A few months ago, Taylor Swift released her album “folklore” and now she has surprised us with a brand new album to accompany “folklore” titled “evermore”. These sister albums are definitely perfect complements to each other and to Taylor herself.
“folklore” is an acoustic style album that opens with her song, “the 1”. “the 1” describes a relationship that unfortunately didn’t last and Taylor sings, “if my wishes came true / it would have been you” and “it would have been fun / if you had been the one”. This song captures that feeling of disappointment from a broken relationship that you can only notice after taking a step back and preparing yourself to move on. It perfectly introduces the album and is an excellent transition to her next song, “cardigan”. “cardigan” has a heavier sound within the melody but still maintains its soft elegance. The lyrics “And when I felt like I was an old cardigan / Under someone's bed / You put me on and said I was your favorite” describe the feeling of being lost and having someone find you again. Her next track, “the last great american dynasty”, ends her lighter tones of the album. The lyrics “I had a marvelous time ruining everything” transition her album to the feeling of being the reason that people have left or the reason why things are so horribly dreadful. “exile” featuring Bon Iver has a heavy piano based melody that builds throughout the song to lead to the conclusion that when things get hard, sometimes you feel like you need to leave and exile yourself from the situation you feel you have caused. “my tears ricochet” starts with softly sung vocals that introduce Taylor’s beautiful lyrics and a melody that builds throughout. The song conveys the inability to leave things off amicably and causing a rift so deep that tears ricochet off of your former lover leaving your ex completely unharmed. Track 6, “mirrorball”, track 7, “seven”, and track 8, “august” discuss the reflections necessary to gain perspective. Taylor sings about the revelations made about herself and her relationships. She then transitions to her next song, “this is me trying”, to discuss how she has been trying to grow and repair after discovering the mistakes that she has made in the past. Tracks 10 and 11, “illicit affairs” and “invisible string” talk about the excitement of new love and the downfalls of forbidden love. Track 12, “mad woman” discusses feelings of jealousy making you both angry and crazy. These three songs have a livelier beat that elevate the mood of the album. Lastly, “epiphany”, “betty”, “peace”, and “hoax” end folklore off on a somber note slowing down the album to show continued reflections and discoveries of regrets, mistakes, and needs for growth. These songs tell stories of hurting and getting hurt in friendships and relationships. It gives the album a depressing end to an incomplete story. However, “evermore” was perfect to save the day and give a conclusion.
“evermore” begins similarly to “folklore”. Her first track “willow” talks about a new relationship that may not always lead to the clearest path but one that is exciting and loved and her lyrics, “I'm begging for you to take my hand / Wreck my plans, that's my man” show exactly that. This song is upbeat and light much like “the 1”. Her next song, “champagne problems” is very similar to “cardigan” in the softer tone of the song used to describe feelings of being lost and things just not going right. Track 3, “gold rush” begins with an angelic choir that leads to a livelier beat leading the melody. This song is dynamic and moves through built up transitions quickly. Taylor sings that she “doesn’t like a gold rush” claiming that she doesn’t want to get swept up quickly and blinded by indulgent romanticisms. Track 4, “‘tis the damn season”, conveys relatable feelings of going back down memory lane when you go to your home town. Bringing up unfortunate run-ins with old friends and the need to escape, Taylor uses a simple guitar led melody that acts as a base that allows for more instruments to be introduced as the song builds until the ending that reduces down to the original guitar soloed melody. Track 5, “tolerate it” is slow and features a piano that gives the base of the song. Taylor sings about giving the very best of yourself and it not being enough and it only being “tolerated”. Track 6, “no body, no crime” featuring HAIM, pulls the album towards a completely new direction. “no body, no crime” has a classic country melody and discusses infidelity within a relationship that can’t be proven but can be felt and her lyrics, “I think he did it, But I just can’t prove it” perfectly show it. Track 7, “happiness” brings the album back to its original tone of sadness and healing. Taylor sings, “There'll be happiness after you / But there was happiness because of you / Both of these things can be true / There is happiness”. She notices how even through the bad times, there was still something good within the relationship and after it. Much like “betty”, track 8, “dorothea” talks about a past friendship. But this time, it is one that ended amicably. Taylor discusses growing apart and wondering about an old friend, a feeling we can all relate to. “dorothea” has a much happier tone that lightens the mood of the album. “coney island” featuring The National, “ivy”, and “cowboy like me” continues the album by reminiscing about old times and broken relationships while all sharing variations of acoustic and rustic melodies. Track 12, “long story short” however, has a surprisingly quick tempo. It is upbeat and exciting. Swift uses heavy and intricate drum rhythms to lead the melody. Her lyrics, “Long story short, it was the wrong guy / Now I'm all about you” perfectly summarize the meaning of the song. Track 13, “marjorie”, gives some words of wisdom to listeners reminding them to remember what’s true and to stay humble. Track 14, “closure”, has an oddly industrial sound. It is very similar to the sounds of Bon Iver’s “22, A Million” album. This song moves quickly and talks about not always needing to reconnect and letting things stay where they were.
Lastly, Taylor concludes her album with the absolutely gorgeous song, “evermore” featuring Bon Iver. “evermore” is raw and elegant with a simple piano accompaniment. The song slowly and softly builds as it progresses through the song leading through the chorus to the simple lyric, “evermore”. The song then picks up during Bon Iver’s feature quickening the tempo and allowing the song to feel like it’s flying before slowing again to its original melody and pace. This song shares feelings of sadness and losing yourself while trying to grow, ending the album on an emotional conclusion to the 2 album story of “folklore” and “evermore”.
“folklore” was a very slow and sentimental album. It tells stories of hurt, regret, and growth. It is definitely not an album that you listen to casually and will make you cry when you listen to it all the way through. The best song on the album was “invisible string”. It was sweet and light. Its reminiscent tone of her song “Love Story” is classic Taylor Swift. This song is perfect in the way that it isn’t as heavy and could be listened to any time.
“evermore” had a similar introduction as “folklore” but was overall a much more vibrant album. It had more elements of classic country and brought you back to Taylor Swift’s musical roots. The song carried an up and down pattern showing the good times and bad that remain in and after love. The best song on this album was definitely “evermore”. It was beautiful and her most emotional piece. It had exciting contrast within the song and made you want to just burst into tears.
Overall, these albums worked perfectly together. They brought you back to Taylor Swift’s original sound of gorgeous, heartfelt acoustics and lively country ballads. They were very emotional and would be excellent for anyone that just needs to cry it out. Anyone who loves Taylor Swift will love these albums and anyone who just needs to be in their feels will love this story.
Comments