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. "Fearless" outranks "Taylor Swift" as it has more standout songs and has a cohesive sound that distinctly country-pop. Acoustic guitars, violins, and banjos enjoy free reign, dancing across tales of childhood friends destined for sparks, short-lived summer love, and backroad rendezvous. "Mine" proves this point at the LP's onset, condensing years into seconds, tracing the shadow childhood trauma casts over a guarded, grown-up love ("You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter / You are the best thing that's ever been mine"). 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" 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. 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. There are, of course, a handful of golden tunes (Dancing with Our Hands Tied, Call It What You Want, Delicate). The finished product is, of course, sterling. 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. What makes Taylor's first foray into pop so often irresistible is her ability to rise above the genre's preoccupation with recycled hooks and surface level lyrics. The brooding production glitches and glitters, embracing the indietronica thats permeated the last few The National records. 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. Note: If you make a mistake DO NOT click backspace unless you find extremely necessary. To celebrate, weve revisited all 10 of her studio albums and ranked them from best to worst. Standout tracks from my first few listens include "Anti-Hero" and "Maroon. Her self-titled debut stood as her lone and tall titan at the time of its 2006 release, which was immediately met with commercial and critical success, catapulting a then-16-year-old Swift to stardom almost overnight. 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. 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. There are many more parallels to past albums, as revisiting life moments already explored in her previous songs creates yet another treasure map of topics for knowledgeable fans. First contact is a shock, a singe that lingers and radiates energy, next a scab, hardening as it heals, before calming into a scar you carry, listening to, forevermore. Would it be soft and sincere, like "New Year's Day," poppy and upbeat like "Wildest Dreams," or go back to Swift's acoustic roots with songs like "Untouchable"? 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. 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. 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 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. Another remote collaboration composed in secret, evermore is a sort of epilogue to the backwoods mythos and backdoor relationships on folklore, delving into new character studies with a familiar, folk-infused air of coulds, woulds, and shoulds. The Grammy-winning Mean is amongst Swifts most underrated songs, Sparks Fly is a toe-tapping head-banging anthem and break-up slow-burner Back to December is a karaoke classic. 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. This new sound may not be a far cry from the original, but to the trained Swiftie's ear, these small changes culminate into a noticeably "richer" listening experience from all angles. 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. 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. Taylor Swift currently has 10 albums, with 2022's "Midnights" being her most recent release. Whether it's a song about an ex or someone else who wronged her, Swift's clever, catchy "revenge tracks" have only continued to improve from here. Note: hitting 'no opinion' or 'I like both' frequently will negatively affect your results. 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. Ten albums, a mantelpiece of awards and over a decade later, Swift has become one of the biggest popstars on the planet. At just 20-years-old before she had even fully blossomed out of country's genre barriers Taylor had mastered the delicate balance of detailing the life moments blurred between adolescence and adulthood. i. No one would have blamed her for taking a well-deserved creative hiatus after that marathon of releases, but Taylor has proven herself to be an artist of momentum multiple times over. 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. Released in 2006, Swift's first studio album is so country that newer fans may barely recognize the songstress' sound considering she has experimented with a number of other genres since then. Swifts most recent release is a glittering return to pure-pop music. I'm not using the 5-tier-ranking-scale or whatever because if I did literally half of the list would be a 5/5 yeah music is pretty good rn. 