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Taylor Swift - Folklore

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  • 24-07-2020 3:58pm
    #1
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭


    I'm a big Taylor Swift fan but I would be interested to hear, what are people's thoughts on this new album? It's a big departure for her into the alternative genre but nothing she hasn't done before crossing from Country to Pop, Synth Pop, etc.
    Have given it a few listens and think it's amazing - perfect lockdown album, along with the terrible weather today. You can really hear The National's influence on the album, as well as Jack Antonoff.


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    #2
    Mr Velo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,807 ✭✭✭Mr Velo


    Agree - it's very very good.


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    #3
    pah
    Registered Users Posts: 3,399 ✭✭✭pah


    Half way through it. I like Taylor Swift and I love The National. Thumbs up from me. Hopefully get more people listening to The National, my 12 year old daughter loves them.


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    #4
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    Just realised the song Epiphany is about a comparison between her Grandfather's war stories and the Health Care Worker's front line battle during the Pandemic, courtesy of the YouTube lyric video. Gorgeous song.


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    #5
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Cue hundreds of thousands of new Taylor swift fans anyway.. I've taken abuse for saying she's talented off someone who's probably about to turn around and say she's amazing now..
    I actually think it's probably not her best work..The national/bon iver influence is very apparent..I don't know if the songwriting is up there with some of her earlier stuff..


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    #6
    el Fenomeno
    Registered Users Posts: 3,116 ✭✭✭el Fenomeno


    It's very good. Exile - the duet with Bon Iver - is a special piece of music. She's always been a fantastic songwriter to be fair.


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    #7
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    el Fenomeno wrote: »
    It's very good. Exile - the duet with Bon Iver - is a special piece of music. She's always been a fantastic songwriter to be fair.

    I actually think that's one of the weaker tracks on the album..bon iver is a one trick pony..


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    #8
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,572 ✭✭✭Zardoz


    Deleted User wrote: »
    I actually think that's one of the weaker tracks on the album..bon iver is a one trick pony..

    I think thats the best song on the album.
    Vernon is only singing on the song ,he didn't write it.
    Its written by Swift and a certain William Bowery ,who could be a pseudonym.

    Overall the album is good ,Antonoff and Dessners influence and song writing is very obvious though,I suspect that they did alot of the heavy lifting.


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    #9
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    Zardoz wrote: »
    I think thats the best song on the album.
    Vernon is only singing on the song ,he didn't write it.
    Its written by Swift and a certain William Bowery ,who could be a pseudonym.

    Overall the album is good ,Antonoff and Dessners influence and song writing is very obvious though,I suspect that they did alot of the heavy lifting.

    Has anyone heard of a William Bowery before?
    Taylor is a talented songwriter so I don’t think there was heavy lifting on anyone’s part to be fair. She definitely benefited from The National for a new sound and production. I think it captures the mood very well of this current situation.
    Love the Bon Iver song, is the key a bit low for him in verse 1? Can’t decide where I’d rank the album yet in relation to her others.


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    #10
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,572 ✭✭✭Zardoz


    CruelSummer wrote: »
    Has anyone heard of a William Bowery before?

    No .
    Its most likely a pseudonym.


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    #11
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    Zardoz wrote: »
    No .
    Its most likely a pseudonym.

    Yes I think definitely a pseudonym, it’s mentioned in this interview with Aaron Dessner that he did with Pitchfork.
    Thought it was an interesting interview about his involvement with the album:

    https://pitchfork.com/news/the-nationals-aaron-dessner-talks-taylor-swifts-new-album-folklore/amp/?__twitter_impression=true


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    #12
    pah
    Registered Users Posts: 3,399 ✭✭✭pah


    https://twitter.com/alwynswiftt/status/1286344726388580360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1286344726388580360%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-22095951163234089187.ampproject.net%2F2006180239003%2Fframe.html


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    #13
    Man with broke phone
    Registered Users Posts: 1,201 ✭✭✭Man with broke phone


    Hi guys can I ask what age you are. With all the hype from this album I gave it a listen and was very disapointed. I can understand if you are all teenagers but there is no way somebody listened to this album and rushed to the internet to discuss it. Im half thinking of reporting some posts on this forum for shilling.

