The lovers of Swift’s past
After two years of silence, 10-time Grammy award winner Taylor Swift’s new album features a happier, more lively Swift, open to being vulnerable in her songs about past relationships and struggles, hence the title, “Lover.”
The opening track of her seventh album, “I Forgot That You Existed,” sets the tone for the rest of the collection as upbeat and fun. With short piano chords and pleasing vocals, Swift sings what at first seems like forgetting about an old lover.
However, when looking back on her past conflicts with high profile people like Kanye West and the media in general, the song is about forgetting all of the negative experiences and moving on. Swift is past those disputes, happy that everything is “so peaceful and quiet.”
The 18-track album switches from a fast to slow pace in between songs. Only one song after “I Forgot That You Existed,” “Lover” adopts a more peaceful and romantic vibe. Wanting to be with her significant other forever, Swift asks, “Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close forever and ever?”
No longer is Swift the overly clingy and crazy girlfriend of “Blank Space,” but a more mature and wise adult. Even so, I imagined a younger Swift while listening to this song, driving into the sunset on a cool summer night.
My favorite track on the album, “Paper Rings,” is about how Swift is head over heels in love with her significant other that she forgoes the idea of getting real engagement rings in favor of paper ones instead. Despite her disregard for following of normal wedding and relationship traditions, Swift’s joy and enthusiasm is clearly evident.
The song is exciting and fast paced, slowly building up to the extremely catchy chorus. Shamelessly nodding my head to the beat and lyrics, “I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings,” “Paper Rings” is a great song through and through.
Overall, the album’s upbeat and cheerful tone was refreshing. It was good to listen to Swift once more, even if all of the songs weren’t the best or as good as her previous songs.
Before I listened to the album, I had a narrow and close-minded view, thinking that the album would never be like “1989” or even “Fearless.” To my surprise, however, I caught myself enjoying many of the songs on the album. While Swift’s new album isn’t better than her past ones, it’s still an album with catchy songs that I’ll be adding to my playlist.
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