Last week, I began my ridiculous mission of ranking the songs on every single one of Taylor Swift’s ten studio albums in advance of her eleventh, coming next week. I highly recommend you go back and check that one out first to hear a bit more about my thought process going into this project, but otherwise all you’ll be missing is my rankings of Taylor’s first five albums – from her self-titled debut up through 1989.
I also promised last week to share a fully updated playlist of my top 100 Taylor Swift songs this week, and I have delivered. Based on my rankings in this post and last week, I’ve combined it into a “condensed” playlist of all of my favorites of hers right now. Might be a nice way to get into her discography, (or convert one of your non-Swiftie friends if you’ve already drank the Kool-Aid.)
Preamble aside, let’s get to those rankings.
reputation (2017)
15. This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
While I have come to really love reputation, in many ways which I will no doubt explain as I talk about the songs on it, I do think that sometimes it gets just a tad bit repetitive. As silly and fun as this song is, I think its themes were already done on this album in much more interesting ways. It’s also placed at a spot in the album where I always feel like it’s time to wrap up, move on, reach the conclusion. So this song’s bitter vibes just feel like, okay, we’ve reverted to immaturity.
14. Dress
This is just one of those fan favorite songs that had never quite clicked for me. I think the hook is cute and clever, but it just doesn’t go anywhere, I think. The song sounds very similar to others on the album but doesn’t have the same interesting tension. Not a bad song, just not one I tend to return to often.
13. King of My Heart
This is one of those songs that I really prefer hearing the live version of. I love the Reputation Stadium Tour version of this song, with huge drums adding to the low end and really creating something dramatic. In the recorded version, though, I’ve always felt that this song is a little too stagnant for my tastes, seemingly resetting the tension every chorus. I love the bridge, though. I just wish it had a bit more consistent build to that brilliant bridge.
12. So It Goes…
All of reputation has this very synthesized, hip-hop inspired sound that can be used both for good and for bad. (Mostly good, though it does serve to turn a lot of non-fans off). I really like how it’s used in this track to create dynamic contrast, with soft, lo-fi verses that burst into that big chorus. It’s distinctive and a great use of the sound, though I do wish at times that the lyrics had something a bit more different to say than many of the other tracks about attraction on this album.
11. Call it What You Want
With a feeling of the calm after the storm added by the light percussion and the soft synth, this is a perfect track to wind the album down before its closing track (which I’ll get to in a moment). I love the smile in Taylor’s voice as she talks about the newfound freedom she feels in her relationship. It’s sweet and fun.
10. Gorgeous
People really hate this song, and I ask – do you dislike fun? “Gorgeous” is just a silly goofy song about the ridiculous thoughts that run through your mind when you fall for someone for the first time. It’s definitely not a serious song, but I think that’s the perfect tone for it.
9. I Did Something Bad
One of the most interesting things about reputation is the way its image and sound works to create a very particular outside perception of its themes. I went through it – I started out completely turned off by Taylor’s seeming bad girl era. The big bombastic sound of songs like this one felt like a totally unfitting move for the singer-songwriter and pretty pop songstress. But then, just a little earworm gets in. In this case, it’s the great build into the chorus and the snarky, fun lyrics. Suddenly, you’re drawn in, and that’s where this album really gets you. (More on that later.)
8. End Game ft. Ed Sheeran, Future
I don’t think it’s controversial for me to say that rap and hip hop are not exactly genres Taylor excels at. And there still is a part of me that sometimes feels iffy about its use in this particular album to portray villainy. However. I cannot deny how shockingly weirdly well it works in this track. Moments of vulnerability in the verses next to that big braggadocios chorus is essentially a tiny microcosm of the themes on the album as a whole. I absolutely jam whenever I hear this song, and that’s just my truth.
7. Don’t Blame Me
For a long time, I had seen the fan hype over this song and, I’ll be honest, I didn’t fully get it. I wasn’t sure I was really connecting with the song, the “religious experience” fans claimed it was. But then, I wasn’t a fan in 2017, and though I had watched the Netflix recording of the reputation tour, I had no idea how absolutely MASSIVE this song is when performed live until I saw the Eras Tour. It makes the emotional shift from the beginning to the first chorus of the song feel so tangible – as Taylor goes from a disaffected tone into downright obsession. Banger.
6. Look What You Made Me Do
Like a lot of self-important Taylor haters in 2017, I didn’t get this song when it first came out. When my best friend ran into the lounge of our freshman year dorm, breathless, to put this song and its music video up on the TV, I sat there like, “Okay, what’s the big deal?” This is the trick with reputation – it’s an album that really only works if you understand the narrative, if you’ve spent time with Taylor and understand what she’s really saying. But the more I got to know her career and more importantly understood just exactly the stakes, this song suddenly opened up completely to the absolute iconic moment it was. Now, a bona fide fan, I have to say – this song is just so fun. She knew exactly what she was doing.
5. …Ready For It?
As I’ve alluded to a lot, the cool thing about reputation is the way it comes off as an angry revenge album from the outside, but in reality is actually a tender and vulnerable album about falling in love. That clever trick is pulled off with a mixture of big processed sounds and daring titles. And, of course, there’s this opening track, which absolutely SMASHES through your speakers and forces you to pay attention to what Taylor has to say. This song is such a perfect pump-up song, and does exactly what it needs to do.
4. Getaway Car
One of the things I really love about Taylor’s songwriting is her ability to dig deep and communicate messy, fascinating truths about her life through her music. I especially love the way she contends with her own mistakes and explores her mindset, even when that mindset isn’t always making the most easily understood choices. Case in point the brilliantly-written “Getaway Car”, a song all about making a poor decision in the interest of escaping a relationship that is an even poorer decision. The central metaphor of the getaway car is so effectively crafted for this seemingly criminal confession, and the song is exciting, heartbreaking, and complex. Masterpiece.
3. New Year’s Day
The final and currently definitive statement of the album, “New Year’s Day” is the song that totally draws the curtain back and reveals the truth at the core of reputation. Set in the messy beauty of the morning after a big massive party, Taylor zeroes in on the intimacy built between two people doing their best to be there for each other in the midst of a massive change. It’s soft and brutally vulnerable, especially in that final statement – “Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I can recognize anywhere.” It wrenches my heart in the best way.
