{"id":5309,"date":"2019-08-28T05:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T05:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/?p=5309"},"modified":"2019-08-28T23:35:48","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T23:35:48","slug":"taylor-swifts-lover-isnt-as-bad-as-its-singles-but-its-not-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/2019\/08\/28\/taylor-swifts-lover-isnt-as-bad-as-its-singles-but-its-not-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’ Isn’t as Bad as its Singles, But it’s Not Great"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pop\u2019s biggest name is back with her seventh studio release amidst an ongoing war with her previous label, Big Machine. This is Taylor Swift\u2019s first album released by Republic, but that doesn\u2019t stop similarities between this and her other works from sitting in plain sight. Lover<\/em> is overdosed with breakup songs and the occasional love song, which at this point in time molds it into simply another record for haters to hate and Swifties to fit on their vinyl shelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opener \u201cI Forgot That You Existed\u201d starts with a basic bubblegum pop bassline, sadly assuring us once again Swift holds no interest in returning to her country roots anytime soon. What\u2019s often kept her recent pop albums afloat, however, has been her pen in divulging past relationships. Unfortunately, most of the wordplay is nothing spectacular, leaving dull lines such as \u201cIn my feelings more than Drake, so yeah\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alt-rock phenom St. Vincent has a writing credit on the superior follow-up \u201cCruel Summer\u201d, not that it\u2019s noticeable: in the pool of breakup songs across this LP, the \u201cMasseduction\u201d singer isn\u2019t able to pump any of her steamy one-liners here. However, pulsating synths courtesy of Jack Antonoff help Taylor craft the LP\u2019s best and least-annoying chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first three tracks focus on Swift\u2019s love life, but \u201cThe Man\u201d brings a welcome turn to the writing. The track takes a break from all the sappy stuff to pit double standards in our face. Seeing Swift in this element makes for the LP\u2019s best writing by far, spitting relevant zingers like \u201cIf I was out flashing my dollars\/I’d be a bitch, not a baller\u201d. It comes at an interesting time in the star\u2019s career surrounding her alleged money-hungry persona<\/a>, but this song lands enough punches to get its point across. If only there had been more times Swift went out of her comfort zone like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thoughts have already been made loud and clear<\/a> for \u201cME!\u201d, so we\u2019ll confirm the context of the whole record doesn\u2019t change any perceptions of the horrific lead single and leave it at that. The second single (and now head-scratching VMA winner) \u201cYou Need to Calm Down\u201d showcases Swift trying to paint herself as some kind of LGBT equality trailblazer. Rhyming \u201cmad\u201d and \u201cGLAAD\u201d isn\u2019t much more than a knee-slapper, and the \u201cShade never made anybody less gay\u201d line has garnered mixed reactions from the LGBT community. Part of the frustration comes from knowing that there are plenty of songs similar in theme yet greater in quality, and it hurts to see flatter ones like this receive so much attention solely because a high-profile Top 40 star made it. The final nail in the coffin for both of these singles is the overly glossy production, an all too common complaint for this playlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor had Red<\/em>, her earlier works were golden, but Lover<\/em> is completely beige. Despite a few outliers, it barely offers anything new to her library. There isn\u2019t much to help it stand out in Swift\u2019s catalogue- no cryptic \u201cLook What You Made Me Do\u201d videos to stir up the internet, nor earworm singles to snowball a massive rollout in the case of 1989<\/em>. Lover<\/em> is an album that\u2019s just kind of\u2026 there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCAD Radio gives it a 6.8\/10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pop\u2019s biggest name is back with her seventh studio release amidst an ongoing war with her previous label, Big Machine. This is Taylor Swift\u2019s first album released by Republic, but that doesn\u2019t stop similarities between this and her other works from sitting in plain sight. Lover is overdosed with breakup songs and the occasional love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":5310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265,530,32],"tags":[330,775,745,576,104,129,740,739],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5309"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5316,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5309\/revisions\/5316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}