Taylor Swift ' Gorgeous' Review: Catchy New Edge With Syncopation
Taylor Swift
The drum beat that opened  Taylor Swift âs 1989 made a slow  simple  statement: â1 â¦ 2 â¦ 3 â¦ and 4!â at a pace roughly appropriate for lurching along in a grocery line  with a regularity that even the most drunken campfire-side clapper couldnât mess up. The song  âWelcome to New York â kicked off her supposed first âofficial pop albumâ with a portrait of glorious naivety.  Swift  was the country girl just arrived in the big city  amazed by all  she  saw: the lights  the sounds  the homosexuals.  Her  gait was accordingly untroubled  steady  optimistic: âItâs a new soundtrack / I could dance to this beat forevermore.â
The album that followed largely stayed in that shiny  straightforward mode.  She  was open-hearted yet unflappable  whether brushing off criticism (âShake It Offâ)  lightly dressing the wounds of breakups (âAll You Had to Do Was Stayâ)  or memorializing the thrill of a new relationship (âOut of the Woodsâ). Slabs of synth and driving  steady beats cast a movie-trailer glow of enchantment. Reviewers noted that this mode actually broke from recent pop trends  spurning the influence of hip-hop and R&B  as well as some of the grim moodiness creeping onto the charts. The video for âShake It Offâ even poked fun at the idea that  Swift  might start imitating Nicki Minaj like some of her contemporaries.
Two songs didnât quite fit that pattern  though. One was âBlank Space â a masterwork of hip-hop-adjacent sarcasm. The legendary pop producers Max Martin and Shellback threaded together a high  whistling harmony and kick-drum/snare pattern over which  Swift  sneered rapid clusters of syllables about being a man-eater. âBad Blood â too  waged war in what sounded like a personal feud over modern jock-jam thump. It got an extra layer of syncopation for the Kendrick Lamar remix that  like âBlank Space â enjoyed a run at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
The rumors about the recording sessions for  Swift âs forthcoming album Reputation were that theyâd see her  finally  diving into hip-hop and R&B. Those reports drew immediate skepticism  as it was hard to imagine how such a change might work for  Swift  without  her  seeming ridiculous. But it now appears the rumors were true  though the question of ridiculousness hasnât quite gone away. Where 1989 was sleek and stiff and retro  Reputationâs songs so far have been busier  choppier  and decidedly modernâwhich is to say  rap-influenced. They also  perhaps not coincidentally  spotlight a persona thatâs the opposite of the one in âWelcome to New York.â  This Taylor Swift  is jaded rather than inexperienced. And  she âs aggressive.
The drum beat that opened  Taylor Swift âs 1989 made a slow  simple  statement: â1 â¦ 2 â¦ 3 â¦ and 4!â at a pace roughly appropriate for lurching along in a grocery line  with a regularity that even the most drunken campfire-side clapper couldnât mess up. The song  âWelcome to New York â kicked off her supposed first âofficial pop albumâ with a portrait of glorious naivety.  Swift  was the country girl just arrived in the big city  amazed by all  she  saw: the lights  the sounds  the homosexuals.  Her  gait was accordingly untroubled  steady  optimistic: âItâs a new soundtrack / I could dance to this beat forevermore.â
The album that followed largely stayed in that shiny  straightforward mode.  She  was open-hearted yet unflappable  whether brushing off criticism (âShake It Offâ)  lightly dressing the wounds of breakups (âAll You Had to Do Was Stayâ)  or memorializing the thrill of a new relationship (âOut of the Woodsâ). Slabs of synth and driving  steady beats cast a movie-trailer glow of enchantment. Reviewers noted that this mode actually broke from recent pop trends  spurning the influence of hip-hop and R&B  as well as some of the grim moodiness creeping onto the charts. The video for âShake It Offâ even poked fun at the idea that   [TGT]   might start imitating Nicki Minaj like some of her contemporaries.
Two songs didnât quite fit that pattern  though. One was âBlank Space â a masterwork of hip-hop-adjacent sarcasm. The legendary pop producers Max Martin and Shellback threaded together a high  whistling harmony and kick-drum/snare pattern over which   [TGT]   sneered rapid clusters of syllables about being a man-eater. âBad Blood â too  waged war in what sounded like a personal feud over modern jock-jam thump. It got an extra layer of syncopation for the Kendrick Lamar remix that  like âBlank Space â enjoyed a run at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
The rumors about the recording sessions for  Swift âs forthcoming album Reputation were that theyâd see her  finally  diving into hip-hop and R&B. Those reports drew immediate skepticism  as it was hard to imagine how such a change might work for  Swift  without  her  seeming ridiculous. But it now appears the rumors were true  though the question of ridiculousness hasnât quite gone away. Where 1989 was sleek and stiff and retro  Reputationâs songs so far have been busier  choppier  and decidedly modernâwhich is to say  rap-influenced. They also  perhaps not coincidentally  spotlight a persona thatâs the opposite of the one in âWelcome to New York.â   [TGT] is jaded rather than inexperienced. And   [TGT]  âs aggressive.