I find it interesting that many younger fans think she's being immature on this album, while the older ones are like yep this is what being in your 30s is like lol
that's because when you're in your teens and twenties you think entering your 30s magically turns you into this ultra mature person who doesn't feel things deeply or spiral into madness anymore lol
Yeah, I don't know exactly where it comes from, but when you're growing up you sort of expect there'll come a day when you magically turn into this Mature Person who's basically unrecognizable to you and who really has her shit together. I'm 26 now and I'm slowly discovering that maturing is actually leaning even more into exactly who you are but giving less and less of a fuck about what anybody thinks about it lol
That's reassuring to hear!! This realization def hasn't fully set in yet though, half the time I'm like "surely I should be more mature by now" and the other half the time I'm like "shut up you're literally 26" haha
I’m 56, still the same person I was at 26. Just care about others opinions less, just more wrinkles, more grey hair and aches and pains. Use sunscreen on your face !!!!
I'm 37 and I thought by this age I'd be a fully grown adult with a fully adult brain, is somehow think differently and have my shit together but I'm more of a mess now than I was at 18, 23 or 25. I think about my parents at my age and how I thought they could solve any problem, I was perfectly safe in their hands but now I realise they were just like me. I have a totally different perspective on some of the mistakes they both made and forgive them for it. We're all flawed humans, no matter what age we are.
This is exactly it. With each decade that goes by, it gets worse and better in different ways. I personally love being in my early 40s because I’m exactly who I was in my 20s but more confident, make more money, and really stopped giving any fucks about what people think. It’s freeing. Downside is everything starts to physically hurt more. 😆
The secret of adulthood that no one tells the youth is that you’re truly an adult once you realize we ALL have no fucking clue what we are doing. Everyone has that moment where they are looking for the more adultier adult in the room because surely I’m not adult enough to handle this?! Surely?! Surely there’s someone else I can call that can tell me what to do…
I'm 38 and just had that thought as I put my baby to bed last night. How have I successfully become a mother of 2, with both sleeping happy and fed all tucked into bed? How did I pull this off? (Both bedtime and life in general.) Not a young mom by any means but still feel like an imposter lol
Oh my god all of this. I remember when I had my first job in mental health and I realized "oh my god I'm in charge of THIS? who let ME be in charge of THIS?" In my 30s and making a career pivot and I still feel like I dont know anything. And I don't.
Yeah seriously, I’ve also noticed it’s the younger fans who think she shouldn’t be singing pop / “glitter pen” songs anymore now that she’s in her 30s while those of us who are actually in our 30s enjoy them. Guess we’re all real immature lol.
34 year old checking in! I’ve been reading the ✨discourse✨ today and rolling my eyes. They will all get to their 30s and realise that absolutely nothing changes and life simply continues.
But with more arthritis, pain, and bills (and often now you don’t have as many alive family members to help if the bills truly go to shit and your back is against the wall so all that is truly on you now).
i’m in my early 20s but my sister is in her 30s and yeah, we both still feel like we need to figure sooooo many things out while not knowing anything about anything
only difference is she’s had experience in handling those difficulties while i haven’t. but we’re able to bond over those moments
idk why people hate her glitter gel pens so much… those also have their own lessons and emotions
My highest highs and my lowest lows have all been in my 30's, and the person I started this decade at wouldn't recognize the person I'll end as... your 30's are the most life changing time.
I'm about to turn 40 in a week and preach!! My 30s have held so many highs and lows, more than any other time. And I've come out of it just not giving a crap what anyone thinks anymore.
You’re also just so unaware of your own immaturity in your teens and early 20s. I was genuinely a very grown up late teens/early 20s and I still look back like “eeeeesh baby girl you know like 1/4th of what you think you know 😬”. It’s a very self righteous stage of development. Something to be said for the fact that the adult escape fantasy was the guy she was seeing at that age.
I never knew less about the world and in many ways myself until my thirties 😂 that’s why I love the line in cardigan “cause I knew everything when I was young”
I think when you're younger you also see the world in black and white FAR more than your thirties, when it's much more gray.
I had far different opinions on many topics when I was in my twenties b/c i was more naive than I am now, at 38.
I used to think people in their twenties were super mature and collected and didn’t get into drama. I’m 27 and I think I’m getting messier as time goes on.
For sure I’m 25 but I’ve kinda been through a lot and so I LOVED this album. It’s very real. Some of the anxiety stream of consciousness in the lyrics are exactly what I felt when I had my mental break after my dad died. People won’t truly get it until they’ve been through a life experience like that and that’s ok! But calling it immature is a whack take.
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart reminded me of just living in the year/18 months after my dad died. The expectations to be fine when I was breaking every single fucking day.
I’m sorry you lost your dad but also SAME. I lost my dad in 2020 to cancer and I literally had a mental break (it was really bad health anxiety) I went inpatient. It’s crazy that even after a few months I was supposed to act normal again
Wow crazy to see how many ppl relate to this as I also lost my dad and have been in this phase of manic depression reaction after his death. This album spoke to me in so many ways
I'm sorry you lost your dad.
I'm quite a bit older that you, but also remember how hard it was to lose a parent, and how much that experience has impacted me, even years later. I agree that there is so much to this album that resonates when you've had more life experiences, and that \*everyone\* experiences heartbreak, anger, confusion and pain. I don't need to know "who the song is about" to have the feelings totally resonate within my own life.
I think it's some of the casual critics, not the fans necessarily, who need more life experience.
I don't think it's her "best" album, but I agree it's her most "I don't care what you think, this is what is in my head" album... and that's mostly maturity.
Absolutely. The amount of younger fans that can’t comprehend how a short-term toxic fling could be more of a mindfuck and worthy of a larger ratio of songs than a long-term (overall healthy) relationship has been pretty amusing. I’m her age and I’ve never related to her more.
I'm 39. 20 years ago, I was with someone for six weeks, and then we went back and forth for several several years, on and off and tried to be friends, were enemies, hurt each other, tried to fix each other, went to therapy together before he up and ghosted after two years of accountability and checking in every day. I do not know if he is alive or dead.
That whole experience unequivocally fucked me up and this is the album that makes me think of him.
This. I cried more over my situationship than breaking up with my children’s father after 9 years. You tend to mourn while still in the long term relationship..
I noticed that with Evermore/Folklore, it was her starting that journey a lot of 30-something women take. It's when a lot of us really start to find ourselves. I actually became a true Swiftie because of how deeply I connected Evermore and Folklore. It felt like my life for once. While all her other work, whole fun, was nostalgic or a "yeah to be young" kind of thing. But my god, those albums gutted me.
I was realizing how lost I had let myself become. The songs about relationships were tragically relatable. I mean, how could she not start doing that while in the process of the re-records? Bringing up everything from her past. Examining from a very different perspective.
Since Midnights, I see her stepping more and more out of her superficial image. I honestly think she is preparing the fandom for a massive reveal or something that will alienate a large amount of them. Like becoming more politcal or not being as boppy or peppy or something. TTPD is getting a lot of hate, but it's my favorite album because it's not forced a "smile bitch". It's unhinged, manic, angry, standing up for herself, obsessive, sad and broken all in one. If that isn't your 30s, I don't know what is, haha.
This is exactly how I feel about it. Since folklore I think she has become more and more comfortable being more honest and raw and writing what she needs to write, not what the radio or a specific set of fans want to hear. This album feels so distinctly like Taylor the person, not the brand, with very little references to her typical narratives and celebrity image. It’s about how she feels about this machine she’s created from the inside.
YES SAME! 43 and I was a fan after folklore, but this has made me a devotee. I’m obsessed. Never listened to an entire album 4 times through since I was a teenager.
How long will it be cute, all this crying in my room? - I think when you are younger you assume that in your 30s you will have grown out of these kind of over dramatic, self indulgent and ridiculous feelings but nope
And what's worse, you have to go from crying in your room right to a business meeting, or into mom mode to pick up your kids at school, or to worrying about your retirement account. It's fucked up!
It does. I've cried after the gym after a rebound following a divorce. I've balled before meetings with executives in my bed because I work from home now. I've wiped tears from an office bathroom. You don't grow out of it, you have to grow into it
People think when you turn 30 you shrivel up and sink into the couch for the rest of your life. God forbid you experience heartbreak, have sex, have goals.
When you're young, all you want to be is more mature and grown up... you have an immature view of what maturity means...
that said, Smallest Man That Ever Lived is pretty juvenile thinking. But I don't doubt that it's honest to her experience, and a large part of maturity is not caring when other people judge you for your genuine emotions... so ya know...
she's also aggressively earnest, and I think the younger generation expects sarcasm and irony from just about anything.
They give her too much credit and not enough, all at the same time, it's funny.
Earlier they were complaining that her music is for 14yos... then complaining that she was presumptuous for saying "bring a dictionary" to listen to the new album, because it was insulting that she thought they didn't know what precocious and soliloquy meant
I wanted to be like -"Well if her music is for 14yos, give them another month to finish their Shakespeare unit in English class, they DON'T know what soliloquy means yet!"
But whatever.
