Since the release of her first album in 2006, Taylor Swift had released a new album every other fall. However, “Swifties,” as her fans are called, have waited an extra year for the release of Swift’s sixth album,

Reputation.

The wait came to an end on Nov. 10.

As fans listened to the album, it became evident that “the old Taylor” really is dead, as Swift says in the album’s first single “Look What You Made Me Do.” However, it is also clear that the new Taylor is strong, happy, in love, and still a pop mastermind.

The shift in sound and subject matter that

Reputation

marks in Swift’s songbook, however, is more the result of a natural evolution than that of a sudden, radical change.

Swift’s first, self-titled, al- bum was released when she was only 16 years old. With hits like “Teardrops On My Guitar,” “Our Song,” and “Tim McGraw,” Taylor quickly became America’s country music sweetheart and distinguished herself in the world of songwriters.

With her second studio album

Fearless,

released in 2008, Swift shifted more towards a pop-country sound and launched her first world tour. Many hit singles from the album, including “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story,” would go on to become classics in Swift’s discography. Winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and many other awards,

Fearless

is the most awarded album in the history of country music.

Swift continued her reign as pop-country queen with

Speak Now

in 2010.

Rolling Stone

ranked “Mean,” the album’s third single, at #24 on their list of the “100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time,” the highest ranking for a song released in the 21st century. In 2012, Swift released her fourth studio album

Red.

Though still considered country on many genre specific music charts,

Red

shifted more towards a pop sound. The album’s two best-selling singles were “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

In 2014, Swift officially left the genre of country music with her fifth album

1989

. She continued to shatter records as

1989

made Swift the first woman to win the Grammy for Album of the Year twice. Her seamless transition from country to pop was critically acclaimed, as few artists have made successfully that transition. The album’s lead single “Shake It Off” became Swift’s best-selling single to date.

After entering the pop world with

1989

, it would only make sense that

Reputation

would shift more towards the sounds of other pop artists today. In addition to its different sound, the lyrical content of

Reputation

is also much more mature. Swift mentions alcohol and sex much more often and up front than in her previous five albums. In “I Did Something Bad,” Swift uses profanity for the first time as she sings “If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing.” This may come as a shock to listeners who are used to “the old Taylor,” but Swift is almost 28 now. Thus, the progression of her thematic focus is logical.

Each album and thus, each era of Taylor Swift, clearly reflects her love life at the time. Swift has always been able to masterfully write songs that her fans can easily relate to in various stages of love. A common theme in

Taylor Swift

is wanting to be loved, in

Fearless

it’s falling in love, in

Speak Now

is being in love, in

Red

its losing love, in

1989

its loving yourself, and in

Reputation

its finding true love and not caring what others think about it.

Reputation’s

love songs are all seemingly about Swift’s boyfriend of a year, Joe Alwyn. Swift has kept this relationship, and her life in general, fairly private over the past year so these songs are the first time the public is hearing about this relationship;

it is evident that Swift is happier than she’s ever been before. In the last song of the album, a beautiful acoustic ballad after many more up-tempo pop-electronic songs, “New Year’s Day,” Swift sings “I want your midnights, but I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day.” Here, she recognizes the value of big romantic moments, but understands that at the end of the day what matters is finding someone who will be there for you when the night ends and life gets tough. This is a more mature outlook on love for Swift, and shows the depth of her relationship with Alwyn.

Another highlight of

Reputation

is “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” in which Swift addresses her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, something that has largely impacted her standing. Swift takes a topic that could make for a rather petty and immature song and turns it into a catchy jam full of instrumental surprises and artfully crafted lyrics. “Dress” another highlight, shows Swift, a singer widely criticized as being sexless in many of her other al- bums, disproves such claims, as she sings the hook, “Only bought this dress so you could take it off.”

Reputation

also features Swift’s first collaboration with Ed Sheeran since “Everything Has Changed” on

Red

. “End Game”, which also features rapper Future, reinforces that Swift and Sheeran make for a great pair.

If you listened to the first two singles Swift released from

Reputation

, “Look What You Made Me Do” and “…Ready For It?” and were unimpressed, I would still recommend purchasing Reputation. As a longtime “Swiftie,” I was concerned that Taylor I would not hear any of Taylor’s beautiful lyrics or vocal talent in her sixth album. However, my doubts vanished as almost every other song on the album impressed me. In fact, I would say that those are two of the weaker songs on the album and were used as singles to generate buzz because of their content. Moreover, I would recommend listening to

Reputation

from top to bottom, as the album tells a sonically cohesive story that is best heard chronologically.

Personally, after listening to

Reputation

I maintain my opinion that Taylor Swift is one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Particularly, her abilities as a lyricist amaze me.

Swift has decided to with- hold

Reputation

from streaming services for at least a week. The album, which sold more than 717,000 copies in the U.S. in its first day of release, can be purchased on iTunes or as a hard copy. For a limited time, Reputation can also be streamed on the iHeartRadio app.