2. Delicate
To me, if I were to pick a “title track” for reputation, I would pick this one. It helps that she literally does say the word “reputation” in the song, but it also summarizes so beautifully what I feel is the core emotion of this album – vulnerability, the need to reach out and hold onto someone solid and there for you in a chaotic time. I love the space the instrumental gives the vocals and the beautiful way they evolve throughout the track. In addition, Taylor’s vocal delivery is so perfect – communicating all that breathless, whispered truth. This song is just so perfect.
1. Dancing with Our Hands Tied
It’s hard for me to explain what it is about this song that just speaks to me so much. It might possibly be the sound – the slick, almost dubstep-like production of this song reminds me a lot of the kind of music that I used to listen to in elementary and middle school, the kind of music I used to think was so deep and emotional. Except, this time, the song actually is that deep and emotional. With beautiful imagery, Taylor describes the pressures and obstacles she faces trying to build a love out of view of judging eyes. What’s so tense about this song is the way it seems uncertain if such a thing could even succeed, causing all that complexity and all that emotion to be so tangible.
Lover (2019)
19. ME! ft. Brendon Urie
There’s an odd sort of discourse surrounding this song. It’s not particularly well-loved by both fans and outsiders, but it’s led a lot of the fans who do like this song to act pretty defensive of it. As you may be able to tell from it’s placement, I am not one of these fans, but allow me to extend them an olive branch. I get that the song isn’t meant to be super serious – it’s fun! It’s just that I don’t think this song is built particularly well. Brendon and Taylor’s vocals just don’t meld the way I think they could have, and the structure is big and jarring without ever using that for anything. There’s no build, no direction, just bubblegum nothingness coming at you from all sides. It’s just not fun for me.
18. I Forgot That You Existed
As an opening track to Lover, I really love this song. It’s a funny little comment on the nature of the album that came before it, a flippant “Anyway, so…” to transition from the big passion and outward anger from reputation into the softer stylings of this album. However, beyond being a funny little statement, I don’t think there’s much about this song that draws me into listening to it. Great for a Lover full listen-through, but not much else.
17. It’s Nice to Have a Friend
Despite how low I’ve placed this song, I actually am of the opinion that this is a beautiful little song. Its strange, disjointed style evokes a simplistic story told by children, a tone that contributes to the innocent story of love it tells. It’s very cute, and I love that little horn solo that comes in, too.
16. You Need to Calm Down
While some parts of this song’s rollout and existence feel just a tiny bit clumsy to me, it has nonetheless grown on me quite a bit. It’s a super catchy and perfectly constructed pop song that unequivocally shows support for the LGBTQA+ community, and though some parts of it do make me cringe a little, I appreciate what it did for Taylor’s image at the time and for her queer fans. Plus, it’s really fun at the Eras Tour.
15. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince
Like every other Swiftie, I was GAGGED by Taylor’s choice to open the Eras Tour with this song. It just didn’t feel like a standout on the album – an interesting but a bit puzzling metaphor for, of all things, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid with an admittedly catchy production. But, with one well-considered Eras Tour appearance, the song is suddenly about her relationship with the fans, and the joy of reconnection post-pandemic between us.
14. The Man
I get it, okay. Taylor Swift is one of the most famous women in the world, wildly successful, a billionaire. HOWEVER. As much as you might not like to hear it, she’s right. Just about every move she’s made has been scrutinized with the kind of cruelty applied to absolutely none of her male peers, and despite the fact she’s achieved success, that doesn’t change that fact. Plus, this song is cleverly written and extremely catchy to boot.
13. Afterglow
Though for many outside reasons this song hurts a little bit for me to hear, as an anxious girlie, I do really relate to this song. As I’ve mentioned before, I really respect the way Taylor contends with her own flaws and mistakes in her music, and crafts beautiful love songs out of it. This song is particularly emotional, with a wonderful softness that contrasts a power to her vocals and to the sentiment of apology expressed.
12. Daylight
Taylor always nails opening and closing tracks, and Lover‘s final statement is no exception. For an album all about love and its many forms, I really appreciate the way this track contends with hardship and pain but exalts the beauty of a love that can overcome all of that despite it all. I also love the references to previous sentiments on love she’s expressed before, particularly on Red. It shows growth and complexity, and it’s a perfect final note for this album.
11. Paper Rings
This track is just pure joy. Fun, up-tempo, with a sharp and distinctive beat, it’s bubblegum pop bliss in the highest degree, which totally works for a song about a giddy sort of infatuation. As Taylor has a habit of doing, it’s all built around a really strong central symbol – the idea of being so in love that you’re willing to marry someone just for them, not for outer value of marriage (represented by a traditional wedding ring). There’s a ton of really cute and fun images throughout, though.
10. Soon You’ll Get Better ft. The Chicks
While I often wish that there was a bit more non-romantic love explored on Lover (as would befit the album’s promise of exploring all kinds of love), I do really appreciate this soft, beautiful, complicated song about familial love. Written in the wake of Taylor’s mother’s cancer diagnosis, it explores the emotional fallout of loving someone going through a scary illness. What is particularly fascinating is the way the song centers on Taylor’s emotional experience, even while pointing at the selfishness of this focus “And I hate to make this all about me / But who am I supposed to talk to? What am I supposed to do if there’s no you?” The strings are so gorgeous, and this song just always dissolves me into a puddle whenever I hear it. Gorgeous stuff.
9. London Boy
Even as the real-life London boy disappointed us a little, I still find something to love in this silly, fun little track. Taylor places her own all-American appeal next to her penchant for dating men from jolly o’ England. It’s obviously not serious, but all of those images of London are so vivid and well-constructed. The bridge is extra clever, with really sharp internal rhymes. A smartly written track that puts Taylor’s talent with words on display.
