Lover: Live From Paris by Taylor Swift // Heart Shaped Vinyl
Lover: Live From Paris was recorded in September of 2019 at Olympia Theater in Paris, France - which stands as Taylor Swift's only full-length concert performance of this album at the time it was released. What a more fitting place than in the City of Love! Lover, which was written as a love letter to love itself, represented a fresh start and the first page in a new chapter of her career. The recording of the performance was released in May 2020 as a Disney+ special called Taylor Swift: City of Lover, along with the live album on streaming platforms. Only eight of the songs she performed that night are on this album, which excludes every other song she sang from her other albums at the show.
It is such an incredible performance, some of the live versions from this album I actually prefer to the original studio versions. The live version of "Death By A Thousand Cuts" in particular is an all-time career highlight, there is just so much passion and emotion in her voice as she performs this acoustic rendition of the song. The bridge is especially amazing, I am so in awe of it every time I listen to this song. Structurally, it is one of the strongest examples of her incredible songwriting talents.
"Cornelia Street" is also so perfect in every way and another one of my favorite songs Taylor has ever made. Just like "Death By A Thousand Cuts", Taylor performed it acoustically on this live album, which gives the song a whole new perspective with this stripped back arrangement. It very much personifies all of the anxieties and fears that lie underneath many of these very beautiful, heartfelt love songs that make up so much of Lover. She sings about the fear of this relationship ending before it hardly even began, terrified of heartache she will be left with in the aftermath. I love the way she sings, "Baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name" and the emotion in her voice as she says, "I don't wanna lose you".
Many of those same fears also carry into one of my favorite songs ever, "The Archer". It feels like this is who Taylor is underneath it all, it is amongst her most inherently personal and introspective songs she has ever released. It is so honest and vulnerable, really stripping back the layers of every part of herself. It holds so much sentimentality for me for so many reasons that I always think of when I hear it. The energy of the live performance only further heightens those emotions and the sentiments behind this song, especially the part when she repeatedly wonders "Who could stay?" to which she says, "You could stay". It gives me goosebumps to listen to this version of the song, I love it so much.
This live album features all four of Lover's singles, "ME!", "You Need To Calm Down", "The Man" and of course the stunning title track "Lover". Lover features some of the most beautiful love songs she has ever written, which is saying a lot since that topic has been her specialty for nearly two decades now. "Lover" is truly the heart of this album and the song that she shaped the entire era around. It has such a simple and beautiful chorus, one that is truly so timeless and among the best she ever made. "Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close? Forever and ever," she sings in the chorus. "Lover" is so warm and intimate, with a glittering romanticism that only she can put into words in such a way. This performance reflects those qualities so beautifully.
The timing of the streaming release in 2020 is so interesting to look back on now because by that point she was already deep in the metaphorical folklorian woods with her collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, working on her first of two surprise pandemic albums that she would release just a couple of months later. I suppose at the time, this live album was kind of a consolation for cancelling the tour due to the pandemic, but little did we know what else Taylor had in store during the rest of that very cruel summer. Due to the pandemic cutting the Lover era short and all supporting shows were cancelled, up until The Eras Tour started about three years later, this was the first and only time she ever performed much of this music up to that point.
On Valentine's Day in 2023, Taylor finally released a physical version of this album - on a stunning heart shaped disc! It was the vinyl of my dreams! It's easily the most beautiful vinyl she has ever made, but it was very limited and sold out almost immediately. The first pressing ended up being the rarest record Taylor has probably ever released, only maybe to be rivaled by some of her 2018 Record Store Day pressings. The original Lover: Live From Paris heart-shaped vinyl discs were among the most coveted and sought after records she has ever made, with resale prices going up into the thousands for some. I missed out on it the first time around all those years ago and have been long awaiting the day for her to repress it.
I anticipated the repress of this record for two years and on a random Tuesday in January 2025, the day finally came where Taylor released a new pressing of them! This time they were far less limited (apparently about 160,000 were sold), so many that have been wanting it were finally able to have it. The re-release of Lover: From Paris also made it become the highest-selling live album of all time.
I'm so happy to have this in my record collection now, I love this live album so much. Like I said, some of these recordings are the very best songs Taylor has ever released and among my favorites of all time. I say this with a lot of the vinyl posts I share on here (and I mean it every time!) but this is truly one of my very favorite records I own.
This is also the only record I ever owned that isn't a standard circular vinyl, but actually cut into the shape of a heart! I'm very happy the repressing was also heart shaped like the original was in 2023.
If you're wondering how a heart shaped record works, it is essentially a 10" vinyl that works the same as any other would. There are two songs on each side of the discs and the grooves are right in the middle around the center label, as it usually is. The rest of the heart is just empty space, there's no grooves on it. All you need to do is adjust your needle to play a 10" vinyl as you would with any other record of that size.
This is one several live albums and concert specials she has released through the years, but the first that was ever officially pressed on vinyl. There are many many many unofficial pressings of her other live albums and random compilations out there too, a couple of which I have myself, but for now this is the only one she has ever released herself.
Honestly, I'm happy to have waited all this time because I personally love the newer pressings so much more than the original. The pink and yellow swirl on the first disc, as well as the pink and blue swirl on the second disc beautifully capture the stunning sunset backdrop from the original Lover album cover. I love the way each side of the heart looks so different than the other side of the disc. The way she was able to capture that aesthetic of the original album and translate those elements into this special release is so perfect. The Lover era is one of my favorites ever for how bright and colorful everything was, it was such a beautiful reflection of the music and the chapter of her life that inspired it.
Thanks for reading! If you're interested in reading more of my reviews about Taylor Swift's music, check out my full review of Lover that I wrote for the five year anniversary in 2024, as well as a 12" vinyl picture disc of "ME!" + song review, as well as my experience seeing so many of the original costumes and props from the era at the Taylor Swift: Storyteller exhibit in New York City back in 2023. Many more album and vinyl reviews are linked below and coming soon, so be sure to come back to check those out! I have a very extensive collection of Taylor's music on vinyl, so if there is any other particular pressing you'd like to see next, let me know! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day! 💘💓💞❣️💗💌💖
All photos are my own!
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