Love Stories

Valentine's Day

Director: Garry Marshall

Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Hector Elizondo, Shirley McClaine, and a million other people

Released: February 10, 2010

When I start watching a movie, the first thing I usually do is check to see how long it is and this one is a little over two hours. At first, I was surprised (and a little annoyed, ha!) because why would some romcom be over two hours long, but then I remembered that half of Hollywood is in this movie and there are a billion little storylines, so that quickly explained that. 

I feel like Garry Marshall watched Love, Actually (which would have come out 7 years prior) and wanted to do that except have it set in L.A on Valentine's Day. There's even a plot line that's sorta similar to one in Love, Actually, but I'll explain more when I get there. 

It's clear Garry picked up the phone to call many of his favorite people to work with: Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride, Anne Hathaway from The Princess Diaries, Hector Elizondo from pretty much everything he's directed, and Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane from the one episode of Grey's Anatomy he directed. Just kidding. He never directed an episode of Grey's Anatomy, but I did have to double check to see if he did or not since two actors from that show are in this movie!  

As you can imagine, some of the storylines collide with each other. There are at least two, maybe three (hell, perhaps even four) storylines that could have easily been cut and it wouldn't have affected the movie at all, but I'll tell you about those later. 

It's Valentine's Day morning and Reed (Ashton Kutcher) has just proposed to his girlfriend, Morley (Jessica Alba) and she says yes. (By the way, I had to look up pretty much everyone's characters name because I only remembered a couple of their names in the movie!) Reed sells flowers and obviously this is a big day for his business and he's got his friend and co-worker, Alphonso (George Lopez) to help him on this big day. 

Reed is friends with Julia (Jennifer Garner) and she has recently started dating a cardiothoracic surgeon named Dr. Derek Sheperd, oops, I mean Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey - actually, Dr. Shepard was a neurosurgeon, wasn't he?). Haha, I wonder if they call him Dr. McDreamy at his hospital? Julia is so in love with him and basically has hearts for eyes. Unfortunately, he can't spend the day with her because he has to go to San Francisco for something work related. Later, we'll see him call Julia from his car, telling her he's just gotten to the airport, but in actuality, he's pulling into the driveway of a nice house. My first thought was, OMG! He's married! and not five seconds later we see him take a ring out of his pocket and slide it onto his finger. What a jerk! 

Julia goes to see Reed and she's a little surprised that Morley said yes to his proposal, but is happy for him. When she tells him her new flame will be in San Francisco for the day (so she thinks!), he suggests that she go up there and surprise him. Boy, he's going to regret suggesting that when Dr. Copeland will stop by his flower shop in a few hours to buy two arrangement for his two ladies. Before he gives his credit card to Reed, he asks if he can be discreet about this. He agrees, but then when he recognizes his name on the card, he clarifies that Julia Fitzpatrick is his girlfriend and Pamela Copeland is his wife since she has the same last name as him. 

He's having a huge dilemma of whether he should tell Julia or not that her boyfriend is married. He asks Alphonso what he would do and Alphonso asks him what HE would do if the roles were reversed. Reed knows he needs to tell Julia and he tries to when he delivers the flowers from Harrison to her, but isn't able to. 

Unfortunately, Reed will get hit with his own dose of bad news when he comes home to find Morley packing a suitcase and tells him she is leaving him and can't marry him. I saw this coming a mile away because in an earlier scene he asks why she's not wearing her ring and she tells him she doesn't want people asking a bunch of questions since it's Valentine's Day and that they should keep their engagement secret for now. At the last minute, and I mean at the very last minute, he runs to the airport where Julia is waiting to board a plane. He tells her that Harrison is married, but she thinks this means he used to be married and is still being stubborn. 

We see that Julia did not get on the plane, but instead went to the hospital where Dr. Copeland works and asks a nurse if he's working tonight and she says no. She then asks if he's married and the woman confirms he is and he and his wife just celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary. An older nurse comes over to Julia and whispers to her what restaurant he'll be at tonight and what time. It just so happens that one of Julia's students' (she's an elementary school teacher) dad is a maitre'd at that restaurant (or maybe he owns the place, hell, I don't know), so she is able to pretend to be a waitress for Harrison and his wife. At first, he's not paying attention as he's looking at the menu and talking to his wife as Julia pours them water, but when she announces she'll be their waitress, he chokes on his water. She tells them one of their specials is called "the lying, stinking pig." The wife is not getting the clue and is amused by this special and asks how it's made and Julia goes into gruesome detail (and some fast thinking for being put on the spot; guess she got the training when she was a spy in the CIA, haha) about what the chef does to its scrotum and heart. The wife says she'll go with the salmon, but Harrison stutters that he's not hungry. Surely, the wife had some suspicion. Oh, well, I suppose if she did, she decided to wait until they got home before she went off on him. This scene reminded me of the one in Adventures in Baby-Sitting when Elisabeth Shue sees Bradley Whitford with some girl in a restaurant when he told her he couldn't go out because his sister was sick and when she goes in to confront him she overhears him say to the girl, "Girls like you only come around once in a lifetime" which is a line he told Chris (Elisabeth's character) and she's like, "Or twice in the same night." 

Julia thanks her student's dad and picks up some carry out she's taking to a party and tells him to charge it to her "friend over there." He says he figured and tells her he also added some extra lobster tails and cheesecake, heh.

So now Reed's (one day) fiancee has left him and Julia's boyfriend is married. Guess who gets together? They find out they were meant for each other all along! How sweet! Okay, so that wraps up their storylines (for the most part), who's next? 

Like I said, Julia is an elementary school teacher (fourth or fifth grade) and one of her students is a boy named Edison. His grandparents are Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley McClain). This is the storyline that (sort of) reminded me of Love, Actually when Liam Neeson's son tells him he's in love with a girl in his class. Edison tells his grandfather he wants to send flowers to his Valentine and we see him trying to order a bouquet of roses at Reed's shop even though he doesn't have enough money. I think we're supposed to think he has a crush on this girl in his class, Rani, an Indian girl who's also a good friend of his and they both play soccer together. Another one of their teammates calls her his girlfriend to Edison's face, but he denies it. But when Julia (Ms. Fitzpatrick to her students) is telling her students the history of Valentine's Day, he's the only one paying attention so I knew that he had a crush on his teacher. For some reason, his flowers aren't delivered to the school (probably because he didn't have enough money!), so he has to make it his mission to make sure his Valentine gets her flowers THAT day. He finds out from Rani that she has to work at her family's restaurant that night (and keep in mind this girl is ten) because they're hosting two parties: a wedding reception and an "I Hate Valentine's Day" party that Ms. Fitzpatrick will be attending because her friend Kara is hosting. Okay, let's put a pin in this story (there's not too much left to tell, but I need to introduce some other characters before I wrap it up. This movie's kind of a pain to try to summarize!) 

In a movie about love and Valentine's Day, we at least need one anti-Valentine's Day person and that is Kara (Jessica Biel) who hosts an annual "I Hate Valentine's Day" party. She is upset because nobody has RSVPed to her party, but don't worry, she ends up having a nice gathering. Julia is the first to arrive. At first she wasn't going to attend because she had planned to be in San Francisco surprising her boyfriend, but we all know how that turned out! There's a heart-shaped piñata and Julia takes a bat and just beats the crap out of it. Before she smashes the piñata, she twirls the bat around in her hand and it's very Sydney Bristow.

Kara is a publicist for an "aging" (he's 35) football player named Sean Jackson (Eric Dane) who's thinking about retiring because he wants more out of life. He wants to call a press conference and everyone thinks he's going to announce his retirement. His agent is played by Queen Latifah and she has one amusing moment where she's getting a massage and when it turns out that Sean's big announcement is that he's gay (but he's still going to continue to play), she looks up and says, "I knew it!" 

But let's back up (again) and introduce another character. Kelvin (Jamie Foxx) is a sports journalist, but his producer, Susan (Kathy Bates), wants him to do a lifestyle piece (because it's a slow sports day, but this was before Sean Jackson announced he was holding a press conference) and ask people on the street "what does Valentine's Day mean to you?" Kelvin isn't thrilled about this because he wants to be taken seriously as a sports journalist and he's not a fan of Valentine's Day. (Guess who he ends up with?) I did laugh at his reply about Valentine's Day not even being a real holiday because they don't get the day off. I totally agree with him. If you don't get time and a half for woking on a holiday it's not a real holiday! When he hears that Sean Jackson (I have no idea why I keep calling him by his first and last name, maybe because that's how they referred to him in the movie) is announcing a press conference, he goes to Kara's office to ask is he can ask Sean one camera on question. Kara is in her office, stuffing chocolate in her mouth, a little unhinged, and asks him if she's the only person who's alone on Valentine's Day and tells him how her best friend is candy and the only relationship she has is with her Blackberry. (Haha, this movie is so dated.) Now I don't know if this is the first time these two have met, but it's super cringe and she breaks down and he's trying to comfort her. Anyway, he is able to get his question for Sean Jackson and he ends up coming to Kara's party (because he hates Valentine's Day too!). They share a kiss at the end of the movie and I guess they end up together. 

We get a storyline set on an airplane where U.S. army captain Kate (Julia Roberts) is sitting next to a well-dressed man named Holden (Bradley Cooper). They strike up a conversation and we learn that Kate is on a one-day leave. Holden tells her he thinks it's a romantic gesture what she's doing since she's taking a fourteen hour flight just to be home for one day, then turn around the next day and take another fourteen hour flight back and mentions the guy she's going to see is a lucky man. Okay, right away I knew she wasn't going home to see a husband or a boyfriend or any kind of romantic partner. I knew that Edison was her son and he was who she was going home to see. I knew this because when Edison is playing soccer we see him looking at the moms cheering on their kids and he looks really sad. I thought it was weird that she never corrected him and told him she had a son and was going home to see him. I guess it's because they wanted it to be a surprise for the audience. Well, you're not fooling me, Garry Marshall! It is a sweet moment when she comes home and hugs her son and I may or may not have had something in my eyes during that scene. We also find out that Holden is in a relationship with Sean Jackson. So I guess they were in a relationship, but it wasn't public since Sean wasn't officially out? 

Okay, let's go back to Edison for a second. For some reason, he has a baby-sitter even though he has two able-bodied grandparents who are able to take care of. Grace (Emma Roberts) is a high school senior who watches him after school. I would understand if the grandparents weren't home to watch him, but there's a scene of her at their house and she's talking to them. If the grandparents are home, why do they need a baby-sitter? Okay, this scene will come into play later so I get why it's there. 

Let's talk about Grace's (very cringey) storyline. That morning, her teacher asks her if she can help with a "test-prep group for the class" after school, but Grace tells her she has to baby-sit. When she asks if she can do it during lunch, she tells her she can't because she plans to have sex with her boyfriend for the first time and they're going to her house during lunch break because her parents will be at work. I for sure thought she was trying to get out of helping the teacher and just said that so the teacher would be uncomfortable (which she was!) and leave it alone, but no, Grace was being serious. She even offers to help her the next day with the study group. 

During lunch break, Grace's boyfriend, Alex (Carter Jenkins, the only person in the main cast I wasn't familiar with), gets to her house first (he knows where the key is hidden; under a doormat, with an obvious hiding place like that, they're probably going to get burglarized) and heads up to her room and covers her bed in rose petals and lights a bunch of candles. It's the most cliche thing ever. Also, isn't lunch break usually only half an hour? And they have to drive home, then back to school? This all just seems very rushed and not very special or romantic. Are they just doing this today because it's Valentine's Day? I guess. Alex is an inspiring musician and has brought his guitar and starts playing it and singing a cheesy song about her. He is completely naked (ready to go, I guess!) and the guitar is strategically placed around him. In a very predictable move, we see the front door open and in walks Grace's mom! I guess she had to come home form work to get something. She can hear the music upstairs and thinks Grace is home, so she opens the door to get quite the surprise. Alex also gets quite the surprise too and falls onto Grace's bed. We get a very awkward scene where he tells his girlfriend's mom the reason he is naked because he's rehearsing for "an experimental show". (Okay, but why is he "practicing" in Grace's room?) He stands up and steps on a thorn of a rose, then backs up and crashes into one of Grace's shelves, then he bumps heads with Grace's mom. You would think the mom would tell him to get dressed, close the door, then they could discuss what he was doing. Alex wraps his jacket around his wait and grabs his guitar case and runs out of the house completely naked, but he's covered up. He runs down the block and runs into Grace who is on her way home. She stops and lets him in the car and he tells her what just happened. Boy, she must have been mortified that her mom saw her boyfriend naked in her bedroom! 

