Today I’m talking about Taylor Swift’s 2020 LP, Evermore.
Here’s the entirety of the Zane Lowe interview: https://youtu.be/WcXtCvqqql0
Thanks for watching!
00:00 Intro
00:44 Zane Lowe interview
42:55 Folklore vs. Evermore
44:02 Favorite tracks
50:30 Outro
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I’m really glad you’re choosing to move forward with Taylor reactions! As you said, there are definitely some tracks that are very glitter gel pen but there are also a few that I think you’ll really like:) She released the album at midnight and then three hours later she released seven more tracks so you’re probably going to want to listen to the 3am Edition as it has those extra tracks. There are some videos of Taylor explaining certain tracks on this album but I tried leaving a comment with those links and I think it got removed because they take you off of YouTube since she uploaded the videos on Instagram. If you go to her page it should be pretty easy to find those videos though. They aren't very long or detailed but hopefully, they give you a little insight into what the songs are about. It is an autobiographical album that was inspired by sleepless nights throughout Taylor’s life. There are a couple of break-up songs and I’ve seen so many theories about which of her exes she’s talking about but personally, I'm not interested in dissecting which songs are about which exes because all of those theories tend to cause a lot of drama and are a little weird to me since it’s all so far in the past. That being said, I'll definitely be chiming in with my interpretations of the songs (separate from who Taylor may have written them about). Also, about the different pen types, Taylor said that she categorizes her songs based off of what she pictured holding in her hand whilst she was writing them. The three categories are Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics, and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics. Quill-style lyrics are found in songs like The Lakes and Ivy which are much more poetic and have a bit of an old-fashioned essence. The fountain pen style refers to tracks that have a "modern storyline or references with a poetic twist," and most of Taylor's songs fall under this category. Lastly, we have glitter gel pen lyrics which are found in songs like Shake It Off and Karma. Taylor described these tracks as "frivolous, carefree, bouncy" and "the drunk girl at the party who tells you that you look like an angel in the bathroom."
Update: I ended up just making my own video with all the clips I could find of Taylor discussing the tracks because not all of them are on her official Instagram page so they're a little harder to find. I've literally never uploaded to YouTube before so I'm not sure if I did everything right but I did my best lol. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/tDZD8gUCez0. The time stamps are in the description:)
Oh! Also, she did some interviews after Midnights was released in case you're interested in those:
Jimmy Fallon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTozcxvFDtM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYyOw5ve38
Graham Norton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7w94MwxSxE
you MUST react to all too well 10 minute version pleaseee
I love how you are pushing forward chronologically, subvert those expectations. 🙂 While it’s been said many a time, Midnights may not resonate with you as strongly as these last two albums have, but there will be plenty for you to gravitate towards and enjoy (especially from the 3AM tracks).
Solid top track list, btw. As a fellow Evermore leaner, I agree wholeheartedly with your opinions and reasons for enjoying this album more so. My list (what would we do w/o lists?) would top out with 3) Marjorie 2) Evermore 1) Cowboy Like Me
i just wanna say that everytime i come home from school, i look forward to your videos and it's a great feeling to have something exciting to go home to, thank you i loved your reactions !!! Midnights album next !!! <3
Loved the wrap up and all the reactions. My top 3 for Evermore are Ivy, Happiness and Cowboy Like Me, with an honorable mention for Marjorie because I like to hurt my own feelings, apparently. I entered the Swiftdom the same way you did and had similar opinions about her love life and my lack of interest, which translated to her music. I am learning that I greatly underestimated Taylor's songwriting. I am not very pop in taste, but I thoroughly enjoyed Midnights. Can't wait for your take!
Happiness is definitely one of the best in her discography!! Very interested to see your reaction to Midnights haha. It's one of my least favorite albums for her, but those 3am tracks produced by Aaron are killer.
I love so many songs so much on Folklore and Evermore but it's hard for me to narrow in on Favorites. They're just so good and also so so popular in the vidder community, as honestly Lover really was too as an album. So many fanvideos to so many of the songs and that helps…
I honestly tried to listen to midnights but i miss what these albums were like, even Red, and wasn't fully enjoying Midnights so I've only heard a few of the songs so far. I might listen to a bunch for the first time through your reactions tbh. Looking forward to it! I don't think it's one of her best albums by any means but I listened to one of the 3AM tracks that some people were saying was the best one and i did fall for that one as very good and immediately decided to start editing a fanvideo for it myself, which i hope to finish if i have time this weekend. So i do love that one song. Hopefully with time more will grow on me.
