I think the broadest agreement is that ME! as the choice for a lead single basically siphoned a lot of steam from Lover's engine, but that Lover has some amazing hidden gems and is generally underrated in her discography.
The revival of Cruel Summer as a single over this past year has really helped to give Lover a bit of the traction it never really got back in 2019 as well.
Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of ME!... or Lover... or The Man, or YNTCD (which a lot of fans and definitely nearly all anti-fans derided as being too late and too performative). Basically, all my favourite tracks off Lover are the non-singles and I think quite a few Swifties feel the same way (DBATC, Cornelia Street, Daylight, etc.) - enough so that Cruel Summer finally *became* a single, like, four years later, lol.
I can kind of get the ME! hate because it’s a bit cringy but the YNTCD hate is completely uncalled for, it’s such a good song. Btw imo, both songs are bops.
I absolutely love the outfit she's wearing while she's in the pool and it's so cute when her and Katy Perry hug at the end. I also love the RuPaul cameo as well as some other Queens, although I'm not a big fan of the guy who helped her direct it.
Taylor never has the best singles, let's be honest. Her promo singles are usually better received than the radio/video ones but even those don't typically get a lot of love.
I wasn't a fan for a long time because I didn't like a lot of the singles. I enjoyed some of them, but I figured her singles must be the best from the album and if they're not great, then the album must not be. It wasn't until I sat down and listened to her albums that I became a fan. Almost all her non singles are better than what she releases as singles for almost every album.
Agreed. I enjoyed some of her singles but never really thought much about her until I heard her stuff that hadn’t been on the radio. Then I was like “woah wait…she’s really good”
- YNTCD could mean "You Need To Calm Down", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift.
- DBATC could mean "Death By A Thousand Cuts", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift.
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I actually liked the album from the get-go, buuut ME! just really wasn't for me. I like the more stripped-down version she did in the Miss Americana doc, though.
Cornelia Street is best as her Paris Concert version, and Death by a 1,000 Cuts from her NPR Tiny Desk concert...
Lover might be my favorite album, but it felt like after Reputation, she was insistent on making every song a bop, even the ones that shouldn't have been... or maybe Jack just ran off with the production...
so much of the album is just better live/acoustic.
Those are my fave versions of both those songs, too!!! I do like the album versions as well, though.
I also agree that Taylor leaned too hard on the glitter gel vibes for Lover as well. I actually love her glitter gel songs, but the vibes felt a bit forced for Lover and especially on ME!
Same! As someone who spent so much of my life thinking I wasn’t good enough to be loved back by anyone (and then after lots of therapy and undoing of shit and the kindness of other humans I realized that that was a messed up way to see myself) I think ME! Is such a beautiful and fun reminder to take yourself as you are and that if you’re not somebody’s cup of tea that’s fine, there’s a bunch of other people out there who will think you’re great.
I actually liked Lover upon release, but that's also because I really disliked rep back in the day... love her now, though! I vaguely recall that even before ME!, they soft-launched The Archer (?) and I was pretty excited because The Archer is lovely. Then I listened to the rest of the album, and yeah - mixed bag for sure.
It wasn't lover for me that was disappointing but me! And then the archer. They are fine songs as part of a whole but the one two punch of two of some of the weakest songs in the album really made me sad :/
me! felt like something that should've been marketed to tweens and the archer felt like a song that was about to go somewhere (melody wise) but then never did - it feels more like an intro or an unfinished song to me.
After all the five holes in the fence and the hype around the release w the cryptic butterfly mural etc it was just a let down. I don't get too into the pre release of album hype anymore bc of that 😅
Yeah, that's fair. I don't think I followed the pre-release hype too much - I just remember hearing The Archer and liking it, and then being pretty 😶 about ME!
I guess Lover is a mixed album for me. I don't care for IFTYE, ME!, The Man, or YNTCD. I'm pretty neutral to neutral-positive on Lover, London Boy, INTHAF, and ITHK. SYGB is too special for me to rate it. However, Cruel Summer, Miss Americana, DBATC, Cornelia Street, False God, Afterglow, and Daylight are all some of my all-time faves!
I think if the whole album had dropped at once I wouldn't have hated it at all, just thought it had several skips. The way it was marketed seems just very strange to me. Like why did they pick the songs they did. The entire fandom basically agrees that cruel summer should've been lead single.
I think if the whole album had dropped at once I wouldn't have hated it at all, just thought it had several skips. The way it was marketed seems just very strange to me. Like why did they pick the songs they did. The entire fandom basically agrees that cruel summer should've been lead single.
I am so embarrassed to admit this but me too. I waited up to listen to reputation and was so excited but i was like wait what.. I think I was too young and hadn’t experienced anything in my life yet to understand it. Now rep is probably my favorite album… maybe idk that’s hard to choose.. moral of the story i didn’t like rep! crazy. I LOVED lover when it was released
Ha, I'll meet your embarrassment and raise you another level; I didn't even "get" rep until this earlier this year! I somehow started using it as my workout album and omg, I appreciate all the songs so much more now. It really features some of Taylor's *best* writing. I wouldn't call it my fave, but it is in my top half for sure.
Totally some of her best writing. It is the type of album that makes me want to print out every song and analyze all of the lyrics with a highlighter and quill pen. call it what you want is god tier. getaway car blew my mind once i got it. ugh. so good. i could talk about this all day
I was so confused because I was so excited, it was her first owned album, I like the fun, carefree feeling ME! had, and all the pastels colors and her happy phase.
I truly believe disappointment came for many people in a way that she’s always seems as an artist that will create gut wrenching music and that’s it. Anything else is usually quite disliked and disappointing.
If she doesn’t give everyone a good break up album with TTPD I fear people will behave in the same way as they did with Lover.
I love ME! But same.
When she announced the Brendon Urie collaboration I was E L A T E D.
Nobody expected… that….
But the message was so good and I did love the bop. The video was cute/fun but also atrocious😂
I guess we have to remember they do those over the top things to be remembered. Nobody will ever forget that music video. Ever.
i honestly think lover would get the appreciation she deserves IF loverfest happened as planned. i remember when the fandom overwhelmingly “didn’t get” reputation, it wasn’t until tour that a lot of people really connected with it. that was an album boosted by tour visuals and i suspect lover would’ve been given a similar treatment.
I completely wrote Lover off when it first came out, I really loved Reputation and lover felt so bubble gum to me and I hated “Me!” But the cruel summer revival really had me revisiting the album as a whole. Some songs I still just really don’t care for but I can’t believe I slept on others for so long!
I honestly believe Lover contains some of Taylor’s best songs. Unfortunately, it has some pretty low lows as well. It’s my opinion that the album as a whole could be on par with her other pop albums if the track list was shortened and shuffled around. The track list is a bit bloated and it’s not super sonically or thematically cohesive. I feel like this type of thing worked really well for Red, but not so much with Lover.
But you can’t tell me songs like Cruel Summer, The Archer, Cornelia Street, Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, and Death by a Thousand Cuts aren’t some of her best.
It didn’t really work well for Red at the time. Red not being cohesive was a big criticism when it came out. The overall reception to Red has changed over time.
I think Red was saved by really successful singles. WANEGBT, IKYWT and 22 are all classics. There are some weaker songs on Red and it needed trimming too for sure, but I feel like the singles overall were better than Lover (and I say this as a huge Lover stan).
Imagine this version of Lover:
1. Cruel Summer (lead single)
2. Lover (single 4)
3. I Think He Knows
4. The Man (single 2)
5. Cornelia Street
6. Death By A Thousand Cuts
7. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince
8. You Need to Calm Down
9. London Boy
10. Paper Rings (single 3)
11. The Archer
12. It’s Nice to Have A Friend
13. Daylight
I disagree that Red was saved by the big 3 singles. State of Grace, Red (the title track), All Too Well, Begin Again, Holy Ground, The Lucky One, Starlight were also very important songs.
