On October 26th, 2018 I decided to embark on a journey. For the next 100 days, I would listen to nothing but Taylor Swift. As of today, I can happily say that this project has successfully concluded. And let me tell you, it was not an easy journey.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the music. Taylor's sweet jams were my only solace on this harrowing ocean of a task, and they guided me well. As you'll read, I really developed an appreciation for her music!
It's true, I didn't start out as a fan. So why would I do this to myself? Yeah, that's a good question, and to this day I can't really say. Maybe I wanted to try and get a better appreciation for music in general? Maybe I wanted to know why so many people are such big fans of Taylor Swift! Or maybe, I was just bored. But regardless, it doesn't matter much now because the 100 days are over.
But don't worry, that doesn't mean you've missed out! Ever since the very first day, I decided to document the progress with a post every single day! This means that you, dear reader, have the privilege of being able to witness the entire thing, start to finish! If you really want to get a good sense for how my feelings on Taylor's music changed over the months you can read from day one, otherwise there's really no wrong order to take it in!
So what did I write about? Well, there are 86 Taylor Swift songs from her albums, so you might think that I'd have a hard time coming up with something to say every day. But after all my posts, I only ended up talking about 50 of these songs. So what did I discuss on the remaining days? Well, there's only one way to find out! From music videos to albums covers to movie appearances, there's a lot to talk about! If it weren't for my degrading sanity, I could continue this blog for another year!
But, alas, the project is over and that means that this is the last post! If you want to jump right to the good stuff, the final week of this blog was full of huge summaries where I briefly reviewed then ranked every song Taylor ever released on an album, so if you're already familiar with her content just jump straight there!
Now, that's going to be all from me! To those of you who have been here from the start, thanks for all your support! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go catch up on all the podcasts I've been missing!
I won't see you tomorrow, but you might just see me!
-C
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Friday, February 1, 2019
Day 99: Who Holds The Record?
Yesterday I discussed each of Taylor Swift's albums, summarizing the unique tone, theme, and musical styles of each one. I would recommend reading that post before this one, as it gives lots of important context for the claims I will make in this post. As a quick recap, I presented this graph towards the end of yesterday's post.
While I do think that this graph is accurate, it is very important to realize that the term "overall quality" is nowhere to be seen on the axes. Nuance and strength of theme are both important elements of quality, but just because Speak Now doesn't shine in either of those ways that doesn't make it a bad album. In fact, as I will elaborate on more today, I think Speak Now is one of Taylor Swift's strongest albums.
So if your goal is to rank Taylor Swift's albums, what methods could you use? A great place to start would be to rank each of Taylor Swift's song, and see how they compare on average. And as it just so happens, I spent most of last week ranking all of the songs on Taylor Swift's albums! (here are days 1, 2, 3, and 4 is you missed it!) How convenient! From that list, I was able to get an average placing of each album, which I've shown below.
So are we done? Reputation is the best album and Taylor Swift is the worst? Well not quite, it's a lot more complicated than that. First, to accept these result you would have to agree with my whole list, which no one would fully. But even if you're literally me, these numbers aren't necessarily the best indication of quality. Taylor Swift has a pretty decent amount of good songs, but it has so many songs that drag it down, making it's average low. To get a better idea of each album's spread, I made this chart showing how they fit into the six categories I made.
A couple things may stick out to you at this point. Taylor Swift and Fearless had pretty similar averages, but their distributions couldn't be more different. Fearless had no songs in the worst and best categories, making it a very average album. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, hardly had any songs in the middle two slots, with most of it's songs being either in the top of bottom third. So judging by this chart, which album is the best? Well, Reputation has nearly no bad songs, and Speak Now has the most excellent songs. So is it one of these? Maybe, but we still haven't even seen the first picture.
Judging by this chart, 1989 and Red are pretty similar albums. In some ways they are, but we cannot ignore the difference in theme. I mentioned this yesterday, but Red has a much more cohesive theme, but 1989 makes up for it by having a wide variation in musical styles. Importantly, 1989's strength in variation applies to individual songs so that is already compensated for in the data I presented. On the other hand, Red's strong theme appears nowhere on the charts, since it applies to the album as a whole. So how on earth am I supposed to account for a strength as nebulous as a theme.
I've been pondering this question for the last month and I still have no clue. My best answer is that the only accurate way to rank each song is to sort by strength. Here are a few examples of what I mean.