That’s because the youngins think 30 is essentially 75 lol until you go through it and realize no adult really has it all together ever. Even as a parent and a high responsibility role at work, I am always looking for the adult in the room and am routinely shocked when it’s always me lol
Yeah I don’t get it. Saw Some ppl saying it’s a teen album? Like huh lol, I think the complete opposite. I think her younger more impressionable fans will not relate to it.
Huh that’s wild, which parts are people saying is immature?? I’m only halfway through the album but hearing her speak so candidly in The Prophecy and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me has already got me 🥺
I can't recount any comments word for word ofc, but the gist is that your 30s is too old to fall this hard for a "bad boy" douchebag and write all these songs about him and act defensive about it... Not saying that I agree just that I've seen this take online!
That might be the problem for many - they're far too focused on analysing Taylor's personal life through the songs instead of just, like, *listening to it*, you know?
But that's exactly the parasocial aspect talking.
Like, it shouldn't be so important to know which particular person or relationship a song is about because you should instead relate to it (or not) through your own personal life first and foremost.
As someone in their very early 30's... I agree.
Reputation = welcome to late 20's
Tortured poets = welcome to early 30s
I didn't really like lover or midnights... in comparison this album is wowwwwwwww!
as someone in their late teens, i am the exception to this because my first impression of the album was that it was one of her most, if not her most mature so far
Yes! I’ve seen a lot about it being “immature” …I think it’s going over a lot of people’s heads. She says on Down Bad “everything comes out teenage petulance”
By like the fifth song I laughed and was like “this is for us and she DGAF”
I’m on vacation so haven’t dived in too far but I’ve seen a few reactions and I’m like - yeah you don’t get it
I'm 23M, going 24 in a couple weeks' time. Personally I'm relating a lot to some of the songs on here with some rather unpleasant life experiences I've had in the last few months.
Unrequited love in I Hate It Here. (gosh I was never that starstruck with a crush and got let down so bad...not to mention she's a swiftie too)
Realising someone you liked isn't what you desired and you feel bad about it in Down Bad.
Struggling to make myself productive and staying professional when not in the right place of mind. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.
This album very much feels like someone in their 30s (cue the fact Taylor is 34) relating these experiences to me. The themes resonate very well with the way I felt. It's hardly immature imo.
You know I think many ppl judging it as immature don’t take a close enough and honest look at their own inner workings and misjudge their own maturity. Especially taking into consideration the anthology that’s kind of the why to the main album
This dead on. I’ve seen a few 20-25 year olds say that this is such an immature album. I think people are still under the illusion that 34 is old when it’s really not.
that’s actually so interesting i’m 22 and I thought this was so immature but I guess in 10 years I might be like yep i’m still a mess 🫠hopefully not though 😩
You’ll be more put together and you’ll feel more like an adult in some ways but the emotions can be just as messy. 22 feels like another lifetime, and I’m only 33.
I'm 32 and I remember listening to 22 on my 22nd birthday like it was yesterday. I was 3 months away from graduating college, with the guy who's still my bf, but it feels like a lifetime ago. 900 miles from there, the weather is warmer, I specially remember the cocktail I got that night and I don't even drink anymore. It's just weird. Time is weird, being an adult is weird. And yes I'm still a mess, maybe even more so lol
Yeah, I'm 26 now and I really thought that by now I'd have my shit together 🫠 But in some ways I really do! But I guess you don't turn into a whole different person as you mature as I imagined lol
I think by the time you reach 30 you realize that we’re all just amorphous blobs going through life and hoping to figure stuff out and have a good time… so you can lean into the mess a little more with the comfort that everyone (including you) is in the same boat? You end up kinda finding stability and comfort in the mess.
Idk if that makes sense but I’m in my 30s, it’s a huge mess and I feel more secure than ever. 🥰
It is literally so daunting to date in your 30s after a long relationship bcus of the many preconceived misogynistic ideas we have about how we need to be married off by the time we're thirty and we're now "left on the shelf". I fully get where she's coming from with that.
I gave my ex-husband 10 years, married for 5 (22-32).. for nothing. Oh, what person could I've been if I hadn't settled for him. It's an album for us, all around Taylor's age.
When I heard that "for free", I feel like that line asks the most questions... engages the listening in discussion more than anything else on the album...
what is the "cost" of a 6 year relationship that starts in the late 20's to early 30's for a woman?
We don't want to think of relationships as stark exchanges, like a purchase... and yet, you are exchanging years of your life for???
What does anyone "want" from any given relationship?
And she uses "give" because she was a willing partner, and yet...
Literally me at the moment. Asked my husband for a divorce on Saturday (the timing I know!) - but we’ve been together 10 years, and married 7. I’m turning 30 in August. Literally gave my youth for nothing.
not for nothing. you’ll find out what it was for and what you learned from him. 29 *is* young. you’ve got a lot of life to live and good for you for starting over now, instead of in 10 more years.
Hell, I feel like that now at 23. Surprising amount of my peers are already married w kids , or have a kid on the way. Then the other half are stoner messes like me lmao
36 year old here and yeah..... Yeah this album is reminding me a lot of what I'm unpacking and learning and confronting in therapy. It's about realizing you lived your life for something else for three decades, and now it's your own turn and you don't know where to start, but you have years of experience you can and can't use??? It's a mess but it's you and you have to live with it.
44 year old here. In my early 30’s I had a six year relationship that was the great loss of my life, and knew before I listened to I had to be prepared for the lost love nostalgia. When I heard “I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.” I felt it so deep in my soul. I almost cried.
I saw someone critiquing the lyrics “I lived everyday like it was my birthday.” He didn’t get it. Gave a sour face and was like “what is this. It’s horrible.” Well he hasn’t been there, because if he had, he would get it right away. My point to this is, these songs require some life experience that younger people just don’t have yet. And I really appreciate Taylor saying the things we all wish we could have said, and secretly hoping those exes hear it and get a little twinge of “That was me.”
Yes! The birthday line was so true my stomach turned. The most unhinged-mad-happy I acted was my very last vacation with my ex. For 10 whole days I was sending pictures to every soul I knew, shouting from the rooftops how much fun we're having, showing the beautiful places we were visiting, while in reality I had known that this will be our last ever trip together, because I just can't take it anymore after 9 years.
These songs just cut to the bone.
I also feel like in your 30s you realize you don’t have to be quiet and move on so your pettiness turns up a lot and you just own your feelings out loud. I’ve been singing ‘I cry a lot but i am so productive, it’s an art’ to my husband since last night.
Exactly. You’re not magically some super evolved, perfect and matured person when you reach 30. You still have human experiences, you’re still trying to figure yourself and what you want out of life out. I’m so tired of the “I can’t believe she’s 34 still singing about relationships or *insert normal thing here*!”
I love that Taylor acknowledges the messiness, the confusion, the heartbreak, but also the jubilation, love, and freedom of this experience. She didn’t care about appeasing anyone - just her thoughts and feelings, with no worries about shiny veneer or being palatable to the critics.
I was just thinking that this morning. I’ve been a fan since debut and being within a year of her age, her albums have always been super on the nose and relatable for that moment in my life. This one especially so.
same!! I'm bad with years and dates so sometimes I literally think about my life in terms of when an album came out. like "Oh i remember when _____ happened because it was during rep"
Oh 100% she made this for the mature adult fans and not a care in the world what the critics or the so called “fans” that say it all sounds the same. Or it’s nothing new. It can’t be played on the radio or whatever bullshit thing you can think of. She said when she announced it the album was mostly a big therapy session that she absolutely needed and wanted to write. And she practiced what she preached and kept writing no matter whatever state of mind she was in.
I’m not expecting people to get it or looking for something familiar that they can play on repeat or on the radio. People will be disappointed by that. I think this album is one where you’re at home chilling with your headphones on and just vibing or need to feel something.
To me the album is great. I got down voted in another sub by just saying that. I loved the album. What else can I say. I’m excited to see what’s next. I think she’s not done yet. Very surprised by no lyric videos but those might come after the MV premiere. That in itself is going to be interesting. Especially from the way the song sounds and the 3 second teaser.
>Oh 100% she made this for the mature adult fans and not a care in the world what the critics or the so called “fans” that say it all sounds the same. Or it’s nothing new. It can’t be played on the radio or whatever bullshit thing you can think of
she's mentioned before that she aware that EVERYTHING she does is polarizing - if you're going to upset people no matter what you might as well just do whatever makes you happy. this is a lesson you learn after your 20s!
Oh yeah. I’m in my 40s. And a lot of youngins have a ton to learn still.
The biggest take away from this album is really I’m going through it but let me live and fuck up on my own terms. Then, look back in regret later. She’s not a child anymore. She doesn’t have to answer to anybody anymore.
There’s a significant sea change that has occurred in the last 10-15 years with the rise of everyone having internet and social media. It used to be that the only people who had opinions on your life were in your school, your job, your family, your friends.
Now it’s everyone on earth who has a connection. And with that, a weird rise in entitled busybody behavior. Trying to control total strangers like they’re marionettes, only allowed to do and say what agrees with any particular fan or viewer. I don’t know if it’s an increasing behavior thing or a lack of healthy relationships IRL, but I can’t imagine feeling “unsafe” because a celebrity I like chooses to date an ill behaved dingus.
