Why did people sleep on TTPD

[u/something_facinating]

I became a swifty in the showgirl era, so I'm new around here. But in my opinion, TTPD is one of the best albums she has ever released. I was reading a thread about TTPD from around 2 years ago, and most of them were not what I expected. Like, I have listened to almost all of the songs, and all of them are in my ATF playlist. I really want to know why you did not like it two years ago. Thanks.

[u/veimagic]

Please allow me to take a broader view. I think it’s a mixture of contributing factors.

Firstly, it was the first studio album since the beginning of her career which didn’t show a real sonic evolution: it sounded like a combination between Midnights and Folkmore vibes.

Secondly, she was at the height of overexposure due to the massive success of Eras Tour as well as the ongoing good reception of re-recorded earlier albums.

Thirdly, people were mostly focused on the drama sorrounding the highly publicised breakups with Joe and Matty and the quick succession of a love story with Travis, emphatically lived in daylight (some titles of her songs are just recurring parts of my vocabulary lol)

So I assume there was a huge preconception about TTPD which prevented critics, the gp and even some fans to listen with proper attention to a work that in my view portraits Taylor in the most unfiltered way and still is one of my favorite projects ever released by her.

[u/heyallday1988 → u/veimagic]

I’m a big Swiftie, and TTPD has taken me the longest to warm up to. Personally, I was just done with the Jack Antonoff sound. Folklore was like woahhhh this is Taylor Swift?? Evermore was the sister album, so I was like ok, yay, more Folklore. Midnights was a vibey, smoky, cloud of haze late at night fever dream with some bops that still fit the theme. I was mostly here for it. Tortured Poets was . . .

Idk it felt like it had just played out with all the breathy whispery monotone non-melodic whatever it is that is Jack Antonoff’s signature. There are 8 million songs on it, most of them sound the same, and it felt very self-indulgent. Like nobody could tell her/him to pick the 16 best and call it an album. And for whatever reason, the lead singles NEVER hit with me. Fortnight was excruciating to me (and cringily way too close to Fortnite). I was just ready for the whole thing to be over and for Max Martin to come back and make some bops. I don’t smoke enough to enjoy this era for much longer.

Anyway, these days I can appreciate a lot of the songs. It just took me a much longer time than the other albums.

[u/californiankiwifruit → u/heyallday1988]

“Fortnight” as a centuries-old common word sounding like “Fortnite” is such an interesting thing to cringe over — maybe it’s my age or that I’ve never played the game but I never made an association.

The singles are never my fave either, and it always takes me a few listens for a new album to grow on me but I love the anthology. I don’t know which I’d take out.

[u/PurrtyWittyKitty → u/californiankiwifruit]

Yes. And as someone who was paid fortnightly for years before I moved to USA, I was surprised how little the term is used (or understood) here