Taylor Swift – Lover

[justlurkingaround]

Loved both performances on SNL. "Lover" just had this cozy vibe to it, like she was singing to an intimate gathering. "False God" was fantastic.

[jumpb4uthink]

Missed SNL last night but enjoyed her YouTube performances. Did she participate in any of the skits ?

[cjay]

She did well On SNL. She’s come a long way vocally.

[Caviar]

“False God” is easily the best song on the album. Hoping it’s a future single.

[Deleted]

Holy fuck she performed False God, YES
False God and Afterglow are the two songs I really want to see justice be served for

[Deleted]

Her stage presence has gotten SO much better. I used to find a lot of her live performances cringe, but she's settled into a live performer nicely.

She seemed nervous singing Lover (or maybe slightly sick?), but it was still a nice performance. False God was cool too -- I love those pants lol.

[NeRD]

I actually prefered this Lover performance to the VMAs performance. I thought she sounded great.

False God and Afterglow are my favorites on the album so I was pleasantly surprised that she performed it.

[Taylor.]

The album is back to #1 on iTunes.

[Choco]

A lady approached me on the subway because she loved the song I was listening to and wanted to know the name of the artist... it was "Lover".

But yeah this lady needs to get out of the house more because she also asked me if Taylor Swift was some American Singer. (And I probably need to lower the volume of my headphones).

[kimberly]

Oct 7, 2019 17:03:57 GMT -5 Choco said:

A lady approached me on the subway because she loved the song I was listening to and wanted to know the name of the artist... it was "Lover".

But yeah this lady needs to get out of the house more because she also asked me if Taylor Swift was some American Singer. (And I probably need to lower the volume of my headphones).

educating locals one subway lady at a time 💚 

[Deleted]

Wonderland came up on shuffle today and shit man I really do wish she closed the era out with Wonderland as the final single

[Hefty Hanna]

I don’t care what anybody days about Taylor - the way she is able to put pen onto paper is nothing short of magical.

She just....gets it. She gets the human experience.

[Mark]

Tickets go on sale tomorrow and I am STRESSED.

It's always bad enough buying tickets when she has shows in every major city. But now, she only has 4 shows in the entire Untied States. Every Swiftie east of the Mississippi is going to be trying to Boston tickets.

[Ivy Leegue™]

Saw the SNL performances. Lover was beautiful and False God was...performed. Loved the way she looked at the sax player like she wanted to jump his bones though. That was hot.

[MissAmericana]

A few months ago, Taylor briefly spoke out about ageism in the music industry towards women who are 30 and over. With her turning 30 in December, I'm starting to wonder if the Lover era was her last opportunity to get a number one single. She'll be around 31 when the TS8 era rolls around, which might mean that she won't receive as much radio support as she did in her past three eras.

I've talked with other swifties about this, and they think that she'll be fine simply because she's "global superstar Taylor Swift", but it's not like a huge star hasn't suddenly fallen off after turning 30. A recent example is Katy Perry, who had multiple hit singles from 2008 to 2014, only to return to disappointing results in her comeback during 2017. To be fair, Katy took a huge risk since she changed her image, her look, and her sound and it clearly didn't pay off.

Do you think Taylor's star power could still push the TS8 lead to #1 (if another monster hit like OTR isn't cock-blocking all other contenders for the spot at that point), and the subsequent singles to the top 20 or could she take a huge hit in terms of star power?

I haven't seen many people talk about this, but I am curious to know everybody's thoughts and opinions. I hope I don't sound too crazy, I just kinda want to talk about this.

[nickd]

MissAmericana

You don't really need radio support to go #1 though, you can go #1 with a strong debut based off streams and iTunes sales, and so far it looks like she's still able to have really strong streaming debuts, and the highest iTunes single sales debuts of any artist (other than maybe Adele).

[MissAmericana]

Oct 14, 2019 16:17:30 GMT -5 nickd said:

MissAmericana

You don't really need radio support to go #1 though, you can go #1 with a strong debut based off streams and iTunes sales, and so far it looks like she's still able to have really strong streaming debuts, and the highest iTunes single sales debuts of any artist (other than maybe Adele).

For sure, but Taylor's past two leads fell hard after radio ditched them which doesn't fare well for the TS8 lead's chart longevity.

[nickd]

All the songs that went #1 in the last two years.

