Table of Contents

Discography Intro ……………………………………………………………………. pg 3 pg 30

Taylor Swift Review ………………………………………………………………... pg 4 Videography Intro ……………………………………………………………………. pg 31

Beautiful Eyes EP Taylor Swift Videography …………………………………………………………. pg 34

Fearless Review ……………………………………………………………………. pg 5 Fearless Videography ……………………………………………………………... pg 39

Best Days of Your Life ……...………………………………………………. pg 6
Fearless Tour Review ……………………………………………………………….. pg 41
Crazier
Two Is Better Than One Speak Now Videography ………………………………………………………….. pg 46
Speak Now Review ……………………………………………………..………….. pg 7
Speak Now Tour Review ……………………………………………………………. pg 50
Eyes Open ……………………………………………………………………. pg 8
Red Videography …………………………………………………………………… pg 57
Safe & Sound
Both of Us Red Tour Review …………………………………………………………………….. pg 60
Red Review ………………………………………………………………………….. pg 9
1989 Videography ………………………………………………………………….. pg 66
Sweeter than Fiction ………………………………………………………… pg 11
1989 Tour Review ……………………………………………………………………. pg 68
1989 Review ……………………………………………………………………….. pg 12
Super Saturday Night ……………………………………………………………….. pg 71
I Don’t Wanna Live Forever ……………………………………………….. pg 13
Reputation Videography ………………………………………………………….. pg 75
Reputation Review …………………………………………………………………. pg 14
Reputation Tour Review …………………………………………………………….. pg 79
Lover Review ………………………………………………………………………... pg 16

Beautiful Ghosts ……………………………………………………………... pg 17 Lover Videography ………………………………………………………………… pg 85

Christmas Tree Farm City of Lover Review ………………………………………………………………… pg 88

Only the Young
Miss Americana ……………………………………………………………………… pg 90
Folklore Review …………………………………………………………………….. pg 18

Evermore Review …………………………………………………………………... pg 20 Folklore/Evermore Videography ………………………………………………… pg 92

Renegade …………………………………………………………………….. pg 22 The Long Pond Studio Sessions …………………………………………………... pg 95

The Joker and the Queen
(Taylor’s Version) Videography ………………………………………………….. pg 99
Carolina
Midnights Review ………………………………………………………………….. pg 23 Midnights Videography …………………………………………………………… pg 101

The Alcott …………………………………………………………………….. pg 26 Videography Charts & Analysis ……………………………………………………. pg 104

Discography Charts & Analysis …………………………………………………….. pg 27 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….

 Taylor Swift Discography Deep Dive
A few notes about my ranking process and song selection:
Just to provide some context to all of this: I’m a 30-year old straight guy who listens to mostly hip-hop. I am
not Taylor’s primary demographic. Besides a handful of radio/music video singles that were so big they were
1. I did listen to the original version of both of her albums that have since been rerecorded, and to my
inescapable parts of pop culture (Love Story, Shake It Off, etc.), before these last few months, I had never
personal taste the re-recordings are superior in virtually every way. The recording is crisper, the
listened to any of Taylor Swift’s music whatsoever. I had never actively sought out a single Taylor Swift song
production is cleaner and larger, and her vocals have improved immensely. In light of this, and in light
and could not have given you the name of a single Taylor album or deep cut. I was as unfamiliar with her
of what I learned when researching why the Taylor’s Version albums exist in the first place, I’m only
music as anyone who lives and participates in American society possibly could have been and I had no idea
discussing the TV albums below. Rest assured that my ratings for the originals would be very similar
whether the handful of singles I’d heard were a reflection of her overall catalog and no idea whether I would
with maybe a few points sliced off here or there for the inferior production quality.
find a single thing to enjoy about any of it.

2. I have included here every song that I'm aware of on which Taylor has songwriting credits, even if the
But then Jenny Nicholson posted an absurd 4-hour video about the Evermore theme park which ended with a
song was officially released by another artist (like, say, The Joker and the Queen). I did not include any
beautiful rendition of a song about the theme park, which I liked so much that I tried to research the song,
songs on which Taylor merely features as a performer but does not have songwriting credits (like Half
only to discover that it was a cover of the title track from Taylor’s album Evermore. This caught me totally off
of My Heart) or any covers Taylor has done of other artist's songs. That decision is just based on what
guard because it couldn’t have possibly sounded less like any Taylor Swift song I’d ever heard before, so I
I'm personally interested in exploring in her catalog, but if you think I'm missing out on something, if
figured that I was probably missing out on a much more diverse catalog than I’d ever imagined she had. This
there’s some great song she featured on or some great cover that she did, please let me know!
happened to coincide with Kanye’s fanbase (in which I’d included myself for the last fifteen years) staging a
mock exodus to the Swift spaces on the internet after he went Full Nazi - and the stars were suddenly aligned
3. When songs had multiple versions, I considered the version I liked best the "official" one for my overall
for me to actually commit to exploring Taylor’s discography.
album rankings at the end, e.g. I didn’t calculate the “POP Version” of Teardrops on My Guitar in the
debut’s overall scores because I already included the “Radio Single” version that I prefer.
I also figured that it was probably fairly rare for someone to both:

4. I ranked every song based on three completely subjective metrics, and came to my scores based on
1) Listen to all ten of Taylor’s albums as though they’re brand new music - with no context, no nostalgia, no
asking myself a handful of questions about each track. They are as follows:
sense of which albums were acclaimed and which were panned by the fans or critics or any of that. To me,
Tim McGraw, All Too Well, and Look What You Made Me Do all came out within mere days of each other.
a. Songwriting: Is the melody interesting or dynamic? Is the hook catchy? Does this song feel
unique? Does it evolve from start to finish - how predictable is the journey? Would this same
2) To listen to them all super thoroughly - like, listening to every album a dozen times each, without
song still work if it was reimagined with different lyrics or instrumentation?
distractions. Not just listening once and making snap judgements or playing it in the background while doing
something else - full committing to experiencing each album wholly and thoughtfully.
b. Lyrics: Are the lyrics compelling? Is the word choice evocative, or beautiful, or clever? Do the
rhymes feel forced? Would these lyrics work as a piece of poetry if they weren’t set to any music
So I decided that, with this strange context in mind, I would write down my thoughts on all of it as I went along
at all? Are the lyrics contributing to larger themes or ideas at play on the album?
in case someone out there might find it interesting, like one of those “Gramma Who Never Smoked Weed
Takes Ten Bong Rips” videos. An outsider in the music just submerged under it until they’re living and
c. Execution: Do the production and instrumentation serve the concept of the song? Is it well
breathing it.
performed by the musicians and producers? Is it well mixed? Does the vocal delivery conjure
the feelings of the lyrics? Is it easy to imagine a superior, alternative rendition of the song?
I proceeded to listen to all ten albums in order about 5-6 times, then went back and listened to each album
another 5-6 times on repeat. And, long story short, it was a good time. I spent the next two months listening
I also feel compelled to note that I knew very little about Taylor Swift as a person or about her personal life
to nothing - really, I mean nothing - besides Taylor Swift’s back catalog. I listened to at least one full album
at the time that I wrote this outside of a handful of things that ascended into general popular culture (e.g. the
every day, usually more than one. I assigned scores and wrote my thoughts down about each song after my
Kanye VMA’s incident). So while I give a lot of thoughts below about the lyrics and my interpretations of them,
very first listen to it, and then upon repeated listens I constantly tweaked my scores (some songs by just a
please know that I recognize I could be a million miles away from the consensus that her fan base has come
point or two, some songs dramatically changed - I talk about it below when it’s relevant) and added some
up with about what/who the songs are about - in fact, that’s kind of the point: that I don’t know anything about
additional notes to most songs as I started to pay closer attention to the subtleties of them.
all that is exactly why I thought my takes here could be interesting for the people who do.

