KATHRYN HAMILTON
staff writer

“Look what you made me do!”
Prior to about a month ago, this phrase was simply associated with yelling at someone to blame them for something.
However, today this phrase no doubt brings the lyrics of a certain pop song into your head.
In late August, country-turned-pop singer/songwriter Taylor Swift released her smash single “Look What You Made Me Do.”
From its release, the song was a hit — the lyric video broke the record for the most watched music video within 24 hours of its release.
The video had accumulated over 19 million views within its first day, breaking the previous record set by the song “Something Just Like This,” a collaboration between The Chainsmokers and Coldplay.
“Look What You Made Me Do” also marked the first single off her new album “Reputation,” as well as her first single released in nearly three years.
After a mysterious cleaning out of basically all her social media earlier this summer, Swift announced that she would be releasing a brand-new album that just dropped this past week.
Previewing her album, Swift also dropped singles “Gorgeous” and “…Ready For It,” which both premiered as huge hits.
As per Swift style, there is a love interest influence behind this album.
However, this time, songs such as “Gorgeous” and “King of My Heart” seem to be rearing away from being breakup songs and moving toward simply being happy and in love.
After the release of “Gorgeous,” Swift revealed that the inspiration behind these songs was boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
Alwyn is a rising British actor that many fans speculate Swift has been dating on the down-low for about a year.
The tracks from the album that aren’t love tributes to her and Alwyn’s relationship are revenge tracks aimed at her haters.
Specifically, Swift alludes to her drama with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West that spanned several months through 2016.
Some of these diss tracks include the songs “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” as well as “Look What You Made Me Do.”
For the song “End Game,” Swift recruited the help of longtime friend and singer of “Perfect,” Ed Sheeran, as well as rapper Future.
Swift and Sheeran are known to have a long-lasting friendship and have even collaborated on tracks in the past.
The songs on this album further solidify Swift’s emergence from country to pop that she has been working on since the release of her fourth album, “Red,” in 2012.
Since then, she has also released pop album “1989” and now “Reputation.”
One thing that I find curious about the album is that, unlike most albums, it doesn’t have a title track.
Although the song “End Game” does include lyrics “big reputation, big reputation/ooh, you and me, we got big reputations,” there is no track specifically titled “Reputation.”
After listening to the entirety of the track, I would have to say that my personal favorite tracks include the songs “End Game” and “New Year’s Day.”
While I enjoyed the whole album, I preferred these tracks over tracks such as “So It Goes…” and “Look What You Made Me Do.”
“End Game” is one of the power tracks on the album and features Swift singing about how she doesn’t want to be “Just another ex-love you don’t wanna see.”
I also love the mix of styles that come in both the iconic voice of Sheeran and Future’s rap solo.
My other favorite track, “New Year’s Day,” is one of the slower songs from the album and simply begins with some soft piano chords.
This song also includes lines telling of wanting a relationship for the long term.
The reason that I love this track so much is because of how much it stands out from the other tracks. Instead of the more electronic-sounding effects and more hard-core sounds, this song is simple.
With soft lyrics and simple piano and guitar features, this song really lets you refocus on how beautiful and melodic Swift’s voice is.
Overall, this track shows a lot of maturity since the last Taylor Swift album the public saw back in 2014.
She seems to have gotten over the breakup songs and now sings about wanting a forever love.
As someone who was a fan of “old Taylor” and has been weary of her newer style, I would give this album a strong yes.
Even someone who hasn’t been a fan of Swift in the past could find something that fits them on this album.
While Swift is holding the album from streaming services, such as Spotify, for at least a week, I would definitely recommend adding it to your playlist.

KATHRYN HAMILTON
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