- Sound: The vocals, music, and general design of a song must be acceptable on their own. Whether they work together is a different question.
- Theme: Songs are music stronger when they're actually saying something.
- Cohesion: And here we are! Good songs have all the elements working together to make a whole greater than the sum of their parts.
With that out of the way, let's get into the list! Quick reminder that I'm counting songs from the main albums, which means no deluxe songs, except for Taylor Swift (the album). Why? Because that's the only one that's on Google Play. Don't @ me.
The first group of songs are in the "songs I dislike" category. For the entirety of this list I prioritized the categories over specific placings, so if you think a song should be two spots higher I don't really care. I do, however, feel a lot more confident in the general placement of this list, so if you think a song should be thirty spots higher we might be able to have a real discussion.
The first group of songs are in the "songs I dislike" category. For the entirety of this list I prioritized the categories over specific placings, so if you think a song should be two spots higher I don't really care. I do, however, feel a lot more confident in the general placement of this list, so if you think a song should be thirty spots higher we might be able to have a real discussion.
85. A Perfectly Good Heart - Taylor Swift (2006)
I know I said that this was a perfectly good song, but someone had to be last! This song fails for me because it does absolutely nothing to make a name for itself. Other songs are worst in certain ways, but none are so forgettable in as many ways as this song.
84. Welcome To New York - 1989 (2014)
I made a whole post about why this song annoys the crap out of me. I have a hard time being impartial about this song because I absolutely love hating it so maybe this low of a spot is unwarranted but hey, I don't make the rules here. Oh wait, yes I do.
83. Invisible - Taylor Swift (2006)
I can't tell if I placed this song so low because it's a worse version of You Belong With Me, or if it's actually bad. Either way it bores me to death; I'm already sick of talking about it.
82. Bad Blood - 1989 (2014)
Is anyone really surprised? Sure, some parts are catchy but I just can't find anything about this song that I truly enjoy. It endlessly gets on my nerves and every time the chorus plays I get a little more sad. If you want a more in-depth exploration of why I don't like this song, read this post.
81. Speak Now - Speak Now (2010)
I love hating this song so much. I knew I hated it from the very first listen, and was even the subject of my fourth post ever. There are so many things about it that I don't like, but I still find myself singing along when the chorus rolls around. Does this mean it is secretly good? Haha no, this song is hot garbage and I love it.
80. A Place In This World - Taylor Swift (2006)
This song is great if your goal is to be bored. Maybe I'm being too harsh but I can't find a single aspect of this song that makes me happy. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
79. Stay Stay Stay - Red (2012)
Of all the songs on Red with a poorly assembled tone, Stay Stay Stay takes the strange cake. I've gone into this in more depth before, but for now I will just say that I have no clue what Taylor was trying to achieve with this song. Maybe she was trying to be funny, and if so then I think I'll just stick with her SNL sketches.
78. Red - Red (2012)
I know I'm going to get some shit for this one but I stand by it. It sounds pretty good most of the time but everything else is just a complete mess, something I went into great detail about in an earlier post. I know a lot of people love this song and I can respect that, I'm just saying I think this song is poorly put together and I have real reasons why.
77. The Outside - Taylor Swift (2006)
This song gets points for having a unique premise, but the song does nothing to further the idea of isolation. The sound is too happy! It actually takes a few listens to actually figure out what Taylor is trying to say here. It isn't effective storytelling.
That marks the end of the songs I dislike, now onto the songs I don't like! Most of the songs don't do anything awful; they just don't do anything notable other than sounding decent. This next category has a lot of overlap with the posts where I discuss songs I neglected in the past so you'll excuse me if I sound a little jaded at times.
76. Innocent - Speak Now (2010)
This song being about Kanye doesn't make up for how boring it is. If anything, it makes it harder for the average person to relate their experiences to it.
75. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Reputation (2017)
The live performance for this song was neat, but it falls a little flat in the studio. The music is just a little too boring in the non-chorus areas, and it lacks tact in delivering it's message.
74. Tell Me Why - Fearless (2008)
It's a little too busy and a little too basic. Need I say anything else? No.
73. I'm Only Me When I'm With You - Taylor Swift (2006)
It sounds like every other song on Taylor Swift without any of the emotion behind it. It lifts itself from the bottom of the trash pile with a decently catchy chorus and somewhat unique premise.
72. Forever & Always - Fearless (2008)
This is what happens when a decent premise and chorus don't get the attention they need. The rest of the song feels slapped together without sufficient care. It makes me sad since certain areas are pretty strong, it's just dragged down by the lackluster sections.
71. You're Not Sorry - Fearless (2008)
This song is very Fearless, and as such is pretty boring in my eyes. I like how big it sounds, I just don't think it's doing anything exceptional, except appear in CSI.
