Going back to 2012 five years ago today, to look at Taylor Swift's first "pop" record, featuring some of her best, and some of her worst. Some of her most mature, and simultaneously, least.
Release date: 22 October 2012
Record Label: Big Machine
Genre: Pop, country, rock
Best songs: "All Too Well", "22", "Begin Again", "State Of Grace", "Come Back... Be Here" (Deluxe Edition only)
Worst songs: "I Knew You Were Trouble.", "The Lucky One", "The Last Time" (ft. Gary Lightbody), "Everything Has Changed" (ft. Ed Sheeran)
Rating: 6/10
Well, first off, my sincerest apologies for procrastinating this review for so long. But since the fifth anniversary of this album is the day of posting, I figured, why not today? Let's just right into it, shall we?
The album opens up with "State Of Grace", an... alternative rock song. Interesting. The song reminded me a lot of Muse interestingly enough. With the melody being largely driven by electric guitar. I also hear a bit of U2 on this song too. Swift delivers from very powerful vocals to this track, and in my opinion, one of her best vocal performances to date. And then we get "Red", and look, the lyrics are fine. But this song is the same problem I have with a lot of Ed Sheeran material. It sounds like filler for Adult Contemporary radio, and despite this being in a lot of ways, a country song, some of these vocal effects... just no. If she went for less generic production here, I would have loved this, the guitar solo is good, and it has this feeling of intense love that I do like.
Further down, we get "22", a fun single about being young and just having fun. It's funny how she says "dress like hipsters", when she wears a fedora on this record (the kinda hats I like by the way). It's really catchy, and as someone who didn't have a lot of fun throughout my young life, it's a nice little song that just is fun to sing and (probably) to dance to. I also want to talk about the two collaborations. First, "The Last Time". I don't like Snow Patrol really unless it's "Chasing Cars", so I'm already biased. I'm not too fond of his vocals. Gary Lightbody's upper range is weak, and I feel they probably should have harmonized lower. The chemistry just doesn't seem there, and both singers sound like it's a typical day in the studio. The second one is with Ed Sheeran in "Everything Has Changed", and look. It's emotional, they have some nice chemistry, but it's too cute, and taking this as a relationship... no. I could never see Taylor dating Sheeran. It's unconvincing. It's pretty generic in its composition too, a basic acoustic melody. Get this crap outta here!
Now, I want to talk about the single, "I Knew You Were Trouble.". While "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was annoying for a bit, it was pretty fun, and didn't have irritating pseudo dub-step breakdowns. I get hating the guy who's a bad boy, and that you're nothing but a "notch in his belt", he's a douchebag, I get it. But, looking at your relationship history, a lot of who you've dated are these guys who like to fuck and run. Remember John Mayer? The lyrical content itself is fine, but when you're jumping from bad boy to bad boy... girl, it's hard to have sympathy for you. But ironically, after this comes the heartbreaking "All Too Well". Why was this never released as a single? At least in my Top 10 of Taylor Swift songs, possibly my #1. Here, she acknowledges she's not over this guy, reminiscing on the experience, and hey, I can't relate to that because I'm probably going to die alone, but putting myself in your shoes... yeah, I definitely can understand it. Another great vocal performance, with an emotional delivery, and amazing writing. I'm not much a crier, but this song... it's amazing.
Look, this album was better than I remember, but it's showing two sides to Taylor that clash. The mature, understanding Taylor, and the immature teenage Taylor, which doesn't work when you're 22, especially if you're trying to be more mature on other songs. 6/10, there's still some pretty good songs, but the immaturity turns me off a lot of the time, and some of it is just generic and uninteresting. But it also features some of her best songs, and a lot of it's honest. So, if you're a fan, you'll probably like it. If not... I'd say go for "All Too Well", "22", and from the deluxe "Come Back.. Be Here".
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