‘Call It’ the new Taylor Swift
We review her most romantic song ever ever.
With just one week to go until Reputation’s release, Taylor Swift has given fans another taste of what could be her most divisive album yet.
Call It What You Want, which the pop star unveiled early Friday, is the fourth single she has released from Reputation (out Nov. 10). And the verdict is ... it’s fine?
The song trades in the bombast of ...Ready For It? and fizziness of Gorgeous for something a little more subdued as Swift sings gently over skittering 808 drums and a sparse electronic beat. It’s not as immediately catchy as any of her previous Reputation singles (yes, even the loathsome Look What You Made Me Do), and as the 14th of the album’s 15 tracks, it’s likely to be passed over as filler by more casual Swifties.
But it also is the most perceptive and unabashedly romantic song of
the singer’s new era. Like Look, the lyrics play heavily into her soured reputation, as she laments that “my castle crumbled overnight” and “all the liars are calling me one /nobody’s heard from me for months” (seemingly referencing her prolonged absence from the spotlight after her public feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian).
Just when you think Call It is going to be another petty revenge anthem, it pivots into more affectionate territory. Swift assures us that she’s “doing better than I ever was,” spending the rest of the song showering praises on her supportive mystery beau who’s “fit like a daydream” and “loves me like I’m brand new” (rumored to be actor Joe Alwyn).
“I want to wear his initial on a chain around my neck ... not because he owns me,” she says, giving the ballad a decidedly feminist bent. “But ’cause he really knows me.”
Call It What You Want is unlikely to change the minds of fans who think Swift’s Reputation output so far has been lackluster. But for a love song that nimbly toes the line between sincere and saccharine, it’s a surprisingly effective and grown-up new effort.