u/morticia_is_might

At the time she released this, the scene was shifting to more dark, moody pop with artists like The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Frank Ocean taking the masses. Rare seemed like it didn’t not fit with what was going on in the culture. Re-visiting this album, it still feels fresh, well-written and fleshed out. Albeit some tracks from the Deluxe could have gone into the standard album (i.e. Souvenir). The album is a good balance of ballads (Lose you to love me) dance music (Dance again, look at her now, mid tempo feel-good songs (Ring, Rare) dancey tracks that make you wanna cry (Vulnerable, people you know) and some silly fun songs (Kinda crazy, Fun). It’s got it all! Another factor, I think that plays into the album not getting its flowers is because of Gomez’s image as an “artist”. Her droplet era was insanely good but Rare is slept on. I think this is going to have a comeback sometime later this decade!

She really opens her mouth and beautifully says the words out loud. Her enunciation is not something people usually praise her for, and I think it’s time we appreciate it. It feels like she means every word she saying. Enunciation really elevates emotions for me.

I’ll start off by clearing it off that this is not an Olivia diss by any means. This record has been on repeat since June 12 and has quickly become AOTY for me! As much as people want to retroactively deny Taylor’s influence on Olivia, she is subconsciously driven by her very early influences in music and yes, specifically Taylor. If you’ve seen her early videos, she was a Swiftie through and through. Though she has had many influences through her parents’ tastes in music, Taylor was someone she got into all by herself and was she was deep in the fandom. She herself has said that she was raised by Taylor. In recent interviews, Olivia has been stating who her influences are, I can’t help but smile at all her latent Taylor-ness in her songwriting, big harmonies and choruses. For example, “positively and truly sure nobody’s wanted somebody more”, “all the girls at this party are so cool, that’s never been a thing I could ever do”, that’s what happens when my baby goes away” are words early Taylor would have totally written lol! These are some examples. The post bridge harmony on stupid song “I’m going crazy, I’m going mad” part sounds like Red-1989 Taylor. Not to mention my way is a (softer and less mean) descendant of Better than Revenge. This is not to compare (maybe a little) but she really is the Taydaughter that Taylor doesn’t want to claim (atleast as of now lol). Since there’s a massive tension between these two artists, people who enjoy Olivia want to separate her from Taylor to be “free” of this tension. However, as a third party centrist between these two artists, the influences seem obvious and even delightful to me.

Everytime I listen to it, it transports me to a vaguely remembered montage in a y2k rom-com! Maggots for brains has that quality too. Can someone please name some songs that are similar to this because the nostalgia is real, and I’m craving it!

I only recently got into the podcast- a couple of months. I may have watched about 12 or so episodes. In almost every episode, it’s Michael coming up with topics/concepts and explaining it to Hannah. I mostly have seen her being a sounding board for Michael. Don’t get me wrong, she brings in some super interesting perspectives, but I see the podcast as being led by Michael. Again, without Hannah, I don’t think this show would work. I just wish some episodes are Hannah-led and Michael takes a back seat. Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me being new to the podcast and not having watched enough episodes?

I know she doesn’t NEED to be a vOcaLiST. Her talents strongly lie in songwriting, no doubt. But one criticism that has always come her way is her vocals. “She can’t sing live”, “she’s not even that good” etc. I absolutely don’t have a problem with her vocals. However knowing Taylor, she has always taken criticism and worked on it and sometimes it pays off and sometimes, backfires. Point is, she seems to hear criticism. Knowing her grit and determination, it’s totally possible that she could have taken the criticism and emerged as the greatest vocalist of her generation lol. It just baffles me that this is one area where while she has shown significant improvement, she hasn’t gone ALL the way. Why?

Edit: I’m a fan of Taylor Swift! This isn’t a hate post. It’s just an observation. She has reacted or responded to any/all criticism before. She can’t write? Speak Now. Red was not cohesive? 1989. TTPD was too long? TLOASG is airtight. I only am expressing a question here. People, stop hating. This is meant only for discussion!

Apart from putting out albums and touring, what other direction do you think she will take? Her own label? Music festival? I remember when she wanted to make movies but I don’t think anything came out of it. Also I have a feeling she isn’t going to release TS13 until late 2027-28, until the over-exposure dies out.

Just a random thought I just had while listening to her recent interviews. She does mention Lorde as an inspiration but as more of an afterthought. I remember her being heavily influenced by Lorde in her early years and now I guess that they are contemporaries, maybe it’s not good for her career to stan another peer like that. I love love loveeee YSPSFAGSIL btw!

Taylor’s lyricism is more rhythmic than people give it credit for. She especially masters this in Folklevermore, where her lines rely on internal rhythm and spoken phrasing rather than melodic hooks (although there’s a lot of that too). Eminem does this overtly and technically too!

Example:

Eminem’s Lose Yourself
“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy”
sweaty / heavy
knees weak
repeated “ee” sounds

Cleaning Out My Closet:
“Witnessin’ your mama poppin’ prescription pills in the kitchen”

witnessin’
kitchen
prescription
poppin’

Now look at Taylor’s Hits Different:

arguMENtative
antiTHETical
The repeated:
“t”
“th”
“m”
“n”

In Maroon:

The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me

burgundy
T-shirt
splashed
wine into me

Bur-Gundy rhyming with wine into me is so clever!

It’s so funny because whenever I spot these rhymes in her music, I am reminded of Eminem’s technique and vice versa! And this is one of the very many examples I cannot derive from memory right now.

Do you have other examples of this or have you observed this too?

Just a thought exercise. What if it went “Summer went away, still the yearning stays, YOU play it cool with the best of them, YOU wait patiently….” and so on…The first time when I heard the song, I thought she was saying it (YOYOL) TO the person she was talking about, instead of herself lol! Would an impersonal “you” work better than the personal “I” here for coherence? No hate, YOYOK is in my top 5 of all time.