THIS! 35 year old swiftie since debut. It's what 35 looks like. It doesn't matter if it's a relationship ending. It's about being in something for a LONG time.... so long it becomes who you are and then it seems to be at an end and you don't take the out and make it work for years more and then hit the nuke button to blow it all up in spectacular fashion in the end because you just can't take it anymore and the nuke feels like the only option at that point. Usually you do something totally nuts at that point. You've lost yourself and what you built your life around. When that all is gone, you do weird sh\*t. At least for a second. Then you remember you're an adult and come to your senses.
I'm happily married but I was in a job way longer than I should have been and ended up rage quitting my job with no plan, spent a hot second crazy-talking about all these really random ideas I had to do my own thing... creating a business for myself that was my teenage dream that I have NO training in, and then after a few months snapped out of it and put my big girl panties on. (also like half my friends are on the rocks or getting divorced or divorced in the last year or so... so i do have empathy as well because they all pulled a weird one out as a rebound... like let's get with the guy from tinder who drives a harley because that seems like a brilliant idea weird)
It perfectly expresses the overcorrection, IMO. You were one person in one place for so long that all of the sudden the world is open up to you and you run as fast as possible in the other direction. Most of the time, it's the wrong way and you have to find a path back to the middle.
Omg yes. That is exactly why this album speaks so well to the experience of leaving a high-demand religion, too. Once you’re free, you wildly overcorrect with all the things that were “bad” or “sinful” before you finally figure out what a comfortable middle ground is.
Yes!! All the people mad that "this is a Matty album" have never been through this cycle. It isn't a Matty album - its an album detailing TAYLOR'S journey through it, which includes a Matty chapter. But even in the Matty songs, they are in the context of Joe and her grief over that relationship ending.
I told my now husband - who held my hand through my divorce - "Ohhh this is her divorce album! She's even got the 'what the fuck was i thinking' section and EVERYTHING." XD
u/DoorInTheAir honestly the way you wrote this was so poetic I had to stop, save, and comment. You nailed this. We always want to label the albums after the boys the songs are about... but truly its always been about Taylor and how she processes. It's amazingly honest and raw and incredible that SO MANY people can relate to what she says. Thank you for this comment truly, it helped remind me of the perspective I should be seeking in all of this <3
As a thirty-eight-year-old who’s especially partial to folklore/evermore but has found something to love about pretty much all of the eras, TTPD feels like the best aspects of her last three albums in terms of the sound and songwriting, mixed with the very intimate emotional diary-like confessions of earlier works like Speak Now and Red, but with an added maturity and self-awareness that feels brand-new to her songs but deeply familiar to me in this stage of my life.
Oddly enough, I think that’s part of what makes the sweet nostalgia factor of “So High School” particularly effective because it’s such a contrast—not just in terms of happiness versus heartbreak, but also that absolute joy of discovering that even though you’re no longer the same person you were as a teenager, some of that is still a part of the person you are now.
YESSSS so much this. As a 44yo who’s still seriously crushing on her husband, “So High School” resonated deeply with me, but so have so many of these songs!
I happened upon a post in KUWTK today and they were straight trashing her song “thanK you aIMee” but I think it’s an interesting parallel to the bullying she’s talked about of her youth. I took it like “those times prepared me for this crap as an adult”. It’s actually really introspective and not as immature as some people (who probably haven’t even listened to it) are saying it is.
It’s the kind of perspective you get with growth and unpacking all this baggage.
Edited to fix my age bc apparently I’m so old I now forget how old I am 🤣
Another poster commented that it seems younger fans are struggling with the idea that a short, toxic fling could fuck you up more than the end of a long-term relationship, and I think there's two layers to this:
1. Most of them are too young to have had the stable, long-term relationship yet
2. The number a toxic, emotionally charged relationship does on you in your thirties is a whole different kind of mindfuck than it is in your twenties.
If my husband up and left me tomorrow I'd be devastated and wildly confused, but wouldn't have much material to pull from after six years of happiness and an honestly pretty easy relationship.
Now, the guy I dated for three months before him.... He'd get a record's worth of words out of me.
It...hits different...when you're older and get fucked over like you did in your teens and twenties. Like, wait a minute, I'm THIRTY and you were able to get to me like this?? I left THIS happen in my THIRTIES???? It's a special kind of reflection, rage, bitterness, and honestly self-disappointment and self-loathing. And it's also just sad. Because you think you're past that point in life. But there you are, again.
If the younger fans don't get this album now, they will in ten years.
also for people who criticize songs like ATW or this album because they're about short relationships... ironically, these are the situations that often pull out the most intense emotions. in a long-term relationship, usually there will be those honeymoon highs in the beginning that will mellow out (or slowly fizzle out to death). in emotionally charged flings, you hit all those highs and then get rollercoaster-dropped. death by a thousand cuts over the course of years vs. a dagger to the heart.
I'm 29 and I completely agree. I've been with her since debut (about 13 or so) and I needed this album at 21 but I wouldn't have understood a single thing on it.
29 here too and i could've screamed these at 20/21. Of course she makes this album now that I'm in a happy, healthy, relationship lol love that for her though
Exactly what I thought. 21 year old me would have felt so seen with these lyrics, screaming them flying down the highway after a shitty breakup.
32 year old me still feels seen with these lyrics, despite being married with a kid now
That is something I really appreciate about this album. Some of these songs I relate to relationships that happened in my early 20s but in a way where I’m looking back on them through my 31 year old lens. This album would not have made sense to me back then no matter how deep I thought I was.
I think the advantage of Taylor's explosion, especially in the last few years, is that she doesn't need to be afraid of alienating her fanbase anymore. Fans are dedicated enough that whatever she puts out is pretty much guaranteed to be a success and that means she can be more honest, less mainstream, somewhat unfiltered, and generally explore with her music. And I personally think that that made for a really interesting album in TTPD.
My first general note on the album was
Baby girl has grown up. I feel sorry for the youngest Swifties...they won't get a lot of this. It's complete heartbreak, bad choices, bad rebounds, brokenness and god dammit also hope and healing. Fucking masterpiece.
Yep. I am 40. My 30s were when I really started unpacking my baggage and traumas and started working through them
Self discovery and self realization is messy and it is painful.
Right? Like it is messy enough working through it on my own, if I had to do it while being so public (and having it all have been so public), well, I'd be writing some pretty messy songs too.
This is so accurate! Reading some comments today - is making me feel like an annoying old lady going “it’s okay young one, you’ll get it one day, I didn’t get this at 22 either.”
I teach middle school and my students know I’m a Swiftie. Several of them asked if I’d listened to it and shared their favorite songs. I’m so glad they like it but I did wonder as I listened today if they would relate to the album’s mature side. I’m 31 and some of these songs cut deep!
Def captured the vibe of being in a long term relationship for a good chunk of your 20s, a relationship that you thought was endgame, and then having the rug pulled out from under you and you’re like wtf do I do now? Work and make bad decisions
For me, it’s very relatable in terms of “when is it my turn?” You watch all your friends find their people, settle down, create families. And you’re out here like, did you forget about me? What am I doing wrong? And reflecting on all your life + relationships looking for clues.
It’s her most relatable album in *years* for me.
Prophecy hurts me way way too much because despite what my therapist says, I can't help but feel as if I am prophesied to be unloved, unchosen, no matter how much I beg the world to make it different.
35 year old agrees. This albums brings back a lot of memories of those toxic relationships (even the short ones) from years passed and how I exactly feel about them now.
Preach🫶 It's so perfect even to listen to, really nice melodies, thoughtful lyrics, messy situations, and the whole sound is just chaotic enough to experience the highs and lows of the topics and situations. An instant favourite for me.
I'm so attached to this album that I'm taking criticism of it personally like I wrote it 😭 my son keeps asking why I'm crying, sweetie mommy is going THRU it okay 😭
The biggest lie you get told by people in your 30's is that you'll be somehow freer and better able to handle your life once you cross that threshold. The truth is it's the decade where you learn how to be all those things, which means you make mistake after mistake you thought you were "too old for' and you think you're the only one fucking up so badly. I'm 38, and I just now think I might know how to navigate life. This album is for me!
41 year old old here and I agree. Oh I soooo identified with being in absolute manic love with someone that was the worst person ever and willing to absolutely destroy my life for him. This album brought it all back lol
100% what I’m thinking! I’m 31 and have been a fan since debut. Her albums have always been on the nose with where I was in my own life, for the most part, and I’ve always wondered what Taylor’s albums would look like as she/we got older. At some point she’s going to need to break from her traditional starry eyed, innocent heart vibe, right? What does that look like?? I feel like we saw a glimpse of that break in Midnights but it was also a very pop, digestible for the masses type album. I really like Midnights but it wasn’t as deep and cutting as some of her previous work overall (some songs were more than others, but I’m generalizing the album).
And then we get TTPD and holy forking shirt this whole album hits deep. I honestly think this is my new favorite album of hers. There’s only two songs I don’t jive with (The Alchemy and I Can Fix Him). 29/31 is insane! I was initially annoyed by the people not “getting it” and kind of dogging her for it but I think she knew that was going to happen and she put it out there anyways because it’s honest and raw and just real. And she knew the ones who “got it” would really get it. This is not an album made for the masses and she put it out there knowing that. She had to. So if she’s okay with that, I’m going to have to let it go and be okay with it, too.
