Taylor Swift released THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT this morning as well as a version with 15 bonus tracks called THE ANTHOLOGY. Chris and Matt woke up at 5:30am to listen to it and give you their immediate reactions on it. The world has been begging for two guys with a podcast about one hit wonders to weigh in on Taylor Swift's eleventh album and we were happy to oblige!
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[00:00:00] Hey everybody, Chris Fafalis here. If you enjoy One Hit Thunder, which I'm assuming you do considering you're listening to it right now
[00:00:06] I want to tell you about another great music podcast on the Evergreen podcast network
[00:00:10] It's called Riffs on Riffs. On this season of Riffs on Riffs, host Toby Braswell and Joe Watson are breaking down one
[00:00:18] iconic pop song each week. Everything from Taylor Swift's Cruel Summer to Journeys Don't Stop Believin to Naughty by Nature's OPP.
[00:00:26] Each week they crack open the song, trace its history,
[00:00:30] decode those cryptic lyrics and unearth the hidden gems in its musical DNA.
[00:00:34] Not only do they dive into the songs history, lyrics and impact,
[00:00:38] they also go down some fun and oftentimes hilarious rabbit holes.
[00:00:41] So yeah, if you're a fan of One Hit Thunder, I think you'll also enjoy Riffs on Riffs.
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[00:01:54] Well, Chris, arguably the biggest artist in the world
[00:01:59] has released her long anticipated new album,
[00:02:05] The Tortured Poets Department.
[00:02:08] Yesterday, the debut single Fortnite featuring Post Malone was released as
[00:02:14] the lead single and also on yesterday when she released a teaser trailer
[00:02:22] for the upcoming music video for that song.
[00:02:26] Spotify announced that this album had broken the record for the most
[00:02:31] pre-saved as the most pre-saved album in platinum in their platform history.
[00:02:38] So the question is, what did two white guys think of it?
[00:02:43] Well, I mean, it's a white woman.
[00:02:47] I mean, I put it on at...
[00:02:53] I think I was listening to it by...
[00:02:54] I woke up early at like 5.30 this morning
[00:02:57] because I knew we were doing this podcast episode.
[00:02:59] Chris, I think we may have listed this in tandem.
[00:03:01] That was almost exactly the time that I started playing.
[00:03:04] This was 5.30.
[00:03:05] Well, um, and...
[00:03:12] I'm not a hater, you know?
[00:03:14] No, Taylor Swift hater.
[00:03:16] We should stress this.
[00:03:18] I think both of us in general would say we are more pro Taylor Swift
[00:03:23] than anti Taylor Swift because I think we both have a similar opinion
[00:03:27] on this album and I don't want the Swifties coming at us like
[00:03:31] we're just two dudes who hate Taylor Swift.
[00:03:33] No, not at all.
[00:03:35] I mean, I'm pretty much a flat line on Taylor Swift,
[00:03:38] meaning if there's a great song, I'd be like, hell, yeah,
[00:03:41] that's a great song. If there's a bad song, I'll be like, that's a bad song.
[00:03:45] I am. I may an empty canvas when it comes to Taylor Swift.
[00:03:49] I think it was around the 1989 album where there were a few songs
[00:03:54] where I was like, OK, I get it now.
[00:03:56] I get Taylor Swift.
[00:03:58] She's really good and wasn't like a mega fan or something.
[00:04:02] But I was like, yeah, I like some of these.
[00:04:04] Yeah. And ever since then, it's been songs here and there.
[00:04:08] I'm not like, you know, I don't go out of my way to listen to it,
[00:04:12] but I also don't complain if it's on.
[00:04:14] I think that's pretty that's pretty reasonable, right?
[00:04:17] No, I think that that's fair.
[00:04:19] I'm probably a little bit more of a fan than you are.
[00:04:23] So for me, like I love the 1989 album.
[00:04:26] I think that's pretty much flawless.
[00:04:28] I love lover.
[00:04:30] I enjoy the folky albums that she did folklore and evermore.
[00:04:35] I like some of the early stuff speak now and read are really good.
[00:04:41] Was not.
[00:04:43] I wouldn't have put Midnights in my top five Taylor Swift albums.
[00:04:48] It was it was fine.
[00:04:49] It was an interesting turn.
[00:04:51] And I think that that's where I'm coming from on this one as well.
