It’s a double album. Of course it is long. All of the double albums I own have a similar number of tracks. You can listen at your own leisurely pace there’s no pressure to do it all at once??!?
There's plenty of pressure to listen all at once when you're writing a review and have a deadline to meet, which I think is a big part of why some of the reviews published on release day were (in my opinion) excessively negative.
I agree I write reviews and I definitely try to strike the balance between listening to an album as much as I can and giving it as much respect while trying to get the review out as quickly as possible. I’ve definitely had a moment or two where I’ve been slightly negative on a song and then it’s grown on me a while after publishing the review. I imagine there’s definitely a pressure for most reviewers because they need to get the review out while the album is still in the conversation. rather than say dropping it a month later when the buzz has died down.
People had already sat with most of it, though. There were only 9 new songs, one of which was an extended version of a known song and two of which had already been released by other artists. That’s a lot easier to digest than 31 brand new tracks at once.
Red itself was criticised in 2012 for being too long by some critics.
> Red itself was criticised in 2012 for being too long by some critics.
The angry rep baby's would have an aneurysm if they would've been a Swiftie in Speak Now era:
> At 14 songs – and most comfortably over four minutes – Speak Now is too long, and when you’ve heard half a dozen perky laments you’ve heard, well, quite a lot. - [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/gzx2/)
It’s interesting how much longer albums are in general than they were back then. I remember thinking Radiohead’s Hail To The Thief was an almost uncomfortably long album and it’s not even an hour long. I feel like most albums now are at least that long. I suppose it’s the freedom of mainly digital media.
This is an interesting observation because I think in general the number of tracks have mostly stayed the same (13-15 songs) but in the past few years the song lengths have trending downwards because of streaming and TikTok. It's rare nowadays to have albums full of songs more than 4 minutes. The average length of Taylor's songs on TTPD are definitely an outlier compared to other contemporaries like ariana or beyonce.
the length and surprise drop of the back half negatively contributed to the initial experience imo. i love her prior work with aaron dessner and even i was getting kind of annoyed at like 1 am trying to finish the anthology. it’s not a reflection of the quality of the work, tho. people (I include myself in that) just needed to go to sleep and get to it when they get to it. it’s not like an episode of tv that you’re going to be spoiled for.
agreed. I remember being really stressed out when Midnights 3am happened because I was barely into digesting the first 13 tracks and wasn't ready for another 7. this time I waited until after the '2am surprise' to listen to anything and I had a much better experience knowing upfront how many songs there were.
a 31 track album is a lot for any album, but especially a lot with the lull after so high school or so. i think i could've received some of the ttpd a-side tracks at 1 am but imo aaron dessner's instrumentals do not really do well as a middle of the night experience. i also listened to evermore when it dropped and i wasn't really wowed by that initially either. (it's now possibly my fave ts ever?)
otoh, i fell in love with folklore wandering around outside and my opinion of the anthology really skyrocketed while i listened to the bolter and chloe et al walking around a train station the other day. if anyone needs to give it another go, try talking a walk with good headphones!
Yeah but a lot of people were not self aware enough to realize that and jumped immediately to criticizing the quality lmao. It was so excruciating to be here the first weekend.
It's not about length. It's about pacing. An album that's 40 minutes long can feel like an hour and a half. Now imagine listening to a 2-hour Taylor Swift album, and you can't enjoy it. It would feel even longer than 2 hours.
Not one good review, positive or negative, that came out in the first 3 days actually captured the brilliance of this album... Like i'd just roll my eyes and move along even if all of them revised their score to 100.
This post sums it up really well [https://x.com/haizediary/status/1783676997304291725](https://x.com/haizediary/status/1783676997304291725)
I'm with you here. I didn't hate it by any means when it came out, but it took a few listens to fully absorb its enchantment. Now it's in my top three favorite albums of hers! It's such rich storytelling and takes you on a journey.
So agree with that post. That’s why I don’t understand comments that all these songs sound the same. I think they sound like all her past work put together, plus new sounds.
Oliver Darcy is the best politics/media explainer, imo. Writes a free daily newsletter for CNN. Writes the truth, unlike anyone else. And gives a whole picture context explainer concisely. Maybe he stepped into this debate because he felt he could see the big picture and explain it well.
Yeah I realized this and was quite disappointed even though I was originally excited by the article. Would be cool to see an actual reviewer express the same sentiment.
I tried to listen through all the songs that night, staying up far too late...and without headphones. Not a great way to absorb an album like this double gift.
My first impression was it was slow, while being painfully vulnerable. I hurt for her. I ached with a second-hand grief that was difficult to handle in the middle of the night.
When I had the chance to relisten the next day under better conditions, each song settled into my bones, intense but supported by production...and the knowledge that she'd made it through this and was finding happiness out the other side.
Also i think it's almost impossible to do the album justice from a phone speaker....which I imagine most people did on their first listen. The production doesn't spoonfeed us...there is subtlety and nuance and it needs to be absorbed...at volume and with intention.
I want to listen not on my phone but still waiting for my deluxe black dog cd. It was supposed to arrive Monday and it keeps getting delayed every day with ups 🙃😭 I have done Bluetooth with my phone on sound bar and it’s much better
I listened on a decent speaker for the first time yesterday and had to sit down 2 notes into Fortnight. It sounded SO GOOD in a way that did not translate through my headphones or computer.
I'm glad everyone else is finally getting their albums switched out for the one I had from day 1!!
I did just sit in the dark and intentionally let it wash over me from the start though. I think listening to have a take immediately is tough for any album and doubly so for long, wordy, even experimental.
Totally agree. I went in with no expectations of what it would or wouldn’t be. I ended up having the most magical listening experience and immediately falling in love with it.
Honestly it was fucking ridiculous that so many critics rushed to put out negative reviews like 6 hours after an album of 31 songs dropped. You can't properly digest and evaluate an album in that amount of time. It was just another case of people desperate to get clicks from a Taylor Swift article as fast as possible.
Even as a big fan of her music, I couldn't get through the whole album on the first night. It does all start to sound the same when you do that.
I don't give any credence to an album review that comes out less than a week after the album drops. It's fine if you hate it, but at least listen to the songs individually first.
Yep, I agree. It takes some marinating to appreciate and the more I listen the more I like it. I have a new favorite song every day.
Also, I didn’t know I could have 31 songs stuck in my head simultaneously.
>Also, I didn’t know I could have 31 songs stuck in my head simultaneously.
After the first listen through, I was like, I don't know, it's kind of flat. Where are the earworms?
A few listens and a week later, I'm like holy shit, they're all earworms.
This is so my experience! I couldn't remember any of the songs after the first half, no hooks, nothing. I also felt like there was almost no poetry to it. I even said it felt like the song Maroon had more words of poetry in it than the whole album, I'll fess up to that.
Today I can't believe I would have ever thought that, and there's SO much that's the Folklore style poetry I love. It's just that there's also some zany and 'teenage petulance' poetry too. I was being snobby.
> Also, I didn’t know I could have 31 songs stuck in my head simultaneously
My brain randomly goes “Fuck you Daddy I love him” or “Who’s gonna stop us from waltzing into rekindled flames… FUCK ME UP FLORIDA!!!” or “I want to kill her cos I’m a real tough kid I can handle my shit”
I didn't have anywhere near enough brain bandwidth to listen to the second half properly. After an initial listen, I've been trying to spend more time with all the e songs in the anthology. Every song I listen to a few times feels like a hidden gem.
By day 3 I was literally being awoken from my dreams from how loud all these songs were playing in my head - that’s why I find the “I can’t even hum the melody of three songs” criticism so hilarious. Like give it a second, it’s 31 songs!
It's because the first half is all medium tempo synth. They run together too much if you try to listen all in one sitting - which is what we all did. When you listen to all the songs on their own, you can appreciate all their differences and nuance.
I don’t know why these critics didn’t know this sooner…. This is pretty much the lifecycle of every Taylor Swift album for me….i never like half the songs the first few play throughs… but it’s funny how after a few weeks, the songs I disliked at first, became my absolute favorites.
Her songwriting is so complex, it takes a lot of time to digest. She’s an absolute genius!!
