It's honestly lovely / All the effort you've put in
Some initial TLoaS thoughts...
–She just missed timing this for the exact 30th anniversary of the release of Showgirls. Coincidence? (There are no coincidences in the Swiftverse.)
–Is it possible that the lead-off single not only isn't meh/dubiously selected but is maybe the best song on a terrific record? At this early point, I think so. The chorus is great, but the bridge is really one of her best in recent memory. It's what the more up-tempo Evermore-era songs like "Willow" might have sounded like if they were produced and engineered as dance tracks.
–It is actually hilarious that the Charli XCX diss track (her best since the Kimye days) is the second- or third-strongest track, give or take "Opalite" which is so slickly produced by Martin & Shellback that it's easy to miss unless you actively listen (which the production seems to be telegraphing isn't really necessary) that lyrically it's both TS at her most later-career-idiosyncratic (and Stevie Nicks witchy) and her most love-song elegantly simple ("Oh my lord / never met no one like you before") harkening back to "Our Song" and "Tim McGraw."
–As Track Fives go, "Eldest Daughter" is kinda mid, though maybe it'll grow on me more later; perhaps moved over to a playlist where it fits better than it does on this album?
–"Wood" sounds like a pre-Lemonade Beyoncé love/sex song, like "Countdown." (She probably at some point used that same Jackson Five sample.)
–Overall, the sound of the record strikes me as most akin to Reputation (which I for one am perfectly pleased about!), a little bit Lover (to a lesser extent, 1989), and quite a lot like Lykke Li ca. Wounded Rhymes.
–"Elizabeth Taylor" and "Cancelled" sound like they could've been solid-enough bonus tracks on the hypothetical Rep TV we never got.
–The title track might be her best duet. Or at least the song that works most effectively as a duet. I think this is because TS graciously lets SC have, arguably, the better part and slightly out-sing her, which is an interesting way to close this album –– which I still, a dozen or so listens in, keep expecting to have more than just a dozen songs!
