Day 9: Ranking Taylor Swift's Albums

Today we're going to have a little fun. I'm going to say which of Taylor Swift's albums are OBJECTIVELY the best and worst. But not the songs specifically, I'm not quite there yet. I may be listening to her music non-stop, but I still don't have the experience needed to say which ones are best. Instead, today I will be basing my list purely off of the album art.

For the most part, the album covers are very nice. I've pictured them all below, listed in order chronologically. For reference I won't be considering the deluxe/platinum/chocolatey-fudge-coated versions of the album covers; I consider them to be non-canon.

I'll be doing this list in reverse order, from 6 to 1. Remember, this list is objective, so please don't post your opinions in the comment section below!

6. Taylor Swift

This picture is fine. Taylor looks fine, the butterflies in the background are fine. It's all fine. Nothing really pops about this picture except her eyes, which to be totally honest look a little overdone. Taylor's future album covers actually have a similar strategy in terms of making Taylor's face pop, but go about it in a different way. It places a little too much focus on her face, probably because no one knew who she was.

5. Fearless

I swear I'm not biased against her older albums. I just honestly think that this album cover is less interesting than the ones that come later. It's a lot like the Taylor Swift album cover, but a lot cleaner. It gets straight to the point. That said, it doesn't really have much more to say than "Taylor Swift pretty".

4. Reputation

The biggest sin of Reputation is that it's too busy. I understand the point of the newspaper text, and in principle I think it works really well. I especially like the way that the text fades into nothing on her face. Unfortunately I think the decision to go gray scale worked against them here; the use of color on the other albums is one of their greatest strengths, something you'll see on all the covers from here out. Also, that choker looks very uncomfortable.

3. Speak Now

The difference between numbers 3 and 2 is so small. Sadly, one has to win out and Speak Now just barely loses out. This is, in my eyes, the ultimate form of Taylor's first three album covers. They finally figured out that you can do more with Taylor than look at her face, and the effects on her dress go very well with the font on the album name and signature. They also used red lipstick to accentuate her face, which works well. I just think it's better in the next albums.

2. 1989

This cover is somewhat of a gimmick, but it pulls it off. The Polaroid style comes together really well with Taylor's look in this picture. The red lips, the seagull shirt, and most importantly the cut off eyes. I can't stress how important that decision was. Seriously, look at this. It's a goddamn monstrosity! That one decision made this album art much better. Also I want that shirt. Oh shit, it exists! And it's on sale! And it's sold out! Fuck!

1. Red

Yeah, I'm sure this was a surprise to no one. The lips, the shadow, the hat, the hair. It all just flows together so well. It would be good on it's own, but considering that the album is called Red, it makes it even better. So congrats to Red! It's probably the last time you'll see it at the top of one of these lists.

See you tomorrow,

-C