    Hum drum music and lyrics by numbers. Try Joni Mitchel ladies of the canyon for comparison.


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    #14
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    Man with broke phone wrote: »
    Hi guys can I ask what age you are. With all the hype from this album I gave it a listen and was very disapointed. I can understand if you are all teenagers but there is no way somebody listened to this album and rushed to the internet to discuss it. Im half thinking of reporting some posts on this forum for shilling.

    Hum drum music and lyrics by numbers. Try Joni Mitchel ladies of the canyon for comparison.

    In my opinion life is too short to pretend you don’t like Taylor Swift :-) If you don’t like this particular album, fine. It actually gets better & better with each listen.
    I like all of her work, from her early country, to the country/rock & pop albums. Red, Speak Now & 1989 are probably my favourites of hers.
    I really like Folklore a lot - especially for the times we are in currently. However I don’t think it’s her ‘best yet’ as some media outlets have stated, it’s equally as good as her others in my opinion - it’s just some media have decided because Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver feature, it’s cool to big it up.
    I’m very familiar with Joni Mitchell, as is Swift herself & is a big fan of her too.
    Unfortunately music snobbery will persist here in Ireland as we seem to think we are superior to others in this area when in actual fact nothing but over-rated mediocracy has come out of here in the last 10 years music wise. I think for example when Swift came to town in 2018 with a world class show getting rave reviews, it didn’t sell out... I was at the show & it was absolutely brilliant. However instead of selling out...people forked out the same price that summer to see Ed Sheeran on stage by himself for the most part messing with a loop machine in stadiums around the country...not my idea of value for money for a stadium concert but there you go.


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    #15
    JohnGreenFan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,790 ✭✭✭JohnGreenFan


    Definitely not a teenager anymore and I absolutely love it. Really think it's one of her best works - not a single bad song on the album. Especially considering how close it was released to lover, it's such a big change musically and I think it's fantastic.

    Absolutely delighted to see her releasing exactly what she wants to release. You can never say her music all sounds the same anyway.


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    #16
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,572 ✭✭✭Zardoz


    CruelSummer wrote: »
    I’m very familiar with Joni Mitchell, as is Swift herself & is a big fan of her too.
    Unfortunately music snobbery will persist here in Ireland as we seem to think we are superior to others in this area when in actual fact nothing but over-rated mediocracy has come out of here in the last 10 years music wise. I think for example when Swift came to town in 2018 with a world class show getting rave reviews, it didn’t sell out... I was at the show & it was absolutely brilliant. However instead of selling out...people forked out the same price that summer to see Ed Sheeran on stage by himself for the most part messing with a loop machine in stadiums around the country...not my idea of value for money for a stadium concert but there you go.

    Its funny that Joni Mitchell was mentioned as some people think she could be William Bowery.

    To say her gigs didn't sell out is a bit of an understatement ,they were a disaster sales wise .
    Livenation gave away about half of the tickets for free to try and fill the place up .
    The prices were crazy ,150 euro for the lower tier and pitch seats.
    From what I've heard MCD only wanted to have one gig but Livenation demanded 2 ,which was insanity.
    I'm not complaining anyway as I got a good few free tickets for friends .
    I honestly wouldn't cross the road to see her myself.

    Taylor ripped her fans off massively on that tour ,with that ill fated ultracynical Ticketmaster Verified fan malarkey in the US where people spent a fortune on merchandise to try and get access for presale tickets for the tour only to be offered crap seats at exorbitant prices .

    As for Sheeran ,I've seen him a couple of times , he is terrible .


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    #17
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    Zardoz wrote: »
    Its funny that Joni Mitchell was mentioned as some people think she could be William Bowery.