So they decide to wait to have sex because reasons I don't even remember. Grace chats with Edgar and Estelle and asks them who's only been with one person and they tell her they are those people. Except lies! Because Estelle confesses to Edgar that she had an affair with his business partner many years ago. Damn, that's cold, Estelle! When he asks why she's telling him this now, she replies she wanted to tell him the truth and he tells her, "The truth makes everything else seem like a lie."

There are a couple storylines that could have been deleted from the movie. One of them is the relationship between Liz (Anne Hathaway) and Jason (Topher Grace - thank goodness I have the Wikipedia cast list up because I would not have remembered their character's names!). They recently started dating and go on a dinner date. They go to this super crowded restaurant where the tables are literally right next to each other and they're sitting shoulder to shoulder with the other patrons and are across from each other and have to talk loudly to be heard. The couple next to them are leaning across the table and making out and the other couple next to them is fighting. It doesn't seem very fun or intimate. One of the moments of dialogue I genuinely laughed at is when the waiter comes over and asks them, "Would you like the four-course Sweetheart's Menu or the eight-course Eternal Love?" and Jason replies, "Whoa slow down. Is there a one-course 'only been dating
for two weeks but it looks promising option?'" Yeah, that's pretty awkward, but I think his reply was pretty good. 

During their scenes together or when Liz is at work, she has to take calls because she makes extra money on the side as a phone sex operator. It's all very PG-13 dirty talk and she talks in accents, usually Russian or Southern. She seems to have the same two clients. During the dinner date, she has to excuse herself to take one of these calls and goes outside. Jason (he doesn't know what she does on the side) goes to find her and overhears her "talking dirty" (I say it in quotes because it's pretty tame) in a Southern accent to someone who he believes is her boyfriend. This guy is really dumb...any idiot would realize what she's doing. She admits she's a phone sex operator and when he asks why she didn't tell him she says it's because she's broke and has a $100,000 student loan and no insurance. So I guess because of shame? He's such a jerk and tells her "I'm out." But why? Because she's the a phone sex operator? Because she's broke? For some reason, after he tells her that, she asks if he's going to call her, but I guess this is so he can be snarky and reply, "I'd like to say yes, but I don't know if I can afford it." He does immediately apologize for saying that, but says this is all too much for him.

So I would say this is a storyline that could be deleted, but it does merge with the Edgar and Estelle storyline. Both couples are supposed to go to a movie night in the cemetery, but the guys end up going alone and they start chatting about their forlorn love lives. Edgar and Estelle go every year on Valentine's and this is the first time he's been there without Estelle. The movie they're showing is a 1958 movie Shirely McClaine was in called Hot Spell, so I guess Estelle is/was an actress, but I don't know if this is supposed to be Hot Spell or another movie because Shirley McClaine isn't playing herself. Anyway, Estelle comes to the screening and she and Edgar make up and kiss in front of a huge crowd of people and everyone claps. Also, Jason realizes he was being a jerk to Liz and they make up and get together. 

I would also say you could delete the Emma Robert and her boyfriend storyline, but it also connects to Edgar and Estelle. One storyline you could definitely delete and it wouldn't affect the movie is the Taylor Swift and Taylor Launter one. They play a dating high school couple and they're friends with Grace and Alex, but that's really only the connection they have with other characters in the movie. The Taylor Swift song "Today Was a Fairytale" is featured during the movie and at the end credits. I thought she specifically wrote it for the movie, but looking at Wikipedia (which I already had up!) she had already written it and offered it to be used in the movie. Taylor Swift has many, many amazing songs and this....is not one of them. It's very bland and generic, much like this movie! 

The absolute best part of this film is the very, very end when they're showing the bloopers and the last blooper we see is Julia Roberts being driven home in a car and they go past Rodeo Drive and the driver asks her if she's ever been there and she replies she has and it was a "Big mistake, huge!" 

Are You Ready For It?

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour 

Director: Sam Wrench

Released: October 12, 2023

Viewed in theaters: October 20, 2023

Since I'm deprived and Taylor Swift didn't bring her Eras Tour to my city, I had to settle for going to her concert movie. But that's okay because I hate crowds and even if I did get tickets to her show, I would be in the nosebleed section. That's what I keep telling myself! I felt like everybody in my theater had already been to her concert. Now, I don't have any proof of that, but it just felt like everybody knew all the little inside moments. Most likely they could have just seen these moments on Instagram or Tik Tok. 

I do know that a lot of people who did go to the (actual live) concert did appreciate the concert movie, because, depending on where you're sitting, you're not always seeing everything and with the movie you are able to see these details much better. 

So, for some idiotic reason, I was thinking the concert movie was spliced together with the different cities she visited. I thought they would do that so it would be "fair"; surely they wouldn't just film the movie at one concert. In my mind, they would show a different era from a different city. But when I saw the movie, it appeared to be filmed on one night towards the end of her U.S. tour when she performed at SoFi Stadium in L.A. Then I saw an Instagram video of someone who was at her concert when the movie was being filmed and you could see some guy on stage with her, following her with a camera. Haha, that sounds so stalkerish and weird, like some guy just jumped on stage and started following her with a camera (like they would let that happen!). No, this guy is clearly supposed to be there and he's obviously filming her for the movie. That's when I realized....duh, of course. The way the movie was filmed, OF COURSE there was someone on stage with her with some of the way the angles were shot. There's no way they could have filmed the movie the way they did if they just stuck a few stationery cameras around the stage. Let me give you a few examples of what I mean: 1) When she's performing "The Man" and she's at the top of that scaffolding prop they use for that song, there's a close up of her looking into the camera; 2) there's a 360 degree shot at one point. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what song this is during, but I love a good 360 degree shot. It's just so cinematic and epic! 

I was listening to the podcast Every Single Album: Taylor Swift (the best TS podcast in an ocean of TS podcasts, IMO!) where the two hosts were talking about the movie and from them I learned that the movie was filmed at SoFi more than one night and that there were cameras everywhere. (At least one of them was at one of those shows!) We do get some audience reactions during the movie and while that would be cool to be immortalized in the Taylor Swift Eras Concert movie, I do have to wonder how distracting that would be. Not just with all the cameras around, but also with the cameras that are on stage with her at all times too. I wonder if your experience is diminished in anyway. Not that I would know! So I looked up online to see when the concert was filmed (which is what I should have done in the first place instead of just assuming!) and found out they were filming the first three days of the six days she performed there. So they must have just used the best footage they had from each of those three concert and spliced that together. 

Okay, enough of this boring technical stuff! Let's talk about the good stuff: the music and the fashion! 

So as you may or may not know, the concert is divided into her different eras (i.e. albums) and she sings about 3-5 songs from each era. Yes, this is why it's called the Eras Tour! She does not perform each era in chronological order (because that would be boring!) No, I'm sure there's a logistical reason for the way the show is structured the way it is. This is the order she performs each album:

1. Lover

2. Fearless

3. Evermore

4. Reputation 

5. Speak Now

6. Red

7. Folklore

8. 1989

(secret songs)

9. Midnights

Now, you may notice that her debut self-titled album is missing and, honestly, that's fine with me. There are a few songs I like from that album, but I hardly ever listen to it. Technically she does sing a song from it during her secret songs and I think they did that at least to have one song from her debut album in the movie. At least, that's my theory! I'll explain more when I talk about that part of the concert/movie.

Starting with Lover makes sense because that was what should have been her previous concert, but was cancelled because of Covid. Just think, if Covid never existed, neither would have Folklore or Evermore and this would have been the Midnights Tour. That seems like such an odd alternate universe!  

Okay, you know how when you're eating dinner at a fancy restaurant and they serve you a palate cleanser between courses to get you ready for the next course? (BTW, I've only had this experience once: at a restaurant when I was in NYC a million years ago). I kinda feel like the Evermore and Folklore sections are the palate cleansers of this concert. I don't know if that's even a great anaglogy and it sounds like I'm dissing those two albums and I'm not because I love those albums. I even ranked Folklore as my favorite TS album. I did love the performances from these two sister albums, but it is my theory that she strategically placed them where they are in the setlist so people could sit back and relax. Hell, I've ever heard jokes that people used that time to go to the bathroom. (This is during the four hour live concert, not the two and a half hour movie!) I feel like I got major whiplash from going from "Tolerate It" (was that the last song in her Evermore set?), then pretty much going straight into her Reputation set with the booming bass sounds from "...Ready For It?" 

I remember listening to the Every Single Album: TS right after she announced she was going on tour and the hosts were speculating on what she would perform. They thought she might do her huge pop hits in the massive arenas and her stuff from Folklore and Evermore in smaller venues. While I feel like that would make more sense, logistically it just wouldn't work, and besides, it is called the ERAS tour and not having two of her albums (and one that won a Grammy) would be blasphemy. Like, people can live without her debut album, but NOT the sister albums! 

When she performed "Tolerate It" from the Evermore set, I felt like I was watching a play with the table and one of her male dancers "acting" in it. I really liked it, but I have a feeling this worked much better being filmed for a movie than watching it at a live concert. "The Last Great American Dynasty" from her Folklore set also had a theatrical play element to it. I liked that one of her dancers played Rebekah Harkness and that moment where she and Taylor exchange a knowing glance when Taylor sings "and then it was bought by me." Again, this probably shows up better for the movie than a live show. I know a lot of people thought it didn't make sense that "Cardigan" was cut (about five or six songs were cut from the movie), especially since she sang "Betty" and "August" and they thought "TLGAD" should have been cut, but I am so glad that they did not cut it because, hot take, that might be a top five Taylor song for me and "Cardigan" is just okay to me.

My favorite set was the Reputation Era. It just got you so pumped, which was why it gave me major whiplash coming after the more subdued Evermore set. I personally would have swapped the Reputation and Red sets. They are only separated by her one song from the Speak Now era, but it would make more sense for Reputation to come a little bit later. I wonder if the ten minute "All Too Well" is exactly at the halfway mark of the concert and that's why they had it that way. The only thing that would have made the Reputation set complete perfection is if she had sung "Getaway Car". I have a hard time trying to figure out which song from the Reputation setlist I would swap out for that one, so in my mind, I would cut "Lavender Haze" from her Midnights set, but only because that's a song I'm pretty meh on. Like, give me "Getaway Car" over that song any day! 

The Red set was a lot of fun too. She sang "22", "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and, of course, "All Too Well." If she had swapped "IKYWT" for "Starlight", she would have sung all my favorite songs from that album. During "22" she gives the hat she's wearing to someone her mom has picked out from the audience (usually a little kid, but sometimes it's someone older.) When I saw the very young girl who received the hat in the movie, I knew it was Kobe Bryant's daughter. I only knew this because I had read that Taylor gave her hat to her at one of her concerts at SoFi. I did double check to make sure I was right and I was. She is only six years old! She is so young! I think showing this little girl who tragically lost her famous father and older sister at such young ages receive the hat makes more sense than showing a random kid receiving it. You see Taylor talking to her and give her a big hug after she gives her the hat. When I saw her give the little girl a hug, I had a feeling it was Kobe Bryant's daughter because I don't know if she gives all the other hat recipients hugs, but maybe she does. It is a very sweet moment and just seeing the joy on that little girl's face almost brought a tear to my eye. 

She sings her "secret songs" after the 1989 set. These are two songs from her catalog that she sings that aren't part of the show. In the movie, she sings "Our Song" followed by "You're On Your Own Kid." I think that was strategic because with "Our Song" you're getting at least one song from all her albums, so all her eras are truly represented in the movie. "YOYOK" is immediately followed by her last set, the Midnights era, so it easily falls into the right set and this is the song with the "make the friendship bracelets" line and Taylor knows about the exchanging of friendship bracelets at her concerts. Having this song be in the movie was no coincidence, especially with the dedication/thank you to her fans at the end being in the style of beaded friendship bracelets. 