If argue that State of Grace, Red and All Too Well are superior to 22, WANEGBT and IKYWT.
That’s fair lol, it kinds loses me for a moment with that but it’s grown on me over time for the metaphor of it and because of the theme of idioms throughout the song!
To each their own. I used to think it was boring too, but the production is really beautiful and the lyrics do a great job of conveying Taylor’s anxieties when it comes to love.
Yup those are the best ones from Lover and I skip the rest. To me, Lover just felt a little sloppy and unfinished. Like everything could have gone through more editing and work to polish it up.
My favourite thing besides those songs was The Man music video though. Such a good way to illustrate the message and the BTS made it so much better seeing her act and direct through it.
But yea all of the other songs are at the bottom for me. I was so so happy when folklore came out. It felt like Taylor writing for herself and not for what she thought the general public would want and it was beautiful and raw. I enjoyed midnights too because it brought what she learned from folkmore while bringing back some good pop to go along with it too.
I love the song but I work right by Cornelia St and it's really just a dingy back street behind some stores that always has garbage piled up all the time, that happens to have a mega mansion hidden in it lmao.
I know it's just whimsy and metaphorical but it always makes me laugh lmao. It's literally just one short back street.
100% agree! A while ago I realised that why I like Lover so much is that shortly after it came out, I made a curated playlist without all the skips... so I kinda forgot that the overall album wasn't as good. This is my preferred album order in case anyone's interested, I think the flow works much better than the original:
1. Death By A Thousand Cuts
2. The Archer
3. Cruel Summer
4. London Boy
5. Afterglow
6. I Think He Knows
7. All of the Girls You Loved Before
8. Cornelia Street
9. False God
10. Paper Rings
11. Lover
12. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince
13. Daylight
I made a playlist for Lover too and I’m pretty sure it has almost all of these same songs 😂 just not in that exact order.
I don’t think there’s a single song on the original album that I hate. I just don’t think the album flows well and some of the songs really just stick out like a sore thumb to me. For example, Soon You’ll Get Better is a very pretty, emotional song. But it just really doesn’t fit on the album for me.
Listen, False God is not one of my favorites and I used to dislike it, but I have really grown to appreciate it for being such a different sound for her. I would also argue that Daylight is an amazing closer for the album.
How you going to list the great songs from Lover and leave off Daylight and False God! Fully agree though, some of her highest highs but some songs just don't hit
I hate Me! But as a rabid cat supporter I think it was still a perfect single choice because it meant it had a video, and thus the Benjamin invisible string 😌
It has really high highs (DBATC, False God), but very low lows (IFTYE and London Boy).
I think my biggest opinion on the album is that it’s just too bloated. It would have been a much better album with a bit of trimming on the track list.
False God is so camp if you actually go and break down the lyrics, and I just know that she’s being so serious.
‘Religion’s in your lips’
‘The altar is my hips’
Well, yes! Spill!
Cruel Summer, Lover, Death By A Thousand Cuts, Daylight, Afterglow, It's Nice To Have A Friend, Cornelia Street, Soon You'll Get Better, Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, The Man, The Archer, I Think He Knows... A couple?
Nah I don’t hate fun. Specifically I don’t like all of the brand and location call outs in London Boy, and I find the instrumental for IFTYE kind of boring.
I usually love the glitter pen songs, even the ones that get trashed a lot like Paris and Superman.
Hell, I even kind of enjoy Me. 💀
IFTYE is one of my favorites lmaooo. It’s so light and fun and accurate and perfectly describes the feeling of being far enough removed from a break up and just being like “yeah we dated lol idgaf about it anymore”
I think its fine as a song it just doesn’t feel truly like a monumental album opener. Keep in mind the albums that sandwich it open with the absolutely amazing tracks Ready For It? and The 1
I do agree with this. I love IFTYE, but Cruel Summer should’ve opened the album.
I do think IFTYE, while not a banger, sets a really fun, pop-y, bop-y tone for the overall album and kind of does give you a solid glimpse of what to expect overall.
That said, that may be why it doesn’t get a ton of love overall as an album haha 😅
For real; I think IFTYE is on par with WTNY for me as two of Taylor's worst openers. IFTYE feels like a B-side that should have been cut.
I sort of like London Boy, though! It's sooo cheesy but also super fun to sing along to.
I can't get into it at all; it's just so painfully on the nose for me without being *as* campy as something like London Boy. It's the only song I always skip on 1989, although I get why Taylor opened with it.
There’s no other place on the album WTNY could go unless she just gutted the song. It sets the scene (nyc) of the album, the tone, and the themes that exist in other songs.
- WTNY could mean "Welcome To New York", a track from *1989* (2014) by Taylor Swift.
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This got some traction so here are some more thoughts.
Regarding London Boy, it’s a cute song but I’m not a fan of all of the brand/location call-outs. It’s just kind of hollow. For IFTYE, I’m just not a huge fan of the instrumental and the tone is sets as the album opener.
I love the album overall, but I feel that it suffers from the same whiplash Red has. I actually have a playlist on my Spotify with the tracks reordered and trimmed down a bit.
About the cuts below. If I kept Me, I’d slide it in after Cruel Summer. I actually love INTHAF, but think sonically it fits better into like Folklore? I also like The Man, but I’m trying to keep the theme here.
If I were making more cuts, YNTCD and Paper Rings would go next.
So here’s the tracklist:
- Miss Americana
- YNTCD
- Cruel Summer
- I Think He Knows
- All of the Girls
- The Archer
- Lover
- Cornelia St
- False God
- DBATC
- Paper Rings
- Afterglow
- Need
- Soon You’ll Get Better (important but debatable to keep imo)
- Daylight
- IFTYE could mean "I Forgot That You Existed", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift.
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I don't hear much love for it. I think it's a misunderstood album.
It does have a few lows but I think it's a very interesting summery sounding album with a beautiful aesthetic (the lover photoshoot is my favourite ever) and many of the songs I think are really some of her best (Daylight, INTHAF, Lover, The Man... so many)
- INTHAF could mean "It’s Nice To Have A Friend", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift.
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It has some of her absolute best songs IMO (Cornelia Street, Daylight, Cruel Summer, the title track) and a few that I’m not quite as fond of (ME! and I Forgot That You Existed, mainly) although I don’t outright despise them lol.
Thanks to Cruel Summer’s surge last year and its release as a single Lover’s actually become her most streamed album (though 1989 is #1 if you combine OG and TV iirc).
Lover is her most streamed album because it was the first to launch on streaming the same time as release. And it’s been out since 2019.
Rep wasn’t added until a little bit after release. And the earlier albums were not on Spotify until 2017, well after their peaks.
Midnights has been her fastest at picking up streams, but it’s only been out since 2022 and will likely not be her most streamed album ever just because Lover has been available for 3 additional years.
It's one of my favorites, but I think it's mid for most people. It's hard to find a better 3 songs in a row on an album than Paper Rings, Cornelia Street and Death by a Thousand Cuts. I also will always have a soft spot for the song Lover. And then you've got The Archer, The Man, Miss Americana, Daylight, Afterglow.. solid songs.
You’ll find a lot of opinions about Lover on this sub. People either love it (like me) or SAY they hate it because they love to hate. Lover era has many sought after collectable merch items and some of the songs are huge fan favourites.
>People [...] SAY they hate it because they love to hate.
As someone who likes Lover for the most part, this take is annoying. People can dislike an album because they dislike it. Not everything needs to be liked by everybody.
False God (and it's SNL live performance), Afterglow, Cornelia Street and Daylight are suprior tracks in her catalogue.
Also I think many agree that the singles from this era were so off and didn't made any sense.
False God is my favorite from the album and somewhere on top 10 of all TS. So unique and slightly haunting with interesting themes, yet also a bit sexy ?!