Albums By Strength of Theme:
1. Reputation
2. Red
3. Fearless
4. 1989
5. Taylor Swift
6. Speak Now
Albums By Best Songs:
1. Speak Now
2. 1989
3. Reputation
4. Red
5. Taylor Swift
6. Fearless
Albums By Not Worst:
1. Reputation
2. Fearless
3. 1989
4. Red
5. Speak Now
6. Taylor Swift
Albums By Average Placing:
1. Reputation
2. Speak Now
3. 1989
4. Red
5. Fearless
6. Taylor Swift
Albums By Cover Art:
1. Red
2. 1989
3. Speak Now
4. Reputation
5. Fearless
6. Taylor Swift
I could literally do this all day, but I think you get the point. There are a million ways to order these albums, each with strengths and weaknesses. You could choose to include content from deluxe albums, or separately released songs from similar time periods. You might care about genre a lot more than me, or even less. However, instead of doing all that I'm going to point your attention to something very notable about the lists I wrote above. Taylor's first two albums are almost always near the bottom, her two most recent albums are usually near the top, and the intermediate albums are typically somewhere in the middle. This leads me to the following conclusion. Some may see it as controversial, but on average I think it is incredibly true.
Taylor Swift's music has gotten better over time
I know, I'm incredibly brave for making such a bold claim. Many, many people will disagree and that's fine, but I think I've presented valid evidence to back it up. Sure, certain aspects of Taylor's songwriting will fluctuate over time, but when summed together I think the trend is pretty clear. However, I'm sure that you all want to know my personal opinions as well. Sure, there's plenty of my bias in the data I presented but bias and opinion are synonyms. So, here is my personal list of my favorite Taylor Swift albums.
My Favorites:
1. Speak Now
2. Reputation
3. Red
4. 1989
5. Fearless
6. Taylor Swift
Alright, well I guess that's that! Tomorrow is the last day of this blog! The structure of that post will be a little unusual, so make sure to come back so you can catch the grand finale!
See you tomorrow,
-C
While I do think that this graph is accurate, it is very important to realize that the term "overall quality" is nowhere to be seen on the axes. Nuance and strength of theme are both important elements of quality, but just because Speak Now doesn't shine in either of those ways that doesn't make it a bad album. In fact, as I will elaborate on more today, I think Speak Now is one of Taylor Swift's strongest albums.
So if your goal is to rank Taylor Swift's albums, what methods could you use? A great place to start would be to rank each of Taylor Swift's song, and see how they compare on average. And as it just so happens, I spent most of last week ranking all of the songs on Taylor Swift's albums! (here are days 1, 2, 3, and 4 is you missed it!) How convenient! From that list, I was able to get an average placing of each album, which I've shown below.
So are we done? Reputation is the best album and Taylor Swift is the worst? Well not quite, it's a lot more complicated than that. First, to accept these result you would have to agree with my whole list, which no one would fully. But even if you're literally me, these numbers aren't necessarily the best indication of quality. Taylor Swift has a pretty decent amount of good songs, but it has so many songs that drag it down, making it's average low. To get a better idea of each album's spread, I made this chart showing how they fit into the six categories I made.
A couple things may stick out to you at this point. Taylor Swift and Fearless had pretty similar averages, but their distributions couldn't be more different. Fearless had no songs in the worst and best categories, making it a very average album. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, hardly had any songs in the middle two slots, with most of it's songs being either in the top of bottom third. So judging by this chart, which album is the best? Well, Reputation has nearly no bad songs, and Speak Now has the most excellent songs. So is it one of these? Maybe, but we still haven't even seen the first picture.
Judging by this chart, 1989 and Red are pretty similar albums. In some ways they are, but we cannot ignore the difference in theme. I mentioned this yesterday, but Red has a much more cohesive theme, but 1989 makes up for it by having a wide variation in musical styles. Importantly, 1989's strength in variation applies to individual songs so that is already compensated for in the data I presented. On the other hand, Red's strong theme appears nowhere on the charts, since it applies to the album as a whole. So how on earth am I supposed to account for a strength as nebulous as a theme.
I've been pondering this question for the last month and I still have no clue. My best answer is that the only accurate way to rank each song is to sort by strength. Here are a few examples of what I mean.
Albums By Strength of Theme:
1. Reputation
2. Red
3. Fearless
4. 1989
5. Taylor Swift
6. Speak Now
Albums By Best Songs:
1. Speak Now
2. 1989
3. Reputation
4. Red
5. Taylor Swift
6. Fearless
Albums By Not Worst:
1. Reputation
2. Fearless
3. 1989
4. Red
5. Speak Now
6. Taylor Swift
Albums By Average Placing:
1. Reputation
2. Speak Now
3. 1989
4. Red
5. Fearless
6. Taylor Swift
Albums By Cover Art:
1. Red
2. 1989
3. Speak Now
4. Reputation
5. Fearless
6. Taylor Swift
I could literally do this all day, but I think you get the point. There are a million ways to order these albums, each with strengths and weaknesses. You could choose to include content from deluxe albums, or separately released songs from similar time periods. You might care about genre a lot more than me, or even less. However, instead of doing all that I'm going to point your attention to something very notable about the lists I wrote above. Taylor's first two albums are almost always near the bottom, her two most recent albums are usually near the top, and the intermediate albums are typically somewhere in the middle. This leads me to the following conclusion. Some may see it as controversial, but on average I think it is incredibly true.
