Taylor Swift has been making music since she was 16 years old. Considering that she’ll be 30 in December, she’s been making music for longer than it takes someone to go through elementary school, middle school and high school combined. Throughout the years, she has crafted seven studio albums that have been the soundtrack to so many people’s lives.

Whether you love her music or not, you’ve got to admit that Swift knows how to create a catchy song. Her latest album, “Lover,” was released Aug. 23 and is chock full of catchy beats. 

Swift has often been criticized for making songs that are direct references to exes, making it seem like she is only capable of writing songs like “Dear John” or “Style.” On “Lover,” Swift tries to explain that she’s grown up a little bit. The music on this album has an odd mixture of growing up while also retaining classic Taylor Swift themes. She isn’t just writing pointed songs about her exes anymore like she did on “Speak Now” and “Fearless,” but instead, attempts to tackle more grown up topics like self-love, her mother’s illness and actually falling (and staying) in love. 

“Lover” is similar to “1989” in the sense that there are lots of highs and lows during the album, but it seems like the “grown-up” version. In the titular song on her “Red” album, Swift describes loving her partner as “red” and “ending so suddenly.” In “Daylight,” the last song on “Lover,” Swift seems to have found a new approach to how she sees love. 

“Lover” is an interesting album because of the way Swift is trying to escape the persona she crafted during her “Reputation” album. While there are definitely some songs that resemble her last album like “I Forgot You Existed,” there are also some songs that pay homage to her even older work, such as “Paper Rings.” She isn’t trying to be “New Taylor” or “Old Taylor,” but is instead trying to find some sort of middle ground between both personas. 

Sitting and listening through 18 tracks of Taylor Swift was definitely an experience. Listening to all of the songs on her album at once was both a little frustrating and entertaining; while her songs don’t necessarily tell a solid story throughout the entire album, each song itself contained a story.

Taylor has definitely done some growing up, but this album makes her seem more like a real person instead of just a pop icon. She gets personal in these songs. While I might not sit down and listen to the whole album again in one sitting, I definitely will be adding some of these songs to a few of my Spotify playlists.