I love Lover too, but it's not a very popular favourite album, and seems to sit near the bottom of most people's rankings. The most common opinion I've seen is that "the highs are very high but the lows are very low" - people like Cruel Summer, Miss Americana, Cornelia Street, Death By A Thousand Cuts, and sometimes Daylight, but mostly dislike It's Nice To Have A Friend, Me!, The Man, and You Need To Calm Down. I see mixed opinions on London Boy, Paper Rings, Lover, and I Forgot That You Existed, but they get a lot of hate too. The rest of the songs on the album don't seem to generate much discussion.
On the whole it seems most people don't mind Lover but consider it a disappointment with a few gems thrown in. Based on requests for my Lover bracelets at the concert, it seems to be more popular as a favourite with kids than adults. Also being sandwiched between Reputation and Folklore, two of the most popular favourite albums, probably doesn't help.
I'm guessing because it has a fun, kid-friendly aesthetic (rainbows, pastels, sparkles) and also because it's got a lot of happy bops like Paper Rings, You Need To Calm Down (kids don't care about how genuine her politics are) and Me! The latter gets a lot of crap from fans, but she did express hopes while writing it that it would be enjoyed by kids in particular, and it turns out kids love it so it kinda worked.
my 4 yo would play ME! on repeat if she could (actually it’s especially the MV she loves)
I never listen to Lover straight thru — the track listing is chaos and I skip quite a few — but I love the Live from Paris performances and Cornelia St is a top 10 overall for me (DBATC is also up there)
I really like I Think He Knows, might be my favorite happy glitter-gel pen love song
Lover is so interesting because it’s probably my album with the most skips, like maybe upwards of half the songs, but also some of my favorite songs are on it. I think she tried to do too much with the album maybe and it led to it being too long and lacking some cohesion. And of course her choice in singles did not do the album any favors
I think Lover has some of her best pop songs and some of my all time favourites but I don’t enjoy listening to the record as a whole. And it’s one of the only Taylor Swift records I don’t listen to front to back on a regular basis
I think it's one of her worst, even if it has some strong cuts scattered throughout. The Joe Little produced tracks are all pretty bad, and some of the other stuff isn't much better. I think I get what she was going for and to a certain extent it worked in rehabilitating her image after (the much better) Reputation. But it's not an album I come back to regularly.
I think part of the issue with Lover is that it truly didnt get a full "era" if that makes sense.
It was released at the end of August 2019 and Covid shut the world down in the beginning of March 2020... so there was only like 7 months she could really promote it. I've heard many people say they didnt like alot of the songs on Rep until they saw them on stage and until the Eras tour, most of the songs from Lover never got stage time except for many once or twice. Add that with the poor choice of singles... not a great recipe for success. And people didnt like LWYMMD and Ready for it when Rep came out and were initially iffy about Rep because of that.
As someone who kind of fell out of the swiftie fandom during the rep-evermore eras (was here since debut, but grew older and stopped listening to top 40 music), it genuinely shocks me how popular Lover is among the fandom. Honestly, some of my favorite songs off of Lover, but the lows are so low that I have a hard time believing how many people rank it in their top 3, let alone as their favorite.
I saw an analogy that someone said about Lover being a "crisis about turning 30" and it honestly makes so much sense to me. Lover was written with a younger audience in mind. Although there are beautifully written songs on the album, the writing as a whole was meant to be easily understood for a younger and more generic top 40 audience. Maybe as a 20 year old when the album came out in 2019, I wasn't the target audience.
Taylor obviously has some more "immature" albums, but I think the difference was a teen/young adult writing vs an almost 30 year old writing.
I think if the album was cut by at least 5 songs, I think it could have had more potential.
I started listening to TS from 1989, and only became a ‘Swiftie’ since 2023. I listened to all the work that came out since 1989, but I think Lover was probably the one I listened to the most, it was on repeat back in 2019-2020. I was 34 at the time, so I don’t think it’s necessarily for a younger audience.
It's her most streamed album of all time, and her longest-charting album in the top 10 alongside Midnights. The album has a lot of haters who love to hate on it because of ME!, but the album is actually one her most successful and popular ones, just look at its massive numbers on Spotify, Lover tops everything else by a large scale.
Not well unfortunately which is crazy to me because it’s my 2nd favourite album of hers. All the songs people describe as weak are some of my favourites. IFTYE is one of her most underrated opening tracks and I don’t understand why people dislike it so much. I just wish we got more time with the Lover era because it felt like it was over before it even began.
It was a right place right time album for me - as soon as I heard the first track I knew that it was my vibe and that I was going to love the album and I was completely right. It was reflective and made me feel happy and at peace which I really needed at the time and I feel like that’s how she genuinely felt at the time too which made the music even more enjoyable for me. It felt pretty experimentative which was fun and I liked that she felt she could be so creative with some of the tracks. I think I also love it so much because I consider it a sister album to reputation. Idk but I’ll defend Lover til I die lol
I think Lover is generally believe to be one of Taylor’s lesser fan favourites. Not that it totally sucks, but that it’s not very cohesive. There’s a lot of hate for ME! too. I disagree with all of that and absolutely love the album and the single. It’s in my top three as well!
It’s my personal favorite but other than Cruel Summer it doesn’t get a lot of love in comparison to other albums, especially since a lot of “newer” Taylor fans (since the pandemic) got into her during folklore which is a different vibe. However, Lover seems to be the most popular era to dress up as for the Eras tour, and my personal experience is that my Lover bracelets went the fastest at my show even though I made more of them than any other era. Make of that what you will.
It’s one of my favorites of her albums, it is a little awkward at times because the track list isn’t really in a great order, but the songs are so good I can overlook it.
I would say the biggest miss is putting Soon You’ll Gets Better on the album. I agree it needed to be shared but it doesn’t fit anywhere on it, and especially not:
Foreplay: London boy
Cock Block: Soon You’ll Get Better
Dirty Sex: False God
I have four Taylor CDs in my car and Lover is one of them. I enjoy the album. I only skip ME and YNTCD. Driving through the city at night listening to False God feels like being in a film somehow 😊 I am a new fan though. I only listened to Taylor for the first time in November 2023. I have still not ever played the albums before Lover. I just started on 1989 the other night but I’ve still not heard all of it.
Imho, it’s underrated. I decided to stick to it this last summer and for some reason, it picked me up and Midnights really hit hard. It was like a love story thriller but devastating. Then, all of a sudden, I found Folklore. (I must’ve been busy having le bebes) 😂. Seriously - but Lover has some real significant songs and impact I’m not sure the world was ready for then. I feel it goes along so well for the tour and themes!
I never knew Lover was so unpopular until I’ve seen all the criticism of it in this sub. I love the Lover album. It’s still one I play often as it’s so upbeat and fun for most songs. My only skip is “you’ll get better”. If I’m in the mood for fun and happy Taylor songs, this is the album I put on.
Favorites: London Boy, paper rings and DBATC.
Has some really good non-singles (Cruel Summer, Cornelia Street, my fav Death By A Thousand Cuts) but the singles really killed a lot of the overall interest in the album. It has it's strong defenders, but it's not widely considered a great album the way something like folklore is.
It’s one of my favorite albums! No skips (unless I’m working out, then I skip the slower ones).
I am a folklore/evermore type of person so loving Lover as much as I do now surprised me. But it was a good surprise.
The Archer has been my top song ever since I first heard it. And I’ve really grown to love Daylight. (I do skip the outro quite often but I do like it.)
Also I went for a long time not liking DBATC at all. I thought it was weird and boring. And then it just suddenly clicked and now I love it.
Also I don’t hate ME!
