Taylor Swift: The Ultimate Song Ranking

No matter how you feel about Taylor Swift and her music, there is no denying the cultural impact she has had on people and the world at large. So, with that in mind, we here at Unpublished have decided to celebrate the release of her new album with a very definitive ranking of the best song (plus a special mention!) of each of her current albums. It is important to note that, at the time of writing, The Life Of A Showgirl has not been released yet, hence its lack of inclusion in this article. Sorry folks but I’m not Hermione Granger and unfortunately do not have a time turner to be able to add it in. Thank you for your understanding. Now, saddle up and buckle in (I genuinely don’t know if that’s an expression but I thought I’d honour the country vibes and make an effort) because I will not be taking suggestions or making amendments. Sincerest apologies. Swords were drawn and blood was shed to land on the final product you see before you on this jubilant day. Please enjoy the fruits of my labour (i.e. the product of me sitting down to listen to every single song of her discography). 

Debut: Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) 

Special Mention: Tied Together With A Smile

Look, I am well aware that there were other, more obvious, choices for this album but unfortunately for everyone, I am the one writing this and therefore I get the final say. Sorry. There’s just something about the fact that this album was released when she was sixteen (a fact that is absolutely ruinous to my self esteem. I am seventeen. I’m going to go cry now) and there really is a whole coming-of-age atmosphere to it which I feel like this song exemplifies. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve spent the whole summer obsessing over The Summer I Turned Pretty (honestly, who hasn’t?) but there is something incredibly appealing to me about this sweet, little childhood friends-to-lovers love song which is pretty hard to beat. I also feel like you can hear the smile in her voice in the recording and it makes the listener want to smile too. I will hear no criticisms of Mary’s Song and if you don’t like it, I don’t like you. Jokes, jokes. But not really. 

Fearless: The Way I Loved You

Special Mention: The Best Day

Speaking of The Summer I Turned Pretty… I really am a sucker for a good love triangle. Also, have you seen the sheer volume (and quality!) of edits to this song? I literally never skip them and neither should you. If you have no idea what I’m talking about then stop reading this and go and educate yourself because I can not continue this article in good conscience until you do. I am aware that Fearless is filled to the brim with songs that all but formed the soundtrack to everyone’s childhood (I, personally, couldn’t enter a mall without hearing Love Story in the early 2010s) so this was a tough one to decide. I, quite legitimately, solved this conundrum by playing each of my top contenders in the car (much to the dismay of my father) and seeing which one I ended up screaming the loudest. A very accurate and reliable experiment if you ask me. Answering CORMMSS questions in GCSE Biology really does something to a person’s brain chemistry. Regardless, The Way I Loved You was ultimately the winner because, well, how could it not be? I hope I didn’t offend anyone and if I did- oh well! You’ll get over it. 

Speak Now: Long Live

Special Mention: Never Grow Up

Perhaps if I had written this article a few years ago I wouldn’t have selected these songs as my favourites from Speak Now, but seeing as I’m graduating and turning 18 this year (!!!), they really do make me emotional. Specifically, the lyric ‘if you have children someday, when they point to the pictures, please tell them my name’ from Long Live. That line alone deserves an award. If you haven’t already, you’ll quickly begin to realise that any song that elicits some sort of emotion from me (more specifically, sadness) gains my adoration and respect. Tough things to acquire.  Also, I feel like when you hear Long Live, you can visualise a very specific image of people in formal graduation clothes standing in a garden in May swaying with their arms in the air in unison. Just realised that makes me sound like a crazy person. Never mind. 

Red: Nothing New (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) 

Special Mention: All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

I am well aware that both of the songs I have painstakingly selected for your entertainment (you’re welcome) weren’t included in the original album, buuuuut, I have in fact decided that they are the best. So… everyone else can just deal with that because I’m in charge here. Nothing New is a 10/10 song. I literally have no further analysis to make. If you were to ask the gods of music to make the perfect song, this is what they would create. It’s bittersweet and melancholy and has an air of resignation to it which even Shakespeare couldn’t create (can you tell I take English Lit?) and so for that reason it supersedes just about every other song in the universe, let alone the album. I said what I said. 

1989: You Are In Love

Special Mention: Wildest Dreams

SO UNDERRATED!! Genuinely deserves so much more hype than it gets (and more edits! I hardly see any!) because it is actually, in many regards, perfect and I do not say that lightly. We, here at Unpublished, are very picky. You may have noticed that. If you did not, you should probably get your eyes checked. Anyway… this is one of the only songs I’ve ever heard where you can actually, tangibly, feel (just realised that I can italicise words as much as I want; everyone should be scared) the love seeping through it and into the listener’s ears. Disturbing image. Sorry. The point still remains. I also like the fact that, not to turn this into a Drama essay, it’s kind of slow paced and lingers on each of the lines, adding emphasis and gravity to each of them which makes the listener more able to visualise the descriptions and thus connect to the song. Ok, intellectual moment over. It’s just very clever. Much respect. 

