By album three Swift was a certified Big Deal. And as critic Chris Willman wrote for The Hollywood Reporter in 2010, "Speak Now" saw Swift's music style mature while still keeping elements of her youth that her fans so adored in her previous two albums. Taylor Swift currently has 10 albums, with 2022's "Midnights" being her most recent release. As critic Jon Caramanica wrote for The New York Times in 2014, this album is filled with catchy pop tracks but it sets itself apart from mainstream music of that genre. Taylor Swift Drops Trippy Lavender Haze Music Video, Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoffs 20 Best Collaborations. She's moved on, but she also wants us to know she's moved on. The euphoric Mastermind takes it one step further, where on it Swift admits: No one wanted to play with me as a little kid/So Ive been scheming like a criminal ever since/To make them love me and make it seem effortless/This is the first time Ive felt the need to confess. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Though the album is gorgeously hooky as a whole, and overall perfect for belting in the car for a pick-me-up, it's not hard to imagine Katy Perry or even Demi Lavato as a stand-in singer for the LP's lowest moments. "Red" and "Lover" remain in the middle of the pack. "Speak Now" comes in at no. Casting aside the usual lengthy album campaigns or meticulously planned drip-feeding of singles, T-Swiz uncharacteristically announced Folklore the day before it was released. 20: 20. But the true gems of this wildly successful 2021 re-recording (which topped every chart in sight across the globe) are undoubtedly "Love Story," which resurfaces here with heightened sensibilities and deeper convictions, along with several songs "From The Vault," most notably "Mr. The catalyst was lead single "Tim McGraw," but this ticket to the country radio airwaves turned out to be a red herring with the advent of other ironclad, infinitely repeatable songs that remain fan favorites, even in lieu of our now excess of options. this includes her entire catalogue/discography and eras debut to evermore. From Taylor Swift to Midnights, we've ranked all of the singer's studio albums from best to worst. "Musically and lyrically, Red resembled a heartbroken person. Painting the picture of an unravelling relationship, it gradually crescendos, climaxing in the gut-punch couplet of And you call me up again just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being honest. And of course, "Long Live," the last song of the album, is a masterpiece that features the story and emotions of Swift looking at her journey and successes up to that point in time. And on this album, in particular, the stories she tells are about how her narrators choices impact others, often in ways that cause irreparable harm. The albums standout tracks retain the narrative detail and clever metaphor-building that distinguished Swifts early songs, even amid the diversions wrought by the aggressive studio production on display throughout. Here are the 40 biggest Taylor Swift songs, based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 (through the chart dated December 17, 2022). But the crowned jewel of the record is obviously the long-waited, 10-minute version of "All Too Well," an expansion on the already sprawling song widely considered by critics and fans alike to be her definitive opus (which, for an artist of Taylor Swift's standing, is absolutely saying something). The tracks combined her typical impressive storytelling abilities while tying together strong emotions of frustration that feel at home in "Reputation" (seen in the track "The Man") as well as stories of falling in love and almost losing it that feel at home in "Speak Now" or "Red" (as seen in "Cornelia Street"). The album plays as a survey course in contemporary pop, and Swift is game to try just about anything, from the uninhibited dance-pop of standout Starlight to the thundering heartland rock of Holy Ground. The tracks that work best are those on which the production is creative and modern in ways that are in service to Swifts songwriting. 'All You Had To Do Was Stay' - '1989' Article Continues Below Don't get me wrong, "All You Had To Do Was Stay" is an amazing song that fits perfectly into. So while it's vehemently impressive that an adolescent was the creative force behind the best tracks on a seven-time platinum record, it doesn't change the fact that it's far from her best work, and mostly made of songs that slip through her legacy's cracks more than any other album. It won a mantelpiece of awards including the Grammy for Album of the Year but perhaps even more impressive is the fact its already left a massive impact, a mere six years after it was released. It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. "Swift's usual approach to dabbling in new genres or sounds is to go balls-to-the-wall, but on 'evermore,' she's just as good at curating these more detailed production flourishes, all with the same contouring and meticulousness as she does with her best lyrics," she wrote. Speak Now. Lover. 1989 instead is sonically joyous without losing dimension or leaning on familiarity. However, evermore is still occasionally upbeat with an ethereal glow, with cooing strings that glint on "willow" and synthesizers that gleam on "gold rush." folklore is a backward glance over your shoulder clouded by a cold air exhale and it remains Taylor's greatest work to date. Keefe, Swifts seventh album, Lover, lacks a unified sonic aesthetic, ostensibly from trying to be something to everyone. Cinquemani, Swifts 1989 severed whatever vestiges of her country roots remained on 2012s Red, replacing acoustic guitars and pedal steel with multi-layered synthscapes, drum machines, and densely packed vocal tracking. "The 1" and "August" tied for the top spot. document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "ae642da28755683afdf2ec0fe06ed858" );document.getElementById("facec42938").