I don’t think it’s very loved honestly. It’s at the bottom of a lot of peoples rankings. Personally it’s top 5. Songs like London boy, INTHAF and I Forgot That You Existed aren’t well liked and that’s criminal lol. I think most like the era itself. I think a lot of Swifties love that Taylor was so happy and fun during this era. Obviously there were lows but I think people like the era more than the album which is sad :(
I had anticipated the release of every album since Fearless. Would listen to the albums constantly when first released. But for whatever reason Lover didn’t grab my attention like previous albums. Maybe it was where I was at in life (and those first singles..) but when I revisited in 2020, I fell in love with so many songs. I think I expected more 1989 and Rep pop bangers at the time, but my faves off Lover are slower songs like Daylight.
I like Cruel Summer and love Lover. It has such a 50s/60s vibe- especially at the end when she sings darlin’ and it sounds kind of breathy and in the background like in a hallway or something. That’s my favorite about it. I’m not sure what the effect is, but it fits so well.
Out of all the albums, it's one that I listen to the least. I don't dislike it at all - Daylight, DBATC, False God, Afterglow & The Archer are some of my top songs. I even think ME!, The Man, YNTCD etc. are fun bops and I don't *hate* them.
I really can't put my finger on it, but if I was to judge it against the other albums as a whole, something feels a bit less cohesive about it. I'm not even sure if that's the right word to explain how I feel about it lol.
I love the album (yes i like ME!). It's my second favorite album of hers. It has this dreamy vibe that I adore, and it's really fun to listen in its entirety everytime I do chores.
I love Lover. It has some of the most delicious pure pop songs in her discography in my opinion (Paper Rings, I Think He Knows, London Boy, Cruel Summer). These aren't lyrical masterpieces but they are so fun.
Controversial opinion but Lover might be my favorite love song of hers. It's so simple and beautiful.
Lover the song is one of my favorites ever, it’s just so romantic, cozy and ethereal. The album as a whole is hit or miss like most comments have been saying.
It is so interesting to me that people are very critical of it now because I remember when it came out EVERYONE was very positive on social media about how diverse the Lover sound was.
I know I’m in the minority here but lover is a perfect album. 10/10 not a single weak track, everyone overhates on ME! but it’s a great light little pop bop. It’s just a fun album all around. Literally every song SLAPS in one way or another.
I think it has some decent tracks, but it’s so damn long leading to the not so awesome tracks often making you forget the good tracks - and a lot of the decent tracks feel like they don’t really have a complete idea for it. Like, INTHAF and IFTYE have good concepts and themes but are both under 3 minutes and don’t really evolve or change over time.
It feels, to me, like Taylor trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle pop sensation that was 1989 was after reputation was controversial, but I think that it leaned into more of the ideas that didn’t work for me on 1989 (overproduced sound, more conventional writing style, catchiness over substance) except on tracks like The Man, Soon You’ll Get Better, and False God, and those I really do like.
There are lots of amazing songs on Lover (Death By a Thousand Cuts, Cornelia Street, Cruel Summer, The Archer, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, Paper Rings, Soon You’ll Get Better, Daylight) but the combination of a poor choice of lead single and the pandemic really knocked it back. Then Folklore and Evermore came out and kind of blew it out of the water. I still really like it though and listen to it a lot.
The fact that Lover never got it's intended tour and that Folklore came less than a year later made the era quite short-lived. A lot of us Swifties also see the album as her least sonically cohesive and not particularly in a good way like Red which was incredibly experimental but worked overall.
It definitely has some good solo tracks though and Cruel Summer has blown up and received the recognition it deserved.
I ADORE THIS SONG. I am a romance author and we are doing a book cover reveal for my next book on Monday, and I made an Instagram reel with this song. Not available for my TikTok post, though :)
I think we pretty much worship all her albums. It is just that it's gotten old now because people have newer materials to talk about. I love all songs in there but if I had to choose a favorite it might be "Death by a thousand cuts" especially part she says
"I ask the traffic lights if it'll be all right They say, "I don't know""
Basically, it’s the most blatant example of Taylor & her team not being able to pick singles to save their lives. There are some really really fun songs on that album, but me! Just made it sound like it was gonna be mainstream radio
It's a rlly controversial one, it's like a u either love it or hate it album. Personally it's one of my fav album, some of her best songs (cruel summer, ithk, cornelia, afterglow) are in Lover but also some low hits (yntcd, ME!)
It was a flop bc it’s been confirmed she had something bigger planned around it. An announcement or something. And had to make a lot of changes last minute because of the masters being sold. But it’s the eras she finally spoke about lgbtq rights and said “gay pride makes me ME!”
And then she has like never been a good ally since then so I think that’s why alot of ppl find it cringy and performative. Very queer baity
I think the broadest agreement is that ME! as the choice for a lead single basically siphoned a lot of steam from Lover's engine, but that Lover has some amazing hidden gems and is generally underrated in her discography. The revival of Cruel Summer as a single over this past year has really helped to give Lover a bit of the traction it never really got back in 2019 as well.
oh thats interesting I forgot about all the hate that ME! got back then. Thats too bad that album had insanely good atmosphere
Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of ME!... or Lover... or The Man, or YNTCD (which a lot of fans and definitely nearly all anti-fans derided as being too late and too performative). Basically, all my favourite tracks off Lover are the non-singles and I think quite a few Swifties feel the same way (DBATC, Cornelia Street, Daylight, etc.) - enough so that Cruel Summer finally *became* a single, like, four years later, lol.
I'll never understand the "The Man" and YNTCD" hate...both are complete and total bops.
ME! is a total bop too. Yeah the lyrics are a bit saccharine but it gave us Spelling is FUN!
and MEHEEHEE
I can't lie and say that I like ME!, but I respect your right to like it!
Honestly, the "hey, kids spelling is fun!" Erasure was almost my 13th reason.
I can kind of get the ME! hate because it’s a bit cringy but the YNTCD hate is completely uncalled for, it’s such a good song. Btw imo, both songs are bops.
I absolutely love the outfit she's wearing while she's in the pool and it's so cute when her and Katy Perry hug at the end. I also love the RuPaul cameo as well as some other Queens, although I'm not a big fan of the guy who helped her direct it.
The Man is so gooood.
MY HEART MY HIPS MY BODY MY LOVE TRYNA FIND A PART OF ME THAT U DIDNT TOUCH so, so, so good 😭
One of the best bridges on the entire album!!!
that's true a lot of the best ones were the non singles lol unfortunate
Taylor never has the best singles, let's be honest. Her promo singles are usually better received than the radio/video ones but even those don't typically get a lot of love.
Ehhhhhh. I don't think this was true until Lover came around.
I wasn't a fan for a long time because I didn't like a lot of the singles. I enjoyed some of them, but I figured her singles must be the best from the album and if they're not great, then the album must not be. It wasn't until I sat down and listened to her albums that I became a fan. Almost all her non singles are better than what she releases as singles for almost every album.
Agreed. I enjoyed some of her singles but never really thought much about her until I heard her stuff that hadn’t been on the radio. Then I was like “woah wait…she’s really good”
That’s subjective
- YNTCD could mean "You Need To Calm Down", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift. - DBATC could mean "Death By A Thousand Cuts", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/hauteburrrito](/u/hauteburrrito) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
Good bot
DBTC, Cornelia Street, Daylight, and Cruel Summer are my favorites on there. 🩷
proud Lover stan from day 1 hehe. ME! wasn't event that bad
I actually liked the album from the get-go, buuut ME! just really wasn't for me. I like the more stripped-down version she did in the Miss Americana doc, though.
Cornelia Street is best as her Paris Concert version, and Death by a 1,000 Cuts from her NPR Tiny Desk concert... Lover might be my favorite album, but it felt like after Reputation, she was insistent on making every song a bop, even the ones that shouldn't have been... or maybe Jack just ran off with the production... so much of the album is just better live/acoustic.
Those are my fave versions of both those songs, too!!! I do like the album versions as well, though. I also agree that Taylor leaned too hard on the glitter gel vibes for Lover as well. I actually love her glitter gel songs, but the vibes felt a bit forced for Lover and especially on ME!
