Too attached to her make-believe fairytale land to say goodbye, Taylor Swift spent the latter half of the year 2020 perfecting her newfound indie-folk voice and crafting a sister album to her wildly successful Folkore. In every way that Folklore was innocent, soft, and summery, with its black and white color scheme and themes of young love, Swift’s new record was just the opposite: warm, rich, mature, and convoluted. Evermore, Taylor Swift’s ninth studio album, did not receive the same critical acclaim as its sister; however, where it lacks in catchy melodies and marketable hits, it makes up in depth, and in my opinion, proves itself to be Swift’s best work so far.

With its murky brown and orange palette, it is clear that Evermore is not meant to be a marketable album to the general public. Its opening track, “Willow,” successfully made its way to radio stations, depicting a seemingly straightforward love story, but in the tracks that follow, Swift explores a range of tales that share nothing but a bottom line.

The following song, “Champagne Problems,” accompanied by a desolate piano, launches into the fictional aspect of the record, written from the perspective of an imaginary woman after she rejects a marriage proposal from the man she loves with no explanation except that “sometimes you just don’t know the answer till someone’s on their knees and asks you.” This track introduces both Swift’s most complex songwriting yet with metaphorical lines like “your Midas touch on the Chevy door,” as well as the holiday themes scattered throughout the album, which was released in December. With the lyric “and soon they’ll have the nerve to deck the halls that we once walked through,” Swift shatters yet another barrier by introducing an additional theme of the record through the song’s bridge.

Evermore is far from the traditional holiday album, containing no festive lyrics or bells as instrumentals; however, it addresses another aspect of the Christmas season that is rarely discussed in the media or pop culture. The record was written as a haven from the pain that so many experience during Christmastime, sheltering listeners from the cold with sonorous vocals and instrumentals. On “‘Tis the Damn Season,” for instance, Swift plays on the popular phrase to highlight a different side of the story, where a college student returns home and reconnects with an old flame, expressing the pain in “[leaving] the warmest bed [she’s] ever known.” The comfort in this song, apart from sonic elements, comes from the familiarity of childhood landmarks and characters, as Swift explains that it “always leads to you and my hometown.”

She continues with the theme of heartbreak on tracks like “Happiness,” which describes the end of a hypothetical seven-year long relationship where no one is to blame, and “Coney Island,” which reflects on past loves with remorse. Additionally, with “Tolerate It,” Swift assumes the character of a 1950s-esque housewife who venerates her husband, only to receive indifference in return. Like the other tracks on the record, the plot of the song ends in a different place from where it started, with the speaker becoming aware of her power to “break free and leave [the relationship] in ruins” and take the “dagger in [her] and remove it.” This song creates an equally heartbreaking and empowering anthem for people who have experienced unfulfilling relationships.

While the album contains its fair share of anguish, it also tells stories of affection. Unlike Swift’s other records, however, the love songs on Evermore discuss romance, but with the added burden of an external barrier, creating more dynamic storylines than those from her previous records. The celestial “Gold Rush,” for instance, initially masks its message with dreamy orchestration and choral-inspired vocals, only to reveal that the love depicted in the song is a fantasy. A metamorphosed version of her older songs about unrequited love, “Gold Rush” highlights the word “never” with the crushing admission that the speaker ultimately will not be able to capture the attention of a desired figure. “Cowboy Like Me” illustrates a much different scenario with a slow-dance rhythm and wedding imagery, depicting a couple of evenly matched con-artists who met their match. Swift makes bold statements on this track, claiming that the speaker “is never gonna love again” and comparing the way that he “hang[s] from [her] lips” to “the Gardens of Babylon.” The conflict on this track is buried behind its romantic aesthetic and poetic lyrics, but once it is uncovered, it changes the whole meaning of the song. Swift ends the bridge with the line “forever is the sweetest con,” raising the question of whether the track describes a soulmate pairing that lasts forever or a breakup that leaves both people shattered. She drives this point home by emphasizing the line “I’m never gonna love again” repetitively at the end of the song, leaving the listener with the uncertainty of having to decide their own interpretation of the track.

