Folklore is sad, beautiful, somewhat tragic, a little bit off the wall, but most of all it feels free.
Folklore is a triumph of wistful, escapist and melancholy music ... no one writes a song with the emotional dexterity, self-awareness, and narrative richness like Ms Swift.
folklore is an unexpected treat in the middle of a disrupted summer, one whose sepia-toned colour palette and muted production only adds to its magic.
Swift’s currency has always been emotional honesty, but now it feels less like showmanship and more like a personal reckoning. Folklore is a clear-eyed, subdued affair that reveals a little more magic with each listen.
As a complete body of work, folklore is Swift’s most compelling and challenging record since Reputation. No longer a former “country starlet gone pop,” Swift is a woman with a singular vision moving forward to blaze new paths and create art that will resonate for years to come.
In this record - in large part a remote collaboration between Taylor and The National’s Aaron Dessner - Taylor is contemplative, authorial, clear and simply exceptional.
The lockdown may have been a terrible moment for music and musicians, but it has resulted in Taylor’s Swift’s most powerful and mature album to date.
Released with little fanfare this move to more muted songwriting is proof Swift’s music can thrive without the celebrity drama.
The singer-songwriter's eighth album cuts away the pop scaffolding for dark, dreamy contemplation.
As surprising as the release of the record is, possibly more surprising will be seeing folklore become the record that turns a whole generation of dismissers into actual fans.
Simply put, folklore is a speed bump. It is a small sliver of familiarity and nostalgia that broadcasts openness without resentment, mockery or one-sided representations, and finds Swift finally committing to shedding the brash, poppy sound in favor of the soft, tonal glow of reverb and contemplation.
It isn’t the weight of the subject matter alone that makes the album feel so vital—it’s the exemplary caliber of her writing. She may sing of wasted potential, but Folklore finds Swift living up to all of the praise she earned for her songwriting earlier in career.
Her eighth album is a radical detour into the deepest collection of songs she’s ever come up with.
This is an album of Swift at her most knowing, pushing away the tabloid fodder that has often surrounded her artistry and magnifying the talent she's been honing her entire life.
Swift’s big 2020 plans for a long Lover tour were scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic. But that empty window of time is what forced her to think outside the box, beyond what anyone expected of her, and to create one of her best, most perfectly-produced projects ever. In folklore, she wrote a quieter, more thought-provoking chapter in her constantly shapeshifting story.
Folklore showcases a more poetic side of Swift wrapped in an unexpected, but workable, blend of electro-folk, pop, and alternative rock.
On Taylor Swift's surprise Lock Down album, Folklore, the omnipresent, world-conquering princess of self-mythology embraces a brooding post-pop texture that strikes a balance between lusty exuberance and indie-folky introspection.
Combined, the moodier, contemplative tone and the emphasis on songs that can't be parsed as autobiography make folklore feel not like a momentary diversion inspired by isolation but rather the first chapter of Swift's mature second act.
This is an unconventional record – at least for the world’s biggest pop star. It’s also brilliant.
She still can’t write a song that isn’t immediately catchy, but the delicate textures in the music are something new and highly attractive. Folklore is definitely one for that snobby ex to add to his collection.
Whether as a quarantine-induced folk detour along Swift’s pop trajectory or as a hint at a new direction for her music, Folklore is an unexpected work of genuine emotion.
This rich isolation album boasts collaborations with Bon Iver and The National's Aaron Dessner, and might just feature Taylor's best song ever.
folklore reveals an earnestness and eloquence that Swift has never before expressed to such an extent. Like the towering trees on its cover, it’s a testament to both steadfastness and growth.
It’s easy to attack folklore: Too calm, too snoozy, the outcome of a multi-millionaire hiring indie songwriters to help her deliver “real” music. And at 63 minutes and 16 tracks, it continues the recent trends of fairly good pop albums that overstay their welcome.
Taylor Swift continues her upward artistic trajectory on Folklore.
Where it ultimately stands within her catalogue will take more time to decipher, but folklore nonetheless feels like a watershed moment for Swift. It's proof positive that she's one of our better pop chameleons, and a palette cleanser after several intriguing, if sometimes questionable, sonic detours.
In Swift’s ever-morphing musical output from acoustic country to glittering arena-ready pop, folklore’s sad-but-polished indie is a welcome break from expectation. Sure, it’s about seven tracks too long, overly-saccharine and with a penchant for over-dramatics, but it’s pretty good.
Once again, listeners must dig through a veritable mountain of songs to find the gold nuggets that are always present on her albums. But they are becoming fewer and farther between.
If you’re after sincere, sensitive twee folk with plenty of heart then Folklore is a pleasing LP. This is an oversubscribed genre though, and one that is being done in more engaging ways elsewhere.
Sometimes as a listener you simply need to get over yourself. Taylor Swift has come with fifteen years of hate for the music she's released in her young age, shifting from up-and-coming country artist to pop megastar before the age of 25. Even as her sound took on some minor variations on Lover, where she showed glimpses of maturity in her songwriting but equal flashes of the sugary pop that soured her on critical listeners, she didn't receive an exceptional amount of praise for the growth she ... read more
I'm not a Taylor Swift fan.
Or at least... I wouldn't have called myself one until now.
I listened to last year's "Lover" with mediocre results. I found some cuts quite nice and refreshing, others just plain boring and bland. I didn't expect anything from that record either. With songs such as "You Need to Calm Down" and "ME!" that I had to endure in every Justice! store with my sister, I saw a steady but meaningful progression in her sound over the course of a ... read more
In full isolation like the rest of the world, Folklore shows the new musical turning point that Swift decided to sincerely grasp and relate to, focusing mainly on introspection. A deeply human album that could convince a listener unfamiliar with her music to let herself be immersed in it
Whether you are a fan or not, Taylor Swift has not only established herself as a simple superstar, she has always finally, throughout her career, been able to improve in all her different periods, evolving ... read more
1 | the 1 3:30 | 87 |
2 | cardigan 3:59 | 92 |
3 | the last great american dynasty 3:50 | 86 |
4 | exile 4:45 feat. Bon Iver | 91 |
5 | my tears ricochet 4:15 | 89 |
6 | mirrorball 3:28 | 87 |
7 | seven 3:28 | 87 |
8 | august 4:21 | 92 |
9 | this is me trying 3:15 | 88 |
10 | illicit affairs 3:10 | 86 |
11 | invisible string 4:12 | 85 |
12 | mad woman 3:57 | 80 |
13 | epiphany 4:49 | 82 |
14 | betty 4:54 | 87 |
15 | peace 3:54 | 82 |
16 | hoax 3:40 | 83 |
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#1 | / | Uproxx |
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#1 | / | USA Today |
#1 | / | Variety: Chris Willman |
#2 | / | Chorus.fm |
#2 | / | Idolator |