Swiftmas Review: Lover

Welcome back to my Swiftmas Series. I know it is past Christmas, but Taylor Swift says, “We can keep the Christmas lights up till January.” If you can already tell, the next album that I am reviewing is Lover. Now one of the important things about this album is that this is the first album that Taylor has complete ownership of under a new deal with a new recording company. That is why going forward starting with this album, you won’t see a “Taylor’s Version” next to it or see any hidden vault songs since now she has complete control of what songs can be put on the album. To me, it is an underrated album but it still has some flaws which I will explain later on in the review.

Taylor Swift’s 7^th album, Lover was released on August 23, 2019 through Republic Records under Universal Music Group. This was the first album to be produced after Taylor Swift left Big Machine Records, and also the first that she had complete ownership of. Now, her previous record company still had ownership of her first six albums, but sold them all to Scooter Braun. Let me remind you that Taylor wasn’t happy that she wasn’t able to own her original music and that Scooter also worked with controversial people such as Kanye West. Then, that led to Taylor to start re-recording her albums a couple of years later. Now, back to Lover; as you can tell by the album title, it can be described as a romantic type, but it is more about different types of love. Examples include, love for your family, loving yourself, and even love for the LGBTQ+ community. It is the complete opposite to her previous album, Reputation where there are many escapist fantasy elements mixed with pastel colors and cotton-candy skies. Think of it as a mix between Speak Now, Red, and some elements of 1989 along with a bit of Fearless. Since the album showcases not just relationship love, it shows that Taylor is moving on and how much she has matured compared to her teenage years.

Lover debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart becoming Taylor Swift’s sixth album to hit #1 in its debut. It also makes this the 5^th album to hit #1 in the 2010s decade being tied with Lady Gaga for the most #1 albums in the decade among women. It also sold 679,000 copies in its first week, making it the largest sales week for any album since Reputation and also became the first album to be streamed in its entirety on all streaming platforms. It even became the second-biggest streaming week ever for an album by a woman. It won AMA’s (American Music Awards) for “Favorite Pop/Rock Album,” “Favorite Music Video” for “Lover,” “Artist of the Year,” “Favorite Female Artist in Pop/Rock,” “Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist” and “Artist of the Decade.” It was nominated for three Grammy’s including, “Best Pop Vocal Album,” “Song of the Year” for “Lover,” and “Best Pop Solo Performance” for “You Need to Calm Down,” but did not win any of them. That could be because Taylor was facing some tough competition at the Grammy’s that year with Billie Eilish taking home many awards but I don’t mind since both of them are my favorite artists. It became Billboard’s Best-Selling Album of 2019 and Taylor also became the first ever recipient of Billboard’s Woman of the Decade. The album also won VMA’s for “Video of the Year” and “Video for Good” for “You Need to Calm Down.” The music video for “Me!” broke the Youtube record for the most views in the first 24 hours for a lead female video and second most viewed overall of 57.1 million views. The album broke records with all 18 tracks charting on the Hot 100 simultaneously, and achieved platinum status within a month of release by the RIAA.

There was supposed to be a tour planned with this album called “Loverfest” which was in the form of summer festivals. Unfortunately, that got canceled due to the pandemic which is really devastating as it would have been interesting for Taylor Swift to host a music festival. I don’t know if she will try to do something like that again despite coming off of a massively successful “Eras Tour,” but it would be cool. Speaking of the “Eras Tour,” I am sure some elements of that cancelled tour were incorporated in her “Lover” era set which is why it is the first era that Taylor performs at the beginning of the Eras Tour. Plus, one of those songs starts off with “It’s Been a Long Time Coming” since it will have been a while since Taylor last went on tour which was the “Reputation Stadium Tour.” Another reason to not be worried about “Loverfest” being cancelled is because that is when Taylor Swift made her next album, Folklore, in the midst of the lockdowns.

There are a total of 18 songs in this album in which they are listed below. It includes 5 singles and 4 music videos.

1. I Forgot That You Existed

2. Cruel Summer

3.  Lover

4.  The Man

5.  The Archer

6.  I Think He Knows

7.  Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

8.  Paper Rings

9.  Cornelia Street

10. Death by a Thousand Cuts

11. London Boy

12. Soon You’ll Get Better (Ft. the Chicks)

13. False God

14. You Need to Calm Down

15. Afterglow

16. ME! (Ft. Brendon Urie)

17. It’s Nice to Have a Friend

18. Daylight

To reflect the light-hearted and upbeat theme of this album, there are instrumental elements of mostly low-lying synthesizer pulses and reverbed beats along with the return of some acoustics. Once again, it is mainly a electronic pop album that some first time listeners won’t even know that Taylor Swift was once a country music artist.  

