Charlie Garner – Staff Writer

avg6206@psu.edu

In the year 2016, Taylor Swift went into hiding from the media and the public eye and almost nobody physically saw her for a year.  Celebrity drama- like her very public feuds with Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and Calvin Harris- was not the only reason why she hid from the public. It was confirmed in 2017 that she had been dating British actor Joe Alwyn for 9 months and was staying in London. Swift wanted to get to know Alwyn away from the spotlight, which is something she hadn’t really done successfully before. She also was dealing with a sexual assault testimony that nobody was really backing her up on. 

Taylor Swift is known for changing her look and vibe for every album she puts out, making sure her audience recognizes it as something new and defining a new era. It’s always seen as a fresh start for her and a dramatic transition- sometimes from genre to another. Every album of hers has a distinct aesthetic that’s different from the rest and she follows a trend of changing up her look for each album. Prior to her announcing “Reputation,” Taylor had deleted everything off of her social media platforms except for three dark videos of a snake that were very ominous for her fans. Taylor Swift is known for being very cryptic, so her fans knew something was coming. It is widely speculated that the snake imagery was inspiration taken from her feud with Kim and Kanye, which seems to be the obvious conclusion. Then, in August 2017, Taylor Swift released “Look What You Made Me Do”- the first single for “Reputation.” With the album’s release, Taylor became the only artist in history to have four albums debut with sales of over one million in the first week of its release.

Swift describes “Reputation” as: 

“…an album about finding love throughout all the noise. And how it makes you feel when people are saying things about you that you feel aren’t true. If you can find something real in spite of a bad reputation, isn’t that what matters most?” 

Although it’s not my favorite album, I think the “Reputation” era is Taylor’s best. Like I said before, Taylor Swift is known for changing her look and aesthetic for every new album release. And the looks and aesthetics for “Reputation” are simply iconic. The snake imagery, the black fits, and the hairstyles perfectly encapsulated this new era. And the order of the music video releases really show what the album really is. First it was “Look What You Made Me Do,” followed by “…Ready For It?” and “End Game,” then, the last music video being “Delicate.” “Look What You Made Me Do” representing the dark revenge vibes, and “Delicate” being the most representative of the love and tenderness Taylor was experiencing in the midst of all of the drama. Actually, most people who are casual fans don’t know that “Reputation” has a sleuth of love songs, despite it being Taylor Swift’s “revenge album.” The era also fits very well with being after “1989” and before “Lover.” Taylor Swift shows that, even with a bad reputation, you can still find the love and the innocence that you need. So, with that, “Reputation” is probably her most wholesome album and era. 

“Reputation” is Taylor Swift’s sixth studio album and was the last album she released as a part of her old masters. So, this album will eventually have a re-recording at some point in the hopefully near future.