Rating some more Taylor Swift songs
In the four and a bit years since my post ranking Taylor Swift songs, I've been asked at least twice what I think of her albums released since then. We've had four new albums since then, and it's time for an update! (I'm not including the re-records.)
I think most of my old post holds up, but there are a few things to add or change. On the recommendation of everyone who'd done so, I went to the Reputation concert - "cheap" seats in the upper tier - which was indeed much more fun than the studio album. I don't know why! Maybe it's the atmosphere provided by a crowd of 50,000 people; certainly in part it was the visual experience created by the stadium lights and the radio-controlled wrist-band LED's that we were all given. Anyway it didn't want to make me listen to the album again, but I did sign up to Netflix for a month to watch the concert film, which I also enjoyed.
One completely surprising effect of the concert is that I now like Style. Previously I'd felt it was bland and soulless, typical of 1989 and indistinct from all the other pop music released since I turned 18 which I don't listen to. But serious Swifties tend to love Style, and there was an incredible energy radiating out from the pit as soon as Taylor started singing it. It completely flipped the valence of the song for me.
In the full ranked list at the end of this post, I've bumped Love Story up to 10/10, as foreshadowed at the end of the previous post. I'd also reduce my holistic score for the Red album down from 10 to 9.7, to leave some room at the top of the scale for Folklore, my new favourite Swift album.
It doesn't fit into the structure of these reviews, which are of the standard-issue Taylor Swift albums only, but I also want to make note of Crazier, a song from the Hannah Montana soundtrack, which after a couple of listens became my second-favourite Swift song.
One difference between this post and the post from four years ago is that back then, I was listening to Taylor Swift a lot. A little bit later, I was inspired to try music lessons*, which immediately meant I started listening to a lot of non-Swift music again, and I haven't reverted to just flicking on my Taylor playlist whenever I have a spare hour. So my opinions on the Old Taylor albums are based on many more listens than the ones in this post. And because I usually don't hear lyrics very much on my early listens, that means that the ratings in this post are even more heavily based on the melody and texture of the sound and such.
*If a teenage Taylor Swift could write and record all those great songs, why couldn't I? One reason, possibly among others, is that she was willing to practise a lot more than I was.
Onto the reviews!
Lover
I was surprised when I looked it up that my initial reaction to this album was that I liked it more than Fearless. But having listened to them both again, it's a close-run thing! Perhaps because Lover doesn't have as many great songs as Fearless, it has faded in my memory. But it's full of songs I like, and there's a good amount of stylistic variety to make listening to it interesting, which compensates for its occasional unnevenness.
I Forgot that You Existed
Jaunty opener! Gets me going right from the intro. I am simple and like the blending of singing and speaking. 8/10
Cruel Summer
Listening to the album as I type this, I'd forgotten how much I like the first few tracks. 8.5/10
Lover
8.8/10
The Man
An unusual case of me disliking the bridge, which costs it at least half a point. 8/10
The Archer
8/10
I Think He Knows
5.5/10
Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince
It's you and me, there's nothing like this. My favourite song on the album, and it's stayed prominent in my memory, unlike the earlier tracks which I had largely forgotten. 9/10
Paper Rings
This one has grown on me. 7.5/10
Cornelia Street
It feels like this is trying to be a great song, but it doesn't land somehow. 7/10
Death by a Thousand Cuts
Unusual(?) piano riff in the background. 8.2/10
London Boy
Hahaha, I love this. A 'pub we'/'rugby' rhyme, inspired stuff. 8.5/10
Soon You'll Get Better
😭 8.5/10
False God
6/10
You Need to Calm Down
8/10
Afterglow
7/10
Me!
This was the first single off the album, and while it's had no lasting impact on pop culture whatsoever, it was a welcome relief after Reputation. Fun fact: the 'spelling is fun' line from the music video doesn't appear on the album. 7/10
It's Nice to Have a Friend
5.5/10
Daylight
7.5/10
Mean ± MAD: 7.6 ± 0.9
Holistic score: 7.5
Folklore
I love Folklore. My first reaction was that this was my favourite album since Red, but after listening to the latter again, I feel that some of its songs are a bit superficial. So Folklore stands clear at #1.