[00:04:56] Is this just feels like a continuation of the sounds of Midnights,
[00:05:01] which didn't do it for me?
[00:05:05] In the first place, so like this is very like that 80 synth hyperwave
[00:05:12] movement that's going on inspired.
[00:05:14] And like that just doesn't that genre of music in general doesn't do it for me
[00:05:19] because I can't really tell when one song ends and another song begins
[00:05:24] when I listen to hyperwave.
[00:05:26] And that's how I feel about this record also.
[00:05:30] You know, some might argue as you jokingly started
[00:05:33] to whatever middle aged white guys, what do they think about it?
[00:05:37] Some might argue, well, this isn't for you.
[00:05:39] This album wasn't meant for you.
[00:05:41] Well, here's the thing.
[00:05:43] I absolutely love pop music.
[00:05:46] And to be more specific, I love female pop music.
[00:05:51] Like I love it.
[00:05:52] Anybody who's listened to the main show knows that Carly Rae
[00:05:55] Jepsen is if not your number one favorite artist of all time,
[00:05:58] definitely in your top five or top ten.
[00:06:00] Not all time.
[00:06:01] I don't even know if she's top ten, but I love her music.
[00:06:04] Yes. And not just her.
[00:06:06] I mean, everyone from, I don't know, like a king princess to
[00:06:13] I told you I love every time that Zed and Marin Morris make a song.
[00:06:17] I love it. I yeah.
[00:06:18] Yeah.
[00:06:18] Mara Morris we were going to bring up just because I think
[00:06:21] Marin Morris has done a great job.
[00:06:23] I think both of us agree on this has done a great job
[00:06:26] of transitioning from country star to pop star in like a beautiful way.
[00:06:31] Like, I mean, her album girl is amazing.
[00:06:35] Like that's like a pretty flawless pop record from a couple of years ago.
[00:06:38] I mean, and even if you're talking upbeat stuff, stuff like Remy Wolf
[00:06:42] that I absolutely love upbeat pop music.
[00:06:45] I know that's not what Taylor Swift is doing.
[00:06:47] But my point being that everything from sad indie pop
[00:06:52] like Verite, which I would argue is probably one of my top five
[00:06:55] favorite ever to upbeat happy pop stuff.
[00:06:59] Sometimes like Carly Rae Jepsen or Remy Wolf stuff like this.
[00:07:02] I love it.
[00:07:02] I love pop music and this album just I yeah, it didn't do it for me.
[00:07:10] I've lit here.
[00:07:12] We're recording this on the morning.
[00:07:14] It came out.
[00:07:15] So I will say a purpose.
[00:07:17] One of us. Yeah.
[00:07:19] A purpose is by saying some of my favorite albums of all time.
[00:07:24] I didn't like it first.
[00:07:26] You hated August and everything.
[00:07:28] Yeah, the streets, clarity, all these
[00:07:31] album, but I don't feel like this album is one of those.
[00:07:35] I've listened to now she released the
[00:07:39] whatever she calls it anthology that's like thirty one songs or something.
[00:07:43] I listened to what was, I guess, intended to just be the album.
[00:07:48] The original 16 tracks, the original 16 twice and those other 15 songs
[00:07:53] I've listened to once.
[00:07:55] Hey, this is that's all you can ask for me at nine a.m.
[00:07:58] on the day it comes out.
[00:07:59] That is no 100 percent 100 percent.
[00:08:02] And I would have loved for us to record this on a slightly different day,
[00:08:06] but I'm going to a convention this weekend.
[00:08:08] So today or well after the time it passed to talk about it.
[00:08:12] Instant reactions and its honest reactions.
[00:08:16] Yeah. And my first honest reaction when I listened to this,
[00:08:20] it was painful for me at some parts how
[00:08:25] stuffed into the melodies and music the lyrics felt,
[00:08:31] which I guess the album is called Tortured Poets Department.
[00:08:36] And it felt like a lot of bad teen poetry
[00:08:41] stuffed into melodies that just felt awkward.
[00:08:46] So I wanted to see what other critics thought about this before.
[00:08:50] They love it. Rolling Stone.
[00:08:52] People are falling over themselves in love with it.
[00:08:54] That's what that's what makes me mad is everything I know it's not.
[00:08:58] Sorry to interrupt you, man.