Radio supported #1s
-Without Me
-Sunflower
-Bad Guy
-Truth Hurts
-Sicko Mode
-Girls Like You
-I Like It
-Havana
-Psycho
-Perfect

Streaming + sales driven #1s
-Highest In The Room
-7 Rings
-Thank U Next
-God's Plan
-Nice For What
-In My Feelings
-Sucker
-Rockstar (a bit radio driven, but still only #38 on radio the week it went #1)

Special cases
-Old Town Road (mostly streaming driven but still had moderate radio play when it reached #1)
-Shallow (sales played a very big role, with radio and streams also contributing)
-Sad! (sales + streams mostly, but late in it's run due to xxx's death)
-Senorita (could have debuted at #1 on a more typical week thanks to a very strong streaming debut but got blocked by OTR and repeaked with radio when OTR was weaker)

A lot of the streaming driven #1s, which typically peaked on streaming in the 1st or 2nd week, still had radio support that helped keep them at #1 in later weeks, but their first week at #1 was more streaming driven. They're also by the artists with the biggest fanbases for the most part - Ariana, Drake, Post, Travis, whereas Camila, Lizzo, Halsey and Maroon 5 either have either smaller or more casual fanbases so they aren't able to generate as much hype consumption in the form of sales and streams on the first week and are more reliant on streaming longevity + radio.

I mean ME! had one of the highest one week consumption of any song since LWYMMD after OTR, ahead of TUN, 7 Rings, IMF, NFW, Sucker, HITR, Rockstar and even God's Plan. And ME! had pretty mixed reception, even among fans, so if she picks a less polarizing lead for TS8 and releases TS8 in 2020-2021, I think she should be able to go #1.

[nickd]

Oct 14, 2019 16:19:50 GMT -5 MissAmericana said:

Oct 14, 2019 16:17:30 GMT -5 nickd said:

MissAmericana

You don't really need radio support to go #1 though, you can go #1 with a strong debut based off streams and iTunes sales, and so far it looks like she's still able to have really strong streaming debuts, and the highest iTunes single sales debuts of any artist (other than maybe Adele).

For sure, but Taylor's past two leads fell hard after radio ditched them which doesn't fare well for the TS8 lead's chart longevity.

I agree that she'll probably start struggling on Pop radio more and more (HAC and AC still seem on board), but I don't think Pop Radio's support is that important for her to get to #1 and that the support from her fans should be enough. Did she even have a single #1 in her career that would've missed #1 without radio support? Maybe Blank Space or Bad Blood? Although both of those still peaked on radio a few weeks after reaching #1 on the Hot 100 and had very strong sales and Youtube streams when they first reached #1.

[13]

Oct 14, 2019 16:52:22 GMT -5 nickd said:

ME! had pretty mixed reception, even among fans, so if she picks a less polarizing lead for TS8 and releases TS8 in 2020-2021, I think she should be able to go #1.

I think this is the key. A lot of people, including hardcore Swifties, were hating on ME! when it came out iirc. Plus, LWYMMD had around 950 points in its debut week. 

IMO, here's the path for her to get another #1 debut on TS8.

Release a single from Lover with a huge push/promo and a dramatic music video. If she can get Cruel Summer to #1, that would be a huge boost for her and also probably strengthen her fanbase on streaming.

Tour Lover? I'm not sure about how this works, but I feel like it would be a way to stay relevant and build hype for the next single.

Do the same easter egg thing she always does, teasing the date and stuff. Try to make it so that non-swifties will anticipate it.

Actually pick a good song from the album?

I'm not really educated on the workings of the charts so I may just be spouting trash over here. But I feel like a #1 debut is easily attainable, and maybe even another 800+ point week.

[MissAmericana]

She definitely still projects the "Taylor Swift" starpower. The type where everybody's watching, whether they like it or not. And to keep that going next era, I hope she does something bombastic. Instead of a loud, blaring self-love anthem, maybe a demanding rock track?

[nickd]

Oct 14, 2019 17:21:16 GMT -5 13 said:

Oct 14, 2019 16:52:22 GMT -5 nickd said:

ME! had pretty mixed reception, even among fans, so if she picks a less polarizing lead for TS8 and releases TS8 in 2020-2021, I think she should be able to go #1.

I think this is the key. A lot of people, including hardcore Swifties, were hating on ME! when it came out iirc. Plus, LWYMMD had around 950 points in its debut week. 

IMO, here's the path for her to get another #1 debut on TS8.

Release a single from Lover with a huge push/promo and a dramatic music video. If she can get Cruel Summer to #1, that would be a huge boost for her and also probably strengthen her fanbase on streaming.

Tour Lover? I'm not sure about how this works, but I feel like it would be a way to stay relevant and build hype for the next single.

