CD Review: Taylor Swift – “Evermore” (2020)

For most people, 2020 has been a very insular year. It’s been about completing personal tasks that could find small ways to improve our lives. For some, that’s getting in shape while others took to remodeling their homes. There’s no denying that it’s been difficult to get through some of these days, and yet there is the push to keep moving forward. Most artists have taken to releasing some of the year’s best music while cooped up inside, using home studios to produce perfect reflections of their own insular struggles. For as grim as this period can be, it’s been rewarding for the creatives who continue to push themselves forward, turning to media for a time capsule of a moment that will hopefully pass sooner than later.

What nobody expected was for Taylor Swift to be an outright beast. When she released “Folklore” back in July, many saw it as a pleasant surprise. Whereas she usually takes years off between records, this was only 11 months since “Lover” and found her turning in some of her most intimate and self-reflective work to date. It is arguably her best work to date, finding the artist maturing into something more compelling. On top of that, she released two documentaries with Miss Americana (2020) and Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) that detailed her creative process. The pandemic may have kept her from touring, but she has made the most of this downtime by reminding audiences of her endearment.

So of course “Evermore” came as the biggest shock of them all. With her third fully formed album in 16 months, she revealed how much she uses music as an outlet. There is no sense of this feeling rushed. Every production is perfectly crisp, the lyrics striking. Conceived as a sister record to “Folklore,” it’s one that continues to find her exploring these narrative songs that convey things that interest her on a very personal level. As she wrote on Twitter, this is a record designed to commemorate her turning 31, dedicated to those who turn to music to feel less alone. In a year like this, that’s all you can really hope for.

In some ways, it’s a great complementary piece to “Folklore.” It continues the trend towards more acoustic ballads, using folk and country to convey these heartfelt songs about desire and intrigue. Everything kicks off with “Willow,” which sets off the hour-long record with a rich introductory image. Her writing has only grown more vivid with time, creating something that captivates the listener immediately as she sings:

I'm like the water when your ship rolled in that night

Rough on the surface, but you cut through like a knife

And if it was an open-shut case

I never would've known from that look on your face

Lost in your current like a priceless wine

She peaks of the title like conjuring a spell. Over the course of the song, she manages to create this catchy chorus, suggesting “Wherever you stray, I follow” and that she is desperate to come along with him. The natural images continue into the bridge, talking about willows bending to the wind. In the quietness, she finds a way to capture the enthusiasm, like they’re participating in their personal secret. As far as introductions go, this captures “Evermore” pretty well, capturing the longing that everyone listening is facing. Given that she’s accompanied predominantly by acoustic guitar, she makes it feel more organic, like traveling through the forest while looking for answers.

The album sounds less personal, choosing to focus on the adventures of various strangers. This may be because, like all of us, she has passed the time in quarantine consuming endless media while looking for answers from the past. As later songs will suggest, she has an affection for love stories, but also ones that detail true crime scenarios that lead to some of her most enjoyable moments. “Champagne Problems” details a relationship where both parties are divided on how they feel about love. With a piano backing with elegant harmonies, she details the struggle to see eye to eye. 

She leans into the harmonies on the chorus, finding a reach for something better. What begins as a romantic image of dancing and loyalty quickly turns to negative. Her voice descends as she talks about being “Crestfallen on the landing with champagne problems.” It’s one of the greatest gifts of her as a singer, able to weave a pop hook over a song constantly influx of thought, asking what truly matters in one’s life. She manages to convey a sadness without making it seem bitter, but more of a disappointment that comes with adulthood. There is a self-reflection, realizing with excellent symbolism of excess the true emotions that hide underneath, wrapping up in lines like “Your heart was glass, I dropped it.” 

Another highlight early on comes with “’ Tis the Damn Season,” where she takes on the persona of Dorothea. While not related to the various characters from “Folklore,” it’s one that builds this fictional world that is much more compelling. In this song, Dorothea returns home for the holidays and contemplates how “the road not taken looks real good now.” With an electric guitar playing behind her, Swift conveys the passion inside of her. She sings about how “the holidays linger like bad perfume,” making everything rich with these sensory details that convey her own struggles, of wanting to sleep in the warmest bed and return to something more nostalgic.