70. Tied Together With A Smile - Taylor Swift (2006)
It gives good advice to young girls which is nice, but it's possible to do that with much, much more tact. It might have been a little higher if it offer more than just sympathy. I'm not saying that you need a solution to be a good song, but it certainly helps give a song a much meatier core.
69. Change - Fearless (2008)
This song may be a little low on this list, I can't really decide. When I'm feeling it I think it should be like two categories higher, and when I'm not I think it should be exactly where it is now. My theory is that it's a decent song compared to most of Fearless and is really successful at being a finale song, but doesn't hold up as much in a vacuum.
68. Sad Beautiful Tragic - Red (2012)
The writing is good in this song but I think the slow vibes last just a little too long. I will give i credit for having a tone that matches it's writing though! Nice to see that from Red.
67. Stay Beautiful - Taylor Swift (2006)
All the remaining songs are more or less good, they just have one or two things working against them that I can't get out of my head. Stay Beautiful fits this bill perfectly: it is a fine song for the most part. Rather than a single moment being what taints the song, Stay Beautiful suffers from a lack of stakes. This is pretty subjective and hard for me to explain so I'm just going to move on.
66. I Almost Do - Red (2012)
I like the idea of this song, and it totally hold up the rest of it. It's a little too slow, and never manages to build emotion in a way I find completely interesting. It's good for memes though.
65. Mary's Song(Oh My My My) - Taylor Swift (2006)
I have said before that I like this song, and I stand by that. But even though I enjoy it, I can see that there are plenty of problems with it. It mentions potential issues in a relationship, but still at the end of the day it has a very rose-tinted view of romance. This lack of nuance makes it difficult to say anything really interesting.
64. Out Of The Woods - 1989 (2014)
I love the construction of this song. it sounds good, but has a less than interesting portrayal of a troubled relationship that Taylor has tackled in many more interesting ways. It's among the worst version of this song, one that exists all over the Taylor Swift canon.
63. Haunted - Speak Now (2010)
I like the intense sound this song goes for, but I don't really think it sticks. It's too bad, because I feel like this "sound" had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, it's among the worst of what Speak Now had to offer as an album.
62. Fifteen - Fearless (2008)
I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for putting Fifteen so low, but I can't help it! I've just seen storytelling from Taylor that's way better than this, so I feel like this song really misses the mark. It may be that I've never been a teenage girl, but hey who knows. If you want to read more about it, read this.
That's all the main songs for today! Below is a list of Taylor's songs from other sources (movies, deluxe albums, etc), and which category this fit into. I'm not counting covers anywhere. The list is in no particular order.
Dislike:
Christmases When You Were Mine
Don't Like:
Beautiful Eyes
Christmas Must Be Something More
Untouchable
Come In With The Rain
Superstar
The Moment I Knew
You Are In Love
Tomorrow will be the songs I think are good, but not great. Stay tuned!
See you tomorrow,
-C
I can't tell if I placed this song so low because it's a worse version of You Belong With Me, or if it's actually bad. Either way it bores me to death; I'm already sick of talking about it.
82. Bad Blood - 1989 (2014)
Is anyone really surprised? Sure, some parts are catchy but I just can't find anything about this song that I truly enjoy. It endlessly gets on my nerves and every time the chorus plays I get a little more sad. If you want a more in-depth exploration of why I don't like this song, read this post.
81. Speak Now - Speak Now (2010)
I love hating this song so much. I knew I hated it from the very first listen, and was even the subject of my fourth post ever. There are so many things about it that I don't like, but I still find myself singing along when the chorus rolls around. Does this mean it is secretly good? Haha no, this song is hot garbage and I love it.
80. A Place In This World - Taylor Swift (2006)
This song is great if your goal is to be bored. Maybe I'm being too harsh but I can't find a single aspect of this song that makes me happy. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
79. Stay Stay Stay - Red (2012)
Of all the songs on Red with a poorly assembled tone, Stay Stay Stay takes the strange cake. I've gone into this in more depth before, but for now I will just say that I have no clue what Taylor was trying to achieve with this song. Maybe she was trying to be funny, and if so then I think I'll just stick with her SNL sketches.
78. Red - Red (2012)
I know I'm going to get some shit for this one but I stand by it. It sounds pretty good most of the time but everything else is just a complete mess, something I went into great detail about in an earlier post. I know a lot of people love this song and I can respect that, I'm just saying I think this song is poorly put together and I have real reasons why.
77. The Outside - Taylor Swift (2006)
This song gets points for having a unique premise, but the song does nothing to further the idea of isolation. The sound is too happy! It actually takes a few listens to actually figure out what Taylor is trying to say here. It isn't effective storytelling.
