Taylor Swift drifts further away from country with her new pop album “Lover.”
Her latest album varies in many different sounds, from the soothing and whimsical sounds of the song “It’s Nice to Have A Friend” to the her hit song “ME!” featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco.
Although most songs have a different impression than her past work, few songs on “Lover” have similar sounds to her younger albums.
The song “Soon You’ll Get Better” features the country music group Dixie Chicks. This slow, country song brings fans back to her 2010 “Speak Now” album where her country music was at its strongest. “Soon You’ll Get Better” shows she has not left her roots completely, but simply adding on pop as a part of herself.
The album “Lover” is a continuation of her finding her sound as a pop artist as well as diversifying her songs as a musician. And the jury is still out to determine if this change is good or not. But, while finding her new self, it’s also nice to hear some of her old self present in her newest album.
She challenges herself not only with the quality of the songs, but the quantity as well.
With 18 songs on the album, this is Swift’s largest album (previous had 16 songs) and has four different versions of the album. These versions do not have different songs, but rather four different versions and pictures featuring the singer.
The multiple versions of Swift’s album are a new concept for the pop singer. She opens herself even further to her fans with personal journal entries dating back to her earliest years in her career. Swift shows a side of herself rarely seen to the public through these versions.
Although Taylor Swift is continuously achieving success, the Cal Poly Pomona student community is not fully in support of her new album.
“I think it’s too poppy,” said Damar Blanchet, a fourth-year kinesiology student. “I think that if she stayed with her original music she would have thrived more.”
Moreover, students are not happy with what she has done in the past musically and what inspires the music.
“She needs to stop focusing her world around men,” said Gerardo Flores, a fourth-year liberal arts student, referring to her use of past relationships to inspire her songs.
But in the album “Lover,” her songs diversify in her personal experiences from childhood memories to present romances.
However, regardless of what Cal Poly Pomona students think, Swift thrives through this album.
The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with about 679,000 albums sold and 226 million streams, according to USA Today.
Also, her music video for the song “You Need To Calm Down” has over 130 million views in the past two months and just won a VMA for Video of the Year.
No matter what some people think, Swift will continue her climb to new heights in her career.
If people sat down and listened to “Lover,” there will be at least one song they will love despite their previous opinions of Taylor Swift.
Swift is revolutionizing her music in the right direction.