My Own Little World

One of my friends called Reputation “fun trash,” and I’m beginning to agree with him. Taylor Swift’s sequel to her 80s-laden synthpop tribute 1989 – an album I thought was incredibly solid and more substantial than her previous work – has all the components of today’s latest trashy pop music. It has celebrity feuds, horrible break-ups, dubstep hooks fused with R&B rhythms – it’s all here. And I’m feeling somewhat…disappointed. Granted, being someone who loved the music of 1989 and its trendy nature makes it pretty plain that I don’t care for just any pop music. My favorite pop album of the year was Lorde’s Melodrama , a beautiful synthpop record with some indie flair that subverted the lyrical trends of most pop music by showing what happens after the party ends. Besides the musical quality of the record, what I loved most was that Lorde retained who she was – an outsider wanting to offer a slight critique of what the industry pushes as its product. Taylor Swift, ...

I've decided recently that I want to get a music streaming subscription. I know that I've been opposed to them in the past because they don't pay the artists well, among other reasons; however, I've seen that it might be a more cost-effective approach than buying my own music. Over the course of the next few weeks (or possibly months), I'll be posting some reviews of the different major streaming services. First up: the giant, ubiquitous Spotify.  When Spotify came to the US, nearly every single person I know signed up for it because it was something radical for the time: a legal way to listen to unlimited amounts of music for free  (if you were OK with advertising, that is). It also allowed you to share music with your friends on social media, because, well...why shouldn't social media be involved in everything? I remember thinking that Spotify was the greatest thing since sliced bread when I first got it. That being said, the way I listen to music h...

From my first listen of "Shake It Off," I could tell that Taylor Swift's newest album 1989 was going to be a must listen. This was a huge turn musically for her, going from a country-pop vibe to a slightly more experimental mainstream pop sound. As I heard more new tracks, I realized that this was a bigger turn than I thought it would be, intriguing me even more into Swift's new album. It was going to be either great or very bad, with not much room in between. Thankfully, 1989 's musical turn is a fantastic genre change for Swift. Diving into the deep end instead of wading into new territory was a little bit of a gamble, but it pays off. The overall vibe is very 1980's synthpop, which I personally loved. Not many artists could pull off this style and keep it relevant and listenable all at the same time, so Swift doing this is quite an accomplishment. Songs like "Style," "Out of the Woods," and "All You Had to Do Was Stay" exe...