Filled with rootin tootin tunes like Tim McGraw, Our Song and Teardrops on My Guitar (largely considered Swifts breakout song) that stormed the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, it earned a teenage Taylor support slots on tour with Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts and Faith Hill. So it is written in "State Of Grace," beginning the album with a percussive prologue la U2, warning that we "fall in love 'til it hurts or bleeds or fades in time" before proclaiming, almost joyously, that she'll "never be the same." Periodically, Midnights does run into issues of redundancy, which has more to do with Jack Antonoffs deficiencies as a producer than with Swifts skills as a writer and performer. In a statement when her tenth studio album was first revealed Swift explained this project is the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, meaning its filled with the sorts of realisations that only hit you in the wee hours. Fearless. "Red" and "Lover" remain in the middle of the pack. However, evermore is still occasionally upbeat with an ethereal glow, with cooing strings that glint on "willow" and synthesizers that gleam on "gold rush." ", Released in 2019 and named after one of the album's singles, "Lover" introduced a new era for Swift one that seemingly had elements of many of her past works, like "1989" and "Speak Now.". It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. Shes described it as a sister record to the aforementioned Folklore; where that record allowed Swift to completely reinvent her sound, coupling her trademark hooks and vibrant storytelling with indie-folk instrumentals, Evermore exudes a new sense of confidence. "Picture To Burn" is a scorned teen's "Before He Cheats" swapping shooting whiskey for rumor mills with a grown woman's wit and a veteran songwriter's aptitude. In the song, she celebrates a level of stardom that she'd continue to exponentially build upon in the years to come: "And bring on all the pretenders / One day, we will be remembered. Shes mined this type of melancholy tone before, but never for the full length of an album and certainly never with such a range of perspectives. What follows is a collection of stone-cold glimpses into the ripple effect discontentment has on relationships: the sadness of a seasonal lover, affection and effort met with indifference, infidelity ending in death. As critic Jon Caramanica wrote for The New York Times in 2014, this album is filled with catchy pop tracks but it sets itself apart from mainstream music of that genre. In every instance, whats noteworthy is Swifts precision in communicating her exact intent. 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"? 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. True, this album successfully acted as a reminder that Swift is a powerhouse musician who shouldnt be messed with. She's moved on, but she also wants us to know she's moved on. 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. The Taylor Swift song sorter and B. She also notably upgrades the production, as a Professor of Commercial Music explains to EW, with subtle shifts towards a fuller-bodied musical accompaniment (no longer a one-dimensional country backing), re-layering instruments along with slight switch-ups in tempo. evermore. Report RESET RANKING RESET TEMPLATE SAVE/DOWNLOAD TIER LIST Template by lucy The albums lyrics only serve to bolster that perception: Swift comes off like a frazzled stay-at-home mom scolding her disobedient children on Look What You Made Me Do and This Is Why We Cant Have Nice Things. But its her willingness to portray herself not as a victim, but the villain of her own story that makes Reputation such a fascinatingly thorny glimpse inside the mind of pops reigning princess. ", As Craig Jenkins for Vulture put it, "Although the album fixates on big enemies and bad reputations, the buried lede is a quiet romance budding in spite of them. Jonathan Keefe. Certainly, it matters that the two albums were born of the protracted isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic and that collaborators like Bon Iver and the Nationals Aaron Dessner figure prominently on both. The album has been described as escapist, cottagecore-inspired, and was written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Love for a song about the worst parts of yourself grows on your heart like a burn on the skin. 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. And the majority of Lover proves her path to better things, being an airy, whipped topping "love letter to love," both for the self and for a partner. 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. It was the first taste the world got of Swifts deeply confessional songwriting, and from that moment, we were hooked. 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 that's really all Swift, whose genius for conversational melodies and knack for giving every chorus a telling new twist every time around remain unmistakable trademarks.". this includes her entire catalogue/discography and eras debut to evermore. But Evermore finds Swift digging further into her explorations of narrative voice and shifting points of view, taking bigger risks in trying to discover how the newfound breadth of her songwriting could possibly reconcile with the arc of her career. Its a dazzling, surprising album, brimming with career-best moments, and heralded a brave new direction for the pop star. 