@taylorswift you killed it. To be perfectly honest, starting with Red it's been a learn to love (I don't do well with change and I lovelovelove them all now!), but with this album I immediately lovered it!
It was really hard to rank the songs on this album because they are all so good! But here's my take.
This is the only song that I had a "meh" reaction to. It's slowly growing on me, but if one song had to be cut, it would be this one.
Favorite lyrics: "I know heaven's a thing / I go there when you touch me, honey / Hell is when I fight with you"
I like this song, but I just don't get this song. I like the sound and, I love love love the bridge, but I just don't understand it. (I also thought the lyrics were "he looks so pretty like the devil" instead of "he looks up grinning like a devil")
Favorite lyrics: "I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you" and "'And I scream, "For whatever it's worth / I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"'
#16 You Need to Calm Down
Very fun song and I like it a lot, who would have thought this would be one of the weaker songs on the album? This song is a triple, most of the rest of the songs are completely out of the park home runs! Great message, I think everyone one needs to calm down (ironically especially the left).
Favorite lyrics: "Say it in the street, that's a knock-out / But you say it in a tweet, that's a cop-out" and "Shade never made anyone less gay".
Fun light song. Every time I hear the song I do the UH hand to the forehead from the music video. The music video was so great and the cat surprise!!! ME! was her first opening single I've immediately loved since Mine. (While I've grown to appreciate WANEGBT, I thought it was a joke when I first heard it when she played it on her live stream party. I thought she'd be like "JK here's the real single". Again, don't do well with change). I didn't mind the hey kids part, and was actually disappointed it was removed from the album version.
Favorite lyrics: "I'm the only one of me / Let me keep you company-e-e-eh / Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh / You're the only one of you / Baby, that's the fun of you"
Fun song! Cool learning more about London, makes me want to go back! I thought it was clever.
Favorite lyrics: "He likes my American smile, like a child when our eyes meet / Darling, I fancy you" and "So I guess all the rumors are true / You know I love a London boy / Boy, I fancy you"
Love the sound of this song. The metaphor is also interesting (easy to relate to on either team. As someone whose team has always been loosing where I live this is very, very relatable). The song can be enjoyed regardless of the political metaphor.
Favorite lyrics: "American stories burning before me / I'm feeling helpless, the damsels are depressed / Boys will be boys then, where are the wise men? / Darling, I'm scared"
#12 It's Nice to Have a Friend
Cute sweet song, I love it! Great classic Taylor Swift story telling song writing. I like the continued theme of snow.
Favorite lyrics: "Church bells ring, carry me home / Rice on the ground looks like snow / Call my bluff, call you "Babe" / Have my back, yeah, every day / Feels like home, stay in bed / The whole weekend"
#11 I Forgot That You Existed
I love this song! It is upbeat and sends a good message. "It isn't love it isn't hate it's just indifference" hits the nail on the head when it comes to truly being over something. I really need to work on the whole "I forgot that you existed" thing as I tend to hold on to grudges and let them consume me. Can't wait for the peaceful and quiet.
Favorite lyrics: "Your name on my lips, tongue-tied / Free rent, living in my mind"
I think I would like this song more if it was earlier on the album. By the time I get here, I'm so overwhelmed with good songs it is difficult to fully appreciate. It is the perfect song to go after ME! though. There are so many good lyrics in this song. The chorus and verses are so relatable.
Favorite lyrics: "I lived like an island, punished you with silence / Went off like sirens, just crying / Why'd I have to break what I love so much? / It's on your face, don't walk away, I need to say" and "I'm the one who burned us down / But it's not what I meant / Sorry that I hurt you / I don't wanna do, I don't wanna do this to you / I don't wanna lose, I don't wanna lose this with you"
I honestly was expecting not to like this song. I was worried it would be ungrateful and just eye roll. But it was the opposite - the sound and the lyrics! Taylor is in a unique position where being a woman has helped her most of her career (no one would have played a male teenager writing songs like that on country radio). However, she certainly has been held to different standards as a woman. I like how the chorus is relatable to anyone and the verses are uniquely personal to Taylor. Taylor would be THE man.
Favorite lyrics: "I'm so sick of running as fast as I can / Wondering if I'd get there quicker if I was a man / And I'm so sick of them coming at me again / 'Cause if I was a man, then I'd be the man"
#8 Soon You'll Get Better
Wow. This song. I sobbed the first few times I heard it. (I still have to skip over it at work). We had to take a listening break after this one. The story telling and the small details.... Taylor, thank you for sharing such a personal song. I hope your mother gets better soon.
Favorite lyrics: "Holy orange bottles, each night, I pray to you / Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too" and "And I hate to make this all about me / But who am I supposed to talk to? / What am I supposed to do / If there's no you?"
