Album Anniversary: Lover | Taylor Swift
Spelling is fun!
TAYLOR, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?!?!?! 4 years after the release of Lover, we’ve still got questions about some of the songs included on this record. Despite the success it’s having 4 years later, it’s easily the most chaotic of all her albums but includes some of her finest and worst work.
At one point, this album signaled the downfall of Taylor Swift. Released in April 2019, lead single ME! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic of The Disco) could not reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 due to the behemoth that was Old Town Road. It also could have been a better song. Taylor thinks so, too. After she was bullied by Swifties into removing the “Hey Kids! Spelling is fun!” lyric, she also did not include the track during the Lover set during The Eras tour. This is the only lead single from all her albums she does not include during the set.
The problem with this album lies in its single choices. After ME! (#2, 20 weeks) came You Need To Calm Down (#2, 21 weeks), Lover (#10, 22 weeks), and The Man (#23, 8 weeks). Taylor clearly had a strategy for what songs she wanted the general public to hear on the radio. Still, they were rejected and had no longevity (by Taylor’s standards).
In my ethnography of Swifties, it’s rare to find individuals who identify Lover as their favorite album. This phenomenon fascinates me because many Swifties will include songs from Lover in the top 5 lists. Cruel Summer, Lover & ME! (often by the delusional wing of the fanbase) are regularly named as her most excellent work. Perhaps Lover doesn’t rank well among swifties in favor of having a more “unique” opinion (“I’ve been a swifty forever, so debut is my favorite.” energy)
All in all, Lover is one of our favorites from the pop queen. Listening to this album in 2023, We still have the same feelings Taylor wanted to draw out of us with this record when it was released.
Check out our favorite tracks, listen to the album, and see our scores below:
Can’t Miss: Cruel Summer, Lover, Death by a Thousand Cuts, Afterglow
You Can Skip: ME! (hell yeah we said it)
BY THE NUMBERS
Bennett’s Score: 7.3
Carson’s Score: 7.1
Album Score: 14.4
Notes from Bennett:
FIRST & FOREMOST:
ME! is not good & I’m not sorry about it.
It’s fun, I get it, I just don’t think it holds any weight as a standalone single OR an album track here. I do believe that I hold a bias against this song because of how polarized it is among Swifties. Forget the two-party system, this is the most toxic binary in American culture.
Listening to Soon You’ll Get Better in a post evermore/folklore World is cool. It makes me confused as to why I was so shocked at that folky sound she had on those records when it was here all along.
I’m a bad feminist for not liking The Man. The writing is great it is just not her strongest offering pop-wise, I find the adlib track a bit chougy, and the drums a bit boring, but I do really like the second melody in the post-chorus
Pre Eras-Tour, I wouldn’t pay much mind to Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince and I’m so grateful to be reminded of this song’s greatness by the tour
Death By A Thousand Cuts. ugh wow. gorg. love. the bridge. little indie guitar melody moment, wow. There isn’t a thing about this song that I’m not impressed by.
Notes from Carson:
This album bring me back to so many memories of Blacksburg and college and fall :’) the nostalgia factor is crazyyyy already.
Cruel Summer finally got it’s justice this summer and I am so glad.
“In my feelings more than Drake so yeah” is so funny on I Forgot That You Existed. Song is kinda mid tho.
It is so hilarious that the Swifties bullied Taylor into removing the “Hey kids! spelling is fun!” lyric on ME!. Now can they rally together to get her to change the Better Than Revenge lyric back to the stolen version please.
This album is soooo chaotic with some of her worst songs ever in my opinion (ME!, It’s Nice To Have A Friend, False God, Soon You’ll Get Better) right next to some of the best (Cruel Summer, Lover, Afterglow, Death By A Thousand Cuts).
Lover is so overplayed but the bridge still hits. Will be played at weddings forever. However, I wish Paper Rings was a wedding classic but I think it’s a little too niche. One of the first times I ever DJ’d a wedding (Shemas!!) I played this and i think people liked it but I’m not entirely sure it would work today.
I think half of the 549 million streams of The Man on spotify have to be from my mom. She is lobsessed with that song.
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I was gonna point out your lack of feminism Bennett, but you beat me to the punch so at least you’re self aware
This is the most chaotic review you guys have put out LOL. As a clinically insane Swiftie, I will defend Me! till the day I die... but I can understand the hate the it gets. HOWEVER, I think the purpose of releasing it as the lead single was to completely contradict the Reputation Era that preceded it (she was making a point!), and in order to fully appreciate it you JUST had to be there. Also, Carson's rankings on False God and Soon You'll Get Better is actually so criminal- I said what I said!