That marks the end of the songs I dislike, now onto the songs I don't like! Most of the songs don't do anything awful; they just don't do anything notable other than sounding decent. This next category has a lot of overlap with the posts where I discuss songs I neglected in the past so you'll excuse me if I sound a little jaded at times.
76. Innocent - Speak Now (2010)
This song being about Kanye doesn't make up for how boring it is. If anything, it makes it harder for the average person to relate their experiences to it.
75. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Reputation (2017)
The live performance for this song was neat, but it falls a little flat in the studio. The music is just a little too boring in the non-chorus areas, and it lacks tact in delivering it's message.
74. Tell Me Why - Fearless (2008)
It's a little too busy and a little too basic. Need I say anything else? No.
73. I'm Only Me When I'm With You - Taylor Swift (2006)
It sounds like every other song on Taylor Swift without any of the emotion behind it. It lifts itself from the bottom of the trash pile with a decently catchy chorus and somewhat unique premise.
72. Forever & Always - Fearless (2008)
This is what happens when a decent premise and chorus don't get the attention they need. The rest of the song feels slapped together without sufficient care. It makes me sad since certain areas are pretty strong, it's just dragged down by the lackluster sections.
71. You're Not Sorry - Fearless (2008)
This song is very Fearless, and as such is pretty boring in my eyes. I like how big it sounds, I just don't think it's doing anything exceptional, except appear in CSI.
yup.
70. Tied Together With A Smile - Taylor Swift (2006)
It gives good advice to young girls which is nice, but it's possible to do that with much, much more tact. It might have been a little higher if it offer more than just sympathy. I'm not saying that you need a solution to be a good song, but it certainly helps give a song a much meatier core.
69. Change - Fearless (2008)
This song may be a little low on this list, I can't really decide. When I'm feeling it I think it should be like two categories higher, and when I'm not I think it should be exactly where it is now. My theory is that it's a decent song compared to most of Fearless and is really successful at being a finale song, but doesn't hold up as much in a vacuum.
68. Sad Beautiful Tragic - Red (2012)
The writing is good in this song but I think the slow vibes last just a little too long. I will give i credit for having a tone that matches it's writing though! Nice to see that from Red.
67. Stay Beautiful - Taylor Swift (2006)
All the remaining songs are more or less good, they just have one or two things working against them that I can't get out of my head. Stay Beautiful fits this bill perfectly: it is a fine song for the most part. Rather than a single moment being what taints the song, Stay Beautiful suffers from a lack of stakes. This is pretty subjective and hard for me to explain so I'm just going to move on.
66. I Almost Do - Red (2012)
I like the idea of this song, and it totally hold up the rest of it. It's a little too slow, and never manages to build emotion in a way I find completely interesting. It's good for memes though.
65. Mary's Song(Oh My My My) - Taylor Swift (2006)
I have said before that I like this song, and I stand by that. But even though I enjoy it, I can see that there are plenty of problems with it. It mentions potential issues in a relationship, but still at the end of the day it has a very rose-tinted view of romance. This lack of nuance makes it difficult to say anything really interesting.
64. Out Of The Woods - 1989 (2014)
I love the construction of this song. it sounds good, but has a less than interesting portrayal of a troubled relationship that Taylor has tackled in many more interesting ways. It's among the worst version of this song, one that exists all over the Taylor Swift canon.
63. Haunted - Speak Now (2010)
I like the intense sound this song goes for, but I don't really think it sticks. It's too bad, because I feel like this "sound" had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, it's among the worst of what Speak Now had to offer as an album.
62. Fifteen - Fearless (2008)
I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for putting Fifteen so low, but I can't help it! I've just seen storytelling from Taylor that's way better than this, so I feel like this song really misses the mark. It may be that I've never been a teenage girl, but hey who knows. If you want to read more about it, read this.
That's all the main songs for today! Below is a list of Taylor's songs from other sources (movies, deluxe albums, etc), and which category this fit into. I'm not counting covers anywhere. The list is in no particular order.
Dislike:
Christmases When You Were Mine
Don't Like:
Beautiful Eyes
Christmas Must Be Something More
Untouchable
Come In With The Rain
Superstar
The Moment I Knew
You Are In Love
Tomorrow will be the songs I think are good, but not great. Stay tuned!
See you tomorrow,
-C
I don't think you can make a fair judgement of "Forever and Always" until you watch this live performance of the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atRvK5I2DVM I know performances weren't a criteria but I think it's worth watching
ReplyDeleteYeah, this was definitely the kind of performance Forever & Always deserved. I think that it really shines with just a little bit of extra emotion added (I am a big fan of the piano version for this exact reason).
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