REVIEW: TAYLOR SWIFT - EVERMORE

 

4/5

Evergreen. 

Out of the woods no more, Taylor Swift isn't even in the clear with her second surprise release of the year and her third album in 15 months my 'Lover'. Following the 'Folklore', the evoking 'Evermore' see's Taylor remade and releasing swiftly once again. Surprising like Ariane Grande, as we still can't work out who's the biggest artist (not female artist...but, ARTIST) in the world. Her, her (H.E.R.) or the 'Rain On Me' reign of star reborn, Lady Gaga in her own quarantined world at a social distance of 'Chromatica' this year. And let's not forget about the 'Lemonade' of Beyonce (her sister Solange), or the work, work, work of Ri, Ri. But notoriously dropping like bird excrement with another B.I.G. album in the same string vain of folk to the hardcore debuting DMX of 1998 (releasing both 'It's Dark And Hell Is Hot' and 'Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood' in the same year with no quarantine), Swift sings with the big three sisters of Haim (whilst 'Punisher', Phoebe Bridgers collaborates with the 'Red Eye' or Rager Cudi) who in their 'Part III' had and still has (even with those two) the best album of this year of 'Women In Music'. "Este's a friend of mine/We meet up every Tuesday night for dinner and a glass of wine/Este's been losin' sleep/Her husband's actin' different, and it smells like infidelity/She says, "That ain't my merlot on his mouth/That ain't my jewelry on our joint account"/No, there ain't no doubt/I think I'm gonna call him out", Taylor tells it before Este doesn't show up at everyone's favourite Olive Garden. "Does anyone have eyes on Este", Haim's official band Twitter posted today in reaction to this faux true crime story of their sister confronting a cheating lover and ending up in a coffin, as the 'Red' singer and those 'Days Are Gone' remaining sisters vow a blood soaked revenge on a country classic storytelling track that echoes the misty haunting vocals of Norah Jones' 'Miriam' (the anti-'Jolene'). A legend whose had her own legacy making run of 12 months with her own supergroup Puss N Boots' second album and Christmas EP, not to mention her 'Pick Me Up Off The Floor', back to basics solo. Its no longer three for those 'Man From The Magazine' singers battling c###s. "Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was fifteen/And I've cleaned enough houses/To know how to cover up a scene/Good thing Este's sister's gonna swear she was with me," Taylor concludes as Danielle Haim replies, "she was with me, dude" with Swift "not lettin' up to the day I die" turning into the day, "he died". Now we just can't wait for the blood soaked paddle video. Yeah there's no longer three, because Taylor Swift says, "she's the fourth Haim sister now" like a Brie Larson skit on this track from the sister album to 'Folklore', 'Evermore'. No woman, no cry. 'No Body, No Crime'. Mind hunter's will try and figure out if this is real like Van Damme doing the splits between two Volvo's. "I think he did it, but I just can't prove it" (her man, not Jean Claude) sings the chorus in curiosity "killed the" harmony. "He did it" from the siblings haunting in the vocal background. But for the record, I'll tell you one thing that is true. I'd never treat Este this way. Just sayin'. 

Lost in the woods no more, but found like "building a sill" in this time were clocks on the four walls have slowed. Taylor made the record of the year when she collaborated with the Justin Vernon of those Bon Iver folk for the 'Exile' from this terrible 2020. Since then she has been Rolling Stone songwriter cover rubbing shoulders with Beatles on the eve of 'McCartney III' (do you think she told Macca she had something else coming?), looking like she's about to complete her own classic trilogy this calendar, dressed to shoot first in Han Solo boots, cargo pants, coat and shirt for this photo shoot. As classic as her Justin Timberlake 'Man Of The Woods' lumberjack pattern coat for the back of this iconic front cover, for a woman between the 'Gladiator' barley who won't turn her back on this year even if we all want to. Reuniting already with Iver for a bon title track that's just the most compelling closer that has us wanting to run deeper into these trees. "Gray November/I've been down since July/Motion capture/Put me in a bad light/I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone/Trying to find the one where I went wrong/Writing letters/Addressed to the fire," Swift sings in this blank space calendar of a diary entry. Before Vernon's verse replies, "Cannot think of all the cost/And the things that will be lost/Oh, can we just get a pause?/To be certain, we'll be tall again/Whether weather be the frost/Or the violence of the dog days/I'm on waves, out being tossed/Is there a line that I could just go cross?" The former Kanye collaborator, permanently on team Taylor like he doesn't need no liquor. Like frequent collaborations let's hope there's more thread to this 'Cardigan' like a Weezer 'Sweater Song' for the one album in the same day release of Kid Cudi's (who must be kicking himself like Kanye) 'Man On The Moon III' surprise album announced at the top of the week, one chosen one that will have you zoning at 4am in the morning like the 'Blue' of KATIE realizing you just missed your chance to watch this week's episode of 'The Mandalorian' that brought back Boba, let alone Baby Yoda. We hope this is the way. 