8. All of the Girls You Loved Before
This track isn’t officially a part of Lover – it was considered for the album but was ultimately scrapped. However, toward the end of 2022, a leak of a low-quality recording broke into popular consciousness, and in a surprise move, Taylor decided to drop it as a single just before the Eras tour. It’s slick, well-written, and focuses on a really interesting and to my knowledge totally unique concept for a song. It acknowledges her lover’s previous experience with other women and her own past experience with love as a positive thing that shaped the strength of the current love. I adore that bridge and the way she ramps up to that big transition back into the last chorus. Great hook, too, very tongue-in-cheek but sensual. I really wish that this song actually had made the album!
7. Lover
This title track is my favorite of the (original) Lover singles, and I’ll tell you why. It’s just a really smart concept for a song. From the soft instrumentals to the 3/4 time signature, this song makes its “wedding first dance” influence so glaring. It really brings you into the world of the song – a softly-lit, intimate dance between lovers. Again, it’s rife with cute little images of domesticity, moments celebrated not for being super out of the ordinary but instead for being so common and delightful. Some killer lyrics here, too, particularly in the bridge – “At every table I’ll save you a seat, lover” is the one that tends to get to me the most.
6. I Think He Knows
I always regard a song that could charm me even before I was totally won over into the Swiftie camp highly, and this song was definitely a standout for me on this album. I think it’s just the sharpness and certainty of the melody that really made this song take root in my brain and never leave. This song is just crisp, from that sharp (I think it’s bass?) line to the way the song pulls back in the bridge and lets the build come back. It’s just pop perfection.
5. Cruel Summer
Like most Swifties, I’m so deliriously happy that this song got its moment in the spotlight thanks to the Eras Tour. I think it’s pretty much confirmed now that this track would have been an original single had the pandemic not come along to cut the Lover era short, and it’s obvious now that it would have been a huge success. What makes this song so iconic, to me, is the way it plays with a ton of different emotions. It’s a love song, but also a song about uncertainty, fear, heartbreak, and so many other emotions that play out in the early stages of a relationship. The yearning in Taylor’s voice is so obvious, and the song’s structure itself makes that feeling so clear, particularly in the near-shouted bridge. Masterpiece.
4. Cornelia Street
I didn’t give this song its proper due the first time I heard it, and I really regret it now. It’s another really solid central image – this time, the street where Taylor was living when she first met her love. Now blissfully in a relationship, she explores how central her relationship has become to the memories of that place, and how if it ever ended it would subsequently ruin the way she thought of Cornelia Street. This kind of writing is what Taylor excels at – contending for the heartbreak within the joy and the joy within the heartbreak.
3. Death By a Thousand Cuts
I could wax poetic about what makes this song work so well, but really what it all comes down to is that bridge. I keep mentioning bridges, don’t I? It’s a Taylor specialty. This one is particularly potent, though, as Taylor feverishly goes down the list of the things that have become sources of pain in the wake of a particularly gnarly heartbreak, her repetition of the word “my” coming to form the beat of the entire song. This is such a clever way to illustrate the song’s exploration of how her heartbreak is pervasive and inescapable – everything reminds her of her ex. In a similar way, every part of the song mirrors that bridge. So, so cool.
2. False God
When I first really got to know and love this song, I remember thinking of it as this really unique track within Taylor’s discography. Jazz-inspired, soft, and heavily synthesized, it didn’t fully match anything else I had heard from her, and I loved it. However, post-Midnights, I think I can say that this song was an early exploration of a bit more of an unconventional pop sound for Taylor, one I’m really glad she’s continued to explore and refine. I love the little hits of saxophone, something that would seem cliche in a song about sexuality, but get used almost like a responding voice to her calls for connection with her lover. This is a totally underappreciated track in my opinion.
1. The Archer
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m an anxious individual. And it seems like Taylor is, too, because she has a real knack for writing about it. I think this is probably my favorite of Taylor’s tracks about anxiety, because the song itself feels like the experience of anxiety, a slow, pulsing, steadily building track with a very minimal refrain that just feels like an inescapable thought spiral. The pulsating beat feels like a rapid pulse. The lyrics, though, feel like a honest request for connection despite uncertainty and anxiety – it’s central question of “Who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?” feels like an open acknowledgment that it’s hard to love someone who is so uncertain, and yet she wants to reach out despite her uncertainty and make things work. It’s vulnerable and beautiful and sad and hopeful and brilliant.
folklore (2020)
17. mad woman
There aren’t really any songs on folklore or evermore that I can say I dislike. They’re just really well-crafted albums with a really successful sound. So, forgive me for ranking this very lovely song so low. This exploration of, as Taylor put it, “female rage” is a clever exploration of the frustrating and stifling expectations placed on women when it comes to expressing anger. I particularly like how the song comments on how the inability to express rage without judgment paradoxically can make you even more angry, causing an endless and inescapable cycle.
16. exile ft. Bon Iver
While this isn’t my favorite of Taylor’s two collaborations with Bon Iver by a long shot, I still really love the dialogue created by this track. The low piano line creates this beautiful, tense tone for a confrontation between two lovers trying but seemingly failing to connect with each other. I particularly love the way the argument comes to a head in the bridge, when the two perspectives directly conflict with each other (“You never gave a warning sign / I gave so many signs.”)
15. this is me trying
As a former “gifted” student, I absolutely resonate with the central idea this song is exploring. The slow, exhausted tone fits perfectly with narrator(s) discussing their own imperfect attempts to hang on and do the best they can. I think the strongest image is the one of the narrator driving to a cliff edge but not making that final decision to plunge off of it. As Jack Antonoff put it in the folklore Long Pond Sessions: the ultimate act of trying. This song is tense and sad and gorgeous.
14. epiphany
Coming out as it did during the pandemic, this song explores a topic that suddenly became very broadly relevant – the way that trauma can simultaneously be so central to a person but also so difficult to communicate. I love the very subtle discord in the piano chords behind the track, seemingly mirroring the way these traumatizing memories can affect a person even if they’re difficult to perceive.
13. the lakes
This song absolutely should be higher on this list – the problem is, I loved it so much and played it so often when I first heard it that I literally wore it out and made myself a bit sick of it. However, I can still absolutely recognize how fascinating and well-crafted this song is. Focusing on a desire to get away from the pressures of fame and attention, Taylor imagines an escape for herself and her muse in much the same way romantic poets of old did. Laden with nature imagery, it’s a love song in a beautifully indirect way, exploring how quickly and happily Taylor would give it all up for a life of solitude with her love.
