176. Songs range from edgy and confident with "I Did Something Bad" to breathy and beautiful with "Dress," all the while playing with different musical styles and production effects. Debut. 1989 signifies a rebirth of sorts for Taylor, not just because it's named after her actual birth year, but more due to its status as her first seismic genre shift. But its All Too Well thats the finest moment on Red, and possibly the greatest song Swift has ever written. Your email address will not be published. Too many of us have felt like the monster on the hill encroaching on a peaceful city, the devastated partygoer in the blood-soaked gown, the midnight raining on a kindred spirit's sunlight, the lovesick loner lost in a labyrinth of their own making. October 26, 2022. From Taylor Swift to Midnights, we've ranked all of the singer's studio albums from best to worst. If Teardrops on My Guitar from Swifts debut album was her breakthrough song, it was Love Story, the ballad from its follow-up Fearless, that cemented her name in the pop history books. She draws from her accumulated life experience and musical insight to connect with her younger self, refining her past homages to youth with matured, knowing vocals (dropping her country inflection for a more rounded singsong). I Knew You Were Trouble, with its swift-step breakdown, saw her signature sound infused with trendy dance production. Pam Grier reflects on her most iconic roles, from Coffy to Jackie Brown. 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. Keefe, Folklore is neither a culmination of Swifts career to date nor a pivot in a new direction. I don't love the way the writer described some of the albums (saying Taylor sounds like a stay at home mom? After a fiery Twitter storm courtesy of Kanye (though it was far from their first feud), Taylor finally sheds her decade-old, good girl persona for the villain alter-ego curated by the media, opting to settle the score through what she does best: traversing new sonic territory. 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. How does Midnights compare to its worthy predecessors? 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. Written when she was a high school freshman, it saw Swift dissect her relationship with a senior who she knew would break up with her when he went off to college. After embracing folk-flecked sounds on sister albums Folklore and Evermore, for Midnights Swift instead turns to bubbling synths and percussive beats, this sleek production run under the artists late night musings. Where Swift has re-recorded an album, we have included only the new, re-recorded version of the record in the ranking. ", "Ivy," the 10th track on "Evermore," alludes to an illicit affair, which is the name of track 10 on "Folklore.". So while still an undeniably amazing album, and a true testament to her style's shape-shifting abilities, she can and has done better than 1989 even if it was her second go-around for Album of the Year. "'Fearless' may have established her as a capable teenage singer-songwriter, but 'Red' is the album that solidified her confidence, sexuality, and identity as a bonafide force to be reckoned with," English wrote. The album finds Swift living up to all of the praise she earned for her songwriting earlier in career. Her detour is immediately apparent with a simple piano opening on "the 1," as piano chords echo a slight reverb off a guitar's strum-claps, while melancholy ballad "exile" (feat. folklore. And, yes, her songwriting here is not quite fully actualized (as hindsight allows us to see now), but that doesn't diminish these songs' lasting splendor. On 2012s Red, Swift began her transition from country crossover artist to creating glossy, mainstream pop; on its 2021 re-record we were reminded just what a superb songwriter Swift has always been. Jonathan Keefe. 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. Taylor Swift's 10 seminal albums, ranked In honor of her instant-classic, record-breaking new LP Midnights , here's EW's ranking of Taylor Swift's 10 studio albums from her illustrious career. and Bleachers fame), who employs an undercurrent of drums that boom like palms on metal doors and vocals that echo as if off skyscrapers. Pam Grier reflects on her most iconic roles, from, now backpedaling their initial criticisms, unrequited love looming on the high school bleachers, Professor of Commercial Music explains to EW, reclaiming the masters of her life's work, New Reputation: Taylor Swift shares intel on TS7, fan theories, and her next era, The best song from every Taylor Swift album. But as we all know, Taylor Swift isn't like other artists. 1989. rep. Red. The contrast of that relationship with the one detailed in "Champagne Problems" makes the latter seem even more heart-wrenching. 