I am an unapologetic fan of the music of Taylor Swift. I remember to this day the first time I listened to the Red album, the first three songs on that album tickling something in the back of my brain, leaving me demanding more. From there, back in 2012, I listened to her back catalog: Speak Now (2010), Fearless (2008), and Taylor Swift (2006).
Since then I’ve anticipated the release of every album and on first listen, I’ve always been… underwhelmed *. Stay with me here though, because there’s yet to be a case where I haven’t come back to one of her albums and eventually, sooner or later, fallen completely in love with it.
* Folklore is the one exception to this - I fell in love with this dream of an album from the first listen of opening track ‘The One’.
This can happen quickly, like it did with The Tortured Poets Department, which got its claws into me in a matter of days, or sometimes it can take a little longer. With reputation at the other end of the spectrum, it took four years from that first listen before it got hold of me, like a virus lying dormant inside my brain.
And having recently been to the Eras tour and experienced the magic of Taylor Swift’s undeniable stage presence in person, it feels like the right time to put together this list.
This is a list for anyone looking to understand what the fuss is all about with Taylor Swift. It’s for the person who’s heard the chart chasing hits like Shake It Off, I Knew You Were Trouble, and Blank Space and is wondering is this it? The the answer is a resounding no. There is so much poetry to Swift’s songwriting, so much complexity and wordsmithing wrapped in rich and masterful production. Those are the songs that I wanted to highlight on this list, where Swift has, to use here own words, “put narcotics into all of [her] songs”.
I hope you find something here you can connect with.
august
from Folklore
Describe it: Whimsical memories of young, messy love drifting on salt water and sea air. (☀️)
Lyric: cancel plans just in case you’d call
tolerate it
from evermore
Describe it: Densely packed narrative depicting the emotional devastation of an unequal relationship (🗡)
Lyric: but what would you do if I break free and leave us in ruin
Dress
from reputation
Describe it: Effortlessly cool beats exploring the frustration and passion of a relationship unleashed behind closed doors (😳)
Lyric: I don’t want you like a best friend
Our Song
from Taylor Swift
Describe it: Classic, fun country instrumentation showcasing the earliest iteration of Swift’s unmistakable narrative smarts (🪕)
Lyric: I grabbed a pen and an old napkin and I wrote down our song
Maroon
from Midnights
Describe it: Listening to this feels like standing under a waterfall of poetic imagery as dizzying synths crash around you (🌇)
Lyric: The lips I used to call home, so scarlet it was Maroon
Guilty as Sin?
from The Tortured Poets Department
Describe it: Explores the internal conflict and morality of imagining having a physical love affair, without actually committing the act (👹)
Lyric: What if he’s written “mine” on my upper thigh only in my mind?
Don’t Blame Me
from reputation
Describe it: Modern beats hide what lies just beneath the surface - a massive gospel anthem that climaxes with one of Swift’s most impressive vocal performances (⛪)
Lyric: And baby, for you, I would fall from grace
Tell Me Why
from Fearless
Describe it: Fiddle and mandolin seamlessly blend with teenage angst over a bad relationship (🎻)
Lyric: I need you like a heartbeat but you know you got a mean streak
Red
from Red
Describe it: Beautiful cascade of country smashing into modern pop, unfurling the rollercoaster of love in your 20s (🏎️)
Lyric: Loving him was like driving a new Maserati down a one-way street