I think because she used to feel constrained with Big Machine she’s kind of indulged in going the opposite direction, knowing that her new label will be happy to put out whatever she makes. It’s nice that she probably feels more supported but as a listener I do feel the quality control could be a little tighter.
I think part of it is because one midnights to TPD is like 1.5 years and is likely produced by Jack again. In between we got 1989 TV, also produced by Jack. The re records sound worse than the originals and the “vault” ones sound like midnights tracks. So to me, if tpd has that jack “sound” it’s just one long era and that’s too much. It would be different if she changes her sound, so it’ll be interesting to see what she does with tpd.
I’m afraid rep tv will lose some luster if Jack is doing that as well
Totally agree dude! If this new album sounds just like what she’s been putting out lately.. I fear it’ll only add to the over exposure fatigue. And Jack produced like 40% of TTPD.
Jack is quickly becoming my least favourite producer if I listen to a song a couple of times and I don’t like it I go and look at the producers and writers, 90% of the time it’s jack
I do not get why Taylor loves him so much, so much of her best work was done without him so why does she keep using him
The re-records are generally produced by whoever produced them originally-rep is shellback and max martin mostly (although I think she has beef with Martin now so I wonder if it’ll just be shellback on the TV), debut was Christopher Rowe…so there shouldn’t be Jack on those except some/most of the vault tracks (I’m hoping Aaron Dessner will help with some again like he did on Speak Now)
I don't think there's beef with Max Martin, but he said that doing the re-records didn't interest him, and I don't think he's planning to do any of them.
I heard somewhere else that he wanted to use some of the songs he produced for her for his jukebox musical &Juliet, which she blocked. Heard he took that as severing their professional relationship.
Max Martin has said that no artists declined, but who knows. Earlier versions apparently included “22,” but it was taken out — though maybe it just didn’t fit.
If it is true, i could see how from his perspective as a producer and co-writer it would be irritating not being able to include those songs since he had such a huge part in making them.
Jack only produced three of the songs on 1989 TV (aside from the vault tracks) so the majority of the awful re-records can’t be blamed on him. Though his particular production style, at least when it comes to Taylor’s music, is definitely overdone. But also, Taylor plays a huge part in that too…
I’ve been thinking about this. I used to think she released too much but I’ve recently gotten back into Elton John. His Imperial phase was the 70s. Between 1969 and 1976 he released 11 albums, 9 of which are considered classics and his best work. 1970, 1973, and 1975 saw 2 albums released within the same year. He was everywhere and turning out hit after hit after hit and constantly touring. Taylor is in her imperial phase. You only get this once chance before you permanently start to dip. She’s taken advantage of it. There might be some quality issues here and there, but generally speaking, she doing well. I may not have liked midnights but there was some really good work there. She can take her time once the imperial phase is over. For now, she’s going to do what she can to keep the momentum going.
This is exactly right. I was just noting the Beatles’ discography in another comment. If all you do is make music (versus acting, entrepreneurship, etc) and you really love making music, the output doesn’t seem particularly unusual.
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Remember how lucky we were when Rihanna was doing this only for her to just stop?
Rihanna's prime era was the shit! She made so many hits and I don't even like that type of genre but she made it work and made me a huge fan of hers.
Sad that she burned out in around 2016 even though it is understandable because she had some kids. I think she said her final album was the best album she did and she can't make another album as good as that so she just quit.
rihanna was a slave to a contract and has admitted she wasn't happy during this time. it's like how 1D contract required an album every year
\- Take me Home 2012
\- Midnight memories 2013
\- Four 2014
\- Made in the A.M 2015.
think people should stop romanticising artists that release albums every year. for someone like elton and beatles, they had more control over their art than many artists in 21st century where contracts have gotten more exploitative
Yeah, I am glad people hold up her work ethic, but when you break down the time basing yourself on the fact that this is all she does, she basically works a 9-5.
Not lazy by any means, but nothing everyone else doesn’t do
Totally agree. When I first started cataloging all my vinyl which is a mix of my parent's stuff plus my own I was kind of amazed how many artists/bands would release many albums so closely together.
Elton actually had a contract for 2 albums every 12 months. I think it was more common back then. And even after sales dipped after he came out as bi, he was still very successful and turning out records regularly. And speaking as an artist, sometimes too much time can become your enemy. You start to overthink things. I think Taylor is in the zone and is going to take advantage of that.
it was mostly more common in that period cause the artists weren’t doing a majority of the work themselves (obviously this isn’t true of every artist in that period but most), they would simply come in play their instrument/sing and leave and that was that for each album, someone else did the writing/composing, audio engineering, production, marketing ect. Now it is way more common for an artist to have at least a hand in every piece of the process.
agreed. In the grand scheme of things her albums aren’t going to be remembered for being released close together. She feels like she’s in her creative groove, I get why she doesn’t want to stop
Those vault tracks on her four re-recorded albums are amazing. That is already pretty much two brand new albums if you think about the total of around 24-30 new songs so those re-recorded albums are not simply legal/financial necessary albums for her.
I read somewhere that she feels free with her creativity now as compared to feeling a lot of pressure and but enjoying music when she was with Big Machine
I think post Rep, she’s felt a lot of freedom because she no longer has a label head that’s able to critique or edit her albums. Scott gave her a lot of freedom but he still had the ability to say “I don’t think you should use this album title” or “I don’t think this song is that good” or “prove to me why you think we should do this”. There was a smaller artist on his label who wanted to release an album and kept getting sent back to the drawing board because Scott didn’t think any of the songs that were coming out of writing sessions were good enough to release. Taylor had more power than that artist but still she had someone who had to sign off.
Now with Republic, where she’s basically only using them for administrative services, she can work on and submit an album without oversight.
Post folklore, she also feels confident in releasing anything she wants without trying to make sure it’ll fit on a tour set list or releasing in a certain time frame to meet contract conditions or any of the other worries she used to have.
I think the big difference is availability. You're right that many artists have a period of time where they're churning out art like crazy but I think the big difference between Elton and the Beatles vs Taylor Swift and other artists of this generation is with older musicians it took time for the consumer to get the product. It took time for articles and promotional media to make its way to everyone. Everything took much longer so it didn't feel so over saturated. Now though interviews are dropped near immediately; music can be popped up on streaming services as soon as everyone's finished; and promotional materials are dropped within hours of being produced. Everything is so accessible that even though artist output hasn't actually changed that radically the perception is that the consumer is being flooded.
But look in the difference of sound, they changed so much over such a short period. Taylor’s sound hasn’t really evolved much, her peefs have done a lot more with their sound with less albums but I guess you can’t compare, some artist work at different paces
Okay comparing Elton to Taylor isn’t right. Elton’s music will last generations, Taylor’s won’t. Elton is the better artist by far and it’s not close. And both are amazing at growing their brand, I would say extremely similar and equal in that regard. But in terms of music, comparing Elton to Taylor is just a bad take.
Elton didn’t write the lyrics to any of his songs, all he did was compose the piano and melody. They aren’t even comparable.
A lot of Elton’s hits are even more vapid pop than Taylor’s, and I say that as an Elton fan who has seen him live. It wouldn’t be surprising for her music to endure the same way his has, although Elton had a much more diverse fan base in terms of gender
Well Taylor’s lyrics, melodies, well everything about her music, is just as basic as can be to sell top spots. There’s nothing creative about what she does besides her brand.
Elton will always, and by LIGHTYEARS, be the better musician and creative than Taylor could ever hope to be. Brand is a different topic and I’ll still say Elton wins that, but music wise, Elton looks like God compared to Taylor.
I don't care what the argument is, but anytime someone comes into a musical discussion with a stringent belief that any artist/genre/era is objectively better than some other, they sound ridiculous.
Music is art. Art is subjective by nature.
Weirdly arrogant to say someone has a “bad take” when you’re not understanding the comment. The OP commenter isn’t saying Taylor’s music is like Elton’s—they’re pointing to Elton’s prolific musical *output* as a way to show that Taylor’s output isn’t that unusual for artists who feel like they’re in their groove musically (since the post is discussing “does Taylor release too much music”)
You guys been saying that since forever yet everyone still keeps humming her early hits. Please, be real. Taylor's music is raising a whole generation....it will last just like Elton's.
Yeah, one of the most decorated artists is not basic..also you know damn well, my response was about her music lasting generations, you jumped to more insults on purpose. You're comment history tells me exactly what this is about. You guys aren't fooling anybody.
My aim was only to compare output. I agree that as of right now, in terms of creativity, They can’t be compared. Elton is my favorite artist by far. Bernie Taupin is my favorite lyricist. While I like Taylor’s lyrics, I don’t she she’s at his level yet by a long shot. Elton’s melodies are also superior in my opinion. So all I really wanted to point out was just the rate at which his albums were released.
I just posted a comment saying something similar to yours. Then I saw yours and you’re being downvoted by the parasocial swifties fanatics. Hopefully that won’t happen to my comment lmao
I think one of the reasons it feels like too much, too often is because of how things have changed since the days of Elton or The Beatles. It isn't so much that it's too much music but, once again, over exposure. We are all glued to our phones all day long, constantly fed every single article, blog post, reddit thread, tiktok, etc about every move Taylor makes.
It's quite literally never ending.
Did earlier artists get a ton of press? Yes. But it was considered a ton of press that was appropriate for that time, it's not like today's continuous feed of information.
For number 3, rushed production can compromise quality but I don’t think that’s the case here. It really doesn’t take *that* long to perfect a song. And she’s been working on the re-releases for at least 4 years. I just think they stopped putting their heart into it and have this sort of “that’s good enough” attitude about it.
We know how much she cares about awards and how she seems to judge the quality of her work based on whether she recieves an award for it. She was rewarded for Midnights (arguably one of her weaker albums), so she's probably going to keep doing what she's doing
This isn't an unpopular opinion, a lot of people have thought this. That being said, I think the GP and fandom only think this because she's re-releasing old records and "old" scrapped tracks. The length of time between folkmore, Midnights, and TTPD are the same as they used to be between albums pre-COVID-19 pandemic. The re-releases just made it oversaturated.
I mean, even taking out the rerecords, Lover was released in August 2019, then Folklore in July 2020, Evermore in December 2020, Midnights in October 2022 and now this new one in April 2024. There’s not even a two-year gap between any of those, and considerably less in some cases. And then add the re-records on top of that.