12. seven
In this track, Taylor explores the very unique relationship between people who were friends as children but didn’t necessarily carry that friendship into adulthood. It’s a devastatingly beautiful and nostalgic track, built on so many gorgeous little images of childhood. I mean, how breathtaking is “Your braids like a pattern, love you to the moon and to Saturn / Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long.” It’s such a beautiful concept explored with all the poetry it deserves.
11. mirrorball
With a soft, almost distant-sounding melody, Taylor confesses some truly vulnerable things about her perspective on fame. Viewing herself as the titular mirrorball, broken in a million ways and reflecting the light in the room in a dazzling display. The center of attention and yet only so valuable as it can provide the proper backdrop for everyone else. It’s an absolutely chilling symbol, and yet there’s a warmth and love to the song I can’t deny. I also can’t forget how Taylor played this in her first surprise song set, seemingly a message she wanted her fans to know so desperately.
10. hoax
In the wake of recent events, this song has raised significantly on my radar and subsequently in my rankings. Taylor didn’t even seem totally sure of herself when she discussed this song’s meaning in the Long Pond Studio sessions, but with hindsight its significance is painful. All about loving someone deeply despite the way they hurt you, it’s a mysterious and beautiful piano track I’m so glad I took a second listen to.
9. invisible string
One of my favorite romantic ideas is that of the red string of fate. While I’m not sure I believe it as a rule or principle, I love it as an artistic exercise – imagining the tiny little quirks of fate that bring two people together. It’s something my mom always talks about when she talks about meeting my dad, and it’s subsequently something I think about with the connections and opportunities in my own life. Again, we see all these beautiful little details of moments of coincidence and missed opportunity between Taylor and her love before they finally met (I especially love the humor of the waitress who tells Taylor she “looks like an American singer”). The soft strings tie it all together in such a beautiful package.
8. the 1
It’s easy to come up with all sorts of examples of sad, heartbroken songs about breakups. But something a bit rarer is the healed breakup song, and this track is such a wonderful example of one. In an almost detached way, Taylor recounts the casual ways her ex lover comes up in her life currently, long after she has stopped feeling upset about the end of the relationship. Yet, there’s still a sadness and wistfulness apparent in the chorus, a tinge of the heartbreak that must have occurred. It’s complicated and beautiful and catchy to boot, with a nice beat.
7. august
I feel somewhat in the minority calling this song my least favorite of the teenage love triangle so, hot take, I guess? Not that hot, though, because even if it isn’t my favorite of the three, it’s still an absolutely glorious song. It teems with the nostalgic feeling of looking back at innocent (or, not-so-innocent) summer memories. That feeling works so well with a narrator that is so resigned to the doomed nature of this affair.
6. the last great american dynasty
The very first time I ever heard this song, still a good long ways off from starting to actually take Taylor seriously as an artist, I loved it. There’s something so incredible about the way she tells a story that spans decades as she recounts the life of famous socialite Rebekah Harkness as she married into a rich family, outlived her husband, and became the talk of the town as she spent his money and lived her life as she pleased. You’re so drawn in by her story that it comes as a total shock when Taylor drops that final twist – the house where this all took place is her house. She bought it, decades later, and suddenly all of the little ways Rebekah and Taylor are similar come into sharp and vivid focus. The commentary is subtle and yet extremely effective. Brilliant songwriting.
5. my tears ricochet
Another of the collection of songs that I ended up really loving a lot more as a result of their appearance on the Eras Tour, this is a song all about the experience of Taylor losing ownership of her first six albums. I think a lot of onlookers might have seen Taylor’s actions as a result of greed, but this song makes it all so apparent the emotional stakes at the heart of this situation. Her former record label was not just a label, it was a group of people she thought were on her side betraying her. Her first six albums are not just moneymakers, they’re her life’s work. I love the way the rage thunders in with those big drums in the bridge, and the picture-perfect image of “And when you can’t sleep at night / You’ll hear my stolen lullabies.”
4. cardigan
My favorite character in the folklore teenage love triangle, hands down, is Betty. I know people are likely re-evaluating Taylor’s statement that she and James ended up together after the events retold in these songs in light of her breakup with you-know-who, but it will never not be a really fascinating storytelling choice I love to think about. To me, this trilogy is all about making decisions that wouldn’t seem understandable until you really examine the emotions behind it, and so it’s really beautiful to see Betty’s adult perspective on her teenage heartbreak in this song. She acknowledges the hurt James causes her, but also finds something to love and a mature understanding of her own importance to him. It’s layered and so fascinating as a character study, in this beautifully dark ballad.
3. illicit affairs
Speaking of understanding poor decisions when you really dive into their emotions… god, this song. The title says it up front, that this is a song all about an illicit affair. What I find so interesting about this song is the way it spends most of the verses pulled away, recounting the emotional and physical tricks these secret lovers have to do in order to keep their love hidden. But then, in that bridge that ends the song, the frustration and passion in the narrator snaps into focus, and the anger and messiness of the situation becomes so apparent. The narrator begs to be recognized by their lover, but simultaneously seems aware of how futile it all is. And then, the song ends.
2. betty
As far as using music to get into a character’s head goes, I can’t think of a Taylor Swift song that is as effective as “betty.” Told in the perspective of 17-year-old menace James as he attempts to convince his girlfriend Betty to take him back after he cheated on her, the simple strings and lyrics make his shallow understanding of the situation become all too apparent. But, and maybe this is just me, there’s an earnestness to James’s confession – his simple emotions and devotion to Betty and his confusion over the situation – that really endears me to him and makes me understand why Betty might want to believe him. At the same time, I know so well that all the earnestness in the world isn’t going to make things right, and that lends to the hidden depth to this song.