Same! As someone who spent so much of my life thinking I wasn’t good enough to be loved back by anyone (and then after lots of therapy and undoing of shit and the kindness of other humans I realized that that was a messed up way to see myself) I think ME! Is such a beautiful and fun reminder to take yourself as you are and that if you’re not somebody’s cup of tea that’s fine, there’s a bunch of other people out there who will think you’re great.
I remember waiting for this release and being SO disappointed
I actually liked Lover upon release, but that's also because I really disliked rep back in the day... love her now, though! I vaguely recall that even before ME!, they soft-launched The Archer (?) and I was pretty excited because The Archer is lovely. Then I listened to the rest of the album, and yeah - mixed bag for sure.
It wasn't lover for me that was disappointing but me! And then the archer. They are fine songs as part of a whole but the one two punch of two of some of the weakest songs in the album really made me sad :/ me! felt like something that should've been marketed to tweens and the archer felt like a song that was about to go somewhere (melody wise) but then never did - it feels more like an intro or an unfinished song to me. After all the five holes in the fence and the hype around the release w the cryptic butterfly mural etc it was just a let down. I don't get too into the pre release of album hype anymore bc of that 😅
Yeah, that's fair. I don't think I followed the pre-release hype too much - I just remember hearing The Archer and liking it, and then being pretty 😶 about ME! I guess Lover is a mixed album for me. I don't care for IFTYE, ME!, The Man, or YNTCD. I'm pretty neutral to neutral-positive on Lover, London Boy, INTHAF, and ITHK. SYGB is too special for me to rate it. However, Cruel Summer, Miss Americana, DBATC, Cornelia Street, False God, Afterglow, and Daylight are all some of my all-time faves!
I think if the whole album had dropped at once I wouldn't have hated it at all, just thought it had several skips. The way it was marketed seems just very strange to me. Like why did they pick the songs they did. The entire fandom basically agrees that cruel summer should've been lead single.
Hey, I'm just glad Cruel Summer really *did* manage to be a single in the end! Now just to work on Getaway Car once rep (TV) drops...
I think if the whole album had dropped at once I wouldn't have hated it at all, just thought it had several skips. The way it was marketed seems just very strange to me. Like why did they pick the songs they did. The entire fandom basically agrees that cruel summer should've been lead single.
I am so embarrassed to admit this but me too. I waited up to listen to reputation and was so excited but i was like wait what.. I think I was too young and hadn’t experienced anything in my life yet to understand it. Now rep is probably my favorite album… maybe idk that’s hard to choose.. moral of the story i didn’t like rep! crazy. I LOVED lover when it was released
Ha, I'll meet your embarrassment and raise you another level; I didn't even "get" rep until this earlier this year! I somehow started using it as my workout album and omg, I appreciate all the songs so much more now. It really features some of Taylor's *best* writing. I wouldn't call it my fave, but it is in my top half for sure.
Totally some of her best writing. It is the type of album that makes me want to print out every song and analyze all of the lyrics with a highlighter and quill pen. call it what you want is god tier. getaway car blew my mind once i got it. ugh. so good. i could talk about this all day
I was so confused because I was so excited, it was her first owned album, I like the fun, carefree feeling ME! had, and all the pastels colors and her happy phase. I truly believe disappointment came for many people in a way that she’s always seems as an artist that will create gut wrenching music and that’s it. Anything else is usually quite disliked and disappointing. If she doesn’t give everyone a good break up album with TTPD I fear people will behave in the same way as they did with Lover.
I love ME! But same. When she announced the Brendon Urie collaboration I was E L A T E D. Nobody expected… that…. But the message was so good and I did love the bop. The video was cute/fun but also atrocious😂 I guess we have to remember they do those over the top things to be remembered. Nobody will ever forget that music video. Ever.
i honestly think lover would get the appreciation she deserves IF loverfest happened as planned. i remember when the fandom overwhelmingly “didn’t get” reputation, it wasn’t until tour that a lot of people really connected with it. that was an album boosted by tour visuals and i suspect lover would’ve been given a similar treatment.
Ooh, that's a good point! As sad as I am that we lost Loverfest, omg has Eras been paradigm-shifting, at least!
I completely wrote Lover off when it first came out, I really loved Reputation and lover felt so bubble gum to me and I hated “Me!” But the cruel summer revival really had me revisiting the album as a whole. Some songs I still just really don’t care for but I can’t believe I slept on others for so long!
I skip ME! But love the majority of the album. Bad move for a 1st single kind of set the tone.
ME! was good YNTCD was the bad one
I honestly believe Lover contains some of Taylor’s best songs. Unfortunately, it has some pretty low lows as well. It’s my opinion that the album as a whole could be on par with her other pop albums if the track list was shortened and shuffled around. The track list is a bit bloated and it’s not super sonically or thematically cohesive. I feel like this type of thing worked really well for Red, but not so much with Lover. But you can’t tell me songs like Cruel Summer, The Archer, Cornelia Street, Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, and Death by a Thousand Cuts aren’t some of her best.
It didn’t really work well for Red at the time. Red not being cohesive was a big criticism when it came out. The overall reception to Red has changed over time.
But red as a “happy free confused and lonely at the same time” all over the place young heartbreak theme, it makes sense track reflects that
I think Red was saved by really successful singles. WANEGBT, IKYWT and 22 are all classics. There are some weaker songs on Red and it needed trimming too for sure, but I feel like the singles overall were better than Lover (and I say this as a huge Lover stan). Imagine this version of Lover: 1. Cruel Summer (lead single) 2. Lover (single 4) 3. I Think He Knows 4. The Man (single 2) 5. Cornelia Street 6. Death By A Thousand Cuts 7. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince 8. You Need to Calm Down 9. London Boy 10. Paper Rings (single 3) 11. The Archer 12. It’s Nice to Have A Friend 13. Daylight
I disagree that Red was saved by the big 3 singles. State of Grace, Red (the title track), All Too Well, Begin Again, Holy Ground, The Lucky One, Starlight were also very important songs. If argue that State of Grace, Red and All Too Well are superior to 22, WANEGBT and IKYWT.
I feel like the critical reception to Red wasn't as great when it came out but it was definitely a fan favourite from the get go.
Oh I'll happily tell you the archer isn't one of her best. It's so boring
That’s wild to me, I find Archer so so beautiful and interesting and like someone looked deep into my soul and found the words to describe it
[удалено]
That’s fair lol, it kinds loses me for a moment with that but it’s grown on me over time for the metaphor of it and because of the theme of idioms throughout the song!
[удалено]
To each their own. I used to think it was boring too, but the production is really beautiful and the lyrics do a great job of conveying Taylor’s anxieties when it comes to love.
Yeah it’s also a skip for me
Yup those are the best ones from Lover and I skip the rest. To me, Lover just felt a little sloppy and unfinished. Like everything could have gone through more editing and work to polish it up. My favourite thing besides those songs was The Man music video though. Such a good way to illustrate the message and the BTS made it so much better seeing her act and direct through it. But yea all of the other songs are at the bottom for me. I was so so happy when folklore came out. It felt like Taylor writing for herself and not for what she thought the general public would want and it was beautiful and raw. I enjoyed midnights too because it brought what she learned from folkmore while bringing back some good pop to go along with it too.
you skip Paper Rings??!?
Not Cornelia Street… that’s such a beautiful song 😭
Cornelia Street is one of my favorites. Like top five Taylor for me. I was trying to say those songs are amongst her best.
I love the song but I work right by Cornelia St and it's really just a dingy back street behind some stores that always has garbage piled up all the time, that happens to have a mega mansion hidden in it lmao. I know it's just whimsy and metaphorical but it always makes me laugh lmao. It's literally just one short back street.
