Look What You Made Me Do – or LWYMMD, as its Twitter hashtag dictates – is well on its way to smashing streaming records, but the song hasn’t been as well received by critics. Continuing in the tradition of her last album, 1989, which marked Swift’s official evolution into pop music behemoth, it largely abandons that which made her a household name – singable melodies; sharp, specific lyricism; grand tales of romantic enchantment – in favor of radio-engineered pop and glib proclamations of vengeance. Near the end of the song, she answers a phone call; someone’s asking to speak with Taylor Swift. “She can’t come to the phone right now,” Swift 2.0 says. Why? “Because she’s dead.”
In the battle between Swifts, my allegiance is with the deceased version, a shrewd chronicler of young-adult courtship and seasoned, starry-eyed songwriter. So much so that hearing her new single made me nostalgic for the days of Fearless and Red. But the Old Swift be damned; this new one is all about retribution and, as the title of her forthcoming album suggests, reputation. Review By Jake Nevins For The Guardian
Pre-order Taylor Swift’s new album, reputation, including “Look What You Made Me Do,” here: http://smarturl.it/reputationTS