Taylor Swift’s top songs
In just a few more days, Taylor Swift's newest album Lover will be available for all to stream. The anticipation of a new album from TSwift takes me right back to high school, when walked to Target with my best friend during our lunch period to purchase a copy of Red in stores on a brisk fall day. I grew up with Taylor's music. I still remember listening to Taylor Swift's Fearless album for the first time on a family road trip, while driving through the snowy mountains of Pennsylvania. Crying along to Teardrops on my Guitar in moments of teenage angst. Happily dancing to 22 in moments when I truly felt "happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time" after graduating college. Letting go of a missed connection while listening to Clean. Listening to Enchanted on repeat the day after meeting someone special. Taylor's ability to connect with her audience through the power of her words is one of the many reasons her music is so impactful. I can't wait to hear the new songs that come out on Friday, which will no doubt carry myself and other fans through moments of heartbreak, anger and love. In honor of this momentous occasion, I'm taking a look through Taylor's discography and pulling together a ranking of my top 13 favorite songs. It came down to some tough choices, so just know that I truly struggled to make this list. At the end of the day, I had to cut it off at Taylor's favorite number...
13. Look What You Made Me Do: Starting out with a controversial pick! On first listen, the lead single from reputation was so jarring that it was hard for me to wrap my head around this new era of TSwift music. By the time the music video came out, I was hooked. The old Taylor's battling each other. The one dollar bill. The "I heart TS" shirts. The 2017 release, the first after a three year draught, marked a more weathered Taylor than we'd seen before, but one who is still willing to take musical risks and share the good and the bad with her fans.
12: Teardrops on My Guitar: On the other end of the spectrum, we have one of Taylor's first-ever releases from her self-titled album. A story about an unrequited crush? We've all been there, and this weepy tune is the perfect one for a heartbroken sob.
11. Enchanted: Nothing quite bottles the emotion of meeting someone and sharing an instant spark, but Taylor sure captures the feeling of it all in Enchanted. From the soft pounding at the beginning of the tune that sounds reminiscent of a heartbeat to the way the music builds to "this night is sparkling/don't you let it go/I'm wonderstruck/blushing all the way home" and the pleading of "please, don't be in love with someone else," it captures excitement and hope.
10: You Belong with Me: Ah, an anthem for feeling rejected in love! Put the girl vs. girl and slut-shaming tendencies aside, and this song is still magic. The adorable music video featuring a romance with the boy across the street is quintessential Taylor.
9: I Did Something Bad:"If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing/ I don't regret it one bit, 'cause he had it coming" are two of my favorite lines from reputation, and I Did Something Bad really sets the whole mood for the entire album. The revamped version that Taylor performs on tour is an even more impressive display that shows that Taylor is done feeling guilty.
8: Wildest Dreams: The wistful tune from 1989 is full of classic Taylor romance, with a music video that feels reminiscent of Old Hollywood, but this time it has more grown-up lyrics, like "you see me in hindsight/tangled up with you all night/burning it down/some day when you leave me/I bet these memories/follow you around," filled with fun syncopation.
7: Our Song: Remember when Taylor was penning pure country? Our Song has withstood the test of time, proving that no matter the genre, Taylor can churn out a hit. This song feels like summer car rides (riding shotgun) and late nights (when it's late and your mamma don't know).
6: Style: The beginning strums of guitar still get me excited, as Taylor starts outlining the troubled romance that runs through the entirety of 1989. The title is an obvious nod to the man who inspired it, and Taylor details their courtship and her hesitation: "I should just tell you to leave/cause I/know exactly where it leads/but I/watch us go round and round each time." It captures the desire, attraction and romance of sneaking around.
5: Lover: I know. That sure worked it's way into my top five quickly! That's how taken I've been with the the fourth single released from the new album of the same title. Lover sounds different from any Taylor Swift song I've heard before. It's one of her happiest songs yet, as she sings about being content in love: "My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue/Alls well that ends well to end up with you." And she delivers the word "lover" differently throughout the song -- sometimes sounding wistful, playful or mysterious.
4: Delicate: Throughout reputation, Taylor writes about her reputation in various situations. In this song, it's all about her bad reputation in the dating world. "My reputation's never been worse, so/You must like me for me." As she tries to make this relationship casual, she can't deny that the feelings are irresistible. The pounding of "isn't it" over and over, paired with the drawn out hum of "cause I like you," mirrors the anxiety of a new relationship perfectly.
3: Fifteen: Taylor details "life before you know who you're supposed to be" in this ode to freshman year of high school. It's the real-life details, like meeting her best friend Abigail, sprinkled throughout her music that makes this song from the Fearless album one of her all-time greats.
2: Blank Space: In a satire about herself set to pop music, Taylor pokes fun at all the stereotypes that have been prescribed to her through the years. With Blank Space, Taylor firmly cemented herself as a pop song writing legend.
1: All Too Well: Do you ever just want to cry? This song will sure help the process along. I can't listen to it without tearing up, thanks to the transition between the happy beginnings of a relationship to the gut-wrenching lyrics: "Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much/And maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up/Running scared, I was there, I remember it all too well/And you call me up again just to break me like a promise/So casually cruel in the name of being honest."
Haven't You Heard?
If you have some spare time between listening to old Taylor Swift albums, you can check out the barrage of new trailers that were released in the last week. First up, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel got a preview and December release date. While we do have to wait until December for the third season, the trailer is filled with Midge and Susie in a variety of wacky circumstances and a brief appearance by Sterling K. Brown, all to the tune of Gwen Verdon singing a song from Sweet Charity. Next, you can also take a first look at Ryan Murphy's The Politician, starring Ben Platt and Gwyneth Paltrow. The trailer screams Murphy, with Platt giving off unhinged Rachel Berry vibes as he plots to win a high school election. How far will he go? It looks like there's a murder subplot involved, so potentially pretty far. The series will be released at the end of September on Netflix. Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story trailer is a actually a two-parter. One of the previews is told from the point of view of the husband, played by Adam Driver, and the second is from the wife, played by Scarlett Johanson. While I of course wish this movie was another Baumbach/Gerwig joint, I'm still excited to see what looks to be a tear-jerker in August (on Netflix and in theaters). And finally, Apple TV is finally a thing. The trailer for the much hyped The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Anniston, Steve Carrell and unknown, newcomer Reese Witherspoon tells the story of a news show filled with plenty of behind-the-scenes drama. The tone in the trailer is a bit all over the place and the casting is confusing to say the least. The trailer sets up Jennifer Anniston as a woman getting pushed out of the broadcaster chair in favor of someone newer, and the fresh-faced replacement is played by Reese Witherspoon, who is only seven years younger than Anniston (they played sisters on Friends!). I'll never complain about adding Witherspoon to TV show, but I'm a little confused as to how this plays into the show's premise. I'm also deeply concerned the show will mishandle the character played by Steve Carrell, who is fired in the opening seconds of the preview, due to sexual misconduct claims (they don't go into this in the trailer, but I looked it up). He already gets a sympathetic edit in the preview and he's played by Steve Carrell, who is able to be likable on screen under the worst of circumstances (did you see Battle of the Sexes?) and unlikely to be a character who just goes away. Phew! Did I miss anything? The Crown didn't bother to give us a real trailer so that doesn't count yet...
Required Reading
Let's close things out again with Taylor, shall we? In addition to releasing her album this month, she also landed the cover of the September issue of Vogue. Check out her interview, where she gives a sneak peek into the thought process behind the new album and talks about her desire to do more as an advocate.