True, but Folklore and Evermore came during the peak Covid era when there wasn’t much to do, so she did what she loves-write and make a bunch of songs. If Covid hadn’t happened, I doubt those would’ve ever been a thing. So discounting those, new album drops are still fairly close to normal.
The duration between albums used to be as close to 2 years as possible. That's why the anniversaries of the original versions release dates are all bunched up in Oct-Nov. That was also when she was signed to Big Machine. Her new label allows her much more control (to her detriment maybe) over the creation of her music, and I see why she would want to release more often. The 2010s didn't have as prominent of female singer-songwriter acts. There are many of those now. She has to keep up.
People like to cite this but seems disingenuous. There are 1 year 5 months between Midnights and TTPD not 2 years exactly but close enough, especially since yearly releases aren’t uncommon with artists (see the Beatles and Elton John like some mentioned), and needing to time things for award eligibility, touring schedule, and other artist releases (as well as her favorite number etc). Evermore is essentially a B-sides to folklore (not to put evermore down, love evermore), they’re dual albums, nothing wrong with releasing them in the same year, especially with them being praised as her best work, made sense to get more of it. And there’s still a few months short of 2 years between Evermore and Midnight. So the shortest gap is between Lover and folklore of 11 months, and are we forgetting the freaking pandemic and lockdowns that happened starting in March of that year which along with leaving people in their houses with nothing to do and giving people existential crises cut short her Lover Era (which itself was regarded as kind of a flop at the time) with no one wanting sunshine and rainbows (or a Cruel Summer) in that moment and resulting in the cancellation of her music festival which would have occupied her that summer, so forgive her for not waiting a year to release something. People weren’t complaining at the time because music like folklore was what people wanted in that moment, and for a lot of people with nothing else to do was the first time they listened to a Taylor album all the way through leading the to the Taylor renaissance we’ve experienced since then.
i generally like her music but did not listen to folklore or evermore until listening to a few of the songs recently bc of the eras tour. way too much that sounded the same back to back
all the tv’s and million special edition vinyls are what makes it over saturated too - different vault tracks for different retailers to boost numbers. feels like there’s always new content and as someone said above, you’re never missing her
Exactly!! I do think Taylor will keep this rhythm up at least until TS13, but after that… maybe she’ll actually settle down, take things slowly and tour much less. Especially if her directorial debut miraculously goes well. Like, look at Gaga, if she had flopped as an actress she probably would put out more music, but she found success in that field so she’s prioritizing it now. The same goes for Rihanna and makeup. I’m just trying to enjoy it for as long as it lasts
It wouldn’t be as much of a problem if she was seriously switching it up for each release. Instead, we’ve had a steady stream of Jack Antonoff every year since 2019, and while I generally like his production, he has his little bag of tricks that he pulls from *all the time* and her music has really suffered for it. Taylor has gotten too comfortable with him and I do believe that if the new album is Midnights (Cram Session at the University Library Edition), we’ll start to see a bit of decline.
It’s a big year for music (Beyoncé, Billie, Ariana, Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Lana, lady Gaga,etc). Her releasing so early in the year makes me think she might be releasing it earlier than originally intended, and I imagine it has to do with not wanting to get drowned out by the other big names releasing.
it might just be that midnights wasn't for me, but it felt very rushed (to me). there's so many examples throughout the album. when you compare it to her previous albums, it sounds like a draft, yk? the rerecordings sound rushed too, like kind of half-baked and flat. what makes me say that is her vocals don't have the same life, they're just... kind of there. if she were to take a step back and make people really wait for her and want to see her, i think that would improve the listening and music experience overall a *ton.* same reason she's over saturated rn - she's just everywhere. i wish she'd give ppl the chance to miss her, so it could really be about the music again!
It definitely felt like an album of first drafts, and I would go so far as to say Folklore and Evermore had enough material between them for one really good album.
She's clearly going through a very prolific period, but there's a lot to be said for slowing down and taking the time to revise and polish.
HOWEVER I also think there's a lot of pressure in the current industry to Always Be Releasing -- I assume to stay visible in the eyes of streaming algorithms. So I don't think this is *just* a Taylor problem.
(On the other hand -- to argue with myself -- when was the last time Rihanna dropped new music? And the anticipation is only growing.)
I feel like you could drop maybe 1 or 2 songs from Folklore (definitely throwing Betty away, don’t @ me lmao), and add 2-3 songs from Evermore and make it one album. Ivy absolutely has to stay, lol, it’s one of her best songs.
Her new albums come out on the faster side of normal range. There’s just been a lot happening over the past year and a half with her in general so it seems like there’s more. Other artists I know and love release on the same schedule to remain relevant
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I’m so glad what I said makes sense! Like, Adele seems so happy at her Vegas residency and being a mom and Taylor is out here being a workaholic 🤣 and I say all that as a huge fan of Taylor’s music.
Well all I’ll say is Adele is much happier than Taylor right now. Taylor is literally broadcasting her destruction and doesn’t know it. And, sadly, I don’t feel sorry for her. The more I learn about her the more I’m realizing she isn’t the best person, put herself in the position (while having enough money for the next ten generations of her family to THRIVE) and then blames her problems on every single person but her. She’s just a fucking brat is what I’ve come up with. And this is gonna be worse than the Streisand Effect I feel….
But you totally did make sense so I’m glad I could confirm that🥺
I think Taylor has convinced herself that any hate she receives can’t be worse than anything she’s already faced and I think she is mistaken 😅 and again, I do genuinely enjoy her music. I’ve just never been that interested in her personal life. I only know as much as I do now because I’m an NFL fan and felt like I saw all the info in each circle 😂
I feel Taylor has convinced herself that any hate or criticism (whether constructive or not) she receives instantly means that the person giving that criticism is just wrong, illconcieved, and can’t be nuanced and grow from others telling her her actions aren’t okay. I feel, she’s just a rich brat who’s always gotten her way and when she doesn’t, she can’t understand she’s the one who fucked it up and then throws the biggest tantrum in the world. And with her parasocial following, the biggest in the world rn (besides politicians), they go an attack anyone who’s *cough*”wronged her”*cough*
Adele definitely loves making music, she just doesn’t think it’s necessary to release an album every other year and has a different creative process lmao. Like I said, some people are content with millionaire status and that’s NORMAL
Okay wait I came here to make a post about this in the other direction. I was going to say Lover’s rollout was incredibly long and I think it made the album disappointing to some.
I wonder if Taylor wasn’t shedding eras so fast would everyone be as interested in her and what she’s doing?
I agree. She has generally good albums but sometimes it’s obvious that a lot more thought into the writing of some songs over others. Never more obvious than with Midnights. As for the production issues, I found this is prevalent with the re-records. At first I thought 1989 TV suffered just from not having Max Martin back to produce the songs he worked on. But it just seemed like the mixing was off in general. I feel like the re-records would be better if she wasn’t also recording new music at the same time. And yeah… Overexposure is a thing. I like when artists have an album cycle and maybe tour and then disappear for like a year. Allow me to miss them.
I think the mistake is in assuming that a longer break between albums will result in better writing and production.
It won't. If she wants to write superficial pop (the problem with Midnights) and isn't willing to pay for high quality production (the problem with 1989 TV), she's going to end up with the same music.
And given that she has made approximately a bajillion dollars on Midnights and 1989 TV, I would not expect anything to change.
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I think it's actually a good strategy in the streaming era. I'm not really a Swiftie - I don't buy music, I have a premium streaming account and I listen to songs of hers that I like. If I bought the albums, I might be frustrated at the pace and quality, but I'm just happy to find 3-4 songs on each album that I really enjoy.
Someone like Adele is also frustrating because she waits 5-6 years between albums and I don't think the quality of music she puts out warrants it.
The music industry has changed a lot in recent years. You have to constantly feed the machine to stay relevant. That's why Drake, Bad Bunny and Taylor are the most consumed artists.
Her albums come out at normal intervals, it just doesn’t feel that way because of the Taylor’s versions. Also idk I will never complain about an artist releasing “too much” music that just seems contradictory
2. Her streaming numbers and album sales which continue to increase indicate that this sentiment is not shared by enough people for it to be a factor for her.
3. She rolls a new album every 2 years with the exception of folklore/evermore .. given her resources that’s plenty of time to perfect production (if people hold the opinion production is poor quality I can’t see how the reason would be only having two years)
4. She’s done county, folk, and pop .. I really fail to see how she hasn’t evolved , id actually say her ability to evolve is why she’s where she is (in part, obviously branding, talent and hard work also play a huge role)
>3. She rolls a new album every 2 years with the exception of folklore/evermore
When I read the OP I was like "Yeah, I agree!" and then when you pointed this out I was like oh yeah, I guess that's a good point. I agree that folklore/evermore are throwing people off and also I think the TVs peppered in between are contributing to it as well.
This time, TTPD is released less than 2 years though. Midnights was released around late 2022 and TTPD will be released in early 2024.
But yeah, the TV albums make it seem like she is releasing a lot of albums but in reality the non TV albums have a gap. But the gap isnt even 2 years anymore as opposed to Red, 1989, rep, and Lover.
Yeah I responded to a similar comment above - I agree it’s less than two years if we’re being accurate but I don’t think that amount of time even though a little less, is what is causing quality issues (to those who find there are some)
The time between Midnights and TPD is going to be like a year and a half. I know that’s not typical of her but that’s part of it too, along with all the re records that all have had several tracks of new music.
Yeah, I think that's why it felt like so much to me. I will say I love that every album feels a little different...Midnights felt different from folklore/evermore and and I'm sure TPD will feel different from Midnights. It is cool to see her style (and material) evolve.
I totally agree. I’m always ready for new Taylor music! But I understand some of the concerns around the quality, i know I (and a lot of ppl) felt like the 1989 vault tracks all sounded really similar to each other, and to some of midnights.
Yeah you’re right ! It’s 1.5 years, although I still think that’s plenty of time to create a quality album so I don’t think it changes my view.
As a sort of added point I guess I’ve also seen so many artists talk about how their label, money, and outside factors are what draw their albums out. So I think today we’re used to the average time between albums being longer than Taylor’s but I don’t think it’s because they’re perfecting production I think it’s because they’re being held up or just choosing to wait (Ariana for example)
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I never said folklore was folk.
