ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Taylor Swift has done it again- leaving critics and fans stunned with the surprise release of her ninth studio album, evermore. 

In the early morning of December 10, Swift announced the surprise drop of evermore, the sister album of her eighth studio album, folklore, and a new music video to be dropped at midnight. 

Prior to the announcement of evermore, in typical Swift fashion, several “Easter eggs” were dropped via social media and an Entertainment Weekly interview, hinting at the new album. Fans suspected a music video for ‘exile’ or perhaps the release of her upcoming rerecordings of past albums. To everyone’s surprise, Swift announced the midnight release of evermore a few days later. 

With a second Bon Iver feature and produced again by Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, the production style on both albums are similar. However, Swift’s comforting lyrics and soft vocals were much needed during this COVID holiday season. 

To many listeners (myself included), folklore represents hurt sorrow, whereas evermore represents the process of healing. Lyrics such as “you haven’t met the new me yet, there was happiness because of you, there was happiness because of you” from ‘happiness’ illustrate new beginnings and recognizing the good and bad after a relationship ends. 

Swift’s storytelling abilities display themself throughout evermore, as the did in folklore. Songs such as ‘’tis the damn season’ and ‘dorthea’ tell the story of a girl who left her hometown to follow her dreams, from different points of view. The character Dorthea narrates in ‘’tis the damn season,’ a song about reuniting with her hometown after living in the big city, and wonders what could have been if she stayed. The song ‘dorthea’ is from a friends’ point of view, who ponders if Dorthea thinks of them after leaving the hometown for a shiny new life. While both songs tell a very specific narrative, they can still be relatable for a specific portion of fans. 

Many tracks on evermore tell specific, yet universal narratives that give the album a much needed personal and comforting feel, especially during these difficult times.