i have become anthology. torturer of poets

The standard version was boring so I can't imagine listening to another 16 tracks of the same shit

Album Rating: 3.2

@demon some people love her, some people don’t, and there’s a lot of people inbetween those two extremes. What you’re saying re: carefully calculated exposure is obviously fair (and almost definitely accurate), but the idea that that somehow invalidates her actual output is a bit of a reach. If Sowing modified his score just for the sake of expectancy or optics, the piece wouldn’t be worth shit. Besides, last I checked we were hardly terrified at the prospect of being attacked by rabid Swifties



That said, it’s early days. There’ll almost certainly be more reviews posted on this in the future and some might align more with your opinion

I see corrupted minds and stolen hearts. This is the machine. We should heed such warnings. Swift is just a symptom of a greater problem. One which has me (and many others) questioning whether what we're presented with is genuine

Album Rating: 2.0

Boring album, boring album art, boring public reaction

I'm not a big fan of her work or anything but I do think she is a good songwriter. I will say that this album and Midnights were almost parodically bad versions of what Taylor is capable of when she's good, but to each their own.

The lyrics exist somewhere between clunky and cliche. Even then, I just feel like she and her creative collaborators are not bringing out the best in each other anymore. They need a shot of inspiration in the arm besides these sketchy impressions of Lana Del Rey and The 1975.

Besides Taylor, I feel like Jack Antonoff didn't bring his best to the latest Bleachers album, either. Some great songs aside, there were an awful lot of duds and he didn't pull off the witty pop-culture references. It's not a style of writing that suits him or Taylor.

Album Rating: 2.0

The world needs more of a break from Antinoff than Swift tbh, his 80s nostalgia bait or folk leanings are just so predictable and bad these days.

There were a couple of good songs on Bleachers (Tiny Moves in particular). The co-production he provided on Being Funny In A Foreign Language was good stuff. That was a good collaboration in my book.

This one here, in my opinion, didn't get the best out of Taylor or Jack. Just not feeling the spark here at all.

thought it was another troll review until i saw the name attached

Yeah.

Justice for Sowing!

Bopping the album, dropped the review, logged off the Internet, proceeded to bop more.

Album Rating: 1.5

I disagreed profusely with it, but I thought Sowing's review was actually pretty excellent. It definitely made me develop stronger reasons for why I think the album is poor, which is all I want out of a review really, to give me some new perspective on a piece of music.

Album Rating: 3.0

I'm still gagged that she released the first half as a seperate album knowing full well her fans will buy it and then hours later released the second half as a double knowing full well her fans will buy that now too



"The standard version was boring so I can't imagine listening to another 16 tracks of the same shit"

The back half is more Folklore-y and better imo

She needs the money, stop being sexist.

Album Rating: 2.5

GF and I tried listening to the whole thing in the car. We had to stop around track 13 because we were just so fatigued at hearing the same song over and over again. I wanted to like this album, I really did, but it’s the most aggressively mid release from Taylor yet

Album Rating: 4.0

After a few listens I finally decided on a rating of 4. Sowing makes many points I agree with. I think she does need a change in sound and the length gets a bit tiring as a result. She could do with some nice compact hooks. But the good songs are still very good. The second part adds some new quirks that become more evident after the first listen. Lyrically, she is a talented songwriter - but since she put down so much that was on her mind, there are definitely cringe worthy moments.

Album Rating: 3.0

The 1830s line is so fucking funny

That awful line will be iconic in a few years

give me back my metal frontpage

Sowing sold his pride again