'Red' is filled with top notch tunes: the brilliantly snarky 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' (Swift's first ever Billboard 100 Number One) and fizzing '22' are stone-cold smashers. Although the first glimpses we heard from it (the musical theatre-style Me! and the stomping You Need to Calm Down) didnt do the record justice, listen to Lover in full and youll find moments of pure joy. Having no taste when it comes to state of Grace?) On Red (Taylors Version), we got the spellbinding 10-minute version of the song, an epic rendition that cements the tunes place as a songwriting triumph. And I'm telling you, it's going to be a journey. Keefe, In the run-up to the release of her sixth album, Reputation, Swift was excoriated by fans and foes alike for too often playing the victim. As if the gift of folklore's acoustic stylings wasn't a treat enough, Taylor conceived a surprise sister album like clockwork during her end-of-year creative storm, amidst filming the Long Pond Studio Sessions documentary and re-recording Fearless. And though she does vary her phrasing in ways that attempt to mask her limited voice, Swift is still noticeably off-pitch at least once on every song on the album. It also boasts some of Swifts best ever lyricism for example its title track, where Swift vividly describes the wedding of an ex-lover: I sneak in and see your friends / And her snotty little family, all dressed in pastel / And she is yelling at a bridesmaid / Somewhere back inside a room / Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry. 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. Theres a Bon Iver collaboration, too: melancholy duet Exile, a slow-burning number which eventually erupts into chattering layered vocals and euphoric strings at the climax. 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. In an album review for Variety, critic Chris Willman wrote, "For some fans, it might take a couple of spins around the block with this very different model to become re-accustomed to how there's still the same power under the hood here. To me, "Midnights" feels like an encapsulation of Swift's musical journey. The resulting 2021 album, Fearless (Taylor's Version), is an inspiring feat and first step forward after reclaiming the masters of her life's work. Swift shines brightest on these songs, building and developing her story out of economic but evocative turns of phrase.". Swifts most recent release is a glittering return to pure-pop music. 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. the album's opening track, and in the closing track, "New Year's Day," when we hear a stripped-down, piano-heavy ballad in which Swift sings emotion-filled lyrics. 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. At the time of publishing, we're just over two weeks past our first listen, still internalizing the record's themes of loneliness and loathing, insecurity and insomnia. A 20-year-old Taylor, mid-transition from childhood to adulthood, draws from that dizzying dysphoria and uses it to refine her already awe-inspired songwriting. Many listeners at the time of its 2017 release were less than thrilled by what they saw as pseudo-edgy antics, the equivalent of a prep having a bad day and reaching for black lipstick. Pick what song you like better in each battle to get an accurate list of your favourite songs. Rather, their relative simplicity only adds to Fearless' charm, bridging the old with the new a woman's voice singing a girl's anthems to make a once good album now great. 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. That early nuance and the fact that she wrote this entire album completely on her own is no small feat. Perhaps compensating for that previous album's wave of negative press, Taylor here returns to her tried-and-true toolbox, leaning into romantic whim and angelic daydreams: living room waltzes, paper promise rings, sneaking through gardens, skipping down streets. says the actress. Perhaps even more impressive is Swifts mastery of song structure. It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. The music of folklore takes its time to unfurl, ivory keys yawning at dusk, acoustic strings waking at daybreak. Back in 2006, a little-known country singer called Taylor Swift released her debut single Tim McGraw. I'm using weekly Spotify Charts because I hate Billboard 2. On Thursday at midnight, Taylor Swift dropped her 10th studio album, "Midnights." In recent years, shes also become a music business game-changer: most notably for re-recording her first six albums in order to regain control of her masters, which has seen Swift release the Taylors Version of both Red and Fearless. Released in 2014 and named after the year she was born, "1989" was inspired by the pop music of the mid-1980s. 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. 1989 is a masterclass in how to make a timeless pop record. How do you follow-up Reputation, a revenge album filled with vengeance? But "Folklore" has a laid-back vibe that reflects the spontaneity of how this album was created. Unlike previous albums, no singles were released before the official album drop, and at 3 a.m. folklore is a backward glance over your shoulder clouded by a cold air exhale and it remains Taylor's greatest work to date. Songs like Love Story, You Belong with Me and Fifteen, filled with heart-on-sleeve lyrics and earworm hooks, remain among her best. With a record thats a love letter to love itself. 