evermore // Taylor Swift – Beth Kirkbride
Released: 11 December 2020
If there were a prize for the most sickeningly productive artist of 2020, it would undoubtedly have to be Taylor Swift. Her marketing team must really hate her: a mere five months after dropping her surprise eighth studio album, folklore, the American singer-songwriter returned to her country roots by surprise-releasing a wide-ranging sister record, titled evermore. The release features collaborations with The National, Bon Iver, HAIM, Marcus Mumford, and even samples Swift’s grandmother on ‘marjorie’, with the record building on the shift away from biographical songwriting that began with July’s folklore release.
That’s not to say there aren’t Easter Eggs galore to be devoured by fans who fell down the SwiftTok rabbit hole in 2020, but Swift has created a series of standalone narratives that provide escapism in abundance. For anyone who’s experienced a breakdown of a relationship or lost a loved one this year, Swift provided the soundtrack for us to lament what we lost with ‘happiness’ and ‘closure’. She even provides a festive excuse to booty call your ex with ‘’tis the damn season’. Swift creates a perfect time capsule of the year where we all binge-watched The Crown (see ‘tolerate it’), reflecting the experience of returning to the books left in your childhood bedroom after you opted for the full fridge at Mum and Dad’s over solitary confinement in your student digs.
evermore encapsulates the scale of Swift’s ambition: after leading the Billboard Artist 100 chart for a record-extending 43rd week, it would be ridiculous to celebrate anyone else as my definitive queen of quarantine.
Feature compiled by Beth Kirkbride
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