She's barely 30, and has already put out her seventh album, adding two No 1 songs to her chart records. Over the past decade, Taylor Swift has been a favourite of the younger generation, specially with the country-inflected synth-pop-laced album ‘1989’, released five years ago. Naturally, we greet her latest collection ‘Lover’ with huge expectation.

However, on initial listening, one wonders why she chose to do 18 songs spread over 62 minutes. It's fine to be written about for creating the longest album in her career, but the downside is that half of it is just filler material lacking direction. Swift has a limited vocal range, and happily uses the formula employed in 1989, staying away from the hip-hop styling and cynicism of her 2017 record ‘reputation’.

If there's something fresh about ‘Lover’, it comes in the form of just a few tracks. In some ways, they boost The overall effort. The title song, which should be lapped up by the teenage audience, is a balladsy country waltz reminiscent of Mazzy Star. Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince is a smoothly-constructed protest number with the lines “Who seems to care? American stories burning before me. The damsels are depressed, Boys will be boys then, where are the wise men?”

On The Man, Swift sings about how the world will think of her if she was a man, whereas You Need To Calm Down addresses LGBT issues. The two best cuts are Soon You'll Get Better with Dixie Chicks, where she sings about her parents’ battle with cancer, and the very uncharacteristic It's Nice To Have A Friend, with its smooth strings, tubular bells, sudden trumpet burst and supple back-up vocals.

The rest of ‘Lover’ ping-pongs between the average and boring. On the opening track I Forgot That You Existed she tells her ex that “It isn't love, it isn't hate, it's only indifference.” Predictable lines, with a tune that she’s done often before. Worse, she repeats the same tune and machine drum flow on I Think He Knows.

Me!, featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco, may have topped the charts, but it's an out-of-place piece of cacophony. Finally, one feels sorry for The Archer, which builds up steadily and has a catchy hook but ends so abruptly, making you feel you're hanging in the air.

The net result is that Swift seems content to sticking to a solution that has worked before. She’s undoubtedly one of the biggest success stories in contemporary pop, and is sure to ride high on that glory. But as a musician, there’s hardly any evolution. A little more diversity and depth on her next album would be welcome.

Genre: Pop

Label: Republic Records/ Universal

Rating: ** 1/2

Reviewed by Narendra Kusnur

Narendra Kusnur is one of India’s best known music journalists. Born with a musical spoon, so to speak, Naren, who dubs himself Kaansen, is a late bloomer in music criticism. He was (is!) an aficionado first, and then strayed into writing on music. But in the last two decades, he has made up for most of what he didn’t do earlier.