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