Emma Swift recently released Blonde on the Tracks, an eight song LP of various Bob Dylan covers spanning his varied career. In early August she released the official video for “You’re a Big Girl Now,” which pays some serious homage to famed graphic designer Milton Glaser. It’s a fitting stylistic choice given that Glaser designed this iconic Dylan poster included in thee 1967 Greatest Hits package. Swift is paying double Dylan homage, quite cleverly.
My familiarity with Dylan’s catalog is woefully inept. I’m either the worst person to review a Dylan cover or the best, as I come with nearly no context, no baggage and no conceptions about what the song should sound like. If you’re a massive Dylan fan, you may have severe musical criticisms to make here as Swift deviates from the original but I’m blissfully ignorant to all of that.
What I can tell you is that the track is a richly layered undertaking that evokes a warm, self-reflective feeling that opens up into an optimistic bliss. A slow burner that carries you from a melancholy mood to a hopeful place. Lyrically, it’s a love song lamenting time apart but with Swift’s version, that distance resolves in a sweet smirk.