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. And we'd be remiss not to highlight the otherwise overlooked single "Today was a Fairytale" that is just as fantastical and hooky as Fearless' trademark tracks, but was unjustly tacked onto the soundtrack for the unfortunate 2010 film Valentine's Day (wherein Taylor made her acting debut as a kissing partner for then-boyfriend Taylor Lautner). Swift's other albums have hits that I can imagine hearing in a grocery store or on a radio station years from now and immediately recognizing just from the opening chords alone. Swift shines brightest on these songs, building and developing her story out of economic but evocative turns of phrase.". Swifts seventh ignores the bombastic electro-pop of its predecessor, and instead embraces the sleek stylings of 1989. Red is filled with top notch tunes: the brilliantly snarky We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Swifts first ever Billboard 100 Number One) and fizzing 22 are stone-cold smashers. Last Night by Morgan Wallen Welcome to the Quantum Realm. 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. Even so, there are simply too many placeholders on Lover's 18-track roster for it to fare well against her discography's worthier, meatier contenders. 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. Overall, the beauty of revisiting Red is that many of us, at points high and low, have related to its caustic, dizzying array of emotion, tracing the nonlinear trajectory of falling in love, breaking your heart, and putting it back together again. Sal Cinquemani, Midnights is far removed from the folk instrumentation of Folklore and Evermore, coming closest to mirroring 1989s more uptempo electro-pop palette. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. And I'm telling you, it's going to be a journey. Speak Now. But her mounting success undoubtedly stands on the shoulders of Speak Now's case studies of condensing complex inner dilemmas seeing your parents' failed marriage as a prophecy, wishing you'd never grown up into an album still adorned with hope. Following on from the release of Swift's 10th album 'Midnights', let's take a trip down memory lane and take stock of the superstar's career so far. By albums end, Swift assesses her crumbling empire and tattered reputation, discovering redemption in loveonly Reputation isnt so much a rebirth as it is a retreat inward. Thus, Taylor Swift is reduced to the last spot on our ranking, partially by default, though also with respect and not without a good fight. Though she only first arrived onto (and soon conquered) the popular music scene 16 years ago, the breadth and depth of her work seems more the stuff of a lifelong evolution, spanning multiple genres and breaking industry records almost every time around. 1 as it best represents the evolution of Swift and her music. Keefe. Midnights is simultaneously a rare treat and a return to normalcy. 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. And though "All Too Well" is of course her opus in this arena, Speak Now precedes it with an impressive display of her one-off storytelling powers. And, of course, "Marjorie" is a masterful and beautiful tribute to Swift's grandmother that's packed with soulful and illustrative lyrics. What makes Evermore an essential addition to her catalog is her willingness to tell others stories with the same insight and compassion with which shes always told her own. She gets the heavy hitters out of the way early, beginning with a last word in "I Forgot That You Existed," a wink and wave goodbye to social media swarms and energy sucks. 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." 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. In fact, most every song is stripped to a softer core than we've ever heard from Taylor before, with the exception of some past anomalies (re: Reputation's "New Years Day"). But on Red, it's "worthwhile fight" and "a ruthless game," never easy but always intoxicating, almost to the point of nausea. 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). 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. 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. 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. Modify tier labels, colors or position through the action bar on the right. Taylor may be wise beyond her years, but that doesn't spare her from petty rage, especially on "Better Than Revenge" (which is essentially her "Misery Business"), scorning another girl for "the things that she does on the mattress" while likening their shared love interest to a toy on the playground in the next breath. Back in 2006, a little-known country singer called Taylor Swift released her debut single Tim McGraw. Returning to this record then, with its new polish and poise, is a kind of homecoming celebration. 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