So with that in mind, I gave subjective reviews and thoughts on every single Taylor Swift for your
With all that said, I hope you enjoy it!
entertainment.
Taylor Swift (2006) Stay Beautiful - The track is walking a fine line between feeling like a catchy pop-country song and a, like, children’s
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall song. It’s a little too saccharine and bouncy, I think, but that, “Hey, by the way,” is a tempting sing-along.
Taylor Swift Tim McGraw 6 4 7 17
Should’ve Said No - I imagine a young Taylor didn’t have the biggest studio budget in the world or a ton of clout to pull
Taylor Swift Picture to Burn 8 4 7 19
in top-end producers, because this track just feels so compressed. At least for the version Spotify has, the sonic range is
Taylor Swift Teardrops on My Guitar (Radio Single) 7 3 5 15 really constricted and prevents this track from really popping and sizzling. It’s got the catchy hook, but it doesn’t get me
Taylor Swift Teardrops on My Guitar (Pop Version) 7 3 3 13 as hyped as it could - and that little radio-fried background vocal feels pretty outdated and silly 15 years later. Still, this is
the best track since the first three for sure.
Taylor Swift A Place in this World 2 1 4 7
Favorite lyric: Before you go, tell me this: was it worth it?
Taylor Swift Cold as You 3 2 3 8
Taylor Swift The Outside 1 1 2 4 Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) - One of the more complete narratives so far combined with a really classic chorus and
some of the better songwriting on the record. I just wish the production had some identity to it - it’s so safe and bland.
Taylor Swift Tied Together with a Smile 5 2 4 11
Favorite lyric: You never did, you never did
Taylor Swift Stay Beautiful 6 2 4 12
Taylor Swift Should've Said No 6 3 6 15 Our Song - Oh shit! This is the first Taylor song I’ve heard that I actually know! Even having heard it before, this song still
feels fresh - that hook is timeless and adorable. It’s also the most original songwriting on the album so far - you wouldn’t
Taylor Swift Mary's Song (Oh My My My) 6 5 4 15
mistake this track for any other pop-country song. The banjo, fiddle, and guitar are all tastefully done, and Taylor's vocal
Taylor Swift Our Song 9 6 7 22 delivery is really fun and youthful but controlled. She’s got this sharp, dramatic quality to her voice, like any teenage girl
Taylor Swift I'm Only Me When I'm With You 3 2 5 10 excitedly telling you a story would. There's a reason this one is etched into the 2000's country music canon.
Favorite lyric: Waited for something to come along that was as good as our song
Taylor Swift Invisible 4 4 3 11
Taylor Swift A Perfectly Good Heart 2 2 1 5 I’m Only Me When I’m With You - This is one of those tracks where the verses are really just there to prop up the
chorus, and the chorus isn’t strong enough to make it work. I like the little barn-dance fiddle in the post-chorus, though.
Tim McGraw - A really straightforward pop country ballad, tight, classic songwriting, performed and produced the way
any pop-country radio hit at the time was. It’s a good song for sure, but what stands out is the context of it being written Invisible - Easily the song that shines the brightest light on Taylor’s vocal shortcomings. The instrumentation is way too
by a teenage girl. This is as good as most of what the experienced, veteran country musicians were putting out in the 00’s sparse - she needed support from the music here and just didn’t get any.
and here’s this kid coming outta nowhere matching them. That’s an impressive start, if not exactly a groundbreaking one. Favorite lyric: She's never gonna love you like I want to
Favorite lyric: I said, "That's a lie." is probably her single best lyric from the debut.
A Perfectly Good Heart - The album ends with Taylor’s two weakest vocal tracks, and unlike the last one, this one
Picture to Burn - Haha, what a bop! This is a real singing-in-the-car type track and Taylor’s got a really fun, high-energy doesn’t have a decent hook to keep it afloat - so it just ends up feeling pretty amateurish.
vocal energy going on here, she’s got all the sass and fuck-you energy of the lyrics in her voice. The banjo and the bass
are also really fun throughout, they keep the groove alive and sparkling. These two tracks are a really promising start to a Takeaways from Taylor Swift
pop-country musician’s career for sure. It pretty much goes without saying that this is a very ‘safe’ album. Debuts usually are, and doubly so for an artist who was
Favorite lyric: Taylor’s delivery of the "Bad for your heaaalth!" line is an absolute delight. just a teenager when it was released. With that being said, there are a couple really nice ballads and a few really catchy
pop songs here that clearly hint at Taylor's songwriting ability. Anyone who can write a track like Our Song before they
Teardrops on My Guitar - Very much like Tim McGraw, we're not breaking any ground here, but this is still a ballad can vote is someone with a lot of musical potential. Her vocals are sketchy, sometimes hindered and sometimes
worthy of radio play for sure. This track is starting to push the limits of Taylor’s voice in the pre-choruses, but the bolstered by her age shining through. It works really well on Our Song and Picture to Burn, it hurts Teardrops On My Guitar
pleading, off-kilter “get some sleep tonight” is really endearing. The 'Pop Version' is just a flat downgrade across the board and Invisible. It’s best when she lets herself have fun with it and gets creative and doesn’t try to mimic what older,
- I have no idea what they were going for with that version but it doesn’t work. experienced singers in the genre would do. She also clearly has a knack for matching her voice to the emotions of the
song (which isn't always the case, especially for young artists), probably helped by the fact that (to my understanding) she
A Place in this World - The main hook here sounds so much like so many other hooks around this time. If you pulled wrote the majority of this album herself.
out Taylor’s vocals, I could’ve mistaken this for a song by like a dozen different mid-00’s artists getting modest radio play.
If this album was put out by a 25-year old, I wouldn’t exactly be optimistic for their future, to be honest, but I’m really
Cold as You - I'd like to hear a version of this with just Taylor and a piano. The fiddle is nice, but overall the production trying to approach this in the context of how young she was here, because suddenly it’s far more impressive. There are
here is making this song sound a lot more generic than it needs to. I bet you could remake this and squeeze a lot more plenty of adult musicians who can't write songs as catchy as the pop standouts here after 10 years of making music.
emotion out of this if you really stripped the instrumentation down.
Favorite lyric: A mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
The Outside - A bit like A Place in this World, except it’s a worse hook on the whole. The promise that I had at the start of Beautiful Eyes Beautiful Eyes 2 1 1 4
this record is definitely at a low point here. Did she front-load this with her handful of decent tracks?
Beautiful Eyes I Heart ? 7 2 5 14