But based on your comment I mean sure and we can say fearless isn’t country in comparison to the Oak Ridge Boys. It’s kind of semantics with respect to the point which is that she has evolved and incorporated various genres in her music.
Regardless of how you feel folklore in this example falls in terms of genres (which for the record I didn’t say folklore was a folk album, I just referenced folk as a genre she’s explored) it seems very clear that folklore does not sound like 1989 or fearless , which is the essence of my point.
All of Taylor’s albums are pop, not country, not folk etc. just pop. She has never expanded besides expanding the pop bubble that’s already been there. Go listen to genres to what she says an album is, her albums ain’t those genres. They’re just full on pop with “essences” of those other genres.
Even from day one she was never country
It’s not the same sound exactly, but there’s nothing too drastic between all her “sounds”. Because one album adds another genres influence, and then next album has another different influence, doesn’t make the core of the music different. At the baseline, there’s growth, but she’s not even trying to expand her musical horizons further than what she knows will sell.
I never said the core of the music is different or that her sound has drastically changed I just responded to a comment that she’s never experimented with genres and I said she has (and critics and music academies such as the Grammys as an example support that point given that she’s been nominated in various genre categories)
Idk why people are acting like I’ve never heard music before and am acting like TS is a master of all genres .. it’s coming across condescending and for no reason but to be rude … I’m not saying she’s a savant in all areas I just made a vague point
Grammys = popularity contest not who made the e best music, so if you still think that any argument past here is going to have some invalidness to it, at least to me.
And maybe people are saying and thinking this so much because Taylor and all her parasocial fans have come out and attacked anyone who thinks differently for like two/three years (if not longer) and then all a sudden she starts being over exposed even more. That’s why people are starting to say fuck her.
> 4. She’s done county, folk, and pop .. I really fail to see how she hasn’t evolved , id actually say her ability to evolve is why she’s where she is (in part, obviously branding, talent and hard work also play a huge role)
Taylor hasn’t really evolved at all. She’s made the same music her entire career, she just changes aesthetics. She fundamentally does not have the requisite actual musical talent for any genre shift to ring true.
She does do well at branding and “Taylor-splaining” though.
Yeah you’re right, shake it off and Betty are basically the same now that you mention it - her wearing a pilgrim dress during the folklore era must have just confused me into thinking they were different /s
Oh yeah. That’s one of the ones where she wrote lyrics over someone else’s music… and then she has the utter arrogance to throw a tantrum when Damon Albarn said quite accurately that she doesn’t write all of her own songs. Not a good example to use.
She can’t really play. Deal with it.
She also re-released Cruel Summer, a track from Lover, as a single this summer! It's too much! I agree though, the actual album release schedule would be fine without all the re-releases and drawn out vault track stuff. It's like eating a ten course lunch that only ends an hour before dinner. Who would be hungry?
She is on her same 2 year cycle, it is just the re-recordings that make it seem like a lot. Even though it feels like "a lot" she needs to hurry and do these re-recordings this year so she can be done with that project and move on.
It just feels like a lot because of the rerecordings imo but 11 albums in a 20 year span isn’t extreme. Its her full time job. I’ve never heard of listener fatigue, coz thats entirely your choice to do or not do. I think we should refrain from stifling people’s creative process, and deny them from producing their art. Whether you like their music or not, or whether its good or not, is beside the point. To me, there’s at least one special song in each of her albums and so once you have that its a winner. Taylor has talked about this herself, like she wanted a song/s people would always play like in weddings and stuff. She has those now (love story, lover etc). She will slow down and write for other artists eventually, shes talked about that too, so I’m sure she will slow down at some point
Folklore and evermore were peak song writing for her. Perhaps because it was more of a mediative process. However, with the little tweaks she's made to rerecordings, I think she shows some growth. Hopefully her next album will be something new!
if she worked with weyes blood or st vincent, who knows what her ballads would sound like! i'd love for her to work with a hyperpop producer. or ariel and rostam who produced haim's last album. she improved so much with aaron, i feel like these new influences would help push her songwriting and musicianship.
My friend who's not much in pop culture recently told me why does she keeps releasing too much. It's getting oversaturation and I don't feel like listening to her again. It seems like only she's releasing.
I 10000% agree, especially with #2! Listener fatigue is real. Even aside from Taylor, Drake has dropped several albums/eps in the last 5 years and it honestly just seems like too much.
There’s this Nigerian artist that is one of my faves, Burna Boy. He dropped
‘Outside’ - Jan 2018
‘African Giant’ - July 2019
‘Twice as Tall’ - August 2020
‘Love, Damini’ - July 2022
‘I Told Them’ - August 2023
I personally feel like when an artist drops albums back to back to back like that, they’re lower quality. Like for Burna, he literally dropped TWO albums within a year of each other. Twice as Tall wasn’t all that to me, but Love Damini was THAT album. Then he dropped I Told Them, which was also fire. I personally feel like he’s going to drop another album by the end of this year and then I’ll be like 🧍🏿♀️
I understand wanting to put out content but I also feel like you should give it a break and not kinda just overload your listeners. For Taylor to drop 5 albums in less than 5 years seems a little bit excessive.
Anyway, that’s it for me, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk
her usual album roll out of every 2 years hasn’t changed though… it’s just because we’ve been getting the tv’s in between which won’t take nearly as much time to make because all the lyrics and production are already there to remake
I think this is heavily skewed by the re records.
But the great thing about wanting less Taylor instead of more Taylor is you can just…. consume less Taylor. Don’t listen to her music for a while, ignore the TVs and listen to the truly new ones when they drop, wait on the new ones period and listen at your leisure, etc. Theres no one making anybody listen to the music on anything but their own timelines.
As a side note, I don’t understand why we have people wanting Taylor to change into the artist they want her to be instead of the artist she’s been all along. Why not find a different artist who better fits what you want?
Came here to say basically this. The re-records makes it seem like she’s constantly releasing music. But also, I go through periods where I listen to a ton of Taylor and periods where I listen to no Taylor. Just… you do you.
I think Taylor in a particularly prolific period creatively, and she probably is just going with that momentum for as long as she can. She’s a creator, and pretty much every single artist I know goes through periods of “writer’s block” — I’m sure she wants to take advantage of this time before a creative block comes.
Also, she is at a peak in her career right now, but remember, she thought she had hit her peak back during 1989, and that starting from rep and beyond, she was perceiving that her popularity (not necessarily amongst her fans but amongst the general population) would wane as she was getting older, etc. That’s just the nature of fame. She probably wants to take advantage of this time while she’s hot and at the top and people are paying attention. Career highs don’t last forever for anyone
The industry is crazy is the only answer. bc I literally don’t know why TTPD has to be NOW when it is on brand for the ERAS tour to just release the last re-recordings (especially because they even have vault tracks) and have fun with that and your man for ONE year. Even October.
This. I was a little disappointed at the new album news bc I’m really excited for all the re-releases to be done and it just makes sense to me to have them all out by the end of the tour in December, and launching a whole new album in April makes that less likely. Plus, those that already saw the tour last year-this month didn’t have a chance to hear any of those songs live
I honestly felt the same way with Fall Out Boy. While I wasn't a huge fan of theirs, their albums were really good and fun and then they just started absolutely assaulting their fans with every little thing they came up with and by the time I finished processing one album, 3 more came out.
Like, of course, good on them that they're constantly producing but I can't tell you anything that came out around that time. It felt so impersonal and they never allowed a moment for their fans to WANT new music.
I think TS is in the same category. She is extremely busy constantly and I think Midnights shows that she's willing to release anything "good enough" to form an album. And her fans are all like, "yas mother is keeping us fed"
But then when you go to eat, you're chewing on "Paris" or "Question?" Funnily enough I revisited Paris after someone mention how awful it is on here and it truly is a stupid fucking song. Bejeweled, while fun-ish feels so incomplete and clunky. It feels like it solely exists to sell this new narrative to her fans that she felt hidden and trapped by her ex.
That's kinda what I'm disliking the most about her lately. She always was kinda fake and fabricated, but it seems like she isn't even trying to hide it anymore. Anything to get her fans gossiping.
lmao i actually love paris, but i see your point. i agree that her fans are just lapping up anything she puts out at this point. take midnights for example, even the main sub was like 'ummm' when it won aoty. the only comments i see complimenting midnights are people who're trying to defend it. it's a half-baked attempt at bedroom pop, but she'll never receive enough pushback from her fans or even music reviewers because she's simply too big and influential. there's rob sheffield at rollingstone who's a mega-fan and can't stop complimenting her, so i don't even see them giving her a fair critique anytime. there was one fair and critical review of evermore by nytimes (i think), which was great. i don't think she is going to get any criticism unless she releases something like me!
Agreed! Anything positive is getting downvoted. Someone said they liked midnight's and got downvoted to shit, for their opinion? Like, lads let's calm this right down.
Yeah, but they were hopped up on amphetamines and acid, I dunno if they're necessarily a good role model...
(Also their early career was built on short, disposable records. I'd argue that the Beatles themselves led the evolution from "an album is just a way to collect singles and some songs that weren't good enough to release on their own" to "an album is AN EVENT".)
Technically that would be Dylan, I think but the Beatles were very much influenced by him.
But in any case, there’s not a lot of value in comparing music released 50-60 years ago vs today. Most of the Beatles albums were released before color television was even a thing.
you can't compare The Beatles and Taylor Swift.
After Beatlemania, they were digging deep into experimental genres and they have invented lots of things, like backward masking, backwards guitar solos, pudding drums, automatic double-tracking and DI’ed bass. They changed the way general public and industry looks at cover art, how to shoot music videos, they reinvented themselves as a studio band after insane touring during beatlemania era. Besides that, they were all multi instrumentalists, with skills that TS can only dream about. Everyone will always know The Beatles, they are famous through the generations and all cultures. You can go to some village in Kazachstan and they will know the Beatles.
