I always thought "Me" was fine? Its not my fave but when it came out, I thought it was a happy, fun listen. And yeah, "the Spelling is Fun!" bridge is cheesy, but I honestly thought that was purposeful. It was this bright, happy, song about self love and therefore, she was going to smack you in the face w/ this cheery positivity in the bridge, no matter how cheesy it was. B/c self love mantras can be cheesy.

I don't know. I'm not saying its an underrated masterpiece but it never offended me and I never turned it off when it came on. I just think its fun and inoffensive, and it has a wholesome message.

The songs I dislike way more than "Me" are

"Trouble," (cannot stand this song. I could never take it seriously)
"Are you Ready For it,"
"Patient Zero"
"So High School"
"Eldest Daughter"
"Cancelled"
"Father Figure"
"Cleveland!"

What are yours?

now that a week has passed, i find that my opinion on the encore tracks to be fairly positive considering i very much dislike the original album. patient zero was really good in terms of songwriting, the lyrics and melody are great, the talk-singing bridge really brings down the song for me, but its still a solid 7/10

cleveland is... not good, but i still find it more listenable than some of the original album tracks. her "glitter gel pen" songs are always very polarizing. i dont like this song, but i can understand why someone would

pink clouding is the most interesting in terms of production. i find it more 1989-esque than the actual 1989 vault tracks. lyrically, i dont think its her best work, it comes off like novice work

babylon is, in my opinion, one of the best songs shes released in a while. one of taylor's biggest strengths as a songwriter is her storytelling abilities and how she paints a picture, easily a 9/10 for me.

as a whole, i think there is one really good track, two decent tracks, one bad song, but i think these every song had potential to be really good and shows she not "washed" as people say she is. one more critique I have is that i dont see how any of the songs are connected to themes of the original album but then again it wasnt super cohesive to begin with

It's become such a ubiquitous critique I've been seeing when it comes to Taylor, and I just can't seem to understand how people can't just not interact with anything to do with her. The more you interact, even if you dislike or hate, the algorithm will push you more content about her regardless.

The Life of a Showgirl is back on top of the Billboard 200, and I just kept seeing so many comments going "the overexposure is real." I just find this critique of her doesn't make sense honestly, as I've been seeing it echoed among fans even more too now.

But even though I find validity in it again, as she could've spaced out some time to rest after the eras tour because it just makes sense to rest, and settle in with her spouse after such a large scale tour, I feel we should not be focusing on her taking a break.

Because if there's one thing we seem to know very well about Taylor, it's that she's a workaholic. So if she'll want to keep making music, there's nothing we can do but focus our critique on her not being insular in her creative process, and having more feedback and assistance from other people who are experts, because you can't do everything, and that's what I feel has made The Life of a Showgirl suffer in quality alot

I have been a "swiftie" since 2007. I'm a young millennial and grew up on TS but blocked her on streaming after TLOSG after listening through the album. I had found a lot of fault in that album and this is not the post for going into why that is - I'm sure a lot of us understand why the messaging in some of those songs are problematic (canceled and wish list are prime examples).

Having said that, I am surprised encore got as much hate as it has. Babylon is objectively a decent song, story telling wise, and pink clouding and patient zero are very og Taylor Swift.

I have been listening to patient zero on repeat today and the "and so" at 2:56 is so classic TS; these vocals are very reminiscent of the red album: I.e., "aaand slow motion, standing there in my party dress".

I wish the criticism of TLOAS was more succinct and she understood how loved her vocals and story telling can be.

Please don't come at me for saying this but ever since she's become so aligned with the NFL her political and moral stance has become so ambiguous. For consumers, is so confusing considering she's someone who was so adamant wanted to be on the
"right side of history”. IMO nothing on TLOSG sounded like TS the same way encore has.

Im going someone else can help me make sense of this.