As you are probably aware by now, Taylor Swift’s albums have this trend of having the 5^thsong on the tracklist be the most vulnerable and emotional. For Lover, that song is “The Archer” which is emotional and vulnerable on a different level. The last few of these 5^th songs on the albums all had to do with relationship in some form, but this song is more about being vulnerable yourself as it speaks about Taylor being both “the hunter” and “the prey” which are both roles she has played in her personal life. Now in the last two reviews, I mentioned that the songs were kind of surprising, but questionable choices because they didn’t fit the emotional and vulnerable trend. However, this song does go back on that track as it talks about being vulnerable yourself and finding love despite showing all of your flaws. On a technical standpoint, I think the synthesizers were overused in this song as it didn’t make it sound as emotional as it should be. In fact, it almost sounds like the song is in autotune, maybe if it used piano and acoustics to make it sound like a slow ballad, it would be a perfect 5^th song. Honestly, it sounded much better when it was performed live during the “Eras Tour.”  

Out of all the songs in this album, my top two favorites have to be “Cruel Summer” and “Lover.” I first heard of “Cruel Summer” when it was performed during the “Eras Tour” which ended up getting a huge resurgence. It belongs with the most iconic summer songs of all time with the music itself sounding warm and upbeat. It is also one of the more memorable songs because everyone will know every word in the lyrics especially the bridge which is why during the “Eras Tour” Taylor will ask everyone to prove they know the words to the bridge and everyone proceeds to scream them out loud. This is one of the most underrated songs on this album, but I am glad it started getting popular again thanks to the “Eras Tour.” “Lover” is the most beautiful song from the melody to the lyrics, and Taylor even sings it so beautifully. It should be one of the most iconic love songs, since it does have “love” in the part of the name. The music video is also iconic as it features the iconic “Lover House” in which all rooms represent each of Taylor Swift’s albums including the next two: Folklore and Evermore. It is even shown in the background during the “Eras tour” and at one point, even gets burned down during “Bad Blood.” In a way the house is a way of Taylor Swift showing love to all of her fans, and that it is HER HOUSE since she is now at the point or regaining ownership of all her albums. Overall, it is a feel-good song and I hope I have that same feeling that is depicted someday.

Lover House from "Lover" Music Video

Okay, here are my personal thoughts on this album. It starts off slow to let us know we are moving away from the dark aesthetic of Reputation and transitioning into the upbeat, romantic, and pastel-colored aesthetic of Lover. Then, like around the 6^th song is when it explodes to bubblegum-like electropop. I was honestly feeling a lot with this album, but it didn’t become over sweetened except for maybe a few songs. What I mean is that I listen to a song that is meant to be sad, but it has an upbeat tempo making me stuck in that cotton-candy color mindset of music. Also, some of the songs do not age well on this album since they refer to her ex, Joe Alwyn when they were in a relationship at the time. I know Reputation also had some songs referring to him, but that album had more things going on surrounding it, and it is a type of revenge album after a breakup so it still ages well. However, she is going to have a lot of different feelings for this guy when she gets to The Tortured Poets Department. Overall, this album will make you visualize warm summer skies, and pastel color fantasy lands.

For my final rating, I am going to give it a 13/15, ranking it below 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Reputation. It is a highly underrated album, and I love the theme, but I am not sure if it is better than the two albums above it. Here is the final ranking listed below:

Ranking of Taylor Swift Albums:

1.    1989 (Taylor’s Version)

1.  Reputation

2.    Lover

3.    Red (Taylor’s Version)

4.    Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

5.    Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

6.    Taylor Swift (Debut)

I will end this Swiftmas review like how I always have been by showing a crochet amigurumi I made of a symbol of each album. For Lover, it is obviously going to be a heart since that is the main symbol of love, and the album cover shows a heart over Taylor Swift’s eye. She also makes that iconic heart sign with her hands during the “Eras tour.” I also want to give a shoutout to “The Woobles” because I learned how to make this heart accessory from them as part of my Mother's Day gift, and I ended up saving the instructions. It only takes three steps to make it, but Woobles accessories are only for those that are already advanced in crocheting which is why you won’t see a pre-started piece in these types of kits. Therefore, it is strong suggested to start with a beginner kit, and then go back to the accessory ones for a challenge. By the way, Woobles isn’t sponsoring this, I just happened to use instructions for something I already made once.

"Lover" crochet heart

That is it for this review in the Swiftmas series. Tune in for the next review where things slow down a bit during a tumultuous time. Another reminder that my student loan challenge is going on, so for every like, view, and comment on this post and on the IG, I will contribute 13 cents each toward my student loans. Have a Happy New Year, and remember: “You are what you love.”