The final love song on the album is lyrically my favorite Taylor Swift song ever. On “Ivy,” she continues with her trend of portraying nuanced romances with indefinite conclusions. This time, the primary conflict in the song is infidelity, with the speaker explaining that her “pain fits in the palm of [her love’s] freezing hand,” but her own hand has “been promised to another.” With painstakingly vulnerable lyrics, Swift highlights the grey area in this hypothetical affair, describing how his “ivy grows” on her “house of stone,” implying that the narrator’s disloyalty is a consequence of an invasive and uncontrollable passion. Also alluding to death with lines about how the speaker’s husband is “gonna burn this house to the ground” and an introduction that mentions an “old widow” who “goes to the stone everyday,” Swift entangles this already complicated issue even more. Once again, she leaves the song open-ended enough for each individual listener to create their own interpretation while still conveying her general message.

So what is the bottom line on this album that connects all of the seemingly unrelated songs? I propose that they all have one thing in common: each is about an ending. The end of a relationship in the breakup songs I discussed. The end of a fantasy in “Gold Rush,”and in “Willow,” “Cowboy like Me,” “Ivy,” and “Long Story Short,” the happy ending of a love story. As for the tracks I didn’t analyze, it’s the end of a life in the grotesque “No Body No Crime.” Conversely, “Marjorie,” a beautiful tribute to Swift’s late grandmother honors her beyond her passing. The end of a friendship in “Dorothea” and “Closure,” which touch upon contradicting ideas, respectively about trying to keep a dying bond alive, versus closing off communication with someone who hurt you.

While this may seem like a contradiction to the album’s title, Evermore, the title track and closing song on the album explains it all. Swift ends the record, after reflecting upon a dark time in her life, with the conclusion that “this pain wouldn’t be forevermore.” Nothing can last, good or bad, and on Evermore, Taylor Swift embraces this idea by writing each song as a unique homage to the idea of finality. “Long story short,” she reflects, “it was a bad time.” “Long story short,” however, “[she] survived.”

In 2014, Taylor Swift traded in her cowboy boots for a crop top and miniskirt and said goodbye to her Nashville home in exchange for a NYC highrise. She left behind her country accent and joined forces with a producer named Jack Antonoff with a specialty in synth-pop. Energized by the city that she now called home and a blazing determination to prove her doubters wrong, she endeavored to make what was, at the time, the boldest move of her career: a pop album. As she explored a new realm of her artistry and character, she knew that she had to title her 80s inspired record something just as personal to her; just like that, her fifth studio album, named after the year she was born, 1989, took over the world. Breaking down all the barriers created by those who tried to confine her to one genre, Swift, with a now-infamous army of girlfriends, a handful of new radio hits, and a second Grammy for Album of the Year, yet again pushed the limits of her fame and extended her fan base beyond the millions she had already reached. Who knew a haircut could do all that?

1989 is another one of those Taylor Swift eras that is defined by its aesthetics, and right off the bat, she immerses her listeners in her own landscape with the well-titled track “Welcome to New York.” This song marks the beginning of what is, in every way, a fresh start for Swift, and with bright, lively vocals and a strong beat, it successfully introduces one of her most sonically cohesive records.

Swift has opened up countless times about her frustration with the harassment she receives for her dating habits, which she considers to be perfectly normal for anyone who is not a woman in the public eye. While in the past, with songs like “Mean” she directly addressed her critics with frustration, by 1989 she found a new method, still including breakup songs on the album but also acknowledging the double standards that plagued her. In “Blank Space,” she mocks her haters through her satirical embrace of the media’s portrayal of her as a “serial dater,” claiming that “boys only want love if it’s torture” and sardonically detailing the manipulative ways in which people claim she entraps men. She takes a different approach on “Shake it Off,” creating an anthem for self-empowerment through a catchy melody and sarcastic lyrics. As arguably the two biggest hits of her career, these songs appeal to those who are similarly struggling with bullying, regardless of their age or fame.

