AUDIO JUNKIE: ‘Taylor Swift: Study in Prolific’


Taylor Swift is a study in prolific on her second new album of the year, and overall, ninth album entitled “evermore.” Released just less than five months after the rootsy, and back-to-basics appeal of “Folklore,” the new album finds Swift at a songwriting hot streak.

Like it’s predecessor, “evermore” (stylized all lowercase as such) is a laid-back affair with minimal to little production from Swift. In place of kiss-off songs and boyfriend burns, Swift focuses on folksy storytelling that at times has a gothic edge.

Starting with the Americana-styled sounding “Willow” wherein Swift sings falsetto on catchy choruses of ‘the more that you say, the less I know / wherever you stray, I follow / I’m begging for you take my hand /wreck my plans, that’s my man.’  And later on she croons ‘life was a willow, and it bend right to your wind /but I come back stronger than a 90’s trend.’

On “Champagne Problems,” Swift employs an oft-used harmonic progression, yet for its familiarity, the song still progresses like a new movie in our minds eye as Swift sings about a man whose girlfriend breaks up with him on the night that he planned to propose to her.

Taylor ditches the sweetheart stories and instead conjures up narratives. One of them, about a tryst on “'Tis The Damned Season” – about a woman who goes back to her hometown and meets up with an old flame who’s already married. She masterfully encapsulates the story in just a few verses as she sings ‘There’s an ache in you, put there by an ache in me / so we could call it even /you could call me ‘babe’ for the weekend.’

Taylor Swift

At fifteen songs, there’s a lot to chew on here: themes of pain, adult love, and in fact, there’s even murder like on “No Body, No Crime,” wherein Swift--with the help of all-sisters country trio Haim, lets their imagination run wild. We meet characters like the tragic Este (killed by her husband on “No Body, No Crime”), the TV star “Dorothea,” the old widow in “Ivy,” and her real-life grandmother in the beautifully emotional ballad “Marjorie.”

Style wise, there’s subdued shimmering pop (“Gold Rush”), piano decked balladry (“Tolerate It”), ambient songwriting (“Happiness”), mid tempo pop (“Long Story Short”) and sonic experimentations (“Closure”).

Just like on “Folklore,” Swift had Aaron Dessner of The National produce much of “evermore.”  Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon also appears on the title track.

This album is sister to “Folklore” as Swift herself stated.  And the reason that drove Swift to create both albums?  To this Taylor Swift said, “I have no idea what will come next. I have no idea about a lot of things these days and so I’ve clung to the one things that keeps me connected to you all. That thing always has and always be music. And may it continue, evermore.”

And on that note, May 2021 be a prolific year for those who yearn to create good things. Whatever it might be; a song, a restoration, a build project or what have you. I hope you all find the time and the drive to just go for it. Don’t let anyone’s opinion of you and the thing you plan to bring into this world become a hindrance. As a saying I once encountered somewhere said: the world needs new.

Happy New Year and a much better 2021 to all!