[00:08:59] Yeah, that's fine.
[00:08:59] Passionate about this.
[00:09:01] I wake up at nine a.m.
[00:09:02] I'm going to like say, what are people saying about this?
[00:09:04] It's the greatest thing ever.
[00:09:05] It's can you actually like dig in and be like,
[00:09:09] this is good. This is bad.
[00:09:11] Everything's just like this is the greatest thing ever, which I'm like,
[00:09:14] have you listened to any other music ever?
[00:09:17] So, yes, as you said, universal claim currently on Metacritic.
[00:09:22] It's looking at 90 out of 100 from the eight critic scores it has so far
[00:09:27] on the high end, like you said, Rolling Stone gave it five stars.
[00:09:31] And I am actually a big fan of Rob Shea.
[00:09:33] Shellfield, like he's written some great books about music.
[00:09:38] He gave it the five stars and he described it as wildly ambitious
[00:09:42] and gloriously chaotic.
[00:09:44] I don't know if I agree with that on the negative side of it
[00:09:48] was Laura Molley of N.M.E.
[00:09:53] Who gave it three stars, but she called it surprisingly flat
[00:09:56] and cringe worthy at times.
[00:09:59] That I think I'm leaning way more towards that review.
[00:10:02] That's how I feel.
[00:10:04] Yeah, I felt like I was like this.
[00:10:06] My my argument was if you're going to drop
[00:10:10] thirty one songs in a single day,
[00:10:14] I should remember at least one of them.
[00:10:18] Like that's like I freeze through this and nothing.
[00:10:22] I would say I would argue the title track is probably my favorite
[00:10:25] sounding track because I did not like Fortnite.
[00:10:29] When I hit play on Fortnite, I thought, oh no, there's 31 tracks of this.
[00:10:34] Tortured Poets Department and the track after that,
[00:10:37] my boy only breaks his favorite toys, like kind of hit a little bit more
[00:10:41] of the like pop sound I was hoping for.
[00:10:45] But then the more I listened, like I said, the more it just all started
[00:10:50] to bleed together, dude.
[00:10:52] And I was just like, I don't know when once I looked at my phone
[00:10:55] and I listened to three songs and I had no clue that like a song
[00:10:58] had ended in a new one.
[00:10:59] It began twice.
[00:11:01] That's what I'm saying, man.
[00:11:02] I came in here with an open mind.
[00:11:03] I thought I was going to listen to this thing.
[00:11:06] Here's what I honestly thought.
[00:11:07] I thought they were going to be like four or five songs where I was like,
[00:11:10] oh, that's awesome. That's undeniable.
[00:11:12] This is going to be a guilty pleasure.
[00:11:14] This is going to be whatever.
[00:11:15] But I can't remember the songs like you would think there'd be
[00:11:20] a couple that stick in my head.
[00:11:21] I will say that the only song when I was listening to it
[00:11:26] and it got to like the chorus or whatever that I was like, OK,
[00:11:30] and it took 13 songs to get there.
[00:11:32] There's a song called I Can Do It with a Broken Heart where
[00:11:36] I put that as my third favorite song because that one did jump out at me
[00:11:39] when I heard it.
[00:11:40] Yeah. And another thing about this that I look,
[00:11:44] she's the biggest artist in the world.
[00:11:46] She can do whatever she wants at this point.
[00:11:49] She doesn't have to release another album.
[00:11:50] She'll be the biggest artist just playing her back catalog.
[00:11:53] So she really can do whatever she wants.
[00:11:56] And if she wants to put all her feelings and emotions out there,
[00:12:01] I encourage that.
[00:12:02] I just don't know how are people relating to this?
[00:12:05] It is so specific to like dating and breaking up with the guy from the 1975.
[00:12:15] It's not like it's so specific.
[00:12:18] Who else out there is being like, oh, yes,
[00:12:21] my boyfriend also brings his typewriter over to to and people you
[00:12:27] people really use typewriters these days like nothing
[00:12:32] is relatable.
[00:12:34] I feel like there's a lot of, you know, I'm I'm a man and there's a lot
[00:12:38] of female pop artists who can sing and maybe it can even be abstract
[00:12:43] or specific to them.
[00:12:45] But I can still relate to it when I'm listening to these songs.
