The focus of Taylor Swift’s Lover 
is right in the title. From her love for 
her boyfriend and mom, to her love for 
being in love, Swift has clearly dedicated 
this album to the people and things she 
loves the most. Lover 
is hopeful, challenging 
and suggests there’s a 
certain kind of freedom 
in heartbreak. 
Unlike 
the 
dark 
edginess of her 2017 
album 
Reputation, 
Lover feels more like a 
sequel to her pop album 
1989, 
glitter 
and 
all. 
Swift traded her snakes 
and 
hard 
edges 
for 
butterflies and hues of pastel, a symbol for 
the way she’s choosing to brand herself as 
a lover rather than a fighter. 
And the “lover” brand suits her 
quite well Lover has more emotional 
depth than Reputation and shows a new 
level of maturity for Swift. While her 
previous albums are full of black-and-
white juxtapositions to describe love and 
relationships, Swift admits these things 
are not as clear as night and day when she 
sings “I once believed love would be black 
and white/but it’s golden.” 
The kind of love we see in Lover goes 
beyond Swift’s romantic escapades. One 
of the most intimate songs on the album is 

an ode to Swift’s mother, who is battling 
cancer, titled “Soon You’ll Get Better.” 
Unlike some of her recent songs, Swift 
doesn’t retreat from detailed lyrics and 
gives a taste of the old Taylor with the 
storytelling capacity she is so well known 
for. 
In fact, Swift teased fans for the return 
of Old Taylor with the pre-release of the 
album’s title track, “Lover.” The song has 

all the elements of any early Taylor Swift 
song: Christmas lights, romance and of 
course, a catchy tune. 
While Lover is largely a celebration of 
love, some of the album’s tracks still hold 
the aggression from her Reputation era. 
In the album’s most controversial tune 
“You Need To Calm Down,” Swift directly 
calls out anti-gay protestors, declaring 
“shade never made anybody less gay,” and 
portrays them as angry country bumpkins 
in the music video. “The Man” is also 
very pointed at sexism, yet showcases 
Swift’s humor. “Every conquest I had 
would make me more of a boss to you,” she 
sings impassively, highlighting a slew of 

double standards she’s faced in the music 
business. 
Lover has certainly been a place for 
Swift to grow in her lyrics, but musically, 
she still tends to lean into pop style with 
ethereal synthesizer pulses and strategic 
key changes. “Cruel Summer” is the 
epitome of Swift’s signature style with 
dreamy high notes and light hearted 
chants in the bridge: “I don’t want to keep 
secrets just to keep you!”

What’s 
most 

surprising in Lover is 
its country undertones, 
taking us back to Swift’s 
roots as a country music 
artist. Swift recruited 
the Dixie Chicks for 
delicate 
background 
vocals in “Soon You’ll 
Get Better,” while the 
title 
track 
similarly 
contains traces of the 
country swing Swift made her name with. 
After 
the 
surprising 
release 
of 
Reputation, no one was quite sure where 
Taylor Swift would take her career next. 
Lover feels like a step back into common 
territory and suggests Reputation is 
the farthest Swift will tread from her 
traditional style. While she may be finding 
refuge in the music she built her career 
on, Lover points to a way forward as Swift 
seems to have shifted her focus to her 
own experiences rather than defending 
herself. Lover is intriguing, thoughtful 
and relatable; Taylor Swift has once again 
given us a collection of songs to sing, cry 
and dance to. 

‘Lover’ is a sweetly Swift rebrand

KAITLYN FOX
Daily Arts Writer

Lover

Taylor Swift

Republic Records

ALBUM REVIEW

My tire was blasting out air from 
its bent valve stem, visibly deflating. 
It was flat in 15 minutes. I had a bum 
tire in a small northern town, over 
200 miles from home, on a holiday 
weekend. For those of you not from 
the Midwest, this is a calamity of 
the highest magnitude. Every auto 
shop was closed, every mechanic 
at home with their families. I was 
given a phone number. “Here,” the 
voice on the phone said. “This guy 
might be able to help you.”
I drove to County Line Road, 
pulling in front of a white barn 
behind a stout brick house. The 
barn was surrounded by trees, 
cars sagging in the dirt and stray 
cats. I crept to the door of the barn, 
calling out a wary “Hello?” I was 
met by clanging and crashing as a 
large man emerged from the back 
of the barn, accompanied by a white 
dog with white eyes. He shook my 
hand and took my tire, driving 
northwest to Cheboygan. He came 
back somewhere around three 
hours later, the tire’s valve stem 
completely repaired.
In the brief moments I spent 
with this man while he changed 
my tire, I think I came to know him 
well enough. He was a veteran who 
served two tours in the Middle East 
as a medic. Having been injured, 
they sent him home on disability. He 
has seizures in his frontal lobe that 
make him forget things. He spends 
his spare time tinkering with cars 
and other machines in the barn he’d 
built himself, complete with a loft, 
where he lives. His dog, Ghost, was 
a rescue from an abusive family. 
Ten cats freely roam his modest 
property of ten acres. I learned that 
he’d lived just about everywhere, 

