'Reputation (Taylor's Version)'

can you IMAGINE the vault songs that could come out of this re-recording?

As everyone may know I live and die upon the hill of Reputation. I do wonder if she'd expand the eras a bit to try and push them all the way until Reputation can BE re-recorded.

I am hype for this though.

Considering how new this album is, this will probably be the last of the re-recordings. There’s a lot to work on. It’s a good opportunity to bring her worst album up to the normal standard.

I would already be happy if she fixes some of the horrendous instrumental sounds. And I'm praying to God that she won't mess up Don't Blame Me. She still owes us a music video for that one!

This was a thought I had at 3am: Will Gorgeous have the original recording of James saying "gorgeous" or will she re-record her part???

I am assuming you refer to some of the EDM electronic drops that I love for the attitude of the album?

I don't think another 5000 word defense will change anyone's mind but I will die on the hill that Reputation is an amazing body of work and very iconic of the time period she was in. Lover was such a downgrade compared to the sheer force that Reputation was. I will say Lover was bad enough that suddenly 1989 felt like a warm blanket. I send Lover to some scale into an abyss incomparable to all her other bodies of work.

Alright gotta argue with you here. Upon release of the Miss Americana documentary, I think it was very clear 1989 was a facade and Taylor WAS NOT TRULY HAPPY. 
I strongly, STRONGLY disagree 1989 being a "magnum opus" for Taylor. It is when a lot of her haters began acting like her fans, after years of her real fans getting trashed when they said they enjoyed Taylor Swift. Some of her poorest songwriting in "Shake It Off" was panned off as an amazing hit. I did not find 1989 to be "magical" whatsoever. I grew up with Taylor Swift. I thought 1989 was a mask and I got HATED on by fans and called a fake fan because I didn't like 1989 and I thought she was wearing a mask to hide how painful the sort of stuff that filled the Red era was, controversies of her love life and being America's favorite past time to trash and be considered an example of being a sl*t. 1989 is far inferior lyrically to any of her past work outside maybe 1 or 2 songs generally. Lover is the most inferior in lyrical quality to be clear, but 1989 was definitely her trying way too hard to follow trends, break the narrative against her, to the expense of her happiness. She has even discussed in later interviews part of her girl squad and all that was trying to prove she could be fine without a man. Why did their opinions matter anyway? She also developed an eating disorder and said at the time she felt it rewarding that when she got off the stage she felt like she was going to pass out. All her working out while eating very little. Some mentioned feeling she was getting too thin and these fans were written off also or told she was shedding her "baby weight". I will never feel 1989 was magical, if anything, 1989 destroyed everything about who she was before. She of course will never remain exactly the same, but the shift here was not authentically built. It was like going from Reputation to Lover, when in Lover interviews it was clear she was still quite bitter. The "snake" had in fact not turned to butterflies yet. 

Taylor was bitter and vengeful because after sacrificing half of herself to meet their requirements, they still destroyed her stoned her and despised her. People who jumped on the 1989 wagon, as with many popstars of the modern era, one bad controversy and they are back to hating you. She had every right to be bitter. Reputation I do not agree was uninspired. It was inspired by a narrative people painted of her vs. finding the right things in the midst of the chaos. You have to actually listen to it from the lens of how everyone made her out to be vs. the fact she is not that person. 

I was very excited for Lover given the pre-album singles. I was disappointed when those ended up being about the only thing I enjoyed. I really only revisit Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince and It's Nice to Have a Friend regularly. The album is terrible lyrically. London Boy and I Think He Knows are some of the most immature songs I have ever heard her write. As said, it made 1989 a warm blanket in comparison. I feel she came back way too soon and was still too influenced by what people in media and haters expected of her. And to me it shows because what came out authentically in Folklore and Evermore still carried some of that ache, struggle. But it also carried authentically the good parts. Evermore is the best album she has done lyrically since Red. I think so many just want her to do more dance pop upbeat stuff but that was never what made Taylor Swift. She wrote songs about boys. She wrote all those emotions. The excitement for Fearless is an old fan like me who feels thrilled to relive an album that meant the world to me when it came out. It was my first full Taylor era. And many songs that got me through my worst heartbreaks are on it. If anything, I think Folklore and Evermore have regathered her fanbase. When I sold my merch during Lover, I was lucky to sell some of it as I didn't have a lot of buyers, even for my rarer items. Because I think a lot of people felt like they were done with her. Since Folklore's release and this stuff, I've noticed her pre-owned merch going UP in price again, some items even doubled. Reputation merch now being appreciated.

but the lowest priced merch comes from Lover. I wonder why? 

I notice more people appreciate Reputation a bit more in hindsight of what it was. I had felt that anger of the expectations, the judgment, and the hurt of just growing. That these jerks build a narrative about you based on one or two things and suddenly everyone's running with it and you lose any control. I relate to that album in such a way from that standpoint and I do believe that is why I so strongly defend it, not because it is genuinely her best work (her best lyrical content was long before Reputation and came long after it) but what the era stood for, what the songs stood for, what it meant. I see the emotional artistry behind it. 1989 was her "magnum opus" attempt at trying to fix everything they said was wrong with RED at the grammys (lack of cohesion, etc.) and the era itself was Taylor trying to mold herself like clay into what made everyone happy. At the expense of her own happiness. I will always despise 1989 era for that. As much as I do all the "I'm too immature to understand 1989" comments I received while being called a fake fan, by people who hadn't been listening to Taylor since they were 9-10 years old like I had. I literally grew up with her, I didn't follow a trend here. I followed Taylor the least when it seemed she put her real authenticity on hold while trying to make people who hated her happy. 

Now for reaching the top of her career. I kind of disagree with that. I actually think RED was the top, 1989 was the carried cap and during 1989 she began to slowly fall off because the overexposure in coverage and attention that began during RED. During RED you suddenly heard Taylor on every radio station, then during 1989 it continued and slowly fell off before Reputation everyone was tired of her, making negative crap about her, trying to say her tour was doing poorly when it became one of the highest grossing tours, etc. and she has not fully recaptured the peak that fell off, but in a sense no artist truly does and considering the level of pain she was in to be at that peak, I kind of hope she lulls out and sticks to her guns and to her real audience, in the vein of Paul McCartney writing "silly love songs" about the fact people complained all he wrote was silly love songs. I would maybe agree 1989 was where the absolute peak occurred before the stunning downfall. 

Anyway, this became one of my essays. Carry on everyone.