I also missed out on most of the Reputation album because it was jarring and too electro idk for me at the time lol and not fitting my mood with the trauma in my life that year or whatever. But I've adored Taylor Swift's music for forever pretty much, and this past year ish finally started falling more for the songs on Reputation and listening to more of them etc. I think it was a very pop grower album for me and Midnights might be similar and i just needed more time to get myself in the right frame of mind to appreciate it.
I'm so excited that you are doing Midnights next!! This gives me something to look forward to on Monday morning (instead of just dreading the end of the holiday break). I really hope you will react to the 3AM version, as those tracks feature some BRILLIANT songwriting that you won't want to miss.
I really like your openness to dip your toes in uncharted genres and obviously quite pleased you'll be checking out Midnights.
This is not a jab at you by any means, just my personal thoughts: one thing I've never been a fan of is how pop music is dismissed by a lot of indie, folk, metal, rock and even some traditionalist country circles as fickle, tasteless music. This is not just by those fandoms but also by music critics, journalists and singers/artists of those genres themselves. Whenever someone publicly speaks about their love of a big pop hit, it's done almost embarrassingly and it's treated like a guilty pleasure.
My brother is a heavy metal fan and has that mindset so I might be coming from a very biased perspective here haha! But I think all musical genres can be enjoyed and appreciated without its complete dismissal.
I do agree that the quintessential celebrity fickleness and self-importantness is most obviously, loudly demonstrated in the pop genre (although I think even that has changed now ever since politics has infiltrated every single industry – I see artists from all genres being that way now). But at times when you get a peek behind the scenes, you're also able to humanize them a little bit to see where that pop facade comes from.
Demi Lovato, who I'm not really a fan of and disagree with on so many fronts, was a celebrity like that for me and while that still stands, her documentary did help me have more understanding of her on a human level and have more compassion for her.
For many, I think Taylor falls into that category. Objectively speaking, I think her ability to have her personal life be on such a big display but still walk that line with utmost grace is unparalleled to any other pop star (or any other big celebrity). A lot of the scrutiny she has faced has come to her as a woman with power in the music industry as well but that's another discussion for another time of course.
I think music can be both deeply appreciated for its artistry, lyricism and "high quality", but also be casually (but intensely) enjoyed – or both at the same time, without having to compartmentalize what is a higher form of art and what isn't.
I hope the journey into Midnights brings you some great surprises and expands your musical horizons more! 🙂
I’m glad you included Cowboy Like Me as an honorable mention
I'm so happy of your choosing – never thought anyone could really pick happiness as the top one, and it really is superb in its own way, and I'm with you about it. Also, thanks for walking with us deeper into the magical forest Taylor has created, it's such a joy to be returning to these two worlds – folklore and evermore – with you, as a new becoming Swiftie. And even more glad that you're going out of the forest and following forward her footsteps of artistry, and I hope you go back to her old trails, too, to see what she's gone through that made her to what and who she is today. Always and evermore satisfied and elated with your reactions. Excited for next week. Keep safe always, Aaron.
Personally I like more Folklore cause of that cohesive sound and narrative, but I would recommended both albums anyone in the world. My top 3 of Everemore are 1) Marjorie 2) Coney island & 3) Willow.
Omg you're going to react to Midnights. That's going to be an interested journey and I'm here for it.
If I had to bet for it, I think you're gonna like: Labyrinth, Bigger Than The Whole Sky, Would've, Could've, Should've and The Great War 😉
And, If you want to keep the tradition of watching Taylor talking about music and other stuff, I think it would be a great idea, if you cheack out her documentary, Miss Americana. Where she basically reflects of her deconstruction as a person/musician to be happy and confortable with her live and herself. It's on Netlfix.
I'm honestly so happy to see that you appreciate Happiness so much. It's easily my favourite Taylor Swift song (followed by Evermore) and I think it's a really under-appreciated song in terms of its lyricism, which is so mature and self-reflective. I love that moment in the song where she catches herself being a bit too harsh and saying, "No, I didn't mean that. Sorry, I can't see facts through all of my fury." It's a really interesting way of showing the constantly-changing emotions and feelings that people have from one moment to the next when going through a breakup.
MIDFUCKINGNIGHT IS COMINGGGGGGGGG YALL🫣 im here for it.
I don't comment often but I loved watching your folklore and evermore reactions! <3 also super excited for your Midnights reactions!! (and Red too ofc, i love the Taylor & Phoebe collab)
I'm so happy u will react to react to midnightssss
Very excited to see you start Midnights next week! I have a lot of different feelings about that album, and it’s definitely been a growing process for me, but I do really enjoy a lot of the songs now. Usually i’m of the opinion that albums should be listened to front to back in one sitting in order to get the full effect, but i think that backfired on me listening to Midnights, and I wasn’t able to fully absorb each song before it moved to the next. It all kinda blurred together and started to bore me (granted, I was listening late at night after taking an edible but hey). So I think your video style might actually enhance the experience!