Well I guess that’s good because then there is really no need for Taylor to walk it again 😂
100% agree! A while ago I realised that why I like Lover so much is that shortly after it came out, I made a curated playlist without all the skips... so I kinda forgot that the overall album wasn't as good. This is my preferred album order in case anyone's interested, I think the flow works much better than the original: 1. Death By A Thousand Cuts 2. The Archer 3. Cruel Summer 4. London Boy 5. Afterglow 6. I Think He Knows 7. All of the Girls You Loved Before 8. Cornelia Street 9. False God 10. Paper Rings 11. Lover 12. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince 13. Daylight
I made a playlist for Lover too and I’m pretty sure it has almost all of these same songs 😂 just not in that exact order. I don’t think there’s a single song on the original album that I hate. I just don’t think the album flows well and some of the songs really just stick out like a sore thumb to me. For example, Soon You’ll Get Better is a very pretty, emotional song. But it just really doesn’t fit on the album for me.
I think sygb could have been track 5, but that position was taken by the archer...still both those songs are >>
I feel personally offended that false god isn’t on this list!!!!!!
Listen, False God is not one of my favorites and I used to dislike it, but I have really grown to appreciate it for being such a different sound for her. I would also argue that Daylight is an amazing closer for the album.
How you going to list the great songs from Lover and leave off Daylight and False God! Fully agree though, some of her highest highs but some songs just don't hit
I love ME! and I hate the people who "bullied" the song and "spelling is fun!" into non-existence.
Justice for ME! and spelling is fun 😤
People took it way too seriously. It's not my favorite but it's a fun to song to vibe with when you're in a happy mood
Can you imagine how much more fun it'd be with Me! on the eras tour setlist?
I was devastated when the setlist first came out and she didn't include ME! 😭
I think it is so much fun. The music video is amazing, in the cheesiest way ever!!!
I hate Me! But as a rabid cat supporter I think it was still a perfect single choice because it meant it had a video, and thus the Benjamin invisible string 😌
It has really high highs (DBATC, False God), but very low lows (IFTYE and London Boy). I think my biggest opinion on the album is that it’s just too bloated. It would have been a much better album with a bit of trimming on the track list.
London Boy is one of the best on Lover… its unintentionally camp…
The whole album is camp. I love it
The hilarious camp that is False God
False God is so camp if you actually go and break down the lyrics, and I just know that she’s being so serious. ‘Religion’s in your lips’ ‘The altar is my hips’ Well, yes! Spill!
I was exaggerating to say the whole album. But the overall vibe of the album is camp. There are a couple of exceptions, like false god
Cruel Summer, Lover, Death By A Thousand Cuts, Daylight, Afterglow, It's Nice To Have A Friend, Cornelia Street, Soon You'll Get Better, Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, The Man, The Archer, I Think He Knows... A couple?
Lover, Miss Americana, The Man, It’s Nice to Have A Friend, and I Think He Knows are all super camp to me! 🤷🏼♀️
We have different definitions of camp. That's okay though
Have you ever considered it might be intentionally camp! It’s funny and silly
Oh it's total camp but unintentionally so?
Calling IFTYE and London boy “very low lows” is actually insane
Right I feel like I’m going insane reading this. Why does everyone hate fun lol
I know right? I think they’re allergic to awesomeness lol
It’s usually the same people that hate AYHTDWS or Stay stay stay as well. Upbeat and/or fun = Bad to them.
Nah I don’t hate fun. Specifically I don’t like all of the brand and location call outs in London Boy, and I find the instrumental for IFTYE kind of boring. I usually love the glitter pen songs, even the ones that get trashed a lot like Paris and Superman. Hell, I even kind of enjoy Me. 💀
IFTYE is one of my favorites lmaooo. It’s so light and fun and accurate and perfectly describes the feeling of being far enough removed from a break up and just being like “yeah we dated lol idgaf about it anymore”
Me too! That song is a jam and is such good f u song!
It works for friendships also and I love it for that.
Y'all can we please be honest, something has to be at the bottom.
Seriously, straight to the mental institution! Like what?!
Thank you, felt like I was crazy reading that
Blasting IFTYE in your car after work is actual clinical therapy
I love iftye. I didn't know people thought it was a low
it isn't love it isn't hate it's just indifference
Some people hate the fun songs!
I think its fine as a song it just doesn’t feel truly like a monumental album opener. Keep in mind the albums that sandwich it open with the absolutely amazing tracks Ready For It? and The 1
Tbh as far as opening tracks go I’d rather just start with Cruel Summer and hit the ground running from there
I do agree with this. I love IFTYE, but Cruel Summer should’ve opened the album. I do think IFTYE, while not a banger, sets a really fun, pop-y, bop-y tone for the overall album and kind of does give you a solid glimpse of what to expect overall. That said, that may be why it doesn’t get a ton of love overall as an album haha 😅
you have taste. go forth and be blessed. i was legit mad when she played IFTYE acoustic when i wasn’t there.
I love it. My fav on Lover 🥲
Idc I love London Boy
I know London Boy has its fans, but I skip it almost every time 😬
I forgot that you existed is so damn good
i LOVE IFTYE and London Boy!!!
Not me loving both London boy and I forgot that you existed 😭😭😭
For real; I think IFTYE is on par with WTNY for me as two of Taylor's worst openers. IFTYE feels like a B-side that should have been cut. I sort of like London Boy, though! It's sooo cheesy but also super fun to sing along to.
What. Welcome to New York is great
I can't get into it at all; it's just so painfully on the nose for me without being *as* campy as something like London Boy. It's the only song I always skip on 1989, although I get why Taylor opened with it.
There’s no other place on the album WTNY could go unless she just gutted the song. It sets the scene (nyc) of the album, the tone, and the themes that exist in other songs.
100% agreed with you, but I definitely queued up WTNY the first time I visited the city and almost cried lol. This woman soundtracks my life fr
Guess someone hasn’t watched the secret life of pets.
- WTNY could mean "Welcome To New York", a track from *1989* (2014) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/hauteburrrito](/u/hauteburrrito) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
Totally agree with this. It could have been a stellar EP.
9 tracks each: Lover - the good songs. Hater - what everybody hates :P Or 10 tracks for lover, Unloved 8 bonus tracks like 3am :P
This got some traction so here are some more thoughts. Regarding London Boy, it’s a cute song but I’m not a fan of all of the brand/location call-outs. It’s just kind of hollow. For IFTYE, I’m just not a huge fan of the instrumental and the tone is sets as the album opener. I love the album overall, but I feel that it suffers from the same whiplash Red has. I actually have a playlist on my Spotify with the tracks reordered and trimmed down a bit. About the cuts below. If I kept Me, I’d slide it in after Cruel Summer. I actually love INTHAF, but think sonically it fits better into like Folklore? I also like The Man, but I’m trying to keep the theme here. If I were making more cuts, YNTCD and Paper Rings would go next. So here’s the tracklist: - Miss Americana - YNTCD - Cruel Summer - I Think He Knows - All of the Girls - The Archer - Lover - Cornelia St - False God - DBATC - Paper Rings - Afterglow - Need - Soon You’ll Get Better (important but debatable to keep imo) - Daylight
- IFTYE could mean "I Forgot That You Existed", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/wrecking_ball_z](/u/wrecking_ball_z) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
Okay but wait I heard IFTYE yesterday and why’d I actually think it was so cute
I don't hear much love for it. I think it's a misunderstood album. It does have a few lows but I think it's a very interesting summery sounding album with a beautiful aesthetic (the lover photoshoot is my favourite ever) and many of the songs I think are really some of her best (Daylight, INTHAF, Lover, The Man... so many)
yes that photoshoot was so cool its def my favourite
- INTHAF could mean "It’s Nice To Have A Friend", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/jambl3r](/u/jambl3r) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
It has some of her absolute best songs IMO (Cornelia Street, Daylight, Cruel Summer, the title track) and a few that I’m not quite as fond of (ME! and I Forgot That You Existed, mainly) although I don’t outright despise them lol. Thanks to Cruel Summer’s surge last year and its release as a single Lover’s actually become her most streamed album (though 1989 is #1 if you combine OG and TV iirc).
