Album Anniversaries: Two Years Later, A Look Back on Taylor Swift’s 'Reputation'

Two years ago, Taylor Swift released her most controversial project to date, Reputation. The album is known for its reliance on heavy production and its embrace of Swift’s famous feuds, but even today most seem to overlook the album’s feats and underrate its power among her discography.

In Album Anniversaries, writers honor their favorite aging albums and their subsequent legacies, revealing which projects have stood the test of time.

Written by Ellen Daly

Photo courtesy of VEVO

If nothing else, Taylor Swift knows how to get people talking. Reputation’s lead single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” broke the record for most streams within 24 hours of its release on Spotify and it became the most-watched video on YouTube within 24 hours. The song and video mainly revolve around the singer’s history of being slandered by the media, including her drama with Kanye West, though many disagree with this latter theme. But when interpreted as a response to West’s 2016 video for “Famous,” one which objectifies Swift after the two had seemingly squashed their beef, is a perfectly valid take.

Reputation marks a turning point in Swift’s career. No longer the Tennessee country-pop sweetheart she had built herself up to be, she literally kills this version of herself in the “Look What You Made Me Do” video. The new Swift fights back ― she reclaims the verbage the media uses against her, she exploits her enemies, and she certainly doesn’t take anyone’s sh-t. Without the escape from the commercialized “good girl” persona she had worn until that point in her career, she may never have been able to embrace more political themes on Lover  and social media ― from publicly supporting GLAAD and the Equality Act to endorsing Democratic candidates.

Reputation, however, is not only significant thematically, but its music itself is good. Until this point in her career, Swift had successfully worked her way from a traditional storytelling country artist to eventually become the absolute pinnacle of bubblegum pop on 1989. To top that feat would seem nearly impossible, but with Reputation, Swift did exactly what she does best ― she gave us something new. The album is bass-heavy and uses deeper electronic sounds to explore much darker themes than she has previously. She touches on misogyny, desperation, reckless behavior, sex, and drops the historic line, “If a man talks sh-t, then I owe him nothing,” on “I Did Something Bad” ― her first time to ever curse in a song. The “old” Taylor is officially dead.

Though her lyrics have been honest in previous works, Swift gets pretty vulnerable on Reputation. Most of the album grapples with her media involvement, and within its own tracklist, Reputation displays Swift’s tremendous growth within this relationship. “Dancing with Our Hands Tied” talks about the struggle of hiding a relationship from the media, and three tracks later, “Call It What You Want” perfectly resolves this struggle by denouncing the notion that the media can affect Swift’s perception of her own life. Another highlight on the album is the self-aware, yet self-destructive pop banger, “Getaway Car,” which tells the story of two people falling in love as a sort of escapism. The song is beautifully allegorical, infectiously catchy, and an underrated classic within Taylor’s discography. Finally, the album closes out with a strong moment in “New Year’s Day.” The piano ballad utilizes Swift’s highly-specific, naturally-poetic, songwriting to paint the scene of a lover hoping so desperately that the relationship will last.

In summary, Reputation is, like Swift, much more than the media makes out to be. Its flashy production and associations with pop culture feuds may overpower its musical value, at least in its public perception. In a way, it’s ironic that an album titled Reputation is known more for its reputation than its worth. However with this album, Swift rewards those willing to listen to what she has to say with some of her best work yet, and in doing so, successfully proves that she is more than her reputation.