I had this idea for a series, going through an artist's discography and building "the perfect album". This is an imperfect science, as I did it by picking out the best Track 1, 2, etc (So there isn't really a concept behind it).
For the first part, I of course started with Taylor Swift, and boy was this tough to narrow some of these choices far. There were quite a few surprises (for example, tracks like "Blank Space" or "Out Of The Woods" not making the cut, and how much representation albums like Speak Now and Lover had among others). These results are as of The Tortured Poets Department.
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Track 1 - The final three ended up being "the 1", "Mine" and "Lavender Haze", a pretty nice representation of Taylor's various phases, from country-pop, cottage core and synth pop. In the end, the best Track 1 went to Lavender Haze. What a start that is to Midnights.
Track 2 - "Cruel Summer", "cardigan" and "Sparks Fly", Once again, reps from Folklore and Speak Now. "Cardigan" put up a strong effort, but this was always going to be "Cruel Summer". A smash hit that was further fueled by The Eras Tour.
Track 3 - "gold rush", "Back To December" and "Style". Sensing a theme here, with.....once again representation from Speak Now and this time evermore. There were some surprising omissions ("Love Story"), but through this exercise I found Taylor's track 3s to be particularly strong. The best track 3 went to "Style". As I mentioned in the intro, "Blank Space" was a surprising omission, but "Style" is another perfect encapsulation of 1989.
Track 4 - "exile", "'tis the damn season" and "Don't Blame Me". I really tried to balance this out, I swear...but again we see songs from folklore and evermore. This choice was perhaps fueled by its performance during The Eras Tour, but I went with "Don't Blame Me". Like with "Style", "Don't Blame Me" is a nice defining moment on Reputation.
Track 5 - "my tears ricochet", "tolerate it" and "Dear John". Some controversy...you might wonder 'Hey, where's All Too Well?'. I made the choice to omit the standard version of "All Too Well" given that (spoiler) All Too Well (10 minute Version) is going to make this list. With that being said, the best track 5 for me was "my tears ricochet".
Track 6 - "But Daddy I Love Him", "I Think He Knows", "You Belong With Me". Through my judging of these tracks, I often surprised myself. That's certianly true here, with "I Think He Knows" making the final 3 over something like "mirrorball". Part of that may have been trying to balance this out through her discography. I went with "But Daddy I Love Him", a bit of a throwback sounding song from her country roots on The Tortured Poets Department.
Track 7 - "Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince", "The Story Of Us" and "happiness". Some more surprises, with Americana making a strong showing, while tracks like "I Almost Do" and "seven" not making this final 3. I ended up going with "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince", such a deep song when you fully take it in.
Track 8 - There were some surprises among the top 3, with Lover's "Paper Rings" and Fearless's "Tell Me Why". But the top track here is obvious with folklore's "August". Just simply no denying it.
Track 9 - The top 3 here includes Speak Now's "Enchanted" and reputation's "Getaway Car". There was a bit of a surprising omission, with "this is me trying" not making the cut. Ultimately, debut gets on the board with "Should've Said No". Its going to be fascinating to see how this sounds whenever we get debut tv.
Track 10 - The contenders include TTPD's "Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me?" and evermore's "ivy", but the top track goes to Lover's "Death By A Thousand Cuts". While DBATC gets enhanced with the acoustic "Live From Paris" version, the original studio recording is still top-tier.
Track 11 - This was a fairly wide open field, with the contenders being debut's "Our Song" and evermore's "cowboy like me". I found the best Track 11 to be Red's "Holy Ground". Perhaps a bit of a surprising result.
Track 12 - "Haunted" not making this top 3 surprised me. Included in the top 3 were Red's "Sad Beautiful Tragic" and TTPD's "LOML", but #1 went to reputation's "Dress". A new kind of sound we hadn't really heard before reputation.
Track 13 - A really strong 3, including Lover's "False God" and Speak Now's "Last Kiss". The top track is one I've come full circle on form when it first came out, 1989's "Clean". A beautiful and powerful message.
Track 14 - The top 3 includes TTPD's "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" and reputation's "Call It What You Want". Showing just how strong her song catalog is, "betty" is missing from this top 3, as the top spot goes to Speak Now's "Long Live". This is such a definitive song for Taylor Swift.