The 1
Piano, ✔️. In my defence, I have none. 9/10
Cardigan
8.5/10
The Last Great American Dynasty
Unusual subject for a song. And the town said, "How did a middle-class divorcée do it?" 8.5/10
Exile
Justin Vernon's voice is wonderfully crisp and deep in the opening verse. 10/10
My Tears Ricochet
7/10
Mirrorball
7/10
Seven
7.5/10
August
8.5/10
This Is Me Trying
I didn't know if you'd care if I came back / I have a lot of regrets about that. 8/10
Illicit Affairs
Such a powerful performance. 10/10
Invisible String
Green was the color of ideas that slept furiously. ( Inspired by Ariel Edwards-Levy.) 7.5/10
Mad Woman
8.5/10
Epiphany
What is the Monty Python reference doing in the first verse??? Was it accidental? It's tonally completely out of whack with everything else in the song, which I can't take seriously as a result. Still I give it some points for those other verses, which are probably fine enough. 7/10
Betty
Would you tell me to go fuck myself? 10/10
Peace
7/10
Hoax
A bit of a slow end to the album, but I can't complain. 7/10
Mean ± MAD: 8.2 ± 0.9
Holistic score: 10
Evermore
Everyone else seems to love Evermore. I... don't. It's OK. I'd assumed that it was just songs that were cut from Folklore - stylistically similar but generally less arresting to the ear - but apparently it was written afterwards. I listened to it when it came out and didn't return to it until today. I don't have much to say about it; I find it all a bit nondescript. Here's a four-hour video about the Evermore theme park.
Willow
We start with a very pleasant continuation of Folklore. 8.5/10
Champagne Problems
I like everything in this song except the title and its repetitions in the lyrics, which spoil the rest. 7.5/10
Gold Rush
7/10
'Tis the Damn Season
6.5/10
Tolerate It
7/10
No Body, No Crime
7.5/10
Happiness
6/10
Dorothea
I don't hate these songs, it's just... meh. 6.5/10
Coney Island
6/10
Ivy
Oh, goddamn / My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand. 8/10
Cowboy Like Me
6.5/10
Long Story Short
6/10
Marjorie
6/10
Closure
5.5/10
Evermore
7/10
Mean ± MAD: 6.8 ± 0.7
Holistic score: 6.5
Midnights
Not a sound from the pavement I've given the new album a few listens, and I don't have strong feelings. I don't hate it, but most of it doesn't grab me. A recurring impression I have is that I won't particularly like the start of a song, but then it will build masterfully - Jack Antonoff doing great work layering different sounds - and by the end I think, "That was cool." But then the next song starts and I don't like it again.
I would have liked a guitar song or two for some variety in between the synths.
Lavender Haze
7/10
Maroon
Taylor uses the peculiar non-Australian pronunciation where 'maroon' is pronounced as it's spelt. Anyway, most of the song's a little too slow for my liking, and the chorus doesn't quite justify it. 7.5/10
Anti-Hero
It's me, hi / I'm the problem, it's me. Lots of rhymes! I should not be left to my own devices / They come with prices and vices / I end up in crisis. (I've linked to the YouTube videos of all these songs, but I'd recommend going to YouTube Music or Spotify or whatever for Anti-Hero, since the music video has a non-musical dramatic interlude.) 9/10
Snow on the Beach
Not a phenomenon I am familiar with. 7.5/10
You're On Your Own, Kid
The first of the songs that start off meh and build very nicely. 8/10
Midnight Rain
I'm not a fan of the weird vocal distortion. 6.5/10
Question...?
Some of the production hits really well, but ehhh. 6.5/10
Vigilante Shit
5/10
Bejeweled
The music video has an instrumental Enchanted during the intro, and an instrumental Long Live over the outro and credits. Long Live, now there's an awesome song. 7/10
Labyrinth
More of that weird vocal distortion. 6/10
Karma
Aren't you envious for you, it's not has a mis-stressed syllable. 7.5/10
Sweet Nothing
6/10
Mastermind
7/10
Mean ± MAD: 7.0 ± 0.7
Holistic score: 6.7
Ranked list
The modern LiveJournal post editor is awful and does not let me make an html table, so here is a fixed-width table of all the main album songs. I created the "code snippet", pasted in my fixed-width table, and LJ separated each pasted line into its own separate code snippet. I manually deleted all the paragraph/code breaks, pressing end-delete-enter in a cycle 146 times.
Rank Score Song Album
1 11.0 All Too Well Red
=2 10.0 Should’ve Said No TS
=2 10.0 Fifteen Fe
=2 10.0 Love Story Fe
=2 10.0 Back to December SN
=2 10.0 Blank Space 1989
=2 10.0 Getaway Car Rep.
