On her seventh record, Taylor Swift loosens up while remaining as emotionally open as ever.
“Lover” follows up on the messages from Swift’s previous record, “Reputation,” while incorporating the musical style of her much adored “1989.” For fans of Swift, her latest album will not disappoint, but for other listeners, there isn’t much to love on “Lover.”
Swift’s latest 18-track project has a little bit of everything for everyone. On tracks like “I Think He Knows” and “Cruel Summer,” Swift brings back her pop perfection, much of which can be ascribed to industry veteran Jack Antonoff, who co-wrote much of the album with Swift. Other tracks, like “Lover” and “Soon You’ll Get Better,” bring Swift back to her country roots.
Like the album’s title suggests, Swift sings about all that she loves on her newest album, including, her boyfriend, her mother, and the streets of New York. On the emotional country ballad “Soon You’ll Get Better,” Swift sings about her mother’s struggle with breast cancer.
Fans invited to Swift’s Secret Sessions say that Swift had to leave the room when she played the song.
“Cornelia Street,” a reference to the real street in New York Swift once lived on, is about the memories of when she first started dating British actor Joe Alwyn.
Alwyn gets more than one song about him, however. It’s hard for fans to imagine who else “Cruel Summer” and “London Boy” could be about, with the former being a reference to the rocky start to their relationship, and the latter to the Londoner himself. Fans have even theorized that Swift could be engaged to Alwyn based on lyrics in “Lover,” in which Swift imagines an eternal future with an unnamed, but obvious, man.
Regardless of one’s opinion of Swift, her impact on the music industry is undeniable. In the first week after its release, “Lover” sold 679,000 copies and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling more copies than the other 199 albums on the chart combined. Since the shift to streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, albums sold less and less, yet Swift’s fans are still spending their cash on her CDs. As of August 30, the album moved 3 million units globally.
Despite Swift’s fans global impact, Bucks students don’t seem as impacted. Five years ago, Swift was everywhere. Everyone had an opinion of her; they loved or hated her. Now, nobody seems to care. As the pop star creeps toward 30, her fans have also grown up. The pop princess has lost her appeal for college students, many of whom would rather listen to hip-hop or rock music.
“Lover” is no masterpiece, especially when compared to Swift’s other works, but fans of pop music should definitely give Swift’s latest record a chance.