As the editor of the Arts & Entertainment section of the Wheel, it’s my responsibility to ensure that our writers cover important art releases and events both on and off Emory’s campus. When Taylor Swift released her latest album, “Lover,” I asked my entire team of writers to submit a review. No one wanted to. Here are their reasons why.
Aayush Gupta: It is said that music takes you to different places. For Swift’s latest album, “Lover,” this is quite literally the case, as it forces you to either get up and turn it off or go to an entirely different place to spare yourself from listening to it. The album, a self-proclaimed “love letter to love,” seems like yet another misadventure in a string of endless, misfit partners. Perhaps, as her song suggests, Swift may need to “calm down” with the heavy-handed omnipresent breakup metaphors.
Becca Moszka: Nearly as lyrically clever as “Speak Now” or “Fearless,” Swift’s latest album, “Lover,” is filled with enjoyable tracks. Sure, “Me!” isn’t exactly the best-written of songs, but it’s catchy, and Swift is nothing if not iconic for maintaining her music industry prominence over the last decade. “Lover” is a lot like her past six albums: honest, poetic and moving. If every one of Swift’s albums can be summed up in those three words, why is it necessary to grant “Lover” an entire review of its own?
Joel Lerner: Swift’s new album hasn’t slipped under my radar. Having said that, I even find myself queueing it up when I need to study or do a mindless task. But for a complete review? Well, let’s just say you could’ve counted “Me!” out when I first heard the lyrics, “Hey, kids! Spelling is fun!”
Rhett Hipp: I don’t think I have anything to say on the matter that would be very amusing.
Aidan Vick: Swift is one of those weird artists who’s so popular and yet somehow ends up being kind of underrated. She’s not exactly Bob Dylan, but her songwriting is typically good enough that I can enjoy her music if I don’t think about it too much. With that said, there are other albums I am much more interested in reviewing. And “Me!” might be her worst single ever.
Saru Garg: Unlike some of my A&E peers, I didn’t refrain from reviewing Swift’s new album due to any dislike of her or her music. In fact, it’s the opposite. My history with Swift’s music, which I have been listening to for nearly a decade, is actually the first American music of which I became a fan. I have such an extensive and personal connection to Swift’s music that I could never do “Lover” or any of her other albums justice in the span of one article. But even I can agree that “Me!” is maybe the worst song of the year.
Kamryn Olds: I wonder if I would like Taylor Swift more, or at least be less afraid to like her, if she were a man, as she claims on her new album’s fourth track, “The Man.” A passionate, young savant who made a good chunk of her career from songs written about her high-profile relationships with attractive “lovers,” Swift has somehow come to embody the term “basic” in a way that Ed Sheeran and Charlie Puth have not. Perhaps I have outgrown her music, or perhaps, at some point, I just felt safer shutting it off.
Zack Levin: The most interesting aspect of Swift’s newest album is that the world’s biggest pop star released three singles to promote the album, all of which were defeated on the charts by a country-rap crossover song about riding horses with a guest spot by the dad from “Hannah Montana.” The lasting reputation of “Lover” will be, at best, that it existed.