Stay Beautiful - Another track where I feel like the production dropped the ball. This chorus has this really catchy little
center to it, if they’d just given this the instrumental support it needed and hyped up the energy levels it could’ve been a
legit pop song. Remake this one with modern, high-end production and you might end up with something decent.
Tied Together with a Smile - There’s a nice chord progression here that never quite comes to realization, and Taylor’s
vocals feel a little too frail here to hold their own. I think, once again, this could probably be reworked and shine.
Beautiful Eyes - Those backing vocals in the chorus only do the song a disservice - why not layer Taylor's voice instead?
I Heart ? - The slide guitar and the banjo are really fun - the whole song's really fun, actually - but Taylor's straining her
voice to be a little deeper than it wants to go in the verses, despite switching right back to her natural voice for the
choruses. A strange decision that throws the whole thing a little bit off balance.
Fearless (2008 / 2021) White Horse - The thread of describing a boy as looking like an angel - just like we did for Stephen, implying that this
song is possibly about the same person - is the first strong intersong link I've caught and definitely a sign of some lyrical
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall ambitions. I'm also starting to notice a trend of the bridges consistently having some of the best lyrics in Taylor's early
Fearless (TV) Fearless 8 3 8 19 discography - the girl can really write a bridge!
Favorite lyric: Just like I always wanted, but I'm so sorry
Fearless (TV) Fifteen 6 5 7 18
Fearless (TV) Love Story 8 5 8 21 You Belong With Me - Oh hey, I forgot about this track! I know this one - with the music video! Neat. Another track in
Fearless (TV) Hey Stephen 7 4 8 19 the vein of Our Song and Love Story - a cute, catchy pop-country song with really no obvious faults even if it’s not
reinventing the wheel. I think this one is a little less creative than the previous two, but it’s still super sing-along-able.
Fearless (TV) White Horse 6 5 7 18
Favorite lyric: Thinking to myself: hey, isn't this easy?
Fearless (TV) You Belong With Me 9 3 8 20
Fearless (TV) Breathe (feat. Colbie Caillat) 2 1 5 8 Breathe - I like that little, “And we know it’s never simple, never easy,” bit, but that’s really all that works for me about
this one. Colbie’s vocals don’t really add much at all here, and the main hook is pretty one-dimensional.
Fearless (TV) Tell Me Why 5 2 5 12
Fearless (TV) You're Not Sorry 2 2 4 8 Tell Me Why - What a funky little intro! This song mostly stands out for just how much better the vocals and production
Fearless (TV) The Way I Loved You 6 4 6 16 of the TV are compared to the original - Taylor’s voice has gotten dramatically better, I really like her voice here a lot - and
I’m excited to hear what she can do with it with some songs that she wrote as an adult with her vocal abilities in mind.
Fearless (TV) Forever & Always 6 3 6 15
Favorite lyric: Why do you have to put down my dreams? So you're the only thing on my mind?
Fearless (TV) Forever & Always (Piano Version) 5 3 6 14
Fearless (TV) The Best Day 6 7 6 19 You’re Not Sorry - The emotions she’s going for are ones that she’s captured much better on other songs and there’s a
lack of dynamism here that prevents the music from really lifting up the lyrical themes. That guitar solo is pretty sad.
Fearless (TV) Change 5 1 6 12
Fearless (TV) Jump Then Fall 2 2 5 9 The Way I Loved You - This is one of the more generic tracks, but like some of the songs from her debut, generic in
Fearless (TV) Untouchable 8 5 8 21 the kind of way that still puts it absolutely on-par with the best pop-country radio songs of the time. Once again, the TV
version is a substantial improvement over the original . There’s so much more range and space in the mix and Taylor’s
Fearless (TV) Come In With The Rain 7 3 6 16
voice is much more controlled.
Fearless (TV) Superstar 2 2 4 8 Favorite lyric: And I feel perfectly fine / And I'm comfortable
Fearless (TV) The Other Side Of The Door 6 4 7 17
Fearless (TV) Today Was A Fairytale 3 1 3 7
Forever & Always - I really like the pauses in the instrumentation to give the song a little stutter in a few key moments
- it's the kind of thing that can really fall flat when done poorly, but it works really well here. The piano version creates
Fearless (TV) You All Over Me (feat. Maren Morris) 3 5 4 12 such a different, sadder vibe. I think it's pretty much just as good as the standard version. I could easily see someone
Fearless (TV) Mr. Perfectly Fine 7 6 5 18 preferring it, and it’s definitely a better showcase of Taylor's improved vocals with all the instrumentation stripped away.
Favorite lyric: Were you just kidding?
Fearless (TV) We Were Happy 3 4 3 10
Fearless (TV) That's When (feat. Keith Urban) 6 3 6 15 The Best Day - This kind of sentimentality has just the right amount of sugar on it - not overly saccharine, but so very
Fearless (TV) Don't You 5 4 5 14 sweet, and with none of the too-cool-for-parents pretense you'd expect from a young, ambitious artist. It just feels
refreshingly honest and kind without being performative. Easily some of my favorite lyrics from her to this point.
Fearless (TV) Bye Bye Baby 7 3 8 18
Favorite lyric: But I know you're not scared of anything at all

Fearless - Even on the original (non-TV) version, the production has taken a step up for this album. They’re no longer so
blatantly mimicking pop-country radio, but rather catering to the lyrics and the songwriting, and it works much better.
This music feels like it was composed with the song in mind, not just remixed from any other song on the same radio
station. A really fun and simple chorus, too, that I found myself humming long after I’d turned the album off.
Favorite lyric: My hands shake, I'm not usually this way - you pull me in and I'm a little more brave
Fifteen - This is the first clear sign of a jump in writing talent and storytelling from the debut. The lyrics here are as good
as the best lyrics on the debut and we're only two songs in - hopefully a sign of things to come.
Favorite lyric: I didn't know who I was supposed to be
Love Story - Another of the few Taylor songs I was familiar with before doing this deep dive. This is a quality track - it
combines the storytelling chops from Fifteen with the super catchy songwriting of Our Song to create maybe her most
complete song to this point in her career. I really love that lyrical trope of taking some of the core lyrics from earlier on
and rephrasing them for the final part of the song to create a sense of closure. That works super well here.
Favorite lyric: Is this in my head?
Change - The lyrics and songwriting here are identical to so much of what was on the radio at the time, but two things
are notable about this track: It’s much more of a soft rock song than a lot of what she’s done so far, hinting at a
willingness to explore genres and not necessarily stay locked into pop-country, and yet another really obvious example
of why I think Taylor’s Version is just outright superior. The original track feels so flat and empty in comparison to the TV.
Jump Then Fall - I like Taylor’s vocal performance here quite a lot, she brings a lot of fun and life to a song that just
doesn’t really have anything much going for it musically and lyrically.
Untouchable - Wow, if any one song on the album demonstrates the difference in Taylor's vocals over the course of
the last decade, it's this one. I could see how someone with a lot of nostalgia for these albums that they grew up with
could still prefer the original versions to some of the Taylor’s Versions, but Taylor’s vocal control and the timbre of her
voice as an adult makes this particular song feel serious and ‘true’ in a way that she just couldn’t pull off when she was
younger. I also just really dig how silky and warm the production is and how it builds up into something big and bright.
Definitely one of the highlights off this record.
Favorite lyric: I know you by heart, and you don't even know where I start

