reputation

WRITING & PRODUCTION
Taylor wrote the songs on “reputation” as a “defense mechanism” against the tumultuous media gossip targeting her during the time, and as a means to revamp her state of mind. Elaborating on the songwriting, Taylor told Rolling Stone in a 2019 interview that she followed the songwriting for her 2014 single “Blank Space“, on which she satirized her perceived image. She said, “I took that template of, ‘OK, this is what you’re all saying about me. Let me just write from this character for a second.'” In addition to the media commotion, love and friendship are major inspirations on the album, which corroborates Taylor’s trademark autobiographical storytelling through her songs.

Taylor started recording “reputation” in Nashville in September, 2016. She mainly worked with two production teams: Jack Antonoff (whom she worked with for much of “1989”), and the music industry legends and long-time collaborators Max Martin & Shellback. Taylor explained that she decided to work with a much smaller group on “reputation” than on “1989”, and picked these producers to work with because she “felt like they would be versatile enough to kill ‘1989’, and make something new.”

“There would be no way for me to make something even similar to ‘1989’ and have it be effective. It had to be completely different, because that album was its own thing.” — Taylor Swift

The final cut of “reputation” consists of 15 tracks. Martin and Shellback, the former of whom was co-executive producer with Taylor on “1989”, co-wrote and produced nine songs. Jack Antonoff co-wrote and produced the remaining six. Taylor’s recording sessions with Antonoff mostly took place at his home studio in Brooklyn, with several trips to Atlanta and California for him to incorporate ideas from other producers. According to Antonoff, the sessions tried to capture Taylor’s emotions at a particular time, when “you can feel like you can conquer the world, or you can feel like the biggest piece of garbage that ever existed”, resulting in a “very intense” record. He spoke of his work experience with Taylor on Entertainment Weekly:

“She is great at remembering the heart and soul of the process. Some people forget it — sometimes something works and everyone starts to rewire it. But she’s really great at knowing what it’s about: talking about what the hell is going on in your life and somehow finding a way to take that exact emotion and make a song out of it. That was the theme of those sessions: “Let’s just tell this story, whatever that story is, because that’s the whole point.” – Jack Antonoff

As Taylor wanted to record the album in secrecy, Antonoff kept his studio computer offline to prevent a possible internet leak, and deleted the recording trials once the mixing and mastering finalized. Taylor has called “reputation” her most cathartic album, something she’d wanted to make for “years and years”. “After I finished it, I was like: now I can go back to writing regular songs again.”

COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE
Before “reputation” was released, the number of pre-orders reached more than 400,000 units, double the amount of her “1989” album. It was also reported that the album will be kept off streaming services upon release for an undetermined amount of time and would only be available to purchase in digital and physical formats.

When the album was released on November 10, 2017, it scored colossal numbers upon its eventual release, selling 1.28 million copies in its first week in the US, making Taylor the only artist in history to have four albums debut with over a million first-week sales, following “1989” (1.29M units), “RED” (1.21M units), and “Speak Now” (1.05M units) since 1991. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 during the week of December 2, 2017. In addition to that, “reputation” also sold more than the combined sales of the 199 albums on Billboard 200 for that week. The album became the fastest album in history to reach the  No. 1 spot on US iTunes, only six minutes after its release.

CRITICAL RECEPTION
“reputation” received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71 based on 28 reviews, indicating “generally favorable reviews”. The Guardian writer Alexis Petri disopined “reputation”, “may be mired in bitterness and gossip, but the pop star’s songwriting smarts and lyrical prowess are impossible to deny on her sixth album”, noting the songs see “Swift cutting her last ties with her Nashville roots in favour of the blare and honk of EDM-influenced pop”. Rolling Stone‘s Rob Sheffield writes “reputation”, “shows the darker, deeper side of the pop mastermind”. Sheffield also remarked, “As one of the all-time great pop masterminds, she’s trying something new, as she always does.”

ALBUM ARTWORK
The album art for “reputation” was photographed by Mert and Marcus in London. The cover features Taylor in her signature lipstick, slicked-back hair, grey sweatshirt, and choker necklace. Newspaper headlines and columns are superimposed over one side of her face, which is a mockery at media that plagued her life. The typeface used for the headlines is reminiscent of the signature font of The New York Times. Target released two 72-page magazines that contain different content, including the album in the US. They contain photos, handwritten lyrics, poetry and paintings by Taylor. The “reputation Vol. 1” magazine cover was shot by Mert and Marcus. Vol. 2 was shot by Benny Horne and features Taylor in a camouflage jacket.

REPUTATION STADIUM TOUR
In August 2017, Taylor partnered with Ticketmaster for a bundling program, with people wishing to buy her concert tickets could gain priority by purchasing merchandise and pre-ordering “reputation”. On November 13, 2017, Taylor announced she would be embarking on the “reputation Stadium Tour” in 2018 in support of the album, first announcing North American dates. The tour began on May 8, 2018, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and concluded on November 21, 2018 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, with a total of 53 dates in stadiums throughout North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia. A concert film of the tour was released on Netflix on December 31, 2018, which was filmed during the two last concerts of the North American leg, on October 5 and 6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.