from Detroit, to El Paso, to cities 
in the Middle East as a civilian 
mechanic for the Air Force. He had 
family who fought on both sides of 
the Civil War.
He fixed cars not for income, but 
for something to do, and he did it 
well. “Lots of people come up here 
for holidays and weekends, and 
they get stuck,” he said. “Any of 
the mechanics around here would 
probably take advantage of you.” 
But he assured me he wouldn’t. 
In fact, he didn’t even care about 
turning a profit. He charged me 
$25 total and gave me some free car 
advice.
He told me about the stray tools 
he’d come to acquire over the years, 
like a full woodworking set he got 
as a gift for helping a man move. 
We talked about all his dreams, too, 
most of which involve improving 
his home, with oak siding and 
homemade sheds to house his tools. 
His clowder of cats slinked and 
rolled around in the dirt in front of 
the barn.
Meeting this man reminded me 
that I ought to be thankful. Here was 
someone who spent a large portion 
of his young life serving his country, 
had suffered for it and come home. 
He spends his days tinkering and 
helping people not for money, but 
because that’s what he wants to do. 
The Midwest is home to incredible 
people with even more incredible 
stories. We are a collection of people 
from every corner of possibility. I 
drove away down M-32 humbled, 
the red-tipped trees hugging the 
road, awash in the golden glow of 
oncoming fall. The very best of us 
are hidden in the corners of the 
Midwest, tucked into homemade 
barns on the side of the road or in 
sleepy, pine-covered small towns. 
If you get stuck in Onaway, go see 
Wade. He’ll take care of you. He 
tinkers, and he is the very best of us.

Midwestern hero

MIDWESTERN COLUMN

MAXWELL SCHWARZ
Daily Midwestern Columnist

Here was someone who spent 
a large portion of his young life 
serving his country, had suffered for 
it and come home

I learned that Mac Miller died 
while I was walking back from a 
football game one year ago. I don’t 
remember who played, what day 
it was or who I went with. But I 
remember that moment. “RIP MAC 
MILLER” was spray-painted in light 
blue on a slab of wood against a frat 
house. I remember thinking it was 
probably a loss that Mac Miller died, 
that he probably had a lot of potential 
moving forward — but not much 
beyond that. Not to pull a Pitchfork, 
but it was hard to envision Miller 
as anything beyond a frat-boy icon. 
I listened to half of his legendary 
debut album Blue Slide Park years 
ago in middle school after listening 
to his feature with Ariana Grande on 
“The Way,” but I disliked it and never 
revisited him until the night of his 
passing when I got back to my dorm 
room. 
Don’t get me wrong — I still despise 
Blue Slide Park. The thing with Mac, 
the thing I hadn’t realized until 
years later, was that he was an ever-
evolving artist, one who reinvented 
himself with every album. Defined by 
an artistry that never quite fit into a 
genre, to a common clique of people, 
Miller continuously shed the party-
rap persona until his discography 
was spattered with jazzy beats and 
despondent lyricism. This was his 
magnum opus, Swimming. Following 
his 
break 
up 
with 
Grande, 
an 
infamous DUI and terrifying dive 
into substance abuse, Swimming was 
placed at the center of his life as a 
promise to stay af loat among the 
chaos. 
The songs shift effortlessly from 
one to the other in the same fuzzy, 
contemplative 
packaging. 
Never 
precisely sad or depressing, the 
album is imbued with an exasperated 
hope, one that searches when the 
struggle seems lost. Did this haziness 
make 
distinctions 
between 
the 
beginning and end of songs harder 
to identify? Yes, just as much as it 
made some songs not worth listening 
to 
individually. 
Swimming 
is 
admittedly defined by its danceable 
highlights 
like 
“Ladders” 
and 
“What’s the Use?” But as a concept 
album, it stands among the most 
cohesive I’ve ever listened to. Its 
message to maintain a semblance of 
hope and self-improvement despite 
the jarring reality of addiction, 
depression and heartbreak is at the 
forefront, radiating lyrically as well 
as sonically. It might get a bit stale 
at times, but I couldn’t help but 
immerse myself into the experience 
the first time I listened. Like it or 
not Miller is a master at conveying 
how he feels through music. Not a 