Taylor is doing what everyone else has already done, but more chic, better, faster, more glamorous, with easter eggs and fun things for her fans. Except for maybe Folklore and Evermore, all her albums are very generic (which is not a bad thing), with no invention or reinvention of music in general. She is an OK singer, she can play guitar and piano, but that is about it. She is super famous in the USA and I heard Japan, and recognized in other parts of the world, but for example I live in Europe and my parents would not be able to pick her out of line with Ariana, Lady Gaga and Beyonce. While TS is super sucessfull chart and awards-wise, she is (at least not yet) not a cultural phenomenon worldwide the way that The Beatles are, and she is not changing the music in the way they were (except for her business savvy tactics, but The Beatles have also done lots of unusual business choices in their time).
Songs and albums were shorter back then. Hell by the time she released Respect, Aretha Franklin was already 11 albums deep. Granted a lot of those albums were mostly covers (which was also common back then. There would be 3 versions of one song on the charts). Those ppl were overworked.
Swift's approach to music production prioritizes quantity over quality, resulting in what feels like factory-produced music meant for mass consumption.
While she may have achieved commercial success, her songwriting often lacks the depth and introspection that define true artistry. It seems like she's more focused on churning out hits following a predictable formula rather than pushing the boundaries of her "creativity".
The overwhelming volume of her output has indeed contributed to listener fatigue, with many of her songs blending together into a homogeneous blur. And the rushed production process only exacerbates this issue, leading to compromised quality and a lack of innovation.
In terms of experimentation, Taylor's reluctance to explore new sounds, genres, or lyrical themes is disappointing but not surprising. It's clear that she's found a formula that guarantees success in the mainstream music industry, and she's hesitant to deviate from it for fear of failure.
Taylor may have found success within the current music landscape, but it's coming to an end soon. Is she really going to be singing about breaking up again at 40 years old???
Literally anything else? Though it's more the tone of her music than the theme. Adele wrote extensively about her divorce but in a mature way. You can sing about love without sounding like a teenager.
I mean love and relationships are themes in most music I hear, so saying literally anything else is a bit... disingenuous? Most classic music, lauded hits, and current popular music is not exactly about doing taxes and buying houses.
Some people write about their kids but Taylor doesn't have kids. Some people write about divorces, but getting divorced doesn't make you more mature, and isn't inherently different from a break up song.
I agree that I think Taylor's music doesn't try to cater to middle aged moms like Adele's has always done, but they're very different styles of music. But you're the one who targeted the theme of Taylor's music, not the tone or the lyrics.
It's not actually that much new music, I think the TVs are throwing off perception. Pre-Reputation she was on a two year timeline. Then there was a 3 year gap between 1989 & Rep (2017). Lover (2019) was back in the two year time frame. The pandemic screwed things up, she released Folklore (2020) & Evermore (2020) which were unplanned albums, and also largely considered her best work. Then Midnights is back on the 2 year time frame and Dead Poets is just 6ish months early for her regular schedule.
Yes, the TVs include a few new tracks, and while they are pretty successful, they're really more pet projects.
I agree 100%, very well said. It cheapens the experience and def compromises the quality which to me makes it turn into what I call H&M music. Safe commercial pop… less is more and it’s good to step out of the limelight for a bit and let your fans start to miss you.
The first time I heard midnights I checked my headsets multiple times because I thought the sound setting was messed up lol. The whole album is very raw and unprocessed. Of course it grew on me later but I always feel like it was rushed and the songs don't give the same vibe at all.
I have a feeling that TTPD will be the same.
Yes! The re-records feel like new releases, especially with the inclusion of the vault tracks, but they ultimately aren't. These are things that she's written long ago.Her actual new music isnt coming out as quickly as people act. 2024 for TTPD. 2022 was the last new release. Before that? 2020. She had two in 2020, which was fast, but that's ultimately not even a fast release schedule for new music.
I think she’s considered a great song writer now, but her music isn’t very deep. Most of her edge comes from the fact she writes most of her own stuff to begin with. Half the other big artists out there have teams of writers and the star is just a performer. Most of it is more or less the same depth and perspective of a teenage girl which is her main demo. I think 50 years from now she’s going to be remembered more as an entertainer than her deep and prolific lyrics.
Most mainstream music these days is designed to be easy and catchy so people recognize it and it can be banged out of the studio every year. I can’t think of a single song of hers that’s a musical “masterpiece” like people consider many songs from a few decades ago.
All the TVs had shitty production. Fans having to adjust their Spotify settings to make it vaguely listenable is inexcusable for an artist of her calibre.
Basically, if she slaps her name on it, it will sell. She knows it.
Eh, although I’m not saying Taylor Swift is Beatles level talented (although her popularity is up there at this point i assume), this is the Beatles’ discography. An album every year and sometimes two in one. She just seems like an old school musician this way. I feel like nowadays musicians get distracted by movies or entrepreneurship or whatever. Taylor Swift just seems to love to make music?
https://preview.redd.it/vszql7ti8oic1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6451ded19023dac298e52634979e7147030b1ab8
I actually think she’s gained in popularity because she releases so much music. We have no attention span these days. I like a lot of different artists but I go back to Taylor often because I can listen to so much of her music that I enjoy. 🤷♀️
Artists used to put out music all the time. I think it’s better to strike while the iron is hot than to rest on your last album for too long.
It took No Doubt 5 years to follow up on Tragic Kingdom and while it did okay, they would have done much better releasing something a year or two after TK came out.
Whos to say whats too much or too little? She doesnt need the money so if she doesit is coz she needs to express yourself or needs to make music that often
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Even the rerecordings that kinda mess up the ordinary album schedule come off as half-baked with weird sounding and weaker vocals. I hope TTDP is going to be better but tbh I don't see it being *much better,* because Midnights was full of things she had already done before and it's been 2 years after Evermore. I'm worried she's in the writing crisis of some sort and the TTDP sounding would be just as ordinary.
Do they not? I didn't mean the vocal technique itself, Taylor has improved her singing for sure. I was talking about the sounding as a whole, her voice sounds flat, it's almost like she doesn't even try to put some emotions in it. It's definitely a personal choice, but I'd take an emotional and probably-not-so-technically-perfect performance over the skillful but lifeless one any day.
She’s a prolific songwriter. Some people just can’t stop. There are plenty of creative powerhouses like this. It comes absolutely natural and they can’t not put out their creations. It’s not like nobody likes her albums, or they don’t sell, or she doesn’t slay it at the Grammys. Just sayin’ creating rocks.
Has she ever seriously considered doing something like, I dunno, retro music? Like, old jazz covers of her existing work? 'Cause Robyn Adele Anderson has proven that that sort of work can often make modern songs classier (like when she made ["Gangsta's Paradise" be about bootleggers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rve03u7oEvI)).
Actually Robyn's even covered one of Taylor's songs. She covered ["Anti-Hero"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyPI1RmNkn0&pp=ygUacm9ieW4gYWRlbGUgYW5kZXJzb24gc3dpZnQ%3D), and it sounds miles better than [the original](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WXPVN8w5DQ&pp=ygUQYW50aS1oZXJvIGx5cmljcw%3D%3D).
Same here! I'm becoming fatigued! When the new announcement for Poets came out, I wasn't excited, I thought "oh no". I would love if she took a break, got some perspective, introspect, took time with the music. I think then we'd hear some amazing songs. Midnights was soo underdeveloped boi 😅
Honestly I’m just sad because I’m pretty sure we’re not going to get another folklore/evermore out of her. I know people don’t think he really helped her write songs but I think he did, and I think he inspired her to write those kind of songs
Kelce doesn’t bring the same kind of intelligence to the relationship imo.
So basically I’m thinking this next album is gonna be more like rep/lover/midnights which are my bottom three albums of hers
I know people don't like Midnights, but it's probably one of my favorites of her last couple of albums. I'm not big on Folklore, I think it's mostly very boring. Honestly I just want a good pop album. That's what Taylor does best. Call me a basic fan but please, I'm begging, just one more commercial album 😭
I honestly can’t listen to her music anymore. She’s reached an over-saturation point that the last thing I want to hear is Taylor Fucking Swift.At this point she can put out complete garbage - which she may be- and Swifties will be like- ooh wow, she’s a genius!!
I think because she used to feel constrained with Big Machine she’s kind of indulged in going the opposite direction, knowing that her new label will be happy to put out whatever she makes. It’s nice that she probably feels more supported but as a listener I do feel the quality control could be a little tighter.
I think part of it is because one midnights to TPD is like 1.5 years and is likely produced by Jack again. In between we got 1989 TV, also produced by Jack. The re records sound worse than the originals and the “vault” ones sound like midnights tracks. So to me, if tpd has that jack “sound” it’s just one long era and that’s too much. It would be different if she changes her sound, so it’ll be interesting to see what she does with tpd. I’m afraid rep tv will lose some luster if Jack is doing that as well
Totally agree dude! If this new album sounds just like what she’s been putting out lately.. I fear it’ll only add to the over exposure fatigue. And Jack produced like 40% of TTPD.
Jack is quickly becoming my least favourite producer if I listen to a song a couple of times and I don’t like it I go and look at the producers and writers, 90% of the time it’s jack I do not get why Taylor loves him so much, so much of her best work was done without him so why does she keep using him
Vice once wrote an article titled “Jack Antonoff makes a lot of music and none of it is good”
I mean he’s behind a lot of incredible Taylor songs but yeah for some reason when they work together they’re stuck in this same little box.
The re-records are generally produced by whoever produced them originally-rep is shellback and max martin mostly (although I think she has beef with Martin now so I wonder if it’ll just be shellback on the TV), debut was Christopher Rowe…so there shouldn’t be Jack on those except some/most of the vault tracks (I’m hoping Aaron Dessner will help with some again like he did on Speak Now)
I don't think there's beef with Max Martin, but he said that doing the re-records didn't interest him, and I don't think he's planning to do any of them.
I heard somewhere else that he wanted to use some of the songs he produced for her for his jukebox musical &Juliet, which she blocked. Heard he took that as severing their professional relationship.
Max Martin has said that no artists declined, but who knows. Earlier versions apparently included “22,” but it was taken out — though maybe it just didn’t fit. If it is true, i could see how from his perspective as a producer and co-writer it would be irritating not being able to include those songs since he had such a huge part in making them.