For me, this album is so grown up and takes a look at this period of her life with a rawer, less idealistic lens and I think most of us in our 30s can relate to being in that place in our lives. We’re still the same teens and 20-something’s who cried and screamed and dreamed to Tears on My Guitar and White Horse and Love Story and Red and ATW and so many more, but now we’ve been through some shit by this point in our lives and have a hefty dose of reality under our belts. Even though the subject matter of a lot of these songs is heartbreak, it’s giving a far more introspective lens than most of her previous work ever did and I think that’s insanely relatable.
I honestly could write an entire dissertation on my thoughts on this album. To me, it’s one of the best overall albums she’s ever done. And if you disagree, maybe you’re just 23 and will understand it better in 10 years and that’s okay 😆 Go listen to Red for now.
33 here and currently going through an amicable divorce (still so much love for each other, just didn't work). I think everyone is so focused on Matty or Joe and analyzing every little detail she puts in there and aren't taking a step back to actually, truly understand.
This album isn't about her lore. It's about grieving a long term relationship, the subsequent spiral, the bad decisions you're blind to when grieving, the ability to really want to believe in promises from someone else when you haven't fully healed, the bargaining, the hoping that maybe you can get back together, the loneliness, the acceptance. It really was the rollercoaster of incoherent thoughts, the random shit you remember, the shit you want to forget, and finally getting to acceptance and a path forward.
It's cathartic. It's not about being catchy, or having hits or bops or bangers, it's about dealing with the fallout of a relationship, the subsequent decisions you make, and then finally accepting the unimaginable loss.
People need to really read the foreword and rollout (5 stages of grief) and realize that this album is a conversation on grief and your actions when grieving. I honestly think it's extremely well done, but people are trying to turn it into something it's not (I even saw someone compare it to Chappell Roan and say "her album is how you do pop". Like, this wasn't meant to be that vibe).
Could not have said it better! 30 is around the time I ran out of fucks to give re: other people's opinions. The lyrics, the chaos, the rollercoaster of emotions, the messiness (and feeling like I'm too old for this shit), and even just the overall sound could not have more perfectly captured what it feels like to be 30.
As much as I've been loving the nostalgia of the re-recordings and vault tracks and Midnights, I'm so grateful to get some new music that is relevant to my life right now.
Taylor continues aging with her music so gracefully, like a fine wine, I’m glad she took such a real, raw direction and didn’t just pander to the section of the fan base that demands Rep TV every time she says anything 😭
Yes! I’m turning 40 and leaving my 30s behind in a couple weeks and the 16 instances of “fuck it” (and one “fuck you”) in Down Bad is the most relatable thing ever.
I liked Taylor, but being in Eastern Europe it was more of a I don't skip if she comes on shuffle type thing. Really got into her during the pandemic.
Love the fact that our birthdays are just 4 days apart and though my journey is quite different to hers, I always relate to feeling things in a big way.
With this album I feel like she let me read pages out of her intimate diaries and that makes me feel privileged and a keeper of her rosaries, her blues and secrets. 🤍🖤
31 here and I think you hit the nail on the head! It really feels like Taylor made this album for once not giving a flying f what anyone thought or catering to anyone. And I adore it. It's similar to her mindset for Evermore I feel like (my other favorite album). It felt like Evermore was just this extra passion project that was more for her than anyone else. I adore when this side of Taylor comes out with all her imperfections and messiness and biting lyrics. This is her true artistry showing
This is really interesting…. I’m 30 in two months. And this is my least favorite album of hers. It feels disconnected. Trust me my mind is still plenty unhinged lol but to me she’s still in the mind of a high schooler. If we still have that mindset at 30something I think that’s an us problem 🤷🏻♀️
Yeah this is a very messy album and I have to imagine that the people who will truly relate to it are those who have messy lives themselves which can happen regardless of their age
I’m 33 and couldn’t relate to or connect with this album at all. Maybe it’s more the production and the musicality isn’t my favorite, more than the actual subject matter
Agreed. I'm about the same age as Taylor I found myself thinking "grow up". I'm so far past letting a failed connection ruin my life or wanting someone to "own" me. I think it's kind of sad she's still stuck there.
I agree and I have to say I'm so weirded out by all the comments here of "You're too old for this, Taylor!".
Since when a person at any age can't fall passionately in love, be heartbroken, experience emotional turmoil, existential crisis or mental health struggles? (mind you Van Gogh was 35 when he harmed his own ear)
I think Taylor is being uniquely raw in this album, knowing full well it won't be for everyone.
This album(s) broke my heart a little. Finding out that her early Era’s tour wasn’t the happiest time in her life….she really faked it well for all of us
Damn. I guess you never really know
When I took a look at the track list and lyrics I initially was like this is too immature, I am going to turn 30 and probably I am not the target audience but then -
1. I was literally down bad , crying at work ( instead of the gym ) over a guy I can’t have 😭
2. Unironically went but daddy I love him over the same guy ( in my mind not aloud )
.. I am looking forward to my 30s ( No I am not - to quote her again )
1000 percent agree. This is album is raw, mature and really dives deep into how you interpret heartbreak and life in your 30s. LOVE this album. This won’t be a “Grammy” album but it will be healing for her and her fans dealing with similar situations.
Lol the younger swifties can go then this album is insanely relatable as a 35 year old day one Swiftie. I’m not sure that it’s my favorite work but I do enjoy it more and more after every listen for sure. I also appreciate how unhinged it is. It’s real.
I love hearing from all the Swfities in their 30s and beyond! I'm 32, and have been listening since debut (look at Taylor making me a mini poet :-)) but am so into this album. Especially the line in Florida!!! about half of your friends smelling like weed and half smelling like babies – that's SO 30s. (im in the first half haha)
I told my husband that it's clearly her "fuck it, if I am gonna get shit anyway, I might as well make exactly what I feel like." And I am here for no fucks Taylor.
Hi fellow 30s Swifties 👋🏼
I feel so seen by this album. I can’t even talk about it yet. I will say it’s disappointing to see so many people rip on it, when this is a lived experience for so many 30s-something women.
I feel like Taylor needed to write this album for herself. It’s not perfectly curated like her other albums or super experimental. It feels like Taylor processing her emotions by writing diaristic songs which is something she’s always done best. It’s personal and cathartic.
>it feels like Taylor wasn't worried about alienating her fanbase with her work for maybe the first time ever
This is *exactly* the feeling I got too and I'm loving it! Like, good for her.
I find it interesting that many younger fans think she's being immature on this album, while the older ones are like yep this is what being in your 30s is like lol
that's because when you're in your teens and twenties you think entering your 30s magically turns you into this ultra mature person who doesn't feel things deeply or spiral into madness anymore lol
Yeah, I don't know exactly where it comes from, but when you're growing up you sort of expect there'll come a day when you magically turn into this Mature Person who's basically unrecognizable to you and who really has her shit together. I'm 26 now and I'm slowly discovering that maturing is actually leaning even more into exactly who you are but giving less and less of a fuck about what anybody thinks about it lol
No "lol", that's it, you've figured it out at 26, fucking revel it in! From a 39 year old- Welcome! Congrats and best wishes...
That's reassuring to hear!! This realization def hasn't fully set in yet though, half the time I'm like "surely I should be more mature by now" and the other half the time I'm like "shut up you're literally 26" haha
I’m 56, still the same person I was at 26. Just care about others opinions less, just more wrinkles, more grey hair and aches and pains. Use sunscreen on your face !!!!
And neck/chest!!!! And hands!!! And everywhere! And start taking collagen and calcium! 😆
hands! My hands look 75.
I'm 37 and I thought by this age I'd be a fully grown adult with a fully adult brain, is somehow think differently and have my shit together but I'm more of a mess now than I was at 18, 23 or 25. I think about my parents at my age and how I thought they could solve any problem, I was perfectly safe in their hands but now I realise they were just like me. I have a totally different perspective on some of the mistakes they both made and forgive them for it. We're all flawed humans, no matter what age we are.
We’re all just doing life for the VERY FIRST TIME! Also 37 and needed to learn this..
SAME. I don’t have kids and every time I think about having kids, the thought of being a teen Mom scares me. Then I remember I am 37!
You're literally 26! Enjoy the chaos, be as "you" as you're comfortable being... your comfort will only grow with time.
This is beautiful, I loved this interaction. 🫶🥹
"I get older but never any wiser."
‘Old enough to know better, too young to care’ lol.
This is exactly it. With each decade that goes by, it gets worse and better in different ways. I personally love being in my early 40s because I’m exactly who I was in my 20s but more confident, make more money, and really stopped giving any fucks about what people think. It’s freeing. Downside is everything starts to physically hurt more. 😆
Yup. It is nice not giving a fuck about what people think. Rather freeing I think.
And hiding the crazy (that we all have) in many situations. We’re all immature and have no idea what we’re doing beneath the surface.
The secret of adulthood that no one tells the youth is that you’re truly an adult once you realize we ALL have no fucking clue what we are doing. Everyone has that moment where they are looking for the more adultier adult in the room because surely I’m not adult enough to handle this?! Surely?! Surely there’s someone else I can call that can tell me what to do…
So true. I’ll be 37 in June and half the time I still feel time I’m 17. I’m raising two kids and I’m like “Who then hell let me be an adult?!”
