I don’t know what made Taylor Swift think her Folklore album warranted a quick follow-up à la Justin Timberlake’s 20-20 Experience, but here it is; another album of middling folk songs.
Aaron Dessner is still at the helm; Jack Antonoff falls back for this one; so the soundscape is fittingly similar, along with that arid forest landscape Swift seems to be enamored with these days.
It’s called Evermore because “Folkmore”, while cute, would’ve induced smiles and Swift seems to take herself dead serious here. Even a song about Happiness pushes the feeling off into the distance.
To be clear, this album is mind-numbingly conventional. Swift’s singing, not her lyrics but her melodies, is bland, which isn’t to say that it’s bad. I can Tolerate It. For Evermore? That’s going a bit too far.
my rating : 3 of 5
2020