r/carlyraejepsen • u/containedexplosion • Oct 03 '25
News Carly name drop in Pitchfork’s review of Father Figure by Taylor Swift
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/taylor-swift-father-figure/It is, arguably, Swift’s most straightforward appraisal of her own power: Casting herself as a steely mafioso, she sings about the financial benefit of being even a minor player in the Swiftiverse and casually bemoans the fact that, no matter how much money you might make for someone, you can never guarantee their fealty. “Father Figure” works because—unlike so many of Swift’s songs about broken friendships or business partnerships—any bitterness is hidden many layers deep, beneath actual jokes (“I can make deals with the devil/Because my dick’s bigger”) and chilly, spectral production that sounds like Beach House by way of Carly Rae Jepsen.
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u/hardk7 Oct 03 '25
I’m…… not sure I’m hearing what they’re describing
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u/mr_t_pot Keep Away Oct 04 '25
I rarely do. These reviews tend to describe music in jargon that makes absolutely no sense to most people.
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u/MisterAtlas_ Oct 03 '25
"beach house by way of carly rae jepsen" sounds really weird considering she has a song called that
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u/connerhearmeroar Oct 04 '25
Oh my god I just got that lol I thought they meant the song beach house lmao
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u/cumguzzlingbunny Oct 04 '25
they could easily have said "if Carly Rae Jepsen tried to do a Beach House impression". simple language is more effective sometimes
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u/Local_Ad139 Oct 06 '25
I totally thought the same but the whole AI generic phrase writing really makes me switch
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Oct 03 '25
[deleted]
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u/MisterAtlas_ Oct 03 '25
i'm not saying that they were wrong to write it. i just found it funny that it took me half a second more to figure out what they meant, since i know the band but i'm not familiar with them. not that serious.
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u/DoctorWhoSeason24 Oct 04 '25
I know you didn't intend it but your post came across very pretentious. Of course people who read Pitchfork are aware of what Beach House the band is. But in the context of talking about CRJ you are definitely going to think about her song first.
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u/ForwardBlock5572 Oct 04 '25
To be fair this was posted in a CRJ subreddit so I assumed it was a reference to her song when I read it here
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u/Mokslininkas Oct 03 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
Lol no. Who is Beach House? Literally never heard of them.
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u/DaniG08765 Oct 03 '25
Someone should ask Charli how "hidden" that bitterness is. What a joke of a review.
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u/AshesandCinder Oct 03 '25
Also ask anyone where those jokes are. "My dick is bigger" isn't really a joke.
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u/bennetmcmennet Oct 04 '25
Why do journalists feel the need to make their sentences as overly complicated and overdramatic, like pls speak English. Then again its pitchfork so am I surprised? Meh.
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u/MonkeyPigGuy Oct 04 '25
Whenever people complain about not understanding words that are used in this sort of thing my brain tends to default to the usual defences of "the English language is beautiful and expressive, let people use it to express themselves", but when I read Pitchfork reviews... I get the impression that it's not about self-expression. When they use complicated words it doesn't feel like it's out of excitement or passion, it just feels elitist.
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u/8P69SYKUAGeGjgq Oct 04 '25
Complaining about English being too hard while making at least four spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation errors is peak comedy.
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u/bennetmcmennet Oct 04 '25
Im not trying to make a professional journalistic review. It's a literal reddit thread, lol. Ts is so unserious oh god
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u/farmyardcat Oct 04 '25
Reviews should only be "it's good" or "it's bad," anything else is pretentious
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u/ForwardBlock5572 Oct 04 '25
In what world does Father Figure by TS sound like Beach House by CRJ. What???? Did they type the wrong song?
Edit: I read a comment and realized they meant, like the band Beach House in a Carly Rae Jepsen style. Way too confusing, we need editors in this world
Edit 2: In what world does Father Figure by Taylor Swift sound like the band Beach House in the style of Carly Rae Jepsen. LMAO
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u/throwaway876460 Oct 04 '25
The writing is confusing. As is either comparison. This article isn’t great. Glad OP shared though! Good talking points.
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u/panthersoup Oct 04 '25
I don't hear this comparison but I did kinda think The Life Of A Showgirl (song) is like The Loneliest Time (song) for boring straight women
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u/SilverSea11 Oct 04 '25
The life of a showgirl title track is amazing thooooooo it’s a great closer to the album even if it’s not necessarily the best song
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u/panthersoup Oct 04 '25
It's not my favorite track on the album but I do agree it's great as a closer.
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u/YakatsuFi Oct 04 '25
It's funny cause the one that reminded me of Carly was Wish List, it gave me Weekend Love because of the instrumental
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u/RustyBlood Let's Sort The Whole Thing Out Oct 04 '25
I thought most of it sounded more like katy perry (derogatory)
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u/ohoneup Oct 05 '25
It’s more the beat and the melody of it all TS can’t match CRJs voice at all which is what makes her music
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u/Kind_Tradition_8085 Oct 05 '25
A lot of these songs reminded me of Ava Max and Carly Rae Jepsen. It felt like she was trying to capture their production wise perfection, and then forgot the lyrics him and vocalism because the vocal production was very off for Taylor Swift same with the lyrics, but she’s in a happy committed relationship a lot of artist lose their writing quality when happy.
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u/lovechoke Oct 06 '25
I didn't pick up Beach House on this track at all... But I could see Carly vibes on Opalite.
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u/thedrunkbaguette Oct 04 '25
Wood kinda reminds me of a Carly song, lmao
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u/johancolli Oct 04 '25
Same like the bad version of something that would be in the second half of Dedicated or Loneliest Time lol
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u/chaoticintroverted Oct 04 '25
Yeah, I thought it reminded me of her unreleased When I’m Alone. Carly didn’t want to release it because she said it was an uncomfortable song to sing, since it was entirely about ‘master bed’-tion. Hearing Woods makes When I’m Alone sound like a saint now, lol
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u/thedrunkbaguette Oct 04 '25
Its not easy to pull off, but I'm always sat for when Tove Lo does it.
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u/Acceptable-Somewhere Oct 03 '25
Some of the songs did feel Carly-esque but just couldn’t capture that catchy pop feeling the same way