What went wrong with the Lover era? (Part 1). The singles analysis: a thread.

disclaimer: this thread is my own personal opinion and it´s a straightfoward summary just about the bad singles choices during the Lover era;

Lover is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on August 23, 2019 by Republic Record. Despite being a beautiful art of work and receiving rave reviews, Swift´s singles of the Lover era was quite questionable

Starting off by the announcement of the lead single, ME!. Taylor started teasing fans with a countdown to April 26 across her social media platforms. Such step was a brilliant marketing strategy due to the fact that she made her fans and general public hyped for the new era

However, when creating a high expectation, you have to satisfy the general necessities, and that was when the problem aroused. The lead single ME! didn´t satisfy the hype created and received mixed reviews both from fans and critics.

The song in general was considered a step back in Miss Swift career due to the childish and bubble gum lyrics and It was quite obvious that Taylor intended to make a "shake it off 2.0"

Despite breaking the record for the biggest single-week jump in the chart's history, Me! peaked at number-two on the US Billboard Hot 100. A disapointing result toward such a hyped release and a factor due to success of Old town road and the critical reception of ME!

The next single off the album was You need to calm down, a cupcake and quite a mediocre song. The song was considered an 'internet bully clapback' and a 'shoutout to the LGBTQ+ community'.

Following the curse, the song debuted at 2 on the hot 100, a factor due again to immense success of Old town road and the critical reception of You need to calm down. Overall, it wasn´t something expected from someone as in Taylor´s level of artistry.

The 2 singles and their music videos didn´t seem to be cohesive or even explain the concept of the album and unfortunately that made her fans question the new era and assume her decline was arriving, aka, her flop moment.

To progress her campaign for the Lover era, Taylor released "The Archer" as a promotional single during an instagram live stream on a Tuesday. "The Archer is not the next single, this is just sort of a glimpse into another side of the album I wanted to show you" said Taylor

The notable track five made fans and critics realize once again how Swift´s lyricism set her apart from a superficial pop star image. On the Billboard Hot 100, it debuted at number 69, eventually peaking at number 38. The song also gave breath to the dying hype of the era.

On August 16, 2019, Swift realised Lover. Solely written by Swift and co-produced with Jack Antonoff, Lover was an indie-folk ballad song and received critical acclaim for its songwriting and retro sensibility, being placed on every year-end lists of best songs of 2019.

"Lover" debuted at 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following the release of the song's music video and the album Lover, the song rose nine positions to a peak of number 10, becoming Swift's 25th top 10 hit on the chart, tying her with Elvis Presley.

Choosing Lover as a single wasn´t the best strategic step for a commercial success, mostly because the remaining hype left was focused mainly on the album. But somehow that helped miss Swift get a nomination for song of the year at the grammys, which she ended up losing.

3 months later, on November 13, 2019, Taylor announced the surprise release of a remixed version of Lover, a worthless "colaborashawn". The remix was met with positive reviews and was nominated for best remix at the iheart music awards.

After the release of the Lover album, The Man was mostly fans favorite for the next single. Yet, Tyler Swift released "The Man" as a single after 5 months, in January 2020.

However, the hype for the song had already been in the grave. The overall satisfying music video was released on February 27, 2020. The song peaked at number 23 Billboard Hot 100 and won for Best Direction at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards.

In general, singles create a greater expectation for the era and album, unfortunately the singles chosen by Taylor ended up camouflaging the beautiful art of the album and the era, a decision that made some of her fans consider it as her worst album when that isnt true