Hey Kev what are your thoughts on Reputation? Just bought it today. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything on it.
I like it a lot. It one of those albums that feels deeply flawed, but I can't help but like a lot.
The obvious flaws to me are:
a) it feels overproduced. Take a song like King of My Heart, which has a really melody, but it gets lost far too often in that damned vocoder effect they used on her voice too often on that record. I am not a fan of it, as it sounds like a computer is singing. Consider how "real" Taylor's music is, given how she, for good or bad, writes what she is feeling at that moment, those little moments feel a bit too modern day "unreal"-sounding pop.
b) I am not fan of the urban elements on the record. Anyone who knows me knows I do not care for rap or hip hop, so stuff like the verses in ...Ready for It?, the verses by the rapper in End Game, and the choruses in Look What You Made Me Do (great song outside of that thud of a chorus) are mostly hard passes for me.
That said, I love the dark, nighttime overall feel of the record. While I really like the 80s pop vibe of 1989 and the bright sunny day pop vibe of Lover, the vibe of Reputation is my favorite from her three outright pop records.
Ultimately, the album works for me as a whole because it has the songs. In particular, I think Delicate (even with it kicking off with the vocoder effect) is one of her best songs ever, Gateway Car is insanely catchy and all kinds of fun, Call It What You Want is a melodic gem, and I love the almost R&B feel of Don't Blame Me. I wouldn't want her, or any artist I actively follow, to make a habit out of records like this, but as a one-off in her career, it is very nice, especially since of her other albums sound anything like it.