[00:12:48] I'm like, I could only relate to this if I was a famous pop star
[00:12:52] who was dating Travis Kelsey or dated some skinny British guy at
[00:12:58] some point like that.
[00:12:59] This is that's the only way this is relatable.
[00:13:02] If that is why people love it, because as far as the melodies and the music go,
[00:13:07] it's so so feel so flat.
[00:13:11] Well, and and I think that this is the problem with all fandoms, right?
[00:13:15] I this is going to sound like I'm coming at Swifties and I'm not.
[00:13:19] This is the same with Juggalos.
[00:13:21] It's the same with like any it's the same with with any like, you know,
[00:13:26] Swifties and Juggalos hand in hand.
[00:13:27] But like anyone who's like a die hard fan of an artist is that you do get these
[00:13:33] like you get these blinders where you cannot.
[00:13:37] Anything that that artist puts out is amazing and great and and perfect.
[00:13:42] And I think that people become such a fan that they
[00:13:46] both kind of lose the ability to be critical of a piece of art from that person.
[00:13:53] And they also like will because they've obsessed over that person
[00:13:58] and learned so much about that person's back history, that they'll like
[00:14:03] try to explain and justify the lyrics because like they've been following
[00:14:08] the T-Swift story.
[00:14:09] And I mean, I've said this about movies and I'm going to say the same thing
[00:14:13] about Taylor Swift, like I'm starting to dip out of Marvel stuff
[00:14:17] because I don't like the fact that there's so much homework to enjoy a Marvel stuff.
[00:14:21] Like I shouldn't have to know the entire life history of what Taylor Swift has been
[00:14:25] up to to appreciate a Taylor Swift.
[00:14:27] Is that is that what is going on with people who are Taylor Swift mega fans?
[00:14:32] Is it that they want to know about Taylor's life and what she's feeling
[00:14:39] and what's going on that when they listen to her new album, it's like
[00:14:44] opening a book and reading reading the lyrics and being like, oh,
[00:14:50] now now we know what's going is that what it is that this is like?
[00:14:53] It might be.
[00:14:54] So have you ever listened to the NPR podcast, Dysect?
[00:14:59] I have not. OK.
[00:15:01] So I my girlfriend, Barb, just had me listen to a season of it.
[00:15:07] So what they do is they pick one album and track by track.
[00:15:11] They like meticulously dissect that song
[00:15:14] and try to like help you better understand the album.
[00:15:17] And it mostly focuses on hip hop.
[00:15:19] And my girlfriend's favorite album is because the Internet by Childish Gambino.
[00:15:25] So I'm listening to the which I'm liking it now as I'm like understanding it more.
[00:15:30] I thought it was a very good Childish Gambino album, but like it wasn't like.
[00:15:34] But I didn't understand that you had to like read a script while listening to it
[00:15:38] and like I didn't do that.
[00:15:40] And I loved it.
[00:15:42] So that's well, that's what this dissecting is about is Childish.
[00:15:45] Donald Glover in like they just put like interview clips.
[00:15:49] They're not like sitting in the studio talking to him.
[00:15:51] But he keeps saying that like in this modern day of music,
[00:15:54] it's not enough to put out a good song.
[00:15:56] It has to be this full blown immersive experience for the audience
[00:16:02] because otherwise just a good song, they're just going to pass right by it.
[00:16:04] So when he released because the Internet,
[00:16:07] it came with a script that you would download from his website
[00:16:10] that would tell you would read the script and then it would say now
[00:16:13] play this track and you would like understand the carrot,
[00:16:17] the mindset of the main character that that whole album is told from the perspective of.
[00:16:22] And it's it's interesting.
[00:16:24] I think that Taylor Swift has like not to that level,
[00:16:28] but has latched on to that same thing where being a Taylor Swift fan.
[00:16:32] I think barely means that you care about the music of Taylor Swift.
[00:16:37] You care about the entire immersive experience of being a Taylor Swift fan.
[00:16:42] And that involves following her on social media,
[00:16:45] knowing what she's doing in her dating life, like going, having split.
[00:16:50] The fact that she can do a tour called the era's tour
[00:16:53] where she's going to play songs from every single album that she's ever released
[00:16:58] and that she encourages audience members to cosplay
[00:17:01] as their favorite era of Taylor Swift and that these fans are so ingrained
[00:17:07] in that that you can show up in an outfit and people immediately know
[00:17:11] which album that outfit represents like you couldn't do that with Punchline.