Taylor Swift's music has gotten better over time
I know, I'm incredibly brave for making such a bold claim. Many, many people will disagree and that's fine, but I think I've presented valid evidence to back it up. Sure, certain aspects of Taylor's songwriting will fluctuate over time, but when summed together I think the trend is pretty clear. However, I'm sure that you all want to know my personal opinions as well. Sure, there's plenty of my bias in the data I presented but bias and opinion are synonyms. So, here is my personal list of my favorite Taylor Swift albums.
My Favorites:
1. Speak Now
2. Reputation
3. Red
4. 1989
5. Fearless
6. Taylor Swift
Alright, well I guess that's that! Tomorrow is the last day of this blog! The structure of that post will be a little unusual, so make sure to come back so you can catch the grand finale!
See you tomorrow,
-C
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Day 98: What Makes an Album?
You have a favorite Taylor Swift album, even if you don't know it. Many people don't think that much about the distinction between her six studio albums, but in my nearly 100 days of experience understanding how each albums functions is vital framework for Taylor's entire career. The next two days will be dedicated entirely to summarizing Taylor Swift's albums. What makes each one unique, various musical styles, and of course which ones I think are the best in various ways. Today will be mostly to summarize how each album functions, while tomorrow will be more evaluative.
It only took a week or two for me to become very familiar with the differences between Taylor's style between albums. However, I think I made the same mistake that most do when looking at her music, and that was focusing on genre. It's easy to say that Taylor transitioned from country to pop to whatever the hell she's doing now, but that is glosses over so many important details. Her first two albums, Taylor Swift and Fearless are both widely considered to be "country", but still have distinct musical elements that makes telling their songs apart very easy if you know how.
On top of the sound, there is also the issue of theme. Most Taylor Swift albums have a central theme; a guiding compass that points each song in vaguely the same direction. This is a hugely important factor in characterizing what each album tries to accomplish. With that out of the way, let's begin!
Taylor Swift
Theme: Isolation
Tone: Generally optimistic
Music: Acoustic guitar, banjo, low volume male background accompaniment
Taylor Swift released her first, self-titled, album way back in 2006. Best known for it's hit singles including Teardrops on My Guitar, Picture To Burn, Tim McGraw, Our Song, and Should've Said No, this album really shaped Taylor's early image as well as setting the groundwork for her entire career. You may be somewhat confused at me saying the theme is "isolation", after all doesn't that conflict with an optimistic tone? Well they sometimes do get in each other's way, especially in songs like The Outside, but they aren't inherently contradictory. In fact, almost every song has something to say about what it's like to be on your own, or at least feeling that way. There are a few exceptions, like Mary's Song and Our Song, but there's a surprising amount of cohesion for such an early album.
If you're wondering why you never noticed, well that's one of Taylor Swift's biggest problems. My guess is that there wasn't explicit intent behind the theme of this album, but the songs that featured this theme ended up being the strongest. After all, Taylor was a teenager when she wrote this album and that can be a very isolating time, so it makes sense that songs drawing from these feelings would be the best written.
Fearless
Theme: Following what your heart tells you
Tone: Resolute, headstrong
Music: Strings and percussion, higher vocals
Whereas Taylor Swift mostly presented problems as an album, Fearless has come around giving out solutions left and right two years later. You probably remembers hits like Love Story and You Belong With Me, but there are a lot of great songs here. You may think that the theme is obvious: being fearless. In my view, this is only half the story. Sure that's a perfect descriptor for songs like Hey Stephen and Fearless (no kidding), but it doesn't paint the whole picture for less positive songs like The Way I Loves You and You're Not Sorry. The one element nearly every song has in common is that Taylor follows what her heart tells her. Some songs paint that as an advantage, like Love Story where love overcomes all, but others show that following your heart without looking for warning sign can lead to ruination, like Forever & Always. I list the tone as headstrong because every interaction is framed by Taylor with complete confidence. After all, the song isn't called "I Belong With You", Taylor knows what's up.