Speaking of which, the friend I saw this movie with invited me over to make bracelets and it was simultaneously fun and a pain in the ass. One bracelet in particular I had to do four times because I dropped all the beads twice, I had a letter backwards, and I had too many beads between letters. I made three: "Wildest Dreams" (ironically, that was my nightmare bracelet!), "Delicate", and "Bejeweled". Here is a photo of them:

This is a movie where it was encouraged to sing and dance along, so on a scale of one to ten with one being nobody singing or dancing and ten being over the top chaos, I would say my theater was about a 4.5. There were people singing along to some of the songs, but it wasn't so obnoxious or overly loud that you couldn't hear Taylor (though the movie was pretty loud). Nobody was dancing in the aisles, but a lot of young kids were dancing at the front of the theater and they were throwing and waving their little light-up batons. They were even dancing to the Evermore set...which was weird. This one little girl was singing her little heart out along to "August" which was hilarious and adorable. 

I was singing along too...internally! 

Now for fashion corner because she never goes out of style (ha, ha, ha). I loved most of her ensembles; my favorite being the sequined t-shirt dress she wears when she performs "Lavender Haze" and "Anti-Hero." There was one particular dress I did not love, but everybody seems to go gaga over: the humungous lilac gown she wears when she performs "Enchanted". I hate this dress! She looks like a freaking wedding cake! Yes, I realize it's supposed to be like that, but it's just too much for me. I've seen the other ballgowns she's worn while performing this and I like all the others so much better. Also, I chose that moment to use the bathroom, heh! I'm sure people were judging me for leaving during this song.

She also has each nail painted a different color and I'm not sure if she did this for every concert or only for when the movie was being filmed because it would translate better on screen. Each of her albums represents a different color. She has ten albums and she has ten fingernails, so therefore this was the perfect time to do this! Some of her album/color combinations are pretty obvious, like the color for Red is, wait for it...red and indigo blue for Midnights. Usually the color for the album is whatever color dress/outfit she's wearing on the album cover: yellow for Fearless, purple for Speak Now. She's going to be running out of colors pretty soon (she has orange and white left for the basic colors) and will have to pick colors like fuchsia or chartreuse or persimmon. She better get the Pantone site open! 

Overall, it's a fun movie to watch if you didn't get to see the concert. I have no doubt it doesn't even come close to seeing it live. I do wish she had just released it to Netflix instead of making it a theatrical release, but I get she wanted to make it an "experience" so people could dance and sing. Maybe it will be released to Netflix in the future and it will include the deleted songs. 

It's me. Hi. (Ranking Taylor Swift's albums)

Three years ago (on this very same, totally random date!) I ranked Taylor Swift's seven studio albums. Well, now she has added three more (and that's not even counting the re-recordings of two of her previous albums), so I have decided to rank her TEN studio albums.  

Here is a quick recap of my previous rankings:

7. Speak Now 

6. Taylor Swift aka Debut 

5. Fearless 

4. Red 

3. Reputation 

2. Lover 

1. 1989

Now here are my NEW rankings:

(Just a disclaimer before we get started: as I already reviewed her first seven albums before, I probably won't spend too much time on those, so I would recommend reading my original ranking that I linked above if you want to know more of my thoughts about a particular album).

10. Speak Now, 2010

Okay, I know people are going to be mad at me because I know the die hard Swifties LOVE this album, but, honestly, it's never done anything for me. That's not to say I don't like any songs on this album because I do: I really like "Mine", "Mean", and "Long Live". The last song is a great ender for the album and I truly understand why her fans love it so much. I love the line, "It was the end of a decade, but the start of an age."

There are a few songs I'm slowing coming around to. I have a love/hate relationship with Enchanted. While it is a pretty, dreamy, fairy tale, Disney Princess-esque song, it also is a tad eye-roll-y. It also cracks me up that it's about the dude from Owl City. It's like...what? 

I used to really dislike "Dear John", but I find it interesting, though "Would've, Could've Should've" from her most recent album eats that song for breakfast...WOW! I'm really interested to hear "Dear John" when she re-records the songs from Speak Now. In my last review, I criticized "Dear John" for being too long and boring, but I don't think that anymore. I think her re-recording is going to make me appreciate that song more. 

I do think "Last Kiss" and "Innocent" are still boring. You would think the latter should be anything but because it's about Kanye West, but yawn! I think it may be my least favorite TS song of all time. "Back to December" doesn't do anything for me either, but it's okay. 

Another song I don't like, but I'm really interested to hear when she re-records Speak Now will be "Better Than Revenge." That song was not one of her finest hours. Not only is she being petty in the song, but she's just being downright cruel with lyrics like, "She's an actress, she's better known for things she does on the mattress." Yikes! Will she change/delete those lyrics? Will she keep the song the same, but issue an apology? Will she just leave the song off the album? I am DYING to know and will listen to that song first once that album is released! 

All the other songs on the album I didn't mention are just meh. 

9. Taylor Swift aka Debut, 2006

This is her debut album. I have to admit I hardly listen to this and probably the last time I did listen to this was three years ago when I did my original TS album rankings.  I like "Tim McGraw", "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", and "Mary's Song (Oh My My)". The last song is criminally underrated and is absolutely adorable without being too saccharine. Well, maybe it's a tad saccharine. But it sure is darn cute! 

"I Should've Said No" and "Picture to Burn" are catchy little bops. I was pretty down on the latter in my 2019 review because of the cringe-y line, "So go on and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine. I'll tell mine you're gay." When I first ranked her albums, I was listening to the ones that I had bought, but now I'm listening to them on Apple Music and while listening to that song, noticed the lyrics had changed to, "So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine. You won't mind if I say, by the way." Apparently she changed it in 2008. I always listened to this song from the original album until very recently, so that's why I always heard the original lyric. I think I remember hearing she had changed that lyric, but didn't realize when. I think it was very smart of her to change it, especially since this is the same artist who will write and perform "You Need to Calm Down" in the future.  

"Stay Beautiful" is a cute little ditty, "Cold as You" is okay. All the other songs - "The Outside", "Tied Together With a Smile", and "A Place in This World" are totally forgettable to me. I even had to look at the album list to remember what these songs were called. 

8. Fearless (2008)

Okay, first of all, I love that she's re-recording her albums because I think she sounds crisper, her voice has gotten better, vocally, and just the overall quality is better. So I think FearlessTV is better than the original. That said, I still can't rank this higher because I just prefer the other albums I haven't ranked yet to this one. And that's saying something because I love "Love Story", "You Belong With Me", and "Breathe." "Breathe" is probably in my top ten of TS songs (I really need to sit down and do a ranking of my top ten TS songs, but that is so, so, so hard!) It was my favorite TS song until "All Too Well" came into existence. Count "Hey Stephen" as another of my favorite songs on this album; I've always enjoyed that song. 

 

7.  Red  (2012)

"All Too Well" is my favorite TS song of all time. (I know, how original!) "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" is my favorite first single of hers (although there are other contenders!) "Starlight" and "22" are fun bops. The album starts strong with "State of Grace", "Red", and "Treacherous". All the other songs, I can pretty much take or leave, ranging from it's okay to meh. I pretty much skip all the songs I haven't named.  I may have been a little harsh on "Begin Again" in my first ranking, but I still think it's one of her weaker album enders. I mean, at least compared to some of her other album ending songs.

However, when you add the bonus songs and the vault songs, I think it catapults the album a little more. "The Moment I Knew" is a bonus song I really like. The vault songs are ridiculous! (And I say that as a good thing!) "Better Man" and "Babe" were originally supposed to be on the original Red album, but they didn't make the cut so she gave them to Little Big Town and Sugarland, respectively. Okay, I actually think "Better Man" sounds better with Little Big Town singing it (not that Taylor's version is bad at all), but I'm kind of on the fence with "Babe". Both versions are really good. Taylor and Jennifer Nettles have very different voices so you're hearing the same song with distinct voices. Of course, with the Sugarland version you get both their voices since Taylor sings the background.

And don't get me started on the ten minute version of "All Too Well!" How long have we known there was a ten minute version out there? No, seriously, I'm asking. I'm honestly surprised she didn't wait to release Red as the final Tayor's Version album because getting the ten minute version of "All Too Well" has to be one of the top things her fans have been waiting for with bated breath. Not only did we get the song, we also got a video, excuse me, short film, for it! Now the real question is: do you associate Sadie Sink with "ATWTMV" or "Running Up That Hill?" 

I love the part where she goes, "YOU, that's what happened, yooooooooouuuu-oooouuuuuuuuuu." I also love the ending is pretty much a two-minute slow burn.

 

Even though there are some amazing songs here, this has to be her least cohesive album, she's got a lot going on here. There are a lot of songs I skip that I just couldn't place it too high.

6. Midnights, 2022

With her most recent album, I wasn't really sure where to place it. I like it, but I don't LOVE it. It's still fairly new, so it has the potential to go up a spot in the future...but just one spot. My top four is pretty rock solid. This is the first album on this list that wasn't on the original ranking I did, so let's go through the songs one by one:

"Lavender Haze" - I see a lot of people claiming this song as their favorite Track 1, but for me, it's probably in the middle. I mean, it's no "Mine", "State of Grace",  "Welcome to New York", "The 1", or "Willow" (Track 1s, I like better than this song - btw, I feel like I'm the only person who loves "WTNY"). I like this song fine; the drums are really cool. Reminds me of the cool drums in I Think He Knows. I have no idea what "Lavender Haze" exactly means, apparently she heard this phrase on an episode of Mad Men, a show I haven't seen. 

"Maroon" - I really love how this song sounds, but it sure is wordy! 

"Anti-Hero" - This was a good pick for her first single; it's very catchy and upbeat and the "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me" lyrics are very ear-wormy. I think the lyrics to this song are very clever. I know a lot of people don't like the "sexy baby" line, which I get, it is super weird even though I know she's not referring to a literal baby. Honestly, the one lyric I'm not a fan of is "At tea time everybody agrees." I get that is rhymes and flows with, "It's me, hi," but this is going to age so poorly in the future! You know how nobody says "YOLO" or "FOMO" anymore (are those supposed to be capitalized? IDK)? I feel like that's going to be the same with "spilling the tea" in the future. But it's just a stupid little nitpick. I like how lets the s linger in the last chorus of "everybody agreesssssssssss."

"Snow on the Beach" - This is the song that features Lana Del Ray and the first time I heard it, I did not hear her at all. I was expecting her to have her own verse, but nope, she's just singing in the background. The next time I listened to it, I definitely heard her. She has a very distinct voice. Now I can probably only name three LDR songs, so I didn't really care that much she didn't have her own verse. This song is...not my favorite. I mean, it's okay. I think the "weird but f***ig beautiful" line is a bit jarring. Taylor cusses a lot on this album and this song probably gets the most cursing since it's in the chorus. It feels like she's trying to be cool and edgy. It kinda reminds me of how she kept talking about how she can drink alcohol in Reputation. I know she first started bringing out the swear words in Folklore and Evermore, but I feel like when she did that, it was more effective and impactful and it made sense for the cuss words to be there, but in this album (especially this song) it just feels forced, and, like I said, she's trying to be cool. LDR is listed as a writer on this song, so it's very likely she was the one who came up with the oh-so-thought provoking line, "weird but f***king beautiful." The edited version is actually better where they sing, "weird but it was beautiful". I think it flows better and it's not jarring and doesn't take you out of it. Somebody on reddit said they were disappointed that this song wasn't about cocaine. I know they were joking, but that had me laughing. 

"You're on Your Own, Kid" - The more I listen to it, the more I like it. 

"Midnight Rain" - Okay, if this song didn't have that weird distorted voice, I would like it a lot more. The weird distorted voice (which, apparently is Taylor's voice) just sounds sooo weird and takes me out of the song and it's the first thing you hear! At first, I thought maybe it was Jack Antonoff's voice because it sounds like a male voice. I knew it was clearly not someone's real voice because it's very obvious it's been filtered through a computer program. This weird distorted voice will show up in other songs, but it's the most prominent in this. It's like, Taylor, stay away from the electronic devices.

"Question...?" - I didn't like this song at first and I couldn't quite place my finger on why. It sounds like something that would be on Lover and (spoiler alert) I love that album. It could be that it's a bit on the juvenile side but so is"Bejeweled" and (spoiler alert) I like that song. I am coming around to it the more I listen to it. 