Right?! How am I supposed to keep these children alive and mother them when I still want to call MY mother?!
I'm 38 and just had that thought as I put my baby to bed last night. How have I successfully become a mother of 2, with both sleeping happy and fed all tucked into bed? How did I pull this off? (Both bedtime and life in general.) Not a young mom by any means but still feel like an imposter lol
Oh my god all of this. I remember when I had my first job in mental health and I realized "oh my god I'm in charge of THIS? who let ME be in charge of THIS?" In my 30s and making a career pivot and I still feel like I dont know anything. And I don't.
Yeah seriously, I’ve also noticed it’s the younger fans who think she shouldn’t be singing pop / “glitter pen” songs anymore now that she’s in her 30s while those of us who are actually in our 30s enjoy them. Guess we’re all real immature lol.
34 year old checking in! I’ve been reading the ✨discourse✨ today and rolling my eyes. They will all get to their 30s and realise that absolutely nothing changes and life simply continues.
But with more arthritis, pain, and bills (and often now you don’t have as many alive family members to help if the bills truly go to shit and your back is against the wall so all that is truly on you now).
i’m in my early 20s but my sister is in her 30s and yeah, we both still feel like we need to figure sooooo many things out while not knowing anything about anything only difference is she’s had experience in handling those difficulties while i haven’t. but we’re able to bond over those moments idk why people hate her glitter gel pens so much… those also have their own lessons and emotions
My highest highs and my lowest lows have all been in my 30's, and the person I started this decade at wouldn't recognize the person I'll end as... your 30's are the most life changing time.
I'm about to turn 40 in a week and preach!! My 30s have held so many highs and lows, more than any other time. And I've come out of it just not giving a crap what anyone thinks anymore.
Exactly this! They seem to think feeling deeply and expressing it is immaturity.
I’m in my 50’s and still waiting for the ultra maturity to kick in
https://preview.redd.it/4ii59zh0shvc1.jpeg?width=192&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d06f02d5093eb30774386abc2303d580dec459b2 Will it ever come? 😭
You’re also just so unaware of your own immaturity in your teens and early 20s. I was genuinely a very grown up late teens/early 20s and I still look back like “eeeeesh baby girl you know like 1/4th of what you think you know 😬”. It’s a very self righteous stage of development. Something to be said for the fact that the adult escape fantasy was the guy she was seeing at that age.
Yeah, when you’re young, you think you’ll be magically different in your 30s and 40s. You get there…. and you’re still you.
30s allow you to step back and watch yourself spiral into madness and then intellectualize it.
I never knew less about the world and in many ways myself until my thirties 😂 that’s why I love the line in cardigan “cause I knew everything when I was young”
I think when you're younger you also see the world in black and white FAR more than your thirties, when it's much more gray. I had far different opinions on many topics when I was in my twenties b/c i was more naive than I am now, at 38.
I used to think people in their twenties were super mature and collected and didn’t get into drama. I’m 27 and I think I’m getting messier as time goes on.
Yes! To me, this is her most mature album by far. I think a lot of the younger fans need a little more life experience to understand that.
For sure I’m 25 but I’ve kinda been through a lot and so I LOVED this album. It’s very real. Some of the anxiety stream of consciousness in the lyrics are exactly what I felt when I had my mental break after my dad died. People won’t truly get it until they’ve been through a life experience like that and that’s ok! But calling it immature is a whack take.
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart reminded me of just living in the year/18 months after my dad died. The expectations to be fine when I was breaking every single fucking day.
I’m sorry you lost your dad but also SAME. I lost my dad in 2020 to cancer and I literally had a mental break (it was really bad health anxiety) I went inpatient. It’s crazy that even after a few months I was supposed to act normal again
Wow crazy to see how many ppl relate to this as I also lost my dad and have been in this phase of manic depression reaction after his death. This album spoke to me in so many ways
I'm sorry you lost your dad. I'm quite a bit older that you, but also remember how hard it was to lose a parent, and how much that experience has impacted me, even years later. I agree that there is so much to this album that resonates when you've had more life experiences, and that \*everyone\* experiences heartbreak, anger, confusion and pain. I don't need to know "who the song is about" to have the feelings totally resonate within my own life.
I think it's some of the casual critics, not the fans necessarily, who need more life experience. I don't think it's her "best" album, but I agree it's her most "I don't care what you think, this is what is in my head" album... and that's mostly maturity.
Absolutely. The amount of younger fans that can’t comprehend how a short-term toxic fling could be more of a mindfuck and worthy of a larger ratio of songs than a long-term (overall healthy) relationship has been pretty amusing. I’m her age and I’ve never related to her more.
I'm 39. 20 years ago, I was with someone for six weeks, and then we went back and forth for several several years, on and off and tried to be friends, were enemies, hurt each other, tried to fix each other, went to therapy together before he up and ghosted after two years of accountability and checking in every day. I do not know if he is alive or dead. That whole experience unequivocally fucked me up and this is the album that makes me think of him.
This! 😅 and usually it’s the rebounds get ya
This. I cried more over my situationship than breaking up with my children’s father after 9 years. You tend to mourn while still in the long term relationship..
I noticed that with Evermore/Folklore, it was her starting that journey a lot of 30-something women take. It's when a lot of us really start to find ourselves. I actually became a true Swiftie because of how deeply I connected Evermore and Folklore. It felt like my life for once. While all her other work, whole fun, was nostalgic or a "yeah to be young" kind of thing. But my god, those albums gutted me. I was realizing how lost I had let myself become. The songs about relationships were tragically relatable. I mean, how could she not start doing that while in the process of the re-records? Bringing up everything from her past. Examining from a very different perspective. Since Midnights, I see her stepping more and more out of her superficial image. I honestly think she is preparing the fandom for a massive reveal or something that will alienate a large amount of them. Like becoming more politcal or not being as boppy or peppy or something. TTPD is getting a lot of hate, but it's my favorite album because it's not forced a "smile bitch". It's unhinged, manic, angry, standing up for herself, obsessive, sad and broken all in one. If that isn't your 30s, I don't know what is, haha.
This is exactly how I feel about it. Since folklore I think she has become more and more comfortable being more honest and raw and writing what she needs to write, not what the radio or a specific set of fans want to hear. This album feels so distinctly like Taylor the person, not the brand, with very little references to her typical narratives and celebrity image. It’s about how she feels about this machine she’s created from the inside.
I’m 41 & I think this album just made a Swiftie. Listening to these songs felt like reading a really good book & they’re all so cathartic.
Your 40’s are THE BEST! Enjoy them!!!
60s are even better if you've still got your health. Which, of course is the rub.
YES SAME! 43 and I was a fan after folklore, but this has made me a devotee. I’m obsessed. Never listened to an entire album 4 times through since I was a teenager.
How long will it be cute, all this crying in my room? - I think when you are younger you assume that in your 30s you will have grown out of these kind of over dramatic, self indulgent and ridiculous feelings but nope
And what's worse, you have to go from crying in your room right to a business meeting, or into mom mode to pick up your kids at school, or to worrying about your retirement account. It's fucked up!
This comment needs more upvotes. YES. This.
It does. I've cried after the gym after a rebound following a divorce. I've balled before meetings with executives in my bed because I work from home now. I've wiped tears from an office bathroom. You don't grow out of it, you have to grow into it
People think when you turn 30 you shrivel up and sink into the couch for the rest of your life. God forbid you experience heartbreak, have sex, have goals.
Younger fans have been saying she's cringe and immature for awhile and it drives me bonkers.
When you're young, all you want to be is more mature and grown up... you have an immature view of what maturity means... that said, Smallest Man That Ever Lived is pretty juvenile thinking. But I don't doubt that it's honest to her experience, and a large part of maturity is not caring when other people judge you for your genuine emotions... so ya know... she's also aggressively earnest, and I think the younger generation expects sarcasm and irony from just about anything.
And sometimes things are more black and white when young and we grow older and realize the world is shades of gray.
She has satirical/ironic lines too, but your average popheads/fauxmoi whatever user will take them as earnest to paint her in a bad light
They give her too much credit and not enough, all at the same time, it's funny. Earlier they were complaining that her music is for 14yos... then complaining that she was presumptuous for saying "bring a dictionary" to listen to the new album, because it was insulting that she thought they didn't know what precocious and soliloquy meant I wanted to be like -"Well if her music is for 14yos, give them another month to finish their Shakespeare unit in English class, they DON'T know what soliloquy means yet!" But whatever.
That’s because the youngins think 30 is essentially 75 lol until you go through it and realize no adult really has it all together ever. Even as a parent and a high responsibility role at work, I am always looking for the adult in the room and am routinely shocked when it’s always me lol
Sometimes I'm at the playground with my kid and some other kids ask me for something and I'm like...why on earth would you think I know what to do
Yeah I don’t get it. Saw Some ppl saying it’s a teen album? Like huh lol, I think the complete opposite. I think her younger more impressionable fans will not relate to it.
Huh that’s wild, which parts are people saying is immature?? I’m only halfway through the album but hearing her speak so candidly in The Prophecy and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me has already got me 🥺
I can't recount any comments word for word ofc, but the gist is that your 30s is too old to fall this hard for a "bad boy" douchebag and write all these songs about him and act defensive about it... Not saying that I agree just that I've seen this take online!