Speak Now
Theme: Facing your demons so you can get to your angels
Tone: Retrospective, dramatic
Music: Electric guitar
2010's Speak Now is one of Taylor Swift's best albums, but it's also one of the hardest to label. There isn't nearly as much of a theme to this album as most others. The one I have above pretty much works, but it also would basically work for any of her albums if you don't pay too much attention. Instead of being strong through consistency in theme, Speak Now goes for a strong, distinct tone. I wish I had the musical proficiency to fully describe this album's "sound" with more detail than just saying "electric guitar", because there really is so much more to it. In reality, this album has a very distinct combination of vocals, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar that you never really see in other Taylor Swift songs. This led to an album full of very big sounding songs, brimming with drama. The narratives that Taylor paints have their stakes raised twofold by the music alone, and it makes for an amazing album.
Red
Theme: Looking forward and back on relationships with red flags
Tone: Sad, Beautiful, Tragic
Music: Breathy vocals, acoustic guitar for days
2012 gave us Red, one of Taylor's most popular albums. Many claim that Red is her best written album, which I'm not completely on board with. It's certainly her most written album, but the tragic, poetic tone doesn't always work out in her favor. Regardless, there's no denying that the consistency in both tone and theme is remarkable. And remark on it I will! Some songs, like All Too Well, really benefit from being surrounded by other songs that can be seen as additional context, while others, like Sad Beautiful Tragic fall flat at get swept underwater by the tides of the more impactful songs. Anyways, I know it's somewhat of a copout to use acoustic guitar as a musical style, so I'll go one step further. Many of these songs use their guitars in the exact same way. Just listen to the first three seconds of Red, Treacherous, All Too Well, 22, I Almost Do, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Holy Ground, Everything Has Changed, and Begin Again. Need I say any more?
1989
Theme: Keeping the love alive amidst a hurricane
Tone: Confident
Music: Echoes, heavy clapping beats
In the same vein as Speak Now, 2014's 1989 is somewhat difficult to characterize. One of it's biggest strengths is it's range, but this does lead to a less cohesive theme, especially compared to albums like Red and Reputation. Sure, if you look at just a few songs you can find something that fits pretty well but it's difficult to find one line that can describe ten songs or more. The theme I wrote above ended up being just vague enough to describe nearly the whole album. That said, the individual songs typically have very strong themes, they just don't always connect well. It's like the inverse of Red, where songs sacrifice themselves to the whole. Each song on 1989 does what it takes to stand out from the pack, but the whole never feels too bloated. One way that I like thinking of this albums is the same fraught relationship was split into a few possible outcomes, and each of these songs inform us of the status of the relationship in a given timeline. It's a pretty stupid theory but it makes me happy and isn't that what matters?
Reputation
Theme: How to simultaneously be on top of the world while you hit rock bottom
Tone: Cynical, Intoxicated
Music: Synth, vocal focused
In terms of construction, this album is actually pretty similar to Red. They both have very strong, well defined themes that nearly every song comments on. Each album is also relatively homogeneous, with each being commonly criticized for sounding the same across every song. This is certainly a fair criticism, but in my opinion the songs on Reputation have more nuanced takes on the theme they contribute to, as well as having more complex and interesting music. It's definitely not for everyone, but there is a lot going on here to love if you take the time to warm up to it. And boy did I give this album time (and every other album for that matter).
So which album is best? Well again, there are multiple answers depending on what you value. There are a hundred ways to evaluate quality, and none of them are without bias. For instance, Here's a quick plot I made showing my opinion on the strength of theme and nuance each album has on two axes.
This plot would make you think that Speak Now is a bad album when it, in fact, really isn't. It just so happens that it doesn't shine in these regards, but it still has tons to offer. Keep that in mind for what I have to say tomorrow!
See you tomorrow,
-C
It only took a week or two for me to become very familiar with the differences between Taylor's style between albums. However, I think I made the same mistake that most do when looking at her music, and that was focusing on genre. It's easy to say that Taylor transitioned from country to pop to whatever the hell she's doing now, but that is glosses over so many important details. Her first two albums, Taylor Swift and Fearless are both widely considered to be "country", but still have distinct musical elements that makes telling their songs apart very easy if you know how.
On top of the sound, there is also the issue of theme. Most Taylor Swift albums have a central theme; a guiding compass that points each song in vaguely the same direction. This is a hugely important factor in characterizing what each album tries to accomplish. With that out of the way, let's begin!
Taylor Swift
Tone: Generally optimistic
Music: Acoustic guitar, banjo, low volume male background accompaniment
Taylor Swift released her first, self-titled, album way back in 2006. Best known for it's hit singles including Teardrops on My Guitar, Picture To Burn, Tim McGraw, Our Song, and Should've Said No, this album really shaped Taylor's early image as well as setting the groundwork for her entire career. You may be somewhat confused at me saying the theme is "isolation", after all doesn't that conflict with an optimistic tone? Well they sometimes do get in each other's way, especially in songs like The Outside, but they aren't inherently contradictory. In fact, almost every song has something to say about what it's like to be on your own, or at least feeling that way. There are a few exceptions, like Mary's Song and Our Song, but there's a surprising amount of cohesion for such an early album.