Hey Stephen - I'm a sucker for this Buffet-y humming-on-the-beach energy, the acoustic guitar way at the front of the Come In With The Rain - This is one of the strongest and most complex choruses on the album and Taylor’s vocals
mix and a really simple bassline. The chorus is almost like a Tessa Violet song from just a few years ago, just a timeless, are once again doing some lifting here on the Taylor’s Version. I’m pretty iffy on the lyrical gimmick of it all, but I still find
catchy, feel-good vibe. I also love that laugh at the end of the bridge, a perfect match to the breezy vibe. this one worth revisiting just to sing along with the chorus.
Superstar - This is one of those tracks where I can see the pieces of what it could’ve been, these little two-second bits of
like, “Oh, there’s something!” and they just don’t come together to form a song that really works as a whole.

The Other Side of the Door - The outro of this song is so completely unlike anything else on the album in the best
possible way and is far and isn’t just my favorite part of this song, but possibly my favorite moment on the whole record.
That total change in vocal delivery is so colorful and exciting. I was fairly iffy on this song and then that happened and I
was like, “Wait, hold on!” and had to go back and re-listen to it again just to take it in. So surprising and so fun.
Favorite lyric: And I broke down crying, was she worth this mess?

Today Was A Fairytale - I can’t do the repetition. I just can’t. This song has some redeeming qualities, but that refrain
of the title just hits me over the head over and over again.

You All Over Me - Definitely one of the stronger songs on the record lyrically, but it’s about as flat as a song can get,
musically - it just strikes one note and rides it straight through to the end.
Favorite lyric: With your hands in your pockets and your ‘Don’t you wish you had me?’ grin

Mr. Perfectly Fine - The "Mr." gimmick seemed like a bit like a cheap novelty at first, the kind of thing young
songwriters do and then cringe at later, but I think the rest of the lyrics here actually buttress it sufficiently that it mostly
works. It’s grown on me with a few listens. I've also really enjoyed these occasional moments of sarcasm and resentment
from Taylor so far - once or twice on both albums she’s gotten really snarky and usually with a really upbeat vocal
delivery to match it, and she totally sells it. Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
Favorite lyric: But it's wonderful to see that you're okay / So far above feeling anything
Single Best Days of Your Life (Kellie Pickler, feat.) 3 4 2 9
We Were Happy - Like Stay Beautiful, I feel like this song could've been done in a much sadder, slower way, or even as a Soundtrack Crazier 7 3 6 16
much more intense country-rock ballad, and both would've worked better than this does the way it is here.
Favorite lyric: I hate those voices telling me I'm not in love anymore, but they don't give me choices Single Two Is Better Than One (Boys Like Girls, feat.) 2 1 2 5

That’s When - This song features one of my favorite vocal performances on the album. In particular, the layered vocals Best Days of Your Life - This is a decent pop-country track, but man, Kellie's vocals just do not work for me even a little.
over the end of the last chorus and into the outro are a really nice touch. It’s got a very solid chorus, too. I’m pretty Favorite lyric: I've got my pride, and she's got you
indifferent toward Keith Urban, but I don’t think he does anything to detract from this song at least.
Favorite lyric: And I knew my words were hard to hear and harder to ever take back Crazier - This is better than a lot of songs on her first two albums, honestly. I’d like to see this added as a bonus track to
a Taylor’s Version of Speak Now.
Don’t You - I'm really conflicted on the production here. I really love a lot about it (the overlaid vocals in particular are Favorite lyric: I was trying to fly, but I couldn't find wings
great), but I feel like it's just unnecessarily understated. This song could've swelled powerfully and it would've only been
improved for it. It hints at doing so in a couple points but the strings just vanish as quickly as they came. Two Is Better Than One - Wow! This is bad! This is very bad!
Favorite lyric: I heard she's nothing like me - I'm sure she'll make you happy / Sometimes I really wish that I could hate you

Bye Bye Baby - If any of these outtake tracks from Fearless TV should've been on the original album, it'd be between
this one and Mr. Perfectly Fine. That little piano riff is beautiful and I wish they'd used it more than just in a couple little
moments at the start and end. Still, catchy hook, quality vocals, spacious production - a lot to like here.
Favorite lyric: Then the here-and-now floods in - feels like I'm becoming a part of your past

Takeaways from Fearless

This album feels like a very natural sequel to her debut - it does everything the debut does, just better. The pop songs
are catchier and the lyrics have definitely taken a step up. I mean, there was nothing super notable lyrically, but it shed
some of the more vapid and empty stuff from the debut, and the verses here are stronger on average (the debut’s verses
often felt like filler to hold the chorus - less so here). And the production and instrumentation have been turned up
significantly even on the original recording, and then doubly so on the Taylor’s Version.

But since I’m judging this primarily on the TV, the production and sound quality is just miles better and Taylor's vocals
feel so much more controlled and rich and emotive. It would honestly be hard to overstate how much I think her talents
as a vocalist have grown between these two recordings - it’s a dramatic difference. Taylor's Version also just adds a subtle
but potent layer of polish on top of everything, and it adds a handful of quite good songs: Mr. Perfectly Fine and Bye Bye
Baby are definitely in the top half of songs on the record and neither were on the original.