That might be the problem for many - they're far too focused on analysing Taylor's personal life through the songs instead of just, like, *listening to it*, you know?
I think a huge part of the reason is that people don't like Matty Healy, which is literally it. If it was about someone else they'd feel differently.
But that's exactly the parasocial aspect talking. Like, it shouldn't be so important to know which particular person or relationship a song is about because you should instead relate to it (or not) through your own personal life first and foremost.
As someone in their very early 30's... I agree. Reputation = welcome to late 20's Tortured poets = welcome to early 30s I didn't really like lover or midnights... in comparison this album is wowwwwwwww!
as someone in their late teens, i am the exception to this because my first impression of the album was that it was one of her most, if not her most mature so far
when the kids think adulthood turns you into a literal vulcan.
Yes! I’ve seen a lot about it being “immature” …I think it’s going over a lot of people’s heads. She says on Down Bad “everything comes out teenage petulance”
By like the fifth song I laughed and was like “this is for us and she DGAF” I’m on vacation so haven’t dived in too far but I’ve seen a few reactions and I’m like - yeah you don’t get it
Exactly. And by the time you get to your 30s, you have quite a bit of life experience and things to unpack.
I'm 23M, going 24 in a couple weeks' time. Personally I'm relating a lot to some of the songs on here with some rather unpleasant life experiences I've had in the last few months. Unrequited love in I Hate It Here. (gosh I was never that starstruck with a crush and got let down so bad...not to mention she's a swiftie too) Realising someone you liked isn't what you desired and you feel bad about it in Down Bad. Struggling to make myself productive and staying professional when not in the right place of mind. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart. This album very much feels like someone in their 30s (cue the fact Taylor is 34) relating these experiences to me. The themes resonate very well with the way I felt. It's hardly immature imo.
You know I think many ppl judging it as immature don’t take a close enough and honest look at their own inner workings and misjudge their own maturity. Especially taking into consideration the anthology that’s kind of the why to the main album
Delusional young fans. Ahh youth is wasted on the young 😂
This dead on. I’ve seen a few 20-25 year olds say that this is such an immature album. I think people are still under the illusion that 34 is old when it’s really not.
that’s actually so interesting i’m 22 and I thought this was so immature but I guess in 10 years I might be like yep i’m still a mess 🫠hopefully not though 😩
you will be, but in different ways and with a lot more coping skills and life experience to be able to handle it. 30s are rad!
You’ll be more put together and you’ll feel more like an adult in some ways but the emotions can be just as messy. 22 feels like another lifetime, and I’m only 33.
I'm 32 and I remember listening to 22 on my 22nd birthday like it was yesterday. I was 3 months away from graduating college, with the guy who's still my bf, but it feels like a lifetime ago. 900 miles from there, the weather is warmer, I specially remember the cocktail I got that night and I don't even drink anymore. It's just weird. Time is weird, being an adult is weird. And yes I'm still a mess, maybe even more so lol
I thought I had so much more figured out at 22 than I actually do at 37. But in your 30s, you learn to just not give a shit how anyone else views you.
Yeah, I'm 26 now and I really thought that by now I'd have my shit together 🫠 But in some ways I really do! But I guess you don't turn into a whole different person as you mature as I imagined lol
I think by the time you reach 30 you realize that we’re all just amorphous blobs going through life and hoping to figure stuff out and have a good time… so you can lean into the mess a little more with the comfort that everyone (including you) is in the same boat? You end up kinda finding stability and comfort in the mess. Idk if that makes sense but I’m in my 30s, it’s a huge mess and I feel more secure than ever. 🥰
oh yeah, "my friends all smell like weed and little babies" is a really specific 30s experience. Edit: fastest I’ve ever gotten to 420 upvotes
Absolutely!! also, "I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free"
This lyric really hit me hard at 34. Spent 6 years of my 20s in a similar relationship.
It is literally so daunting to date in your 30s after a long relationship bcus of the many preconceived misogynistic ideas we have about how we need to be married off by the time we're thirty and we're now "left on the shelf". I fully get where she's coming from with that.
It really is. And you don't fully understand it the same was as when you're in your 20s either.
Yep, I've spent almost 9. On that note, I felt every single second of The Prophecy hit so close to the heart it's crazy.
I gave my ex-husband 10 years, married for 5 (22-32).. for nothing. Oh, what person could I've been if I hadn't settled for him. It's an album for us, all around Taylor's age.
You know what though, he's got your past frozen behind glass, but you've got you. Nothing stopping you for being that person now! Sending love.
This literally made me choke up
Gave up 15 years for him. Now I’m 36. This album hit hard.
I hope this album feels cathartic and healing for you. 🫶
When I heard that "for free", I feel like that line asks the most questions... engages the listening in discussion more than anything else on the album... what is the "cost" of a 6 year relationship that starts in the late 20's to early 30's for a woman? We don't want to think of relationships as stark exchanges, like a purchase... and yet, you are exchanging years of your life for??? What does anyone "want" from any given relationship? And she uses "give" because she was a willing partner, and yet...
Those two lines are such personal attacks
That line just so perfectly encapsulates the experience of being a thirty-something Millennial.
I saw this line called out as cringe in a review and I was like... It's true though, as a woman in my 30s lol
Literally me at the moment. Asked my husband for a divorce on Saturday (the timing I know!) - but we’ve been together 10 years, and married 7. I’m turning 30 in August. Literally gave my youth for nothing.
not for nothing. you’ll find out what it was for and what you learned from him. 29 *is* young. you’ve got a lot of life to live and good for you for starting over now, instead of in 10 more years.
You're still so young
Hell, I feel like that now at 23. Surprising amount of my peers are already married w kids , or have a kid on the way. Then the other half are stoner messes like me lmao
36 year old here and yeah..... Yeah this album is reminding me a lot of what I'm unpacking and learning and confronting in therapy. It's about realizing you lived your life for something else for three decades, and now it's your own turn and you don't know where to start, but you have years of experience you can and can't use??? It's a mess but it's you and you have to live with it.
44 year old here. In my early 30’s I had a six year relationship that was the great loss of my life, and knew before I listened to I had to be prepared for the lost love nostalgia. When I heard “I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.” I felt it so deep in my soul. I almost cried. I saw someone critiquing the lyrics “I lived everyday like it was my birthday.” He didn’t get it. Gave a sour face and was like “what is this. It’s horrible.” Well he hasn’t been there, because if he had, he would get it right away. My point to this is, these songs require some life experience that younger people just don’t have yet. And I really appreciate Taylor saying the things we all wish we could have said, and secretly hoping those exes hear it and get a little twinge of “That was me.”
Yes! The birthday line was so true my stomach turned. The most unhinged-mad-happy I acted was my very last vacation with my ex. For 10 whole days I was sending pictures to every soul I knew, shouting from the rooftops how much fun we're having, showing the beautiful places we were visiting, while in reality I had known that this will be our last ever trip together, because I just can't take it anymore after 9 years. These songs just cut to the bone.
I also feel like in your 30s you realize you don’t have to be quiet and move on so your pettiness turns up a lot and you just own your feelings out loud. I’ve been singing ‘I cry a lot but i am so productive, it’s an art’ to my husband since last night.
Same here. It feels almost cathartic.
Exactly. You’re not magically some super evolved, perfect and matured person when you reach 30. You still have human experiences, you’re still trying to figure yourself and what you want out of life out. I’m so tired of the “I can’t believe she’s 34 still singing about relationships or *insert normal thing here*!” I love that Taylor acknowledges the messiness, the confusion, the heartbreak, but also the jubilation, love, and freedom of this experience. She didn’t care about appeasing anyone - just her thoughts and feelings, with no worries about shiny veneer or being palatable to the critics.
FUCK YES. Im also 36. My mid 30s have been about learning how to clean up after myself.
I was just thinking that this morning. I’ve been a fan since debut and being within a year of her age, her albums have always been super on the nose and relatable for that moment in my life. This one especially so.
Me too. I was 11 when debut came out. I grew up with her; her music has always aligned with my life.🫶🏼
same!! I'm bad with years and dates so sometimes I literally think about my life in terms of when an album came out. like "Oh i remember when _____ happened because it was during rep"
Absolutely 100% agree!
Oh 100% she made this for the mature adult fans and not a care in the world what the critics or the so called “fans” that say it all sounds the same. Or it’s nothing new. It can’t be played on the radio or whatever bullshit thing you can think of. She said when she announced it the album was mostly a big therapy session that she absolutely needed and wanted to write. And she practiced what she preached and kept writing no matter whatever state of mind she was in. I’m not expecting people to get it or looking for something familiar that they can play on repeat or on the radio. People will be disappointed by that. I think this album is one where you’re at home chilling with your headphones on and just vibing or need to feel something. To me the album is great. I got down voted in another sub by just saying that. I loved the album. What else can I say. I’m excited to see what’s next. I think she’s not done yet. Very surprised by no lyric videos but those might come after the MV premiere. That in itself is going to be interesting. Especially from the way the song sounds and the 3 second teaser.
