I tend to never follow “popular music” and literally haven’t purchased a rock album since the days of Elvis Costello and Talking Heads. For years my tastes have slanted toward ethnic (African, Caribbean, Brazilian), electronic tango grooves (Gotan Project), or remixed swing. Occasionally a more current artist like Citizen Cope filters onto my phone, but a “pop” mega-star like Taylor Swift? I was about as interested in her as I was Kim Kardashian.

Then I started hearing from older guys who attended Swift concerts with their daughters. One after the other could not shut up about how joyous and transformative the experience was. I knew I wouldn’t have the patience to wrangle tickets or be able to secure the bank loan necessary to go to one of those concerts, so just for hoots went on the Google machine and found an article from late 2022 called “Taylor Swift’s 50 Best Songs, Ranked”.

Then I went on iTunes and listened to a sample of every one. Then I began buying some of them. Looked up at the end and saw I suddenly had a playlist of 39 Taylor Swift songs. Put the list on my phone, popped in my earbuds, and spent a recent afternoon listening to them all while waiting for the gas man to show up.

Good God almighty. I knew Swift was a global sensation, but was unprepared for how astonishingly good her music is. Aside from Taylor’s wonderful human attributes and incredible concerts (which I have since sampled on YouTube), her strong but angelic voice is mesmerizing, you can hear every word of her smart, passionate lyrics—and then there’s the actual music. Many of the tracks are just over three minutes, yet are structural works of art: starting slow and acoustic, building to powerful crescendos that perfectly complement the defiance and heartbreak she reveals. Many of the choruses remain in your head long after you hear them, and are so easy to sing along with it’s no mystery why stadiums of 65,000 people often belt out the verses in unison.

I know a select minority of sad Americans don’t want to hear this, but Taylor Swift is as big as the Beatles were and arguably as talented. The fact it’s hard to take your eyes off her is just an added bonus. 

For the record, here is the playlist I made that turned me into an old Swiftie. I ordered the tracks alphabetically, but you know what? I don’t think it matters.

1. All Too Well

2. All You Had to Do Was Stay

3. Anti-Hero

4. Back to December

5. Blank Space

6. Cardigan

7. Clean

8. Cowboy Like Me

9. Cruel Summer

10. False God

11. Fearless

12. Getaway Car

13. Gold Rush

14. Haunted

15. I Knew You WereTrouble

16. Illicit Affairs

17. Invisible String

18. Karma

19. The Last Great American Dynasty

20. Lavender Haze

21. Lover

22. Mad Woman

23. The Man

24. Marjorie

25. Mean

26. Mirrorball

27. Our Song

28. Out of the Woods

29. Peace

30. Right Where You left Me

31. Should’ve Said No

32. Style

33. Teardrops on My Guitar

34. This Is Me Trying

35. The 1

36. The Way I Loved You

37. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

38. You Belong With Me

39. You’re On Your Own, Kid