When it comes to the modern music scene, I don’t think there’s a more contested figure than Taylor Swift. On one hand, you have her fanbase (colloquially known as the Swifties) that has garnered a reputation of parading around everything this woman does as an act of god. Then you have the general public (the Anti-Heroes, if you will…you won’t? oh…), who love to play contrarian and think she’s overrated because (1) the fans they hear about are so rabid, and (2) their entire opinion is based off of the few songs they’ve heard on the radio…which almost never end up being her best.
Sure, everything I just said could realistically be applied to any artist, or any figure in pop culture, or…well, anything at all. There’s the lovers, there’s the haters, and then there’s the truthers. Can you be more than one of those at a time? Well, that’s exactly what I set out to find out this last week—in the four days leading up to the release of her new album “The Life of a Showgirl”, I would listen to every single Taylor Swift song (most of which for the very first time).
Before last week, I was just like everyone else: piling on the hate train simply because it was the popular thing to do. And I hate it when people do that. Like, if you’re gonna be a hater; at least do the work to learn about what you’re hating so you can hate more effectively. And who knows? Maybe your research might make you realize that there’s nothing to hate at all.
Alright, weirdly profound sentiment aside—let’s get to the point here. During that week of preparation, not only did I listen to all 12 of her studio albums…but I also watched each of the three projects where she’s taken on the role of director. And in keeping with the nature of this being a film review column and all, I’m going to go ahead and…well, review them.
One last thing to clarify: none of these reviews take into account the actual songs being played. I’ll share what I really think of Taylor Swift as a musician towards the end, but as far as these filmed projects go? I’m only concerned with how they function as a visual piece of media…not if I considered the background track to be a banger or not.
1. Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020)
⭐⭐⭐
As far as album documentaries go, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions isn’t all that intricate—taking a much more simplistic approach to giving us a “behind the scenes” glimpse of an artist. Now granted, this was cobbled together during a global pandemic and national lockdown—so it kind of HAD to be more simplistic. But that more streamlined focus works so well in the film’s favor, from the stripped-back recordings to the laid-back and more contemplative commentary sections.
The performances are phenomenal, the musicianship is on-point, and to put a fine point on it all—the vibes are immaculate. It’s every bit as stripped-back and intricate as the album it’s promoting. But outside of crafting a mood with some impressive technical work and musical artistry…the rest of it falls a teensy flat in the execution. The commentary sections, that is. Swift and her two producers, Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, offer some unique insight into the production process and little glimpses of how it was impacted by quarantine. They’re all pretty well spoken for the most part, but man…some of these conversations are just plain rough. Honestly, the editing is just as much to blame here for some of the perceived choppiness/flow of the whole thing…but regardless of who you point fingers at, it still feels more rigid and sanitized than it probably should.
On the whole though, I’m still very glad I watched it. Despite the commentary being a bit off-kilter at times, there were a couple good nuggets of wisdom/insight into the songwriting and overall production process of the album (although I do wish there could have been a bit more than just “nuggets”). Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions may not have been the best product that it could’ve been in terms of getting into the weeds of what, frankly, is one of the most sonically rich Taylor Swift albums, but there’s still a decent amount to chew on.
2) All Too Well (2021)
⭐⭐⭐½
All Too Well: The Short Film builds itself up with quite a lot of incredibly polished elements. Take the performances, for example—because they’re surprisingly pretty dedicated and immersive for what’s basically an extended music video. Dylan O’Brian and Sadie Sink do a fantastic job at capturing both this fun and playful young love dynamic as well as the sharp ugly underbelly of what it looks like when a relationship tanks. Additionally, the direction from Taylor Swift herself is pretty strong—especially when you consider how personal and intimate this kind of story is.
I know a common criticism of Swift’s music is that she “only writes about breakups”…and I can’t entirely disagree with that. But All Too Well: The Short Film feels like it transcends all of that. Writing a hokey pop song about a breakup is one thing, writing 10 minutes worth of lyrics going into detail about the whole ordeal is another thing, but directing and writing a 15 minute short film based on said ordeal is probably the most intimate and powerful way you can come full circle on this kind of thing. Say what you want about Swift as an artist, but I’ve got to give credit where it’s due—this short film just oozes personal touch and raw vulnerability, and I can’t help but respect that.
However, the one thing that ultimately makes this ring hollow for me is how the story unfolds. The crux of the song (or at least a big part of it, anyways) is how this idyllic relationship dies a slow and drawn-out death, so I think if there’s one thing this music video need to capture…it was the heartbreaking nuance of how these two lovers slowly drifted apart. Hell, this part of the video is introduced with the subtitle “The First Crack In The Glass”. And yet it doesn’t feel like “just a crack” in the relationship. For what’s laid out as a tragic and nuanced tale of heartbreak in the lyrics, the falling out seems weirdly black and white.
Boyfriend kinda starts being a neglectful douche out of nowhere. And then they go back to being lovey-dovey for about a minute. And then they have another argument. And then that’s it. The rest of the video is of Sadie Sink all depressed and struggling to get over her ex. The way all of this develops just doesn’t feel like it lines up with the song’s raw emotional layering at all. Now on one hand, I guess you could technically call this realistic—you hear about relationships ending like this all the time. It’s not always this slow or drawn-out or filled with dramatic tension like in the movies. And at the end of the day, it’s that realism but some people come to respect this short film.
But at the end of the day, I’m a soulless film nerd—and I say that there’s a lot less layers in the video than in the song itself. But who knows? Maybe I’ve just never been through a breakup “the right way”, so that’s why I can’t connect with this (or maybe I’m not the problem, and All Too Well: The Short Film still just feel like a sanitized lazy recount of an emotionally rich and complex mess of human nature and social tendencies). Either way, I just think it’s kind of funny how I could squeeze out 5 whole paragraphs talking about a 15 minute short film.
3) The Official Release Party of a Showgirl (2025)
⭐⭐
Right off the bat, I should probably mention that I saw this on a Sunday afternoon, about 2 days after the actual album came out. I’m assuming that there would’ve been a lot more fanfare if I came out to see this on Friday, but honestly…for the sake of this review, I’m kind of glad I didn’t. This is definitely meant to be viewed with other people, because without a giant crowd of people dancing in the aisles á la screenings of The Eras Tour concert film back in 2023, but without that made it a lot easier to see it for what it is…which is something that I definitely should’ve pirated. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still glad I went. But damn…paying 15 dollars to walk past the theater playing One Battle After Another so I can get to see the DVD extras from Taylor Swift’s latest album definitely still stung a little bit.
Simply put, this was just a whole lotta fluff. Like, SO much fluff. Honestly, I went into this expecting something a lot more along the lines of Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions in terms of structure. A few interview/commentary bits where Taylor would get to talking with people about the meaning behind the new songs, and then we’d get to listen to the songs via something other than some (allegedly) AI-generated YouTube shorts, and some kind of look into the behind the scenes of the whole process. But like with Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, we run into the same exact problems—vaguely interesting and awkwardly staged commentary, and not nearly enough of a flow to justify an 86-minute runtime. And this one doesn’t even have a global pandemic to use as an excuse!
Because this is a film column, I though it would only be appropriate to discuss the…well, film-related aspects of Taylor Swift’s career. But I don’t know if you know this—she’s also written a couple songs here and there. And it would be a bit weird to talk about that kind of thing in anywhere other than a music column. If only we had one…and if only someone could hard-launch it at the end of their article…
Welp, too bad that’ll never happen.