If you're wondering why you never noticed, well that's one of Taylor Swift's biggest problems. My guess is that there wasn't explicit intent behind the theme of this album, but the songs that featured this theme ended up being the strongest. After all, Taylor was a teenager when she wrote this album and that can be a very isolating time, so it makes sense that songs drawing from these feelings would be the best written.
Fearless
Tone: Resolute, headstrong
Music: Strings and percussion, higher vocals
Whereas Taylor Swift mostly presented problems as an album, Fearless has come around giving out solutions left and right two years later. You probably remembers hits like Love Story and You Belong With Me, but there are a lot of great songs here. You may think that the theme is obvious: being fearless. In my view, this is only half the story. Sure that's a perfect descriptor for songs like Hey Stephen and Fearless (no kidding), but it doesn't paint the whole picture for less positive songs like The Way I Loves You and You're Not Sorry. The one element nearly every song has in common is that Taylor follows what her heart tells her. Some songs paint that as an advantage, like Love Story where love overcomes all, but others show that following your heart without looking for warning sign can lead to ruination, like Forever & Always. I list the tone as headstrong because every interaction is framed by Taylor with complete confidence. After all, the song isn't called "I Belong With You", Taylor knows what's up.
Speak Now
Tone: Retrospective, dramatic
Music: Electric guitar
2010's Speak Now is one of Taylor Swift's best albums, but it's also one of the hardest to label. There isn't nearly as much of a theme to this album as most others. The one I have above pretty much works, but it also would basically work for any of her albums if you don't pay too much attention. Instead of being strong through consistency in theme, Speak Now goes for a strong, distinct tone. I wish I had the musical proficiency to fully describe this album's "sound" with more detail than just saying "electric guitar", because there really is so much more to it. In reality, this album has a very distinct combination of vocals, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar that you never really see in other Taylor Swift songs. This led to an album full of very big sounding songs, brimming with drama. The narratives that Taylor paints have their stakes raised twofold by the music alone, and it makes for an amazing album.
Red
Tone: Sad, Beautiful, Tragic
Music: Breathy vocals, acoustic guitar for days
2012 gave us Red, one of Taylor's most popular albums. Many claim that Red is her best written album, which I'm not completely on board with. It's certainly her most written album, but the tragic, poetic tone doesn't always work out in her favor. Regardless, there's no denying that the consistency in both tone and theme is remarkable. And remark on it I will! Some songs, like All Too Well, really benefit from being surrounded by other songs that can be seen as additional context, while others, like Sad Beautiful Tragic fall flat at get swept underwater by the tides of the more impactful songs. Anyways, I know it's somewhat of a copout to use acoustic guitar as a musical style, so I'll go one step further. Many of these songs use their guitars in the exact same way. Just listen to the first three seconds of Red, Treacherous, All Too Well, 22, I Almost Do, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Holy Ground, Everything Has Changed, and Begin Again. Need I say any more?
1989
Tone: Confident
Music: Echoes, heavy clapping beats
In the same vein as Speak Now, 2014's 1989 is somewhat difficult to characterize. One of it's biggest strengths is it's range, but this does lead to a less cohesive theme, especially compared to albums like Red and Reputation. Sure, if you look at just a few songs you can find something that fits pretty well but it's difficult to find one line that can describe ten songs or more. The theme I wrote above ended up being just vague enough to describe nearly the whole album. That said, the individual songs typically have very strong themes, they just don't always connect well. It's like the inverse of Red, where songs sacrifice themselves to the whole. Each song on 1989 does what it takes to stand out from the pack, but the whole never feels too bloated. One way that I like thinking of this albums is the same fraught relationship was split into a few possible outcomes, and each of these songs inform us of the status of the relationship in a given timeline. It's a pretty stupid theory but it makes me happy and isn't that what matters?
Reputation
Tone: Cynical, Intoxicated
Music: Synth, vocal focused
In terms of construction, this album is actually pretty similar to Red. They both have very strong, well defined themes that nearly every song comments on. Each album is also relatively homogeneous, with each being commonly criticized for sounding the same across every song. This is certainly a fair criticism, but in my opinion the songs on Reputation have more nuanced takes on the theme they contribute to, as well as having more complex and interesting music. It's definitely not for everyone, but there is a lot going on here to love if you take the time to warm up to it. And boy did I give this album time (and every other album for that matter).
