Everyone knows Taylor Swift. Everyone loves Taylor Swift. It’s impossible not to. How could you hate an artist who has created multiple identities of herself, for the sole purpose of bringing her music to life. I’m not even kidding when I say it’s impossible to keep up with all the different versions of Taylor Swift that exists out there. There’s Fearless Taylor Swift, Speak Now Taylor Swift, Red Taylor Swift, 1989 Taylor Swift, Reputation Taylor Swift, Lover Taylor Swift, Folklore Taylor Swift, and Evermore Taylor Swift. Many artists can create aesthetics for their albums, but not a lot of them can evolve that aesthetic into an entire “era,” as many fans like to refer to the albums. What’s more, each album has an aesthetic that is uniquely its own. No two are even the least bit similar (excluding Folklore and Evermore, which are sister albums). However, they are all tied together through the themes of heartbreak and betrayal. Each album, you could say, is a different response, and each album produces a new identity of Taylor Swift.
I could write for hours about each “era,” but I’ll spare you the time and talk about the two albums I think differ the most: Reputation and Lover. The album covers themselves demonstrate distinctness. What strikes me the most about these two albums is how the convey very different feelings, but yet they were written by the same woman, and released within two years of the other coming out. Reputation is harsh and manipulative, while Lover is gentle and sentimental. Although all of Taylor Swift’s albums reveal bits and pieces of her personality and secrets, Reputation and Lover are the two albums that I see the most as being doubles/alter-egos of the other. Kind of like how Basil and Lord Harry reveal different sides of Dorian Gray. Basil is Lover (duh!) and Lord Harry is Reputation. It’s very fitting.