Taylor Swift’s “Don’t Blame Me” is the Place Where Reputation Fully Clicks

Taylor Swift’s “Don’t Blame Me” is the Place Where Reputation Fully Clicks
2017 DIRECTV NOW Super Saturday Night Concert In Houston - Taylor Swift Performance
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It might have been hard to approach Taylor Swift’s Reputation with an open mind, given how subpar the lead singles were, from the overdone camp of “Look What You Made Me Do” to the middle-of-the-road “Gorgeous.” Nothing, it seemed, would stack up to the pop breakthrough of 1989—to say nothing of her previous albums—despite the return of Max Martin’s sleight of hand and the signature punchy sound of Jack Antonoff.

Forget about all that. Reputation is, aside from the laughably misguided choice in singles, a return to that well-crafted pop sound and, aside from all the gossip-baiting lyrical material, an interesting exploration of Swift’s imperfect life as a 27-year-old woman. Standout track “Don’t Blame Me” covers the same thematic…