"Vigilante Sh*t" - This sounds like "Mad Woman" if it was on Reputation, if that makes any sense. While this song has a cool beat, "Mad Woman" runs circles around it. I feel like she was a little pretentious and trying to be edgy when she titled this song. She literally only says "vigilante sh*t" once in this song. She should have named it "Revenge" because she says that word about 300 times throughout the song! 

"Bejeweled" - I already mentioned I like this song. I love the way she says "Nice!"; it made me lol the first time I heard it. It has some kind of instrument (I'm terrible with trying to identify instruments) that evokes shimmering jewels. It's a fun, upbeat song with a catchy chorus. If I have to give a complaint, it would be "Familiarity breeds contempt, don't put me in the basement when I want the penthouse of your heart" is a little clunky (and a little hokey, let's be honest). Also, while looking at the lyrics, I heard 

And when I meet the band

They ask, "Do you have a man?"

I can still say, "I don't remember"

as 

And when I meet the band

They ask, "Do you have a man?"

I can still say, "I don't", remember.

See, same words, but I heard the grammar differently! Like she's telling the guy, remember, I CAN tell the band I don't have a man. I think my way makes more sense. Who's going to forget if they're in a relationship? 

"Labyrinth" - This song is...okay. It has a very ethereal sound to it. I can't think of another song where her voice is high-pitched through the majority of it, but I'm probably missing an obvious one. There's also this weird sound that you hear every once in awhile. To me, it sounds like a horn fart...I really don't know how else to describe it. It's like this little "toot", if you will. Someone else on Reddit described it as a baby elephant which is also pretty accurate. It's just this weird, random noise and it distracts me from the song! Also, I wonder if Taylor really is scared of elevators, or, more likely, she was just using it as a metaphor. 

"Karma" - I love this song! OMG, when I was reading Reddit comments about this album, somebody posted Karma is a cat purring in my lap because it loves me! in font that size. I just laughed and of course I gave the comment an upvote! That is the most TS line if I ever heard one. Someone else on Reddit was complaining that she talks about her cats too much in her songs! WTF? She has only literally mentioned her cats in TWO songs (if there's others besides this one or "Gorgeous", let me know!) You know, when I think of karma, I think of it as having a negative connotation, but she sings it as a positive attribute (though not so positive for her foes!) I love the way she sings, "It's coming back.....around." I mean, I love the whole song, what's not to love? I think I just convinced myself this is my favorite song on the album. 

"Sweet Nothing" - This song is a sweet piano ballad, but if I'm being honest, it's usually a skip for me. 

"Mastermind" - So technically, if we're not including the 3 am songs aka the bonus songs, this is the closing song to the album. To me, this does not feel like a closing song for her album. Don't get me wrong, I do like this song, but it does not have the epic feeling or finality or sentimentality like a "Long Live" or "Clean" or "Daylight" or "New Year's Day" has. I also have a little quibble with this song: it totally contradicts "Invisible String"! That song is about how fate brought her and her boyfriend together; this song is about how she was the one who brought them together. Although I doubt a super-talented, extremely successful world-famous singer had to do that much to convince a not at all famous actor (I'm sorry, but he's not!) to fall for her. I do love how she manages to get the word "Machiavellian" in this song. Such a scholar, that Taylor Swift! 

There are quite a few bonus songs on this album. I always wonder why some albums don't have bonus songs (like Reputation) or some have a lot (like this one) of just one or a couple (like Folklore or Evermore). I really don't get how it works. 

My two favorite bonus songs are "Would've, Could've, Should've" and "Dear Reader". The former is a big sister to "Dear John" (and a much better song, IMO). It's a pretty powerful song. "Dear Reader", is the last song on the album (if you're listening to the 3 AM edition) and it feels more like a TS ending song, so I really like it. She uses the weird voice that she uses on "Midnight Rain" and "Labyrinth" (it's like, Taylor, put the vocorder (or whatever it's called) down!). However, and I know I'm being a total hypocrite here, but I really like how it's used in "Dear Reader!" I think it works! Maybe its because it's more in the background and the deep/distorted voice eventually becomes her voice while in the the other songs, she either starts the song with the weird voice or she's singing the chorus in so it's way more prevalent. IDK, I just don't mind it that much in "Dear Reader". 

Even though I'm impressed she rhymed "Paris" with "somewhere else", "Paris" and "Glitch" are my two least favorite bonus tracks. The line "All the outfits were terrible, 2003 unbearable" reminds me of something The Black Eyed Peas would sing. Probably because they sing that "I'm so 2008, you're so 2000 and late" line in one of their songs. "Glitch" just sounds weird. I get that's the point, but, eh, I'm not a fan.

5. Evermore (December 2020)

This is the sister album to Folklore, both released in 2020. I like Evermore, but I think Folklore is the superior album. I will say that I like "Willow", the first single from this album better than "Cardigan", the first single from Folklore (of course I still like "Cardigan"!) 

I do wonder if I would have liked this album better if it had come out before Folklore, but I don't know. 

I already mentioned I love "Willow", but if I had to choose my absolute favorite song on the album, it would be "Ivy." An amazing song I barely hear anyone mention or bring up when they're talking about their favorite TS songs from this album. This song seems to be as underrated as "Breathe"; another amazing TS song that never seems to be part of her discography greats conversation. 

I also love "Marjorie", which is about her grandmother (who passed away before Taylor was famous). I have to say, it's always a nice change of pace when she sings about something other than romantic love or heartbreak. According to the Wikipedia article (which was probably written by a Swiftie) the lyrics, "Never be so kind, you forget to be clever; never be so clever, you forget to be kind" was advice her grandmother gave to he and she incorporated it into the song. There's also "Never be so polite, you forget your power; Never weild such power, you forget to be polite." This woman had some very good, sound advice! This song is a very sweet tribute without being overly saccharine. It just feels very real to me. 

I love "Goodbye, Earl", so it probably comes as no surprise that "No Body, No Crime" is another one of my favorite songs on this album. It's about a woman who suspects her husband of cheating, then ends up missing and her friend (the singer) suspects the husband of killing her. I love the pov change where it goes from, "I think he did it, but I just can't prove it" to "They think she did it, but they just can't prove it" when the narrator tells us she killed the husband as revenge in the bridge and everyone suspects the mistress, then it goes to, "She thinks I did it, but she just can't prove it." This song is pretty much every true crime story where the wife of a husband ends up missing and 99.9% of the time the husband has a girlfriend he was cheating on the wife with. Then the wife is found dead and 99.9% o the time, it was the husband who killed her. When I first heard of this, my mind went immediately to Scott Peterson and the disappearance and murder of his wife. Crime Junkie did this "crime" as a podcast as an April Fool's joke and even Taylor commented about it on their Instagram. I mean, Crime Junkie is a super popular podcast, but I'm sure they were freaking out that Taylor Swift made a comment about that episode. 

I do like the other songs on the album (some more than others - the only songs I'm not exactly in love with are "Happiness" and "Closure". The former just hasn't grabbed me (yet) and the latter has a weird sound to it that isn't totally pleasing to my ears. Nonetheless, these songs aren't totally off-putting or anything). I feel like there's many tracks I'm going to appreciate a lot more in the future. 

4. reputation (2017)

It is an absolute miracle that this album is in fourth place and it beat out two of the three new albums she's released since 2019 (okay, in this scenario I'm not counting FearlessTV and RedTV as new albums, though technically they are, but I just mean albums with all brand new music). I say this because I did not like this album when it first released and it did take me awhile to warm up to it. I think this is because it came after an album that I absolutely LOVED and was obsessed with, so it was going to be hard to top it. (Okay, if you're reading this, you're probably a TS fan, so of course you know I'm talking about 1989!) This album definitely gets the reward for most improved! 

Now I admit I don't feel the love for Midnights as I do for many of her other albums, but I still like it, and I just think she has so many albums that are more superior to it and perhaps I just need to warm up to it. With reputation, I did not like it (except for a couple songs (I remember loving "Getaway Car", but who doesn't love that song?), but now look at it; it's number four! "Delicate" and "Call it What You Want" were songs I did not like (I know, what is wrong with me?) but now are they not only two of my favorite songs on this album, but they're two of my favorite TS songs. 

I was listening to a podcast where the three (maybe four; I don't remember) hosts were ranking her first tracks off of every album. When "...Ready For It?" was being discussed, one of the hosts mentioned they liked the line, "And he can be my jailer; Burton to this Taylor." Well, I just assumed they liked it because of the clever Ricard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor lyric, but no. They had no idea what that line meant, they just liked that she rhymed "jailer" with "Taylor." Oh, boy. Sometimes I forget how young her fans are. Luckily, there was someone else on the podcast who knew what Taylor meant!  

Songs I really love on this album include the aforementioned "Delicate", "Getaway Car, "Call It What You Want", "....Ready For It", plus  "Gorgeous", "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things", "New Year's Day", "King of My Heart", oh, hell, all the songs are pretty good. I've even come around on "Look What You Made Me Do". It's still not my favorite TS song, but I do appreciate it more than I used to. 

Anyway, you can get more of my feelings on this album if you read my original ranking. 

3. Lover, 2019

I really love Lover; I was debating if I should put this at #3 or #2. Honestly, my third and second rankings could swap with each other; they're very close. 

-"I Forgot That You Existed"- Not the best song on the album, but a fun way to get it started and it's only going to get better from here. 

-"Cruel Summer" - One of her most catchy songs, right up there with "Blank Space" and "Getaway Car". How did this not become a single? It should have been the hit summer song of 2019! I love the part where she goes, "He looks up grinning like a devil!" 

-"The Man" - Super catchy. I like the end where they alter her voice to make it sound like she's waking up from a dream of pondering how her life would be different if she was a man. 

-"Lover" -  You can't help but sway when you're singing it. 

-"The Archer" - Very underrated track 5 song. Very underrated track in general. Seriously, I feel like a lot of people either don't like this song or are indifferent to it and I love it! I love the '80s dream pop vibe with the synthesizers and how it builds and builds.

-"I Think He Knows" -  I think I know this song is a banger and I love the drums after the bridge. This might be my favorite TS bridge just for those drums. 

-"Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" -  Love the way she incorporates the "Go! Fight! Win" into the song as cheerleader chants.

- "Paper Rings" -  I mentioned this in my original ranking - it reminds me of something that would play during the prom scene in 10 Things I Hate About You.

- "Cornelia Street" - Amazing song. I was listening to this podcast where they were joking about the lyric, "I'd never walk Cornelia Street again" because it's a small street in New York and it's pretty easy to bypass if you need to. 

-"Death by a Thousand Cuts" - Another amazing song. I love the plucky instrument. In my original ranking, I said that "I ask the traffic lights it will be all right; They say, 'I don't know'" is my favorite line, which is still true, but I also love the bridge.

-"London Boy" - Taylor lists every famous thing about London! I love this song; it's so cute!

-"Soon You'll Get Better" - Kind of a downer in an album full of upbeat and happy (for the most part) songs, but still a beautiful song, nonetheless.

-"False God" - Such a cool vibe and that saxophone! This was the perfect song for her to sing on SNL when she was the musical guest during this time. 

-"Afterglow"- If I were to rank all the songs on this album, this might be in the lower half, but still a great song and a testament to how many amazing songs are on this album. 

-"You Need to Calm Down" and "Me!" are perfectly fine poppy and fine songs (I personally prefer YNTCD of the two) but I feel like she had much better songs to introduce as singles. 

-"It's Nice to Have a Friend" feels like filler. If I'm being an honest, this is one I usually skip (I also sometimes skip "Soon You'll Get Better" only because it's too sad to listen to.) 

-"Daylight" - Another amazing album ending song for her. I love the echo in her voice. 

Those were pretty short thoughts on each song, but I go into a little more detail on my original ranking. You know, if you need even more to read! 

2. 1989 (2014)

So this was my number one ranked Taylor Swift album since it came out in 2014. As you see, it is been demoted to number 2. (You can probably figure out what my #1 TS album is now!) Of course, this album is amazing and I feel like this is when I became a true TS fan. I had listened to her previous albums and I liked many of her songs, but I feel like this was the first time I truly loved an album of hers, if that makes any sense. That probably explains why her first four albums are ranked in the four last spots. I listened to this album every day for a year. It had so many great singles and so many great songs that could have been singles. Like, every single song on this album could have been released as a single Even the weakest song on this album, "Bad Blood" is still pretty damn catchy. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone has ranked every TS song (literally an impossible job!) and he updates it every time she releases new content. He ranks everything - even her bonus songs, songs she does for movies, and holiday songs. "Bad Blood" is ranked dead last at #229. It's like, 'cmon. That is not her worst song. Not by a long shot. It's not even her pettiest song (I would give that to "Better Than Revenge"). It's fine to rank "Bad Blood" last if you're ranking her 1989 tracks, but out of all her songs? I mean, I know it's totally subjective, but a song from one of her best albums (and one that won a Grammy for Album of the Year!) should not be ranked DEAD last! 