1. peace
The first Taylor Swift song I ever cried over, I will always hold this beautiful and sad love song close to my heart. Though it was pretty obviously written about Taylor’s struggles to balance her fame with her loves, I’ve always seen it as a song about struggling with your own internal problems while also trying to be there for your partner. I’m an anxious person, so the line “I’d give you my sunshine, give you my best / But the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me” always makes me cry when I think about it too hard. That brutally honest confession of your own flaws put up against a genuine request for love anyway is just so poignant and beautiful and painful. What makes it even more incredible is the way the music holds back so much, with just a distant synth noise and a few hits of strings and piano to add some momentum to what is basically sung poetry. One of Taylor’s most interesting and beautiful songs, hands down.
evermore (2020)
17. long story short
evermore is my all-time favorite Taylor Swift album, and there’s not a single song on it that I dislike in any way. The only reason I rank “long story short” low is I think it doesn’t belong quite where it appears on the album. I think it would have worked better a little earlier on with some of the more upbeat tracks and not in the incredibly powerful and emotional back half of the album. However, I do still think this song is very lovely and sweet, all about coming through hardship and finding happiness and being able to learn from your mistakes.
16. tolerate it
While I love the lyrical strength of this track, it’s never quite been a favorite of mine on the album and it’s difficult to fully articulate why. I think one reason might be its unusual time signature, which Taylor has admittedly pulled off with grace before and is obviously a solid artistic choice to illustrate a situation where you’re stumbling to impress a partner who isn’t giving you the time of day. However, it does also make it a little hard to get a handle on the melody. I do love the bridge, though, and the way it’s performed on the Eras Tour stage.
15. no body, no crime (ft. Haim)
I love HAIM, and I love the fun storytelling on display in this song. The country stylings add such a fun extra flavor to this story of revenge and murder, and while I wish there was a bit more HAIM on this track, their haunting and ghostly backing vocals do add a certain fitting spookiness to the whole ordeal. This track also has an intensely catchy chorus. Beyond the story, though, there isn’t much more to dig into in my opinion, thus its lower placement.
14. dorothea
Similar in many ways to “betty,” this is a song with a narrator singing the praises of a titular woman in a simple little ballad with some added depth when you consider the alternate perspective. It’s not confirmed, but most people assume that this song and “’tis the damn season” describe the same situation, with high school lovers where the woman, Dorothea, ends up leaving town and becoming famous. Left behind, her small-town lover reflects on how they know her much better than any of her fans do in this flippant, teasing tone that is really fascinating when compared to the emotional weight of the other track in this storyline.
13. ’tis the damn season
And, conveniently, here’s the other half. Told in the perspective of someone returning to their hometown and juggling with the uncomfortable vulnerability that comes with seeing people who saw you grow up again, it can also be seen as Dorothea’s response to the narrator of “dorothea.” By contrast, she’s a lot more wistful and openly sad about no longer being the person she used to be, while simultaneously seeming to understand how important it was for her to escape her hometown. The request for the relationship to be casual and based mostly in nostalgia makes a lot of sense, but still seems like a sort of tragedy that really adds interesting color to this track.
12. it’s time to go
Taylor has a real strength of exploring a very particular emotion with intense and often extremely emotional detail. In this song, she explores the feelings that come when you realize that a situation you’re in – a relationship, a job, a friendship, etc – is untenable. You have to leave. The feeling she focuses on is “that old familiar body ache / the snaps from the same little breaks” is so effective at characterizing this feeling, and I really respond to the refrain of “sometimes giving up is the strong thing / sometimes to run is the brave thing / sometimes walking out is the one thing that will find you the right thing.” But I think the most effective part of the song is the way it starts in the hypothetical then settles into an actual story of how Taylor felt when she decided to walk on her old record label, and bet on her future instead of her past. This song is deceptively powerful for how soft and simple it sounds.
11. coney island ft. The National
Though I can’t say I fully understand what’s going on in this song, I do absolutely love the way it sounds. I’m a big fan of The National and have been for some time, and I love the blend on Matt Berninger and Taylor’s vocals, particularly when she’s in her lower register like this. The song itself recounts a series of vivid and seemingly abstract images that all contributed to the end of a relationship, which nonetheless Taylor’s narrative appears to want to return to. With hindsight, I wonder if this song had anything to do with the end of her relationship with you-know-who, but I won’t speculate too much further.
10. right where you left me
In direct contrast to the other bonus track, “it’s time to go”, this song is all about what it’s like when you’re the only one unable to move on. What is so effective about this track is the way the narrator’s perspective is so obviously flawed and unhealthy, and how the song seems to blatantly take that on while also making you understand why they would have that perspective. This is the kind of complex storytelling that is everywhere in folklore and evermore and one of the reasons I love these albums so much.
9. happiness
Speaking of holding multiple complex and contradictory truths at the same time and attempting to make sense of them… “happiness.” With a deep and really heartbreaking instrumental, Taylor sings about the intense heartbreak she is experiencing at the ending of a relationship, with this sort of shaky intensity that makes you feel like she’s on the brink of tears. Yet, in the chorus, she explains how she expects that there will be happiness not only after this relationship but because of the relationship. And still there’s these moments of bitterness, where she calls her ex’s new lover a “beautiful fool” and then immediately apologizes, like we’re seeing a narrator wrestle with her more self-indulgent feelings to reach for healing. It really gets you into this very particular headspace in such an amazing way.
8. closure
Swifties love to make jokes about how strange and off-kilter this song is, and yeah, I see it. The pots and pan opening and the 5/4 time signature creates this strange, chaotic backing tone to a song that would otherwise be a straightforward piano ballad. I think it’s meant to reflect the story told in the song, as Taylor responds to a request for reconciliation from someone who has wronged her. Her bitter and sarcastic tone seems to make fun of the person’s request for “closure”, explaining the song seems like an angry, stuttering piano ballad. I love the way the bridge comes off as a rant. The anger in this song is just so well communicated in such a unique way – I love when Taylor experiments like this.
7. willow
While I’ve often found this song and it’s dubious half-connection to the folklore trio that came before it a little puzzling, there’s a lot to love with this witchy pop song. Taylor has called this song an incantation of sorts, the kind of things you might quietly wish for in the early stages of a relationship, when you’re not quite sure that things are going to work out but you’re doing everything you can (including witchcraft?) to make it happen. I also love the way this song is staged on the Eras Tour, with a witchy coven dance and glowing orbs and everything. I think I respond to this song more for its sound than its lyrics, which is unusual for a Taylor Swift song, but I just love the woodland instrumentals and their surprisingly pop sensibilities.