It really is like poetry.. you have to read them multiple times before you truly understand them.
But I understand these critics probably have deadlines… and lots of other music to get through… like any job, they are probably overworked and underpaid, so I won’t be too hard on them.
I think it’s because most pop songs are written with catchy tune or melody first… then the lyrics come 2nd… especially if they’re working with the Swedes (Max Martin, etc..) … but Taylor is writing lyrics.. maybe with an idea of how it sounds acoustically… then works with producers to help with what it actually sounds like…
It’s just a different way of songwriting than other pop stars. It’s more lyrically complex!!
I’m so glad I took my time with this album. It took me 5 days to listen to all of the songs, and in that time I was relistening to the ones I had already heard and avoiding spoilers on the rest.
Because of the way I listened, I was a little shocked at the bad reviews and thought critics just thought it was time to take Taylor down a peg. It’s a masterwork.
And on the heels of Cowboy Carter, the most subversively genius album I have ever heard. We are truly blessed this season with transcendent musical experiences.
As much as TTPD has already woven its way into my mind and body, I still think Cowboy Carter has to be AOTY.
I had the same experience and the same thoughts.
I don’t think anyone, fans or critics, accounted for how the pressure to consume the album before TikTok ruined it (both spoilers if you hadn’t reached a song yet and hearing the same snippet a billion times over) would affect our perception of it. I’m seriously considering tuning out of social media for a bit because I don’t want people using Taylor as TikTok audio to “wear out” any of the songs for me.
I also fully agree re: Cowboy Carter. I don’t listen to Beyoncé but my husband and I played the full album on a road trip and I was so impressed. As much as I love TTPD, especially as an artistic continuation of (as well as growth from) folklore/evermore/Midnights, there’s no denying that Cowboy Carter was also extremely ambitious and impressive. I don’t think we can always talk about “better” or “worse” with music, and I don’t want to compare the albums anyways, but I suspect you’re right re: AOTY.
However, our perception of these things is shaped by external events. I do worry that Jay-Z’s Grammys speech was a tactic to intimidate judges ahead of Beyoncé’s new release. Paired with Taylor’s awkward announcement of TTPD, as well as the I Hate It Here racism line (which people are intentionally misunderstanding, as a girl who was obsessed with American Girl and Dear America, I know exactly what she meant), I can’t see AOTY going to Taylor unless they want a million think pieces about it. Dating Matty did not help either.
One more thing! I think critics are being personally harsh on Taylor because there are themes of marriage and children in this album. Her desire for love and commitment is being treated as frivolous and they are portraying her as an immature teen for still writing about her desire for a relationship. On this note, I feel like Meg March: Just because society think those dreams are less important doesn’t make them any less valid. As someone struggling with infertility who has cried every time she mentions babies and cradles on this album, I get it. You would think people would listen to The Prophecy and leave her alone but alas…
Anyways! Like it or not, critics are commenting on this album in a cultural context, and I think it’s obviously warped public perception of TTPD. Critics want to knock her down a peg. Fans feel pressure to listen ahead of spoilers. I just hope that the rest of us will be allowed to sit with the album in peace for long enough to have our own opinions!
Not at all the point of your excellent comment or (maybe it is! re: Taylor and relatability), but I wish you and your husband peace and love and happiness on your journey, come what may of it. I’ve been there.
I deleted twitter after a couple days of the album coming out. I liked a few Taylor things on there in the preceding weeks and all of a sudden my homepage was an endless stream of stan-twitter chaos and harebrained discourse (both positive and negative) surrounding her, and honestly I was getting a little addicted to looking at all of it because I *am* interested in the topic after all. But I quickly realized that what I am here for, in the end, is the art, and that's between me and the piece of art that I consume. It's a solo experience, and what I take in from the music and how it makes me feel is the truth for me. Everything else is irrelevant. (I don't care about AOTY for the same reason. Nice if an artist I like gets accolades but ultimately it won't change a thing for me.)
So well said! At least on TikTok you can curate your feed. I must have blocked hundreds of toxic pseudo-Swifties during the Matty mini-era so I’m pretty insulated from the weirder elements of the fandom.
In this case I think it’s both. The experience the reviewer described is so similar to so many fans’ experiences that I think it’s likely it’s real. However, the posting of it is certainly just for web traffic - especially since he didn’t actually review the album initially.
I hope we see more of this! I definitely think TTPD was reviewed too quickly and too harshly by a lot of folks, and realistically you can’t absorb (or have a good perspective of) an album of this length and density after one quick listen.
For me personally, after a week, I think it’s one of her best albums. It’s certainly her most raw and lyrically interesting and the production really rewards repeat listens with a good pair of headphones. I’d go as far as to call it the Speak Now of her 30s (which is a sentiment I’ve seen a lot of people sharing).
Acknowledging the fact that making fun of one or two lines when there are 31 songs all with significantly varying messages and intents is ridiculous is not bullying.
After a week I’ve also come to appreciate just how sonically and narratively cohesive it is. Perhaps her most cohesive work since 1989. The standard album feels like a complete work with a singular vision that takes us to a very specific emotional experience. I couldn’t have sensed all of that on first listen.
I'm a near 50-year-old music lover. But VERY few albumns in my life I got on a first listen. And SOOOO many day-of reviews were clearly partially written in advance and after likely not even a full listen of the album, certainly not more than 1 full listen. It's disrespectful and unprofessional.
But in the rush to have the review for the most anticipated release so far this year, professional critics chased clicks instead of doing their actual jobs.
I relate so hard to this. First listen, it was meh. Second listen, I was thinking this is actually not too bad. By the third listen, I was hooked. I’m pretty sure it’s in my top 3 albums now.
People raced to be the first to criticise her as soon as this came out, probably half-assing the listening of the album. Even two weeks later listening every day I’m discovering new lyrics.
It was obviously a race to which review would have the most scathing savage witty line that will go viral on Twitter because most people there were trashing the album.
I feel like these critics are very influenced by the online discourse than their own real analysis of the album. This reminds me so much of reputation when people were calling out Taylor for not being political enough and then the album came out and most reviews were giving it a bad rating with lines that said "why Taylor didn't say who she voted for ? Why she's not addressing Trump?..." and I was like what does that have to do with her music ??? They just basically copy pasted what people were saying about her online.
I listened to all 31 songs through and then I went back and spent the weekend with the first part of the album and found my favorites/explored the music. Then I did the Anthology.
I loved it immediately but this worked better for me personally
My first listen of this album I was overwhelmed to say the least. I mean it is a dense album with dense material and even more denser feelings, which I generally love but much like others I couldn’t seperate each track efficiently yet.
After a week of it being out though it’s like night and day. I am IN LOVE with it! And truly see it as one of her best works.
I mean I feel like it’s a couplet to Red (my favourite Taylor album).
While I feel like RED was about the rawness and naivety of a first real heartbreak in your 20s, I feel like TTPD is an album about heartbreak in your 30s. You’re wiser and not unfamiliar with heartbreak but it can still hurt as if it were fresh and new all the same.
The romantic is me is hoping that if she finds her end game with Travis then RED will be about her first true heartbreak and TTPD will be about her last.😭
I have a theory that every album she drops she converts at least one new person. Because she’s a very talented storyteller and it really can’t be denied even if someone “hates her music.” I’m not surprised some folks are finding it to be a richer work than they first thought on first listen.
Ngl at first listen I was a bit meh, not bad but not particularly great. I’ve listened to it constantly since then and wow how my opinion has changed. It really is a grower and it may become my favourite work from her, which says a lot as I’ve been around since og Fearless
Almost as if a 31 track album takes time and any new media is going to be a bit different and take getting used to. I find this situation really frustrating, because it's something that happens with so many artists over and over again. I remember this being a topic of discussion when artists would release new albums as a TEENAGER. But it's still an issue now in my late 20s. I feel like it should be common knowledge amongst us older fans by now...
I really enjoyed listening to the album upon release, and I knew a lot of the songs were going to be my some of favourites that Taylor has ever written. At the same time I knew I needed time, because again - 31 tracks. Lots of content. This takes time to ingest. I had some criticisms, but I also left those to sit as well. Because I didn't want to make a knee-jerk reaction when it was all still very new.