I still hear her say "Got a lot of Starbuck lovers" when I listen to "Blank Space." I know now that isn't the lyric, but for the longest tine I DID think that was the lyric and while I thought it was a bit odd, I just accepted it. Then one day I looked it up and saw she was actually saying, "Got a long list of ex-lovers". 

"Clean" is not only my favorite TS album ending song, but in my top five....maybe, IDK! It's so hard to choose. 

It still cracks me up that "All You Had To Do Was Stay" (STAY!) is a track five because it is so poppy (and I freaking love it). There is absolutely no way she was aware that her tracks fives, up to the point, were ballads with more vulnerable lyrics. Obviously she figured that out after this album and before reputation! 

Again, if you want to read more about my thoughts on this album, go check out my original rankings.

1. folklore (July 2020)

This is the "indie record that's much cooler than mine", hee!

In a way, I'm kinda glad that another album topped 1989 as my favorite TS album. I think this shows that she can top an amazing album and that's good for everybody. In a weird way, if Covid hadn't happened, this album probably wouldn't have existed (neither would Evermore). She most likely would have gone from Lover to Midnights. So, uh, thanks - oh, never mind, I won't go there! 

I love every song on this album. There's only one I'm not so fond of (but we'll get to that later). Some songs I love more than others, but they're all so good.

This album gets most compared to Evermore which makes sense since they were both surprise albums released in 2020, the only bright spot in a year of darkness! Obviously, I like this album more than Evermore even though I still enjoy that one. In my Evermore review, I pondered if that album had come out before Folklore if I would have liked it better, but I don't know. I don't think so. If I were to do a track battle between the two albums, Folklore would beat Evermore in every one...except maybe Track 1 and Track 10. Even though I love "The 1" and think it's a great way to begin Folklore, I like "Willow" just a tad more...but just a tad! Also, "Ivy" is my favorite track from Evermore, but even so, if it was pitted against pretty much any other song other than "Illicit Affairs", that would be a tough choice! I like "Illicit Affairs", but it would probably be ranked in the latter half of my favorite songs from Folklore.

Obviously one of the big thing about this album is the trio of songs that make up a story. The first time I listened to this album, I honestly didn't even notice it. I think it was when I was on Reddit and several people mentioned it, so of course the next time I listened to the album, I paid extra attention to "Cardigan, August, and Betty." Oh, look, she rhymes "car again" with "cardigan" in "Betty". And who could forget when we connected "Remember when I pulled up and said, 'Get in the car'" from "August" to "Just thinking of you when she pulled up like a figment of my worst intentions. She said, 'James, get in, let's drive'" from "Betty".  I feel like if most artists were going to have a little teen drama mini series in their album, the trio of songs would be in chronological order and they would be in consecutive order. But not Miss Swift! The chronological order of the songs are "August", "Betty", and "Cardigan", but she has "Cardigan" as track 2, "August" as track 8, and "Betty" as track 14. Clearly she made "August" the 8th track for the same reason she made "Seven" the 7th track and "The 1" the first track, then she spaced out the other songs in the trilogy so there were five tracks between them. There is one thing I'm confused about. So in this teen love triangle, we know the players are Betty, James, and the girl James cheats on Betty with in "August." When this album first came out, I know a lot of people speculated the other girl was Inez who is mentioned in "Betty": "You heard the rumors from Inez, you can't believe a word she says." I agreed with the people who said that Inez was just the school gossip and not the other girl. Then, recently, I was listening to a podcast where they were discussing this trio of songs and someone mentioned the name of the girl was August and I was thinking, Wait a minute, I thought August was referring to the month, not a person. Also, the song is sung in her POV so why would she be referring to herself in the third person? I'm pretty sure we never actually learn the name of that girl.

Apparently, Taylor had always wanted to use the line "Meet me behind the mall" in a song which, of course, is used in "August." This gave me a slight chuckle because the line is nothing more than an instruction and she has much better lines in this album like "Tried to change the ending/ Peter losing Wendy" from "Cardigan" or, my personal favorite, "I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere" from "This is Me Trying."

Speaking of which, if I had to rank my top three songs from this album, they would probably be "This is Me Trying", "Invisible String", and 'The Last Great American Dynasty" (but not necessarily in that order!) I love the lyrics and sound of "This is Me Trying" and the way her voice has this dreamy/hazy aspect to it. "Invisible String" is a cute song about how fate, or an "invisible string" brought her and her boyfriend together. (Which is why "Mastermind" is such a contradictory song). I love the plucky guitar sounds, it's just such a happy-sounding song. So I have to laugh because somebody on Reddit (yes, I am a bit obsessed with Reddit, why do you ask?) was bemoaning about how some of her lyrics sound awkward on Midnights because she has them arranged in a way to get words to rhyme. I don't even remember the examples they gave because I honestly didn't think they were that bad. But man, that person must have hated "Invisible String" because she has the lyrics arranged in a certain way that certainly isn't how one would speak, but I personally love it:

"Green was the color of the grass...."

"Teal was the color of your shirt...."

"Bold was the waitress...."

I'm sure there's a term for whatever structure this is. Obviously, this is not how most people would talk, but I think it works quite well for the song and I like it. The only line that is a bit awkward is "Bad was the blood of the song in the cab on your first trip to LA".  Yes, it's fun she's referencing her own song, but I don't understand why she's referring to it in this way (actually, I do understand - she wants to keep the song structure). Also, I wonder if "Bold was the waitress on our three year trip getting lunch down by the lakes. She said I looked like an American singer" is a true story? I wonder if "an American singer" was replaced by "Taylor Swift"? I'm sure if this English waitress knew she was waiting on "an American singer", she probably realized it was Taylor Swift....I mean, c'mon. I feel like you would recognize Taylor Swift if you saw her - she is very tall! I totally bet you the waitress told her, "Hey, you look like Taylor Swift", rather than, "Hey, you look like an America singer." That just seems too vague. Honestly, I bet the waitress just asked her if she was Taylor Swift. Wow, I certainly got off on a tangent, didn't? Is there a Reddit AMA out there with someone claiming to be the waitress who's mentioned in the song? Probably not because how would you prove that? 

I absolutely love "The Last Great American Dynasty" and dare I say it's the most underrated song on this album? I got goosebumps when I first heard it. The first time you listen to this song you're just hearing about these crazy antics this rich woman named Rebekah (not Rebecca like I originally thought) does (like dye a little dog "key lime green" - heh, so apparently it was actually a cat this happened to. Leave it to Taylor, the friend of felines to change it to a dog!) Then the bridge comes:

"Fifty years is a long time

Holiday House sat quietly on that beach

Free of women with madness, their men and bad habits..."

And then you get the money line....

"And then it was bought by me."

Total goosebumps every time I hear that line! It's like a little twist the first time you hear it. It's that line when you realize she's talking about the mansion she owns in Rhode Island. Now I suppose there are little clues like "Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set" and "They picked out a home and called it 'Holiday House'". Now, I didn't know the house had a name, but it makes sense. I did know she had a seaside mansion in Rhode Island where she throws (threw? I don't know if she still does) 4th of July parties. If you go on Google maps and type in Watch Hill, RI, (it's located in southwest portion of the state) there is actually a little icon for "Holiday House" you can click on and not only does it give you the address (I'm sure Taylor loves that! Though I do wonder how often she stays there and when she does, you know that place is secured up to the wazoo!), but you can also read reviews of the place...please, like anyone is allowed to visit! It is super funny because all the reviews are just the lyrics to "The Last Great American Dynasty." 

I do love the pronoun change where, in the first verse, when she's talking about Rebekah, she sings, "There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen, she had a marvelous time ruining everything", then, in the last verse she sings, "There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen, I had a marvelous time ruining everything." Nice contrast comparing herself to the previous owner. 

Remember when she sang "Soon You'll Get Better" for that special where a bunch of artists performed something from their home when Covid was going on and everybody was in lockdown? This would have been before this album was released, but can you imagine if she had preformed "Epiphany"? Oh, man, the entire world would be drowning because everybody would be in tears! I have to admit this song was not on my radar the first few listens because it's more of a slow, serious song, but now I love it. While "Soon You'll Get Better" is an emotional song and makes sense why she would choose to perform that one (I mean she can't very well perform "Look What You Made Me Do"!), "Epiphany" was literally written because of Covid. Super emotional song that the whole world can relate to. 

So this is the first album where Taylor gets a bit of a potty mouth and starts cursing. However, unlike Midnights, I feel like the cursing is done in a way that fits the song (or the character who's narrating the song, such as in "Betty" with the line, "Would you tell me to go f*** myself?"). I think one of her best examples of cursing is in "Mad Woman", when she says, "Or does she mouth, 'F*** you forever'." It's very understated, but it's so much more effective than any of the curse words she uses in Midnights. 

Okay, so I mentioned there's only one song on this album that I don't care for and that is "Hoax". It's not her worst song, but on an album of amazing songs, this one falls a little short for me. It's too bad since that is the album ending and usually her last tracks are pretty strong. Maybe I just haven't learned to appreciate it yet. 

Thanks for taking the time to read all that! If you want the TL;DR version, my rankings are:

10. Speak Now

9. Debut

8. Fearless

7. Red

6. Midnights

5. Evermore

4. reputation

3. Lover

2. 1989

1. folklore

Taylor Stan

I literally just bought Taylor Swift's new album, but haven't listened to it yet. However, when I woke up to the news this morning that her 8th studio album would be coming out at midnight (it's not even midnight here yet, hehe!), I made a list of my favorite 22 Taylor Swift songs. Ironically, "22" is not on this list, though it made the list when I made my 15 favorite Taylor Swift songs. However, that was three years ago and I only had five albums to choose songs from. This was very difficult; don't be mad if your favorite song isn't on there (but I bet it will be because everyone's favorite Taylor song is the same). 

Taylor-Made

I'm sharing my ranking of Taylor Swift's albums on this totally random day!  

Taylor Swift is one of my favorite artists, so I thought it would be fun to rank her seven albums from my least favorite to absolute favorite. I do not take in account who or what the song is about; I judge the song on its own merit and if I just like it. I do not own any of her albums with the bonus songs so none of those will be mentioned when taking my ranking into account. 

7. Speak Now, 2010 

I looked at a lot of other rankings of her albums and a lot of people had this ranked #1, if not at least #2 or #3. Hardly anybody had this ranked at the bottom of the list, but here I am placing it dead last.  This album does not speak to me, or, should I say, does not speak now to me, ba-ba-dum. I admit this is the TS album I've listened to the least; I have tried giving it several chances, to see if my opinion of it has changed (because this has happened with a couple of her other albums), but no, still feel (mostly) nothing for this one. I can listen to this album and one hour later, if you ask me to sing one of her songs (with a couple of exceptions), I could not tell you how they go. I just feel a lot of these songs are forgetful; they don't have that hook that she's so great at creating and get into your head. Even a song like "Look What You Made Me Do" (which is not one of my faves) can get into your head, but the songs on Speak Now? I'm just like, wait? How does that one go? The fast songs aren't that fun and the slow songs are too slow and long. This album has the most songs I dislike/don’t care for, thus why it’s ranked last. Many of her songs are way too long; clocking in at over five minutes. 

“Dear John” is nearly seven minutes long and people seem to love it, but I just find it endless and boring (Which is exactly how I feel about "Last Kiss", the other song on this album that clocks in at over six minutes...WHY?) Also, why is she wasting her time writing/singing a song about John Mayer who everyone knows is a douche. (He has a song called "Your Body is a Wonderland" for God's sake). I know what you're thinking: that I should like the song because I don't like John Mayer and this song is not a positive one, but honestly, this one is a skip for me. 

"Innocent" is about the Kanye West/MTV music video awards fiasco and you think it would be interesting, but yawn, the song is SO BORING. This might be my least favorite song of hers, truth be told. At least the music is interesting in "Dear John". She has a lot of boring songs on this album. 