    To say her gigs didn't sell out is a bit of an understatement ,they were a disaster sales wise .
    Livenation gave away about half of the tickets for free to try and fill the place up .
    The prices were crazy ,150 euro for the lower tier and pitch seats.
    From what I've heard MCD only wanted to have one gig but Livenation demanded 2 ,which was insanity.
    I'm not complaining anyway as I got a good few free tickets for friends .
    I honestly wouldn't cross the road to see her myself.

    Taylor ripped her fans off massively on that tour ,with that ill fated ultracynical Ticketmaster Verified fan malarkey in the US where people spent a fortune on merchandise to try and get access for presale tickets for the tour only to be offered crap seats at exorbitant prices .

    As for Sheeran ,I've seen him a couple of times , he is terrible .

    But I don’t think that’s how the presale works? I’ve signed up for notifications on her website after ordering a vinyl last year. I get emails of presale access to her concerts ever since, it’s great. Two days to purchase before the tickets are released to the general public.
    The first concert sold fine, but the second was a disaster. Funny you say they were exorbitant prices, the Celine Dion tickets I tried to purchase recently for relatives were mad dear, as were many other prices I’ve seen for other artists. But as usual Swift gets vilified for what all Artists are doing currently.


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    #18
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,572 ✭✭✭Zardoz


    CruelSummer wrote: »
    But I don’t think that’s how the presale works? I’ve signed up for notifications on her website after ordering a vinyl last year. I get emails of presale access to her concerts ever since, it’s great. Two days to purchase before the tickets are released to the general public.
    The first concert sold fine, but the second was a disaster. Funny you say they were exorbitant prices, the Celine Dion tickets I tried to purchase recently for relatives were mad dear, as were many other prices I’ve seen for other artists. But as usual Swift gets vilified for what all Artists are doing currently.

    Thats how it worked in the US
    https://mashable.com/2017/08/25/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-reputation/?europe=true

    https://www.altpress.com/news/heres_why_taylor_swift_ticketmasters_ticket_sales_plan_is_basically_a_scam/

    Celine Dion was playing the 3Arena ,10000 seats each night ,a total of 20k tickets.
    Her fan base would be middle aged .
    Small capacity ,big demand .

    Taylor Swifts fans are mostly kids ,they don't have much money so charging 150 euro a ticket is unfair as its the parent who have to fork out.


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    #19
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Yeah, I really don't know if I'd put it up there with her best.. funnily enough I'd spent the week before it was released listening to 'fearless' and there are a few absolutely amazing songs on that album.. very poppy alright, but craft-wise a few of them are absolutely exceptional..
    But like, this one, 'the last great American dynasty' is brilliant..mirrorball has one of the best lyrics I've heard in a long time too..

    "You are not like the regulars
    The masquerade revelers
    Drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten"


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    #20
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    “Taylor Swifts fans are mostly kids ,they don't have much money so charging 150 euro a ticket is unfair as its the parent who have to fork out.”

    I forgot the memo that we’ve still to pretend her fans are all ‘kids’ to stay cool. She has mass appeal to all ages in my opinion depending on the songs, genre, etc. people like.
    It’s funny because the stand we were in was full of people in their 20s / 30s, some who even went to the trouble to bring snakes, etc., which was a theme of the tour. I was actually sitting beside a couple from the North who we’re approaching 60 and seemed big fans.


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    #21
    RobertKK
    Registered Users Posts: 33,730 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    I am far from a teenage and this album is a great listen. I find it very relaxing and in a crap year, this is a shining jewel.


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    #22
    JohnGreenFan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,790 ✭✭✭JohnGreenFan


    CruelSummer wrote: »
    “Taylor Swifts fans are mostly kids ,they don't have much money so charging 150 euro a ticket is unfair as its the parent who have to fork out.”

    I forgot the memo that we’ve still to pretend her fans are all ‘kids’ to stay cool. She has mass appeal to all ages in my opinion depending on the songs, genre, etc. people like.
    It’s funny because the stand we were in was full of people in their 20s / 30s, some who even went to the trouble to bring snakes, etc., which was a theme of the tour. I was actually sitting beside a couple from the North who we’re approaching 60 and seemed big fans.

