Yup. Enjoy the deep dive! Even her most bombastic album Reputation has some truly deep, vulnerable moments that this album lives in.
Any tier breakdown that doesn't put "The Archer" in the top tier is just wrong. Legitimately my favorite post-Red song of hers. Also, "I Forgot That You Existed" is such a relatable mood. Top tier fun Taylor song for me at the moment.
None of these are in any particular order, but if you split this album into thirds, this is how it goes for me. Afterglow Cruel Summer Daylight Death By A Thousand Cuts Miss Americana Soon You'll Get Better Lover The Archer The Man Paper Rings Cornelia Street I Think He Knows You Need To Calm Down I Forgot That You Existed Me! False God It's Nice To Have A Friend London Boy My updated 13-track sequencing (totally realizing I never shared my initial draft with more than Anna and Craig) is: The Archer Cruel Summer I Forgot That You Existed The Man Death By A Thousand Cuts Afterglow Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince Cornelia Street Lover I Think He Knows Paper Rings Soon You'll Get Better Daylight
My general order of preference, though I could probably flip some of the rankings in tier 1. Tier 1 Soon You'll Get Better Lover Cruel Summer Cornelia Street The Man The Archer Paper Rings Death by a Thousand Cuts Daylight Tier 2 I Forgot That You Existed Miss Americana It's Nice to Have a Friend False God I Think He Knows Afterglow Tier 3 London Boy You Need to Calm Down Tier Garbage ME!
Yayyyy ranking time. Lover Death By A Thousand Cuts False God Paper Rings The Man Soon You'll Get Better Cruel Summer Afterglow Daylight It's Nice To Have A Friend The Archer Cornelia Street I Think He Knows I Forgot That You Existed Miss Americana And the Heartbreak Kid You Need To Calm Down Me! London Boy
Maybe I’ll try to rank later but Cruel Summer is probably my favorite just based on the number of listens, although I’m pretty sure I’ve had parts of every song (especially the opener) stuck in my head since this came out. Me! is easily the worst on here. I don’t think London Boy is that bad aside from the lyrics. Afterglow is meh, at least where it sits in the sequencing.
"afterglow" is pretty easily my favorite song on this at this point hey! it's all me! in my head! i'm the one who burnt this down!
Here's how the album looks for me now: 1. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince 2. Cruel Summer 3. Lover 4. The Man 5. The Archer 6. Paper Hearts 7. Soon You'll Get Better 8. Cornelia Street 9. Death By A Thousand Cuts 10. False God 11. Afterglow 12. It's Nice To Have A Friend 13. Daylight Leaves the remaining tracks as a cool little, very radio-friendly EP. 1. I Forgot That You Existed 2. I Think He Knows 3. London Boy 4. You Need To Calm Down 5. ME! The only thing I don't like about this is that I think "I Forgot That You Existed" is a pretty awesome song, it just doesn't really fit this version of the album. "I Think He Knows" is pretty good too, but I don't miss the other 3 at all.
TIER 1 Cruel Summer Cornelia Street The Archer TIER 2 Soon You'll Get Better It's Nice to Have a Friend Daylight False God Death By a Thousand Cuts The Man I Think He Knows Lover Paper Rings Afterglow TIER 3 You Need to Calm Down Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince London Boy I Forgot That You Existed I STILL SCREAM "HEY KIDS! SPELLING IS FUN!" EVERY TIME ME!
I think the lyrics being really strong elevates it for some people. My girlfriend LOVES it for that reason. It's mid-tier for me.
Tier 1: I Forgot That You Existed Cruel Summer False God Death By a Thousand Cuts Paper Rings Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince Lover It's Nice to Have a Friend Tier 2: Cornelia Street The Archer Soon You'll Get Better Daylight I Think He Knows You Need to Calm Down The Man Tier 3: Afterglow London Boy ME! I still like all of Tier 3 though. London Boy and Afterglow are just both songs that I kind of always forget how they go until I hear them. And Me! is fun and I don't want to be lumped in with the haters. I just do think compared to the rest of the album it's lacking. It's a song I'd really want to see live though because it's just so fun.
Agree wholeheartedly. Her falsetto there is well-sung AND allows a little break and humanity into it. One of the best examples of how this album has the best vocals of her career. Allowed to be a little naked and unvarnished, but more intentional and precise in how she actually sings it.
It just doesn’t really move me. I don’t love the melody in the verses and I don’t love the lyrics in the chorus. In general, it feels a little more “faceless pop” to me than Taylor’s stuff usually does.
This is the key difference I have found for people that like or dislike I Forgot That You Existed, I've found that most people who like it is because of the lyrics and the thematic elements, closing the reputation chapter. I don't really like it because musically it's extremely boring, nothing happens, I just don't like how it all comes together