"Better Than Revenge" is so obnoxious. I find it a bit hypocritical that in "Mean" (a song I do like) she's crying about a music critic being mean to her, but yet she's being quite mean and catty to the girl (actress Camilla Belle) who apparently "stole" whichever Jonas brother she used to date (I think she dated the one who's married to Sansa Stark now?) With lines like, "She's not a saint and she's not what you think, she's an actress. She's better known for the things she does on the mattress", this is not one of Taylor's finest hours. It's also super obnoxious the way she starts the song with, "Now go stand in the corner and think about what you did." In the words of herself, "Why you gotta be so mean?” 

“Back to December”, “Sparks Fly”, “Speak Now”, “The Story of Us”, and “Haunted” are ones I just don't care for and usually skip. I don't dislike them as much as the others I just mentioned, but I'm not invested in any of them and when/if they come on if I'm listening to her music, I'm not singing along with them (probably cuz I don't know the words!) like I would with one of her songs that I do like. “Never Grow Up” has a sweet melodic harmony. It’s not my favorite, but I like it better than the songs I already mentioned. 

Believe it or not, there are actually songs I do like on this album! I really like the popular singles, "Mine" and "Mean". It's no wonder they became hit singles with their catchy hooks. "Do you remember, we were sitting there by the water? You put your arm around me for the first time. You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter. You are the best thing that's ever been mine" is one of the best stanzas she's written. 

I used to be on the fence about "Enchanted" and "Long Live". While I like them better than the string of songs I dislike, I never put them up there as my favorites. While working on this ranking, I've listened to them a lot more and I really like them. Especially "Long Live." It's like I was sleeping on that song and suddenly woke up and realized what an amazing song it is. It’s pretty epic and I understand why her fans love it so much. "Enchanted" has a dreamy quality to it and sounds like it could be theme song for a Disney Princess.

6. Taylor Swift (aka Debut), 2006

Her debut album is good. It's not great or groundbreaking, but it's good. She can only go up from here. And while her first four albums have some sort of country influence, this is definitely the most country out of all of them. You can hear the banjos, fiddles, and all those other yee-haw! instruments.

I divided all the songs into four tiers. The first tier, the top tier, include my stand out songs which are "Tim McGraw", "Teardrops On My Guitar", "Our Song", and "Mary's Song (Oh My My)". The first three were singles. "Our Song" is infectiously catchy and even though it was played on the radio a thousand times a day, I never seemed to get tired of it. 

"Mary's Song" is a bit of a sleeper as nobody ever seems to mention it. It's such a cute song, about the lifespan of a couple. The first line is, "She said, 'I was seven and you were nine. I looked at you like the stars that shined'." And the last line is, "I'll be 87, you'll be 89. I'll still look at you like the stars that shine." I mean, c'mon! How can you not love this song? And that banjo-fiddle thingy throughout? Don't get me started! This song deserves more love. I have no idea who Mary is, though. 

The second tier includes "Stay Beautiful" and "Should've Said No”, songs that I enjoy, but don’t quite love as much as the other four I mentioned. They're both catchy and can get stuck in your head.

The third tier includes “Picture to Burn” and “Cold As You.” "Picture to Burn" is a bit of a cousin to "Before He Cheats", but not as good. Sure, it has a great beat, but honestly, the line, "So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine. I'll tell mine you're gay" makes me cringe. It's like, oh, no, honey, no, no, no. I understand you were only fourteen or fifteen when you wrote this, but that did not age well. I must be as cold as the "you" in "Cold As You" because a lot of people seem to love it (as much as you can love a non-single from her first album), but it just leaves me, ahem, cold. 

The forth tier, the bottom tier, include the songs I aways forget about which are “The Outside”, “Tied Together With a Smile”, and “A Place in This World.” If you asked me to sing a line from any of those songs, I would just stare blankly at you. I at least recognize “Picture to Burn” and “Cold as You” when they come on, thus the only reason they’re not in this bottom tier. 

5. Fearless, 2008

While I have much respect for this album for giving me “Love Story”, “You Belong With Me”, and “Breathe”, which all belong in my list of favorite Taylor Swift songs of all time, I can't rank it any higher. 

Obviously “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me” were huge hits and were not only played on country radio stations, but also on pop stations. You still occasionally hear then on pop stations that play "old" music. Sometimes I forget just how good "Love Story" is. I feel like I listened to a lifetime of it, so I admit I will sometimes skip it, but the storytelling of this song is quite brilliant, not to mention it's super catchy. I also love how it builds with anticipation when you get to the last part where "Romeo" proposes to "Juliet". (Uh, Taylor, did you ever READ the play or at least see the Baz Luhrmann movie?) Well, great song, nonetheless. I remember being at a piano bar with my family circa 2009 and of course somebody suggested "You Belong With Me" because it was the popular song at the moment and it got a lot of cheers. This song still puts a smile on my face when I hear it on the radio. It's just so cute and catchy. Has anyone ever noticed in the video that the boy she likes (who looks like the most vanilla white bread teen boy in all of existence) lives next door to Taylor, but yet there's a line in the song that goes, "I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night." Wait, what? Guess they didn't take that lyric into account when they created the video! "Breathe" is an amazing beautiful song that is extremely underrated and doesn't get any credit or much love from what I've seen. She wrote it with Colbie Caillat who sings backup. That was my favorite Taylor song for quite awhile. It's so good, you guys! I just don't understand why people are so dismissive of it!

"Hey Stephen" is a fun, catchy song that seems criminally underrated. I think it's cute when she says, "All those other girls, well, they're beautiful, but would they write a song for you?" I love those Irish fiddles (or whatever they are - I'm horrible at trying to identify instruments!) on "Tell Me Why".

"Fearless", "Fifteen", and "White Horse" are good, butI can't quite put them up as my favorites even though a lot of people love these songs. When one sees the title of "Fearless", they might think it's an empowering song about an independent young woman, but no, it's just another song about not being afraid of falling in love or going on a date or something like that. :::rolls eyes::: I know a lot of teen girls love "Fifteen" because it "speaks" to them, but while I appreciate the message, it's just not for me. I see your "White Horse" and I raise you a "You're Not Sorry", which is the sad song I prefer more on this album. It has a little more oomph. 

There are a few songs I don't particularly care for. "The Best Day" is usually a skip for me. It's a bit too saccharine for me. It's a song she wrote to thank her parents for moving to Nashville so she could pursue her dream. It's a sweet sentiment, but I'm not her parents so I really don't care. Also, with all the money she has, I hope she's done more for them than just write them a treacly song! 

This one is going to make everybody mad because everybody seems to love this song: "Forever and Always." I'm sorry, I just don't like this song. People say it's really catchy, but I just find it frenetic and disjointed.

I really have no opinion on "The Way I Loved You" or "Change". They're just there. Apparently "Change" was used as an inspiring song for the 2008 Olympics and was used during daily clips. I do not remember this at all...probably because the song really isn't all that memorable. It's okay, but, eh. Honestly, I feel like "Long Live" would have been a better Olympic song than this one. It has more of an epic feeling. 

4. Red, 2012

This is a pretty good album, although it's a bit all over the place. There's country, there's pop, there's rock. There's a few songs I really love and a few I don't particularly care for and all the rest, they're pretty good. I feel like this album being ranked squarely in the middle is the perfect place for it. I like more songs on this one than on Fearless (though to be fair, this one has 3 more songs), but I can't justify ranking it higher than her three recent albums (which, you may have noticed, haven't been ranked yet). 

Let's start with the songs I love:

-"All Too Well" - When I made my top 15 Taylor Swift songs, I ranked this as number one. I thought I was going into the deep cuts for this one (you know, because it was never made into a single), but turns out this is EVERYONE'S favorite TS song! Like, EVERYBODY'S. I guess I can't blame them: it IS a good song. It's almost like listening to a musical audiobook because you're sucked into this story about this doomed romance. She even uses the scarf as a literary device as we hear about it in the first stanza, then the last. Sidenote: I was surprised when I learned that this song was about Jake Gyllenhaal (quick! somebody do a fact check: did he have glasses as a kid and play on the T-ball team? At least we know he has a sister!) I remember when they dated for like a blink of an eye way back when, but I thought they "dated" as in, You're famous, I'm famous, let's hang out together in front of the paparazzi and get more famous. I had no idea she was so into him that she would write such a heartfelt song...they were only together for three months! Also, I always thought it was weird when they dated because he's nine years older than her! Especially when this was around Taylor was barely 21. Jake, don't make me not like you! But yeah, I had no idea she had those feeling for him. 

-"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" - This is probably my favorite lead single. It is a bop and a half. They never play this on the radio anymore which is a real shame. She is bringing her "Oooh-oooo-oooo-oooooh" a-game on this one. Apparently this song is about Jake too, which is kinda funny because in "All Too Well" she's all forlorn and sad he messed up the special thing they had and in this song she's pretty much, "F**k you!" The little "phone conversation" in the middle is stupid, but you know what? I love it. 

-"22" - "Twenty-twooooooo, oooo-ooooh!" I love this song; its' so fun and infectious. I will say this song has one of the stupidest lines when one of the "cool kids" says, "Who's Taylor Swift, anyway? Ew." Bitch, please. PLEASE. The cool kids may not like your music, but they know who you are! Was this supposed to be ironic? While I appreciate her poking fun at herself, it does not make any sense! 

-"Starlight" - Yes, it's true. I love all the fun boppy songs (aside from "All Too Well") on this album. I love the old school vibe of it. Is it super cheesy when she sings, "Ooh, ooh, we could get married, have ten kids and teach then how to dreeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaMMMMMM!" I love the passion in her voice. Also, true story, for the longest time I thought she was saying "I'm a Barbie on the Boardwalk" instead of  "I met Bobby on the Boardwalk." 

Her one-two-three punch of "State of Grace", "Red", and "Treacherous" are a very solid start for the album and I think those songs are all very good. For the longest time after I acquired this album, it was bugging me because "State of Grace" reminded me of another song and I finally realized it reminded me of "Space Age Love Song" by A Flock of Seagulls. 

Here are the songs I don't care for:

-"I Almost Do" - There are a few songs that are still a lit bit of country and this one has some country stank on it. This song is pretty unmemorable and boring, so I usually skip it. Also, the lyrics are a little disturbing if you really look at it because its about trying not to contact an ex because she's still obviously into him and this just seems to send the wrong message to her more impressionable listeners who still might be mooning over an ex. I just get an icky feeling when I hear this: "I just wanna tell you it takes everything in me not to call you. And I wish I could run to you. And I hope you know that every time I don't, I almost do. AUGRH. Taylor, you are a strong, independent woman...grow a backbone and tell this guy to F off! Don't give this guy any satisfaction that you're still thinking about him!  I suppose it's probably cathartic to write a song when you still have feelings for someone. I did some research and found out this song is about Jake Gyllenhaal too, which I had feeling. I guess she wrote this before "WANEGBT". She should have just called this the Jake Album because I'm pretty sure 90% of the songs on here are about him! 

-"The Last Time" - she sings this with Gary Lightbody who I just recently decided to look up to see who he was and he is (or was, I don't even know if this band is still together) the lead singer of Snow Patrol. I guess I always figured he was some country singer even though this particular song doesn't have a country vibe to it. It's just a weird combination, why are these two singing together? "Oh, I really want to hear a collab between Taylor Swift and that guy from Snow Patrol," said nobody, ever. The song isn't really one of my favorites, so I skip.

-"Stay, Stay, Stay" - This song is so lame, lame, lame, I wish it would go away, way, way. There was a time for, like, five minutes, when I liked this song, but it’s not one of the album’s best. First of all, the music at the beginning sounds like a theme song for a children's show (it sounds like a plastic child's piano is being played) and they lyrics are just so juvenile with the annoying repeating words: "And I said, Stay, stay, stay. I've been lovin' you for quite some time, time, time. You think that its' funny when I'm mad, mad, mad." UGH. I'm rolling my eyes as I write this. Also, why does this dude think it's "funny" when she's "mad, mad, mad." Why the f**k would you want to be with someone who think it's funny when you're mad?? That would just irritate the s**t out of me...like this song does! This song seems like it would it have been a better fit for one of her first two albums; there's something very immature about it which doesn't fit with the rest of the album. "I threw my phone across the room at you" seems more like a teen girl thing to do. 