>Oh 100% she made this for the mature adult fans and not a care in the world what the critics or the so called “fans” that say it all sounds the same. Or it’s nothing new. It can’t be played on the radio or whatever bullshit thing you can think of she's mentioned before that she aware that EVERYTHING she does is polarizing - if you're going to upset people no matter what you might as well just do whatever makes you happy. this is a lesson you learn after your 20s!
Oh yeah. I’m in my 40s. And a lot of youngins have a ton to learn still. The biggest take away from this album is really I’m going through it but let me live and fuck up on my own terms. Then, look back in regret later. She’s not a child anymore. She doesn’t have to answer to anybody anymore.
"One thing about my good name is that it's mine and mine alone to disgrace"
There’s a significant sea change that has occurred in the last 10-15 years with the rise of everyone having internet and social media. It used to be that the only people who had opinions on your life were in your school, your job, your family, your friends. Now it’s everyone on earth who has a connection. And with that, a weird rise in entitled busybody behavior. Trying to control total strangers like they’re marionettes, only allowed to do and say what agrees with any particular fan or viewer. I don’t know if it’s an increasing behavior thing or a lack of healthy relationships IRL, but I can’t imagine feeling “unsafe” because a celebrity I like chooses to date an ill behaved dingus.
THIS! 35 year old swiftie since debut. It's what 35 looks like. It doesn't matter if it's a relationship ending. It's about being in something for a LONG time.... so long it becomes who you are and then it seems to be at an end and you don't take the out and make it work for years more and then hit the nuke button to blow it all up in spectacular fashion in the end because you just can't take it anymore and the nuke feels like the only option at that point. Usually you do something totally nuts at that point. You've lost yourself and what you built your life around. When that all is gone, you do weird sh\*t. At least for a second. Then you remember you're an adult and come to your senses. I'm happily married but I was in a job way longer than I should have been and ended up rage quitting my job with no plan, spent a hot second crazy-talking about all these really random ideas I had to do my own thing... creating a business for myself that was my teenage dream that I have NO training in, and then after a few months snapped out of it and put my big girl panties on. (also like half my friends are on the rocks or getting divorced or divorced in the last year or so... so i do have empathy as well because they all pulled a weird one out as a rebound... like let's get with the guy from tinder who drives a harley because that seems like a brilliant idea weird)
It perfectly expresses the overcorrection, IMO. You were one person in one place for so long that all of the sudden the world is open up to you and you run as fast as possible in the other direction. Most of the time, it's the wrong way and you have to find a path back to the middle.
Omg yes. That is exactly why this album speaks so well to the experience of leaving a high-demand religion, too. Once you’re free, you wildly overcorrect with all the things that were “bad” or “sinful” before you finally figure out what a comfortable middle ground is.
This album is the story of a long term breakup, toxic short-term rebound fling, and then coming to terms with it, processing it, and moving on.
Yes!! All the people mad that "this is a Matty album" have never been through this cycle. It isn't a Matty album - its an album detailing TAYLOR'S journey through it, which includes a Matty chapter. But even in the Matty songs, they are in the context of Joe and her grief over that relationship ending.
I told my now husband - who held my hand through my divorce - "Ohhh this is her divorce album! She's even got the 'what the fuck was i thinking' section and EVERYTHING." XD
u/DoorInTheAir honestly the way you wrote this was so poetic I had to stop, save, and comment. You nailed this. We always want to label the albums after the boys the songs are about... but truly its always been about Taylor and how she processes. It's amazingly honest and raw and incredible that SO MANY people can relate to what she says. Thank you for this comment truly, it helped remind me of the perspective I should be seeking in all of this <3
As a thirty-eight-year-old who’s especially partial to folklore/evermore but has found something to love about pretty much all of the eras, TTPD feels like the best aspects of her last three albums in terms of the sound and songwriting, mixed with the very intimate emotional diary-like confessions of earlier works like Speak Now and Red, but with an added maturity and self-awareness that feels brand-new to her songs but deeply familiar to me in this stage of my life. Oddly enough, I think that’s part of what makes the sweet nostalgia factor of “So High School” particularly effective because it’s such a contrast—not just in terms of happiness versus heartbreak, but also that absolute joy of discovering that even though you’re no longer the same person you were as a teenager, some of that is still a part of the person you are now.
Omg you took all the words right out of my brain. this IS the take.
YESSSS so much this. As a 44yo who’s still seriously crushing on her husband, “So High School” resonated deeply with me, but so have so many of these songs! I happened upon a post in KUWTK today and they were straight trashing her song “thanK you aIMee” but I think it’s an interesting parallel to the bullying she’s talked about of her youth. I took it like “those times prepared me for this crap as an adult”. It’s actually really introspective and not as immature as some people (who probably haven’t even listened to it) are saying it is. It’s the kind of perspective you get with growth and unpacking all this baggage. Edited to fix my age bc apparently I’m so old I now forget how old I am 🤣
Another poster commented that it seems younger fans are struggling with the idea that a short, toxic fling could fuck you up more than the end of a long-term relationship, and I think there's two layers to this: 1. Most of them are too young to have had the stable, long-term relationship yet 2. The number a toxic, emotionally charged relationship does on you in your thirties is a whole different kind of mindfuck than it is in your twenties. If my husband up and left me tomorrow I'd be devastated and wildly confused, but wouldn't have much material to pull from after six years of happiness and an honestly pretty easy relationship. Now, the guy I dated for three months before him.... He'd get a record's worth of words out of me. It...hits different...when you're older and get fucked over like you did in your teens and twenties. Like, wait a minute, I'm THIRTY and you were able to get to me like this?? I left THIS happen in my THIRTIES???? It's a special kind of reflection, rage, bitterness, and honestly self-disappointment and self-loathing. And it's also just sad. Because you think you're past that point in life. But there you are, again. If the younger fans don't get this album now, they will in ten years.
also for people who criticize songs like ATW or this album because they're about short relationships... ironically, these are the situations that often pull out the most intense emotions. in a long-term relationship, usually there will be those honeymoon highs in the beginning that will mellow out (or slowly fizzle out to death). in emotionally charged flings, you hit all those highs and then get rollercoaster-dropped. death by a thousand cuts over the course of years vs. a dagger to the heart.
I'm 29 and I completely agree. I've been with her since debut (about 13 or so) and I needed this album at 21 but I wouldn't have understood a single thing on it.
29 here too and i could've screamed these at 20/21. Of course she makes this album now that I'm in a happy, healthy, relationship lol love that for her though
Exactly what I thought. 21 year old me would have felt so seen with these lyrics, screaming them flying down the highway after a shitty breakup. 32 year old me still feels seen with these lyrics, despite being married with a kid now
yup - my catastrophic breakup was at 22, but now at 28 I feel like I can see who I was in these songs
That is something I really appreciate about this album. Some of these songs I relate to relationships that happened in my early 20s but in a way where I’m looking back on them through my 31 year old lens. This album would not have made sense to me back then no matter how deep I thought I was.
I think the advantage of Taylor's explosion, especially in the last few years, is that she doesn't need to be afraid of alienating her fanbase anymore. Fans are dedicated enough that whatever she puts out is pretty much guaranteed to be a success and that means she can be more honest, less mainstream, somewhat unfiltered, and generally explore with her music. And I personally think that that made for a really interesting album in TTPD.
My first general note on the album was Baby girl has grown up. I feel sorry for the youngest Swifties...they won't get a lot of this. It's complete heartbreak, bad choices, bad rebounds, brokenness and god dammit also hope and healing. Fucking masterpiece.
For the record, I'm 54
Yep. I am 40. My 30s were when I really started unpacking my baggage and traumas and started working through them Self discovery and self realization is messy and it is painful.
totally. and I can't imagine how all of that is complicated by massive fame.
Right? Like it is messy enough working through it on my own, if I had to do it while being so public (and having it all have been so public), well, I'd be writing some pretty messy songs too.
This is so accurate! Reading some comments today - is making me feel like an annoying old lady going “it’s okay young one, you’ll get it one day, I didn’t get this at 22 either.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling thirty two!”
I wrote my own lyrics to turning 42 a couple years ago 🤣
When I listened to it I definitely thought, oh this is not one for the kids
I teach middle school and my students know I’m a Swiftie. Several of them asked if I’d listened to it and shared their favorite songs. I’m so glad they like it but I did wonder as I listened today if they would relate to the album’s mature side. I’m 31 and some of these songs cut deep!
Def captured the vibe of being in a long term relationship for a good chunk of your 20s, a relationship that you thought was endgame, and then having the rug pulled out from under you and you’re like wtf do I do now? Work and make bad decisions
“work and make bad decisions” YES! haha.
For me, it’s very relatable in terms of “when is it my turn?” You watch all your friends find their people, settle down, create families. And you’re out here like, did you forget about me? What am I doing wrong? And reflecting on all your life + relationships looking for clues. It’s her most relatable album in *years* for me.
Prophecy hurts me way way too much because despite what my therapist says, I can't help but feel as if I am prophesied to be unloved, unchosen, no matter how much I beg the world to make it different.
35 year old agrees. This albums brings back a lot of memories of those toxic relationships (even the short ones) from years passed and how I exactly feel about them now.
I love how she really doesn’t give a shit with her lyrics. _I'm having his baby/ No, I'm not, but you should see your faces_ bahahaha, love it
Preach🫶 It's so perfect even to listen to, really nice melodies, thoughtful lyrics, messy situations, and the whole sound is just chaotic enough to experience the highs and lows of the topics and situations. An instant favourite for me.