Track 15 - The contenders are reputation's "New Year's Day" and 1989's "You Are In Love", but the title track "evermore" comes out on top. This track means so much, with its imagery and breakdown bridge featuring bon iver.
Track 16 - The top tracks include TTPD's "Clara Bow" and evermore's "right where you left me", but the top track 16 was Red's "Begin Again". A very underrated track.
Track 17 - Honorable mentions were Red's "The Moment I Knew" and Midnight's "High Infidelity" (a surprise for me), but TTPD's "The Black Dog" takes the prize . What a strong way to start off The Anthology portion of TTPD.
Track 18 - Contenders included Midnight's "Glitch" and Red's "Come Back...Be Here", but the win goes to Lover's "Daylight". That's a perfect closing track on Lover.
Track 19 - 1989's "Now That We Don't Talk" and Speak Now's "I Can See You" are very strong tracks, but there's no doubt with Midnight's "Would've Could've Should've". Such a powerful song as we see Taylor looking into past wounds.
Track 20 - Red's "State Of Grace (Acoustic)" made a strong push, but the edge went to Speak Now's "Castles Crumbling". Hayley Williams' vocals blend and mesh really well with Taylor's.
Track 21 - Fearless's "You All Over Me" and Midnight's "Hits Different" (was a bit tricky to figure out where to place that) are worthy tracks, but 1989's "Is It Over Now?" is such an iconic vault track.
Track 22 - Speak Now's "Timeless" and Fearless's "Mr Perfectly Fine" were contenders, but the top track went to Red's "Better Man". As you'll see, Red just has such a strong run of vault tracks.
Track 23 - Fearless's "We Were Happy" and TTPD's "I Hate It Here" were runner-ups, but the prize goes to once again Red with "Nothing New". Another strong feaature, this time with Phoebe Bridgers.
Track 24 - Now we're getting down to just 3 tracks going against each other. A surprising, but fun diss track, TTPD's "thanK you aImEe" takes the cake.
Track 25 - Its a track that I wish was longer, TTPD's "I Look In People's Windows" takes 1st place.
Track 26 - Red's "I Bet You Think About Me" is a strong vault track, but TTPD's "The Prophecy" takes this. Taylor's writing game was out of this world.
Track 27 - Red's "Forever Winter" takes this over TTPD's "Cassandra".
Track 28 - TTPD's "Peter" gets this one.
Track 29 - TTPD's "The Bolter" takes this over Red's "The Very First Night".
Track 30 - This is pretty open and shut, Red's "All Too Well (10 minute)". Perhaps Taylor's top song, with how it builds on itself.
Track 31 - A special asterisk for this goes to Midnight's "You're Losing Me". It was a bit of a puzzle finding a place for this.
Track 32 - Really no competition here, with TTPD's "The Manuscript" standing alone.
(Here's the playlist for my top tracks...essentially the perfect Taylor Swift album)
1) Lavender Haze (Midnights)
2) Cruel Summer (Lover)
3) Style (1989)
4) Don't Blame Me (Reputation)
5) my tears ricochet (folklore)
6) But Daddy I Love Him (TTPD)
7) Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince (Lover)
8) august (folklore)
9) Should've Said No (Taylor Swift)
10) Death By A Thousand Cuts (Lover)
11) Holy Ground (Red)
12) Dress (Reputation)
13) Clean (1989)
14) Long Live (Speak Now)
15) evermore (evermore)
16) Begin Again (Red)
17) The Black Dog (TTPD)
18) Daylight (Lover)
19) Would've...Could've...Should've (Midnights)
20) Castles Crumbling ft/ Hayley Williams (Speak Now)
21) Is It Over Now? (1989)
22) Better Man (Red)
23) Nothing New ft/ Phoebe Bridgers (Red)
24) thanK you AiMee (TTPD)
25) I Look In People's Windows (TTPD)
26) The Prophecy (TTPD)
27) Forever Winter (Red)
28) Peter (TTPD)
29) The Bolter (TTPD)
30) All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Red)
31) You're Losing Me (Midnights)
32) The Manuscript (TTPD)
