LogFAQs > #976137203

56. Taylor Swift Folklore
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/0/AAeDEnAAE2aa.jpg

@OrangeCrush980

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfiMjLyNWxeZl828zfvlnymKB2c9o3cKp

1. invisible string
2. august
3. exile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ_dWZG5RJU

Here is an artist whose discography I have largely ignored. I dont even really know what sort of music she makes apart from hits like Shake It Off. The first song, the 1, sounds like a post-relationship song, which I know is something Swift specializes in. This is a nice opener but I hope theyre not all like this I dont think listening to an hour of messy relationship songs appeals to me much.

Two songs in and Im not internalizing these lyrics at all, which tells me Im not enjoying the music very much. When Im invested in a song, its easier to pay attention to the lyrics. The songs have similar moody/piano-pop vibes, as does the third song, the last great american dynasty. Im trying not to be harsh when I say this but this sort of music feels very disposable to me: these songs have been entirely interchangeable to me, and theyre out of my head as soon as I hear them. I do like the moment in the last great american dynasty when she ups her voice an octave, that was nice.

I ranked exile 111/164 on my non-vgm ranking two years ago. I wrote that I didnt really like it until the countervocals, and that still holds true.

I am halfway through the album and holy jesus this is not for me. I dont internalize lyrics much (especially, as I said, when Im not into the rest of the song) so that appeal is lost on me. This album, the 26th Ive listened to for the project, is the first time Ive said Maybe this project was a mistake. That alone gets it bottom tier. We finally get the first song I can say I sort of like, eleven songs in: invisible string. I like the overall bounciness tinged with sadness.

I find her songs from the POV of a young person a bit disingenuous. Like she has to keep winking and going, its okay to be clueless when youre young, everybody is. When youre a teenager, would you really think Im only seventeen, I dont know anything? I suspect you would not.

I like that Folklore so far isnt overproduced, a complaint Ill make about at least one other album on this ranking. It feels intimate despite all the instruments and production flourishes. Swift does a good job at maintaining that level of connection with the listener all throughout. Despite the fact that shes, like, a gazillionaire, you get the sense that shes kind of normal, a normal person going through normal things.

Maybe thats why I dont connect with her.