=2 10.0 Exile Fo
=2 10.0 Illicit Affairs Fo
=2 10.0 Betty Fo
11 9.7 Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) TS
=12 9.5 You Belong With Me Fe
=12 9.5 Begin Again Red
14 9.4 Sparks Fly SN
15 9.2 Dear John SN
16 9.1 Long Live SN
=17 9.0 Teardrops on My Guitar TS
=17 9.0 Haunted SN
=17 9.0 State Of Grace Red
=17 9.0 Red Red
=17 9.0 Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince L
=17 9.0 The 1 Fo
=17 9.0 Anti-Hero M
24 8.9 The Best Day Fe
25 8.8 Lover L
26 8.7 Change Fe
27 8.6 Tim McGraw TS
=28 8.5 Cold as You TS
=28 8.5 Enchanted SN
=28 8.5 Last Kiss SN
=28 8.5 Cruel Summer L
=28 8.5 London Boy L
=28 8.5 Soon You’ll Get Better L
=28 8.5 Cardigan Fo
=28 8.5 The Last Great American Dynasty Fo
=28 8.5 August Fo
=28 8.5 Mad Woman Fo
=28 8.5 Willow E
39 8.3 You’re Not Sorry Fe
40 8.2 Death by a Thousand Cuts L
41 8.1 Everything Has Changed Red
=42 8.0 A Place in This World TS
=42 8.0 Stay Beautiful TS
=42 8.0 Perfectly Good Heart TS
=42 8.0 Fearless Fe
=42 8.0 White Horse Fe
=42 8.0 Breathe Fe
=42 8.0 Speak Now SN
=42 8.0 Never Grow Up SN
=42 8.0 Innocent SN
=42 8.0 I Knew You Were Trouble Red
=42 8.0 22 Red
=42 8.0 I Almost Do Red
=42 8.0 Holy Ground Red
=42 8.0 Sad Beautiful Tragic Red
=42 8.0 The Lucky One Red
=42 8.0 Out Of The Woods 1989
=42 8.0 Wildest Dreams 1989
=42 8.0 This Love 1989
=42 8.0 Don't Blame Me Rep.
=42 8.0 New Year's Day Rep.
=42 8.0 I Forgot that You Existed L
=42 8.0 The Man L
=42 8.0 The Archer L
=42 8.0 You Need to Calm Down L
=42 8.0 This Is Me Trying Fo
=42 8.0 Ivy E
=42 8.0 You’re On Your Own, Kid M
=69 7.5 Tied Together With a Smile TS
=69 7.5 Hey Stephen Fe
=69 7.5 We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Red
=69 7.5 Stay Stay Stay Red
=69 7.5 The Last Time Red
=69 7.5 Starlight Red
=69 7.5 Style 1989
=69 7.5 Paper Rings L
=69 7.5 Daylight L
=69 7.5 Seven Fo
=69 7.5 Invisible String Fo
=69 7.5 Champagne Problems E
=69 7.5 No Body, No Crime E
=69 7.5 Maroon M
=69 7.5 Snow on the Beach M
=69 7.5 Karma M
=85 7.0 The Outside TS
=85 7.0 Invisible TS
=85 7.0 Tell Me Why Fe
=85 7.0 The Way I Loved You Fe
=85 7.0 Forever & Always Fe
=85 7.0 Mine SN
=85 7.0 Treacherous Red
=85 7.0 All You Had To Do Was Stay 1989
=85 7.0 I Wish You Would 1989
=85 7.0 Bad Blood 1989
=85 7.0 Delicate Rep.
=85 7.0 This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Rep.
=85 7.0 Call It What You Want Rep.
=85 7.0 Cornelia Street L
=85 7.0 Afterglow L
=85 7.0 Me! L
=85 7.0 My Tears Ricochet Fo
=85 7.0 Mirrorball Fo
=85 7.0 Epiphany Fo
=85 7.0 Peace Fo
=85 7.0 Hoax Fo
=85 7.0 Gold Rush E
=85 7.0 Tolerate It E
=85 7.0 Evermore E
=85 7.0 Lavender Haze M
=85 7.0 Bejeweled M
=85 7.0 Mastermind M
=112 6.5 Picture to Burn TS
=112 6.5 I’m Only Me When I’m With You TS
=112 6.5 Mean SN
=112 6.5 The Story of Us SN
=112 6.5 How You Get the Girl 1989
=112 6.5 I Know Places 1989
=112 6.5 Clean 1989
=112 6.5 Gorgeous Rep.
=112 6.5 'Tis the Damn Season E
=112 6.5 Dorothea E
=112 6.5 Cowboy Like Me E
=112 6.5 Midnight Rain M
=112 6.5 Question…? M
=125 6.0 Our Song TS
=125 6.0 False God L
=125 6.0 Happiness E
=125 6.0 Coney Island E
=125 6.0 Long Story Short E
=125 6.0 Marjorie E
=125 6.0 Labyrinth M
=125 6.0 Sweet Nothing M
=133 5.5 Dress Rep.
=133 5.5 I Think He Knows L
=133 5.5 It’s Nice to Have a Friend L
=133 5.5 Closure E
=137 5.0 Better Than Revenge SN
=137 5.0 Shake It Off 1989
=137 5.0 Vigilante Shit M
=140 4.5 Welcome To New York 1989
=140 4.5 ...Ready for It? Rep.
=140 4.5 King of My Heart Rep.
=143 4.0 End Game Rep.
=143 4.0 So It Goes... Rep.
=143 4.0 Dancing with Our Hands Tied Rep.
=146 3.5 I Did Something Bad Rep.
=146 3.5 Look What You Made Me Do Rep.