Reputation: New Year’s Day

Special Mention: Getaway Car

Now, this was a tough one. Many stellar songs to choose from here. One of my favourite albums. However, New Year’s Day has to take the cake (yet again, is this an expression? I feel like I’m just constantly making stuff up…) because, similarly to You Are In Love, it evokes a very specific, bittersweet tone of finality. I also appreciate how easy it is to play on the piano because (much to my dismay and the dismay of my parents) I can not play the piano and yet, I can play this with relative ease. So, automatically that makes my ranking higher because I am, indeed, a selfish person; in case you couldn’t tell from the fact that you’re reading a really long article about my personal opinions. Actually, maybe you’re the strange one for enjoying this (because I know you are enjoying it. Don’t lie to me), not me. I feel it pertinent to mention as well that when I say Getaway Car is my special mention, I really mean the video of Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff writing it. Yes: that video. 10/10. If you haven’t watched it. Stop, watch it, then come back to my article. Thank you. 

Lover: The Archer

Special Mention: Paper Rings

See, if I had to pick the most famous line from this one it would probably be ‘who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?’ but as it is my job to broaden your intellectual and emotional horizons (you’re welcome), I would argue that there’s a more impactful one. Namely, ‘all of my enemies started out friends’ because that is a crazy (please notice and appreciate my italics! thanks!) thing to say. Very literally one of those lines I heard for the first time and said ‘WOAH!’ out loud before proceeding to text just about everyone in my contacts about it. And now I’m telling the whole school. Progress. For me. Not you. I think you should all text your friends about this now, too. Spread the word. Be the town crier. 

Folklore: this is me trying

Special Mention: cardigan

THIS IS MY FAVOURITE ALBUM!!! Everyone must know this. No skips. 10/10. Perfect. Choosing just two songs took years off my life. Blood and tears alike were shed. Realistically, there wasn’t a world in which I picked anything over this is me trying. I can not leisurely or calmly listen to this song and nor should you. I am incapable of being normal about it and I do, in fact, aggressively mouth the lyrics and make over-exaggerated hand gestures each time I do. You may mock me but I know you relate. You can run but you can’t hide from the truth! That sounded more threatening than I intended. My apologies. I think I speak for a vast portion of the population when I say I have an intense, spiritual connection to the second verse and I think that’s wonderful. Side note: it can’t be just me who thinks the bridge is a little bit (just a tad, really) reminiscent of Conan Gray? No? Just me? Ok, then… 

Evermore: right where you left me

Special Mention: it’s time to go

Well aware that these are both deluxe tracks. They’re just the best. Nothing much more to say on that, really. Yet another example of Taylor Swift being phenomenal at conveying a precise mental image because I can see exactly (italics tally: 3) what she’s singing about in my head each time I listen. It’s also one of those songs you just have (italics tally: 4- I think I’m overdoing it slightly) to scream in the car. That’s perhaps an unpopular opinion but try it out and you’ll see I’m right.  Also, it’s time to go walked so The Bolter could run (see what I did there? You get it? Ok, I’ll stop now) and I’m really not mad about it. Very interesting genre of songs. I approve. 

Midnights: You’re On Your Own, Kid

Special Mention: Dear Reader

NEED I EVEN EXPLAIN MYSELF?!?! Yes, it’s basic. Yes, I’m aware. No, I don’t care. It is literally perfect. On par with this is me trying and Nothing New in my affections. Literally as soon as I hear ‘summer went away, still the yearning stays’ my physical body remembers the emotional state it’s supposed to adopt when it hears this absolute masterpiece and quickly prompts tears to well up in my eyes. Dare I say this is the ultimate scream-in-the-car Taylor Swift song. If you get it, you get it, if you don’t, I feel sorry for you. Basic is not bad. I am exactly like everyone else in this regard and I think that’s beautiful. Like what you like. Seriously. 

The Tortured Poets Department (+ The Anthology): loml

Special Mention: I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

Last, but by absolutely no means least, we have TTPD. No, I will not be writing out its full name again. Once was enough. Too long. Thank you for your understanding. Now, because of the sheet volume of the album (and double album!) I’ve merged them into one. Unfortunately, this has made the job of choosing just two songs to present to you extraordinarily difficult. However, after much deliberation, loml has come out on top. I must confess, I have quite literally not recovered from seeing a We Were Liars edit to the last iteration of the chorus and it has been MONTHS. Maybe that has swayed my judgement slightly. Maybe not. We’ll never know. Regardless, the songwriting here is top tier and would be worthy of a Nobel prize for literature, rather than a Grammy. Yes, it is that good. 

So, that concludes our incredibly (italics tally: 5- I’m done now, I promise) long ranking of the best Taylor Swift songs from each album. Thank you for indulging me. It was very fun. But most importantly, enjoy listening to The Life Of A Showgirl today! We, here at Unpublished, are all very excited.