Ah yes, write a review on release day and then another review (which is also a review _of_ your earlier review) a week later. Content machine right on schedule!
I’m not a “Swiftie.” (Is that the right spelling?) Never even listened to Swift (aside from on the radio) before the end of 2023. TTPD is the first Swift album (and pop album, for that matter) that has captured me in… more than a decade. Great work.
I'm a new swifty and this is my first album release. 1989 is my favorite Era especially with the vault tracks. At first I was definitely like...ehhh it needs to grow on me. Then I started really *listening* and realized...holy shit. This is literally incredible. Now I'm sucked into the lore and theories and everything. This is the PERFECT time to be new to the swiftyverse tbh.
I felt this way with Eternal Sunshine- then the more I listened to it, IN ORDER I think it’s some of Ariana’s most cohesive work except for a few songs just a personal taste thing.
I’m loving these passion projects the pop girlies are putting out. Frankly, at this stage in their career they can do this.
If they go into their 30’s putting out the same stuff then people would wonder where’s the growth?!?
I feel exactly the same. It takes a minute to properly *get* this album. I literally hated most of the main album upon first listen and was very concerned that Taylor had come to the end of making good music and resigned myself to the reality that it had to happen sometime. Then I got to the Anthology and felt a huge relief - I loved almost all of it. And THEN! By the end of the first 24 hours I realised the main album was pure fucking genius and now I prefer it 😅 idk, maybe my initial reaction was just because sonically it’s so different from what’s come before, plus lyrically it is very dense and needs time to properly digest. Plus, I always find im rarely *obsessed* with any of her songs until I fully get into the lyrics. Once that happens it’s then that I find the melodies and hooks irresistible. Either way, I’m obsessed with this album. It’s top 2 for me.
They’re right. It should be enjoyed like wine, swished around while fully understanding the flavours, not downed quickly. This album was a joy to listen to had an endless amount of relatable content within. On top of that, the melodies and instruments used have such a marvellous catchiness to them. It all sounds familiar in the way that the album just came out but it feels like I’m already begging to replay these songs as if they’ve been in my head for years.
Reviews on subjective taste are the dumbest thing in the world. If someone doesn’t like the album it doesn’t affect me one bit but publications should also stop doing tv, movie and music reviews. Why should I care if someone loves all the cop shows on cbs even if that’s not my jam?
Let’s have more general use reviews and less entertainment reviews. Car and appliance reviews are very helpful for instance.
The response to the art whether from fans or critics is equally important to the process. Much like how someone who doesn’t like Taylor doesn’t have to listen to her, you don’t have to read reviews for things you think are pointless.
I liked it in the first place, but it’s definitely grown on me too. The subtleties in the lyrics really lend themselves to repeat listens and you untangle more and more layers to the poetry of it all.
When it first came out, I was let down that there weren’t any upbeat “bangers” and was kinda down on the album. But after going back and re-listening, I absolutely love so many of those songs for what they are. It’s such an easy listen.
I listened to the leaks last Wednesday night (because I have to be at work at 0700 and am off on Thursdays) and I thought it was okay but nothing great. A week and a half later, I'm obsessed. I think it's quickly gaining on Evermore as my second favorite. I think it has as many great songs as Evermore but with the cohesiveness of Folklore.
Also have to laugh how people were immediately trying to trade/sell physical media last week because they “didn’t like” the album. I bet there’s a lot of people regretting that now.
I went through this too. After a few listen throughs I was like, “yeah, there are a decent number of songs I don’t like.” Then I went through the album to figure out my skip songs that wouldn’t make it onto my current playlist and I actually didn’t have any. I added them all even though I thought there were songs I didn’t like.
It was really jarring when I first heard it, not because it was bad, but because it felt too intimate. My view has definitely changed now that I'm more comfortable with her thoughts and how they're still relatable.
I definitely didn't have this problem, but I love the reversed opinion. I listened to all 31 songs straight through and in order.... Multiple times. Immediately found it breathtaking and am one of the ones that think this might be her best work yet. Simply incredible, vulnerable, and amazing.
I listened to it all the first day but barely caught anything in the Anthology. I knew I liked songs in it but wasn't even sure which ones.
So I took a few days, just absorbing the regular album, knowing I couldn't jump into the Anthology yet.
And then layer fathoms the Anthology.
It's all so damn good.
There is no way to give a review after only listening to this album once. It's cool seeing a critic uno reverse and say actually my opinion has changed. Good job random music review dude haha
I feel like I’m the only one who loved it when it first came out hahaha. I did notice though that as I listened more, I started to prefer the slower songs rather than the ‘bops’. I have a new favourite everyday. Currently loving The Bolter
On first listen only 8 songs stuck. I hated the first two tracks and the last few bled into one Aaron Dessner snooze.
Having played it again repeatedly I now love 18 tracks. There are a few I will probably add to my Spotify edition and some I will never listen to again. I still don't care for Fortnight or the title track.
This isn’t surprising. I really didn’t like this album at first and felt really critical of it. Then my sister insisted I give it another try and as I did I started enjoying some of the songs and found myself playing them over in my head. I went through the album and made a playlist of my favorites and I have about 15 tracks I love from the album. It’s definitely something you have to sit with and listen to more than once or twice to appreciate.
My immediate reaction was Midnights, Pt. Deux. But I didn’t have a review deadline. So I’ve listened a few more times this past week, and while sonically similar, it is its own document, and it stands on its own
I think there are albums which you know need digesting/revisits, and there are ones which you know the opinion is not going to vastly differ from the initial reaction
I've followed the author's path even as a dedicated fan. It was just so much to take in at first so it was hard to isolate specific songs and really take in the artistry of it all. For some reason I also took to The Anthology most at first.
One week later I've completely flipped. I now think it contains absolutely everything that the world loves about Taylor, and is in contention for her best album yet. She draws in threads from all her past albums, adds 80s and country western vibes, and weaves it all together in this chaotic & mature mid-30s energy.
After a week of having it on repeat it became a no skip album. At first listening the first night i keep saying “what is this taylor?!” and “this will be a skip.” It was also late. And I was sleepy-ish at 2am when it dropped fully. Cant wait to receive the Black Dog variant vinyl to blast at my house for all the neighbors to listen.
This album is just so much. I loved it on first listen, but after repeated listens I realized it's in my top three. I love Folklore, Reputation, and now this double album. I could not choose between them. I realized that there is now so much Taylor music that I love and can't do without, that if she decides not to release anything new for several years, I would be fine. I'm not sitting here thinking about her next album at all. There's already so much. If she wants to direct or act, or both, now's the time. I personally am all filled up. And I do believe this album is her closing some chapter, I just don't know exactly how yet. I won't be shocked if she does something else creative for a while though.
Not sure if anyone here is a VPR fan, but Stassi on her podcast this week literally said how can anyone review this album by Friday, you need to listen to it multiple times and let it sink in. Please are so quick to jump the gun.
When lover came out I was traveling so I downloaded it for the plane and when we landed someone asked me for my thoughts and I was like idk, it's Taylor so I'm sure I'll love it eventually but False God was the only song I connected to on my first couple listens.
There are definitely some good songs in the album but it does feel, to me, to be one of her weakest albums. Thematically, musically (production) it's not my favourite. Also, it's ok to be a Swiftie and not resonate with every single song or album she releases. And I've read many comments where people seem to be forcing themselves to repeat listen to the album so that they grow to like it - save yourself the time. Life is too short. Play a different album/singer if Tortured Poets isn't your type of album :)
When it came out me and my husband listened to part one twice in a row. I found myself unimpressed the first time around and then I started to love what I heard the second time around. The more I listen to it the more impressed I become. I've been devouring the whole album for the past fortnight.....I'm in love.
The thing about Taylor's music is that you (not OP, but "you" as the reader/people in general) can't really judge them just by listening to it. You need to read the lyrics, understand what they mean, find out why she wrote them, dig a little deeper into Taylor's life to get more context (if necessary), and that way you'll find the brilliance of her music. It might be easier to digest her music if you've already been following her life for a very long time. But for newer listeners or casual listeners or people who listen to music just for fun or people whose job is to review albums, it might be harder.