I’m also curious to see your reaction since you haven’t listened to her pre-folklore music yet. For me, a lot of Midnights sounded a lot like specific songs or combinations of songs on previous albums, especially Lover and Rep… sometimes it bordered on copying for me, which initially put me off. I think midnights is a great album on its own, and a little less so when you’re familiar with her whole discography.
Hey bud. A very good show again. I look forward to Midnights. I am really enjoying it. Red is just a very very good pop country album. I found TS during covid via Emily and Bonnie of Chats and Reacts on YouTube. Through them I have almost achieved an undergraduate degree in TS. Nah. Maybe and Associated Degree. I am 62 and I worship at the altar of the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, McCartney, Motown, Police and Sting, Carol King, Elton and Bernie, etc. Imo TS is putting forth work that is approaching, if not there, the artistry of those mentioned above. My lesson from Bonnie and Emily is the hits are very much pop masterpieces. Hard to argue against that statement. However, it's the other songs and they are so fng good. Very very few artists, of any genre, today are putting out this kind of lyrical, musical , and production mastery.
Folklore is more cohesive, but I feel Evermore has the songs that remain and age with you. My favorite off of Evermore are Right Where You Left Me, Happiness, and Ivy. You going into Midnights will be fun to watch. It is a pop album, but I think it also has great writing and maturity. Others have already said this so I won't go into details, but it is a concept album, written about sleepless nights throughout her life. Because she's been rerecording her music, some people had questions if the songs on Midnights were written recently or if they're left over songs from her previous work. She confirmed that all the songs on Midnights were written recently, but that rerecording her work did inspire her to look back on these moments of time in her life and write about them.
so glad you enjoyed evermore! completely agree that folklore is more of a cohesive album and totally different than what taylor had done previously, but i just love evermore – i think the stories are so creative and have a more mature perspective to them.
excited that you’ll be diving into midnights, i was a bit thrown off guard at first as well and had to give it a few listens. some of my favs are lavender haze, maroon, sweet nothing and honorable mention – you’re own your own kid. i actually prefer a lot of the 3am tracks which aaron dessner produces!
oooh, interesting that you're going for midnights, i agree that red could be more your thing, but i'm glad you want to dive a little into a more pop album to see how it goes. I think it's worth taking a look on the post she made to announce the album, she had a little text explaining the concept of midnights, it's not much but it was important for my understanding of the album. While it is an autobiographical one, unlike folkore and evermore, it's also a concept album and i honestly think it's a product of her re-recordings, in the way that it's her now looking back on those moments of her life and reflecting on them. My favourite songs in the album are in the 3am edition and i think you my like those the most too. I'm excited to see your reactions to some of these songs hahaha
So midnights is a Jack album & the 3am edition is Aaron ! Can’t wait for you to listen and hear your thoughts.
Hi Aaron, I love your reactions to Taylor's music, they've become part of my morning routine, just like everyone else. If your intrested to know more about how Taylor categorizes the tipe of lyrics she writes in types of pens, I suggest you to watch or react to her acceptance speech for Songwriter of the Year at the Nashville Songwriter Awards (NSAI) you can watch Fatih Alexa's video in YouTube from minute 4:45 to minute 9:45, or you can watch the entire speech if you like. Saludos from Costa Rica!!!
My favorite Evermore tracks are Tolerate It, Coney Island, 'tis The Damn Season, Happiness and It's Time To Go. It's funny but I not only enjoy Folklore than Evermore but out of Taylor 10 studio albums (plus her 2 re-recordings, plus her EP Beautiful Eyes and her Christmass album The Taylor Swift collection) is my least favorite Taylor album and I've heard the album hundreds of times and I know every song by heart and I love the album.
Your commentary is always so interesting that I find myself watching your videos in full whether short or long, and your editing is fire. I'm really happy that you will be giving Midnight a chance, I'm both a long time Taylor fan and somebody that mostly listens to rock, metal and 80s pop and I find Midnights to be even better than Folklore (for my personal taste), I find that Midnights has her growth as a lyricist while also bringing back her amazing melodies and her 80s inspired pop (which I loved in 1989), weirdly enough while I really like the indie sound from these 2 albums, I think her country/pop/rock sound from Speak Now is more my jam. And a lot of her albums are like "Marvel" movies in the sense that a lot of songs built from songs from other albums (her song Red into her song Daylight into her song Invisible String or her song Ours into The Story of Us into Dear John into Would've Could've Should've).