Here are songs I also don't particular care for, but I won't skip them as often as the others I just mentioned. It just depends on my mood. They're okay, but they're not my favorites:

-"Sad Beautiful Tragic" - As you may have guessed, a song with the words "Sad" and "Tragic" in them is a bit of a downer. While I like the sitar or banjo (I seriously cannot identify any instrument!) that is prominent throughout, the song can either be a meditative experience that can put you in a trance  or super boring and slowly paced. 

"Everything Has Changed" - this is her first collaboration with Ed Sheeran. Everyone seems to go gaga over this song, but honestly, this sounds exactly like a song you would expect from those two. Sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I skip it, sometimes it plays and I didn't even realize it was on. This is also how I feel about "The Lucky One" and "Holy Ground". They're both fine songs and have catchy hooks, but it just depends on my mood how I feel about them. 

"Begin Again" - When hearing the first stanza of this song, one might think this is about Taylor breaking up with a guy who didn't like certain qualities about her and now that she's single she can embrace those qualities because this is who she is and she likes them: "Took a deep breath in the mirror, he didn't like it when I wore high heels, but I do. Turn the lock and put my headphones on. He always said he didn't get this song, but I do." But no, this song isn't about embracing yourself or being single...it's about meeting someone new who accepts you after being in a bad relationship. :::rolls eyes::: This song is nice, but not overbearing or anything. It's something you would put on during brunch (I'm trying to think of the most milquetoast event for the most milquetoast Taylor Swift song). This is the song she ends the album and she usually ends with a strong song. While I don't hate this song, I definitely this it is the weakest of her ending album songs. “Long Live”, ”Clean", "New Year's Day, and "Daylight" are all much better.  I wouldn’t say "Our Song" is much better, but I do prefer it more. The only last song of an album it might be better than is "Change".

"I Knew You Were Trouble" - I think this is Taylor's most manufactured song and what I mean by that is that I can hear just about any current pop singer performing this song. I can hear Pink singing it. I can hear Kelly Clarkson singing it. I can hear Rihanna singing it. I can hear Miley Cyrus singing it. I can hear Katy Perry singing it. You get the idea. This song is somewhat catchy, so I understand why people like it, but I seriously hate it when she does those weird "Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" whatever the f**k she's doing. It's just very distracting and not very pleasant to my ears. The dubstep is super prominent in this. There's just a lot going on.  This song is sometimes a skip for me, not gonna lie. However, I did find it super cute when she was performing this at the AMAs and her parents were singing along in the audience. 

3. reputation, 2017

This album being ranked at #3  is pretty good considering I did not like it the first few times I listened to it. In fact, had I ranked her albums right after this one came out, it probably would have been ranked lower than Red and Fearless. I think there are a few factors that made me not like it - for one thing, it followed what I believed was one of the best TS albums (slight spoiler there, but there's only two spots left and I haven't mentioned 1989 yet!), so I knew there was no way this album was going to live up to that one. Also, the first single is what I believed to be her worst single - EVER, "Look What You Made Me Do." Oh, dear God. I totally loathed that song. There was  just something really irritating about it, but yet it had a tendency of getting stuck in your head. "Ooh, look what you made me do, look what you made me do, look what you just made me do, ooh, look what you just made me do, look what you made me do." AUGH! STOP! There is nothing melodic or audibly pleasing about this song. The first time I listened to this album all the way through I skipped it because I had already heard it a million times on the radio, so I already knew I didn't like it! You may have noticed that I wrote I loathed it in the past tense. I don't hate this song anymore. Oh, sure, I still think it's terrible, but I can listen to it and enjoy it because I find it so damn funny. It just makes me laugh when I hear it. I'm also able to listen to it because it's never played on the radio anymore. At least not on any of the Top 40 stations I listen to. Has anyone else noticed that? They'll still play "Delicate" and other songs from her older albums, but it seems that the radio stations only played this song when it first came out, then stopped when they didn't have to play it anymore because nobody likes this song! While I understand why it was her first single, there were better songs to release as a first single. As I read somewhere, this song was more of a publicity stunt than anything else. I think it being released as the first single left me with a sour taste in my mouth because I really did not like it, which is rare because, honestly there's never been a Taylor Swift hit single I didn't like...until the summer of 2017. What a dark time for everyone! When I listened to reputation the first few times all the way through (sans "LWYMMD", of course), I only liked about four of the fifteen songs. The others, I was either meh about or just didn't like. It just seemed like she was trying way too hard to be "cool" as many of the songs you could hear being playing in the clubs. Also, several songs mention drinking alcohol and drinking. It's like, nobody cares that you can drink, Taylor. You've been of the legal drinking age for the past two albums! I didn't listen to this album for several months, then went back to it and listened to it a few more times and found that there were songs I really liked that I was lukewarm about before. There are still songs I don't care for, but this album was a big turnaround for me. It gets the award for most improved.

Here are the songs I originally liked (and still do!):

"Gorgeous" - I love the humorous undertone about Taylor having a crush on her now boyfriend. The line about her stumbling home to her cats kills me. I  watched her Netflix special (you know, nearly a year after it came out) and when she sang this song, multiple pictures of her cats popped up on the screen. That made me laugh. The triangle chime at the end of some of the lines is a nice touch and I like that funky '80s electro-pop whatever you want to call (call it what you want!) it is totally my jam. Oh, and Blake Lively's and Ryan Reynold's baby saying "Gorgeous!" at the beginning is super funny and cute.

"Getaway Car" - this has a very '80s vibe to it and sounds like something that could have been on 1989 (or could have been released in 1989!) SUPER duper catchy! When she sang this for her Netflix special, EVERYONE was getting into it and waving their arms and singing along; it's just that kind of song. When this song comes on my iPod, I have to turn it up and sing along. This MIGHT be my favorite song from this album, but there are still a couple more I really like, so it's a tough call. I loved this song when I first heard it and I think I love it even more now. You could say my love for it accelerated...like a (getaway) car, ha, ha, ha. 

"This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" - Even though I could care less about her feud with Kim and Kanye and even though I could care less about Kim and Kanye, this song (which is about her feud with Kim and Kanye) is seriously catchy and infectious. Like, seriously, how can you not sing along when this song is on? How can you not? "This is why we can't have nice things, dar-lin'.....This is why we can't have nice things, hon-ey…..cuz you break them, I have to take them aw-ay-ay-ay...........didn't you think I wouldn't hear all the things you said about me-e-ee-e-e-e-e."  I've noticed this song being compared to "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie and I totally see (or hear) it. 

"New Year's Day" - a very lovely ballad that ends the album, so at least it ends on good note. It feels very different from the rest of the high energy songs that have pumping bass and slick production as a piano is the only instrument. This song is very simple compared to the others. This is definitely a song that can bring the feels if you're feeling a certain way (i.e. sad).

While not my favorites, I liked "Don't Blame Me", "King of My Heart" and "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" alright enough and I still like them well enough. "Don't Blame Me" has a very "take me to church" vibe (probably because of the background choir). It reminds me of something Christina Aguilera would sing. She really loves using a voice enhancer on this album because her voice has this computerized quality in "King of My Heart". I do love the drums on this song and the bridge is very catchy. 

I did not like "Delicate" and "Call It What You Want" (I know, I know) when I first heard the album, but now I consider them among my favorites. I did not like "Delicate" because of the autotune at the beginning (there's quite a few songs that use autotune on this album, thus another reason I wasn't a big fan of it at first) and I thought the way "Delicate" was said in that weird voice was just laughable, but I do really like the song now. I do think her music video for this song is her best one. I didn't like "Call It What You Want" because of its generic title and I thought it was boring, but one morning, I was listening to it and I was like, 'Damn! This song is really good!' The whole "My baby's fly like a jet stream, high about the whole scene, loves me like I'm brand new" stanza just gets into your head and never leaves. And that's okay with me cuz it's a cool groove. 

Songs I'm slowly coming around to:

"...Ready For It?" - This is the first song on the album and it starts off with these thumping beats like I'm in the club or something, and then she starts rapping and I'm like, Uh, no thanks. Although I do think the "And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor" line is very clever. Haha, for the longest time I thought she was saying "Let blood games begin" and I was super confused, thinking maybe "blood games" were similar to The Hunger Games? Which, I know, makes absolutely no sense. She's saying "Let THE games begin which makes more sense...she just punctuates "the" so it sounds like "blood" to my ears. I call this song "Dot, dot, dot, ready for it?" just to be obnoxious.

"I Did Something Bad" - I have a love/hate relationship with this song. I could listen to the chorus again and again on a loop. However...I don't really love anything else. I hate the weird vocal chanting thing. 

Songs I might skip:

“Dress” - I think for a song that could be either super cheesy or super sleazy, she does a good job of not making it either of those things. Even though I think it’s produced and written well, this is a song I usually skip because I feel so weird about listening to such an intimate song. It just feels like I’m intruding on a private moment. I can't imagine her sharing this song with her parents, let alone the world! Also, the “ah, ah, ahs” are a bit much. This song totally sounds like something that would be on a 50 Shades soundtrack. 

“End Game” has some catchy lines (The “big reputation” part, am I right?), but this feels like she’s trying to be too cool with not one, but two special guest rappers, Future (who I’m not familiar with, but I don’t really listen to rap, but he had to lose some street cred for rapping on a Taylor Swift album) and Ed Sheeran. You know, the famous ginger-haired rapper! But no hate here, he’s not too bad with the rapping. The part where Taylor sings "I swear I don't love the drama, it loves me" makes me roll my eyes. 

“…So It Goes” is okay, but it’s the song I alway forget about. Apparently she forgot about it to because she doesn't even sing it during the Netflix special where she sings all the songs on this album (plus a few of her past songs!), but not this one! They just play it over the end credits. I don't hate this song or anything, but it's the one where I'm like, "So how does "So It Goes" go again?" (That was a weird sentence!) There's a line in it that always cracks me up cuz it's really dumb. When she says, "You did a number on me, but honestly, who's counting?; I did a number on you, but honestly, who's counting?" which is all fine and well, but then she literally proceeds to count with "1, 2, 3...."

2. Lover, 2019

Her most recent album is so good with hardly a miss and I was really, really tempted to put it as my #1, but I'll explain why I put my #1 as my #1 when I get to it (which you should know what it is by now!) But this was definitely right behind it. I love pretty much every song on the album and even the songs that rank towards the bottom are still pretty good. There are only three songs I MIGHT skip; depending on my mood, but I'm happy to listen to the entire album either straight through or on shuffle. Two of them I skip because they're just not my favorites, although they are growing on me- "I Forgot That You Existed" and "It's Nice to Have a Friend." The former starts out this album so it was the very first song I heard when I first listened to Lover. I liked it well enough when I first heard it; it has a bit of a sassy attitude and kind of reminds me of something Mariah Carey would sing in the early '00s. Even the little laugh and the indifferent "so, yeah..." at the end reminds me of something MC would do in a song. However, after listening to the entire album, I came to the conclusion that this is the weakest song on the album. (Well, either this one or "ME!"). I don't know who the person she's referring to that she forgot existed (I've read many theories), but it has to be a fellow musician because of the "Would've been right there, front row, even if nobody came to your show" line. I just assumed it was about Calvin Harris, *shrug*. HOWEVER, if the point is she's telling this person that she forgot they existed, then why is she writing a song about it? She obviously didn't forget they existed if she went out of her way to write a song about how she forgot they existed. But I digress... As for "It's Nice to Have a Friend", it's a different sounding song with a choir in the background. I wasn't crazy about it the first few times I heard it, but I'm slowly coming around to it. Even my lowest ranked songs on this album are still pretty good. The only other song I sometimes might skip is "Soon You'll Get Better" and that's only because it's a sad song, not because I don't like it. It's about when her mom had cancer (hopefully it's still past tense) and it's probably the first time I cried listening to a Taylor Swift song. I like the inclusion of the Dixie Chicks because I am a big fan of theirs (if you're not familiar with their work, go listen to "Goodbye Earl" and "Not Ready To Make Nice"; so good!), but I like that they don't overshadow Taylor.

