"Folklore" by Taylor Swift
I grew up on Taylor Swift. I still listen to her. Though it may not be my preferred genre anymore, there’s nothing like blasting “Mean” in your car, or driving around screaming the lyrics to “Lover” at the top of your lungs.
While in the depths of quarantine, I heard that her newest album, folklore, had been released as a surprise and I was so excited. I pushed off listening to it because I wasn’t sure what to expect. Then I heard that folklore was her first indie album. I was ecstatic. I’m a fiend for indie music. For someone as big in the music industry as Taylor Swift, this would be a huge shift. “Indie,” as a term, means that the artist themselves is producing their music, as opposed to having help from a larger record. “Indie” for Taylor Swift would mean transitioning from pop to something more in the realm of soft or alternative rock. I imagined it would be less autotuned, more raw, and increasingly moody.
When I finally got around to sitting down and listening to this album, I was extremely disappointed. It’s not something I would wish on my worst enemy. I don’t understand how this is popular. Is everyone so starved of human interaction that they’ve lost their sense of hearing? Let me also say that folklore is NOT an indie album. It would be a stretch to even call it indie pop. There are no real notes of indie or rock in this album at all, besides “Exile” feat. Bon Iver (which, spoiler alert, is bad because it’s so incredibly boring). This entire album is pop music trying to be indie music, especially “Cardigan.” Pop music is defined as music with a strong beat and catchy, easy-to-remember lyrics. That is exactly what folklore is. It’s trying to be indie by coming across as moody and sad.
The only song I can actively recommend on this album is “the 1.” It’s catchy, fun, and incredibly reminiscent of Swift’s previous album, Lover. Though it’s definitely a sad song, “the 1” has a lovely beat and soothing piano. Yes, I like “the 1,” but if I listen to it next to any other song on the album, it becomes identical to the rest of them. There is no variety. Each song has the same piano instrumental, an identical beat, and similar soft, angelic background vocals.
At first, I thought that maybe there was a different producer for this album than Taylor Swift’s other recent ones. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The same person, Aaron Dessner, has produced 1989, Reputation, and Lover. Each of those albums are far superior to folklore because each song has its own message and distinct sound. folklore’s production was also assisted by the guitarist from The National. The National produces beautiful music with a lot of variety and individuality. Given this information, folklore is even more disappointing because the production could have changed its whole narrative.
Please don’t send me hate mail for this, but this album made my brain feel like mush after listening to it straight through. There isn’t enough variety. folklore is simply a pop album posing as an indie album by making all of the song titles lower-case.
– Ellie Haljun