Also to me Taylor's best work in 1989 which I have in my top 5 best albums of all time along with Sgt. Pepper by the Beatles and What's The Story (Morning Glory) by Oasis.
I think besides RED, Speak Now and 1989 both have enough amazing songs that you would enjoy them since 1989 brought back 80s pop to modern music and Speak Now has country/rock lite songs and it's her only album with no co-writers and her 100% raw lyrics without holding back.
I think the albums you would not enjoy as much are mostly her debut and Fearless since both have a HUGE focus on being a teenager (I'm Taylor's age so I related to them because I was living that), then Reputation may be too modern pop for you and Lover (which is my 4th favorite Taylor album) has lyrics you would love but it probably too blubblegum pop for you.
Taylor is such a cameleon and I'll also say that she's better live than in the studio. I've seen her live during the Speak Now Tour, the RED tour and the 1989 Tour and her shows are the best I've been to and I've seen the U2 360 tour, Paul McArtney, Oasis, the Rolling Stones, Nightwish, Roger Waters, Madonna and more and while Taylor isn't the best live singer her emotion while connecting with her audience is unparallel plus a lot of her live versions are different and better than the studio versions.
EDIT: While I've never been big on Phoebe Bridgers, seen how much you enjoy her music I decided to listen to her albums and then watch your videos, whenever I end up adding her to my regular playlist or not I want to listen to something new and it seems like an amazing way to do it.
Vindication for Cowboy Like Me! Everything about that song is perfect.
I’ve enjoyed revisiting these albums with fresh ears over my coffee every morning. Thank you for being so open minded in discovering her as an artist. I think Midnights is the perfect album to explore next because it builds on the lyrical maturity from these 2 albums. It just has a dance beat, which is honestly more spacey dream pop than radio pop. Taylor being Taylor there are of course a couple of those cheekier/ glitter pen songs which aren’t my favorite. But damn if they aren’t catchy!
One thing about Red (TV) is that I do not recommend doing the entire Album. There are the highest highs of her career (like ATW 10min) but also some pretty shallow tracks (like Stay, Stay, Stay, which I love but I know its not great).
just discovered your channel at the perfect time lol i binged all the folklore and evermore videos excited to go through and watch other videos i love how you watch different clips and videos and stuff relating to what you’re watching your insight is so cool, great work!!
so happy you are going to continue diving into her discography she's an amazing story teller and I love to watch your prospective on the music also the attention you pay to little details in the production
I am so glad you appreciate Closure. I absolutely love that song. Although, I'm a huge fan of Willow too, which I know is not to your taste 😅
My Evermore favourites are Closure, Willow and Tis the Damn Season.
Love your picks. Everyone always says folklore is the better album and evermore has better songs!
My top 3 are
right where you left me
tis the damn season
evermore
I’m a bit late but finally watched this 💖 I’m so glad you liked folklore and evermore. My personal favourites this time have to be right where you left me, cowboy like me and dorothea (which I listen to super super often, surprisingly), but to me both these albums are skipless apart from maybe marjorie because that one hits hard.
I wasn’t expecting midnights next, but I’m glad you’re going for it. While not my personal favourite album of Taylor’s, it does have some great songs and some great lyrics. The glitter gel pen songs I wouldn’t take too seriously, I don’t think we’re supposed to, they’re fun and cheeky and not necessarily deep. The Aaron tracks though, those are immaculate.
That is really a solid top 4, I think those and tis the damn season and tolerate it are my favorites too and like you said, even when folklore feels more cohesive and is still my favorite the highs in this album are REALLY good. On the other side I'm glad you will continue listening her discography, I'm looking forward to your reaction to the 3 am tracks, a lot of those were produced by Aaron and defenitely feels more like folklore/evermore than the rest of the album.
Someone has described this before which I find quite interesting. Folklore is the introduction for Taylor to step into the world indie/alt rock and folk music. Evermore proves that she can dominate in that genre and really pushes her sonic influences further to her most experimental sounds to date.
I love cowboy like me! What an amazing song can't get tired of listening to It…but o agree with you happiness hás such a sensibility talking about a divorce ou separation but so claver and wise
my top three:
1. No body, no crime
2. Tolerate it
3. Coney island
I'm so happy closure got the recognition it deserves.
I’m so glad you have chosen happiness as your favorite… for me is the best track of the album and it gets so overlooked by everyone 🥺
Cowboy Like Me just hits me so right, it's like a smooth bourbon of a song, love it.
1: champagne problems
2: ivy
3: tolerate it
4: willow
5: happiness
6: tis’ the damn season
Love all of these songs and the whole album, it really grows on you the more you listen. Excited to hop into the midnight videos now! Enjoying the journey 🤩