It feels like she cannot stop making music, and it’s outstanding.

Taylor Swift was born in just 1989. So she is only 31 years old.

It’s truly fantastic to see her progress. When I started to write this, I was going to detail that progress, all the way up to 2019’s Lover, which became one of my favorite albums of that year. But it just became too much.

I just want to look at the now.

Her last year, 2020.

Both released just out of the blue, folklore and evermore shocked me; the first in July and the next in December. Both albums were largely produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner and long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, who produced a few tracks.

The best way I can describe these albums is – while Swift described them as sister albums – that they just… drift along together. Notwithstanding the various reviews regarding which one is better (Metacritic ranks folklore), I very much see these two albums as one. They’re not even sisters in my opinion. But for “Willow” being the outstanding opener of evermore, they really are hard to tear apart, running on a constant basis (NB: caveat… I’ve now listened so much to them both, I really can tell them apart, ahem).

evermore was really conceived during the Long Pond Studio Sessions documentary, recorded with Dessner and Antonoff. Indie band Haim, Bon Iver, and The National appear on three of the tracks of evermore. Bon Iver appears on folklore (more on that below.)

Although she has maintained her pop music core, these are really indie albums. They are both introspective. The lyrics are ‘in demand’ listening – you really, really have to appreciate what she is singing. Plus she swears!

Dessner stated after folklore was released:

Taylor has opened the door for artists to not feel pressure to have “the bop.” To make the record that she made, while running against what is programmed in radio at the highest levels of pop music — she has kind of made an anti-pop record.

I’m not sure I’d say either folklore or evermore are “anti-pop”. Make no mistake, for the most part, these are really still pop albums but dialed down a notch, certainly.

The one song I’d highlight, which I’d say is certainly not a pop song, from folklore, is Exile, with Bon Iver. This is a song which has been so beautifully written by Swift, William Bowery, and Justin Vernon, that on my first listen, completely brought tears to my eyes, something songs just really don’t do. I was initially taken aback by the opening: Vernon’s singing. That was followed by Swift’s. The two combined and split apart again and then hit an amazing, beautiful crescendo, which left me literally gobsmacked. Lyrically, it is incredible. The song is about a break-up between two lovers, which is irretrievable. The song is absolutely devastating.

Swift has always been a great songwriter. 1989 and Lover are examples. Her early country music output began when she was just sixteen, with Taylor Swift being released and becoming the longest-charting album of the 2000s decade on the Billboard 200. At just sixteen.

In my view, folklore and evermore have elevated her to a brand new level, and the two combined were my favorite albums of 2020.

I’m looking forward to hearing what she does next.

Chris Garrod, 10 February, 2021