[00:17:15] You couldn't be like this is the Punchline era's tour dresses,
[00:17:18] your favorite Punchline album.
[00:17:19] Like no one would be able to tell one.
[00:17:21] It's a whole different thing.
[00:17:23] And I would never compare my band to what Taylor Swift is doing.
[00:17:27] I'm saying it's this it's a creed.
[00:17:30] It's so much more than people could have done that with Madonna.
[00:17:34] Madonna Madonna. Yes. Of course.
[00:17:37] But the songs, it was always the song stood on their own.
[00:17:42] And I do think that like up until recently, Taylor Swift did have songs
[00:17:47] that stood out on their own as songs.
[00:17:50] I'm not a person who's diving deep into the backstory and love life
[00:17:53] of Taylor Swift minus the surface level stuff that everybody knows.
[00:17:57] But a song like Style or Shake It Off or whatever.
[00:18:02] These are undeniable hits.
[00:18:05] And look, I don't think she has to make every song a hit.
[00:18:09] I think you could make personal weird music.
[00:18:12] But if Rob Sheffield called this album chaotic, I think that's so wrong.
[00:18:20] It's it's the opposite of chaotic.
[00:18:22] It is like boring, boring.
[00:18:27] I found it.
[00:18:29] Here's I just wanted to look this up because this is her 11th album.
[00:18:33] So by comparison, I was like, what was Madonna's 11th album?
[00:18:36] Now that you've brought Madonna into it.
[00:18:39] Madonna's 11th album was 2008's Hard Candy, which is an album
[00:18:45] that I think we've all agreed to not remember existed.
[00:18:49] Yeah, yeah, featuring, featuring production and collaboration
[00:18:53] from Justin Timberlake, the Neptune's in Timbaland as like a hip hop dance.
[00:18:59] Like so I don't know.
[00:19:02] Like I'm just I that has nothing to do with your argument.
[00:19:06] I just became curious of like what was Madonna up to by 11 albums?
[00:19:10] I think here's what I'm going to say.
[00:19:14] At this point in time, before we hit play on this record,
[00:19:17] the only thing we had heard off of it was Fortnite.
[00:19:20] And I thought that that was bad.
[00:19:22] A lot of the things that we're saying, I also felt when I listened to Midnight.
[00:19:27] Like immediately I listened to that today, it came out and I thought,
[00:19:31] OK, there's nothing memorable on this.
[00:19:33] It all bleeds together.
[00:19:34] Then like antihero became like this massive earworm song.
[00:19:40] So I am curious because you know that whatever song she puts out
[00:19:45] as singles are going to be inescapable to you, me and the rest of the world.
[00:19:50] I'm curious of these 31 songs.
[00:19:55] Like which ones do we even two months from now
[00:20:02] feel like I can't escape this damn song.
[00:20:04] It's everywhere and it's stuck in my head.
[00:20:06] Is it going to be Florida, the song with Florence and the machine?
[00:20:10] I did write that down as a noteworthy song for sure for us to mention.
[00:20:14] I mean, I guess why I said none of that one's kind of memorable.
[00:20:17] I don't really like it, but at least it's memorable.
[00:20:23] After first listen and hey, that's OK.
[00:20:28] That's a pretty good point about Madonna,
[00:20:29] but on a absolutely sucked by her love of the album.
[00:20:32] Taylor Swift has taken some swings, taken some chances.
[00:20:36] And also, hey, if this is what you want to make,
[00:20:40] if you want to make something that's extremely personal to you and you.
[00:20:44] I mean, she could do whatever she wants.
[00:20:47] It's not she doesn't have to care what I think about it at all.
[00:20:52] But I'm just saying as someone who went into this today,
[00:20:55] thinking I was going to like it and be like, oh, this is undeniable.
[00:20:59] I really didn't.
[00:21:00] And Matt, I also thought how amazing would it be instead of post Malone on that first
[00:21:04] song? What if it would have been Violent J? What about God?
[00:21:07] Oh, yeah. Could you imagine this is this is the collab we need in this world?
[00:21:12] Is the I CP T Swift the ICT?
[00:21:16] I see. Wow.
[00:21:18] Could you imagine?