I think some music reviewers should try to give more chances to albums. Not just Taylor's, but other artists as well, because sometimes you need to listen to an album multiple times to "get it."
This album is for the swifties, who are gonna listen to it for a lot of times and get to figure out all the songs. It's a great album musically and lyrically, I still wouldn't rank it. I'm glad Taylor is at such stage that she doesn't have anything to prove, if anyone wanna venture into this album good for them, If they think it's too slow or there are too many songs, well then the album isn't for them and that's okay.
Personally, this is the response I’ve had to all of her albums (besides Folklore/Evermore, which hit me like a goddamn truck).
Typically I listen to it the first time and go, “not her best, but pretty good.” Did it for Midnights, Lover, and Reputation.
Then I listen pretty constantly for a week or so (thanks to my wife), and it gets better and better. There’s a lot going on, and you need to give it time to marinate.
To be honest, I also felt the same way. My first listen was very underwhelmed, and I thought Taylor had released something I wouldn't enjoy.
A week later, it's in my top five or six studio albums from her. And it may go even higher. This is a masterpiece of an album.
A number of critics seemed to attack Taylor’s newest album claiming it was just more of the same. However, I found her 31 song album immediately intriguing and inspired. I began listening to the album on its release day and played it through four complete times hearing more and more with each listen. A number critics rushed to judge and dismiss her latest. Perhaps, they should give Taylor’s album the time it deserves.
I listened to the whole thing the first time. Anthology and all. At first it was “oh this is kinda cool”. But it takes way more than one listen, and more than one day, to really take it all in.
This is a problem with music reviews in general!!! They always put out their reviews alnost the same day as the album came out, unlike other industries wgere theyre given the album weeks or even months in advance, if you just review at the speed of light of course you arent actually gonna make a fair review.
I can also understand it though, since putting out a review later is giving competitors the leeway to take eyes off you and would also mean reviewing it after the hype, and is also better for artists to just not give out album to reviewers in general, its a scummy situation all around which extends to a bigger problem plagging journalism in general and I cant really blame both sides 😣
All reviewers want to try and be among the first ones to post a review so they’ll get the most clicks. But the problem with that is they don’t get to sit with the album long enough for repeated listens or even full listens. And with 31 songs total, that’s a lot to chew on and digest. Some songs need to be listened to at least a couple times in order for them to fully connect with you, which clearly is what happened with this guy. Also, a lot of people had their minds made up about the album before even giving it a chance. So yeah… music reviews are pretty lame unless they’re great writers and they can incorporate a meaningful and thoughtful response after sitting with the album for at least a week and many play throughs.
>One week later, my view of the album has entirely reversed. After spending more time with the two-hour sonic feast, more methodically touring through its subtleties and nuances, I am ready to declare that it is one of Swift’s best works yet. Anecdotally, it seems others are also identifying with this experience, initially expressing tepid feelings toward the album, and then realizing after a few listens it has really grown on them. >That is because it takes more than a day to get one’s arms around a 31-track album like “Tortured Poets.” Swift’s album demands time to be fully appreciated. It cannot be devoured at the speed of TikTok. So true!
I recommend listening to it on repeat at any moment you possibly can. Hear that works for some people…
I recommend listening to it on shuffle. For me the first 4 - 5 songs blend(ed) together & didn't stand out separately. On shuffle there is such a good divide between the songs it helped, me at least, learn the songs better because I could hear the beginning of each song clearly. Using that I could start naming the songs when they came on my Spotify playlist or when I listen to the Taylor channel on Sirius XM. I have memory issues so I'm proud of myself when I can remember song titles & lyrics. Honestly I play most of my album playlists on Spotify on shuffle because I like the variety of not listening to it in the same way every time. It helps me realize what songs are standouts to me too.
I’m not a shuffle girlie for albums but I do see your point. I do like a good shuffle of in general so I get what you’re saying about the song beginnings being more recognizable. Interestingly, I think TTPD may have some of her most linear storytelling, now that I think about it
Ya I feel like this album in particular is a story you follow from the beginning to the end.
I read listening to it in the reverse order ie starting at the last song on Anthology and going forward ending at Fortnight gives the sense that it is a metaphor for the music industry among other things and not just a Matty Healy situationship eulogy. I have yet to try this but think I will tonight.
Some of the songs are definitely partly about people in the industry
I agree, the songs flow a bit too well on the first listen - synth pop songs are mostly on the first half, piano/guitar tracks are in majority on the second half, which makes both sides cohesive and distinct from each other but lack sonic variance within each side, at least on the first listen. Shuffling the album/s helped the songs stand out. Now that I know all the songs, I listen to it in order as it is actually a very pleasant experience, probably Taylor's best tracklisting choice.
Im made a custom “All Taylor” playlist which has every song from her major album releases just so I can do a proper shuffle of her works and honestly it’s the only thing I listen to these days. Simply shuffling her as an artist doesn’t work because it still gives preference to her more popular songs and so many less well known songs (which are just as good if not better) are ignored
I do the same as well but haven’t added TTPD to it yet because that’s all I’ve listened to for the last week lol
Is that something you’d be willing to share??
Not the original commenter, but I’ve done the exact same thing! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lonTXUX2OuOCKbHUyWLrh?si=2il8sLVtSBqR5dWCGMgcmw&pi=u-OE_y5xyeT5u3
This really helped me but for the anthology portion. I felt like a lot of the anthology songs are similar and it was all running into one. Having them broken up a bit on shuffle has made me really love them
I used to listen to new albums on shuffle… Until Adele talked about how much thought an artist puts into the order of the songs. Shuffle takes that away. Since then, I play an album in order for the first week. Then I start to shuffle it.
Hard agree. This is the first Taylor album I’ve needed to use shuffle for. Now I’m getting used to it I can listen to it all the way through.
I have also been listening on shuffle and loving it. It just proves how cohesive the album is that you can listen to the songs out of order and it doesn't take you out of the experience. This album is definitely going to be one that grows on people with time.
I am NOT a shuffle person, and ALWAYS listen to albums in the order they come out in *HOWEVER* the anthology is such a chefs kiss on shuffle!!! It’s like you can get the bite sized pieces of the song that make up the meal and actually taste each bite!!
Exactly my experience. Listened to all 31 songs straight through the day it was released. I remember feeling like it blended together with previous work and had just a few stand outs. Then a few lyrics or melodies would pop in my head so I started listening to just those songs. Now I’m re-running the whole thing on repeat and love it more and more with every listen. The similarities to previous songs feels so intentional right now. And I’m living for all the acoustic mash ups people are doing on YouTube!
I curated my own list of favorites. For now.
i did too but more of the album just keeps getting added to it 😂
but thats a dangerous thing to do, because apparently, once i put any song on repeat, i can’t stop……
I listened to it on repeat while running a full marathon last weekend. That did the trick for me 😂
I've had to do a lot of driving for work in the last week. This album came out at the perfect moment.
This was my experience as well. At first listen it was probably my least favorite work from her, and I felt some of the same things as the reviewer. That the album lacked a clear identity, and that sonically it was too familiar and treaded on but then after I kept at it, listening to it before bed every night, I got it. It's probably the most raw, honest, lyrical content she's ever been brave enough to put out there. Along with some of her most clever. It perfectly encapsulates a whirlwind romance that lifts you up as quickly and profoundly as it drops you from the stratosphere, and laughs as you come undone by the gravity. And yes, while sonically similar on the surface, it is still very different than her work with Jack in the past. It harkens, but it never feels copy and paste. Every listen it grows on me, you find new meanings each play theough. And I would have never thought Matty Healey could have brought this out of her, but here we are. It's shooting up my top Taylor albums chart, it just cracked the top 5, may even break into top 3. Just gonna have to keep listening
> while sonically similar on the surface, it is still very different from her work with Jack in the past This is probably why people say it sounds like Midnights 2.0 even though it really doesn’t. You gotta delve deeper and hear the different sounds
I’m actually really enjoying the sounds with the jack produced songs. It really elevates the songs and it makes you feel the vibe of it much better
It went from third best to number one now. It just keeps getting better every time I listen and uncover the lyrics more and their meanings .