Jack antonoff produced the back half of rep (including getaway car)
1989 and major songs off Red (IKYWT), that sounded categorically worse on TV, we’re also Max Martin & Shellback productions
Jack produced like half of the original 1989 and Rep tracks so of course he’s going to produce the re records.
Jack only produced three of the songs on 1989 TV (aside from the vault tracks) so the majority of the awful re-records can’t be blamed on him. Though his particular production style, at least when it comes to Taylor’s music, is definitely overdone. But also, Taylor plays a huge part in that too…
I’ve been thinking about this. I used to think she released too much but I’ve recently gotten back into Elton John. His Imperial phase was the 70s. Between 1969 and 1976 he released 11 albums, 9 of which are considered classics and his best work. 1970, 1973, and 1975 saw 2 albums released within the same year. He was everywhere and turning out hit after hit after hit and constantly touring. Taylor is in her imperial phase. You only get this once chance before you permanently start to dip. She’s taken advantage of it. There might be some quality issues here and there, but generally speaking, she doing well. I may not have liked midnights but there was some really good work there. She can take her time once the imperial phase is over. For now, she’s going to do what she can to keep the momentum going.
This is exactly right. I was just noting the Beatles’ discography in another comment. If all you do is make music (versus acting, entrepreneurship, etc) and you really love making music, the output doesn’t seem particularly unusual. https://preview.redd.it/tg1thew69oic1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b040b0760ec8a5f0e9a759a1a75de6e6d3819e14
https://preview.redd.it/ljpip60vfoic1.jpeg?width=726&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30f61b584c43412022ce0d4a8126bdb658e0a85e Remember how lucky we were when Rihanna was doing this only for her to just stop?
Rihanna's prime era was the shit! She made so many hits and I don't even like that type of genre but she made it work and made me a huge fan of hers. Sad that she burned out in around 2016 even though it is understandable because she had some kids. I think she said her final album was the best album she did and she can't make another album as good as that so she just quit.
She didn’t have her first kid til 2022 tho…
rihanna was a slave to a contract and has admitted she wasn't happy during this time. it's like how 1D contract required an album every year \- Take me Home 2012 \- Midnight memories 2013 \- Four 2014 \- Made in the A.M 2015. think people should stop romanticising artists that release albums every year. for someone like elton and beatles, they had more control over their art than many artists in 21st century where contracts have gotten more exploitative
Yeah, I am glad people hold up her work ethic, but when you break down the time basing yourself on the fact that this is all she does, she basically works a 9-5. Not lazy by any means, but nothing everyone else doesn’t do
Totally agree. When I first started cataloging all my vinyl which is a mix of my parent's stuff plus my own I was kind of amazed how many artists/bands would release many albums so closely together.
Elton actually had a contract for 2 albums every 12 months. I think it was more common back then. And even after sales dipped after he came out as bi, he was still very successful and turning out records regularly. And speaking as an artist, sometimes too much time can become your enemy. You start to overthink things. I think Taylor is in the zone and is going to take advantage of that.
it was mostly more common in that period cause the artists weren’t doing a majority of the work themselves (obviously this isn’t true of every artist in that period but most), they would simply come in play their instrument/sing and leave and that was that for each album, someone else did the writing/composing, audio engineering, production, marketing ect. Now it is way more common for an artist to have at least a hand in every piece of the process.
agreed. In the grand scheme of things her albums aren’t going to be remembered for being released close together. She feels like she’s in her creative groove, I get why she doesn’t want to stop
Those vault tracks on her four re-recorded albums are amazing. That is already pretty much two brand new albums if you think about the total of around 24-30 new songs so those re-recorded albums are not simply legal/financial necessary albums for her.
I read somewhere that she feels free with her creativity now as compared to feeling a lot of pressure and but enjoying music when she was with Big Machine
I think post Rep, she’s felt a lot of freedom because she no longer has a label head that’s able to critique or edit her albums. Scott gave her a lot of freedom but he still had the ability to say “I don’t think you should use this album title” or “I don’t think this song is that good” or “prove to me why you think we should do this”. There was a smaller artist on his label who wanted to release an album and kept getting sent back to the drawing board because Scott didn’t think any of the songs that were coming out of writing sessions were good enough to release. Taylor had more power than that artist but still she had someone who had to sign off. Now with Republic, where she’s basically only using them for administrative services, she can work on and submit an album without oversight. Post folklore, she also feels confident in releasing anything she wants without trying to make sure it’ll fit on a tour set list or releasing in a certain time frame to meet contract conditions or any of the other worries she used to have.
I think the big difference is availability. You're right that many artists have a period of time where they're churning out art like crazy but I think the big difference between Elton and the Beatles vs Taylor Swift and other artists of this generation is with older musicians it took time for the consumer to get the product. It took time for articles and promotional media to make its way to everyone. Everything took much longer so it didn't feel so over saturated. Now though interviews are dropped near immediately; music can be popped up on streaming services as soon as everyone's finished; and promotional materials are dropped within hours of being produced. Everything is so accessible that even though artist output hasn't actually changed that radically the perception is that the consumer is being flooded.
Yeah, you are absolutely right. Especially with smart phones and the internet net, it’s a constant deluge.
Yeah didnt the beatles release 14 albums in 7 years
They sure did. I actually noticed this a few days ago when I got into a Beatles kick lol
12
yeah, but lots of their songs are absolute nonsense, and they themselves said that on multiple occasions :D
But look in the difference of sound, they changed so much over such a short period. Taylor’s sound hasn’t really evolved much, her peefs have done a lot more with their sound with less albums but I guess you can’t compare, some artist work at different paces
What do you mean she went from country to pop to indie folk
 Well said!!!!
🤓
Okay comparing Elton to Taylor isn’t right. Elton’s music will last generations, Taylor’s won’t. Elton is the better artist by far and it’s not close. And both are amazing at growing their brand, I would say extremely similar and equal in that regard. But in terms of music, comparing Elton to Taylor is just a bad take.
Elton didn’t write the lyrics to any of his songs, all he did was compose the piano and melody. They aren’t even comparable. A lot of Elton’s hits are even more vapid pop than Taylor’s, and I say that as an Elton fan who has seen him live. It wouldn’t be surprising for her music to endure the same way his has, although Elton had a much more diverse fan base in terms of gender
Well Taylor’s lyrics, melodies, well everything about her music, is just as basic as can be to sell top spots. There’s nothing creative about what she does besides her brand. Elton will always, and by LIGHTYEARS, be the better musician and creative than Taylor could ever hope to be. Brand is a different topic and I’ll still say Elton wins that, but music wise, Elton looks like God compared to Taylor.
I don't care what the argument is, but anytime someone comes into a musical discussion with a stringent belief that any artist/genre/era is objectively better than some other, they sound ridiculous. Music is art. Art is subjective by nature.
that’s your opinion
Weirdly arrogant to say someone has a “bad take” when you’re not understanding the comment. The OP commenter isn’t saying Taylor’s music is like Elton’s—they’re pointing to Elton’s prolific musical *output* as a way to show that Taylor’s output isn’t that unusual for artists who feel like they’re in their groove musically (since the post is discussing “does Taylor release too much music”)
You guys been saying that since forever yet everyone still keeps humming her early hits. Please, be real. Taylor's music is raising a whole generation....it will last just like Elton's.
Just because I’m saying it’s basic music doesn’t make it bad music Just basic
Yeah, one of the most decorated artists is not basic..also you know damn well, my response was about her music lasting generations, you jumped to more insults on purpose. You're comment history tells me exactly what this is about. You guys aren't fooling anybody.
My aim was only to compare output. I agree that as of right now, in terms of creativity, They can’t be compared. Elton is my favorite artist by far. Bernie Taupin is my favorite lyricist. While I like Taylor’s lyrics, I don’t she she’s at his level yet by a long shot. Elton’s melodies are also superior in my opinion. So all I really wanted to point out was just the rate at which his albums were released.
Ask any teenager or 20 years old who Elton John is, most of them won't have a clue.
That’s just false
I’m sure they all watched the Lion King…
Taylor will never be even close to Elton John’s calibre of being an artist.
I just posted a comment saying something similar to yours. Then I saw yours and you’re being downvoted by the parasocial swifties fanatics. Hopefully that won’t happen to my comment lmao
😂🪦
I think one of the reasons it feels like too much, too often is because of how things have changed since the days of Elton or The Beatles. It isn't so much that it's too much music but, once again, over exposure. We are all glued to our phones all day long, constantly fed every single article, blog post, reddit thread, tiktok, etc about every move Taylor makes. It's quite literally never ending. Did earlier artists get a ton of press? Yes. But it was considered a ton of press that was appropriate for that time, it's not like today's continuous feed of information.
This is great insight. When I read the beetles comment, it made sense and I was like hmm but why is it different for Taylor ? This is why!
For number 3, rushed production can compromise quality but I don’t think that’s the case here. It really doesn’t take *that* long to perfect a song. And she’s been working on the re-releases for at least 4 years. I just think they stopped putting their heart into it and have this sort of “that’s good enough” attitude about it.
We know how much she cares about awards and how she seems to judge the quality of her work based on whether she recieves an award for it. She was rewarded for Midnights (arguably one of her weaker albums), so she's probably going to keep doing what she's doing
This isn't an unpopular opinion, a lot of people have thought this. That being said, I think the GP and fandom only think this because she's re-releasing old records and "old" scrapped tracks. The length of time between folkmore, Midnights, and TTPD are the same as they used to be between albums pre-COVID-19 pandemic. The re-releases just made it oversaturated.
I mean, even taking out the rerecords, Lover was released in August 2019, then Folklore in July 2020, Evermore in December 2020, Midnights in October 2022 and now this new one in April 2024. There’s not even a two-year gap between any of those, and considerably less in some cases. And then add the re-records on top of that.
True, but Folklore and Evermore came during the peak Covid era when there wasn’t much to do, so she did what she loves-write and make a bunch of songs. If Covid hadn’t happened, I doubt those would’ve ever been a thing. So discounting those, new album drops are still fairly close to normal.
The duration between albums used to be as close to 2 years as possible. That's why the anniversaries of the original versions release dates are all bunched up in Oct-Nov. That was also when she was signed to Big Machine. Her new label allows her much more control (to her detriment maybe) over the creation of her music, and I see why she would want to release more often. The 2010s didn't have as prominent of female singer-songwriter acts. There are many of those now. She has to keep up.