Do the same easter egg thing she always does, teasing the date and stuff. Try to make it so that non-swifties will anticipate it.

Actually pick a good song from the album?

I'm not really educated on the workings of the charts so I may just be spouting trash over here. But I feel like a #1 debut is easily attainable, and maybe even another 800+ point week.

ME!'s first week performance was mainly driven by Youtube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify and iTunes with radio only contributing a little bit. Radio wasn't insignificant, it was #27 on radio with the first weekend of airplay which allowed it to debut at #100 without any sales/streams, and then rose to #13 on radio to rise to #2 on the Hot 100 with around 680 points (I missremembered its points, that's still less than God's Plan).

I think Taylor's Youtube is starting to weaken, although if she tours in Asia and Latin America, that could help her ensure the TS8 lead trends at #1 for a long time. The drop in streams from Shake It Off/Blank Space to LWYMMD to this era's singles shows that although the Youtube debuts are still high, people are more likely to switch to streaming on audio-streaming services after the first day. So basically Youtube is increasingly more important as a promo tool to make sure people are aware she has a new song out than as a source of consumption.

I think sales were around 1/3 of the points for ME!'s debut week, so the expected continued decline will hurt there, but she's doing well at gaining Spotify followers, and the streaming platform that's growing the fastest is also the one where she's doing the best (Amazon). So I think she can still get a 500-600 point debut with a song that's in the top half of the album in terms of appeal to fans/GP.

[desertfloods]

This will be a very unpopular opinion here among fans for sure, but for me personally, it's not so much ageism, but I felt like the "freshness" of her appeal has gone for me after so many years.

I have been loosely following her career ever since she appeared on the country charts with Tim McGraw. Far from a stan, just a casual fan who finds her a talented songwriter. If I hear a great album from her, I will buy it (I own two), if not, I will just give it a pass and see what she comes up with next era.

Despite seeing and reading all the great reviews about Lover album, I actually found myself... bored when listening to the current album, wondering if I am listening to the same album that people are raving about. I kept skipping tracks and is largely disappointed that there isn't a track that wowed me enough to want to play on repeat. I may not liked Reputation, but it at least had Delicate and some very catchy, hard-to-forget songs.

So... I am not sure I will even be that interested in the next album, given that I am not crazy about Rep or Lover. Also, the marketing gimmicks have gotten tiring too.

[Taylor.]

Tiny Desk concert:
www.npr.org/2019/10/16/770318649/taylor-swift-tiny-desk-concert

SET LIST
"The Man"
"Lover"
"Death by a Thousand Cuts"
"All Too Well"

[daddy]

Oct 16, 2019 16:04:59 GMT -5 Taylor. said:

Tiny Desk concert:
www.npr.org/2019/10/16/770318649/taylor-swift-tiny-desk-concert

SET LIST
"The Man"
"Lover"
"Death by a Thousand Cuts"
"All Too Well"

That performance of “Death by a Thousand Cuts” is a great showcase of talent and craftsmanship. A guitar and a mic and a song is really her lane and she excels.

[14887fan]

Oct 16, 2019 17:05:10 GMT -5 daddy said:

Oct 16, 2019 16:04:59 GMT -5 Taylor. said:

Tiny Desk concert:
www.npr.org/2019/10/16/770318649/taylor-swift-tiny-desk-concert

SET LIST
"The Man"
"Lover"
"Death by a Thousand Cuts"
"All Too Well"

That performance of “Death by a Thousand Cuts” is a great showcase of talent and craftsmanship. A guitar and a mic and a song is really her lane and she excels.

Couldn't agree more. It completely changed my opinion on the song, as it was typically a skip for me when listening to the album. Hearing it stripped back to its roots helped show how smartly written it is.

She is, unquestionably, one of the greatest songwriters of the modern era. Really loved this Tiny Desk set.

[kamala 2024 truther]

This album is my favorite of her career (I've stanned since "Tim McGraw") and the Tiny Desk set she did was such a great moment. At this point, imo, one could argue that she's one of the greatest lyricists not just of the modern era, but of all time.

[Bhad Bill]

Wow, that NPR tiny desk performance made me start to really like Taylor! She’s so personable, articulate, sweet, and talented.

The piano and guitar really highlighted the lyrics of DBATC and ATW.

I am impressed!

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Lover passes 1.7 million SPS. Those are great numbers, especially considering single performance.

[kamala 2024 truther]

Taylor is up for some AMAs this year, and you can go up to 30 votes in each category per day. Here's a link: www.google.com/search?q=AMAs+vote