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But while her grasp of song structure at this point in her career suggested an innate talent for how to develop a melody, Fearless also highlights Swifts then-limited repertoire and lack of creativity in constructing her narratives of doe-eyed infatuations and first loves gone wrong. The contrast of that relationship with the one detailed in "Champagne Problems" makes the latter seem even more heart-wrenching. Many artists lucky enough to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame peak at the onset, delivering one or two tokens of pop culture product before a dwindling stream of less impressive ventures. There were TikTok teasers to reveal the track titles, but beyond that fans weren't given many clues about what to expect from the album. 2023 Oscars predictions: See who will win at the 95th Academy Awards. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. It's synth-pop with depth energetic beats with lyrics that linger in your mind and soul-baring moments softened with catchy choruses ("It's me, hi / I'm the problem, it's me"). Expectations were sky high, raising the stakes with them; just how close can Taylor fly to the sun? On earworm lead-single Anti-Hero Swift sings: Its me/Hi/Im the problem, its me, the kind of thought weve all had when lying awake trying to drift off. He's right "Folklore" further cements the fact that Swift is in a league all her own and cannot be placed in a stylistic box when it comes to her music. But Swifts most recent three albums are united through their more matured temperament and the stark intimacy of Swifts songwriting, with the comparatively scaled-back nature of her sound serving as a natural extension of this methodology. When it comes to things other than boys, though, Swift has always preferred to dip her toes in rather than get soaking wet; her transformation from country teen to pop queen was, after all, a decade in the making. The definitive ranking of Taylor Swift's 'Folklore' songs. says the actress. How do you follow-up Reputation, a revenge album filled with vengeance? Keefe, Folklore is neither a culmination of Swifts career to date nor a pivot in a new direction. Some stories are symphonic semi-pop anthems ("Enchanted," "Haunted"), while others are country ballads dressed with electric guitars, as seen in "Dear John"'s interrogation of a 32-year-old lover's sway on a still-teen girl ("Don't you think 19's too young to be played by your dark, twisted games?"). I also factored in critic reviews of the albums when deciding on the final ranking. Top that, Shakespeare. Immediate highlights include tracks like "Willow," an upbeat song that transports listeners back to the "Folklore" universe. But in the meantime, Midnights remains on repeat with high regard. The finished product is, of course, sterling. First emerging as a country-crossover artist, shes since embraced glossy pure pop and indie-folk; but while her sound may have changed, Swifts brilliantly honest lyricism and songwriting talent has remained a keystone in her tunes. To celebrate Folklore's release, there is not a better time to rank Taylor Swift's albums' discography from the weakest to the best. Whether thats emphasizing the wrong syllables of words because she hadnt quite mastered the meter of language (most notable on Teardrops on My Guitar) or mixing metaphors (on Picture to Burn and the otherwise catchy Our Song), theres a lack of polish and editing on Taylor Swift. Her narrators often seem to lack insight because Swift writes with the point of view that hers is the only story to be told, which makes songs like Dear John and Better Than Revenge come across as shallow and shortsighted. With the addition of six from the Vault tracks (songs written at the same time as the album, that Swift shared with the re-recorded version), it was like opening a musical time-capsule; with tracks like the emotive Fifteen taking on a new meaning as a poignant tribute to her teenage life. Sure, this album has its highs and lows and is filled with impressive tracks, but it ranks below others because although it feels like many things she does here (like haunting lyrics and pop beats) are things she's done before and a bit better in her previous releases. Fearless, however, just as strongly made the case that Swift had the goods for a long, rich career. But "Folklore" has a laid-back vibe that reflects the spontaneity of how this album was created. Though she was praised for her songwriting right out of the gate, what Swifts self-titled debut truly shows in hindsight is how diligently shes worked to hone her craft over the years. Whilst it has less T-Swiz classics than other releases, across the board its one of Swifts strongest albums, bursting with catchy morsels. That said, this album ranked below the others as it plays it a bit safer than some of the music released later in her career. These were the de facto anthems for young listeners especially, clutching MP3 players to the chest like rosaries as we projected onto Taylor's portraits of then-mythical teen love. She also notably upgrades the production, as a Professor of Commercial Music explains to EW, with subtle shifts towards a fuller-bodied musical accompaniment (no longer a one-dimensional country backing), re-layering instruments along with slight switch-ups in tempo. Welcome to the Taylor Swift song sorter. This winning combination warrants countless replays and, even now, listening to this song more than 10 years later reminds many of us so strongly of a crush we had when we were younger. It's humbling to hear a decades-defining artist at the absolute top of her career sing confessionals about self-loathing ("I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror") and toxic longing ("I hosted parties and starved my body / Like I'd be saved with a perfect kiss") with less inhibition than ever before. "So I just kept writing them.". Related: Ranking Taylor Swift's 10 Most Viewed Music Videos. Swifts cottage-core diptych felt innovative in how they rebuilt Swifts sound from the ground up, but despite its own idiosyncratic delights, Midnights ultimately feels too indebted to her past efforts to truly push her forward. