NOTE: I’m sorry for making it so long – I really love this album

After the dust had settled on her Reputation era and she had reclaimed her success following a record-breaking tour, Taylor Swift was ready to undergo yet another metamorphosis, shedding her snakeskin in exchange for butterfly wings. Suddenly, after three years of media silence, she was interviewing, performing, and publicizing her new record yet again, as well as reigniting her blacked out Instagram with a new, pastel-themed aesthetic. While her previous album had been stealthily romantic, her next one was loud and proud about her love. As Taylor herself put it, her seventh studio album, Lover, was designed to be “a love letter to love itself.”

Perhaps my greatest grudge with Ms. Swift, I cannot discuss one of my favorite albums without acknowledging the tragedy of her lead single choice. In what I believe to be a sabotage of her chances of dethroning the reigning “Old Town Road,” (what an era) she chose to release the bubblegum pop “ME!,” featuring Brendon Urie, as a first glimpse into the album. While the song might actually have merit if considered from the right perspective (8th grade me certainly enjoyed it), unfortunately it was received poorly, giving the album a juvenile repute before its release; however, if you look beyond the cheesy singles, Lover proves itself to be so much more in terms of maturity, quality, and artistry.

Beginning with the comical “I Forgot That You Existed,” Swift establishes immediately that this album is dedicated to only those who will support her and that she is unconcerned with the opinions of those who don’t matter, flaunting her indifference toward those who hurt her in the past. It’s the next track, however, that legitimizes the record beyond any criticism it received: the now-famous “Cruel Summer.” In recent years, and especially this most recent summer, this song has achieved new levels of success and fame, even meriting a remix and live recording as of this week – three years later! At the time of the album’s release, however, Cruel Summer was not well-known beyond Swift’s fan base, partially as a result of her decision to not release it as the lead single. I truly believe that this song, with its beautiful, catchy melody and memorable bridge, is one of Swift’s most impressive tracks, especially within her pop catalog. Personally, since its release, I have never heard this song and not experienced the urge to sing (or scream) along. It’s safe to say that I’m a fan of “Cruel Summer.”

As a whole, Lover stays true to its name, referencing romantic love during most of its tracks with overwhelmingly vulnerable, enamored lyrics. The standouts include the title track, “Lover,” which serves as an instant classic with its 70s inspired production that is perfect for a slow-dance. The similarly romantic “Cornelia Street” is simultaneously heartbreaking, with Swift singing that she “hopes she never loses [her partner]” and vowing that, if she did, she would experience “the kind of heartbreak time could never mend” and would “never walk Cornelia Street again.” Likewise, “I Think He Knows,” “London Boy,” and “Paper Rings” feature light-hearted and flirtatious lyrics that convey in clear terms to listeners the degree of Swift’s infatuation. Of course, her relationship, like any other, features its obstacles, and she discloses them openly in “False God” and “Afterglow,” voicing her anxieties about being the one to ruin the relationship, but always concluding with the reassurance that her love is strong enough to endure.

While Lover is a romantic album at its core, Swift addresses love in all of its forms on this record, including more difficult topics, like anxiety and heartbreak. “The Archer,” one of her most vulnerable tracks, especially at the time of its release, confesses her self-destructive tendencies and her fears that “they see right through [her].” Its repetitive nature and lack of a satisfying chorus mimics the unsettling sensations associated with anxiety, expertly conveying Swift’s turbulent relationship with self-image. On the other hand, representing a quintessential Taylor Swift breakup song, in “Death By a Thousand Cuts,” Swift explores romance from the lens of lost love. This track brings us one of her most lyrically elaborate and impressive bridges, once again validating the record in terms of songwriting. The album also features “Soon You’ll Get Better,” the painful track written about her mother’s cancer, written about familial love and touching the hearts of those who are in similar situations.

The Lover era also marked the breaking of Swift’s political silence, which until that point had been demanded of her by her previous record company. Liberated by her decision to use her platform to advocate for her values, especially during such a politically tempestuous period, Swift exercised this newfound voice on tracks like “The Man” and “You Need to Calm Down,” which proudly condemn the sexism she has experienced, as well as the homophobia she witnessed in society. Her execution of especially the latter track was mildly controversial, but this political involvement was undeniably effective considering her success in persuading unprecedented numbers of young people to vote and sign a petition for the Equality Act. My favorite of her political tracks, however, is “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” in which her advocacy is so covert that most people missed it upon the album’s release. In this song, her criticism of the nation’s political climate at the time is conveyed through an allegory of a high school which follows her disillusionment, as prom queen or America’s sweetheart, of the corruption in her school, which represents the nation as a whole. This parallels her real life as she admits to the fact that she had been sheltered as a teen star, but became aware as she grew older of the harsh realities of the country that had lauded her for her whole life.

During the bridge of the album’s closing track, Daylight, Swift reflects upon her attitude toward love in the past in comparison to her mindset after finding what she has now. Alluding to previous eras, filled with romantic uncertainty, turmoil, and naivety, she divulges with angelic vocals and crescendoing instrumentals that she “once believed love would be black and white” and “burning red,” “but it’s golden like daylight.” For the first time in her life, she has a sense of closure and stability, even developing the ability to move on from the things that haunted her in the past and the grudges she once swore she’d hold on to forever. She expresses, at the end of the song and album, that she wishes to “step into the daylight and let it go.” With Lover, Taylor Swift found true fidelity, but also developed an authentic sense of herself, and looking toward a future of bright pink sunsets and hearts around her eye, she shares with the world her idea of true contentment and peace.