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"). Where Reputation before it was a risky, abrasive side-step shrouded in a smoky eye, Lover's follow up is a blushing cheek beaming with rosy retrospection and hopes for the future. This record at last acknowledges that, yes, a pop star idolized by young girls can also be a sexual being, singing of dirty daydreams and undressing with your eyes (the chorus on "Dress" even blatantly mimics the cadence of a mounting orgasm). 1 as it best represents the evolution of Swift and her music. 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. She's moved on, but she also wants us to know she's moved on. In her defense, no creative mind can be consistently remarkable, not even one as decorated and revered as Taylor Swift. But reputation is much more than an extended diss track; It's also a not-so-private ceremony for a new, hush-hush love affair (that years later blossoms into a now-rumored engagement to partner Joe Alwyn). Its a brilliantly honest moment, taken from Swifts most mature album yet. Reputation is, without a doubt, Taylor's most polarizing work to date. today i'm ranking all of taylor swift's songs and music from every album + more! Modify tier labels, colors or position through the action bar on the right. Keefe. It was the first taste the world got of Swifts deeply confessional songwriting, and from that moment, we were hooked. 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. The tongue-in-cheek I Forgot That You Existed is a strutting reminder of Swifts skills as a lyricist. Rather, reputation is often compelling in its lavish catharsis, best seen on tracks "Gorgeous," "King of My Heart," and "Getaway Car" (which has co-writer/producer Jack Antonoff's handprints all over its Bleachers-like chorus builds). Paul Attard, Considering that Swifts previous material was almost always better when she tossed the ill-fitting country signifiers and focused on her uncanny gift for writing pop hooks, Red was a smart, if overdue, move for the singer. It's her only album with skip-every-time songs (why on earth would you force a collab between Future and Ed Sheeran? "Red" is a sophisticated album that demonstrates that Swift cannot be put into a box of one category or another: her sound is not all emotional songs about past lovers or radio-ready pop tracks it's so much more. When "Midnights" was first announced, Swift described it as "the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life" and invited fans to meet her at midnight the night the album dropped. In a review for Rolling Stone, Claire Shaffer called the album "a refreshing change of pace.". Top that, Shakespeare. Perfectly Fine." 1,062 Likes, 2 Comments - BLKPIK IDI ( ) (@blackpink.india) on Instagram: "#TaylorSwift, BLACKPINK and #OliviaRodrigo are the only female artists ranking inside IFPI's Top 10" And though Taylor's never been a stranger to love songs, here, she's more sultry than sweet. Its nostalgic sound has paved the way for other artists to make pure pop albums without feeling the need to embrace whatever genres popular at the time (just look at Dua Lipas Future Nostalgia or Lordes Melodrama). But over a decade later, Taylor makes the incredible move of re-recording her teenaged relics almost note-for-note, now at 31 years old. I also factored in critic reviews of the albums when deciding on the final ranking. Welcome to the Quantum Realm. Shes doing exactly what shes always done: offering a collection of incisive, often provocative songs that incorporate authentic, first-person details and leaving others to argue over specific genre signifiers. It's the product of a prolific mind being forced to slow down, reflect, and create something completely new; A memoirist moved to experiment with a stream-of-consciousness novel. ", Big Machine/Republic Records/Republic Records/Big Machine. 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. '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. Keefe, Swifts third album, Speak Now, is problematic in precisely the same ways that its predecessors are, but there isnt a song here that isnt an absolute wonder of technical construction. But what's never changed is Taylor's enchanting ability to translate a memory whether charmed or trying into a moment that feels like yours. Swifts surprise eighth album arrived with very little fanfare. Its admirable that she tries to incorporate more sophisticated elements into a few of the songs here, but dancing with or kissing someone in the rain is a default image that crops up with nearly the same distracting frequency as references to princesses, angels, and fairy tales. She's an artist defined by eras (as is the name of her heavily anticipated upcoming tour) a Reputation era for self-defense, a Lover era for romantic solace which her adoring fans latch onto and assign to their own life stages with fervor. Lover. Taylor is again musically faithful to the source material she spawned, honoring her then 22-year-old self by jeering and tearing up right on que, though this time with an inherent air of maturity. escaped the fate of Pharrell in Minions or Timberlake in Trolls). In short, her seventh LP suffers from the common complaint waged even by adamant fans: when Taylor is good, she's great, and when she's not, well she's forgettable. 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