    I think because she started so young, an awful lot of her fans are her own age or just slightly younger. I'm not sure I actually know any kids who are fans despite what her fanbase is made out to be.


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    #23
    JP Liz V1
    Registered Users Posts: 85,221 ✭✭✭✭JP Liz V1


    Looks to be the biggest album of the year so far
    https://forumofgames.com/




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    #24
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    I had never listened to a Taylor Swift album before this one, I found some of her previous singles fairly enjoyable ("I Knew You Were Trouble", "Shake It Off" and, despite its flat chorus, "Look What You Made Me Do") but it was never enough to make me want to actively investigate her more. When I saw The National promoting this one, curiosity got the better of me.

    After a couple of listens I would say that it's quite a good album, not amazing but still very worth a listen. Its biggest weakness is being a bit too long, there are a couple of tracks that could have been shaved off. But the highlights are very good indeed; "Epiphany" is a beautiful song, "Cardigan" has a very nice Lana Del Rey-esque vibe to it and "This Is Me Trying" is another one I liked.

    Will I actively listen to more of Taylor Swift's back catalogue? Unsure.
    Am I more interested in what she does in the future as a result of this album? Yes, definitely.


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    #25
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    I had never listened to a Taylor Swift album before this one, I found some of her previous singles fairly enjoyable ("I Knew You Were Trouble", "Shake It Off" and, despite its flat chorus, "Look What You Made Me Do") but it was never enough to make me want to actively investigate her more. When I saw The National promoting this one, curiosity got the better of me.

    After a couple of listens I would say that it's quite a good album, not amazing but still very worth a listen. Its biggest weakness is being a bit too long, there are a couple of tracks that could have been shaved off. But the highlights are very good indeed; "Epiphany" is a beautiful song, "Cardigan" has a very nice Lana Del Rey-esque vibe to it and "This Is Me Trying" is another one I liked.

    Will I actively listen to more of Taylor Swift's back catalogue? Unsure.
    Am I more interested in what she does in the future as a result of this album? Yes, definitely.

    Thanks for the feedback. If you like some of her acoustic/rock/country songs, you might be interested in the songs Speak Now, Haunted, White Horse, Back to December, Sparks Fly, State of Grace, The Moment I knew, Sad-Beautiful-Tragic, Begin Again, I Almost Do. There’s also Innocent on the album Speak now and many others.


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    #26
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    CruelSummer wrote: »
    Thanks for the feedback. If you like some of her acoustic/rock/country songs, you might be interested in the songs Speak Now, Haunted, White Horse, Back to December, Sparks Fly, State of Grace, The Moment I knew, Sad-Beautiful-Tragic, Begin Again, I Almost Do. There’s also Innocent on the album Speak now and many others.

    White horse is just an amazing song..love story too on that album..knew it but never really realised it was her..


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    #27
    CruelSummer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭CruelSummer


    Taylor released this last night.

    https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1331602461010894850?s=21

    Upon first listen on Spotify, sounds great. Looking forward to watching it on Disney plus.

    They released the Exile video to YouTube:
    https://youtu.be/o5SQIECedTY

    My tears ricochet, cardigan upon first listen also sound really good.


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    #28
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Woooo Taylor!!!...


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    #29
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    "Sister record" of folklore out tonight..


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    #30
    JohnGreenFan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,790 ✭✭✭JohnGreenFan


    Deleted User wrote: »
    "Sister record" of folklore out tonight..

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CInkR4Ajyi1/
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CInk1QnDdul/

    I am so excited!!!!


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    #31
    S.M.B.
    Registered Users Posts: 9,358 ✭✭✭S.M.B.


    Surprise album
    Surprise Disney+ special
    Surprise album

    Well played Taylor

    (although I'll take some of that back if it's just an out takes album)


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