If life is like a box of chocolates, every choice is tempting fate that you're not going to hit the coconut one. In musical terms, one of these singles leaves that rancid taste in my mouth. Let's find out which one.
Taylor Swift - Patient Zero
Taylor Swift is a billionaire (according to estimates - not that I believe those numbers), and she continues to show why people hate billionaires by doing things like this, releasing an expanded and deluxe edition of "The Life Of A Showgirl" a year later. Her most devoted fans already bought multiple versions to get all the color variations and whatnot, and now there are four new songs currently available only through streaming, which means all those die-hard fans who spent their money (sometimes a lot) on the record now have an 'incomplete' version. It's one of those decisions that is unnecessary, and leaves a sour taste in my mouth. If anyone could afford to be kinder to the fans, and doesn't need the help staying in the spotlight, it's Taylor Swift.
Now to the promoted single from this new edition. What this song (and the others) prove are two things; 1) Taylor Swift is far from infallible, and 2) As bizarre as the album was, the right choices were made. The biggest thing about this song is that it is... dull. The album was a technicolor mess of weird ideas and cringe-worthy lyrics, while this song just sounds like a less hazy version of "Midnights". It's pleasant, but that's not what we expect from Taylor Swift. There isn't much personality to the production or the lyrics, which explains to me why it didn't make the cut on the record in the first place.
As much as the songs about Travis' dong were laughable, and fell into the Slayer-verse of getting more immature as we age, there was something oddly fun about how much Taylor was embracing being terrible. None of that is present here, instead returning to the bland platitudes of a writer who needs time to recharge.
Taylor Acorn - Growing Pains
"Poster Child" ended up as my #1 album of last year because Taylor Acorn was addressing existential issues that happened to coincide with a lot of things that had been cycling through my own mind as well. Hearing a part of your own thinking reflected back to you in a song is one of those rare occurrences that reminds me why I am still invested in the search. Finding Taylor's music, and "Birds Still Sing" in particular, was one of those moments that makes the struggles between them worth it all.
This new song finds Taylor in that same place of reflection, this time asking if we've all reached an age where we thought we would be further along than we are. That is something I have certainly tortured myself with, albeit in different contexts. Taylor is writing about feeling she has not yet grown into the woman she was meant to be, haunted by the same feelings she experienced as a younger girl. The whole world is just dressed up high school, people have said. That is the message Taylor is exploring here, wondering when we are supposed to grow out of the pain and demons we had back then, only to come to the conclusion that never happens. The scars might dull, and get hidden by layers of fresh skin and old makeup, but they never disappear. Who we are cannot be without who we were, sad as that is to say.
In my case, I find myself with the same thoughts and dreams I had when I was that age, no longer believing any of them will ever happen. I know exactly what Taylor is singing about, and that makes this yet another song of hers that somehow makes me think there is someone else out in there in the world who might not think my perspective and philosophy is as weird and messed up as most tell me it is.
Dragonforce - Heart Of A Beast
I'm confused. When it was announced Alissa White-Gulz was joining Dragonforce, the band's statement called her their 'frontwoman', and made no mention at all of Marc Hudson. Following the logic of their words, that sounded to me as if Alissa was going to be their one and only singer. That isn't the case, though, as she is joined by a new male singer, as Marc has left the band (at least for now) due to hearing-related issues. This doesn't make much sense to me. Aside from their initial statement feeling either disingenuous or exceptionally sloppy, having two singers for a back catalog that was not written for two singers, raises more questions than it provides answers.
Their upcoming album will be written for this configuration, which is a radical shift I'm not sure anyone wanted. I have no allegiance to Dragonforce beyond enjoying a few songs from their earliest days, but they are taking one of those wild left turns that betrays two decades of history. Alissa is a good singer, but she's not very present as a singer on this song. Oh, she's prominent, but it's mostly providing her growls between the weaker melodic vocals her co-singer is providing. Dragonforce is not, and has never been, a band with death metal elements, so why are they doing that? It made some sense when Alissa brought clean vocals into Arch Enemy, as that band was always melodic in their own way, so she was highlighting and expanding on that.
Dragonforce is about speed and flamboyance, and the growled sections provide neither. It not only drags down the excess Dragonforce exists on, but it saps the band of any of the cheesy fun they became known for. I don't have out credit for trying something new when it doesn't work, and this does not work at all. Dragonforce has been around too long for such a drastic shift in their sound. Luckily, I don't think this song is any good anyhow, which makes a lot of this talk more philosophically interesting then practically so.
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