6. gold rush
One of the most beautiful moments in all of evermore is the moment in “gold rush” where the instrumentals transition into the pre-chorus in a flurry of resplendent strings. It’s a kind of auditory painting, making the listeners feel the beauty mentioned as she sings, “What must it be like to grow up that beautiful?” The whole song is gorgeous, though, in the way it mirrors the feelings in the song. As the narrator attempts to hold herself back from falling in love with someone that is already so broadly admired by so many, the instrumental itself also seems constantly on the brink of something, churning and sparkling and seemingly being constantly held back.
5. cowboy like me
The way Taylor starts this song in the middle of a story is so interesting and iconic, a way of making you feel the history in this gorgeous love song. Of the two experiments with bringing back country on this album, “cowboy like me” is hands down my favorite. I love the way those country strings characterize the narrator as she ruminates on the impossibility of someone like her falling for someone who is so similar. But that mutual understanding is established so beautifully in the lyrics. I’d also like to shout out Marcus Mumford for those incredible backing vocals, making the mutual understanding of the two lovers read so well.
4. champagne problems
Taylor really stretched and showed off her incredible ability to tell stories in music on these albums, but I think one of my favorite stories is this one. The scene setting, starting with the rejected lover on the train and flashing back to the moment where the narrator rejected his marriage proposal is just pitch-perfect narrative structure, the kind of thing you’d see in a novel or a movie. That vivid storytelling continues throughout, with all the little details of the scene – his family bringing champagne to celebrate but being disappointed. And yet, there’s a central question that goes unanswered, at least not directly – why did the narrator turn him down? It’s arguably answered indirectly in the bridge, where the narrator contends with the fact that she didn’t have a reason – she just wasn’t ready. It’s heartbreaking but all too real.
3. ivy
Storytelling can be about a lot more than just telling a narrative, though, and so I have to hand it to “ivy” for not only telling a beautiful, complex story, but also setting the scene of it so perfectly. This is another song built around a central symbol – ivy growing along a sturdy building, representing the way a married woman views her lover’s role in her life. While we get few true details of how this relationship came to be, the imagery and symbolism of this song does so much to characterize these two lovers and their illicit affair (hah). The lush instrumentals and beautiful strings do so much to make the song feel like a classic romance novel, with a dashing and rougish hero sweeping away the protagonist from her average life. And, that incredible bridge does a lot to illustrate the huge emotional conflict at stake. It’s truly amazing how Taylor can create such a detailed landscape in music.
2. marjorie
This song was my absolute favorite of Taylor’s for a long time, and it’s not due to any fault of its own that it has fallen (more due to my increased appreciation of some other songs). But I find this song absolutely staggering. It’s a song about her grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, who passed away when Taylor was 13. Marjorie was an opera singer, and her love of music obviously passed on to Taylor, who was able to take her singing career much further. However, the song really is about Taylor, and the confusing feelings of grief she feels about a person who she doesn’t remember all that well. The verses and chorus explore the abstract, emotional ways that Marjorie still exists in her life, but it’s only in the bridge when we see all these tangible scenes of Taylor and Marjorie, in brief flashes. But it’s what’s not there – the details Taylor was never old enough to think to ask or remember – that truly forms the massive emotional weight of this song. I am dissolved to tears whenever I hear it, and I was thrilled when it was integrated into the Eras Tour. No joke, the two teenagers I was sitting next to in Cincinnati asked if I was alright after the performance, I was crying so openly. So anyway. I love this song dearly and I always will.
1. evermore ft. Bon Iver
The only song on evermore that could uproot the weighty emotional love I have for “marjorie” is another song that always makes me cry. I’ve been fond of this song for quite some time, but it was only when I was lucky enough to witness it played as a surprise song in Cincinnati that I really understood how truly miraculous this song is. It’s a really sad song at first, filled with this image of a blizzard turning everything to ice as a symbol for a dark period in a person’s life. What’s interesting is the way the narrator of the song seems resigned to this icy fate, opening up her window and breathing in that cold air, resigned to the “pain [that] would be for evermore.” But then, there’s a twist. In the bridge, Bon Iver’s vocals come to represent the persistent pain, but Taylor’s vocals turn toward someone who starts to pull her out. Whether it be a lover or a friend or a family member, she hears the voice of someone she loves and it gives her the strength to escape it. At the end, the chorus is flipped on its head as the narrator enters a warm cabin in the middle of the storm – “I had a feeling so peculiar / this pain wouldn’t be for evermore.” It’s a song about healing through the darkest times, and finding the strength to move on.
Midnights (2022)
22. Snow on The Beach ft. Lana Del Rey
As hard as I’ve tried, I just cannot get into Lana Del Rey. I’m so sorry. I know there’s a pretty big overlap between Swifties and Lana fans, but her brand of sleepy Americana has just never worked for me. I may have been a bit predisposed to not like this song, but I’ll let you know that there actually isn’t a single song on Midnights I dislike. This song has grown on me quite a bit since my initial distaste – I like the way the softness of the vocals evokes the central image and the wonder captured in the lyrics.
21. Bigger Than The Whole Sky
I think this song is absolutely beautiful. The lyrics are poetic in the way they describe the feeling of grief. It’s all put over these big synth chords, with a lovely slow build. My only issue with this song, I think, isn’t really much of an issue at all – it’s just a very abstract song that I sometimes find it hard to totally grasp the full meaning of. Compared to the rest of Midnights, which is rife with very specific detail on very specific situations, it’s just a bit of an outlier.
20. Vigilante Shit
Though this is a really fun song on the Eras Tour, I just don’t think there’s much here. It’s a fun little gloating song as Taylor mocks the men who stole her music from her for her ultimate victory over them. The re-recordings have been a massive commercial success that have shot her career into the stratosphere. But, there’s not much else here besides that, as fun as that is.