Besides that, there's not a ton to talk about here from a more abstract creative perspective - the themes and musical
ideas are pretty much identical between these first two albums - it’s just the quality of their conception and execution
that’s been much improved.
Speak Now (2010) Dear John - Okay, hold up! Hold the fuck up! I just got done saying that I thought Speak Now was a candidate for the
best song of her catalog so far, then she came through with far and away her best song to this point, and it’s not even
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall close. These are her best lyrics, best vocals, and the most compelling composition to this point in her career. The
emotion in her delivery, the super tasteful guitar, the slow buildup - it all works beautifully. For an artist whose best lyrics
Speak Now Mine 7 4 6 17
have been coming during her bridges, this bridge is easily her best.
Speak Now Mine (POP Mix) 5 4 4 13
Speak Now Sparks Fly 7 2 7 16 This track (and thanks to this track and the previous one, this whole album) is just on a whole different level from
anything on either of the previous two albums. That’s awesome. I’m officially confident and excited to listen to the rest of
Speak Now Back to December 6 4 6 16
her discography now. This track is me buying a ticket for the Taylor Train. I’m on. Let’s see where this thing is going.
Speak Now Back to December (Acoustic) 5 4 5 14 Favorite lyrics: The entire bridge is scathing and stellar.
Speak Now Speak Now 8 6 7 21
Mean - Haha, what!? Holy shit, what a trio of tracks! These last three songs are each as good or better than every single
Speak Now Dear John 8 7 9 24
song on the first two albums. She follows up her best lyrics and most emotional ballad with the catchiest pop tune of her
Speak Now Mean 9 6 8 23 career to date. This song absolutely slaps. I love the delivery of the “and a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life, and mean”
Speak Now The Story of Us 6 5 7 18 bit. And frankly, given what Taylor became - y’know, the biggest artist of her generation basically - this has got to be one
of the great diss tracks of all time. What an absolute ‘fuck you’ to whoever that mean guy was.
Speak Now Never Grow Up 5 7 6 18
Favorite lyric: Washed up and ranting about the same old, bitter things - drunk and grumblin' on about how I can't sing
Speak Now Enchanted 8 4 9 21
Speak Now Better Than Revenge 4 3 4 11 The Story of Us - Goddamn, she's rea;;y on a roll here. Another really solid pop song, well-performed, well-produced,
well-written. The last few tracks alone cement this as her best album regardless of what happens from here. She just has
Speak Now Innocent 5 4 4 14
not missed yet, the rest of the album could be a dumpster fire and it wouldn’t really matter.
Speak Now Haunted 5 2 6 13 Favorite lyric: But I liked it better when you were on my side
Speak Now Haunted (Acoustic) 5 2 5 12
Never Grow Up - Based on the number of streams this has on Spotify, this feels like a very underrated track to me - a
Speak Now Last Kiss 6 5 7 18
heartfelt sequel to The Best Day and once again a song with a sweetness and sincerity that you don’t really expect from
Speak Now Long Live 7 6 8 21 young artists trying to be cool. This is antithetical to coolness l in a way that’s actually way cooler and more mature for it.
Speak Now Ours 7 3 7 17 Favorite lyrics: Remember that she's getting older too / So I tuck myself in and turn my nightlight on

Speak Now If This Was A Movie 4 3 7 14

Enchanted - This feels almost like a much more thoughtful remake of Superstar. Another really solid pop track on an
Speak Now Superman 7 2 5 14 album that’s packed full of them. Her voice sounds a little strange here - I suspect they ran her vocals through some kind
of filter for this one, which I don’t think was necessary. But the effect sounds fine, and frankly, it’s easily forgotten in just
Mine - This song hints at some interesting lyrics and storytelling but doesn’t quite get there, which is a shame. But how good the songwriting and production both are here. This was really thoughtfully put together: everything works in
harmony to create waves of emotions that crest and fall and rise again. Really polished and professional stuff.
Taylor's really solidifying her 'repeat the same line of dialogue but from a new perspective this time' trope and I’m here
Favorite lyric: This is me praying that this was the very first page
for that. Just like Teardrops On My Guitar, the “POP” version’s production is a little clumsy - the vocal layering in particular
just doesn't work for me. This is the second so-called "POP" version of a track that just doesn't make sense to me.
Favorite lyric: I was a flight risk with a fear of falling Better Than Revenge - Oof. Neither the 00's-punk-pop aesthetic nor that "mattress" line have aged very well. The
silver lining is that this song made me realize how undated so much of these last two albums have sounded so far.
Sparks Fly - Well there’s no doubt that Taylor can still front-load an album with some really catchy, radio-friendly hits. Favorite lyric: I think her ever-present frown is a little troubling, she thinks I'm psycho ‘cause I like to rhyme her name with
things
This is the third straight album in which the first few songs are all super accessible and memorable on the very first
listen. This is one of her best vocal performances to this point as well, her vocals have definitely improved between the
Innocent - I didn’t originally have anything much to say about this one, but I had to come back and revisit this one way,
last two albums.
way later in the process when I discovered that this song was written as a direct response to the Kanye VMA’s incident. I
Favorite lyric: You’re the kind of reckless that should send me runnin’ - but I kinda know that I won’t get far
had zero clue when I first made the Discography Deep Dive what or who this song was about, but then part-way through
my Videography Deep Dive I was like, “Wait, what?!”. I’m still not crazy about it, but I can appreciate it quite a bit more. I
Back to December - Taylor's vocal control and ability to communicate emotions with her voice are improving and this
think it strikes a pretty good balance of being empathetic without being condescending.
song is a good showcase of both, like that delivery of goodbye. I’m not crazy about this as a song, but it’s maybe the first
ballad in her catalog where I think her performance elevates the composition. As for the acoustic version, I think it’s
Haunted - I can see a lot of potential in this track, but something about it just doesn’t work for me - I think it’s those
every bit the equal of the original. The strings feel a little tacked-on, but they work fine enough to do their job.
sweeping, melodramatic strings. They’re a bit much. The really heavy piano notes and the really dramatic vocals don’t
Favorite lyric: Maybe this is wishful thinking, probably mindless dreaming
bother me in the way the strings do. Just a slight tweak of arrangement and I might be able to really vibe with this.
Favorite lyric: Did some things you can't speak of - but at night, you live it all again
Speak Now - Wow, I loved that! This is a serious candidate for both the best lyrics she’s had up to this point and the
catchiest hook she’s had up to this point. She even includes both the last-chorus rephrase thing and the big standout
Last Kiss - The last three tracks felt like a bit of a downward turn for the album. They’re not bad songs by any means,
bridge, my two favorite tropes of her songwriting so far. Plus, some of her vocal flourishes, like the delivery on don’t you?
but definitely living in the shadow of how great the first half of the album is. This one, though, feels like a return to form. I
and the little giggle are fantastic. Definitely one of my top 3 Taylor songs to this point.
loved the production and the vocals here. The instrumentation is really tasteful - rising up just enough to help carry the
Favorite lyrics: Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry
emotions without ever stealing the spotlight from the lyrics, and this track is a clear showcase of Taylor’s improving
ability to convey emotion with her voice. I felt something with this one.
Favorite lyric: I don't know how to be something you miss
Long Live - Oh hell yeah, Taylor’s busting out a stadium rock anthem on the back-end of the record. I have to imagine
when she plays this live, the crowds do, in fact, go wild at that “crowds went wild” line. It was very unexpected to get
another song like this after it seemed like the latter half of the album was turning a little more somber - very happy to be
surprised. Classic songwriting, very solid production, and very different from her other pop tracks. A real demonstration
of the range of songs she can write and perform at a high level. A few of the lyrics are pretty cheesy and some others are
really great - exactly what you’d expect and want out of an anthemic track like this, honestly. And of course, once again,
the bridge blows the rest out of the water lyrically.
Favorite lyric: Please tell 'em my name

