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What better time to check off the first Taylor Swift album of this project than on evermore's birthday? I'm one of those people who believes evermore deserved all the hype and recognition that her sister album folklore got back in 2020, with the pair of albums being among her very best work. Saying that I'm a Taylor fan honestly feels like putting it lightly, so be prepared for a fully biased review of this one.
evermore is, to me, the absolute most underrated Taylor Swift album. It might be her single best-written album, and the instrumentals on this album are stunning to say the least.
Stand-out tracks: "willow" "champagne problems" "no body, no crime (feat. Haim)" "evermore (feat. Bon Iver)"
My favorites: "gold rush" "coney island (feat. The National)" "cowboy like me"
evermore starts with the simple yet ethereal coupling of guitar and pared back vocals with "willow," one of the most secretively personal love songs Taylor's ever written. "champagne problems" follows, taking the name of the most tragically heartbreaking song on a Taylor Swift album, illustrating the disintegration of a relationship just before a proposal, with one person left "standing crestfallen on the landing" with "your mom's ring in your pocket." Track 3, "gold rush", is all the glitter and excitement of being absolutely flustered and enamored by a connection with the person that everyone wants.
No matter how many times I hear otherwise, I'll always be convinced that "tolerate it" tells the story of Princess Diana, with lines like "always taking up too much space or time/you assume I'm fine, but what would you do if I/break free and leave us in ruins" and "lay the table with the fancy shit/and watch you tolerate it".
Taylor's collaboration's on this album are some of her best-- from the clever murder mystery of "no body, no crime" with Haim to the ghostly, reminiscent ballad of "coney island" with The National (this is one of my personal favorites and a song I feel is significantly underrated as one of her most stunning metaphors of comparing an abandoned carnival to looking back on past relationships). "ivy" puts a light spin on the story of the secretive haven of an affair and the excitement and fear and all encompassing infatuation that comes with it. "cowboy like me" is soft, mysterious, romantic-- it's a stunning song lyrically, instrumentally, vocally; and the lines "never wanted love/just a fancy car/now I'm waiting by the phone like I'm sitting in an airport bar/you had some tricks up your sleeve/takes one to know one/you're a cowboy like me" is maybe one of the most clever ways Taylor has ever illustrated how emotions can be unexpectedly all-encompassing. "marjorie" is a gorgeous ode to Taylor's grandmother and the reminder to "never be so kind you forget to be clever and never be so clever you forget to be kind"-- and the addition of the ghostly track of Taylor's opera-singing grandmother following the line "if I didn't know better/I'd think you were singing to me now" is simply perfect. The album closes with title-track "evermore" which features Bon Iver to round out a ghostly piano ballad illustrating the sliver of hope given by the simplest things that bring light in the darkness.
evermore is Taylor at her absolute best lyrical composition coupled with some of the most beautifully simplistic production she's ever had on an album. While folklore may have been what led us into this world of a forest of acoustics and beautiful storytelling, evermore is the album that makes you want to curl up with your cardigan by the cabin fireplace and never leave the folklorian woods. evermore is quite simply a masterpiece.
AM I OBSESSED?
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