The Daily 202: Taylor Swift’s new album ends on a hopeful note – with echoes of Emily Dickinson
James Hohmann
with Mariana Alfaro
Taylor Swift has recorded and released two albums since President Trump and Congress last passed coronavirus relief.
“I've been down since July,” the pop star announces at the start of the title track for “Evermore,” her surprise new CD that dropped at midnight. “I had a feeling so peculiar that this pain would be forevermore.”
The five-minute song takes listeners on a journey from the depths of pandemic-induced melancholy to a feeling of reassurance that things cannot possibly stay this bad. The piano ballad leaves you with a sense of hope for the future. Perhaps it will emerge as the anthem for 2020.