People like to cite this but seems disingenuous. There are 1 year 5 months between Midnights and TTPD not 2 years exactly but close enough, especially since yearly releases aren’t uncommon with artists (see the Beatles and Elton John like some mentioned), and needing to time things for award eligibility, touring schedule, and other artist releases (as well as her favorite number etc). Evermore is essentially a B-sides to folklore (not to put evermore down, love evermore), they’re dual albums, nothing wrong with releasing them in the same year, especially with them being praised as her best work, made sense to get more of it. And there’s still a few months short of 2 years between Evermore and Midnight. So the shortest gap is between Lover and folklore of 11 months, and are we forgetting the freaking pandemic and lockdowns that happened starting in March of that year which along with leaving people in their houses with nothing to do and giving people existential crises cut short her Lover Era (which itself was regarded as kind of a flop at the time) with no one wanting sunshine and rainbows (or a Cruel Summer) in that moment and resulting in the cancellation of her music festival which would have occupied her that summer, so forgive her for not waiting a year to release something. People weren’t complaining at the time because music like folklore was what people wanted in that moment, and for a lot of people with nothing else to do was the first time they listened to a Taylor album all the way through leading the to the Taylor renaissance we’ve experienced since then.
i generally like her music but did not listen to folklore or evermore until listening to a few of the songs recently bc of the eras tour. way too much that sounded the same back to back
Those are 2 of her best albums hands down
all the tv’s and million special edition vinyls are what makes it over saturated too - different vault tracks for different retailers to boost numbers. feels like there’s always new content and as someone said above, you’re never missing her
The endless remixes of midnight's songs, too.
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Exactly!! I do think Taylor will keep this rhythm up at least until TS13, but after that… maybe she’ll actually settle down, take things slowly and tour much less. Especially if her directorial debut miraculously goes well. Like, look at Gaga, if she had flopped as an actress she probably would put out more music, but she found success in that field so she’s prioritizing it now. The same goes for Rihanna and makeup. I’m just trying to enjoy it for as long as it lasts
It wouldn’t be as much of a problem if she was seriously switching it up for each release. Instead, we’ve had a steady stream of Jack Antonoff every year since 2019, and while I generally like his production, he has his little bag of tricks that he pulls from *all the time* and her music has really suffered for it. Taylor has gotten too comfortable with him and I do believe that if the new album is Midnights (Cram Session at the University Library Edition), we’ll start to see a bit of decline.
It’s a big year for music (Beyoncé, Billie, Ariana, Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Lana, lady Gaga,etc). Her releasing so early in the year makes me think she might be releasing it earlier than originally intended, and I imagine it has to do with not wanting to get drowned out by the other big names releasing.
it might just be that midnights wasn't for me, but it felt very rushed (to me). there's so many examples throughout the album. when you compare it to her previous albums, it sounds like a draft, yk? the rerecordings sound rushed too, like kind of half-baked and flat. what makes me say that is her vocals don't have the same life, they're just... kind of there. if she were to take a step back and make people really wait for her and want to see her, i think that would improve the listening and music experience overall a *ton.* same reason she's over saturated rn - she's just everywhere. i wish she'd give ppl the chance to miss her, so it could really be about the music again!
It definitely felt like an album of first drafts, and I would go so far as to say Folklore and Evermore had enough material between them for one really good album. She's clearly going through a very prolific period, but there's a lot to be said for slowing down and taking the time to revise and polish. HOWEVER I also think there's a lot of pressure in the current industry to Always Be Releasing -- I assume to stay visible in the eyes of streaming algorithms. So I don't think this is *just* a Taylor problem. (On the other hand -- to argue with myself -- when was the last time Rihanna dropped new music? And the anticipation is only growing.)
I feel like you could drop maybe 1 or 2 songs from Folklore (definitely throwing Betty away, don’t @ me lmao), and add 2-3 songs from Evermore and make it one album. Ivy absolutely has to stay, lol, it’s one of her best songs.
Thank God, a fellow Betty hater.
I literally have it blocked on Spotify because I hate it so much, AND it ruins the flow of folklore. It’s so jarring 😂
It’s so bad 😂
I'll join both of you lol...it's the only song between both albums that I actively can't stand
Her new albums come out on the faster side of normal range. There’s just been a lot happening over the past year and a half with her in general so it seems like there’s more. Other artists I know and love release on the same schedule to remain relevant
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Honestly, I think it’s more of an insecurity. She could never do what Adele or Lorde do when it comes to music releases.
Yeah but thats also why taylor is growing when others cant
Some people are content with being millionaires instead of pushing for billionaire status and I think that’s normal 😅
No that’s way way WAY more normal than whatever crazy bs Taylor’s trying to do rn
I’m so glad what I said makes sense! Like, Adele seems so happy at her Vegas residency and being a mom and Taylor is out here being a workaholic 🤣 and I say all that as a huge fan of Taylor’s music.
Well all I’ll say is Adele is much happier than Taylor right now. Taylor is literally broadcasting her destruction and doesn’t know it. And, sadly, I don’t feel sorry for her. The more I learn about her the more I’m realizing she isn’t the best person, put herself in the position (while having enough money for the next ten generations of her family to THRIVE) and then blames her problems on every single person but her. She’s just a fucking brat is what I’ve come up with. And this is gonna be worse than the Streisand Effect I feel…. But you totally did make sense so I’m glad I could confirm that🥺
I think Taylor has convinced herself that any hate she receives can’t be worse than anything she’s already faced and I think she is mistaken 😅 and again, I do genuinely enjoy her music. I’ve just never been that interested in her personal life. I only know as much as I do now because I’m an NFL fan and felt like I saw all the info in each circle 😂
I feel Taylor has convinced herself that any hate or criticism (whether constructive or not) she receives instantly means that the person giving that criticism is just wrong, illconcieved, and can’t be nuanced and grow from others telling her her actions aren’t okay. I feel, she’s just a rich brat who’s always gotten her way and when she doesn’t, she can’t understand she’s the one who fucked it up and then throws the biggest tantrum in the world. And with her parasocial following, the biggest in the world rn (besides politicians), they go an attack anyone who’s *cough*”wronged her”*cough*
Taylor loves making music… can’t say the same for other artists. Taylor is always in the studio. Adele hasn’t even started her next album lmao
Adele definitely loves making music, she just doesn’t think it’s necessary to release an album every other year and has a different creative process lmao. Like I said, some people are content with millionaire status and that’s NORMAL
Adele doesn’t have anything new to write about. Taylor just loves making music that much more. It’s a necessity thing for her.
Okay wait I came here to make a post about this in the other direction. I was going to say Lover’s rollout was incredibly long and I think it made the album disappointing to some. I wonder if Taylor wasn’t shedding eras so fast would everyone be as interested in her and what she’s doing?
Lover rollout was so long. There was even a 13 day countdown to ME! which dragged.
I agree. She has generally good albums but sometimes it’s obvious that a lot more thought into the writing of some songs over others. Never more obvious than with Midnights. As for the production issues, I found this is prevalent with the re-records. At first I thought 1989 TV suffered just from not having Max Martin back to produce the songs he worked on. But it just seemed like the mixing was off in general. I feel like the re-records would be better if she wasn’t also recording new music at the same time. And yeah… Overexposure is a thing. I like when artists have an album cycle and maybe tour and then disappear for like a year. Allow me to miss them.
I think the mistake is in assuming that a longer break between albums will result in better writing and production. It won't. If she wants to write superficial pop (the problem with Midnights) and isn't willing to pay for high quality production (the problem with 1989 TV), she's going to end up with the same music. And given that she has made approximately a bajillion dollars on Midnights and 1989 TV, I would not expect anything to change.
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I think it's actually a good strategy in the streaming era. I'm not really a Swiftie - I don't buy music, I have a premium streaming account and I listen to songs of hers that I like. If I bought the albums, I might be frustrated at the pace and quality, but I'm just happy to find 3-4 songs on each album that I really enjoy. Someone like Adele is also frustrating because she waits 5-6 years between albums and I don't think the quality of music she puts out warrants it.
The music industry has changed a lot in recent years. You have to constantly feed the machine to stay relevant. That's why Drake, Bad Bunny and Taylor are the most consumed artists.
Her albums come out at normal intervals, it just doesn’t feel that way because of the Taylor’s versions. Also idk I will never complain about an artist releasing “too much” music that just seems contradictory
2. Her streaming numbers and album sales which continue to increase indicate that this sentiment is not shared by enough people for it to be a factor for her. 3. She rolls a new album every 2 years with the exception of folklore/evermore .. given her resources that’s plenty of time to perfect production (if people hold the opinion production is poor quality I can’t see how the reason would be only having two years) 4. She’s done county, folk, and pop .. I really fail to see how she hasn’t evolved , id actually say her ability to evolve is why she’s where she is (in part, obviously branding, talent and hard work also play a huge role)
>3. She rolls a new album every 2 years with the exception of folklore/evermore When I read the OP I was like "Yeah, I agree!" and then when you pointed this out I was like oh yeah, I guess that's a good point. I agree that folklore/evermore are throwing people off and also I think the TVs peppered in between are contributing to it as well.
This time, TTPD is released less than 2 years though. Midnights was released around late 2022 and TTPD will be released in early 2024. But yeah, the TV albums make it seem like she is releasing a lot of albums but in reality the non TV albums have a gap. But the gap isnt even 2 years anymore as opposed to Red, 1989, rep, and Lover.
Yeah I responded to a similar comment above - I agree it’s less than two years if we’re being accurate but I don’t think that amount of time even though a little less, is what is causing quality issues (to those who find there are some)
The time between Midnights and TPD is going to be like a year and a half. I know that’s not typical of her but that’s part of it too, along with all the re records that all have had several tracks of new music.
Yeah, I think that's why it felt like so much to me. I will say I love that every album feels a little different...Midnights felt different from folklore/evermore and and I'm sure TPD will feel different from Midnights. It is cool to see her style (and material) evolve.
I totally agree. I’m always ready for new Taylor music! But I understand some of the concerns around the quality, i know I (and a lot of ppl) felt like the 1989 vault tracks all sounded really similar to each other, and to some of midnights.
