Photo Credit: The Daily Dot

On November 10, 2017, Taylor Swift dropped her most revolutionary album to date. Reputation somehow managed to blend the expectations of pop today with Swift’s own trademark lyrical and romantic ballads, resulting in 15 songs that get better each time you listen. Fans of her country roots and soulful slow songs may be disappointed by this new release, but Swift has grown up. It isn’t fair to hold her to albums produced a decade ago.

As an Apple Music subscriber, I wasn’t willing to wait the “one week to several months” that most internet sources predicted it would take to hear the album on a streaming service. I instead bought the album the night of the tenth on CD, and there’s something to be said for the experience that you get when you spend money on something tangible and have to restart it when it ends.

The album opens with “…Ready For It?”, which quite frankly disappointed me the first time I heard it. The electronic-heavy intro felt like a departure from the Swift who once performed all-acoustic shows, and the music seemed to control her voice rather than the other way around. It wasn’t until I was driving down the highway two nights later, sitting next to my best friend as she turned on the album for the first time, that I recognized the value of the songs designed to be screamed and not just listened to.

“End Game” follows next, featuring Ed Sheeran and Future. Though the song certainly feels repetitive, it’s catchy and reaches a more diverse audience than those who denounced Swift as purely writing about boys years ago. “I Did Something Bad” and “Don’t Blame Me” follow a similar pattern – unpredictable for Swift, but in line with most songs on the radio today.

Track 5, “Delicate”, marks the first musical turning point. Though the first ten seconds would have the listener believe that the song would simply continue to drip with reverbing clichés, the first stanza slows down to a grown-up version of 2012’s “State of Grace”. With the line, “oh damn, never seen that color blue… cause I like you,” Swift solidifies her position as a songwriter for every teenager who just wants to smile at their crush and then blush furiously the rest of the day.

“Look What You Made Me Do” was the first song to drop from the album, and it and “So It Goes…” both detail a relationship gone wrong. Though both are perfect for the anger that can follow a breakup, neither boast sophisticated music or particularly meaningful lyrics. The following track, “Gorgeous”, is another matured return to Swift’s past, reminiscent of “Hey Stephen” with its more innocent description of attraction and hopefulness.

The next song on the album has been adopted by long-standing “Swifties” as a favorite. Moving away from the electronic sound on the first eight tracks, “Getaway Car” is more fluid and silky. Swift lets her vocals carry the tune, which speaks of knowing that one should leave a relationship and looking back on the shared memories. It’s classic Taylor Swift, riding the rollercoaster of emotions along with her listeners and inviting them into her life.

“King Of My Heart” remains slower as well, and its successfulness rides on the lyrics, “and all at once you are the one I have been waiting for.” Though lacking the narrative that previous Swift albums held, the track evokes the feeling of nervous hand-holding and whispers in the schoolyard about who’s going out with who. “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” soars on the smoothness of Swift’s voice. “Dress”, meanwhile, reminds the reader that Swift is 27 years old with phrases like, “I only bought this dress so you could take it off.”

“This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” echoes “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, introducing the audience once more to a vengeful story within a song. Swift tells of a boy who doesn’t deserve what he had when he was with her through changes in tempo in a musically interesting way. Track 14, “Call It What You Want”, sounds at first listen like a last song. It’s polished and focuses on all the best parts of new love, from “making forts under covers” to running away with someone.

The album ends with “New Year’s Day”, the only song to sound completely acoustic on the album. It rings with the kind of naïve, childlike hope that cannot be fabricated. Swift’s masterpiece with “New Year’s Day” comes with tapping into new beginnings and recognizing life for what it truly is – complicated, trying, and utterly rewarding.

It would have certainly been safer for Swift to fill “Reputation” with meaningless and incoherent words about sex and alcohol. Currently number one on the charts, the album instead speaks to a fanbase that has been listening to Swift since “Tim McGraw” and “Our Song”. She remains somewhere to turn for laughter and first dates, crying one’s heart out, and eventually realizing that you’re not alone through the voice of a songwriter who isn’t afraid to tell the truth. Taylor Swift is here to stay.