As someone enjoyed Taylor in the early days (pre-Red) but has just followed along in disinterest since 1989, it's interesting to see how the public opinion is shifting.
People are pointing out things ("cringe lyrics", "weak melodies") that, IMO, have been pretty present on a lot of her albums. To me, she hasn't really changed much, but the level of saturation has changed. People got really sick of seeing and hearing about her over the course of the NFL season. People thought it was tacky and self-important to announce her new album during the industry awards ceremony. And so on. People are just tired of her, and they are starting to notice the aforementioned flaws that once seemed to be evidence of the humanity of the artist therein.
I perused both Tone Deaf Poets and Midnights, and I hear the same stuff I'd heard for awhile now. I look at the recent album art, which looks like a lingerie catalogue advert catered to depressed white women, I think it says a lot about the artist: this ultimately vapid thing is trying so hard to convince me of its importance and profundity. For pop stars, I get that artistic expression and branding are often the same thing. For Taylor, it seems like it is never anything else.