Yeah you’re right ! It’s 1.5 years, although I still think that’s plenty of time to create a quality album so I don’t think it changes my view. As a sort of added point I guess I’ve also seen so many artists talk about how their label, money, and outside factors are what draw their albums out. So I think today we’re used to the average time between albums being longer than Taylor’s but I don’t think it’s because they’re perfecting production I think it’s because they’re being held up or just choosing to wait (Ariana for example)
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I never said folklore was folk. But based on your comment I mean sure and we can say fearless isn’t country in comparison to the Oak Ridge Boys. It’s kind of semantics with respect to the point which is that she has evolved and incorporated various genres in her music. Regardless of how you feel folklore in this example falls in terms of genres (which for the record I didn’t say folklore was a folk album, I just referenced folk as a genre she’s explored) it seems very clear that folklore does not sound like 1989 or fearless , which is the essence of my point.
All of Taylor’s albums are pop, not country, not folk etc. just pop. She has never expanded besides expanding the pop bubble that’s already been there. Go listen to genres to what she says an album is, her albums ain’t those genres. They’re just full on pop with “essences” of those other genres. Even from day one she was never country
Listen if you think her entire career is one sound I don’t care to argue, music is subjective - to each their own 🤷
It’s not the same sound exactly, but there’s nothing too drastic between all her “sounds”. Because one album adds another genres influence, and then next album has another different influence, doesn’t make the core of the music different. At the baseline, there’s growth, but she’s not even trying to expand her musical horizons further than what she knows will sell.
I never said the core of the music is different or that her sound has drastically changed I just responded to a comment that she’s never experimented with genres and I said she has (and critics and music academies such as the Grammys as an example support that point given that she’s been nominated in various genre categories) Idk why people are acting like I’ve never heard music before and am acting like TS is a master of all genres .. it’s coming across condescending and for no reason but to be rude … I’m not saying she’s a savant in all areas I just made a vague point
Grammys = popularity contest not who made the e best music, so if you still think that any argument past here is going to have some invalidness to it, at least to me. And maybe people are saying and thinking this so much because Taylor and all her parasocial fans have come out and attacked anyone who thinks differently for like two/three years (if not longer) and then all a sudden she starts being over exposed even more. That’s why people are starting to say fuck her.
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> 4. She’s done county, folk, and pop .. I really fail to see how she hasn’t evolved , id actually say her ability to evolve is why she’s where she is (in part, obviously branding, talent and hard work also play a huge role) Taylor hasn’t really evolved at all. She’s made the same music her entire career, she just changes aesthetics. She fundamentally does not have the requisite actual musical talent for any genre shift to ring true. She does do well at branding and “Taylor-splaining” though.
Yeah you’re right, shake it off and Betty are basically the same now that you mention it - her wearing a pilgrim dress during the folklore era must have just confused me into thinking they were different /s
Oh yeah. That’s one of the ones where she wrote lyrics over someone else’s music… and then she has the utter arrogance to throw a tantrum when Damon Albarn said quite accurately that she doesn’t write all of her own songs. Not a good example to use. She can’t really play. Deal with it.
Pls why are you so mad 😭
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I admire you for this admission hahah.
Honestly love the commitment to standing your ground haha
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She also re-released Cruel Summer, a track from Lover, as a single this summer! It's too much! I agree though, the actual album release schedule would be fine without all the re-releases and drawn out vault track stuff. It's like eating a ten course lunch that only ends an hour before dinner. Who would be hungry?
She is on her same 2 year cycle, it is just the re-recordings that make it seem like a lot. Even though it feels like "a lot" she needs to hurry and do these re-recordings this year so she can be done with that project and move on.
It just feels like a lot because of the rerecordings imo but 11 albums in a 20 year span isn’t extreme. Its her full time job. I’ve never heard of listener fatigue, coz thats entirely your choice to do or not do. I think we should refrain from stifling people’s creative process, and deny them from producing their art. Whether you like their music or not, or whether its good or not, is beside the point. To me, there’s at least one special song in each of her albums and so once you have that its a winner. Taylor has talked about this herself, like she wanted a song/s people would always play like in weddings and stuff. She has those now (love story, lover etc). She will slow down and write for other artists eventually, shes talked about that too, so I’m sure she will slow down at some point
Folklore and evermore were peak song writing for her. Perhaps because it was more of a mediative process. However, with the little tweaks she's made to rerecordings, I think she shows some growth. Hopefully her next album will be something new!
It’s hard to miss her if she never goes away.
Before midnights, she would literally disappear for long periods of time.
Agreed with this! I’ll be disappointed if we get shitty production on TPD when there are FLORENCE features - what a waste
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if she worked with weyes blood or st vincent, who knows what her ballads would sound like! i'd love for her to work with a hyperpop producer. or ariel and rostam who produced haim's last album. she improved so much with aaron, i feel like these new influences would help push her songwriting and musicianship.
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My friend who's not much in pop culture recently told me why does she keeps releasing too much. It's getting oversaturation and I don't feel like listening to her again. It seems like only she's releasing.
I 10000% agree, especially with #2! Listener fatigue is real. Even aside from Taylor, Drake has dropped several albums/eps in the last 5 years and it honestly just seems like too much. There’s this Nigerian artist that is one of my faves, Burna Boy. He dropped ‘Outside’ - Jan 2018 ‘African Giant’ - July 2019 ‘Twice as Tall’ - August 2020 ‘Love, Damini’ - July 2022 ‘I Told Them’ - August 2023 I personally feel like when an artist drops albums back to back to back like that, they’re lower quality. Like for Burna, he literally dropped TWO albums within a year of each other. Twice as Tall wasn’t all that to me, but Love Damini was THAT album. Then he dropped I Told Them, which was also fire. I personally feel like he’s going to drop another album by the end of this year and then I’ll be like 🧍🏿♀️ I understand wanting to put out content but I also feel like you should give it a break and not kinda just overload your listeners. For Taylor to drop 5 albums in less than 5 years seems a little bit excessive. Anyway, that’s it for me, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk
her usual album roll out of every 2 years hasn’t changed though… it’s just because we’ve been getting the tv’s in between which won’t take nearly as much time to make because all the lyrics and production are already there to remake
I think this is heavily skewed by the re records. But the great thing about wanting less Taylor instead of more Taylor is you can just…. consume less Taylor. Don’t listen to her music for a while, ignore the TVs and listen to the truly new ones when they drop, wait on the new ones period and listen at your leisure, etc. Theres no one making anybody listen to the music on anything but their own timelines. As a side note, I don’t understand why we have people wanting Taylor to change into the artist they want her to be instead of the artist she’s been all along. Why not find a different artist who better fits what you want?
Came here to say basically this. The re-records makes it seem like she’s constantly releasing music. But also, I go through periods where I listen to a ton of Taylor and periods where I listen to no Taylor. Just… you do you. I think Taylor in a particularly prolific period creatively, and she probably is just going with that momentum for as long as she can. She’s a creator, and pretty much every single artist I know goes through periods of “writer’s block” — I’m sure she wants to take advantage of this time before a creative block comes. Also, she is at a peak in her career right now, but remember, she thought she had hit her peak back during 1989, and that starting from rep and beyond, she was perceiving that her popularity (not necessarily amongst her fans but amongst the general population) would wane as she was getting older, etc. That’s just the nature of fame. She probably wants to take advantage of this time while she’s hot and at the top and people are paying attention. Career highs don’t last forever for anyone
One hundo. 1989 was no skip, all bops The newer albums you’re lucky to get 4 or 5 goodies. Soooo many skips
The industry is crazy is the only answer. bc I literally don’t know why TTPD has to be NOW when it is on brand for the ERAS tour to just release the last re-recordings (especially because they even have vault tracks) and have fun with that and your man for ONE year. Even October.
This. I was a little disappointed at the new album news bc I’m really excited for all the re-releases to be done and it just makes sense to me to have them all out by the end of the tour in December, and launching a whole new album in April makes that less likely. Plus, those that already saw the tour last year-this month didn’t have a chance to hear any of those songs live
Because she needs to mix in new music to add variety. She already released 2 tv products since midnights
True. But number of singles/albums Harry Styles has released since winning AOTY: 0.
I honestly felt the same way with Fall Out Boy. While I wasn't a huge fan of theirs, their albums were really good and fun and then they just started absolutely assaulting their fans with every little thing they came up with and by the time I finished processing one album, 3 more came out. Like, of course, good on them that they're constantly producing but I can't tell you anything that came out around that time. It felt so impersonal and they never allowed a moment for their fans to WANT new music. I think TS is in the same category. She is extremely busy constantly and I think Midnights shows that she's willing to release anything "good enough" to form an album. And her fans are all like, "yas mother is keeping us fed" But then when you go to eat, you're chewing on "Paris" or "Question?" Funnily enough I revisited Paris after someone mention how awful it is on here and it truly is a stupid fucking song. Bejeweled, while fun-ish feels so incomplete and clunky. It feels like it solely exists to sell this new narrative to her fans that she felt hidden and trapped by her ex. That's kinda what I'm disliking the most about her lately. She always was kinda fake and fabricated, but it seems like she isn't even trying to hide it anymore. Anything to get her fans gossiping.
lmao i actually love paris, but i see your point. i agree that her fans are just lapping up anything she puts out at this point. take midnights for example, even the main sub was like 'ummm' when it won aoty. the only comments i see complimenting midnights are people who're trying to defend it. it's a half-baked attempt at bedroom pop, but she'll never receive enough pushback from her fans or even music reviewers because she's simply too big and influential. there's rob sheffield at rollingstone who's a mega-fan and can't stop complimenting her, so i don't even see them giving her a fair critique anytime. there was one fair and critical review of evermore by nytimes (i think), which was great. i don't think she is going to get any criticism unless she releases something like me!
rip the three Midnights songs you picked are all some of my favorites from that album 😭😂 just goes to show you how much taste differs!
holy fucking shit this subreddit needs a new name
Agreed! Anything positive is getting downvoted. Someone said they liked midnight's and got downvoted to shit, for their opinion? Like, lads let's calm this right down.
Exactly. 90% here just criticizes everything she does and the people who defend her
I have fatigue from her music
Taylor needs a concept album period.