So which album is best? Well again, there are multiple answers depending on what you value. There are a hundred ways to evaluate quality, and none of them are without bias. For instance, Here's a quick plot I made showing my opinion on the strength of theme and nuance each album has on two axes.
This plot would make you think that Speak Now is a bad album when it, in fact, really isn't. It just so happens that it doesn't shine in these regards, but it still has tons to offer. Keep that in mind for what I have to say tomorrow!
See you tomorrow,
-C
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Day 97: The Tippity Top
Yes, we're finally here! Today is the final day of my song ranking list that I've been working on for the last three days. Here are days one, two, and three if you didn't catch them before. There are only thirteen more songs to talk about and they're all fantastic, so let's jump into it!
13. Long Live - Speak Now (2010)
A great song in so many ways. The pacing is excellent and the writing is very well crafted. I made a whole pose about how it's vague in just the right ways, and for me that's what put it over the edge into the category of the best songs. One other finale song is ranked higher than this one, but I still believe that Long Live does the best job of filling that role period. The royalty imagery constantly evoked gives this song an unmistakable personality, as does the unique subject of celebrating the escapades of a musical group. Overall, fantastic and unique love song. In my post I pasted a Spongebob gif that this song reminded me of. It fits so well that I'm going to reuse it here. Seriously, listen to Long Live's chorus while watching the gif, it's hilarious.
12. Sparks Fly - Speak Now (2010)
With among the best writing of all of Taylor Swift's songs combined with top notch dramatic music, Sparks Fly really is a piece of work. The writing is straight out of Red, both in terms of quality and theme, but the electric guitars and more sappy tone betray that it truly is a Speak Now classic. You really feel like you have a front row seats to these sparks, and it makes the song a joy to listen to. The rhythm is so easy to fall into, and I do every time.
11. Wildest Dreams - 1989 (2014)
Every ounce of Wildest Dreams works in unison to build up it's tragic, nostalgic tone. People sometimes ask me what improvements could have been made to the songs on Red since I so often criticize their homogeneity, and I always point to this song as an example of how to do something unique. It's basically Sad Beautiful Tragic but about a thousand times better. The writing is borderline poetic, and on top of all this is has a fantastic music video.
10. Dress - Reputation (2017)
This song is one of my personal favorites, but I don't think I'm overrating it here. It has possibly the best cadence of any of Taylor's songs, most notably during the bridge. It ebbs and flows with emotion, and brings you along for the ride, building the tension at the perfect times by expertly coordinating the music and lyrics.
9. Everything Has Changed - Red (2012)
If you read my review of The Last Time, you'll remember that I said a quality of a good collaboration is that it's able to build on the artists strengths without cutting out what makes them unique. Everything Has Changed is the bar that I was comparing it to, which may have been why I was so harsh. I endlessly praised this song in the post I made about it, but to summarize: there is a perfect level of ambiguity in the lyrics, and the rising intensity of the music will inevitably drag you into the emotion. It also has an adorable music video.
8. All Too Well - Red (2012)
I already know some people will be mad that this song isn't number one, but I think I defended why it wouldn't be pretty well in a post I made about the song. But I'm not here to talk about why this song isn't the best: I'm here to say why it beats out so many fantastic songs! Only one or two other songs have writing on the same level as All Too Well; it very well may be Taylor's best written song. The imagery she uses to describe how she feels is so powerful; it's no wonder that anyone who listens to this song a lot gets completely dragged in. It really is an amazing song!
7. Mine - Speak Now (2010)
The strongest traditional narrative song that Taylor Swift has every written. It has a clear, relatable, real conflict that poses a threat to her relationship. What makes Mine unique is that this conflict is internal, rather than being external pressure applied by other people in her life. The fact that it pulls this off so seamlessly is incredible to me. There's a reason it was chosen to be the lead single and the lead track for Speak Now, it's incredibly strong thematically and is no slouch musically either. The only place it slacks is it's music video, but I'm not really considering that for this ranking.
6. Getaway Car - Reputation (2017)
If you think this song is too high then you clearly aren't listening hard enough. Every single second of this song is laced together like a tightly knit fabric. From the perspective of a narrative there is so much going on in this song, yet it has a highly catchy chorus that is easy to absorb on the surface. I talked extensively about all the possible meanings in this song and still didn't come to a concrete solution. If you don't feel it on your bones when the she says "It hit you like a shotgun shot to the heart" then you clearly don't have one. A heart, that is. I have no clue whether you have a shotgun.
5. Clean - 1989 (2014)
This was literally the first song I write about for this blog. It immediately caught my eye (ear???) as en excellent song and it has no doubt held up. From the beat to the synth to Taylor lyrics to the way she says them; every part of this song is working in harmony towards to build a strong unison of tone and theme. What's more, this complex combination can be summed up in one word. Can you guess which one it is?
