We’re a couple months removed from the release of Taylor Swift’s pop culture atomic bomb of an album, and I’ve been looking back on what could’ve been done differently. She reaches for so many great themes on this record only to fall flat with sloppy writing and bland production. But I’m here to guide you through some of my favorite female songwriters that take Swift’s ideas and expand them into fully formed musical worlds.

In this special dual edition, I compare songs I've listened to throughout the last two months, plus take a trip to The Met for this month's album.

This month was defined by summer album listening, Kayla Pincus, and returning to things that didn’t grab me the first time around.