The Music Industry

Ranking Tayor Swift’s albums Elley Atchison, Staff Writer

Taylor Swift has broken numerous musical records with her songs and is nothing short of astonishing. Right now, Swift has ten studio albums released, each filled with jaw-dropping, heart-aching, and beautiful pieces. It has come time to rank those albums from least favorable to most favorable. Before I begin, please let me preface by saying that I adore all of these albums; however, like everyone, I do have favorites.

8- Reputation egg hidden within each song and the messages she produced in her lyrics. Sometimes I do feel like everyone else is a “sexy baby,” and I am the monster on the hill; Taylor truly spoke to that for me. This album was a “Mastermind”- wink.

Notable Lyric: “I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror.”

3-Red

This album is stunning, and it was cheated when it lost at The Grammys in 2014. Taylor Swift outdid herself on this album. I have no skips when I listen to this body of work. Thank you, Taylor Swift, for this heavenly thing that is Red

Notable Lyric: “So casually cruel in the name of being honest.”

While, yes, I enjoy screaming “Picture To Burn” and “A Place in this World,” in the end, I believe this album has some songs that are lacking vocally, and I do end up hitting the skip button when they come on. For example, “A Perfectly Good Heart” makes me want to cringe a little when I hear it. Overall, this album is just not high on my list. Notable Lyric: “State the obvious, I didn’t get my perfect fantasy, I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me.”

Please do not come for me about this decision; I promise I have thought long and hard about each ranking. I know that this album contains “Getaway Car” and “Don’t Blame Me;” however, this album also has the song “Endgame,” where Ed Sheran tries to become rapper-barf- and Taylor has a literal blaccent. For those reasons, I had to put this album lower on my list. I am not saying that I do not love this album because I adore it; I am just saying that some of the songs, especially “Endgame,” make it lose points for me. Notable Lyric: “The ties were black, the lies were white, in shades of gray and candlelight. I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason.”

5-Speak Now

First, take a minute to appreciate that Taylor Swift wrote this entire album herself when she was only twenty years old; that is incredible. This album speaks to youth naivety and that “coming of age” sensation we all feel sometimes. Miss. Swift created a noskip album when she released this. Notable Lyric: “And I lived in your chess game, but you changed the rules every day.”

2- 1989

This album will own key to my heart forever, and I will always love it. My ears are genuinely blessed each time this plays. 1989 is the greatest pop album of all time, and I do not believe anyone could change my mind about that. I mean, Miss. Swift begins with an upbeat masterpiece like “Welcome to New York” and then shatters my world with “Blank Space” and “Style.” I owe so much to Taylor Swift for giving me this album.

Notable Lyric: “The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud but no one heard a thing.”

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7-Evermore

I love Fearless so much! This album is ranked lower because I think songs on other albums are more elevated; nevertheless, this album is pretty incredible. Fearless holds such a special place in my heart because I am nostalgic for many of the songs I listened to when I was younger. Even today, this album has a chokehold on my Spotify account (let’s be honest, all of her albums have a chokehold on it), and it is on constant rotation.

Notable Lyric: “I don’t know who I’m gonna talk to now at school, I know I’m laughing on the car ride home with you, don’t know how long it’s gonna take to feel okay, but I know I had the best day with you today.”

This album is nothing short of magnificent. Something happens to Taylor when she goes off to the woods with Aaron Dessner. She excels lyrically in this album, and her songwriting abilities burst through. It was outstanding. My only critique is that some of the middle tracks jumble together, meaning many of them to sound very similar. For that reason, this album is placed a bit lower on my list.

Notable Lyric: “I rewind the tape but all it does is pause, on the very moment, all was lost.”

4-Lover

I love this album because it makes me feel exceedingly happy. My mood improves, without fail, if I listen to a few songs from this album. I will also add that “Cruel Summer” has caused me to increase my speed on the interstate to 100- do not listen to that song while driving. This album is fun, happy, and just a good time (I am not talking about “Soon You’ll Get Better when I say that.)

Notable Lyric: “And I cut off my nose just to spite my face, then I hate my reflection, for years and years.”

1-Folklore

I cannot articulate the amount of adoration I hold for this album. I genuinely believed that an angel visited Taylor Swift when she wrote this. Her voice is beautiful, but what impacts me the most is the dreamy and wondrous lyrics. I could cry each time I listen to “This is Me Trying.” I, and all the other perfection-driven students, wonder if Miss Swift curated that song just for us. I am not sure how she did it, but this album holds everything an album needs. Folklore is the best album Taylor Swift has ever made, and, I would argue, one of the top-ten albums of all time.

This album exceeded all of my expectations. I loved each little easter

Notable Lyric: “They told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential.”

Valentine’s Tunes

Songs to pour your heart out to