Now that we know Reputation (Taylor's Version) is probably cancelled, other than maybe From The Vault tracks, I decided to review Reputation. Honestly, I think it's my least favorite Taylor Swift album (not saying much, since Taylor has no bad albums - my ranking from least favorite to favorite would probably be Reputation < Lover < Taylor Swift/Debut < 1989 < Fearless < The Tortured Poets Department < Folklore < Midnights < Speak Now < Red < Evermore), so Rep may not quite match up to the other Taylor Swift albums... but it has quite a few songs on it that are amazing. My first introductions to the album were LWYMMD and Delicate which I found unimpressive (both of which have grown on me) so I wasn't prepared for how much depth was packed into this relatively short 15-song album. Songs like Gorgeous, Dancing With Our Hands Tied, Don't Blame Me, New Year's Day and more combine themes of public attention with her then-developing romance with Joe Alwyn. It's an album all about the complications of love and how they're heightened by fame, scrutiny, and... well, having a bad reputation. The story behind it is a bit complicated, so I'll just leave you to look it up on your own. Anyway, let's see how this album scores!
There will be no further explanation... there will just be Reputation.
1. ...Ready For It?
My rating: 5/5 Great
And we start of strong with a song that I seem to like more than most people do. I think this is such a great way to open the album, as it explores both sides of the overarching theme of the album - the chaos and the darkness of her reputation in this time, and the intimate romantic moments amidst the storm. This is further represented by how the verses have a dark, almost industrial sound to the production, followed by a drop leading to a calm, synthy chorus. And the coolest part is the end - these two elements combine, and it sounds amazing. Overall, this song is such a cool way of opening the album, and it's one of Taylor's strongest track 1s.
2. End Game (with Ed Sheeran & Future)
My rating: 3/5 Decent
Well there's a bit of a dip here. I will say, this used to be one of my least favorite Taylor songs, and the "I hit you like bang" line might be a contender for one of her worst lyrics, but it has only grown on me. Other than the obvious offender, Taylor's rap verse is actually quite good, and so is Future's... but then of course, Ed Sheeran. Ed is infamous for trying and failing to rap on this song and numerous other rap collabs, and I find his verse so bland. I think my favorite part of this song is the "I don't wanna hurt you..." part with the atmospheric synths. The production here is certainly well-made. Ultimately, it's a pretty mid song.
3. I Did Something Bad
My rating: 3/5 Decent
RAHTITITITITITITITITITYAHHTYAHH! Yeah, I'm kinda conflicted on this song. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it, but generally I would say it's pretty middle-of-the-road for Taylor's standards. Obviously I love the aforementioned sound in the post-chorus, but there is another specific sound in this song that really annoys me: the "glitches" at the beginning of each bar in the first verse. Basically in the verse there's what sounds like the plucking of violins, but it cuts on certain beats. It's obviously intentional because of how rhythmically precise it is, but from a distance it sounds almost like a production error and it brings the song down significantly. The production in the chorus, however, is awesome. The heavy bass is a really nice touch to contribute to the "dark" sound. And the lyrics are a highlight... that is, except the bridge. The bridge is a bit repetitive to me, and I'm also not a fan of that weird autotune effect on Taylor's voice. Overall, it's a conflicting song, so I'll end it with the same word I started with... RAHTITITITITITITITITITYAHHTYAHH!
4. Don't Blame Me
My rating: 5/5 Great
The fan favorite, and one of my favorites. This is widely considered a lyrical standout on this album. Thematically, it's a lot like RFI and IDSB about being in love amidst a flurry of bad reputation. Supported by ominous hums, Taylor begins with the powerful, iconic chorus - "don't blame me, love made me crazy / if it doesn't, you ain't doing it right". The production here is amazing, with pulsating synths and massive bass. Essentially IDSB but much cooler. And the vocals are insane, from the low humming to the famous belt in the bridge. And to think she did that every night of the Eras Tour... wow. This song is incredible. Easily my second-favorite on Reputation. My favorite is coming up soon.
