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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