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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 28 august 2019
Taylor Swift taps into her joyful side with 'Lover'

By MARK KENNEDY Last time out, Swift was a es throughout, including
Associated Press cool villain, settling scores. a sax in "False God" and
Taylor Swift, "Lover" (Repub- Now she's joyfully doing a cameo by Idris Elba (a
lic Records) a duet with Brendon Urie snippet from "The Late Late
If you want an easy way of Panic! At the Disco on Show with James Corden").
to see how far Taylor Swift "ME!," a slice of self-love. She name-drops Leonardo
has come since her last She's refreshingly contrite DiCaprio and Drake, while
album, just compare the on "Afterglow" and reach- calling herself a "Tennes-
two covers. If 2017's "repu- ing out to a pal in the unaf- see Stella McCartney." The
tation" featured a photo of fected "It's Nice to Have a song "Miss Americana &
Swift unsmiling in black and Friend." the Heartbreak Prince" is
white, "Lover" is an explo- Not everything is hugs and the album's most ambitious
sion of color, clouds and giggles, of course. There's track, reaching for some-
sparkles. a fair amount of tears, thing deeper than just a
The superb new 18-track drunken regret and break- high school moment.
collection finds Swift look- ups. (There's even a health The album ends with one
ing backward and forward scare in the understated of Swift's most introspective
through the lens of love — ballad "Soon You'll Get Bet- songs, "Daylight," in which
both present and absent, ter," which features the Di- she sings of waking from a
lustfully and wistfully, friend- xie Chicks, fiddle and ban- 20-year dark night.
ly and concerned. She calls jo.) "Cruel Summer" (with Now, in the light, she can
it a "love letter to love itself." writing help from Vincent) see "I wounded the good
It's a remarkable look at and "Death by a Thousand and I trusted the wicked." This cover image released by Republic Records shows "Lover",
the various hues love can Cuts" are about love gone On this and all the previ- the latest release by Taylor Swift.
take. A songwriter long as- really, really bad. ous others, she absolutely Associated Press
sociated with bright red is There are interesting touch- shines.q
painting now in blues and
golds. "I want to be defined
by the things I love — not
the things I hate," she writes
in the album notes and
repeats in the final song,
"Daylight."
For many of the songs, she's
reunited with producer
Jack Antonoff. This time,
they've hacked away at a
lot of the previous electron-
ic clutter to show off Swift
and her rich pop songwrit-
ing.
The album kicks off with the
trop-hop "I Forgot You Ex-
isted," which seems to ref-
erence her old feud with
once-friend Kim Kardashi-
an, whom she slammed in
"This Is Why We Can't Have
Nice Things." Now, with
genuine laughter, she ad-
mits she's just indifferent.
Chapter closed, moving
on.
Most of "Lover" is exuberant
and a return to the diaristic
Swift of the past. She seems
to revel in the hard-fought
happiness she's found with
her boyfriend of three
years, the Englishman Joe
Alwyn, the obvious source
of "London Boy."
Things are getting serious,
apparently. In the Go-
Go's-ish "Paper Rings" she
suggests "you're the one I
want," while the album's ti-
tle track even contains Swift
singing a mock wedding
vow. On "Cornelia Street,"
she's frightened that one
day he'll walk away.