[00:21:22] In St. Clown, Tyler. Yeah.
[00:21:26] Do we have any other closing thoughts on this?
[00:21:28] Because I mean, like I said, I I'm still open minded to the idea
[00:21:34] that this album could grow on me.
[00:21:37] But similar to Midnights, I don't think that that like I said the same thing
[00:21:42] when we did the Grammys episode like Midnights to me is not
[00:21:46] the album of the year or like the album worthy of album of the year
[00:21:50] when it won that like I thought that that was such a mediocre
[00:21:54] Taylor Swift release, but everybody else loves it.
[00:21:56] And and I think that that's the case with this one, too.
[00:21:59] And like, who am I really?
[00:22:02] Like, I'm about to jump in my car and drive to a convention
[00:22:05] and I'm going to be listening to fucking like a Disney CD
[00:22:09] and probably like a bunch of Christian ska music.
[00:22:12] So like take every piece of my opinion with the tiniest grain of salt.
[00:22:17] But like, I am curious to see
[00:22:22] two months from now, three months from now when these songs are everywhere
[00:22:26] and used in like commercials and are playing in grocery stores.
[00:22:30] Do I go, OK, I find the song is kind of good.
[00:22:34] You know what I mean? Like I think the problem.
[00:22:37] I don't.
[00:22:39] I don't think people are making albums
[00:22:42] the way that I like albums being made anymore,
[00:22:45] which is to say that like I like a good concept album
[00:22:50] or I like that you sat down and these were the like
[00:22:55] 10, 12 or 13 best songs that you had written.
[00:23:00] Right. I think now albums, especially for a big artist like this,
[00:23:05] it's like it's almost like spray and pray.
[00:23:09] You know what I mean?
[00:23:09] Like it's just like we're going to drop 31 songs in one day
[00:23:13] because if just four of them are great and do really well,
[00:23:18] then we're going to be fine.
[00:23:20] Someone needed to narrow this down to the best 12.
[00:23:23] They really did.
[00:23:24] And well, but I also think that Taylor Swift is here's another weird comparison.
[00:23:30] But I think Taylor Swift has hit that point where she is to music.
[00:23:33] What like Stephen King is to horror novels
[00:23:36] where at this point in time, Stephen King answers to no one.
[00:23:41] He has no editor.
[00:23:42] You know, I mean, like he just sends first drafts of books and they get published.
[00:23:47] Right. Like there's no chance that there is anybody
[00:23:50] in any piece of any entourage or anything telling telling Taylor Swift,
[00:23:54] like this song's not good. Don't release it.
[00:23:56] Well, also it'll probably be like Taylor Swift breaks record by having
[00:24:00] numbers one through 31 on the top 40 or something.
[00:24:04] So that's probably part of it too.
[00:24:06] Everyone's interested.
[00:24:08] Everyone wants to read the lyrics, decode the lyrics, even though
[00:24:13] there's not mysterious enough.
[00:24:15] That's not they're just they're just saying what happened.
[00:24:19] Like no one's even questioning who what song is about or anything.
[00:24:25] There's no air of mystery. It's just all here's what happened.
[00:24:30] You know, she might as well write have written a blog.
[00:24:34] Yeah.
[00:24:36] One day she's going to release a book and we're going to buy it.
[00:24:38] And it's just going to be the lyrics to her last like four albums as chapters.
[00:24:45] It's like, oh, yeah, no, this is the story.
[00:24:47] We knew the story already.
[00:24:48] Yeah. That being said, do what you want when you are this huge
[00:24:54] and you are this this powerful and famous.
[00:24:58] Do what do whatever you want like.
[00:25:01] But part of it is maybe two guys on a podcast
[00:25:05] the morning it comes out or talking about it.
[00:25:07] You you created this conversation.
[00:25:11] And that's a good thing.
[00:25:12] I like talking.
[00:25:13] I like talking about music and stuff like this.
[00:25:16] It's it's a fun conversation piece.
[00:25:18] And for that, I give Taylor Swift credit and for being,
[00:25:23] as we've said many times, a pretty cool person who's released
[00:25:25] a lot of great music and made a lot of people happy.
[00:25:28] I just don't think this is her best effort in my opinion.
[00:25:31] Now, and I agree with you on that.