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. As J. English penned for NPR in 2017, this album really helped solidify Swift's identity in the music world. Unlike previous albums, no singles were released before the official album drop, and at 3 a.m. The albums lyrics only serve to bolster that perception: Swift comes off like a frazzled stay-at-home mom scolding her disobedient children on Look What You Made Me Do and This Is Why We Cant Have Nice Things. But its her willingness to portray herself not as a victim, but the villain of her own story that makes Reputation such a fascinatingly thorny glimpse inside the mind of pops reigning princess. But none are more affecting than "champagne problems," a first-person post-mortem after rejecting a marriage proposal a classic "it's not you, it's me" scenario with simple piano chords accompanying the guilt of walking away and the peril of being mentally unwell ("'She would've made such a lovely bride' / 'What a shame she's fked in the head,' they said"). Her door to escapism opened for lonesome, fractured listeners everywhere, who dove headfirst into the cottagecore sound grove, and relished in Swift's unexpected pivot towards barer-boned, folk-styled songwriting with electro-adjacent undertones whispered throughout. Note: If you make a mistake DO NOT click backspace unless you find extremely necessary. Songs like I Know Places ride a reggae swagger and trap-influenced snare beats before launching into a soaring, Pat Benatar-esque chorus. There are, of course, a handful of golden tunes (Dancing with Our Hands Tied, Call It What You Want, Delicate). While tracks like Cardigan and Invisible Strings hinge on protracted metaphors, Mad Woman and Peace are blunt and plainspoken. For the album ranking, I considered a few factors including cohesiveness, listening experience, the number and quality of standout songs, and if the album is musically interesting or lyrically special. Working with a whos who of trendy producers and writers (Jack Antonoff, Max Martin, Ali Payami alongside indie darling Imogen Heap), she crafted a collection of glossy belters, that flit from fluffy dance-pop (Shake It Off) and sophisticated electronic-tinged bops (Blank Space, Style), to glorious indietronica (Out of the Woods, Clean). First released in 2008, its original release won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and thirteen years later in 2021, Fearless (Taylors Version) became the first of Swifts re-recorded albums to drop. Swift shines brightest on these songs, building and developing her story out of economic but evocative turns of phrase.". In short: 1989 is Taylor Swifts masterpiece. Released as a surprise sister album to folklore, it focused on Swift's exploration of lyrical storytelling based on tales and experiences that weren't her own. evermore. Overall, the beauty of revisiting Red is that many of us, at points high and low, have related to its caustic, dizzying array of emotion, tracing the nonlinear trajectory of falling in love, breaking your heart, and putting it back together again. But its All Too Well thats the finest moment on Red, and possibly the greatest song Swift has ever written. The spectacular The Last Great American Dynasty describes the life of American artist Rebekah Harkness (whose Rhode Island house Swift bought in 2013) with vivid descriptive lyrics. On Swifts second album she still kept things country, but this time the pop edge that defined later releases was more evident. You could have at least changed RED/FEARLESS to Taylors version. Where her debut guaranteed she was, at the very least, a momentary sensation, it wasn't until 2008's Fearless that the world understood the musical force that Taylor Swift could be. The album's comedown is a moment of quiet reflection carried by a piano's lone lullaby, when the festivities are over, the partygoers are gone, and all that's left is a lover for the long haul ("I want your midnights / But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day"). But her self-titled debut is stagnant in retrospect, its feet firmly planted into an arbitrary industry mogul's limited vision of the "next best country artist." Red is filled with top notch tunes: the brilliantly snarky We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Swifts first ever Billboard 100 Number One) and fizzing 22 are stone-cold smashers. But this is Taylor we're talking about here, and the fact of the matter is, she's at her best at her most singular, when there's zero doubt that anyone but her could have been the creative mind behind the record. While she had flirted with a transition from country in Red two years prior, 1989 came full throttle with heightened production from soon-to-be mainstay producer Jack Antonoff (of Fun. Taylor Swift's folklore rose from quiet shadows at the peak of isolation and uncertainty, written and produced in quarantine and released during the first COVID summer. Yet its the lyricism that makes Folklore such an astonishing album, with Swift writing both from her own point of view, as well as exploring other peoples. It's her only album with skip-every-time songs (why on earth would you force a collab between Future and Ed Sheeran? This only further proves that "Reputation" is a prime example that Swift can experiment with a variety of genres and still create magic. In her defense, no creative mind can be consistently remarkable, not even one as decorated and revered as Taylor Swift. Midnights is simultaneously a rare treat and a return to normalcy. 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