
Notes
Not what I expected based on the various cover variants I've seen. This album doesn't sound like a cabaret, which is what I expected. There are some really good songs that I'll definitely be listening to a lot, like The Fate of Ophelia, Elizabeth Taylor, maybe Opalite, and Cancelled. Some others surprised me like Actually Romantic. But some shouldn't have been on this album, like Ruin the Friendship and Honey. And how sad was The Life of a Showgirl, I feel like it was a really good title that was wasted on this boring song. All the others that I didn't mention are just that I've forgotten what they sound like. They were not memorable.
Maybe I'm too old for Taylor Swift? I don't know, but this album sounded so immature to me. So silly. Some of the lyrics were so... meh, so childish. I felt like it was kind of messed up too, like what is she talking about now? Why is this song after this one? Why is she singing about this again? Maybe I just don't think like "I liked this artist so I'm going to make myself believe this song is good" anymore.
But I really liked the first two songs, I wish she had followed that path for the rest of the album. I felt it was too calm and needed to be more danceable (?). It needs to have cabaret music! I was kind of putting expectations on this album, I loved the theme, the photos, I even thought that maybe I would go back to being a swiftie, but after that fiasco that was TTPD, Taylor's new songs never grew on me again :/
In short, it was a really good concept that she wasted on an album that doesn't sound like the theme. Songs with lyrics she's already written, with sounds that already exist on her other albums, that sound better on other albums, some songs work separately but nothing works together, everything is a huge patchwork of her previous work. Nothing new.