This album has a special place in my heart, even if it isn’t musically my favorite of Taylor’s works (1989 is).

I got into 1989 two years after its release, so I became a Taylor fan during the drought/silence and looked forward to Rep SO much, as it was my first experience getting to look forward to a new album cycle as a fan.

When Rep was released, I had a mini listening party by myself at midnight with a bottle of wine. At the time I was deeply lonely, and deeply in love with someone who had moved across an ocean from me and didn’t know when he could return. I was in a rough spot with many friends, alienating them in a spell of what I now realize was moderate depression. Every track on Rep struck just the right note with me for whatever weird, isolated headspace was in, and I remember getting chills and feeling almost like I glittered that night, listening to those new tracks in the dark. Unforgettable experience.