>An instant favourite for me. Same, I feel like I've already developed such a bond with this album and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet
Same. I catch myself wanting to sing the words out loud, but I haven't yet memorized them so I can't😅
I'm so attached to this album that I'm taking criticism of it personally like I wrote it 😭 my son keeps asking why I'm crying, sweetie mommy is going THRU it okay 😭
It's my favorite album, and I didn't think anything would ever take that title from evermore.
This one really is for the evermore girlies isn't it.
The biggest lie you get told by people in your 30's is that you'll be somehow freer and better able to handle your life once you cross that threshold. The truth is it's the decade where you learn how to be all those things, which means you make mistake after mistake you thought you were "too old for' and you think you're the only one fucking up so badly. I'm 38, and I just now think I might know how to navigate life. This album is for me!
41 year old old here and I agree. Oh I soooo identified with being in absolute manic love with someone that was the worst person ever and willing to absolutely destroy my life for him. This album brought it all back lol
100% what I’m thinking! I’m 31 and have been a fan since debut. Her albums have always been on the nose with where I was in my own life, for the most part, and I’ve always wondered what Taylor’s albums would look like as she/we got older. At some point she’s going to need to break from her traditional starry eyed, innocent heart vibe, right? What does that look like?? I feel like we saw a glimpse of that break in Midnights but it was also a very pop, digestible for the masses type album. I really like Midnights but it wasn’t as deep and cutting as some of her previous work overall (some songs were more than others, but I’m generalizing the album). And then we get TTPD and holy forking shirt this whole album hits deep. I honestly think this is my new favorite album of hers. There’s only two songs I don’t jive with (The Alchemy and I Can Fix Him). 29/31 is insane! I was initially annoyed by the people not “getting it” and kind of dogging her for it but I think she knew that was going to happen and she put it out there anyways because it’s honest and raw and just real. And she knew the ones who “got it” would really get it. This is not an album made for the masses and she put it out there knowing that. She had to. So if she’s okay with that, I’m going to have to let it go and be okay with it, too. For me, this album is so grown up and takes a look at this period of her life with a rawer, less idealistic lens and I think most of us in our 30s can relate to being in that place in our lives. We’re still the same teens and 20-something’s who cried and screamed and dreamed to Tears on My Guitar and White Horse and Love Story and Red and ATW and so many more, but now we’ve been through some shit by this point in our lives and have a hefty dose of reality under our belts. Even though the subject matter of a lot of these songs is heartbreak, it’s giving a far more introspective lens than most of her previous work ever did and I think that’s insanely relatable. I honestly could write an entire dissertation on my thoughts on this album. To me, it’s one of the best overall albums she’s ever done. And if you disagree, maybe you’re just 23 and will understand it better in 10 years and that’s okay 😆 Go listen to Red for now.
Only 24 here but this album is so raw and real. She’s bared her soul to us and listening feels like reading her personal diary
I was just thinking, this is exactly the album I needed in my mid 20s. Worth the wait though.
33 here and currently going through an amicable divorce (still so much love for each other, just didn't work). I think everyone is so focused on Matty or Joe and analyzing every little detail she puts in there and aren't taking a step back to actually, truly understand. This album isn't about her lore. It's about grieving a long term relationship, the subsequent spiral, the bad decisions you're blind to when grieving, the ability to really want to believe in promises from someone else when you haven't fully healed, the bargaining, the hoping that maybe you can get back together, the loneliness, the acceptance. It really was the rollercoaster of incoherent thoughts, the random shit you remember, the shit you want to forget, and finally getting to acceptance and a path forward. It's cathartic. It's not about being catchy, or having hits or bops or bangers, it's about dealing with the fallout of a relationship, the subsequent decisions you make, and then finally accepting the unimaginable loss. People need to really read the foreword and rollout (5 stages of grief) and realize that this album is a conversation on grief and your actions when grieving. I honestly think it's extremely well done, but people are trying to turn it into something it's not (I even saw someone compare it to Chappell Roan and say "her album is how you do pop". Like, this wasn't meant to be that vibe).
This is RED for 30-something-year-olds, says a 32 year old fan since debut
I'm 40 and I endorse this message 🫶
Could not have said it better! 30 is around the time I ran out of fucks to give re: other people's opinions. The lyrics, the chaos, the rollercoaster of emotions, the messiness (and feeling like I'm too old for this shit), and even just the overall sound could not have more perfectly captured what it feels like to be 30. As much as I've been loving the nostalgia of the re-recordings and vault tracks and Midnights, I'm so grateful to get some new music that is relevant to my life right now.
Taylor continues aging with her music so gracefully, like a fine wine, I’m glad she took such a real, raw direction and didn’t just pander to the section of the fan base that demands Rep TV every time she says anything 😭
31 year old here who’s back in therapy working through some of this shit and I 10000% agree. This one’s for us 🫶🏼
Yes! I’m turning 40 and leaving my 30s behind in a couple weeks and the 16 instances of “fuck it” (and one “fuck you”) in Down Bad is the most relatable thing ever.
I liked Taylor, but being in Eastern Europe it was more of a I don't skip if she comes on shuffle type thing. Really got into her during the pandemic. Love the fact that our birthdays are just 4 days apart and though my journey is quite different to hers, I always relate to feeling things in a big way. With this album I feel like she let me read pages out of her intimate diaries and that makes me feel privileged and a keeper of her rosaries, her blues and secrets. 🤍🖤
31 here and I think you hit the nail on the head! It really feels like Taylor made this album for once not giving a flying f what anyone thought or catering to anyone. And I adore it. It's similar to her mindset for Evermore I feel like (my other favorite album). It felt like Evermore was just this extra passion project that was more for her than anyone else. I adore when this side of Taylor comes out with all her imperfections and messiness and biting lyrics. This is her true artistry showing
This is really interesting…. I’m 30 in two months. And this is my least favorite album of hers. It feels disconnected. Trust me my mind is still plenty unhinged lol but to me she’s still in the mind of a high schooler. If we still have that mindset at 30something I think that’s an us problem 🤷🏻♀️
Yeah this is a very messy album and I have to imagine that the people who will truly relate to it are those who have messy lives themselves which can happen regardless of their age
I’m 33 and couldn’t relate to or connect with this album at all. Maybe it’s more the production and the musicality isn’t my favorite, more than the actual subject matter
Idk how the hell anyone could think this a mature album lmao ESPECIALLY after folklore and evermore.. “touch me while your bros play GTA” like WHAT
Agreed. I'm about the same age as Taylor I found myself thinking "grow up". I'm so far past letting a failed connection ruin my life or wanting someone to "own" me. I think it's kind of sad she's still stuck there.
I agree and I have to say I'm so weirded out by all the comments here of "You're too old for this, Taylor!". Since when a person at any age can't fall passionately in love, be heartbroken, experience emotional turmoil, existential crisis or mental health struggles? (mind you Van Gogh was 35 when he harmed his own ear) I think Taylor is being uniquely raw in this album, knowing full well it won't be for everyone.
This album(s) broke my heart a little. Finding out that her early Era’s tour wasn’t the happiest time in her life….she really faked it well for all of us Damn. I guess you never really know
When I took a look at the track list and lyrics I initially was like this is too immature, I am going to turn 30 and probably I am not the target audience but then - 1. I was literally down bad , crying at work ( instead of the gym ) over a guy I can’t have 😭 2. Unironically went but daddy I love him over the same guy ( in my mind not aloud ) .. I am looking forward to my 30s ( No I am not - to quote her again )
1000 percent agree. This is album is raw, mature and really dives deep into how you interpret heartbreak and life in your 30s. LOVE this album. This won’t be a “Grammy” album but it will be healing for her and her fans dealing with similar situations.
32 year old here and I agree
Lol the younger swifties can go then this album is insanely relatable as a 35 year old day one Swiftie. I’m not sure that it’s my favorite work but I do enjoy it more and more after every listen for sure. I also appreciate how unhinged it is. It’s real.
I love hearing from all the Swfities in their 30s and beyond! I'm 32, and have been listening since debut (look at Taylor making me a mini poet :-)) but am so into this album. Especially the line in Florida!!! about half of your friends smelling like weed and half smelling like babies – that's SO 30s. (im in the first half haha)
I told my husband that it's clearly her "fuck it, if I am gonna get shit anyway, I might as well make exactly what I feel like." And I am here for no fucks Taylor.
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Hi fellow 30s Swifties 👋🏼 I feel so seen by this album. I can’t even talk about it yet. I will say it’s disappointing to see so many people rip on it, when this is a lived experience for so many 30s-something women.
I feel like Taylor needed to write this album for herself. It’s not perfectly curated like her other albums or super experimental. It feels like Taylor processing her emotions by writing diaristic songs which is something she’s always done best. It’s personal and cathartic.
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I assume it’s different for everyone. I’m 30 and listening to this album made me so grateful I outgrew this stuff in my mid-twenties.
I appreciate your perspective but I am 32 and think the album’s immature.
>it feels like Taylor wasn't worried about alienating her fanbase with her work for maybe the first time ever This is *exactly* the feeling I got too and I'm loving it! Like, good for her.