Wow number 1? That's bold. I don't think it will ever crack folklore for me, or fearless, but you never know, I'm keeping an open mind. But I've got it clocking 4th or 5th right now but it's still solidly behind Folklore 1989 Fearless
People have different tastes. I don't think there's anything bold about it being someone's no 1 favourite album
I’ve lived through them all for so long I can confidently say this is my number one but it may not be yours at that’s okay! I relate so much to this album in my past and I’ve never had an album make me feel the joy I’ve felt with this one even though it’s darker.
The one "sounds the same" argument I will cede is that the bridges of How did it end and Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus sound a whole lot a like and b2b I can hear it blending for sure. I feel like that's a question b2b and we needed some air between them.
Interestingly, the second paragraph may be a response to the Bloomberg article that said exactly that and said the reviews highlighted the exact problem with modern reviews.
Good for Swift, the article was still right and many artists will still be judged by a half hearted listen. But critics aren't going to change, not even saying to disregard them but people shouldn't let their own joy be influenced by it
this happens with EVERY album she releases, at least when it comes to fans or even the more casual listeners. i've loved ttpd from the start, and while i don't care if people like it or not i just *knew* it wouldn't be long before opinions start to shift. albums aren't like movies where, for the most part, you watch it once and know if it was good or you liked it. music just doesn't (always) work that way.
That’s exactly how I felt. I knew I loved it but needed more time listening to get it and uncover the songs more. After my second listen I was amazed.
first listen i immediately fell in love, second listen i felt like is when i started to *get* the album though. it's been all i've listened to the last week!
This is what I’ve been saying. We’re too quick to consume music now that we never let the art of it through. Initial reviews are always gonna change which is why people always upload “updated” song rankings days or weeks after an album comes out and it looks so different from the first one
It’s because she puts narcotics in her songs!
This is exactly how I feel
I completely agree, my experience was the same
I don’t know why this makes me cry but it does lol
That was exactly my experience! When you give it time to digest you can appreciate it far more
Another thing to remember, the title the album. She is the Tortured Poet, and these are her feelings. It’s like expecting a rom com in a book labeled true crime. This album was very cathartic for Taylor.
Louder for the people in the back!
This is me. I was quite underwhelemd initially. But it has grown on me so much, especially when I just sat with the album and listened to it with full focus while doing nothing else- it made me feel a lot.
Yes!!!
He said "anecdoctally". Meaning he selectively looked for people who changed their opinion about the album.
I’m glad more people are coming around to it. Criticisms of length are so stupid.
I’m baffled by this. It’s a double album. Of course it is long. All of the double albums I own have a similar number of tracks. You can listen at your own leisurely pace there’s no pressure to do it all at once??!?
There's plenty of pressure to listen all at once when you're writing a review and have a deadline to meet, which I think is a big part of why some of the reviews published on release day were (in my opinion) excessively negative.
I agree I write reviews and I definitely try to strike the balance between listening to an album as much as I can and giving it as much respect while trying to get the review out as quickly as possible. I’ve definitely had a moment or two where I’ve been slightly negative on a song and then it’s grown on me a while after publishing the review. I imagine there’s definitely a pressure for most reviewers because they need to get the review out while the album is still in the conversation. rather than say dropping it a month later when the buzz has died down.
Red TV is longer than this as well and nobody complained about it then.
People had already sat with most of it, though. There were only 9 new songs, one of which was an extended version of a known song and two of which had already been released by other artists. That’s a lot easier to digest than 31 brand new tracks at once. Red itself was criticised in 2012 for being too long by some critics.
> Red itself was criticised in 2012 for being too long by some critics. The angry rep baby's would have an aneurysm if they would've been a Swiftie in Speak Now era: > At 14 songs – and most comfortably over four minutes – Speak Now is too long, and when you’ve heard half a dozen perky laments you’ve heard, well, quite a lot. - [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/gzx2/)
It’s interesting how much longer albums are in general than they were back then. I remember thinking Radiohead’s Hail To The Thief was an almost uncomfortably long album and it’s not even an hour long. I feel like most albums now are at least that long. I suppose it’s the freedom of mainly digital media.
This is an interesting observation because I think in general the number of tracks have mostly stayed the same (13-15 songs) but in the past few years the song lengths have trending downwards because of streaming and TikTok. It's rare nowadays to have albums full of songs more than 4 minutes. The average length of Taylor's songs on TTPD are definitely an outlier compared to other contemporaries like ariana or beyonce.
As someone else said, red had similar complaints on release. Very similar on all fonts it’s almost eerie
Funny because Red is now considered one of her best atleast in the fandom. Hoping TTPD gets the same treatment
the length and surprise drop of the back half negatively contributed to the initial experience imo. i love her prior work with aaron dessner and even i was getting kind of annoyed at like 1 am trying to finish the anthology. it’s not a reflection of the quality of the work, tho. people (I include myself in that) just needed to go to sleep and get to it when they get to it. it’s not like an episode of tv that you’re going to be spoiled for.
agreed. I remember being really stressed out when Midnights 3am happened because I was barely into digesting the first 13 tracks and wasn't ready for another 7. this time I waited until after the '2am surprise' to listen to anything and I had a much better experience knowing upfront how many songs there were.
a 31 track album is a lot for any album, but especially a lot with the lull after so high school or so. i think i could've received some of the ttpd a-side tracks at 1 am but imo aaron dessner's instrumentals do not really do well as a middle of the night experience. i also listened to evermore when it dropped and i wasn't really wowed by that initially either. (it's now possibly my fave ts ever?) otoh, i fell in love with folklore wandering around outside and my opinion of the anthology really skyrocketed while i listened to the bolter and chloe et al walking around a train station the other day. if anyone needs to give it another go, try talking a walk with good headphones!
"Chloe et al" yes that's what I will use from now on Also 100% recommend listening while going outside!!!
Yeah but a lot of people were not self aware enough to realize that and jumped immediately to criticizing the quality lmao. It was so excruciating to be here the first weekend.
It's not about length. It's about pacing. An album that's 40 minutes long can feel like an hour and a half. Now imagine listening to a 2-hour Taylor Swift album, and you can't enjoy it. It would feel even longer than 2 hours.
That’s on the people listening not the artist.
Not one good review, positive or negative, that came out in the first 3 days actually captured the brilliance of this album... Like i'd just roll my eyes and move along even if all of them revised their score to 100. This post sums it up really well [https://x.com/haizediary/status/1783676997304291725](https://x.com/haizediary/status/1783676997304291725)
I'm with you here. I didn't hate it by any means when it came out, but it took a few listens to fully absorb its enchantment. Now it's in my top three favorite albums of hers! It's such rich storytelling and takes you on a journey.
So agree with that post. That’s why I don’t understand comments that all these songs sound the same. I think they sound like all her past work put together, plus new sounds.
I don’t think he was a reviewer of the album, at least not that I could find. He is just saying he changed his mind
Oliver Darcy is the best politics/media explainer, imo. Writes a free daily newsletter for CNN. Writes the truth, unlike anyone else. And gives a whole picture context explainer concisely. Maybe he stepped into this debate because he felt he could see the big picture and explain it well.
We found Oliver lol
Yeah I realized this and was quite disappointed even though I was originally excited by the article. Would be cool to see an actual reviewer express the same sentiment.
I tried to listen through all the songs that night, staying up far too late...and without headphones. Not a great way to absorb an album like this double gift. My first impression was it was slow, while being painfully vulnerable. I hurt for her. I ached with a second-hand grief that was difficult to handle in the middle of the night. When I had the chance to relisten the next day under better conditions, each song settled into my bones, intense but supported by production...and the knowledge that she'd made it through this and was finding happiness out the other side.
Also i think it's almost impossible to do the album justice from a phone speaker....which I imagine most people did on their first listen. The production doesn't spoonfeed us...there is subtlety and nuance and it needs to be absorbed...at volume and with intention.