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). How often I find myself in the mood to listen to . that have almost childish lyrics to soft, heart-wrenching ballads about love and loss like "Soon You'll Get Better.". The music of folklore takes its time to unfurl, ivory keys yawning at dusk, acoustic strings waking at daybreak. We, the listeners, need a few more of our own sleepless nights, staying up drinking with Taylor and looking backward to definitively weigh our affection. It's 1989's sonic spirit with more lyrical depth, dipping a brush in her newfound solipsism and painting musical murals of Taylor's "13 sleepless nights," scenes of "self-loathing, fantasizing about revenge, wondering what might have been, falling in love, and falling apart" construed in vivid detail. The best All Taylor Swift Songs (including Midnights) rankings are on the top of the list and the worst rankings are on the bottom. She later builds upon this skill with an added emphasis on production and atmosphere, landing victorious (almost) every time. But reputation's best serenade is also its most understated (and underrated): "New Years Day." Less gradual was Swifts shift from political agnostic to liberal advocate. '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. In the 16 years since the single Tim McGraw launched Swift to country stardom, shes jettisoned the genres ill-fitting signifiers and overcome the limitations of her early recordingsimprovements captured in her Taylors Version re-recordings as a powerful statement of artistic agency. 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. But as Pitchfork critic Anna Gaca pointed out, the album may be honest and genuine, but it feels uneven with how much it sways from garish pop singles like "ME!" this includes her entire catalogue/discography and eras debut to evermore. 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. Your email address will not be published. 1989 is a masterclass in how to make a timeless pop record. Offers may be subject to change without notice. It's a melancholy that allows you to wallow on the condition of looking forward after the fact, holding nothing back as you let everything go. Pam Grier reflects on her most iconic roles, from Coffy to Jackie Brown. 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. Returning to this record then, with its new polish and poise, is a kind of homecoming celebration. She's endlessly accessible, easy to understand even in her later, more cryptic works, yet her songwriting is also a blank space (*cue pen-click*) ripe for filling in your personal memories and private associations. "We Were Happy," Fearless (Taylor's Version) (2021) There's a thin line between timeless and basic, and this "from the vault" track stays on the wrong side. evermore - 85. evermore was Swift's ninth studio album. But for every purely excellent song off 1989 ("Out Of The Woods," "Clean") there's invariably a hollow foil track, the worst offenses, of course, being "Shake It Off" and "Bad Blood." All necessary praise aside, one of the great joys of tracing Taylor Swift's arc is seeing her sound bleed across genres, from country and pop to (half-baked) hip-hop and folk and back. The record's tales unfold into imagined personal histories, with what Swift calls the "Teenage Love Triangle" songs (suspected to be "Cardigan," "August," and "Betty") painting three vivid portraits of an interwoven affair at different points in time. "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. 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. Taylor Swift's "Folklore" album cover was photographed by Beth Garrabrant. It's Taylor's first autobiographical album in three years, after an incredible pivot to fiction in folklore and evermore followed by re-recording Fearless and Red (with the latter three all dropping in 11 months' time). All of Swift's signature elements are present on Swift's third studio album that was released in 2010 beautifully honest lyrics about heartbreak ("Dear John," "Last Kiss"), biting diss tracks ("Mean," "Better Than Revenge"), and a story that unfolds ("Mine"). And, thus, here's where she lost some audiences at the onset, who understandably furrowed their brows at first listen. Swifts surprise eighth album arrived with very little fanfare. The title track, whose lilting rhythm and reverb-soaked drums and vocals are reminiscent of Mazzy Stars 90s gem Fade Into You, and the acoustic Soon Youll Get Better, a tribute to Swifts mother, hark back to the singers pre-pop days, while I Think He Knows and False God evoke Carly Rae Jepsens brand of 80s R&B-inflected electro-pop. Taylor Swift albumsTaylor Swift - 1989Credit: Big Machine, Fall Music Preview Most Anticipated Albums, Taylor Swift albumsTaylor Swift - Speak NowCredit: Big Machine. Songs like "Blank Space" and "Wildest Dreams" are more than deserving of their far-reaching recognizability, but not so much their long time (and only recently dethroned) standing at the top of Taylor's Spotify play stats. But once the title track's idyllic and endearing comedown is over, and the atmospheric funeral march for past woes of "The Archer" makes way for new beginnings, Lover has very few high points after its fifth track. 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. To celebrate Folklore's release, there is not a better time to rank Taylor Swift's albums' discography from the weakest to the best. From Taylor Swift to Midnights, we've ranked all of the singer's studio albums from best to worst. 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