I am continually impressed by Taylor Swift.

Most musicians impress me, but the fact that she can continually produce at such a high level is what sets her apart.

She put out another album this weekend, and it’s more of what she does best - catchy music, detailed lyrics, and a consistent overall theme.

I won’t pretend to have parsed every detail the way I’m sure you can find anywhere else on the internet that her fans have broken things down - but the fact that this album is storytelling about ‘the life of a showgirl’ but also autobiographical shows its depth. You can listen one time through and think it’s all about someone else and then on another listen think it’s all about her. (‘Eldest daughter’ is a term that pops up in multiple lines on the album - showgirl? Swift? Both?) It’s good storytelling. Bruce Springsteen-level.

Here’s one example of what I mean about detailed lyrics - in ‘Ruin The Friendship’ she could easily just refer to dancing but she adds that it’s to a ‘50 Cent song.’

I don’t know. It’s just really good writing.

I listened to the album Friday on the way to work, and since I was home alone over the weekend I was able to just play it whenever I wanted around the house. So I think again on Friday night…and then Saturday morning on my run.

I saw that she got an OK from George Michael’s estate to write ‘Father Figure’ - I didn’t realize that connection (although it makes sense, considering she also covered ‘Last Christmas’ years ago), so I listened to the George Michael song again for the first time in years. I’ll have to dig a little deeper to see exactly how she reimagined that song. I’m not picking up on it yet.

But I’m a sucker for a good upbeat pop song - there are a couple that I love on this album.

‘The Fate of Ophelia’ is a good song…but I think my favorite on the album is ‘Opalite.’ (A song in which colors play a big role, in typical Taylor Swift fashion.)

It’s amazing to me that someone can have such a distinctive voice and style of music and writing style and it doesn't get stale.

I love how there are little things you can catch, musical influences you can pick up on - there’s a familiarity to the track ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ (where Sabrina Carpenter is the perfect complementary voice, by the way). The bridge reminds me of a Broadway musical - it’s almost Hamilton-esque.

Here’s a funny thing - I don’t think I ever even listened to ‘Tortured Poets Department’. Maybe I was going through Taylor Swift exhaustion after catching up on the albums before the concert. But listening to this album has re-energized me as far as Taylor Swift music…it’s nice that I have another new-to-me album to dig into in between listening to this one again and again.