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