[00:25:33] And again, I'm sure that they're Chris,
[00:25:37] this bonus episode might do exactly what we hope it does,
[00:25:40] but it also might be a lot of angry,
[00:25:42] swifty one star reviews coming out.
[00:25:44] Oh, no.
[00:25:46] But but like I can't stress enough that like we are not
[00:25:51] Tay haters like we both I actually genuinely think
[00:25:55] in a world where I believe that there are no good billionaires,
[00:25:59] I feel like she's the one that's trying the hardest to be
[00:26:03] an example of a good billionaire.
[00:26:05] And and I hope that more people kind of attempt
[00:26:10] to follow in that model if they find themselves blessed enough
[00:26:14] to be making that much money to like just tip every person.
[00:26:18] You see a couple thousand dollars as you're like leaving,
[00:26:21] like, you know, I mean, like it's it's like she does.
[00:26:26] She does insanely nice things.
[00:26:28] And I do think that she gives a shit about her fans.
[00:26:32] I don't think that even as big as she's become, she's lost.
[00:26:36] Right. She's lost that.
[00:26:38] You know, I mean, like there are those.
[00:26:39] Pops are in Helen.
[00:26:40] She didn't pull in Helen.
[00:26:42] Exactly. Like I think I think that and she's going to be fine.
[00:26:47] If she hears this episode, she'll cry a little bit
[00:26:49] and then she'll get over the fact that the guys at One
[00:26:51] Hit Thunder didn't like her new album.
[00:26:54] I guess guys are one one of your wonder podcast.
[00:26:58] They're talking about her album.
[00:26:59] That's how big she is.
[00:27:00] People that make a one hit wonder podcast are talking about it.
[00:27:03] But I would I would encourage anyone out there
[00:27:07] who, you know, if you're a giant Taylor Swift fan,
[00:27:10] you might relate and think the songs are better
[00:27:14] by someone who isn't a billionaire
[00:27:17] and still is feeling the struggle.
[00:27:20] I know we all feel Taylor Swift's struggle, but she is.
[00:27:24] She has I don't see how she could have any worries in life ever.
[00:27:28] Exactly. I don't know. All right.
[00:27:31] Well, real quick, whenever we do these bonus episodes,
[00:27:34] the one big benefit of them is that they are probably
[00:27:37] the most timely recordings we ever do.
[00:27:41] So if you're listening to this, the day it came out
[00:27:43] and you happen to live near Gettysburg, I'm at the
[00:27:47] Treacher Future Weekend Convention right now.
[00:27:50] It's coming. Come and say hi.
[00:27:51] I'm moderating three events there, so that should be fun.
[00:27:57] And Chris, not only I think last time we did one of these,
[00:28:01] you were talking about the pre-sale tickets for Spilled
[00:28:04] Canvases Up, but you've also announced kind of the show
[00:28:07] that everybody was waiting for, which was when the action
[00:28:10] anniversary Pittsburgh show is happening.
[00:28:13] Are when are those tickets up for pre-sale?
[00:28:15] They are up for sale today.
[00:28:18] The day this episode comes out and the show is until November 30th.
[00:28:22] But hey, if you like my band, it should be our biggest show ever.
[00:28:28] So pretty fun, pretty fun thing to look forward to.
[00:28:31] Maybe by November 30th, Matt and I will be talking backstage
[00:28:35] saying, man, remember when we said that Taylor Swift album
[00:28:37] wasn't that good and it might be our our favorite album ever
[00:28:40] made by then? Yeah, who knows?
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[00:30:10] Hello, everybody.
[00:30:12] I'm Bruce and I'm Nolan.
[00:30:14] And this is the corner of Gray Street podcast.
[00:30:17] As longtime Dave Matthews band fans, we set out to create a podcast
[00:30:21] to dive deep into the past, present and future of DMV.
[00:30:25] Not only do we recap and review shows within an ongoing tour,
[00:30:30] but we revisit past shows from throughout the band's history,
[00:30:33] conduct interviews with a wide variety of guests with ties to DMV
[00:30:38] and create unique and exclusive content
[00:30:41] like our concerts on the corner series.
[00:30:44] Whether you're a fan of the band or just a fan of great music,
[00:30:47] we think you'll find something you'll enjoy.
[00:30:49] We can't wait to see you on the corner of Gray Street.