Ours - Everything about this is so predictable and safe in comparison to... well, just how well this song works. God, that
little chorus and Taylor's singing-through-a-smile delivery is so cute and catchy. This is the musical equivalent of a piece
of candy. Part of me wants to cynically rank it lower than I have just because it’s so saccharine, but fuck that, I dig it.
Favorite lyric: Don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine

If This Was A Movie - This suffers a bit from the Today Was A Fairytale syndrome for me, just a little bit too repetitious
for my taste with the main lyrical hook. Thankfully it’s not nearly as bad of an offender in that regard, but without much
else interesting going on, that ends up being my main takeaway.

Superman - This is actually one of the better hooks on the record, but it’s kind of a weird album closer? It doesn’t really
feel like it tied anything up or connected the album together, and definitely doesn’t end up as one of the overall
highlights, given the very iffy lyrical premise. It’s a fun little jam, but I guess I was hoping for a big blow-out ending.

Takeaways from Speak Now

Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
Undoubtedly this album does the same thing that Fearless did in the sense that it just improves pretty much every
aspect of Taylor’s craft - the lyrics, songwriting, production, etc. - across the board, everything’s better. But this album is Soundtrack Eyes Open 5 3 7 15
also characterized by a shifting artistic vision. It's much less blatantly derivative. Though it still wears its inspirations on its
Soundtrack Safe & Sound (feat. The Civil Wars) 7 3 9 19
sleeve, they’re much more diverse inspirations than those on the previous albums, and so it comes out feeling like a
more unique piece of art overall. And on a related note, we’re straying much closer to "pop" and even “rock” than Single Both of Us (B.o.B., feat.) 2 2 3 7
"country" on this record as a whole even if there's still a ton of country roots there.
Safe & Sound - This is probably her most experimental vocal delivery up to this point and a song totally unlike anything
All of that alone would be enough reason to say that Taylor’s career trajectory is looking pretty promising at this point, on her first three albums - super refreshing and intriguing and definitely better than any of her non-album songs to this
but it turns out that’s a serious understatement, because it was only after I listened to this album that I looked up the point. I never really listened to the Civil Wars, so I don’t know how “Civil Wars-y” this song is, but I’m digging the vibe at
credits and saw that Taylor is the only writer for 19 of the 20 tracks, and the one track she isn’t the sole writer on is any rate. Much more of a folk energy than I was expecting from her.
one of my least favorite on the album. Like… what? For real? This girl couldn’t even legally drink yet when she
single-handedly wrote songs like Speak Now, Dear John, and and Mean? She dropped her co-writer at just 20-years old and
her music was made better for it and she made easily the best songs of her career. That’s bananas, man. That’s fuckin’
B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

This album wasn’t flawless by any means - it has about as many skips as the longer Fearless does for me - but its high
points are much higher, and Dear John and Mean tower over any other songs she’s written to this point as incredible
indications of what she’s capable of when everything comes together. And apparently she doesn’t need much in the way
of anyone else to help her do it, either! I’m very excited to hear what a Taylor’s Version of this album would sound like, as
I think some of the songs I’m on the fence about could be improved by just some better instrumentation and production.

And that’s kind of my main takeaway from this record - I’m excited. This record has me excited. What she showcased on
some of the tracks here has me super optimistic and curious to see where her career is going to go from here. After the
debut and Fearless, I was just kind of cruising along through her catalog as an act of curiosity, you know? But now I’m
genuinely hyped to put this next record on, ‘cause I think she’s only going up from here.
Red (2012 / 2021) Treacherous - I love the slow-building up-and-down production here, it creates a sort of roller coaster effect that
matches what the lyrics themselves are describing. The quiet parts are really pretty and the loud parts are really
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall powerful, and I particularly like the percussion. Also easily one of her best choruses, this one really stuck with me.
Favorite lyric: But you're quicksand
Red (TV) State of Grace 8 5 8 21
Red (TV) State of Grace (Acoustic Version) 7 3 6 16 I Knew You Were Trouble - Okay, back to pure pop! That fried bass line in the chorus is very 2012 “dubstep is cool!’
Red (TV) Red 8 2 9 19 and a rare example of something that feels pretty dated in her music. I don’t love that, but the hook itself - the moans
and the refrain of “trouble” - is a good one, though a little simpler than her best pop songs so far. Mixed feelings here.
Red (TV) Treacherous 9 4 9 22
Favorite lyric: And the saddest fear comes creeping in - that you never loved me, or her, or anyone, or anything
Red (TV) I Knew You Were Trouble 8 3 6 17
Red (TV) All Too Well 9 9 9 27 All Too Well - Oh holy mother of God she’s done it again. She did another Dear John - the fifth track again, even - and it’s
even better than the fucking first one. The lyrics are better, the composition is better, her voice is better, it hits harder.
Red (TV) All Too Well (10 Minute Version) 10 10 8 28
Wow, wow, wow. This just completely floored me. Everything I said about Dear John is true of this song except turned up
Single All Too Well (Sad Girl Autumn Version) 10 10 9 29 a notch across the board. My favorite Taylor song to this point, no question about it, not even close. Beautiful writing, a
Red (TV) 22 8 2 8 18 beautiful build-up. I’m a big post-rock fan (i.e. a big fan of really long, slow-building songs) so the fact that I see there’s a
10-minute version of this track (and a “Sad Girl Autumn Version” - very curious!) has got me on the edge of my seat.
Red (TV) I Almost Do 6 5 6 17
Favorite lyric: We're dancing 'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light is probably the best lyric of her first five albums.
Red (TV) We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together 8 4 8 20
Red (TV) Stay Stay Stay 6 3 6 15 All Too Well (10 Minute Version) - Oh my god. This version sacrifices just a little "punch" in exchange for a more
complete and complex story, lyrically and musically, and some incredible, brilliant, funny, damning lyrics have been
Red (TV) The Last Time (feat. Gary Lightbody) 5 5 7 17
added to what's already her most lyrically dense song. Exactly like I wanted, the build is slower, and I love how gently it
Red (TV) Holy Ground 8 5 8 21 fades away. Just stunning. Putting aside comparisons to her own discography, this is a contender for the best build and
Red (TV) Sad Beautiful Tragic 5 6 7 18 the best lyrics in any pop song I’ve ever heard from anyone at all. Absolutely remarkable.
Favorite lyric: You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath. (This may be my single favorite Taylor lyric to this point.)
Red (TV) The Lucky One 8 7 8 23
Red (TV) Everything Has Changed (feat. Ed Sheeran) 7 3 7 17 All Too Well (Sad Girl Autumn Version) - Holy shit.
Red (TV) Starlight 6 3 6 15
This is the one for me. This is too much. I need to go lie down.
Red (TV) Begin Again 7 5 7 19
Red (TV) The Moment I Knew 5 6 7 18 22 - I’ve got whiplash! Okay! Phew. What a sudden shift in gears from that Sad Girl Autumn Version. I had to screw my
Red (TV) Come Back...Be Here 5 4 5 14 head back on. Taylor’s like, “Yeah I can write a gorgeous, heartfelt, slow-burning, 10-minute ballad about a complex
relationship whose embers are still burning both of us - but oh, here’s a house party anthem, too.” What a flex. This track
Red (TV) Girl At Home 6 3 6 15
does what it says on the tin - this is a song for the drunk, carefree, dancing 22-year old in all of us. It’s really simple, but if
Red (TV) Ronan - - - - you think anyone can write a song like this, you're very wrong. Incredibly shout-along-able.
Red (TV) Better Man 8 5 7 20 Favorite lyric: You don't know about me - but I'll bet you want to

