“Evermore" is a brilliant assemblage of messy adult emotions covering love, anger, depression, resignation, and hope. Gone is the Maschine-driven power pop of “1989", “Reputation”, and “Lover”, replaced with an almost spoken-word delivery and sonic production palette full of organic instrumental textures that offset the cutting honesty of Taylor's lyrics. The absolute standout track is “Closure”, a jerky, quixotic 5/4-meter masterpiece punctuated with an acid-washed metallic percussion kit that underpins a soft-pedal acoustic piano and Taylor’s controlled, conversational, brutally frank vocal. Its narrative revolves around the singer’s outright refusal to grant the singee a simplistic mediagenic public resolution to their past-tense intimate relationship by exposing the singee’s request for “closure” as a cynical, selfish attempt at reputation management in one of the album’s finest couplets : "I know I'm just a wrinkle in your new life / Staying friends would iron it out so nice.” As the sound of musical wreckage keeps time underneath, Taylor embraces her “spite” and “tears” as the only useful remnants left from a union gone bad. “I don’t need your closure,” indeed.
Overall, “Evermore” is Taylor's “Nebraska”, a masterwork of songwriting and production in which Taylor sets fire to her brand and reinvents as an unfiltered truth-teller transitioning from celebrity pop-star to a music artist of her own making. “Evermore”—and its companion, “Folklore”—are sets that will long stand the test of time. Turning 32 never sounded better.