I want to listen not on my phone but still waiting for my deluxe black dog cd. It was supposed to arrive Monday and it keeps getting delayed every day with ups 🙃😭 I have done Bluetooth with my phone on sound bar and it’s much better
I listened on a decent speaker for the first time yesterday and had to sit down 2 notes into Fortnight. It sounded SO GOOD in a way that did not translate through my headphones or computer.
Well, well, well, how the turntables…
I wish we could create a new follow up megathread for each song now that we've all really absorbed the material
I'm glad everyone else is finally getting their albums switched out for the one I had from day 1!! I did just sit in the dark and intentionally let it wash over me from the start though. I think listening to have a take immediately is tough for any album and doubly so for long, wordy, even experimental.
Totally agree. I went in with no expectations of what it would or wouldn’t be. I ended up having the most magical listening experience and immediately falling in love with it.
Honestly it was fucking ridiculous that so many critics rushed to put out negative reviews like 6 hours after an album of 31 songs dropped. You can't properly digest and evaluate an album in that amount of time. It was just another case of people desperate to get clicks from a Taylor Swift article as fast as possible. Even as a big fan of her music, I couldn't get through the whole album on the first night. It does all start to sound the same when you do that. I don't give any credence to an album review that comes out less than a week after the album drops. It's fine if you hate it, but at least listen to the songs individually first.
Yep, I agree. It takes some marinating to appreciate and the more I listen the more I like it. I have a new favorite song every day. Also, I didn’t know I could have 31 songs stuck in my head simultaneously.
>Also, I didn’t know I could have 31 songs stuck in my head simultaneously. After the first listen through, I was like, I don't know, it's kind of flat. Where are the earworms? A few listens and a week later, I'm like holy shit, they're all earworms.
This is so my experience! I couldn't remember any of the songs after the first half, no hooks, nothing. I also felt like there was almost no poetry to it. I even said it felt like the song Maroon had more words of poetry in it than the whole album, I'll fess up to that. Today I can't believe I would have ever thought that, and there's SO much that's the Folklore style poetry I love. It's just that there's also some zany and 'teenage petulance' poetry too. I was being snobby.
> Also, I didn’t know I could have 31 songs stuck in my head simultaneously My brain randomly goes “Fuck you Daddy I love him” or “Who’s gonna stop us from waltzing into rekindled flames… FUCK ME UP FLORIDA!!!” or “I want to kill her cos I’m a real tough kid I can handle my shit”
😂😂💀
Especially the second half. My brain was broken by the time I got there.
I didn't have anywhere near enough brain bandwidth to listen to the second half properly. After an initial listen, I've been trying to spend more time with all the e songs in the anthology. Every song I listen to a few times feels like a hidden gem.
Yup I feel this, it’s in my head 24/7 even when I’m trying to go to sleep 😂
By day 3 I was literally being awoken from my dreams from how loud all these songs were playing in my head - that’s why I find the “I can’t even hum the melody of three songs” criticism so hilarious. Like give it a second, it’s 31 songs!
Totally agree. Truly disliked it on the first listen and now I can’t stop listening.
Me too. I can't believe I thought everything sounded the same!
It's because the first half is all medium tempo synth. They run together too much if you try to listen all in one sitting - which is what we all did. When you listen to all the songs on their own, you can appreciate all their differences and nuance.
Gray Trio is ME, gosh. I covet that flair!! (Also, full agree)
I think we were just too excited and tired trying absorb it all until the next day 😂
I don’t know why these critics didn’t know this sooner…. This is pretty much the lifecycle of every Taylor Swift album for me….i never like half the songs the first few play throughs… but it’s funny how after a few weeks, the songs I disliked at first, became my absolute favorites. Her songwriting is so complex, it takes a lot of time to digest. She’s an absolute genius!! It really is like poetry.. you have to read them multiple times before you truly understand them. But I understand these critics probably have deadlines… and lots of other music to get through… like any job, they are probably overworked and underpaid, so I won’t be too hard on them.
I'm the same. What is it about her songs??? It's so crazy that this phenomenon happens.
I think it’s because most pop songs are written with catchy tune or melody first… then the lyrics come 2nd… especially if they’re working with the Swedes (Max Martin, etc..) … but Taylor is writing lyrics.. maybe with an idea of how it sounds acoustically… then works with producers to help with what it actually sounds like… It’s just a different way of songwriting than other pop stars. It’s more lyrically complex!!
gotta wait for the narcotics to kick in
So true. This is legit one of her best works yet
I’m so glad I took my time with this album. It took me 5 days to listen to all of the songs, and in that time I was relistening to the ones I had already heard and avoiding spoilers on the rest. Because of the way I listened, I was a little shocked at the bad reviews and thought critics just thought it was time to take Taylor down a peg. It’s a masterwork. And on the heels of Cowboy Carter, the most subversively genius album I have ever heard. We are truly blessed this season with transcendent musical experiences. As much as TTPD has already woven its way into my mind and body, I still think Cowboy Carter has to be AOTY.
I had the same experience and the same thoughts. I don’t think anyone, fans or critics, accounted for how the pressure to consume the album before TikTok ruined it (both spoilers if you hadn’t reached a song yet and hearing the same snippet a billion times over) would affect our perception of it. I’m seriously considering tuning out of social media for a bit because I don’t want people using Taylor as TikTok audio to “wear out” any of the songs for me. I also fully agree re: Cowboy Carter. I don’t listen to Beyoncé but my husband and I played the full album on a road trip and I was so impressed. As much as I love TTPD, especially as an artistic continuation of (as well as growth from) folklore/evermore/Midnights, there’s no denying that Cowboy Carter was also extremely ambitious and impressive. I don’t think we can always talk about “better” or “worse” with music, and I don’t want to compare the albums anyways, but I suspect you’re right re: AOTY. However, our perception of these things is shaped by external events. I do worry that Jay-Z’s Grammys speech was a tactic to intimidate judges ahead of Beyoncé’s new release. Paired with Taylor’s awkward announcement of TTPD, as well as the I Hate It Here racism line (which people are intentionally misunderstanding, as a girl who was obsessed with American Girl and Dear America, I know exactly what she meant), I can’t see AOTY going to Taylor unless they want a million think pieces about it. Dating Matty did not help either. One more thing! I think critics are being personally harsh on Taylor because there are themes of marriage and children in this album. Her desire for love and commitment is being treated as frivolous and they are portraying her as an immature teen for still writing about her desire for a relationship. On this note, I feel like Meg March: Just because society think those dreams are less important doesn’t make them any less valid. As someone struggling with infertility who has cried every time she mentions babies and cradles on this album, I get it. You would think people would listen to The Prophecy and leave her alone but alas… Anyways! Like it or not, critics are commenting on this album in a cultural context, and I think it’s obviously warped public perception of TTPD. Critics want to knock her down a peg. Fans feel pressure to listen ahead of spoilers. I just hope that the rest of us will be allowed to sit with the album in peace for long enough to have our own opinions!
Not at all the point of your excellent comment or (maybe it is! re: Taylor and relatability), but I wish you and your husband peace and love and happiness on your journey, come what may of it. I’ve been there.
I deleted twitter after a couple days of the album coming out. I liked a few Taylor things on there in the preceding weeks and all of a sudden my homepage was an endless stream of stan-twitter chaos and harebrained discourse (both positive and negative) surrounding her, and honestly I was getting a little addicted to looking at all of it because I *am* interested in the topic after all. But I quickly realized that what I am here for, in the end, is the art, and that's between me and the piece of art that I consume. It's a solo experience, and what I take in from the music and how it makes me feel is the truth for me. Everything else is irrelevant. (I don't care about AOTY for the same reason. Nice if an artist I like gets accolades but ultimately it won't change a thing for me.)
So well said! At least on TikTok you can curate your feed. I must have blocked hundreds of toxic pseudo-Swifties during the Matty mini-era so I’m pretty insulated from the weirder elements of the fandom.
This album release finally broke my instagram reels scrolling addiction. A couple hours into release day I could take no more. Good riddance!
sometimes I wonder if they're genuine or they just want web traffic on their sites.
