Lover

AlbumAug 23 / 201918 songs, 1h 1m 51s
Synthpop Electropop Alt-Pop
Popular

There’s a reason Taylor Swift sounds so confident and cool on *Lover*, her seventh album and the most free-spirited yet. She’s in *love*—pure, steady, starry-eyed, shout-it-from-the-rooftops love. Arriving 13 years after her eponymous debut album—and following a string of songs that sometimes felt like battle scars from public breakups and celebrity feuds—this project comes off clear-eyed, thick-skinned, and grown-up. It may be a sign that the 29-year-old has entered a new phase of her life: She’s now impressively private (she and her long-term boyfriend are rarely seen together in public), politically fired up (this album finds her fighting for queer and women’s rights), and eager to see the big picture (fans have speculated that the gut-wrenching “Soon You’ll Get Better” is about her mother’s battles with cancer). As a result, she’s never sounded stronger or more in control. She calls out dark-age bigots on the Pride anthem “You Need to Calm Down,” sends up the patriarchy on “The Man,” perfects flippant indifference on “I Forgot That You Existed,” and dares to sing her own praises on “ME!,” a duet with Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco. Tonally, these songs couldn’t be more different than 2017’s vengeful and self-conscious *Reputation*. Most of the album is baked in the atmospheric synths and ’80s drums favored by collaborator Jack Antonoff (“The Archer,” “Lover”). And yet some of the best moments are also the most surprising. “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” is daydreamy and delicate, illuminated with laidback strumming, twinkling trumpet, and high-pitched *ooh-ooh*s. And the percussive, playful “I Think He Knows” is a rollercoaster of a song, spiking and dipping from chatty whispers to breathy shout-singing in a matter of seconds.

7.1 / 10

On her seventh album, Taylor Swift is a little wiser and a lot more in love. Though uneven, Lover is a bright, fun album with great emotional honesty.

A-

Taylor Swift has spent much of her career defending her musical bona fides and creative decisions. On her country-geared early albums, she tirelessly established over and over again that the hopes, daydreams, and romantic travails of a teenage girl merited respect. With 2012’s versatile Red, Swift successfully made…

6 / 10

On her seventh album, the pop mega-force leaves behind the anger that fuelled its predecessor, instead opting for open-hearted love songs

Review at a glanceTaylor Swifts last album, Reputation, came covered in newsprint, its bitter contents partly a reaction to the spell in which the media seemed to turn on the wholesome golden girl of pop.

5.8 / 10

Swift returns with an album full of huge pop moments and political statements that aren't fully thought out.

By the time “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” arrives on Lover, her seventh and most epic album, Taylor Swift has entered uncharted territory.

Swift’s seventh album feels like a partial resurrection of the Swift of old: moony romance and earnest earworms abound

Taylor Swift sings "If I was a man, I'd be The Man" on a song that arrives just as Lover, her seventh studio album, starts to get underway.

8 / 10

Taylor Swift finally sounds happy.   She's come a long way from the innocent lovesick songs of her teen years to the single girl party pha...

7 / 10

“This album is very much a celebration of love, in all its complexity, coziness and chaos,” explained Taylor Swift about ‘Lover’,

Taylor Swift’s latest album revisits the catchy pop and romantic concerns that made her name

The album attempts to be something to everyone, the surest tell that it’s as much reaction as it is creation.

7 / 10

Taylor Swift albums usually drop in the autumn (see: every previous Taylor Swift LP).

Less bitter than Reputation, Lover has something for everyone, especially Swift’s boyfriend, but is she treading water?

70 %

Album Reviews: Taylor Swift - Lover

3.3 / 5

Taylor Swift - Lover review: Listeners are always equidistant from good and bad on Taylor Swift's seventh album.

America’s sweetheart shows divided loyalties on her seventh album, Lover.

When the singer locks eyes on one person, we have the honour of seeing things as she does

If there's a central motif to the sprawling, 18-track opus that is Taylor Swift’s seventh release - and it’s an album that references both Drake and Springsteen, so it's hard to pin down - it first emerges in track three, the title track. Stripped of pop theatrics, “Lover” trades in what Swift does best: hyper-specific details made universal enough for every first dance, delivered with enough earnestness to rehabilitate a word pulled straight from the headlines of a tabloid magazine.