Reputation
by Taylor Swift

Just a first impression at this stage (on my second listen now) but I think this is really great. There is no other pop musician I'm really interested to listen to these days. This album just sounds like pop is meant to. The melodies are sharp; there is drama; the lyrics are cool and cheeky, even a little bit wise. I think in time this may even turn out to be a better album than 1989 (which I think is a great album in its own right)

The lead off single "Look what you made me do" was a bit of a red herring. The album turns out to be more emotionally direct and open-hearted than this track suggested. On a first listen "This is why we can't have nice things" is a funny and irresistibly catchy highlight. Some credit needs to be given to Kanye West for so gamely playing the pantomime villain all these years. This track wouldn't be possible without Yeezy giving Taylor the chance to deliver a perfect-pop punchline.

This record sounds like Taylor Swift growing from party girl into a bold, confident and self-possessed women. It really suits her.

Her worst album. Lame lyrics, overproduced, imature and noisy. She's just trying to be more and more popular and lost what made her special. Only Getaway Car is good but not great.

I consider myself someone with fairly decent tastes in music, although I do shamelessly enjoy some pop princesses. If you look at my overall chart, Speak Now is my #2 of all time (though there's no way it would be if I made that list today, so I need to do a big update at some point). However I have been disappointed in the way Taylor's music had been going in the last few years. I was expecting to tear this apart as a generic pop album. Upon listening to it, I was extremely pleasantly surprised. This is a very strong concept album. It's an unapologetic ode to owning one's reputation and accepting it; while not necessarily liking it. My favorite songs are I Did Something Bad and This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.

Taylor absolutely surprised me. After 1989 I wasn't expecting something so good. Actually I wasn't fan of all the singles and I thought the album was going to be bad. But all the singles make sense with the album and the else of the songs are absolutely superb. Pop masterpiece. But to clarify, not better than 1989, but awesome.

I feel this is underrated by a lot of people. It remains my favourite album of 2017 and I've listened to it a lot. Yeah, I get that it's not cutting edge pop music but the songwriting is excellent overall and the slight goofiness is part of the charm really. Swift manages to mix fun and emotional engagement and the tunes are pretty effortless. I think she really understands pop, but she has more in common with 80s artists than the current crop (which I really mean as a compliment).

Just my humble opinion folks, but please try to keep an open mind before slating Taylor : )