Red (TV) Nothing New (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) 7 9 9 25

I Almost Do - Oh the whiplash just keeps coming! Taylor's really revealing her conflicted, up-and-down feelings with the
Red (TV) Babe 7 3 8 18 song order on this album. This is what being like 17-22 felt like for a lot of us. Partying and then crying and then partying
Red (TV) Message In A Bottle 8 2 8 18 and then crying, but I’ve never seen an album structured in a way that takes you on that journey before. The vocal
delivery on the TV bridge is also really great - Taylor’s little voice break on “touchin’ my face” really tugs the heartstrings.
Red (TV) I Bet You Think About Me 7 8 8 23
Favorite lyric: In my dreams, you're touchin’ my face and asking me if I wanna try again with you - and I almost do
Red (TV) Forever Winter 8 6 9 23
Red (TV) Run (feat. Ed Sheeran) 4 3 6 13 We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Oh she’s really just going to keep doing this - haha! Amazing. We’re
back to another pop party song. This is such a fun and ridiculous song order. This is possibly her single catchiest song to
Red (TV) The Very First Night 7 3 7 17
date. Mom, dad, grandma, your little brother, your neighbor, your cat, your fish - everybody in the house is dancing and
shouting the lyrics here. That little slice-of-life, spoken-word clip in the bridge: "I'm like, I'm just, I mean, this is exhausting,
State of Grace - Okay, so we’re clearly in for quite a different album this time. This opening track sets a tone and you know?" is really cute. I also love that “indie record that’s much cooler than mine” line - Taylor’s clearly aware that she’s
aesthetic that’s much more soft rock/pop and much grander in scale, following those trends that have been building up put some great songs down on this record and she’s not about to respect anyone who diminishes their value because
for the last two albums. I like the vocal layering and the composition, almost akin to a U2 song. The acoustic version is a they’re not ‘underground’ or whatever. I am fully in favor of talking shit on elitist music mindsets.
very pretty rendition, but I do think it falls a little short of the rich swell of sounds and layers that we get with the original.
Favorite lyric: These are the hands of fate - you're my Achilles heel - this is the golden age of something good and right and real Stay Stay Stay - This is really cute and catchy but in a "Are you sure this instrumental isn't YouTube stock music? I think
I heard this playing on a mobile game ad..." way. The ukulele definitely dates it to a certain era of pop music in a way that
Red - This is a bop, there's no denying that at all, and definitely brings in a little bit more of a country feeling than the her music isn’t usually dated. This feels like this album’s Ours, it just doesn’t land quite as well.
opener had - but the lyrics aren’t really working for me here. Some of those lines, like the “trying to solve a crossword” bit? Favorite lyric: I'd like to hang out with you for my whole life
Yeah, sorry, I’m just not feeling it. Love that weird, modulated synth sound, though. Bweh beh-beh-beh, bweh
beh-beh-beh…
The Last Time - I am pretty much categorically not a fan of duets, and I’m also not a big fan of Gary's voice, but I think
this song works really well all things considered! I suspect there was a better person to pick for this than Lightbody but I
think the emotional build and the lyrics work and I can definitely feel the tension and longing. This one grew on me after
a few listens - if you put this song on for a drunk girl who was going through a difficult time with their relationship, she’d
be bawling by the end. That’s a job well done.
Favorite lyric: I imagine you are home, in your room, all alone - and you open your eyes into mine, and everything feels better
Holy Ground - I think we're on like seven straight tracks now of jumping back and forth between upbeat and downbeat.
The relationship at the center of this album was a beautiful disaster and we're having so much fun and we're so sad. It's
kind of brilliant. I particularly like the pacing of the delivery here. Lines like, “Well I guess we fell apart in the usual way,”
are galloping right along with the percussion. I challenge anyone not to tap their foot or bob their head listening to this
track. It may not be possible.
Favorite lyric: And for the first time I had something to lose
Sad Beautiful Tragic - “Sad, beautiful, tragic” isn’t too far from ‘beautiful disaster’ so I’m going to say I called it right. I
love the mandolin and the very minimal instrumentation. Taylor’s Version of this really just lets Taylor's voice shine, and
she crushes it. I know I’ve said it several times already but I’m going to say it again: Taylor’s voice is so much better now
than it was ten years ago. There’s almost a rasp to it, breathy and with a very controlled, deliberate strain in moments
that call for it. The snarling vocal delivery of “could you just try to listen?” is phenomenal.
Favorite lyric: And you’ve got your demons and, darlin’, they all look like me
The Lucky One - Oh wow, I loved this one. Some of her best lyrics to-date attached to one of her most complete songs,
with a catchy hook and very distinct and memorable verses. Taylor’s confronting some things that are seriously weighing
on her shoulders besides just her romantic life and does so in a way that has an evolving narrative to it as well, which just
feels really thoughtful and satisfying. These are the kind of lyrics that she was never going to pull off a couple albums
ago. And then we jump right back into a great chorus. Hard to find faults here. If All Too Well is Red’s Dear John, then this is
Red’s Speak Now. Does that make sense to anyone besides me?
Favorite lyric: And all the young things line up to take your place
Everything Has Changed - Once again Taylor does a duet - which I don’t really care for - with an artist that I also don’t
really care for… and once again she pulls it off. A really nice vibe here - very warm and optimistic. Those really deep,
almost brassy strings in the back - a cello, I think? - that show up at the apex of the chorus and the super ethereal
backing vocals are really nice touches, and I like that they give Taylor a moment to just showcase her voice on the bridge.
Favorite lyric: And your eyes look like coming home
Starlight - A fairly straightforward pop song, not one of the highlights of the album or anything, but it’s catchy and does
its job. The guitar solo has a surprisingly nice tone and doesn't overstay its welcome or steal the stage.
Begin Again - The trend of Taylor's bridges being her best lyrics of the song is so consistent - she really does save her
punchlines for 3/4 the way through on nearly every song. I kind of love that it’s starting to feel like a trademark of sorts.
It’s almost like she writes bridges and then just builds a song around them. At any rate, this is a really sweet and simple
track, and those twangy country guitars - the picked acoustic and that awesome steel guitar - ground this in a vibe that
feels like something from Fearless.
Favorite lyric: And for the first time, what's past is past
The Moment I Knew - To my mind this is clearly referring to the same event that she describes in All Too Well (the "It's
supposed to be fun, turning 21" scene). This moment was clearly a real earth-shattering moment for her. While this song is
