The whole run from exile through this is me trying has top tier taylor songs. I like evermore but go back to folklore more often
Yeah I’m in the camp of Speak Now getting too much praise. To me personally it shows that she’s at her best when there’s someone else in the writing room.
There are a pretty good handful of all-time great Taylor songs on Speak Now. Definitely more than on Fearless. It’s overlong and has some growing pains to it, but it’s a great record.
I find it hard to rank her catalog because my faves depend on my mood. Reputation goes hard at the gym, folklore is perfect for a rainy day, etc. Rly the only album I'm kinda meh about is Lover even tho it has great songs. It may grow on me more over time tho 1989 prob took the longest to grow on me mostly because the singles were so massive I got burned out fast. It wasn't until years later I was able to appreciate it fully.
Yeah Lover has a few tracks that could be cut for sure, and it would easily be bumped up at least a couple spots in my ranking. Some folks have said they have a playlist with it re-sequenced—would love to see those!
The one I did way back when was: 1. The Archer 2. Cruel Summer 3. I Forgot That You Existed 4. The Man 5. Death By A Thousand Cuts 6. Afterglow 7. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince 8. Cornelia Street 9. Lover 10. I Think He Knows 11. Paper Rings 12. Soon You’ll Get Better 13. Daylight (and you could cut IFTYE and The Man too, tbh, but I was aiming for 13 because Taylor)
Taylor Swift, forever the capitalist, not releasing “Cruel Summer” as a single will never make sense to me. Ever. It’s the most obvious single on the entire record.
I feel the same about her not releasing I Know Places. Certainly better single potential than Bad Blood.
I’m bored, so my totally industry proven opinion (cough) on her pop era single choices: 1989’s rollout was fine; it did exactly what it was supposed to do. OotW probably wasn’t needed as a final single when better options were there. If I had to change it: Blank Space as lead single. All You Had To Do Was Stay on release day. Style. Wildest Dreams. I Did Something Bad should’ve been the lead single for reputation. Ready For It on release day. Getaway Car. Dancing With Our Hands Tied. Cruel Summer should’ve been the lead single for Lover. Lover on release day. Death By A Thousand Cuts. Maybe Cornelia Street. Cardigan and Willow were fine choices for those rollouts. August should’ve probably gotten the single treatment between them. We’ll see what happens with Midnights, but definitely not basing any opinion of the album upon hearing it, haha.
I didn't do major resequencing outside of one track, I just cut the songs I didn't like --> 1. False God 2. Cruel Summer 3. Lover 4. The Man 5. The Archer 6. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince 7. Paper Rings 8. Cornelia Street 9. Death By A Thousand Cuts 10. Soon You'll Get Better 11. Afterglow 12. It's Nice To Have A Friend 13. Daylight I wanted a strong opener, and I never loved the shift in gears from the emotions of "Soon You'll Get Better" to "False God". I really think if you just trim it down a little but it's a very solid album. I listen to it all the time.
My version of Lover is pretty straightforward: keep the same order and just subtract “London Boy,” “You Need to Calm Down,” “Me,” and “It’s Nice to Have a Friend.”
I like having I Forgot as the opening track on Lover. Sets the whole tone of the album. Bad Blood isn't great but was an obvious single choice with all of the Katy perry publicity she generated around it *and the catchy hook
I’ve determined that “I Forgot That You Existed” is the only song that works as the opener on that album.
I think the general direction of the track listing is good, it’s just long and some songs serve the same purpose. I’d cut “The Man”, “Miss Americana”, “London Boy”, “ME!”, and “Daylight”. 1. I Forgot That You Existed 2. Cruel Summer 3. Lover 4. The Archer 5. I Think He Knows 6. Paper Rings 7. Cornelia Street 8. Death By a Thousand Cuts 9. Soon You’ll Get Better 10. False God 11. You Need to Calm Down 12. It’s Nice to Have a Friend 13. Afterglow
i understand the distaste for london boy but i must say i think it’s cute and wouldnt cut it lol. on the flip side i never want to hear me again as long as i live