5. Delicate
My rating: 4/5 Good
This might be a contender for the "least sad" of all of Taylor's iconic track 5s, along with maybe All You Had To Do Was Stay just because that's more musically upbeat. This was the second song I ever heard from the album, and I get what it's going for, but in my opinion, it's pretty basic as a song. The lyrics are incredibly basic, with repeated refrains of "cuz I like you" and "this ain't for the best" and "is it cool that I said all that?" The simplicity is powerful in some places as it adds to the relatability, but there could've been just a bit more depth. It's another bad-reputation-in-love song, but a much more emotionally charged one with bittersweet (albeit generic) synthy production and lyrics about never knowing what's right to say. It's a great concept, but I don't think it's quite executed to its fullest potential, especially not for a track 5. If I made the tracklist, I would've placed either Getaway Car or Dancing With Our Hands Tied as track 5 instead.
6. Look What You Made Me Do
My rating: 3/5 Decent
And speaking of early introductions to Reputation, this was the first song I ever heard from the album, and I honestly didn't know it was Taylor when I first heard it back in 2017. This is up there with Closure and Getaway Car as a contender for one of Taylor's strangest songs. It's absolutely filled to the brim with these random sound effects - malfunctioning robots, horror movie strings, haunting bells, synth scraping, pitch-shifted vocals, interpolations from Innocent, alarms, an unnecessarily creepy voice that sounds like a yanny/laurel... and then there's the lyrics. Taylor forgot how to write a chorus apparently, so she just repeated "look what you made me do" over the rhythm of I'm Too Sexy. This used to be one of my least favorites, but I think it's just musically interesting enough to place itself in a middle tier.
7. So It Goes...
My rating: 1/5 Bad
Taylor Swift + autotune = never a great song. I understand that the autotune is used as an electronic effect on Taylor's voice to give it this unique sound quality, but... it sounds so out-of-place for Taylor's discography in general. And it's not even like it has some insane production backing it. Honestly, I find the production boring here. It sounds like diet Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince (which is a song I really like and wouldn't change anything about the production, but So It Goes is not it). I'm not a fan of the lyrics either. It's using magic as a metaphor for... yeah, you can figure it out... Reputation has a few sexual songs on it, and this is actually not my least favorite of those, but I just don't really like this song. It's bottom 13 in Taylor's discography for me. Luckily, the album gets better before it gets worse...
8. Gorgeous
My rating: 5/5 Great
YES!!! Now this is my favorite song on Reputation. There are a few of these cute, sorta campy songs in Taylor's discography that I seem to like more than most people do, like Beautiful Eyes, I'm Only Me When I'm With You, Me, etc. And Gorgeous seems to be widely considered one of the weaker songs on Rep, but I disagree. Although a lot of Reputation songs were sort of an "acquired taste" for me, I've had a soft spot for this song ever since the first listen and I'm not even quite sure why. I just think the lyrics are great at capturing the insanity of a crush, and the production sounds cool... I don't know what else to say for this one. It's just a really cool song.
9. Getaway Car
My rating: 5/5 Great
And now another one of Taylor's weirdest songs. There are a lot of those on Rep, but this is one of the strongest ones. Although it's not my favorite, I think if I had to rank Taylor's songs as "objectively" as possible, this would be the "best" song on Reputation, from a lyrical perspective and a musical perspective. Lyrically, it's about the fear when trying to make a romance work while escaping from a bad relationship, and how that never goes well - "nothing good starts in a getaway car". It feels like a chaotic journey, with masterful lines like the infamous "put the money in the bag and I stole the keys, THAT WAS THE LAST TIME YOU EVER SAW ME!!!" that Taylor created off the top of her head. And for my music theory nerds, although this uses one of Taylor's most common chord progressions for a majority of it (I - V - ii - IV, aka the You Belong With Me progression, aka a foreign language nobody knows) it contains prominent synth bends, a key change, and multiple minor iv chords. Essentially, melody go up, then melody sound sad. Very interesting song.
10. King Of My Heart
My rating: 2/5 Mediocre
Wow, this album has every tier represented. So... this song has the Swifties somewhat conflicted. For some reason, I think the melody in the verses sounds a bit clunky, and then the loud synths and vocal effects in the chorus kinda get in the way for me. It's just a bit overproduced for my liking. However, the bridge keeps it from being any lower than a 2/5, as the lyrics there are moderately clever. Overall, this song is just another pretty forgettable bad-reputation-in-love song.