19. Question…?
I really like the central themes of this song. Calling back to the 1989 era with that opening sample of “Out of the Woods”, it features a sarcastic central perspective passive-aggresively asking her ex how emotionally invested her really was in their on-again, off-again relationship. It’s an obvious nod to the on-again, off-again drama of her relationship with Harry Styles, and foreshadowed some of the interesting new perspective we got from the 1989 vault. All that being said, while I like this song, I don’t vibe with it as much musically. It’s a little stuttering and difficult to get a grasp on (a move I suspect is intentional, to mirror the way she’s trying to grasp this relationship through questions that will never be answered).
18. Glitch
This is a song that really sticks to its central ideas. Taylor explores a romantic relationship she wasn’t expecting to get as far as it did, seeing it as a glitch in the way things tend to go for her. The instrumental, by extension, is synthetic yet sensual. It’s a really smartly crafted song, I just don’t think I vibe as much with the hook as I wish I did.
17. High Infidelity
I really enjoy when Taylor explores moral complexity, especially when the moral complexity is her own. In this track, she explores what appears to be her own infidelity in a relationship she is truly unhappy with. I really like this central idea, and I really like the strength of a statement like “Do you really wanna know where I was April 29? / Do I really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?” It’s so complicated to hear her admit to her lover that she was so brutally unhappy in their relationship that she sought someone else, but that she also wasn’t strong enough to end it herself.
16. Anti-Hero
In many ways, this is maybe Taylor’s most daring lead singles. Absolutely rife with the feeling of self-hatred and self-blame, it’s a song all about ruminating on your mistakes, a theme I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so blatantly on display in one of her hits, despite being a pretty central theme to the rest of her work. I love the way that translates to the music, too, which is weary and distant. So many lyrics in this song are so brutal, but I particularly want to shout out the verse where she describes her hypothetical funeral after she has been killed by her daughter-in-law for her money. That verse had me absolutely flabbergasted when I first heard it, it’s so dark and funny and strange. I’m really happy this song did as well as it did – I hope it encourages Taylor to let some of her more unconventional songs into the daylight like this one.
15. Maroon
One of the central tenets of Midnights is its exploration of the past. Basically everyone knew as soon as this song’s title was revealed that it would be an exploration of the Red era – maroon is a dark red, after all. What I don’t think people guessed was how simultaneously sad and wistful the song would be. After the massive success of “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)”, I think a lot of people, including myself, thought the final word on the Gyllenhaal relationship would be that, but I’m fascinated by the way this song continues the idea of memory first expanded on in that song to an exploration of the way a relationship long gone and healed continues to color her current perspective on love. The symbol of being stained with red, but that stain fading to a deep maroon but persisting is so smart and so effective at communicating the emotion here.
14. Labyrinth
This is a really underrated track, and in some ways I can see why. It’s extremely minimal, with just a pulse and Taylor’s soft vocals. But that subtle sound allows some of the emotional depth on display to be lost on some, I think. This is a song all about being so in your own head during a heartbreak that you almost miss out on a chance for happiness – but thankfully, getting a chance to heal anyway. It’s sweet and vulnerable, with some of her most revealing lyrics. I also love the refrain, and how much it communicates with just the subtle difference between the three lines – “Oh, oh, I’m falling in love / Oh no, I’m falling in love again / Oh, I’m falling in love.”
13. You’re Losing Me
The release of this song was such a moment for me. A few weeks after the shocking news of Taylor’s split with Joe, she quietly announced this bonus track only available on a CD sold at the Eras Tour merch booth. Immediately, every fan knew what it would be about. Sure enough, it was an intense and tragic exploration of a relationship that ended because her lover just wasn’t willing to put in the effort anymore. The oft-repeated joke Swifties would say when Taylor was looking particularly hot at an event – “Joe, can you fight?” – was definitively answered. He could not. I remember repeatedly listening to this song in a state of shock and sadness, as parasocial as that sounds. This song says so much and makes me so, so very interested to hear what Taylor has to say on TTPD. The heartbeat that forms the song’s beat, and the way it stops at the end, and that extra-devastating bridge – “I wouldn’t marry me either / A pathological people-pleaser, who only wanted you to see her”… there’s nothing like it.
12. Mastermind
I connect quite a bit with the way Taylor often portrays herself in her music. It’s not totally new to see Taylor explore the way she attempts to influence the world around her, particularly in her relationships, but I don’t think I had seen her explore it so vividly as she did here. It’s seemingly both an admission of her scheming in the context of relationships but also in the way she goes about crafting surprises and releases for her fans. What I love is the way she characterizes this impulse as both a positive trait but also a negative trait, like it makes her a bit of a villain in her own life. This is particularly potent in the bridge, where she admits that this tendency comes from the insecurity she felt when she was rejected by her peers as a child. I mean… god, same. I love the way the music mirrors this message, too, sounding calculated and mathematic.
11. Paris
This is another track I think is totally underrated. Sure, it’s a little poppy and sing-songy, but since when was there anything wrong with that? And there’s a lot to love here. The central theme of the song is being so in love that you forget about everything else, and that is built from the very beginning, when the song comes in on a long-winded and complicated story about “your ex-friend’s sister”, which Taylor totally waves off. She doesn’t care. She’s in love! This song has such a catchy chorus, with a really fun rhythm that the lyrics fit so well. This song is so fun to listen to, fun to sing, fun to dance to, it’s just perfectly fun for the messaging.
10. Karma
Speaking of really fun, well-constructed pop songs with interesting writing – “Karma”. I really love the way Taylor twisted expectations on this song – most people expected that the song would be about the bad karma experienced by those who have done her wrong. And like, that’s part of it for sure. But the central idea is the way that Taylor has made karma work for her – the way she treats people well and how it has come to serve her in many ways in her life. I’d especially like to call to an oft-made fun of line in the chorus – “Karma is a cat” – to point out how smartly she illustrates this. Like a cat only rewards those who treat it well with affection, karma also only rewards Taylor because she has worked hard to do the right thing. It’s a wonderfully fun victory track.