'Coney Island' like a Wonder Wheel in Starbury's part of New York, "sitting on a bench wondering where did my baby go", trying to win an arcade ring with the fire of the Brooklyn formed, Cincinatti, Ohio made, all-American band The National that worked on her last album, Taylor collaborates on another classic in this instant in a time that could change your world any second in these 12 months, "over and over". "The fast time, the bright lights, the merry go/Sorry for not making you my centerfold" they sing in separating union. "Were you standing in the hallway/With a big cake, happy birthday/Did I paint your bluest skies the darkest grey", National treasure Matt Beringer asks as "and the winner is", Taylor Swift remembers, "when I walked up to the podium I think that I forgot to say your name" (It's Tim). Fans will debate for the ages as which was the better Taylor Swift album this year. 'Folklore' or 'Evermore'. The opening, weeping 'Willow', classic like a Warwick Davis movie, or Buffy character is as warm and good as the old 'Cardigan'. Whilst 'Champagne Problems' could give her the billboard and broadsheet 'Repuation' of the Tay, Tay that said 'Look What You Made Me Do'. As she bad blood could rap battle with any trumped up dropout or even a Champagne Papi. But from '1989' to the candy dreamworld we lived in a million miles away last year, Taylor reverses her fortune like her 13 favourite number this Friday on her 31st birthday with this album. Hitting the 'Gold Rush' like California here in the heartland of real America. 'Happiness' looks like it could be back in style again for the "Midnight" singer who shows you all her, "hiding spots". On testament tracks like 'Dorothea', an ode to a friend like the story of 'The Last Great American Dynasty'. Or 'Cowboy Like Me', with the country singer stepping back to the barn dance even though, "dancing is a dangerous game", especially in a time were we can't get close in a new age were we created cancel culture and then saw everything around us get cancelled in turn. To cut a 'Long Story Short' this is going to be on repeat like, "tried to pick my battles, until the battle picked me". Still, "if the shoe fits, walk in it 'til your high heels break". Because by the mesmerizing 'Marjorie' these letters to you from Swift are compellingly character named like Springsteen songs for her 'Nebraska' and 'Devils and Dust' in the same year. But before this all gets deluxe on the penultimate closer, 'Closure', this artist doesn't need someone else's brush to paint her perfect picture. "I know it's over/I don't need your closure" she concludes...and we concur. Sometimes, "seeing the shape of your name/Just spells out pain." Times change. It only seems like yesterday-not a half decade ago-when late Los Angeles Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant presented Taylor Swift at her concert with a STAPLES Centre banner for most sold out shows that went up in the purple and gold rafters with all those championships before even his 8 or 24 made it up there. But ever since that dark January when we lost the Black Mamba and Mambacita and gained nothing but corona and time, the world has never and never will be the same. But like writing 'Dear Basketball' or saying goodbye to Hollywood like another famous blonde microphone fiend, with cinemas closed and ball games spiked, we're thankful we had New Music Friday to tide us over like Spotify wrapped this yuletide moment. One that Taylor had remade as 'New Album Surprise Friday' to end the biggest weeks of this year. 'Tis The Damn Season' and we now know how to 'Tolerate It' in this advent of December 25th with the holy and the 'Ivy', "in from the snow" with an "incandescent glow". Now what an early Christmas present a fortnight and change before St. Nick and two weeks after the 'Plastic Hearts' of Miley. This is anything but that time we opened up iTunes to discover a U2 album downloading uninvitingly. Do we ever want Taylor Swift to stop surprising us with gift baskets of albums under the tree this Christmas? Never more! Have yourself a merry one. Forever. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Willow', 'No Body, No Crime (Feat. Haim)', 'Evermore (Feat. Bon Iver)'.