When I see people's rankings of the songs on the album (this would be nearly impossible for me to do!), I notice that her first two singles, "ME!" and "You Need to Calm Down" are generally towards the bottom. I don't know if this is due to song fatigue because those songs were everywhere by the time this album came out or if there are so many other great songs that they got pushed to the bottom. I can see a case for both. I like both songs; I think they're both fun, poppy, upbeat songs. Are they among my top favorites of this album? No. You know, when "ME!" first came out way back in April or May or whenever it was, I had no idea it was the first single to Taylor's new CD. I just figured there was a new Panic! At the Disco album coming out and it was a single from that. You know, like when she collaborated with Boys Like Girls (remember them? What was their big hit? :::Goes to look it up::: Ah, yes, "Love Drunk"; that was a banger!) and they did "Two Is Better Than One" and that was on their album, not hers. 

"False God" has a smooth jazz feel to it. It's a different sound for her, but I like it. I feel like this song is for her older audience. It has a sexy, grown up, mature vibe to it. And that saxophone! 

When I first saw that there was a song called "Cruel Summer" on this album, I knew it wouldn't be a cover of the Bananarama song, but I thought she might sample from it. She doesn't, although that would have been cool. This song sounds like a sister song to "Getaway Car"; very similar vibes. I love this song. I love the "ooooh-aaaahhh, cruuuueeeel summer" and when she shouts, "He looks up grinning like a devil" because it just comes out of nowhere (especially the first time you hear it; it certainly took me by surprise!)

I think "Lover" is her first truly great single from this album. It has the dreamy quality that makes you want to sway back and forth and sing along. I see this being the new song that will be played at weddings. Even though I hate the word "lover" in this context (because, seriously, who introduces their S.O. as their "lover"? NOBODY), there's really no other word that would work. She can't sing, "You're my, my, my, my significant other." Doesn't work. And she definitely can't sing, "You're my my, my boyfriend." Ick even worse!

"The Man" is her most clubby sounding song with the strong bass and that weird horn thing. It's a female empowering song where Taylor tells us that if she were a man, she'd be THE man. I like the end where they alter her voice to almost make it sound like she's waking up from a dream/fantasy of pondering how her life would be different if she were a man.

If there was any song that had the potential to take over "All Too Well" as my #1 favorite TS song, it would be "The Archer", (so yes, it's my favorite song on this album), which she didn't release as a single, but did leak it on YouTube a couple weeks before the album was released. It has that '80s dream pop vibe with the synthesizers and I love how it builds and builds. However, for now, this song will have to settle for my second favorite TS song of all time because I just can't see anything passing "All Too Well". Hmm, interesting that both songs are Taylor at her most vulnerable. 

I freaking love "I Think He Knows." Bless my soul, what a fun song!  It reminds me of something you would hear in a musical (I think because of the finger snapping sounds) and it also reminds me of something Prince would sing (I think because of her falsetto voice). When I first heard the "He got my heartbeat skippin' down Sixteenth Avenue" lyric, I just assumed she was referring to New York, but it's actually Nashville. In my defense, I am familiar with neither city. The drum beat after the bridge is SO good. Like, I have to pretend play the drums whenever that part comes on.

When I first heard "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" (great title), it reminded me of "Toy Soldiers" by Martika because of the children's chorus, although in the Taylor song it's cheerleader chants. I think it's clever how she uses cheerleading words (like, "Okay!" and "Go! Fight! Win!") throughout the song. I really want this to be a single because I think a music video for this would be really cool. 

"Paper Rings" reminds me of something that would play during the prom scene in 10 Things I Hate About You. Can't you see Letters To Cleo singing this circa 1999?  I'm not the only one who thinks this. I saw someone post this on Twitter and had to tell them I had the exact same thought. Apparently, searching for "Paper Rings" and "10 Things I Hate About You" on Twitter, many people have also came to the same conclusion. It's a very fun song; uh huh, that's right! 

I love "London Boy" (heh, and so does Ms. Swift!), another super fun song on the album. When I first heard the song, I assumed the guy talking at the beginning was her boyfriend because it's a guy with a British accent and, you know, the song is about her boyfriend. But, no, it's actually Idris Elba. Do you think they were on the set of "Cats" and she recorded a conversation they had? Or, probably, less creepily, do you think she asked him to say something for her song? I'm sure she got his permission either way. This song is so darn catchy and I must sing it every time it comes on. I laugh every time she sings "I'm your queen like a Tennessee Stella McCartney on the Heath" because she's obviously name dropping. Now I know she and Stella have a fashion collaboration, but could the name dropping be any more obvious? 

I love the pan flute (probably the wrong instrument!) that's throughout "Cornelia Street", another great song. I love the plucky instrument that's played throughout "Death By A Thousand Cuts", which is quite upbeat for a breakup song. "I ask the traffic light if it will be alright, they say, "I don't know" is my favorite line. Apparently this song was inspired by the Netflix movie, Someone Great (when does Taylor Swift have time to Netflix and chill??), which I haven't seen. "Afterglow" is also another good song. 

She continues her string of amazing album ending songs (well, except for "Change" which is her weakest ending song...oh, and I guess "Begin Again" also wasn't my favorite ending song) with "Daylight". Between "Long Live", "Clean", "New Year's Day," and "Daylight," I don't know which is my favorite album ending song from her. (I mean, I think "Our Song" is super fun, but no way it's in this conversation!) But "Daylight" is definitely a contender. I like how there's an echo of her voice and it almost sounds like a ghost of her past self (ooh, that's deep!), especially with the lyric, "I once believed love would be burning red, but it's golden like daylight", obviously a nod to her song "Red" from the titular album.

1. 1989, 2014

You guys, this album is amazing. A. MAZE. ING. No wonder it won a Grammy for Album of the Year. First of all, it gave us so many great singles: "Shake it Off". "Blank Space". "Style". "Wildest Dreams". You still hear these songs all over the radio occasionally. Compare that to her singles from reputation where only "Delicate" is still played on a regular basis. Even "Bad Blood", the weakest song, is still pretty darn catchy. It was another big single, but you don't hear it as much anymore...at least as not as much as the others I mentioned. Really, this album is so good that all the tracks could have been singles.

This is her first full pop album. When she first ventured into pop with Red, I was all, "Wah-wah, she should stick with country" (even though I loved "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" the most poppiest pop song, so yes, I am a hypocrite). How wrong I was! Transitioning to pop was the best thing she ever did. Of course, I do prefer pop music to country.

Not gonna lie; when I first listened to this album (I bought it off iTunes), I was sitting on my bed and the first words out of my mouth were, "What the f**k is this?" when hearing the opening to "Welcome to New York". It was just something different, so it just took me by surprise. Was I enamored with this album the first time I listened to it? No, but I did like it and I listened to it every single day for at least a year (probably more) and the more I listened to it, the more I loved it.

This might be a hot take, but "Welcome to New York" is my favorite opening to a TS album. When I went to NYC in 2004, they were playing the Frank Sinatra song ("Start spreading the news...") in the lobby of the hotel we were staying at in a loop. They need to play "Welcome to New York" at every hotel in NYC on a loop (cuz that wouldn't get irritating!) I'd be the one dancing and singing along, "It's the new soundtrack, I could dance to this beeee-eeee----eee-at....the lights are so bright, but they never blind meeee-eeee-eeeee--eee!" I always thought this song should be the theme song to The Carrie Diaries (remember that show? Probably not) even though that show was already cancelled by the time this album was released and it takes place in the '80s, but can't you see AnnaSophia Robb looking around in wide eyed wonder as she walks through the city during the credits while that song is blaring?

Speaking of the '80s, there's definitely an '80s throwback vibe to many of the songs and it's no wonder I love this album since I love '80s music. If Style had come out in 1984 instead of 2014, I could totally see it being used in a John Hughes movie in a scene with Molly Ringwald looking at herself in a mirror as she's getting ready for a date with the coolest boy in school.

Whenever I listened to "Blank Space" (which is tied with about ten other songs for my favorite song on 1989), I kept hearing her say, "Got a lot of Starbucks lovers" and I was all, sure, that totally makes sense! I was very intrigued by these Starbucks lovers, then decided that lyric probably wasn't right and looked it up and she's actually saying "Got a long list of ex-lover".  Ohhhh. But you know what, I still hear the Starbucks line whenever I listen to it, but I also hear the real line. It's like that portrait where sometimes you see an ugly old woman or you sometimes see a beautiful young woman depending on how you look at it. Love the sound effect of the pen clicking; this entire song is just pure pop perfection (I mean, let's be real: the entire ALBUM is pure pop perfection).

"Out of the Woods" could have become easily annoying with its repetitive chorus, but it works, at least for me. Please excuse the terrible pun, but I like the swiftness of it; there's a bit of an urgency to it. I just love the way she shouts, "GOOD!" at the end. The bridge is probably my favorite from the album....at least tied in first place with about eight other bridges. There's also a sense of urgency to "I Wish You Would"; another great song with a great bridge.

Her fans have pointed out that all her track five songs have been ballads where she's usually at her most vulnerable, but I don't think Taylor was privy to this until after 1989 because her track five song on this, "All You Had To Do Was Stay", is super poppy and doesn't really follow the track five formula. Don't get me wrong; I love the song, but "This Love" would have made more sense in this spot.

"Shake it Off" is probably the most overplayed Taylor Swift song of all time (is there any data  on this?), but I love it, especially now since they don't play it 50 times a day on the radio like they did back in 2014/15! It's just a really fun song and I like the big band influence with the horns. This song just makes you want to dance and you have to clap your hands during the clapping parts (much like you have to clap your hands whenever you watch the opening credits to Friends). A couple years ago, when my niece was two, this song came on, and she started shaking her little booty - she couldn't deny the power of this song making you want to dance; it was pretty cute! I also love the "You could've been getting down to. This. Sick. Beat" part. I think this is the song that Taylor is best known for.

I mentioned "Bad Blood" is the weakest song on the album, but I still kind of love it, cliche lyrics and all. It's about her stupid feud with Katy Perry, but they've made up, so does that mean this song is no longer relevant?

She gets a little breathy on "Wildest Dreams" ("in your wiiilllllllllldddddeeeessstt dreeeeaaammmssss, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh----ahhhhhhhhhh"), but I still love it (the song, not the weird breathy part!)

"How You Get the Girl" doesn't seem to be a favorite among many people, but I love it. It's just so darn catchy! I've seen criticism of it sounding like it belongs in a teeny bopper Disney channel movies and damn it, they'e right. It is a very bubblegum pop song. Perhaps I just loved the boppiness of it, that I never really dissected the lyrics and they are a tad problematic - the whole song is Taylor giving advice to some dude on how to win his girlfriend back. Shouldn't she be on the girl's side; I mean, maybe there's a reason why they broke up in the first place. But it's such a fun, upbeat, song and my favorite part is when she sings, "and yooooooo-oooooou knoooooooo-oooooooow (oooooh-oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!) that I dooooooon't want yoooooouuuuu to go oh oh." Okay, that probably doesn't translate as well in text, but you know what part I'm talking about. I LOVE that part!

When I first started listening to this album, for about the first month or so, I would skip the last three songs (and I deeply regret this because I was wrong for doing so!) because I just didn't care for them. Now I listen to the entire album ("Bad Blood" is the only one I might skip). I love the last three songs on the album and one of them is one of my favorite TS songs of all time. I used to skip "This Love" because it was the slowest song on the album (thus the reason it would have been a great track five) and I just wanted this to be a fun, upbeat, poppy album to listen to and I guess I felt it disrupted its flow. Now I appreciate it more and love the dreamy, atmospheric mood of it with the synthesizers. It kind of reminds me of "Love You 'til the End of Time" - a deep cut Mariah Carey track from the early '90s.

I used to skip "I Know Places" because it was just such a different sound, not only from the album, but from Taylor herself, I guess it just took awhile for me to get used to it, but now I really dig it. It's pretty apparent that this song was brought to you by the letter "I"!

Why did I ever skip "Clean"? I really don't remember, because this song is amazing and when I did my TS song ranking (before reputation), it was ranked #5 and it would still be in my top ten. I know I said that I didn't know which album ending song was my favorite, but I lied. I do know. It's this one. I would recommend this song to someone who isn't familiar with TS songs other than her singles. I love the music, I love the lyrics, I love the bridge, I love the inclusion of Imogen Heap, I love the song! And, obviously, I love the entire album!

Thanks for taking your time to read this!