Taylor Swift - Evermore (LP)

Label: Republic Records – B0033410-01
Format: LP
Country: US
Released: May 28, 2021
Genre: Rock, Pop, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Alternative Rock, Folk Rock, Pop Rock

Evermore (stylized in all lowercase) is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on December 11, 2020, through Republic Records, less than five months after the singer's eighth studio album, Folklore. Evermore was a spontaneous product of Swift's extended collaboration with her Folklore co-producer Aaron Dessner, with whom she developed a creative chemistry.

Swift launched Evermore as a surprise album alike Folklore's release, dubbing them as sister records. She described Evermore as an offshoot of "the folklorian woods", which is an escapist, cottagecore-inspired, alternative music direction she first conceived with Folklore in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, Evermore is an alternative rock, folk-pop, and chamber rock record, carried by wintry compositions of fingerpicked guitars, somber pianos, lavish strings and sparse percussions. Its subject matter is built around impressionist storytelling and mythopoeia, comprising tales of love, marriage, infidelity, and grief, arranged like an anthology. American bands Bon Iver, Haim, and the National contribute guest vocals.

Earning widespread acclaim from music critics, Evermore was praised for its character studies, experimental production, and Swift's nuanced, expressive vocal performances. Reviews regarded the album a sequel or a counterpart to Folklore. Evermore was listed by various publications in their year-end rankings of the best albums of 2020, and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.

The album reached number one in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Republic Records reported more than a million copies of Evermore sold in its first week globally. It was Swift's eighth consecutive Billboard 200 number-one debut, and marked the shortest gap between two number-one albums by a female act in Australia and the US, and the fastest accumulation of six number-ones in the UK by a female act. In the US, its tracks "Willow", "No Body, No Crime" and "Coney Island" impacted the pop, country, and alternative radio stations, respectively; "Willow" became Swift's seventh Billboard Hot 100 number-one song and her second in 2020 after "Cardigan", making her the first ever act to simultaneously debut atop both Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts two times. Evermore was 2021's best-selling alternative music album in the US and Americana album in the UK.