We believe in you, SonoftheWell! The naysayers just identify too much self-worth with the things they like and feel personally insulted. Or they’re in need of fiber.

They’ll never be contenders at this rate 😔

Though I concede that the tension between self-exposure/self-awareness and self-caricature is blatantly evident throughout the last ten years of her career, I think anyone who reads Anti-Hero as the latter and not the former is someone who has not been paying attention for the last ten years (and is someone who purports to want the former, but would complain about it as monotonous when presented with it). Blank Space was self-caricature. Look What You Made Me do was self-caricature (as is basically whole top-half of Reputation). Not vibing with this record is totally valid, I think. I'm a fan, not a stan. But I also think there are inherent qualities to her, because they are contradictory, that prevent some folks from ever giving her her due.

Also, the line in Bejeweled is "DON'T put me in the basement," not "SO put me in the basement".

Lavender Haze is NOT queerbaiting, for goodness sake! She explained exactly where she got the phrase from (Mad Men) in a different video shortly after announcing the title, as well as what it means, and who the song was about.

This review is obviously biased, also you've misquoted at least 2 lyrics -_-

Album Rating: 3.6

I really don't buy this as a regression for her--she's retained far too much of her restrained vocals, subtler musicianship, and, though this seems to be highly in question, I think that at its best just as mature as either record

sure there are some misses, but this is hardly a step backwards for someone that couldn't stand her Lover phase



Johnny actually highlighted my two faves so I can't bitch too much there lol

^ all me btw

Album Rating: 3.6

confirmed i am a six alt

Album Rating: 1.5

Imagine looking at Taylor Swift in 2022 and thinking she hasn’t been given her due.

"Joined 10-23-22"

sput used to get more traffic though, I think this is just people camping out on metacritic and monitoring the reviews

“people camping out on metacritic and monitoring the reviews”

UltraLord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever

Damnit Johnny why do you hate women so much?
There couldn’t possibly be another reason you rated a Taylor Swift album as slightly below average

The sputnik staff decided this album's rating over a three martini lunch and then some poor harassed female intern had to post it.

God damn, sounds like an episode of Mad Men there sixdegrees
Which by the way is where Taylor got her inspiration from rather than queer-bating

Sputnikmusic.com will RISE

"Anti-Hero's last-will-and-testimony bridge is probably the biggest sinker she has in the self-caricature dept."

Valid, but to me its satirical tone still rings as true, the way a lot of satire does. I genuninely *do* believe that if she has children, they may end up fighting over her will, and it's a funny way of postulating that the exploitation that surrounds her will persist till her dying day. Yes, she still has a huge blindspot when it comes to her *own* exploitative tendencies, but...

"The sheer arrogance of the chorus lyric (the luxury of demonising herself to an audience she presumes has been rooting for her) also grates on me."

I actually think that line ("It must be exhausting...") is also sincere. Of course its a luxury to have as faithful a fan base as she does. They *do* root for her reflexively, often embarassingly so. What's she supposed to do about that? At least she's acknowledging that (and, in doing so, saying—at least, what I hear her saying—"If you're tired, you can stop, you know. You don't have to spam critics in defense of me or buy every single version of the album. No one's putting a gun to your head. I'm not worth it all the time.")

PS: Thanks for discouraging sowing from banning me. Believe it or not I've read sputnik before, and don't have that much in common with the other Swifties who created accounts here in the past 24 hours other than I like this album more than you do (like I said above, the stans can be an embarrassment). There are a thousand things she's done I think were bad moves and at least 2 dozen songs of hers I would skip.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Agreed. This is quite the step backwards after the last two

Album Rating: 2.0

I haven't given this one a proper listen yet. I'm not sure it will be my cup of tea based on the little I've heard but who knows.

Album Rating: 2.0

That's just it, isn't it? Don't know until you give it a proper go. =)