All of these qualify as varying forms of love songs, and they only have become more interesting the older that Swift has gotten. At only 31, she has managed to convey the struggles of longing and loneliness in ways with a rich complexity. The stripped-down nature of her music allows the emotions to have a hangdog nature, allowing her to reach further inside of herself and finding the good with the bad, the need to keep moving forward even if her desires want to pull her in every other direction.

In what has become one of the most noteworthy highlights on social media is “No Body, No Crime,” which finds her teaming up with Haim to produce a murder mystery story. It’s playful and finds her returning to the country with an enjoyable whodunit. There’s the creation of alibis, on being places where they weren’t. As she focuses on the journey of Este, it’s clear that she’s been losing sleep and having trouble. Her husband’s been having affairs. Quite simply, they’re trying to pass off the crime on him, and the tongue-in-cheek nature makes it go smoother. It’s salacious, reflecting the narrative nature of these songs in fun ways, such as noticing small changes in her husband’s life. 

Another enjoyable collaboration comes on “Coney Island.” After the halfway mark of the album, the song conveys a place in New York that is often described as a tourist trap. It’s designed to distract with happy thoughts, and it helps to convey her struggles to feel like she matters. Even amid the awe, she is left wondering “Did I shatter you?” and having trouble relating to him. The juxtaposition of joy with sadness shines through in the pre-chorus where she ruminates:

'Cause we were like the mall before the internet

It was the one place to be

The mischief, the gift-wrapped suburban dreams

Sorry for not winning you an arcade ring

It’s a beautiful song and The National’s Matt Berninger definitely adds a nice counterbalance to Swift as they look back on this fraught relationship. Like every song on this, it’s the quest to be a better version of yourself in hopes of keeping everything together. The fear of loneliness lives in these songs, and Swift knows how to juxtapose the images in such a way that optimistic details can hold something bittersweet. Are these all personal? Is she finding something deeper about herself? If this is true, she’s doing so with some of her best work. Apologies like “Sorry for not making you my centerfold” sting, finding the inability to let these innocent ideas sway her mood all that much.

The album comes to a close with something that the album has been building to this entire time. “Closure” finds a chamber pop tune where she addresses an ex. There’s this reality that one hasn’t gotten over the other, feeling pain inside. With a calm and collected manner, Swift sings about that letter, claiming that she’s doing better in spite of personal feelings. She continues to work towards closure, to accept life after everything. Considering the various journeys that have happened prior, it’s amazing to see that this is where everything ends. She sings “I know I’m just a wrinkle in your new life,” and it shows how love creates a permanence in people, that they’re never ever truly forgotten. All one can hope for is acceptance, some form of closure. 

The final song goes even further. With “Evermore,” she is joined by Bon Iver with a song about how the pain will go away. Her depression will fade. Still, her admitting “I’ve been down since July” reflects something real. Whether it’s about a break-up or the pandemic, her ability to convey loneliness so vividly is astounding. Having Bon Iver add these wooing cry reflects a breakthrough in song form, coming to the conclusion that the pain won’t last forevermore, eventually fading into the more optimistic, forward-thinking evermore. It also draws in the images that start the album with “floors of a cabin creaking under my step,” creating a deeper meaning to the symbolism of a ship as something more internal and emotional.

The debate will continue to rage on as to whether “Folklore” or “Evermore” was the better album. As Swift has noted, they’re both sister records, complementing aspects of each other that enhances understanding. These are personal records for very dark times, finding sunshine reaching through as we feel lost in our own proverbial woods. It’s beautiful, intricately crafted, and full of clever lines that deserve to be parsed through and appreciated for their richer allegories. 

If nothing else, I am excited to see that this is the direction that Swift is moving in. I’m sure that she’ll eventually release another poppier record like “Lover,” but I’ll always admire that she’s managed to grow in the folk and country style into something more fulfilling, more honest. Her gifts are apparent and 2020 has proven why she has a sustainable future in music, able to be more than a hitmaker. She has so much heart, even in the quiet moments that speak to our cores. “Evermore” is a record about love and loneliness, and it shines through in impressive manners. If this is where her quarantine entertainment ends, it will be a great time capsule of this moment. Though if she continues every few months with a new album, I won’t be angry about that either.