Alrighty, now that the final reveal has been posted, enjoy this word wall. teehee <3
Lover is my second favorite album from Taylor, after
Red. It feels like an album that, for the most part, is a soundtrack of mine. I definitely consider it part of my soundtrack to my freshman year of college. (The album was released the Friday during Welcome Week orientation, and classes started three days later). I've since made great friends, experienced some great things, experienced some terrifying and horrible things, developed a crush, and made amazing memories.
The album's lyrically got some masterpieces (lots of Bridge Cities in this album--we love it!) It's vocally one of her most impressive albums, and it's sonically cohesive and the concept is just amazing. The aesthetic of the era is my aesthetic and I just ugh I love this album so much and I especially love the depiction of love--in all of its euphoric, depressing, maddening, and uplifting lights. The complexities and various meanings of love were amazing--self-love (ME! is my self-love anthem and I will sue all slander of it), summer flings, the first moments of lust and infatuation, the moments when it gets real, the sad moments, the happy moments...love of your childhood friend and love of your parents/family. Love of the daylight. It's just beautiful. It's a beautiful album.
With that said, let's get into the reveals and what I thought about the songs and their placements yasss! Disclaimer: my preference varies with the wind; it was nearly impossible (aside from like my Top 5 and like bottom 2) to rank this album and let me be clear that I love (well, almost) every song.
18. It's Nice to Have a Friend -- This song has such a nice chill vibe to it. I love the progression in the lyrics of knowing your friend since childhood, and going from friends to lovers to married. The trumpets leading into the final verse are heavenly. Now, I didn't have many childhood friends that stayed in town or in the same school and being trans, I gradually went more and more socially away as I grew and my body continued to betray me. So, I don't much relate to this one lyrically, and that's the main reason for my tanking of it. It definitely didn't deserve last place, and tbh I wouldn't have been upset to see it escape the bottom 3, but I'm fine with it leaving here.
17. ME! -- Y'all are tasteless as hell! This here is a certified bop all about loving yourself, all of your perfect imperfections, all of your good qualities and bad qualities. It's about individualism and celebrating the uniqueness of YOU. There's only one you on this earth--there's no one else with your exact personality, your exact vibe, your exact aura. And that's what's so amazing about you! This is one of the things that really helped me grow this past year (freshman year of college is the year) in my self-love and confidence. I still have my struggles. I get dysphoric, I get upset, I have those days that we all have, where everything is just "blah." But I always try to find something to take my mind off of it, to make the day a bit brighter for myself as I always try to do for everyone else. I never let a bad day affect anyone else's day. Why should I let it affect mine?
16. I Forgot That You Existed -- This is literally the perfect opening to this album. It's a wonderful bridge from
reputation to the content of
Lover (and if you play the two back to back, you'll notice that aside from Track 13...the reason the album was created is literally forgotten. It's genius, cause once you get to IFTYE, you've also forgotten about K*m and K**ye.) A perfect kiss-off. The song is a bit boring in my opinion tho, and it's never really clicked with me, hence my last place ranking.
15. London Boy -- I love my London Boys too! Their accents--whoo mama, those are some gorgeous voices. Wow. But yikes, what a mess of clichΓ©s. Aside from a couple relatable lyrics I picked up, I haven't revisited this one outside of when I'm spinning the album...and don't really want to? This and IFTYE are definitely my least favorites from this album.
14. Soon You'll Get Better -- This is one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs of all time and will ALWAYS be my #1 from this album. I relate way too much to this one. On August 30, 2017, my second-oldest aunt passed away at 63 from cancer. (She'd only just turned 63 too.) That's way too young. And I was devastated. I figured she'd get to see me make it to senior year, to graduation, to college, and to at least see me start a career. She didn't see any of that. Coming up on 3 years now, time has seemed to begin healing the wound, but it's ever gonna close the hole in my heart. It can't. And life itself just seems to have been hell ever since she left. She was truly our family's rock and it just feels like a different world now--one that I wasn't ready to and couldn't imagine living in. I'll never forget this song--no song has moved me the way this song did; I was a sobbing mess and had to pause for an hour before I even moved on to track 13. Oh, and I was crying the second Taylor said "I didn't tell you I was scared." This song truly expressed what I had never been able to process properly. The "soon you'll get better" lyric was especially cutting, because I took that for my interpretation of the song as dramatic irony--I knew she wasn't better, she was
dead, but the me in 2017 didn't know that yet because it hadn't happened. I'm very disappointed this song didn't make it at least into the Top 10. It's a song that I feel can't be appreciated until you truly, personally are able to understand the lyrics in some way.