single day has gone by 
since my first listen that I 
haven’t listened to a track 
from Swimming. 
This is why it was such 
a travesty that he passed 
away. He had a lot more 
to live for at 26 years old. 
This is not only apparent 
sonically in the evolution 
of his musical stylings, 
but 
also 
within 
his 
thematic musings as well. 
“I had a plan to change, 
you can’t stand the rain 
/ Little delay, but I came 
and you’re cool with it / I 
don’t trip, f lip or lose my 
grip / And I don’t know 
it all but I do know this / 
Before you know me better 
know yourself / I’ve been 
in this shit so long that it 
don’t smell,” he raps in “Ladders.” 
Even his social media embodies 
much the same themes, taking a more 
somber and inspirational turn those 
last few months of his life. In the 
place of his general, off beat humor, 
one of his last tweets reads “I just 
wanna go on tour.”
His death now stands as a cruel 
twist of irony to fans who adored 
him — he had a plan to get better, to 
make more music, but it’s impossible 
now. A lot of this is translated in 
the memory of him. His “Self Care” 
music video depicting him escaping a 
coffin despite being buried alive, an 
homage to “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” is jarring 
foreshadowing for a song with the 
lyrics “Swear the height be too tall 
(Yeah) / So like September I fall.” 
Like many artists who have passed 
young before him, Mac Miller has 
been immortalized in the gestures of 
fans and other artists alike. As the 
anniversary of his death approaches, 
we’ve witnessed multiple tributes 
in his honor, some upcoming ones 
in cities from New Orleans on the 
seventh to the iconic Blue Slide 
Park itself in Pittsburgh. 
Artists 
like 
Childish 
Gambino, 
Anderson 
Paak, 
Ty 
Dollar 
$ign, 
Thundercat 
and 
many 
more 
have 
honored 
him 
in 
performances, 
acknowledging not only 
deft musical stylings but 
his humanity. “He was 
the sweetest guy, he was 
so nice,” Gambino said as 
he cut his performance 
of “Riot” short during a 
Chicago performance last 
year.
However, 
no 
other 
artist 
has 
honored 
Miller’s memory the way 
ex-girlfriend 
Ariana 
Grande has, symbolically 
donning a pale blue Zac 
Posen 
Cinderella 
gown 

at this year’s Grammy Awards and 
subsequently 
posting 
a 
rant 
on 
Twitter lamenting Miller’s loss for 
Best Album. Her “Thank U, Next” 
album is defined by her grieving for 
Miller, from sly lyrics that direct 
back to her late ex’s music to her 
description of it as a healing project 
at a point in her life in which she 
describes as “so drunk and so sad.” 
Homages to Miller are even scattered 
throughout her most recent tour. A 
stop at Pittsburgh was introduced 
with Miller’s music playing before 
Grande’s appearance, a seat in his 
honor near the front and Grande 
struggling to keep it together as she 
sang songs written about him.
As the anniversary of his death 
approaches, 
Miller’s 
name 
is 
resurfacing across news and the 
Internet. From the surge of tweets 
mourning him, unreleased tracks put 
out in his honor and tributes in cities 
across the US, his memory hasn’t 
evaded fans and friends alike. It’ll be 
one year since Mac Miller has passed 
away, yet his legacy makes it feel like 
he never left. 

Remembering Easy Mac with the
Cheesy Raps, nearly one year later

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

DIANA YASSIN
Daily Arts Writer

His death now stands as 
a cruel twist of irony to 
fans who adored him — he 
had a plan to get better, to 
make more music, but it’s 
impossible now

As the anniversary of his 
death approaches, Miller’s 
name is resurfacing across 
news and the Internet

By Matt McKinley
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/02/19

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

09/02/19

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Monday, September 2, 2019

ACROSS
1 Grazing area
4 Islamic mystic
8 Would rather 
have
14 Rock concert 
gear
15 Mellowed in a 
cask
16 Novelist __ de 
Balzac
17 *New Year’s Eve 
headwear
19 Offshore driller
20 Loses speed
21 Absorbed
23 Treats with a cold 
pack
24 Weather-affecting 
current
26 Vinyl record 
feature
28 Building sites
30 Comprehensive
33 France, under 
Caesar
36 “And __ what 
happened?”
38 Relative via 
marriage
39 Sprint
40 *Billiards stick
42 “SNL” alum 
Poehler
43 City near 
Syracuse
45 “Trees,” for one
46 Parting words
47 Compound 
cry of 
dissatisfaction
49 Agile
51 Common 
workday starting 
hr.
53 OSHA’s “S”
57 Indian royal
59 Powerful engine
61 Patty Hearst’s 
SLA alias
62 Florida fruit
64 September 2, 
2019 ... and 
what the first 
words of the 
answers to 
starred clues 
commemorate
66 “Hannibal” 
villain
67 Jacob’s twin
68 Outfielder’s 
asset
69 Muslim ascetics
70 Sunrise direction
71 ___ Bo: fitness 
system

DOWN
1 Moment of 
forgetfulness
2 Online shopping 
mecca
3 Cook’s protection
4 Refuses
5 “That stinks!”
6 Fright
7 Suitcase tie-on
8 Kind of “Star 
Trek” torpedo
9 King, in France
10 Give some pep to
11 *Ground out on 
which the fielder 
needn’t tag the 
runner
12 Canal across 
New York
13 Rules, briefly
18 Woven fabric
22 Harry and William 
of England
25 Enzo’s eight
27 Slobbery comics 
pooch
29 Frequents, as a 
store
31 Get under control
32 Interstate rds.
33 Vittles on the trail
34 Prefix with 
correct
35 *Great Britain’s 
flag

37 Symphonic rock 
gp.
40 Ache
41 Infield quartet
44 Italian wine 
favored by 
66-Across
46 Substantially
48 Cuts off, 
as diplomatic 
ties
50 Inform on
52 Big fight
54 Continue until

55 Jewel-studded 
topper
56 “I did good!”
57 Massage deeply
58 Rectangle 
measure
60 Mission Control 
org.
63 Olympic 
country code 
alphabetically just 
before GHA
65 Music majors’ 
degs.

6A — Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

