Review: Taylor Swift's surprise new album is ever-good

Two days before Taylor Swift's 31st birthday Dec. 13, she gifted the world with a new album, "Evermore" — her second record in less than five months.

"Folklore," released in late July, is the biggest seller of 2020 as well as a towering critical favorite. Rolling Stone, Time, Pitchfork and the Los Angeles Times have already named it the year's best, and it's the betting favorite to win the Grammy for album of the year.

Never one to turn off her creativity, Swift dropped "Evermore" late Thursday night on 13 hours' notice (her favorite number). The singer-songwriter is calling it a "sister" to "Folklore."

Well, it comes off as a younger sister — one who is a bit more of a free spirit but still sad, reeling from a broken engagement, a dalliance while married and other affairs of the heart.

But don't interpret it as an autobiographical work, even though Swift is known to skewer her exes in song. She's reportedly lucky in love these days, and her boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn, co-wrote three selections here under the pseudonym William Bowery.

Sonically and psychically akin to "Folklore," "Evermore" again relies heavily on producer/songwriter Aaron Dessner of the National as well as Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, his Eau Claire crew and two Twin Cities cronies, drummer JT Bates and synth player Ryan Olson.

New guests Haim, the beloved pop sister trio from Los Angeles, join for the song "No Body No Crime," which is equal parts Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" and a Nashville revenge song. The National's lead singer Matt Berninger lends his distinctive baritone to "Coney Island," an impressionistic pop apology with such culled-from-the-notebook images as "we were like the mall before the internet — it was the one place to be."

Swift fires off some typical top-shelf Taylor lines in " 'Tis the Damn Season," about a hometown hookup in which "you can call me babe for the weekend." In the piano ballad "Tolerate It," she obsesses over an older, wiser indiscreet lover, to whom she proclaims "a love should be celebrated but you tolerate it."

In the skittering piano piece "Closure," she acknowledges receiving a Dear Jane letter, insists she's doing better but, with a faux British accent, croons "I don't need your closure."

Swift's confusion about the complexities of amour peaks in the album's highlight, "Happiness," a haunting, hushed reflection on a "I would have loved you for a lifetime" romance. She asks: "When did your winning smile begin to look like a smirk?" Well, she has matured through this seven-year relationship. "You haven't met the new me yet," she declares. "There'll be happiness after me." For him and for her.

At 15 songs (17 in the deluxe version), "Evermore" is ever-long. The album would not have been diminished without the protracted banjo plaint "Ivy," the sing-songy "Gold Rush," with its echoes of Imogen Heap, and the childhood-flashback piano ditty "Dorothea," which could be a step cousin to "Betty" on "Folklore."

It's too early to tell if "Evermore" and "Folklore" will be a sister act that plays well in one sitting. At least, the title track on the new album provides a feel-good moment as 2020 comes to a close. A duet with Vernon that is the disc's finale, this minimalist chamber pop piece could be as much about the pandemic as about a nevermore relationship.

Swift frowns about being down in July: "I had a feeling so peculiar that this pain would be for evermore." But, by December, "I'm feeling onward," she assures. Aren't we all hoping for that feeling.

Twitter: @JonBream • 612-673-1719