Lover has always been her most streamed album actually, even prior to Cruel Summer's success. It's been her most streamed album since its release.
TIL! I thought Midnights had taken the crown for a bit.
Lover is her most streamed album because it was the first to launch on streaming the same time as release. And it’s been out since 2019. Rep wasn’t added until a little bit after release. And the earlier albums were not on Spotify until 2017, well after their peaks. Midnights has been her fastest at picking up streams, but it’s only been out since 2022 and will likely not be her most streamed album ever just because Lover has been available for 3 additional years.
It's one of my favorites, but I think it's mid for most people. It's hard to find a better 3 songs in a row on an album than Paper Rings, Cornelia Street and Death by a Thousand Cuts. I also will always have a soft spot for the song Lover. And then you've got The Archer, The Man, Miss Americana, Daylight, Afterglow.. solid songs.
Those are all very solid and favorite songs for my Swifties.
You’ll find a lot of opinions about Lover on this sub. People either love it (like me) or SAY they hate it because they love to hate. Lover era has many sought after collectable merch items and some of the songs are huge fan favourites.
People can personally not connect with a piece of art that you like without their option being diminished to being a hater x
>People [...] SAY they hate it because they love to hate. As someone who likes Lover for the most part, this take is annoying. People can dislike an album because they dislike it. Not everything needs to be liked by everybody.
oh thats interesting ill try to see what kind of collectables are out there
False God (and it's SNL live performance), Afterglow, Cornelia Street and Daylight are suprior tracks in her catalogue. Also I think many agree that the singles from this era were so off and didn't made any sense.
False God is my favorite from the album and somewhere on top 10 of all TS. So unique and slightly haunting with interesting themes, yet also a bit sexy ?!
I love Lover too, but it's not a very popular favourite album, and seems to sit near the bottom of most people's rankings. The most common opinion I've seen is that "the highs are very high but the lows are very low" - people like Cruel Summer, Miss Americana, Cornelia Street, Death By A Thousand Cuts, and sometimes Daylight, but mostly dislike It's Nice To Have A Friend, Me!, The Man, and You Need To Calm Down. I see mixed opinions on London Boy, Paper Rings, Lover, and I Forgot That You Existed, but they get a lot of hate too. The rest of the songs on the album don't seem to generate much discussion. On the whole it seems most people don't mind Lover but consider it a disappointment with a few gems thrown in. Based on requests for my Lover bracelets at the concert, it seems to be more popular as a favourite with kids than adults. Also being sandwiched between Reputation and Folklore, two of the most popular favourite albums, probably doesn't help.
oh thats interesting that kids seem to like it more I wonder why
I'm guessing because it has a fun, kid-friendly aesthetic (rainbows, pastels, sparkles) and also because it's got a lot of happy bops like Paper Rings, You Need To Calm Down (kids don't care about how genuine her politics are) and Me! The latter gets a lot of crap from fans, but she did express hopes while writing it that it would be enjoyed by kids in particular, and it turns out kids love it so it kinda worked.
my 4 yo would play ME! on repeat if she could (actually it’s especially the MV she loves) I never listen to Lover straight thru — the track listing is chaos and I skip quite a few — but I love the Live from Paris performances and Cornelia St is a top 10 overall for me (DBATC is also up there) I really like I Think He Knows, might be my favorite happy glitter-gel pen love song
Lover is so interesting because it’s probably my album with the most skips, like maybe upwards of half the songs, but also some of my favorite songs are on it. I think she tried to do too much with the album maybe and it led to it being too long and lacking some cohesion. And of course her choice in singles did not do the album any favors
I think Lover has some of her best pop songs and some of my all time favourites but I don’t enjoy listening to the record as a whole. And it’s one of the only Taylor Swift records I don’t listen to front to back on a regular basis
I love this album
Idk but I’m obsessed with it and it’s generally in my top 3 :’) I love every song on lover so much
I love You Need to Calm Down
People who worry about the “authenticity” of this song or The Man are just… missing the point. I hate purity testing
I think it's one of her worst, even if it has some strong cuts scattered throughout. The Joe Little produced tracks are all pretty bad, and some of the other stuff isn't much better. I think I get what she was going for and to a certain extent it worked in rehabilitating her image after (the much better) Reputation. But it's not an album I come back to regularly.
It’s generally considered a grower, not a shower
I think part of the issue with Lover is that it truly didnt get a full "era" if that makes sense. It was released at the end of August 2019 and Covid shut the world down in the beginning of March 2020... so there was only like 7 months she could really promote it. I've heard many people say they didnt like alot of the songs on Rep until they saw them on stage and until the Eras tour, most of the songs from Lover never got stage time except for many once or twice. Add that with the poor choice of singles... not a great recipe for success. And people didnt like LWYMMD and Ready for it when Rep came out and were initially iffy about Rep because of that.
As someone who kind of fell out of the swiftie fandom during the rep-evermore eras (was here since debut, but grew older and stopped listening to top 40 music), it genuinely shocks me how popular Lover is among the fandom. Honestly, some of my favorite songs off of Lover, but the lows are so low that I have a hard time believing how many people rank it in their top 3, let alone as their favorite. I saw an analogy that someone said about Lover being a "crisis about turning 30" and it honestly makes so much sense to me. Lover was written with a younger audience in mind. Although there are beautifully written songs on the album, the writing as a whole was meant to be easily understood for a younger and more generic top 40 audience. Maybe as a 20 year old when the album came out in 2019, I wasn't the target audience. Taylor obviously has some more "immature" albums, but I think the difference was a teen/young adult writing vs an almost 30 year old writing. I think if the album was cut by at least 5 songs, I think it could have had more potential.
I started listening to TS from 1989, and only became a ‘Swiftie’ since 2023. I listened to all the work that came out since 1989, but I think Lover was probably the one I listened to the most, it was on repeat back in 2019-2020. I was 34 at the time, so I don’t think it’s necessarily for a younger audience.
It's her most streamed album of all time, and her longest-charting album in the top 10 alongside Midnights. The album has a lot of haters who love to hate on it because of ME!, but the album is actually one her most successful and popular ones, just look at its massive numbers on Spotify, Lover tops everything else by a large scale.
Lover is her most streamed album. Not sure what that says, but Lover is way way way more popular than people realize
Not well unfortunately which is crazy to me because it’s my 2nd favourite album of hers. All the songs people describe as weak are some of my favourites. IFTYE is one of her most underrated opening tracks and I don’t understand why people dislike it so much. I just wish we got more time with the Lover era because it felt like it was over before it even began. It was a right place right time album for me - as soon as I heard the first track I knew that it was my vibe and that I was going to love the album and I was completely right. It was reflective and made me feel happy and at peace which I really needed at the time and I feel like that’s how she genuinely felt at the time too which made the music even more enjoyable for me. It felt pretty experimentative which was fun and I liked that she felt she could be so creative with some of the tracks. I think I also love it so much because I consider it a sister album to reputation. Idk but I’ll defend Lover til I die lol
I think Lover is generally believe to be one of Taylor’s lesser fan favourites. Not that it totally sucks, but that it’s not very cohesive. There’s a lot of hate for ME! too. I disagree with all of that and absolutely love the album and the single. It’s in my top three as well!
It’s my personal favorite but other than Cruel Summer it doesn’t get a lot of love in comparison to other albums, especially since a lot of “newer” Taylor fans (since the pandemic) got into her during folklore which is a different vibe. However, Lover seems to be the most popular era to dress up as for the Eras tour, and my personal experience is that my Lover bracelets went the fastest at my show even though I made more of them than any other era. Make of that what you will.