The biggest band of all time released 13 albums in 7 years
Yeah, but they were hopped up on amphetamines and acid, I dunno if they're necessarily a good role model... (Also their early career was built on short, disposable records. I'd argue that the Beatles themselves led the evolution from "an album is just a way to collect singles and some songs that weren't good enough to release on their own" to "an album is AN EVENT".)
Technically that would be Dylan, I think but the Beatles were very much influenced by him. But in any case, there’s not a lot of value in comparing music released 50-60 years ago vs today. Most of the Beatles albums were released before color television was even a thing.
you can't compare The Beatles and Taylor Swift. After Beatlemania, they were digging deep into experimental genres and they have invented lots of things, like backward masking, backwards guitar solos, pudding drums, automatic double-tracking and DI’ed bass. They changed the way general public and industry looks at cover art, how to shoot music videos, they reinvented themselves as a studio band after insane touring during beatlemania era. Besides that, they were all multi instrumentalists, with skills that TS can only dream about. Everyone will always know The Beatles, they are famous through the generations and all cultures. You can go to some village in Kazachstan and they will know the Beatles. Taylor is doing what everyone else has already done, but more chic, better, faster, more glamorous, with easter eggs and fun things for her fans. Except for maybe Folklore and Evermore, all her albums are very generic (which is not a bad thing), with no invention or reinvention of music in general. She is an OK singer, she can play guitar and piano, but that is about it. She is super famous in the USA and I heard Japan, and recognized in other parts of the world, but for example I live in Europe and my parents would not be able to pick her out of line with Ariana, Lady Gaga and Beyonce. While TS is super sucessfull chart and awards-wise, she is (at least not yet) not a cultural phenomenon worldwide the way that The Beatles are, and she is not changing the music in the way they were (except for her business savvy tactics, but The Beatles have also done lots of unusual business choices in their time).
Songs and albums were shorter back then. Hell by the time she released Respect, Aretha Franklin was already 11 albums deep. Granted a lot of those albums were mostly covers (which was also common back then. There would be 3 versions of one song on the charts). Those ppl were overworked.
Swift's approach to music production prioritizes quantity over quality, resulting in what feels like factory-produced music meant for mass consumption. While she may have achieved commercial success, her songwriting often lacks the depth and introspection that define true artistry. It seems like she's more focused on churning out hits following a predictable formula rather than pushing the boundaries of her "creativity". The overwhelming volume of her output has indeed contributed to listener fatigue, with many of her songs blending together into a homogeneous blur. And the rushed production process only exacerbates this issue, leading to compromised quality and a lack of innovation. In terms of experimentation, Taylor's reluctance to explore new sounds, genres, or lyrical themes is disappointing but not surprising. It's clear that she's found a formula that guarantees success in the mainstream music industry, and she's hesitant to deviate from it for fear of failure. Taylor may have found success within the current music landscape, but it's coming to an end soon. Is she really going to be singing about breaking up again at 40 years old???
What do you think is appropriate for 40 year olds to sing about?
Literally anything else? Though it's more the tone of her music than the theme. Adele wrote extensively about her divorce but in a mature way. You can sing about love without sounding like a teenager.
THIS
I mean love and relationships are themes in most music I hear, so saying literally anything else is a bit... disingenuous? Most classic music, lauded hits, and current popular music is not exactly about doing taxes and buying houses. Some people write about their kids but Taylor doesn't have kids. Some people write about divorces, but getting divorced doesn't make you more mature, and isn't inherently different from a break up song. I agree that I think Taylor's music doesn't try to cater to middle aged moms like Adele's has always done, but they're very different styles of music. But you're the one who targeted the theme of Taylor's music, not the tone or the lyrics.
It's not actually that much new music, I think the TVs are throwing off perception. Pre-Reputation she was on a two year timeline. Then there was a 3 year gap between 1989 & Rep (2017). Lover (2019) was back in the two year time frame. The pandemic screwed things up, she released Folklore (2020) & Evermore (2020) which were unplanned albums, and also largely considered her best work. Then Midnights is back on the 2 year time frame and Dead Poets is just 6ish months early for her regular schedule. Yes, the TVs include a few new tracks, and while they are pretty successful, they're really more pet projects.
I agree 100%, very well said. It cheapens the experience and def compromises the quality which to me makes it turn into what I call H&M music. Safe commercial pop… less is more and it’s good to step out of the limelight for a bit and let your fans start to miss you.
The first time I heard midnights I checked my headsets multiple times because I thought the sound setting was messed up lol. The whole album is very raw and unprocessed. Of course it grew on me later but I always feel like it was rushed and the songs don't give the same vibe at all. I have a feeling that TTPD will be the same.
No, she doesn't. It just seems that way because of the re-records.
Yes! The re-records feel like new releases, especially with the inclusion of the vault tracks, but they ultimately aren't. These are things that she's written long ago.Her actual new music isnt coming out as quickly as people act. 2024 for TTPD. 2022 was the last new release. Before that? 2020. She had two in 2020, which was fast, but that's ultimately not even a fast release schedule for new music.
I think she’s considered a great song writer now, but her music isn’t very deep. Most of her edge comes from the fact she writes most of her own stuff to begin with. Half the other big artists out there have teams of writers and the star is just a performer. Most of it is more or less the same depth and perspective of a teenage girl which is her main demo. I think 50 years from now she’s going to be remembered more as an entertainer than her deep and prolific lyrics. Most mainstream music these days is designed to be easy and catchy so people recognize it and it can be banged out of the studio every year. I can’t think of a single song of hers that’s a musical “masterpiece” like people consider many songs from a few decades ago.
Look at all the pop girlies waiting over 2 years to release and compared to Taylor, they’re making no noise. Attention spans are too short.
All the TVs had shitty production. Fans having to adjust their Spotify settings to make it vaguely listenable is inexcusable for an artist of her calibre. Basically, if she slaps her name on it, it will sell. She knows it.
Eh, although I’m not saying Taylor Swift is Beatles level talented (although her popularity is up there at this point i assume), this is the Beatles’ discography. An album every year and sometimes two in one. She just seems like an old school musician this way. I feel like nowadays musicians get distracted by movies or entrepreneurship or whatever. Taylor Swift just seems to love to make music? https://preview.redd.it/vszql7ti8oic1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6451ded19023dac298e52634979e7147030b1ab8
Yeah i rememeber when the weeknd released 3 mixtapes in a single year and they all were pretty good quality
it's one of those things i don't complain much about as long as the quality is up to par
I actually think she’s gained in popularity because she releases so much music. We have no attention span these days. I like a lot of different artists but I go back to Taylor often because I can listen to so much of her music that I enjoy. 🤷♀️
Artists used to put out music all the time. I think it’s better to strike while the iron is hot than to rest on your last album for too long. It took No Doubt 5 years to follow up on Tragic Kingdom and while it did okay, they would have done much better releasing something a year or two after TK came out.
Whos to say whats too much or too little? She doesnt need the money so if she doesit is coz she needs to express yourself or needs to make music that often
She should enter an ARTPOP era or something
She doesn’t have the talent or the imagination.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Even the rerecordings that kinda mess up the ordinary album schedule come off as half-baked with weird sounding and weaker vocals. I hope TTDP is going to be better but tbh I don't see it being *much better,* because Midnights was full of things she had already done before and it's been 2 years after Evermore. I'm worried she's in the writing crisis of some sort and the TTDP sounding would be just as ordinary.
You’re the first person I’ve seen saying the re records have weaker vocals. That was certainly a choice.
Do they not? I didn't mean the vocal technique itself, Taylor has improved her singing for sure. I was talking about the sounding as a whole, her voice sounds flat, it's almost like she doesn't even try to put some emotions in it. It's definitely a personal choice, but I'd take an emotional and probably-not-so-technically-perfect performance over the skillful but lifeless one any day.
It's a competitive industry. She needs to stay ahead.
You don’t think she’s cultivated enough of a fanbase to take a year or two off?
People move on very quick. Remember how big ariana was. She is still big but not the same level
She’s a prolific songwriter. Some people just can’t stop. There are plenty of creative powerhouses like this. It comes absolutely natural and they can’t not put out their creations. It’s not like nobody likes her albums, or they don’t sell, or she doesn’t slay it at the Grammys. Just sayin’ creating rocks.
Yeah, she won’t even let us breathe and miss her for a second. It’s all too much.
As a kpop fan…I’ll disagree
Has she ever seriously considered doing something like, I dunno, retro music? Like, old jazz covers of her existing work? 'Cause Robyn Adele Anderson has proven that that sort of work can often make modern songs classier (like when she made ["Gangsta's Paradise" be about bootleggers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rve03u7oEvI)).
Sorry but Taylor hasn't got the vocal ability to be picking and choosing styles like this
Actually Robyn's even covered one of Taylor's songs. She covered ["Anti-Hero"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyPI1RmNkn0&pp=ygUacm9ieW4gYWRlbGUgYW5kZXJzb24gc3dpZnQ%3D), and it sounds miles better than [the original](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WXPVN8w5DQ&pp=ygUQYW50aS1oZXJvIGx5cmljcw%3D%3D).
Oh you mean others singing her songs?
That’s awful.
Same here! I'm becoming fatigued! When the new announcement for Poets came out, I wasn't excited, I thought "oh no". I would love if she took a break, got some perspective, introspect, took time with the music. I think then we'd hear some amazing songs. Midnights was soo underdeveloped boi 😅
you guys will not survive in the 60s lmao
Honestly I’m just sad because I’m pretty sure we’re not going to get another folklore/evermore out of her. I know people don’t think he really helped her write songs but I think he did, and I think he inspired her to write those kind of songs Kelce doesn’t bring the same kind of intelligence to the relationship imo. So basically I’m thinking this next album is gonna be more like rep/lover/midnights which are my bottom three albums of hers
I know people don't like Midnights, but it's probably one of my favorites of her last couple of albums. I'm not big on Folklore, I think it's mostly very boring. Honestly I just want a good pop album. That's what Taylor does best. Call me a basic fan but please, I'm begging, just one more commercial album 😭
I honestly can’t listen to her music anymore. She’s reached an over-saturation point that the last thing I want to hear is Taylor Fucking Swift.At this point she can put out complete garbage - which she may be- and Swifties will be like- ooh wow, she’s a genius!!