11. Dancing With Our Hands Tied
My rating: 5/5 Great
Now this is an honorary track 5 if I've ever heard one. I associate this song with Tied Together With A Smile (a debut-era deep cut) for a few reasons - they have five-word titles with "tied" and "with" in them, but they also have some parallel lines like "I'd hold you as the water rushes in" from this song and "the water's high, you're jumping into it" from TTWAS, "deep blue but you painted me golden" from this song and "you might not be the golden one" from TTWAS. I think I like this song better just because it's more mature and the darker production really stands out on this album. No distracting autotune effects, no weird out-of-place glitch sounds... just pure Rep gold. And the lyrics... yes, it's another bad-reputation-in-love song, but it's more about the public eye while in a relationship, similar to I Know Places, I Can See You, Guilty As Sin, etc. Another favorite of mine.
12. Dress
My rating: 0/5 Terrible
Yes, this album literally has all the tiers represented. This song is somewhat of a fan-favorite, and I don't know why because I find it to be pretty much completely unenjoyable to the point where it's my second-least-favorite song of Taylor's discography, beaten only by the infamous Picture To Burn from her debut album. I guess the lyrics are... alright? Kinda? It's a very sexual song, but it's not that poorly written. But I have a lot of gripes about the production and the vocals. I find them to be... low-effort. The vocals sound grating in this song, and almost off-key in some parts. And it's backed by extremely minimal "production" that sounds completely empty. It's a very out-of-place song in Taylor's discography that is the opposite of what I usually say about songs I don't like - it would've been much better if there was a little more to the production and if the vocals were more polished. Fortunately, this is as bad as it gets, so it's only uphill from here.
13. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
My rating: 4/5 Good
This song took a long time to grow on me, and I still don't love it, but this is almost Taylor's equivalent of Olivia Rodrigo's Get Him Back in terms of my opinion on it. (Get Him Back still reigns supreme as the song that's been the all-time biggest grower for me, starting as one of my least favorites and now being one of my favorites.) Off the top of my head, I can't think of a Taylor Swift song that's grown on me on Get Him Back levels, but this is as close as it gets, originally being one of my least favorite Taylor songs only brought up by the bridge... but now it's almost a 5/5. The "whoo" sounds aren't distracting here, and they actually kinda contribute to the "party" atmosphere this song has. The chorus is a bit loud and explosive, but I've come around to that overtime. The lyrics are super funny and clever, about someone who's done you wrong but celebrating the good that's happened. Yes, it's about the Kimye feud, but I don't mind it as much as Innocent because it's much less forgiving. And the bridge is still my favorite part - "here's to you because forgiveness is a nice thing to do... HAHAHAHAHA I CAN'T EVEN SAY IT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE!" Pretty good song.
14. Call It What You Want
My rating: 5/5 Great
And we finish the album with two relatively lowkey, chill songs about wanting to be with a lover forever. This song begins the resolution of the love story that runs through the album, about a similar concept to Lavender Haze but done significantly better - escaping the public eye to spend quality time laughing with her lover, making forts under covers, trusting him like a... brother? Yeah, the infamous "trust him like a brother" line still catches me off-guard a bit, but I don't mind it. My favorite thing about this song is the vocal production - the "meow"(?) sounds that run through a lot of it really add to the cozy atmosphere, as do the faded "call it what you want"s in the background. Great song.
15. New Year's Day
My rating: 5/5 Great
And the final track, closing things off with another great song, and a song that's very different from the rest of the album. Although I prefer the Olivia Rodrigo song that apparently samples this (1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back), this is still an amazing song. It's a piano ballad about wanting to cherish the simplest moments with a lover and not wanting to lose them... somehow it feels like both the happiest song on the album and the saddest, having the atmosphere of both a romance and a farewell. And the bridge is MAGICAL - "hold onto the memories, they will hold onto you" and "please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere" might be my two favorite lines on the whole album. And then we finish the album with "I will hold onto you", which means so many things - literally holding onto him, or metaphorically holding onto his memories. I love this song.
Conclusion
Overall album score: 75% (Good Album)
Well, it's my third-lowest-scoring album ever on this blog, which is unsurprising considering it's my least favorite Taylor album, but "least favorite" for Taylor is still an album that contains some of my favorite songs.
Favorite songs: Gorgeous, Don't Blame Me, Dancing With Our Hands Tied, New Year's Day
Least favorite songs: Dress, So It Goes
Also, I just wanted to say... please submit to Bubby's March Madness event if you haven't already. There have not been enough submissions.
That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!
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