Another challenge for Swift with 1989 was switching to a more “shallow” genre while also maintaining her insightful songwriting. She does just this, highlighting her ability to both fit a meter and rhyme scheme while also telling a story with “Out of the Woods.” On this track, she mimics the anxiety she felt in a relationship through her repetition of the hook, while also including an intricate bridge. The lyrical standout on the album, Clean, legitimizes the record as more than a collection of ear-worms, discussing a painful breakup through a metaphor that compares it to addiction. “10 months sober,” she confesses that “just because [she’s] clean [doesn’t] mean [she doesn’t] miss it,” and on this bittersweet track, she demonstrates that finding closure cannot necessarily be equated to healing.

1989 contains its fair share of breakup songs, all written from different perspectives on presumably the same relationship. For instance, the bitter “All You Had to Do Was Stay” contrasts “I Wish You Would” and “How You Get The Girl,” both of which summarize the common desire for an ex to come back into one’s life with a romantic gesture straight out of a movie. In “Wonderland” she reflects on a past relationship, comparing it to “Alice in Wonderland,” using metaphors about falling down a rabbit-hole and Cheshire Cat smiles. Of course, her recently released vault tracks cannot be ignored, and several of them shed light on the parts of her relationships that she kept concealed at the time of the album’s original release. In “Say Don’t Go” Swift heart-wrenchingly begs the subject of the song to grant her the same importance in his life and she has given him in hers. Likewise, in the instant classic “Is it Over Now?” Swift ties the whole album together by explaining that the several breakups and romances depicted throughout the record were actually just one never-ending story between two people who could not stay apart.

While the album does contain several songs about heartbreak, on the other hand, it is also overwhelmingly romantic, as Swift begins for the first time to view love as nuanced and complicated, rather than taking the black and white approach she used in the past. For example, in the glamorous “Style,” she refers to the same relationship “[coming] back every time” despite rumors of infidelity and her better judgment. Similarly, in “Wildest Dreams” Swift acknowledges openly that she knows the relationship will not work in the long term, but gives in to the hedonistic urge to continue down a path that will ultimately lead to disaster. The ethereal vault track “Sl*t!” also touches on this sentiment, depicting a love that serves as a haven from public scrutiny and describing how “the sticks and stones they throw froze midair.” “I Know Places” expands upon the idea of invasive media, as she promises her love that they can escape the paparazzi hunting them.

Likewise, “This Love” proves once again Swift’s ability to discern between flaws and failures in a relationship as she sings that “this love is good” and “this love is bad.” While this seems like an oversimplification of a greater situation, in reality, it is exactly as earnest and complex as is necessary. Swift continuously depicts this complicated relationship through an honest lens, admitting to both her own mistakes and his faults. While this might not exactly be the most healthy perspective, what’s a better time to be self-destructive in your relationships than your 20s? However, Swift includes one paradigm of healthy, ideal romance on 1989, called “You Are In Love,” proving that she is still a dreamer at heart and reminding listeners of what the real standard for love is beyond the push and pull of the relationship described throughout the rest of the album.

The most special thing about 1989 to me is that although it discusses love, heartbreak, friends, and enemies, the core of the album is centered around Swift herself and her growth as an individual. 1989 is about freedom, youth, energy, and hope, encapsulating perfectly the experience of being a young woman in a new city with endless possibilities of success and happiness. In “New Romantics,” Swift concludes that despite the fact that “life is just a classroom” and “heartbreak is the national anthem,” she and everyone else just like her are “too busy dancing to get knocked off [their] feet.” 1989, an album about change, independence, self-discovery, and taking control over one’s own life serves as the greatest reminder that “the best people in life are free.”