Such a perfect ending to a perfect album. What a great message. I really need to step into the daylight and let it go. I love this song so much, there are so many hidden gem lyrics in this one. Hard to pick favorites. Love being burning red to golden, great call back, even better lesson.
Favorite lyrics: "I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you / I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you" and "I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked / Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke" and "I once believed love would be (Burning red) / But it's golden / Like daylight"
I love this song so much! Great story telling, perfect details, and a great message. I immediately lovered it and it originally was in my top 3. Since then it's gone down a little I think because my love of slow songs is catching up to me, it is so SO hard to rank these top 6. This song is upbeat and happy. I just want to dance around. Especially that pre-chorus. Makes me want to marry my boyfriend with paper rings!
Favorite lyrics: "Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet / Now I've read all of the books beside your bed" (too cute, funny how things change!) and "I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings / Uh huh, that's right, you're the one I want".
I simply LOVER this song! This song is everything I love about Taylor Swift. The story telling, the simplified arrangement of the song - I am so glad she went back to her roots on this song. A week or two after the album was released I went out to happy hour with some coworkers and this song was playing and my boyfriend walked in and I melted. Huge bonus that the music video is just perfect.
Favorite lyrics: "Can I go where you go? / Can we always be this close forever and ever?" and "My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue / All's well that ends well to end up with you"
THIS SONG!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! Not a song I would usually expect to love this much but I do. Skipping around with this song in my head. Also, my boyfriend totally knows! I love the throw back to sparks fly and how she's driving.
Side note - When I sing this song I change attitude to cattitude. It's like gorgeous how I sing this song to my cats. I really want to make a parody version song about an animal shelter with cats.
Favorite lyrics: "I am an architect, I'm drawing up the plans / It's like I'm 17, nobody understands / No one understands" and "He got my heartbeat / Skipping down 16th Avenue / Got that, oh, I mean / Wanna see what's under that attitude like / I want you, bless my soul / And I ain't gotta tell him, I think he knows" and "Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh / We can follow the sparks, I'll drive"
#3 Death By A Thousand Cuts
This song. Taylor proves that she can still write sad songs even when she's happy. Even though I'm happy, I still love sad songs. I cried the first time I heard this song, I don't think I could handle this song if my boyfriend and I ever broke up. There are so many great lyrics and details in this song. The traffic lights lyric is so desperate and tragic. I love this song so much. (This song goes back and forth between #2 and #3).
Favorite lyrics: "And what once was ours is no one's now / I see you everywhere, the only thing we share / Is this small town / You said it was a great love, one for the ages / But if the story's over, why am I still writing pages?" and "I look through the windows of this love / Even though we boarded them up / Chandelier's still flickering here / 'Cause I can't pretend it's okay when it's not" and "Quiet my fears with the touch of your hand / Paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans" and "I take the long way home / I ask the traffic lights if it'll be alright / They say, "I don't know"".
This song is both heartbreaking and happy. I love it! The song writing on this is absolute perfection. Not going to lie, this one also made me cry the first time I heard it. The emotion behind this song is so raw and real - "kind of heartbreak time could never mend" just kills me. Continuation of her doubts from the archer and a peak through the years of this relationship. There's a happy ending but at the same time still worry. I need a stripped down version of this song. This song goes back and forth between #2 and #3.
Favorite lyrics: "We were a fresh page on the desk / Filling in the blanks as we go / As if the street lights pointed in an arrow head / Leading us home" and "And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends / I'd never walk Cornelia Street again / That's the kinda heartbreak time could never mend" and "Years ago, we were just inside / Barefoot in the kitchen / Sacred new beginnings / That became my religion, listen".
The emotion behind this song is so raw and real. Taylor is letting us in to her deepest darkest self doubt. I love every single thing about this song. Every lyric just cuts right to the heart. I turn this song up every time so I can hear every detail masterfully woven into the song. The way she pleads "help me hold onto you" kills me. But what I love most about this song is that it ends on a positive note "you could stay" and she's ready to fight for this relationship. This song is my #2 or #3 favorite Taylor Swift song with All Too Well at #1 and I go back and forth on Clean being #2 or #3.
Favorite lyrics: all of them, but especially "I wake in the night / I pace like a ghost / The room is on fire / Invisible smoke / And all of my heroes / Die all alone / Help me hold on to you" and "I've been the archer / I've been the prey / Screaming, "Who could ever leave me darling... / But who could stay?""
Over all. I'd say a 13/10. I cannot wait for Loverfest West. And also, when does album #8 come out? Seriously though Taylor, thank you for these past 13 years. Your music has been there for me throw the end of middle school, high school, college, and now the real world. I cannot wait to see what is next for you.
jacobvanloon
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theartofmadeline
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