4. Enchanted - Speak Now (2010)
Remember all that praise I just gave to Clean? Okay, now imagine I said the exact same things about this song. They both accumulate a well defined theme and tone in the title, but there are some important differences. Despite how classically "Taylor Swift" this song sounds, it actually has among the most unique vocals of all of her songs, which certainly helps it to stand out from it's peers. I've praised this song in multiple posts, but it does so many little things right, my favorite of which was highlighted in this post about when it's okay to not rhyme.
3. Don't Blame Me - Reputation (2017)
I can already tell there are more than a few eyebrows raised at this one already, so let me explain. This song wasn't a single and it can fly under the radar easily, I don't really ever see people talking about it. But even if you think that third is too high, I strongly believe that this song is completely incredible. It's the perfect embodiment of what Reputation does well. The writing takes a typical Taylor Swift plotline and twists it beyond recognition, making you question everything you think you know about what love should be. You can read more in this post, but since then my opinion of this song has clearly improved a lot. Reputation as an album has a pretty clear goal, and Don't Blame Me pulls it off the best, and that's a pretty high bar.
2. Blank Space - 1989 (2014)
I wasn't sure if Blank Space would hold up over a longer period of time, but it sure showed me. The overall sound design is the best of any Taylor Swift song, as are the use of literary tools like metaphor and simile. In the post where I discussed it (actually there were two), I extensively praised the music video. Since then I've realized that the music video was only able to achieve this level of synergy because song laid such a strong foundation to build on.
1. Mean - Speak Now (2010)
That's right, my number one song is Mean. I'm not going to go into too much depth about why it is since I very recently made an entire post about it, There are a lot of songs that sound this good, but none work on quite as many levels as Mean. There are many ways you can interpret to it, and they're all very valuable. This is what really makes mean the best Taylor Swift song: each person who listens will take it in a slightly different way, and it' exactly the one they need. Mean meets you on your ground without giving up it's message; a feat that I don't think any other Taylor Swift song quite reaches. It's a lofty goal and it completely nails it, which is why for me it's number one.
Bonus Content:
There is only one song from other sources (movies, deluxe albums, etc) that is on the level of these song: Ronan. I spent a whole post praising this song so I don't really have anything else to say.
Well, that's all for today! There are only three posts left, so I hope you're ready for the grand finale! Or maybe you're not ready to move on from me claiming that Don't Blame Me is the third best Taylor Swift song and feel compelled to leave several well thought out comments proving me wrong. Either way, you'll be seeing more of me soon.
See you tomorrow,
-C
13. Long Live - Speak Now (2010)
A great song in so many ways. The pacing is excellent and the writing is very well crafted. I made a whole pose about how it's vague in just the right ways, and for me that's what put it over the edge into the category of the best songs. One other finale song is ranked higher than this one, but I still believe that Long Live does the best job of filling that role period. The royalty imagery constantly evoked gives this song an unmistakable personality, as does the unique subject of celebrating the escapades of a musical group. Overall, fantastic and unique love song. In my post I pasted a Spongebob gif that this song reminded me of. It fits so well that I'm going to reuse it here. Seriously, listen to Long Live's chorus while watching the gif, it's hilarious.
12. Sparks Fly - Speak Now (2010)
With among the best writing of all of Taylor Swift's songs combined with top notch dramatic music, Sparks Fly really is a piece of work. The writing is straight out of Red, both in terms of quality and theme, but the electric guitars and more sappy tone betray that it truly is a Speak Now classic. You really feel like you have a front row seats to these sparks, and it makes the song a joy to listen to. The rhythm is so easy to fall into, and I do every time.
11. Wildest Dreams - 1989 (2014)
Every ounce of Wildest Dreams works in unison to build up it's tragic, nostalgic tone. People sometimes ask me what improvements could have been made to the songs on Red since I so often criticize their homogeneity, and I always point to this song as an example of how to do something unique. It's basically Sad Beautiful Tragic but about a thousand times better. The writing is borderline poetic, and on top of all this is has a fantastic music video.
10. Dress - Reputation (2017)
This song is one of my personal favorites, but I don't think I'm overrating it here. It has possibly the best cadence of any of Taylor's songs, most notably during the bridge. It ebbs and flows with emotion, and brings you along for the ride, building the tension at the perfect times by expertly coordinating the music and lyrics.