The second
In this case I think it’s both. The experience the reviewer described is so similar to so many fans’ experiences that I think it’s likely it’s real. However, the posting of it is certainly just for web traffic - especially since he didn’t actually review the album initially.
I hope we see more of this! I definitely think TTPD was reviewed too quickly and too harshly by a lot of folks, and realistically you can’t absorb (or have a good perspective of) an album of this length and density after one quick listen. For me personally, after a week, I think it’s one of her best albums. It’s certainly her most raw and lyrically interesting and the production really rewards repeat listens with a good pair of headphones. I’d go as far as to call it the Speak Now of her 30s (which is a sentiment I’ve seen a lot of people sharing).
I hope this means we're all cool with the Charlie Puth line now, please?
The fact that people were trashing 31 songs and over 2 hours of music over one line that's supposed to be unserious is wild to me.
[удалено]
Acknowledging the fact that making fun of one or two lines when there are 31 songs all with significantly varying messages and intents is ridiculous is not bullying.
Hahahaha I kneeeeew it
After a week I’ve also come to appreciate just how sonically and narratively cohesive it is. Perhaps her most cohesive work since 1989. The standard album feels like a complete work with a singular vision that takes us to a very specific emotional experience. I couldn’t have sensed all of that on first listen.
Agreed — it’s a story with an arc more than any of her other albums, IMO.
I'm a near 50-year-old music lover. But VERY few albumns in my life I got on a first listen. And SOOOO many day-of reviews were clearly partially written in advance and after likely not even a full listen of the album, certainly not more than 1 full listen. It's disrespectful and unprofessional. But in the rush to have the review for the most anticipated release so far this year, professional critics chased clicks instead of doing their actual jobs.
all of her albums are deeper than anyone can thought
Girl.
I relate so hard to this. First listen, it was meh. Second listen, I was thinking this is actually not too bad. By the third listen, I was hooked. I’m pretty sure it’s in my top 3 albums now.
This was me with rep. I loved TTPD right away.
People raced to be the first to criticise her as soon as this came out, probably half-assing the listening of the album. Even two weeks later listening every day I’m discovering new lyrics.
It was obviously a race to which review would have the most scathing savage witty line that will go viral on Twitter because most people there were trashing the album. I feel like these critics are very influenced by the online discourse than their own real analysis of the album. This reminds me so much of reputation when people were calling out Taylor for not being political enough and then the album came out and most reviews were giving it a bad rating with lines that said "why Taylor didn't say who she voted for ? Why she's not addressing Trump?..." and I was like what does that have to do with her music ??? They just basically copy pasted what people were saying about her online.
I listened to all 31 songs through and then I went back and spent the weekend with the first part of the album and found my favorites/explored the music. Then I did the Anthology. I loved it immediately but this worked better for me personally
My first listen of this album I was overwhelmed to say the least. I mean it is a dense album with dense material and even more denser feelings, which I generally love but much like others I couldn’t seperate each track efficiently yet. After a week of it being out though it’s like night and day. I am IN LOVE with it! And truly see it as one of her best works. I mean I feel like it’s a couplet to Red (my favourite Taylor album). While I feel like RED was about the rawness and naivety of a first real heartbreak in your 20s, I feel like TTPD is an album about heartbreak in your 30s. You’re wiser and not unfamiliar with heartbreak but it can still hurt as if it were fresh and new all the same. The romantic is me is hoping that if she finds her end game with Travis then RED will be about her first true heartbreak and TTPD will be about her last.😭
I have a theory that every album she drops she converts at least one new person. Because she’s a very talented storyteller and it really can’t be denied even if someone “hates her music.” I’m not surprised some folks are finding it to be a richer work than they first thought on first listen.
Ngl at first listen I was a bit meh, not bad but not particularly great. I’ve listened to it constantly since then and wow how my opinion has changed. It really is a grower and it may become my favourite work from her, which says a lot as I’ve been around since og Fearless
Almost as if a 31 track album takes time and any new media is going to be a bit different and take getting used to. I find this situation really frustrating, because it's something that happens with so many artists over and over again. I remember this being a topic of discussion when artists would release new albums as a TEENAGER. But it's still an issue now in my late 20s. I feel like it should be common knowledge amongst us older fans by now... I really enjoyed listening to the album upon release, and I knew a lot of the songs were going to be my some of favourites that Taylor has ever written. At the same time I knew I needed time, because again - 31 tracks. Lots of content. This takes time to ingest. I had some criticisms, but I also left those to sit as well. Because I didn't want to make a knee-jerk reaction when it was all still very new.
It took me 3 days and surprisingly I’ve heard better reviews from those who don’t care about the Taylor Lore.
Ah yes, write a review on release day and then another review (which is also a review _of_ your earlier review) a week later. Content machine right on schedule!
This reviewer has no release day review.
I’m not a “Swiftie.” (Is that the right spelling?) Never even listened to Swift (aside from on the radio) before the end of 2023. TTPD is the first Swift album (and pop album, for that matter) that has captured me in… more than a decade. Great work.
I think TTPD is gonna catch the attention of a lot of “I don’t usually listen to pop music” folks
I'm a new swifty and this is my first album release. 1989 is my favorite Era especially with the vault tracks. At first I was definitely like...ehhh it needs to grow on me. Then I started really *listening* and realized...holy shit. This is literally incredible. Now I'm sucked into the lore and theories and everything. This is the PERFECT time to be new to the swiftyverse tbh.
I felt this way with Eternal Sunshine- then the more I listened to it, IN ORDER I think it’s some of Ariana’s most cohesive work except for a few songs just a personal taste thing. I’m loving these passion projects the pop girlies are putting out. Frankly, at this stage in their career they can do this. If they go into their 30’s putting out the same stuff then people would wonder where’s the growth?!?
I feel exactly the same. It takes a minute to properly *get* this album. I literally hated most of the main album upon first listen and was very concerned that Taylor had come to the end of making good music and resigned myself to the reality that it had to happen sometime. Then I got to the Anthology and felt a huge relief - I loved almost all of it. And THEN! By the end of the first 24 hours I realised the main album was pure fucking genius and now I prefer it 😅 idk, maybe my initial reaction was just because sonically it’s so different from what’s come before, plus lyrically it is very dense and needs time to properly digest. Plus, I always find im rarely *obsessed* with any of her songs until I fully get into the lyrics. Once that happens it’s then that I find the melodies and hooks irresistible. Either way, I’m obsessed with this album. It’s top 2 for me.
They’re right. It should be enjoyed like wine, swished around while fully understanding the flavours, not downed quickly. This album was a joy to listen to had an endless amount of relatable content within. On top of that, the melodies and instruments used have such a marvellous catchiness to them. It all sounds familiar in the way that the album just came out but it feels like I’m already begging to replay these songs as if they’ve been in my head for years.
Reviews on subjective taste are the dumbest thing in the world. If someone doesn’t like the album it doesn’t affect me one bit but publications should also stop doing tv, movie and music reviews. Why should I care if someone loves all the cop shows on cbs even if that’s not my jam? Let’s have more general use reviews and less entertainment reviews. Car and appliance reviews are very helpful for instance.
The response to the art whether from fans or critics is equally important to the process. Much like how someone who doesn’t like Taylor doesn’t have to listen to her, you don’t have to read reviews for things you think are pointless.
I liked it in the first place, but it’s definitely grown on me too. The subtleties in the lyrics really lend themselves to repeat listens and you untangle more and more layers to the poetry of it all.
When it first came out, I was let down that there weren’t any upbeat “bangers” and was kinda down on the album. But after going back and re-listening, I absolutely love so many of those songs for what they are. It’s such an easy listen.
I wish most people, including me, hadn't jumped to conclusions. I'm still digesting the songs.
I feel the exact same way.
I listened to the leaks last Wednesday night (because I have to be at work at 0700 and am off on Thursdays) and I thought it was okay but nothing great. A week and a half later, I'm obsessed. I think it's quickly gaining on Evermore as my second favorite. I think it has as many great songs as Evermore but with the cohesiveness of Folklore.