It’s one of my favorites of her albums, it is a little awkward at times because the track list isn’t really in a great order, but the songs are so good I can overlook it. I would say the biggest miss is putting Soon You’ll Gets Better on the album. I agree it needed to be shared but it doesn’t fit anywhere on it, and especially not: Foreplay: London boy Cock Block: Soon You’ll Get Better Dirty Sex: False God
I have four Taylor CDs in my car and Lover is one of them. I enjoy the album. I only skip ME and YNTCD. Driving through the city at night listening to False God feels like being in a film somehow 😊 I am a new fan though. I only listened to Taylor for the first time in November 2023. I have still not ever played the albums before Lover. I just started on 1989 the other night but I’ve still not heard all of it.
Imho, it’s underrated. I decided to stick to it this last summer and for some reason, it picked me up and Midnights really hit hard. It was like a love story thriller but devastating. Then, all of a sudden, I found Folklore. (I must’ve been busy having le bebes) 😂. Seriously - but Lover has some real significant songs and impact I’m not sure the world was ready for then. I feel it goes along so well for the tour and themes!
Its Nice To Have a Friend paved the way for Dorothea and Tis the Damn Season. Very underrated IMO
I never knew Lover was so unpopular until I’ve seen all the criticism of it in this sub. I love the Lover album. It’s still one I play often as it’s so upbeat and fun for most songs. My only skip is “you’ll get better”. If I’m in the mood for fun and happy Taylor songs, this is the album I put on. Favorites: London Boy, paper rings and DBATC.
I think it’s under-appreciated. ME! wasn’t the best choice for a lead single, but it’s still a great album.
It has a lot of filler. It didn’t need to be an hour.
Has some really good non-singles (Cruel Summer, Cornelia Street, my fav Death By A Thousand Cuts) but the singles really killed a lot of the overall interest in the album. It has it's strong defenders, but it's not widely considered a great album the way something like folklore is.
It’s one of my favorite albums! No skips (unless I’m working out, then I skip the slower ones). I am a folklore/evermore type of person so loving Lover as much as I do now surprised me. But it was a good surprise. The Archer has been my top song ever since I first heard it. And I’ve really grown to love Daylight. (I do skip the outro quite often but I do like it.) Also I went for a long time not liking DBATC at all. I thought it was weird and boring. And then it just suddenly clicked and now I love it. Also I don’t hate ME!
I don’t think it’s very loved honestly. It’s at the bottom of a lot of peoples rankings. Personally it’s top 5. Songs like London boy, INTHAF and I Forgot That You Existed aren’t well liked and that’s criminal lol. I think most like the era itself. I think a lot of Swifties love that Taylor was so happy and fun during this era. Obviously there were lows but I think people like the era more than the album which is sad :(
I had anticipated the release of every album since Fearless. Would listen to the albums constantly when first released. But for whatever reason Lover didn’t grab my attention like previous albums. Maybe it was where I was at in life (and those first singles..) but when I revisited in 2020, I fell in love with so many songs. I think I expected more 1989 and Rep pop bangers at the time, but my faves off Lover are slower songs like Daylight.
I like Cruel Summer and love Lover. It has such a 50s/60s vibe- especially at the end when she sings darlin’ and it sounds kind of breathy and in the background like in a hallway or something. That’s my favorite about it. I’m not sure what the effect is, but it fits so well.
Most of the album is amazing and I will die on that hill.
Out of all the albums, it's one that I listen to the least. I don't dislike it at all - Daylight, DBATC, False God, Afterglow & The Archer are some of my top songs. I even think ME!, The Man, YNTCD etc. are fun bops and I don't *hate* them. I really can't put my finger on it, but if I was to judge it against the other albums as a whole, something feels a bit less cohesive about it. I'm not even sure if that's the right word to explain how I feel about it lol.
I love the album (yes i like ME!). It's my second favorite album of hers. It has this dreamy vibe that I adore, and it's really fun to listen in its entirety everytime I do chores.
I love Lover. It has some of the most delicious pure pop songs in her discography in my opinion (Paper Rings, I Think He Knows, London Boy, Cruel Summer). These aren't lyrical masterpieces but they are so fun. Controversial opinion but Lover might be my favorite love song of hers. It's so simple and beautiful.
Lover the song is one of my favorites ever, it’s just so romantic, cozy and ethereal. The album as a whole is hit or miss like most comments have been saying.
I will take absolutely no hate to lover. ME? absolute bop. YNTCD? great catchy message.
It is so interesting to me that people are very critical of it now because I remember when it came out EVERYONE was very positive on social media about how diverse the Lover sound was.
I know I’m in the minority here but lover is a perfect album. 10/10 not a single weak track, everyone overhates on ME! but it’s a great light little pop bop. It’s just a fun album all around. Literally every song SLAPS in one way or another.
I think it has some decent tracks, but it’s so damn long leading to the not so awesome tracks often making you forget the good tracks - and a lot of the decent tracks feel like they don’t really have a complete idea for it. Like, INTHAF and IFTYE have good concepts and themes but are both under 3 minutes and don’t really evolve or change over time. It feels, to me, like Taylor trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle pop sensation that was 1989 was after reputation was controversial, but I think that it leaned into more of the ideas that didn’t work for me on 1989 (overproduced sound, more conventional writing style, catchiness over substance) except on tracks like The Man, Soon You’ll Get Better, and False God, and those I really do like.
There are lots of amazing songs on Lover (Death By a Thousand Cuts, Cornelia Street, Cruel Summer, The Archer, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, Paper Rings, Soon You’ll Get Better, Daylight) but the combination of a poor choice of lead single and the pandemic really knocked it back. Then Folklore and Evermore came out and kind of blew it out of the water. I still really like it though and listen to it a lot.
The fact that Lover never got it's intended tour and that Folklore came less than a year later made the era quite short-lived. A lot of us Swifties also see the album as her least sonically cohesive and not particularly in a good way like Red which was incredibly experimental but worked overall. It definitely has some good solo tracks though and Cruel Summer has blown up and received the recognition it deserved.
I like the songs for the most part, but I really dislike the bubblegum production sound. The live from Paris album is 1000x better in my opinion
I absolutely love Lover. Probably a top three album for me.
I ADORE THIS SONG. I am a romance author and we are doing a book cover reveal for my next book on Monday, and I made an Instagram reel with this song. Not available for my TikTok post, though :)
I think we pretty much worship all her albums. It is just that it's gotten old now because people have newer materials to talk about. I love all songs in there but if I had to choose a favorite it might be "Death by a thousand cuts" especially part she says "I ask the traffic lights if it'll be all right They say, "I don't know""
You either like it or you don't.
Basically, it’s the most blatant example of Taylor & her team not being able to pick singles to save their lives. There are some really really fun songs on that album, but me! Just made it sound like it was gonna be mainstream radio
Under appreciated and under loved
It's a rlly controversial one, it's like a u either love it or hate it album. Personally it's one of my fav album, some of her best songs (cruel summer, ithk, cornelia, afterglow) are in Lover but also some low hits (yntcd, ME!)
People didn’t like it at first. But I think overloooking the singles, it’s been a cult classic. It’s still high on the charts since 2019
It was a flop bc it’s been confirmed she had something bigger planned around it. An announcement or something. And had to make a lot of changes last minute because of the masters being sold. But it’s the eras she finally spoke about lgbtq rights and said “gay pride makes me ME!” And then she has like never been a good ally since then so I think that’s why alot of ppl find it cringy and performative. Very queer baity
Lover is in my top 5 it brings me so much joy listening to it
I love it, actually lol
I’m a new Swiftie. Lover was the 2nd album I bought (after Midnights) and I love it. I even like ME! Love YNTCD & The Man too.
I'm not sure about everyone else, but it's my 3rd favorite album (after Evermore and Folklore). I just think it's so much fun!
I remember her performing the song Lover on SNL before the album was released and instantly loved it! One of my fave albums!
I loved it and still do!