My reputation has never been worse for being a Taylor Swift fan than in the last few months. I have been repeatedly interrogated about the media feuds involving Swift, and over her ‘audacity’ to release an album critiquing of her ‘haters’. I think this hounding by my own peers says a lot about an increasing obsession […]
1989
The Return of Taylor Swift
Last week, Taylor Swift broke her silence after her 2014 1989 success, by ironically furthering a ‘visible’ silence; deleting her social media presence and teasing fans with the potential recreation for a new album. A few visual enigmas later, here we are with an album name (reputation) a release date (November 10th) and a choreographed […]
Album Review: Ryan Adams – Prisoner
Two years ago, Ryan Adams postponed production of Prisoners to experiment with the track-by-track remediation of Taylor Swift’s 1989. After waiting three years for self-written content, and a ‘heartbreak’ album tackling his divorce from Mandy Moore, we were instead given an indirect sense of Adam’s initial wounds vicariously via Swift’s own emotional lyrics. Rather than […]
REVIEW: Hillsborough Documentary
Hillsborough is a feature-length BBC film of the event of, and the events surrounding, the April 1989 disaster that took place during the FA Cup semi-final clash between Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool. Due to significant police errors, a crush followed in the two central pens of the Leppings Lane stand made available to Liverpool fans. These mistakes left […]