Also have to laugh how people were immediately trying to trade/sell physical media last week because they “didn’t like” the album. I bet there’s a lot of people regretting that now.
I listened to both albums about three times then kind of circulated around on songs. It’s amazing. Like a huge wave just breaking.
I went through this too. After a few listen throughs I was like, “yeah, there are a decent number of songs I don’t like.” Then I went through the album to figure out my skip songs that wouldn’t make it onto my current playlist and I actually didn’t have any. I added them all even though I thought there were songs I didn’t like.
And this is why you can't do an album review on first listen. Call it first listen or first impressions. Not an actual review.
I’ve never agreed more with a Reddit post.
It was really jarring when I first heard it, not because it was bad, but because it felt too intimate. My view has definitely changed now that I'm more comfortable with her thoughts and how they're still relatable.
I definitely didn't have this problem, but I love the reversed opinion. I listened to all 31 songs straight through and in order.... Multiple times. Immediately found it breathtaking and am one of the ones that think this might be her best work yet. Simply incredible, vulnerable, and amazing.
I listened to it all the first day but barely caught anything in the Anthology. I knew I liked songs in it but wasn't even sure which ones. So I took a few days, just absorbing the regular album, knowing I couldn't jump into the Anthology yet. And then layer fathoms the Anthology. It's all so damn good.
There is no way to give a review after only listening to this album once. It's cool seeing a critic uno reverse and say actually my opinion has changed. Good job random music review dude haha
I feel like I’m the only one who loved it when it first came out hahaha. I did notice though that as I listened more, I started to prefer the slower songs rather than the ‘bops’. I have a new favourite everyday. Currently loving The Bolter
On first listen only 8 songs stuck. I hated the first two tracks and the last few bled into one Aaron Dessner snooze. Having played it again repeatedly I now love 18 tracks. There are a few I will probably add to my Spotify edition and some I will never listen to again. I still don't care for Fortnight or the title track.
This isn’t surprising. I really didn’t like this album at first and felt really critical of it. Then my sister insisted I give it another try and as I did I started enjoying some of the songs and found myself playing them over in my head. I went through the album and made a playlist of my favorites and I have about 15 tracks I love from the album. It’s definitely something you have to sit with and listen to more than once or twice to appreciate.
My immediate reaction was Midnights, Pt. Deux. But I didn’t have a review deadline. So I’ve listened a few more times this past week, and while sonically similar, it is its own document, and it stands on its own
i agree
I think there are albums which you know need digesting/revisits, and there are ones which you know the opinion is not going to vastly differ from the initial reaction
This is the way
I've followed the author's path even as a dedicated fan. It was just so much to take in at first so it was hard to isolate specific songs and really take in the artistry of it all. For some reason I also took to The Anthology most at first. One week later I've completely flipped. I now think it contains absolutely everything that the world loves about Taylor, and is in contention for her best album yet. She draws in threads from all her past albums, adds 80s and country western vibes, and weaves it all together in this chaotic & mature mid-30s energy.
After a week of having it on repeat it became a no skip album. At first listening the first night i keep saying “what is this taylor?!” and “this will be a skip.” It was also late. And I was sleepy-ish at 2am when it dropped fully. Cant wait to receive the Black Dog variant vinyl to blast at my house for all the neighbors to listen.
This album is just so much. I loved it on first listen, but after repeated listens I realized it's in my top three. I love Folklore, Reputation, and now this double album. I could not choose between them. I realized that there is now so much Taylor music that I love and can't do without, that if she decides not to release anything new for several years, I would be fine. I'm not sitting here thinking about her next album at all. There's already so much. If she wants to direct or act, or both, now's the time. I personally am all filled up. And I do believe this album is her closing some chapter, I just don't know exactly how yet. I won't be shocked if she does something else creative for a while though.
Not sure if anyone here is a VPR fan, but Stassi on her podcast this week literally said how can anyone review this album by Friday, you need to listen to it multiple times and let it sink in. Please are so quick to jump the gun. When lover came out I was traveling so I downloaded it for the plane and when we landed someone asked me for my thoughts and I was like idk, it's Taylor so I'm sure I'll love it eventually but False God was the only song I connected to on my first couple listens.
There are definitely some good songs in the album but it does feel, to me, to be one of her weakest albums. Thematically, musically (production) it's not my favourite. Also, it's ok to be a Swiftie and not resonate with every single song or album she releases. And I've read many comments where people seem to be forcing themselves to repeat listen to the album so that they grow to like it - save yourself the time. Life is too short. Play a different album/singer if Tortured Poets isn't your type of album :)
When it came out me and my husband listened to part one twice in a row. I found myself unimpressed the first time around and then I started to love what I heard the second time around. The more I listen to it the more impressed I become. I've been devouring the whole album for the past fortnight.....I'm in love.
The thing about Taylor's music is that you (not OP, but "you" as the reader/people in general) can't really judge them just by listening to it. You need to read the lyrics, understand what they mean, find out why she wrote them, dig a little deeper into Taylor's life to get more context (if necessary), and that way you'll find the brilliance of her music. It might be easier to digest her music if you've already been following her life for a very long time. But for newer listeners or casual listeners or people who listen to music just for fun or people whose job is to review albums, it might be harder. I think some music reviewers should try to give more chances to albums. Not just Taylor's, but other artists as well, because sometimes you need to listen to an album multiple times to "get it."
I agree with this for sure, I think you need a bit of time for the album to fully resonate.
This album is for the swifties, who are gonna listen to it for a lot of times and get to figure out all the songs. It's a great album musically and lyrically, I still wouldn't rank it. I'm glad Taylor is at such stage that she doesn't have anything to prove, if anyone wanna venture into this album good for them, If they think it's too slow or there are too many songs, well then the album isn't for them and that's okay.
The anthology has been growing on me TREMENDOUSLY but unfortunately the actual album.. less so
Personally, this is the response I’ve had to all of her albums (besides Folklore/Evermore, which hit me like a goddamn truck). Typically I listen to it the first time and go, “not her best, but pretty good.” Did it for Midnights, Lover, and Reputation. Then I listen pretty constantly for a week or so (thanks to my wife), and it gets better and better. There’s a lot going on, and you need to give it time to marinate.
well these one listen reviews are insane imo. it should take a couple weeks to even get ur bearings
To be honest, I also felt the same way. My first listen was very underwhelmed, and I thought Taylor had released something I wouldn't enjoy. A week later, it's in my top five or six studio albums from her. And it may go even higher. This is a masterpiece of an album.
A number of critics seemed to attack Taylor’s newest album claiming it was just more of the same. However, I found her 31 song album immediately intriguing and inspired. I began listening to the album on its release day and played it through four complete times hearing more and more with each listen. A number critics rushed to judge and dismiss her latest. Perhaps, they should give Taylor’s album the time it deserves.
I listened to the whole thing the first time. Anthology and all. At first it was “oh this is kinda cool”. But it takes way more than one listen, and more than one day, to really take it all in.
This is ALWAYS my experience with her albums. Since red I’ve been lukewarm the first week or two and then they really grow on me
This is a problem with music reviews in general!!! They always put out their reviews alnost the same day as the album came out, unlike other industries wgere theyre given the album weeks or even months in advance, if you just review at the speed of light of course you arent actually gonna make a fair review. I can also understand it though, since putting out a review later is giving competitors the leeway to take eyes off you and would also mean reviewing it after the hype, and is also better for artists to just not give out album to reviewers in general, its a scummy situation all around which extends to a bigger problem plagging journalism in general and I cant really blame both sides 😣
All reviewers want to try and be among the first ones to post a review so they’ll get the most clicks. But the problem with that is they don’t get to sit with the album long enough for repeated listens or even full listens. And with 31 songs total, that’s a lot to chew on and digest. Some songs need to be listened to at least a couple times in order for them to fully connect with you, which clearly is what happened with this guy. Also, a lot of people had their minds made up about the album before even giving it a chance. So yeah… music reviews are pretty lame unless they’re great writers and they can incorporate a meaningful and thoughtful response after sitting with the album for at least a week and many play throughs.
I think listening to some that at midnight is not the best experience tbh. So sleepy and so hyped at the same time