Taylor Swift’s Lover album shows she’s determined to record what (she thinks) we want, forever and always
- Her new album Lover has become 2019’s top-selling album in the United States, surpassing A Star is Born soundtrack
- Swift is precise. She’s prolific. She’s predictable. And she keeps getting older without growing up
Every few years, a new Taylor Swift album comes blazing over the kingdom of popular music like some celestial event, perfectly punctual and blindingly bright. But this time around, Swift is sprinkling her comet dust on a very different topography.
A black, gay, make-believe cowboy named Lil Nas X just spent his summer at the top of the charts with a song about horsies, until only recently, when a teenage ASMR freak named Billie Eilish took his place. Our most popular pop has become delightfully outlandish and impossible to predict – two things Taylor Swift has never been.
This brings her entire proposal into focus. Swift is dependable. She’s composed. She’s precise. She’s prolific. And she’s determined to keep giving us what (she thinks) we want, forever and always – which makes her stardom feel so antithetical to the wild-minded pop rebels of yesteryear and right now. Instead of widening the boundaries of her vision, Swift keeps drilling deeper into the centre of it.
What happens once you reach the middle of the middle? Does everything just stop?
The middle of the middle is exactly where Swift’s latest album, “Lover”, stands. It’s as satisfying or as bland of a listening experience as you’re inclined to have. Spontaneity and ambiguity remain her mortal enemies, and across 18 tracks, she vanquishes them 18 different ways. Every melody sounds expertly prim, every lyric feels completely literal. You know what you’re in for, which seems to be the entire point.