13. The Man -- Bea Miller did this better and more bluntly with her song THAT B*TCH! If you haven't heard it go listen, it's amazing. This song still struck every nail on every head tho. The double standards of this society sicken me. When a man makes a power move, he's cool. When a woman makes a power move, she's cold. She's calculated. She's a b*tch. When a man has many relationships, he's cool. He's a player and it's okay. When a woman has many relationships, she's disgusting. She's a sl*t and it's absolutely shameful. Men don't have to share emotion and when he does, he's gay. He's a girl. Women MUST share emotion, but not too much, lest she be oversharing and a crybaby. Nothing women do in society seems to please society. She's damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. And it's disgusting. I could rant for ages but I'll just say that men ain't sh*t unless he's a good one and women rule the world.
12. You Need To Calm Down -- Shade never made anybody less gay. And that's on period. Stressin' and obsessin' bout somebody else is no fun. And that's also on period. Another one of my ANTHEMS. A certified bop that deserved more from y'all.
11. Afterglow -- This one did have to grow on me, but once she did, she did so exponentially. The production on this is top notch, and as usual, the lyricism in this song is chef's kiss!
10. Paper Rings -- This also has had to grow on me, and I still don't like it as much as many of the others. It's a great jam to dance to tho. I'll give it that much. Also Taylor is so in love which was evident in this song it's so cute I love it <3
9. False God -- The saxophone on this song is MAGICAL. I love the lyrics and the chill vibe of this one! The SNL performance with that saxophone >>>>
8. Daylight -- This song is beautiful. Taylor always knows how to end an album perfectly, and this is no exception. This song has helped me in learning to at least try to live life as happy as you possibly can be--try to forget about what needs to be worked on and know that they will soon be worked on. To try not to stress about what I can't control. To love as much of life as possible. Beautiful beautiful song.
7. I Think He Knows -- I relate hard to the initial rush of "oh he's cute as hell, I want him to notice me, love me, f**k me" that this song depicts. The bridge is great and I especially love the way this song builds and builds to an exciting end sonically.
6. Death By A Thousand Cuts -- Honestly, on this album, this song felt too out of place. It's still AMAZING--in fact, it's grown even more since the time of my submission--but that was a prime factor in my #13 rank. I relate to the song tho and if I had to rank it again, I'd absolutely put it in my Top 10.
5. The Archer -- If SYGB wasn't on the album--this right here would be my #1. I relate to this incredibly. The production was genius--a build-up that never comes and just falls off a cliff, depicting the rising dread and fear in a relationship and then a sudden end to it. The lyricism is incredible and the the second pre-chorus (
I wake in the night/I pace like a ghost/The room is on fire/Invisible smoke/And all of my heroes die all alone/Help me hold onto you) depicts anxiety/panic attacks incredibly well. I am a Rising Sagittarius so I also relate the "Archer" aspect itself, but
I've been the archer/I've been the prey/Who could ever leave me darling?/But who could stay? hits home to me as well. I have a lot of friends, but at the same time I sometimes wonder how many of them just tolerate my presence, ya know? All in all, this song is great for the middle of the night. God, does it hit different then. I am ECSTATIC this made the Top 5!
4. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince -- I absolutely LOVE the lyrics of this song and the way high school is used as a metaphor for American politics and the way Taylor is disillusioned with it (girl I feel ya!). I still just don't mesh as well with this one sonically (I only like one or two Lana Del Rey songs that I've heard) and the cheerleading in the bridge, while genius in terms of the song, grate on me every time I spin this album, lol. I absolutely love the title tho ;) (man I need to watch that doc tho)
3. Cornelia Street -- Imagine loving somebody with your entire being, more than you've loved anyone or anything else, only for the relationship to eventually end? The fear of that is depicted marvelously in this song. What a nightmare that would be. I'd never wanna walk Cornelia Street either. This song is absolutely beautiful and I'm glad this also hit the Top 5. I love the lyrics (of course duh lol), and any song written solely by Taylor is gonna slap extra hard, and this one was no exception. The production of the second verse also reminded me of "Delicate" which is one of (perhaps the) favorite of mine off
reputation.
2. Lover -- This is what I want. I want to feel a love like this, have a love like this. Jealous of Ms. Swift. >
![:d](http://images.proboards.com/cheesy.gif)
(Also that bridge is INCREDIBLE!!!!)
1. Cruel Summer -- Glad to see taste prevailed in the end! I love every lyric of this song, and every bit of production. The beat is infectious, the synth is heavenly, and the hook is amazing. And don't get me started on that bridge!!! Magical. Taylor loves to fumble with her single choices and I will FOREVER be bitter that this wasn't the exception. I'm pressed like a brand-new vinyl. And I want a summer romance :(
If you made it this far, wow I love you thank you for reading and listening and coming to my Ted Talk. If you didn't make it this far, thank you for your praise...or your condolences. And thanks
Devil Marlena Nylund for hosting!