9. Midnight Rain
Although the jury’s still out on who exactly this song is about, I absolutely love the simple yet clever way it explores Taylor’s relationship with fame. We’ve often seen her explore the pitfalls and difficulties of being famous, but I think this is one of the first songs I’ve ever heard from her where she explores the peace she feels over making the decisions she has that has led her to this point. She reflects on a relationship she was in where she could have chosen to remain as this unknown guy’s wife forever, never to achieve the highs (and lows) of massive celebrity. In the end, Taylor doesn’t seem to regret her decision, but she does admit the way she thinks about this alternate reality that could have been. The dichotomy between the synthetic chorus and her own natural voice throughout mirrors this duality, and it’s such an affecting song for it.
8. The Great War
Using war as a metaphor for a personal conflict is certainly cliche, but Taylor absolutely brought something fresh to the table in “The Great War”, where she explores her own self-destructive tendencies in the way she compares her own violent actions to her lover’s attempts to reach out and establish peace. And then, in the bridge, when she stops just short of “killing” her lover, represented as a fallen solider, she realizes the futility of her battle and concedes, using the memory of the conflict to remind herself to never make the same mistakes again. It’s a well-trod symbol used smartly and with beautiful imagery to create a song that feels like a story.
7. Sweet Nothing
This used to be my favorite song on the album. I no joke cried when I first heard it and understood its meaning. And yet, it’s all the way at #7. Why? Well, I can’t help but admit that part of the beauty of this song was soured a bit for me in the ending of the relationship it was written about. But I still do love the central idea of this song – the romanticism of a simple and loving relationship where you admire your partner for exactly who they are. I feel like I’m in that sort of a relationship right now, and I’ve never seen it illustrated so beautifully as it is now, with this simple, lullaby-like sound and lyrics that stay in scene. I have a feeling this song will come to outlive some of my sadness over the way things turned out for Taylor.
6. Bejeweled
God, “Bejeweled” is such a perfect pop song. And, ironically, it’s a perfect pop song about Taylor returning to pop. How fun is that? I love the way the instrumental of this song seems to shine and sparkle in the same way the central motif of gemstones do, making you feel that dazzling confidence that Taylor is talking about. I also love the moments of silliness in this song, like the moment in the chorus where she “doesn’t remember” if she has a man, or in the bridge when she’s told that her “aura’s moonstone” by a man high off his mind. And, of course, there’s the repeated spoken “Nice!” that absolutely begs audience participation. Wonderful, fun stuff, so perfect for a song like this. I always feel my spirits lift when I hear it.
5. Hits Different
I’ve mentioned it several times at this point, but I love when Taylor writes about anxiety. She’s so damn good at it. And in this song, Taylor is absolutely rife with anxiety, messy with it. She takes each verse to describe the way this new heartbreak has come to be totally different for her than any other – while she was previously able to get through any ended relationship easily, this one is totally different, much more heartbreaking. And she’s so affected by it in ways we see in the lyrics – she throws up in the street, people stop inviting her to parties, she cries over small artifacts of the relationship. You come to totally understand why she feels such relief and joy when, at the end of the song, she thinks she hears her lover returning. The tragedy comes in the way we’re left wondering if it truly was him, though. Such an interesting, catchy, emotional, and messy song. This is the kind of Taylor Swift classic songwriting that I absolutely love.
4. You’re On Your Own, Kid
Like all other Swifties, I knew the moment I saw this song title and its spot at track 5 that it would truly destroy me. I just didn’t realize it would also be a sprawling and complete recount of Taylor’s entire life and career, from her Pennsylvania roots to her early career in Nashville to her rapid rise and fall and rise again. There are so many lines in this song that totally reframe parts of her career, like her showing that her innocent childhood crushes were “smoking with [their] boys” or that she “hosted parties and starved [her] body” during 1989 or that her going along with common jokes about her were her “taking the money”. This is one of the joys of being a fan of Taylor Swift – she so expertly references her own body of work and her own career to make deeply layered and emotionally effecting art. And then, it’s the way she twists all that tragedy into something hopeful at the end, when she reminds listeners to rely on friends and that the fact they’ve made it through everything is a sign of strength.
3. Dear Reader
This song has grown on me so much over my time with Midnights. I think it’s an extremely ballsy final message of the album, situated as it is at the very end of the vault tracks. At first, the song appears to be straightforward advice Taylor has learned over the course of her life and career. But she totally subverts expectations when she hits the chorus – “Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart.” Suddenly the audience realizes not only that the advice they’ve heard on this one song isn’t trustworthy – but also everything else on the album is also perhaps not totally trustworthy. Taylor admits that she’s still experiencing heartbreak, and she’s not thinking clearly about everything, and that is further hammered home by the final lyrics on the album – “You should find another guiding light, guiding light / But I shine so bright.” So honest, so self-aware, and such a massive thematic twist on the whole album.
2. Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
Hearing this song for the first time was like being punched in the face. I’m a Speak Now lover, but I totally wasn’t expecting to have that era fully recontextualized when I turned on the 3 a.m. tracks. But here Taylor came, absolutely swinging with a song about pain to rival “All Too Well”. In it, Taylor reflects on the fact that she is older than the age John Mayer was when she dated him at the age of 19, and her overwhelming emotion is horror. The song is a feverish prayer, completely with religious imagery, for her innocence back. She goes back through every moment where Mayer could have made a different decision and left her alone, and comes to find so many. You feel the torturous pain at the heart of this song in its performance and the ceaseless beat of the drums in the back, making this tense build into that big climax, her demanding in the bridge that he “give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.” Probably one of Taylor’s most powerful songs ever.
1. Lavender Haze
Yeah, I’m as surprised as you are. When ranking these songs, I really found myself happily surprised when I realized that “Lavender Haze” was my favorite song on Midnights. I mean, this is such a strong album, one of my favorites, and so many songs on it absolutely could have taken my top spot. But I just can’t let go of the beautiful memory I have of pressing play on this song for the first time, my first brand new Taylor Swift song on a brand new album as a fan of hers, and being totally shocked and excited by the sounds I first heard. This track is such a slick and atmospheric entry point into the world of Midnights, with so much emotional complexity as well. It’s all about wishing to hide away from the rest of the world with your love, ignoring what everyone else thinks of you. By extension, it’s a song that sounds like a party is going on in the other room, with that muffled party beat in the background. Taylor’s vocals are so interesting too, soft yet powerful.
Absoludicrous 