Look — I’m not really a Taylor Swift fan. Definitely not a ‘Swiftie’. I did like Teardrops on My Guitar and Blank Space back in the day, but after she blew up? Never really went back to give her another chance. But, there was a lot of hype around her album last year, The Life of a Showgirl, and I already subscribe to Apple Music, so I figured, why not give it a chance? And, I found that I liked it. There were a couple songs that were just okay, but for the most part, the album has a lot of heart and is fun to sing along to.

Then this year, Swift re-released the album with four new songs. So, I played the album again, and decided that Opalite is still my favourite song on the album. It’s probably not the best — that’s a real hard call between Ruin the Friendship and Eldest Daughter, with the latter feeling like a more honest/personal song and the former being one of those hard-hitting country (esque) songs with a twist at the end that feels like a horse kicked you in the chest… or some other country/western metaphor that fits. I like the album, though. It’s fun, there’s a lot of heart there, and some catty-bordering-on-cringe stuff for the TikTok generation that is also kinda fun.

Oh, and the video’s completely unhinged, which is always a plus.

As far as the new (Encore) songs, Patient Zero is my favourite. It’s fun and it’s got some of that catty stuff. She’s singing about a toxic guy and connecting with his other exes, and identifying herself as “patient zero” because she was the first one to experience the crazy… or something like that. That said, the four new songs don’t hold a candle to the album’s best. And, she could have also included the Toy Story 5 song she made, but it really wouldn’t have fit with these tracks. So good on her for leaving it off. This is not a kid-friendly album.