9. Everything Has Changed - Red (2012)
If you read my review of The Last Time, you'll remember that I said a quality of a good collaboration is that it's able to build on the artists strengths without cutting out what makes them unique. Everything Has Changed is the bar that I was comparing it to, which may have been why I was so harsh. I endlessly praised this song in the post I made about it, but to summarize: there is a perfect level of ambiguity in the lyrics, and the rising intensity of the music will inevitably drag you into the emotion. It also has an adorable music video.
8. All Too Well - Red (2012)
I already know some people will be mad that this song isn't number one, but I think I defended why it wouldn't be pretty well in a post I made about the song. But I'm not here to talk about why this song isn't the best: I'm here to say why it beats out so many fantastic songs! Only one or two other songs have writing on the same level as All Too Well; it very well may be Taylor's best written song. The imagery she uses to describe how she feels is so powerful; it's no wonder that anyone who listens to this song a lot gets completely dragged in. It really is an amazing song!
7. Mine - Speak Now (2010)
The strongest traditional narrative song that Taylor Swift has every written. It has a clear, relatable, real conflict that poses a threat to her relationship. What makes Mine unique is that this conflict is internal, rather than being external pressure applied by other people in her life. The fact that it pulls this off so seamlessly is incredible to me. There's a reason it was chosen to be the lead single and the lead track for Speak Now, it's incredibly strong thematically and is no slouch musically either. The only place it slacks is it's music video, but I'm not really considering that for this ranking.
6. Getaway Car - Reputation (2017)
If you think this song is too high then you clearly aren't listening hard enough. Every single second of this song is laced together like a tightly knit fabric. From the perspective of a narrative there is so much going on in this song, yet it has a highly catchy chorus that is easy to absorb on the surface. I talked extensively about all the possible meanings in this song and still didn't come to a concrete solution. If you don't feel it on your bones when the she says "It hit you like a shotgun shot to the heart" then you clearly don't have one. A heart, that is. I have no clue whether you have a shotgun.
5. Clean - 1989 (2014)
This was literally the first song I write about for this blog. It immediately caught my eye (ear???) as en excellent song and it has no doubt held up. From the beat to the synth to Taylor lyrics to the way she says them; every part of this song is working in harmony towards to build a strong unison of tone and theme. What's more, this complex combination can be summed up in one word. Can you guess which one it is?
4. Enchanted - Speak Now (2010)
Remember all that praise I just gave to Clean? Okay, now imagine I said the exact same things about this song. They both accumulate a well defined theme and tone in the title, but there are some important differences. Despite how classically "Taylor Swift" this song sounds, it actually has among the most unique vocals of all of her songs, which certainly helps it to stand out from it's peers. I've praised this song in multiple posts, but it does so many little things right, my favorite of which was highlighted in this post about when it's okay to not rhyme.
3. Don't Blame Me - Reputation (2017)
I can already tell there are more than a few eyebrows raised at this one already, so let me explain. This song wasn't a single and it can fly under the radar easily, I don't really ever see people talking about it. But even if you think that third is too high, I strongly believe that this song is completely incredible. It's the perfect embodiment of what Reputation does well. The writing takes a typical Taylor Swift plotline and twists it beyond recognition, making you question everything you think you know about what love should be. You can read more in this post, but since then my opinion of this song has clearly improved a lot. Reputation as an album has a pretty clear goal, and Don't Blame Me pulls it off the best, and that's a pretty high bar.
2. Blank Space - 1989 (2014)
I wasn't sure if Blank Space would hold up over a longer period of time, but it sure showed me. The overall sound design is the best of any Taylor Swift song, as are the use of literary tools like metaphor and simile. In the post where I discussed it (actually there were two), I extensively praised the music video. Since then I've realized that the music video was only able to achieve this level of synergy because song laid such a strong foundation to build on.
1. Mean - Speak Now (2010)
That's right, my number one song is Mean. I'm not going to go into too much depth about why it is since I very recently made an entire post about it, There are a lot of songs that sound this good, but none work on quite as many levels as Mean. There are many ways you can interpret to it, and they're all very valuable. This is what really makes mean the best Taylor Swift song: each person who listens will take it in a slightly different way, and it' exactly the one they need. Mean meets you on your ground without giving up it's message; a feat that I don't think any other Taylor Swift song quite reaches. It's a lofty goal and it completely nails it, which is why for me it's number one.
Bonus Content:
There is only one song from other sources (movies, deluxe albums, etc) that is on the level of these song: Ronan. I spent a whole post praising this song so I don't really have anything else to say.
Well, that's all for today! There are only three posts left, so I hope you're ready for the grand finale! Or maybe you're not ready to move on from me claiming that Don't Blame Me is the third best Taylor Swift song and feel compelled to leave several well thought out comments proving me wrong. Either way, you'll be seeing more of me soon.
See you tomorrow,
-C
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