A Cornucopia Of Leaks for us Peasants (Patreon)

As you all surely know, the leaks that we were receiving in bits and pieces and snippets have finally all come out in their entireties! Although Castles Crumbling is still a missing soldier (I saw one person who had a link, but those who downloaded it said it was a troll and that the song was fake and NOT Taylor) we did receive Need (Lover reject), All of the Girls (Lover reject), Drama Queen (Speak Now or Fearless reject), and bafflingly enough to me, This Is What You Came For demo with Taylor on vocals instead of Miss Rihanna.

Getting this many decent songs all at once is sort of overwhelming honestly, even though the quality of most of them is ummmm shall we say not fantastic!!!

Starting with All of the Girls, because that's the one I wanted the most desperately, I maintain the pre-chorus is the best part of the entire song. The sentiment of the song is really cute and sweet, and it definitely feels like a song she mined for inspiration when writing Invisible String, in that it's about how she feels all of their individual choices ultimately lead up to them winding up together. As much as I like it, I'm not sure it's a spectacularly special song - the production is nothing fantastic, and the writing is good but I almost feel like this song could've been on 1989, because the writing feels young. Still a super cute song, and I think it could've easily taken the place of some of the flops that actually wound up on Lover. Overall rating from me is a 7.5/10!!! My favorite line from the song is : "your past and mine are parallel lines, the stars all aligned, and they intertwined." Although what's funny is apparently Joe said he never had a very serious girlfriend before Taylor because he was focusing on his "craft" (????) so Taylor is really sat there talking about like idk two ladies from high school and college that were like ships passing in the night in the grand scheme of things. Still, it's a cute song about how experiences with other people make you who you are and teach you life lessons, so you're more prepared when you do meet the one you're meant to be with. Meanwhile, I'd hunt and kill Mason's exes for sport. Taylor and I are not the same.

Now, onto Drama Queen. This song literally reeks like the interim between Fearless and Speak Now, like it STINKS of the kind of songwriting she was doing around that time, which is not a bad thing - it was actually super nostalgic to listen to it. It's reminiscent of Permanent Marker and I Heart ? and R E V E N G E, three utter camp classics in the Taylor catalogue that are immature in essence and really display that "I'm writing your name in my burn book" style of writing she was super into as a young woman and young girl...and kinda now as a grown woman too... I think if I had heard this song when I was seventeen I would have blasted into fucking orbit. It's got that scream this into my hairbrush alone in my bedroom type of vibe. It's catchy as hell, and while not my favorite, I do have to give it its flowers for taking me back to my teenage girlhood. My favorite line from the song is "I'm a little over it and she's still not me," because of the cunt of it all. Overall, I give it 6/10!!

The This Is What You Came For demo really gagged me, mostly because I wasn't expecting it to be part of this link. When I got it I was like what the FUCK is this??? LIKE WHAT IS THIS...It came out of the clear blue fucking sky!!!!!!!!!! I've never thought that much about having an all Taylor version of this song because while it's a great pop-dance song, it's not a song I listen to very often. Plus, Rihanna's version is fantastic. There was no hole in my life. However, now that I have it, you'll have to rip it out of my cold dead hands...really, really good vocals, like some sexy hot stuff going on in my eardrums when I listen to it...8/10!!!

Now...onto....this bitch who had a lot to say about me the other day in the press, Need, what's good???????????? This song goes fucking nuts for absolutely no reason. The leak is sort of mid quality, not as bad as AOTG, not as good as TIWYCM, and it makes me wanna kermit, because I can tell that if it had its full power, the chorus would go so much fucking harder. It's so muted and that makes me psycho because I want to feel it surrounding me like the ocean dragging me down into the depths. This is the one that really is like, are you fucking kidding me you cut this from the record? You cut this for what? The Man? FOR WHAT???? The writing itself is so so so so good, and different - using different nouns like passion, lust, longing, fear, desire, danger, all to build up to the ultimate experience of absolutely needing someone like air is fucking ballistic. It's also insanely sexy. Like now this song is about fucking...call it what you want...also the imagery used, cigarette smoke on a jacket you wore to the bad part of town is she nuts??? I'm genuinely asking...I'm asking if everything is okay at home. Like it's so hot for no reason. I don't generally think of Taylor songs of sexy, even the ones that indisputably are, like Wildest Dreams or Sparks Fly, but something about this one is really horny. That's all there is to it. I need the HQ immediately it's literally a need you guys. It would've fit perfectly onto Lover.

With AOTG and Need, I can sort of see this image of a better Lover. A shorter, more concise, really genius pop record about all the elements of Love with Need as one of the flagship songs - want, desire, passion, lust, longing, the fear of losing someone, the danger of falling in love, the pain of a break up, all of it without the useless filler songs that ruin the entire vibe of the record. My new Lover tracklist wouldn't have The Man, and it wouldn't have Me!, but it certainly would have AOTG and Need on it. I think her goal of having another massive pop record overshadowed her vision of what the album should have been. Need shows me that so well. No, Need wouldn't have been a number one worldwide hit, but it's a fucking great song. My overall rating for Need is 9/10, I think it could go to 10 if only I had it in HQ and the end didn't fade out!!!

What do you guys think?

- Madeline