Reviews

After a decade of reining over country and pop, Taylor Swift surprised the world with a completely new album—Folklore. Switching out pop rhythms and fun beats for simplistic melodies and natural sounds, Taylor astonished her fans with another genre change, something she hasn’t done since embracing pop in her album 1989. With this new alternative/indie album, a new era of Taylor has come to take over, and it's wearing plaid and braided buns.

Folklore is unprecedented in Taylor Swift history in countless ways, but first notably is how she announced the album. Instead of her trademarked easter eggs and release of a single before the drop of the album, Taylor posted the news on Instagram hours before the music hit streaming services. The post contained the album cover of Folklore, a black and white picture of Taylor in the middle of the woods encompassing the new folk persona she has taken on. As intricately as everything else Taylor does, she announced the album sixteen hours before the release, the amount of tracks on the album being the same number. On these tracks, Taylor has a completely different sound of mellow tunes driven by piano and guitar. She continues with her role of storyteller prevalent throughout her singer/songwriter career, yet in the past she focused on sharing her personal experiences with relationships, struggles, and victories. In this new album, she changes her point of view to include different characters and perspectives. This approach gives the music a new maturity Taylor hasn’t had before.

The most brilliant part of Folklore is the lyricism. Taylor accomplished a songwriting feat with sixteen masterpieces, each with a convoluted story and complex message. One of her songs, “Betty,” is influenced by her roots with a country twang and told from the perspective of a seventeen year old figuring out themselves and their relationship. Another, “The Last Great American Dynasty,” shows Taylor’s true storytelling talents as it follows socialite Rebekah Harkness’ extravagant life and brilliantly connects to present Taylor who lives in Harkness’ old holiday house. The song “My Tears Ricochet” expressed the hurt and anguish that comes from a betrayal not by an enemy, but a friend. This song, written solely by Taylor, was crowned the spot of Track 5 on the album. The range shown through these songs is unparalleled by many and goes to show the songwriting genius that Taylor is.

Colourpop is known for its big name collaborations. This was no exception, as on October 29, they released their newest collaboration with Disney and Lucasfilm, a nine pan eyeshadow palette named, “The Child.” As one could guess, it's focused around the hit show, “The Mandalorian.” Thus, it features an adorable cartoon-esc depiction of Baby Yoda, following the name given to him from the show.

The palette's outer packaging is adorned with one of the show's most beloved characters, affectionately nicknamed "Baby Yoda" by the internet when becoming a viral meme. The art style of the packaging also ties in with the makeup brands previous Disney collaborations, which all had a similar art style for their respective properties. The coloring of the packaging, while obviously matching the real character design, in its tans and light greens, also matches the inside of the interior color scheme of the actual shadows.

Seeing as it is advertised as one of the brand's monochromatic nine pan palettes they are known for, specifically being advertised as “olive green,” it is to be expected that most of the palette, 5/9 shades to be exact, are various greens. However, due to the madness of the colors, they are still really wearable for more subdued looks for an everyday wear, especially with the addition of a dark brown, peach, and cream.