Once upon a time, Taylor Swift was (and still is, by the way) America's sweetheart from a small borough in Nashville. Following her longtime feud with Kanye West and Katy Perry, Taylor Swift's life has been scrutinized by the media. Streams of snake emojis flooded her social media, which she recalled that she 'went through some shallow times for a while because of it.'
In 2017, everything had changed. The world entered the darker side of Tay with her sixth studio album, Reputation, on November 10. Supported by singles like Look What You Made Me Do, Ready for It, End Game, and Delicate, the singer herself described the album as the most cathartic piece of art she'd ever written.
"This has definitely been my most cathartic album. After I finished it, it was like, "Now I can write regular songs again," T told the Los Angeles Times.
The album is a declaration of winning for Taylor, as she took all the negative bits and turned it into positive. To celebrate Reputation, here are some of the facts you might want to know about the album. Yes, it's been more than two years, but a little bit throwback won't hurt, eh?
12 Reputation Was ... Different
In contrary to the other six albums she'd ever released from Taylor Swift (2006) to Lover (2019), Reputation, as we'd said earlier, has a much darker tone.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, this is what Tay Tay had to say about the making of Reputation and how it was 'so far from what I usually do.' She said, "I think I would have made Reputation whether or not I actually put out the album or ever made another album again. That album was a real process of catharsis, and I thought I experienced catharsis before, but I'd never had until that album because it was creating this strange defense mechanism. And, I'd never really done that in that exact way before. I took that template of, okay, this is what you're all saying about me. Let me just write from this character for a second."
11 Reputation Almost Didn't Happen
The more albums you have released, the lesser space you have left on your songwriting canvas. No wonder, because for some artists, it's hard to maintain longevity after their third or fourth album. Taylor defined the year 2015 with 1989 album, a record she's proud of, but she almost had no idea what to do next after that.
"The Grammys happen, which is like this unbelievable blitz of excitement, followed by me going, "Oh my god, what am I going to make next?" I had no idea what to make next, because I was so proud. 1989 — I'm still so, so deeply proud of that record," Taylor told Rolling Stone. "But I was like, where do we go from here? I have no idea what comes after this. And so, when my life took a very dramatic shift, all of a sudden, I knew what to make next."
10 Taylor, The Record-Breaker
To help propel the album, Taylor embarked on the Reputation Stadium Tour from May 8 to November 21, 2018. From the United States to Japan, Taylor and co only made 53 stops and grossed over $345.7 million, making it the highest-grossing tour in the US by a female musician of all time. To immortalize her best tour, Netflix released a concert film, Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour, on December 31, 2018.
9 Who's The Kid From Gorgeous?
Taylor kicks off the second single of the Reputation album, Gorgeous, with a sweet baby voice cooing in its intro. But who's that baby?
The singer herself revealed on the album's booklet that it's Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's elder daughter, James, "Baby intro voice by James Reynolds."
The singer herself had cemented her picture-perfect friendship with Blake Lively back in 2015 with an Instagram post of their cozy trip to the Queensland theme park in Australia.
8 Reputation Was Tay's Only Album To Have A Curse Word
On the song I Did Something Bad from Reputation, Taylor referenced her biggest nemesis, Kanye and Kim, and dissed her former sweeties Calvin Harris & Tom Hiddleston, at the same time. It was Taylor's first song ever to feature a curse word, "If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing / I don't regret it one bit, 'cause he had it coming."
But it wasn't the last. On the track The Man from her 2019 album Lover, Taylor tackled sexism and croons, "What's it like to brag about raking in dollars / And getting bitches and models?"
7 No Interview
When artists use interviews and talkshow appearances to help promote the album, Taylor solely used the power of her social media.
Speaking to Zane Lowe, here is why Taylor refused to interview the Reputation era. She said, "At the very beginning of the album, I was pretty proud of coining the term: 'There will be no explanation. There will just be Reputation', and so that was what I decided was going to be the album, and I stuck with it. I didn't go back on it. I didn't try to explain the album because I didn't feel that I owed that to anyone. There was a lot that happened over a couple of years that made me feel really, really terrible. And I didn't feel like expressing that to them. I didn't feel like talking about it. I just felt like making music, then going out on the road and doing a stadium tour and doing everything I could for my fans."
6 'Et Tu Brute'
Taylor Swift is the queen of Easter eggs and symbolism, and after she released the visual of Look What You Made Me Do on August 27, 2017, her large army of Swifties quickly put it under their microscope and decoded it.
One of the most subtle Easter eggs from the video is 'et tu brute,' a quote from the Shakespearean play Julius Caesar, bamboozled into her throne. Caesar utters these words at the moment of his assassination as he finds out that his closest friend, Marcus Brutus, is the mastermind behind it.
5 Reputation Wasn't The First Time Taylor Rapped
Yes, Taylor does rap on some parts on Reputation, but true Swifties know that it wasn't the first time she raps. Back in 2009 at the CMT Music Awards, Taylor Swift, under a moniker T-Swizzle, rapped with Buy U A Drank rapper-slash-singer, T-Pain. The track was called Thug Story, a playful nod to her 2008 hit Love Story.
"I'm so gangster you can find me baking cookies at night / You out clubbing, but I just made caramel delight / T-Swift and T-Pain rapping on the same track / It's a thug story, tell me can you handle that?" she rapped.
4 Rep Was The Second Best-Selling Album Of 2017
Despite its lack of promo, Taylor Swift's star power has put Reputation to where it's at now: the best selling album by a female artist of 2017. With over 2 million copies sold worldwide within the first week, Reputation debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart. According to IFPI's Global Music Report 2018, Reputation has sold over 4.5 million copies. The only competition she had was with her partner in crime, Ed Sheeran, who scored a whopping 6.2 million with ÷ (Divide).
3 Goodbye, Big Machine Records
After 12 years with Big Machine Records, a music label that signed her when she was only a 14-year old aspiring songwriter from the country, Taylor Swift put the journey with BME to an end with Reputation. After a month with no label, she landed a deal with UMG's Republic Records.
"I'm ecstatic to announce that my musical home will be Republic Records and Universal Music Group," she took to Instagram to announce the deal. "Over the years, Sir Lucian Grainge and Monte Lipman have been such incredible partners. It's so thrilling to me that they, and the UMG team, will be my label family moving forward."