no All Too Well, it’s got a really nice swell to it, and I like the strings a lot. Taylor’s got a particular gift for specificity with her
lyrics - she describes things in precise detail. A lot of lyricists go really symbolic and abstract, but Taylor’s basically
describing the layout of her house and a precise chronology of events. I think it really makes her music feel relatable
even when the events themselves aren’t anything you’ve experienced before.
Favorite lyric: And I said, "I'm sorry, too."
Come Back…Be Here - Another relatively simple track on the back half of the album that works without astounding.
On her first album a song like this would’ve been a highlight, but she’s gotten good enough that this one feels
comparatively forgettable now. I’m trying to appreciate that this is still the kind of song that I wouldn’t skip or exclude
from a playlist of her music and not just be searching for her next super stand-out track, and I think that’s a really good
sign about Taylor’s development as an artist over these last four albums. I’m beginning to expect really good music now.
Favorite lyric: Taxi cabs and busy streets that never bring you back to me
Girl At Home - So, sure, this is one of the lyrical low-points of the album, no question. But that "I just wanna make
sure..." line is laugh-out-loud gold, What a great line. And while this is continuing the trend of much more straightforward
and less ambitious music on the back half of Red, this is still a really catchy candy-pop track.
Favorite lyric: I just want to make sure you understand perfectly you're the kind of man who makes me sad
Ronan - This is a beautiful song, one of the best on the album and one that I scored really highly on the first listen, but
then when I went back to research the album’s producers and writers, I learned the history of this track and why it was
composed. So I'm not compelled to "score" this in the same way that a lot of publications refused to score A Crow Looked
At Me. That just seems to be in bad taste to me - some art is above being judged. But this is just beautiful songwriting and
an absolute tear-jerker. The quivering breath toward the end hits me right in the gut. A wonderful gesture from Taylor.
Favorite lyric: It’s about to be Halloween, you could be anything you wanted - if you were still here
Better Man - This is a well-written song, lyrically and compositionally, but what really stands out to be is the production
and the mixing. You can hear all the instruments really clearly, the backing vocals sit right in the middle of the mix, and
Taylor’s voice is super clear over all of it. This just has such a nice, polished sound playing through good headphones.
Favorite lyric: I gave you my best, and we both know you can't say that
Nothing New - Okay, so full disclosure, I adore Phoebe Bridgers, so I was really looking forward to this track - and it did
not disappoint in the slightest. This is one of the lyrical triumphs of Taylor’s early career - there's so much to like about
the writing here, and I could go on forever about how Phoebe is so perfect for this song and gives such a beautiful
performance here. Behind a really memorable melody to hum along to is a really tragic reflection, just like half the tracks
from Punisher. And Taylor’s mature voice pairs so well with Phoebe’s - when they go back and forth in the bridge, it’s just
perfect vocal chemistry. I’m just in love with this song.
Favorite lyric: Shoot you down and then they sigh and say, "She looks like she's been through it."
Babe - This almost has some late-90's R&B girl group energy to it, super silky smooth. The little promises (promises) vocal
layering in the chorus is great and I really like those bright little horns in the back of the mix. I really felt like the album
had slipped in quality a bit into the back half, but turns out I was wrong and there’s just a dip in the middle. The last four
songs have all been really good.
Message In A Bottle - Woah! Unexpected! This song feels like it was designed for a house remix - you can almost hear
it. Throw some whopping, bouncing bass synths on there and chop up the “you could be the one that I love” in the chorus
and you've got a club banger. Put it right after Cher’s Believe and no one would bat an eye. So friggin' catchy. This is as
danceable as anything she’s ever done - and sure, lyrically this might be closer to a Daft Punk song than her best songs,
but that’s fine - that’s what it’s aiming for, clearly, and it hits the mark.
I Bet You Think About Me - The twang is back in a great way. Taylor's vocal delivery here is among my very favorite
on any song she’s done so far. The little incredulous “ha!” at the start, the almost mocking way she delivers the titular
lyrics (you can picture her pointing and curling her lip like, ‘Yeah you do, don’t pretend!’), and then how sassy and snarky
she gets toward the end with lines like “organic shoes”. Genuinely really funny, which is hard to do in a way that still
comes off as sincere and not silly. I really love it.
Favorite lyric: The book that just saved 'em that I hadn't heard of / It turned out I'm harder to forget than I was to leave
Forever Winter - Okay, yeah, Taylor saved the back half of the album here - these “From The Vault” tracks are great
and completely change the shape and quality of this album. This is some of the best and most original songwriting on the
album, a great chorus with really strong verses, combined with lyrics easily good enough to back it up - but it’s the
production that’s the cherry on top. The guitar and drums are perfect for the verses, but then those horns and backing
vocals come in and just elevate the track to a whole never level in the choruses - and we even get it all stripped away for
a vocals-only bridge, and then a huge swelling final chorus. Super thoughtful and effective production.
Favorite lyric: If I was standing there in your apartment, I'd take that bomb in your head and disarm it
Run - This is a little too simple compositionally, I think, and even though Taylor’s vocals are really nice here, both her
voice and Ed’s are a little too scrubbed and smashed with the backing vocals and the layering in the choruses. It takes
away all the identity from both their voices and just turns it into a kind of flat wall of sound.

The Very First Night - Another of the really sweet and simple pop songs, and it works. That main hook is really fun
and interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever heard any hook on any song that sounds quite like this one does - I wish I knew
more about music to explain what’s going on there. At any rate, a decent-but-not-great landing for the record.

Takeaways from Red

This is definitely a big step for Taylor, both in general quality and toward becoming a pure pop artist. Based on the ‘Vault’
tracks were cut from the original record, it seems like there might've been an original plan to make it even more
pop-focused than it ended up. A song like Message In A Bottle is miles away from anything she would’ve done on her
debut, that’s for sure. Her pop songwriting has definitely reached a whole new level, undoubtedly helped by the insane
genius of Max Martin. The Lucky One and Forever Winter are easily two of her best songs to date, and I like them more
than any pop tracks from the previous albums.

But the real standout here isn’t the pop tracks. All Too Well, like Dear John was for Fearless, is the beating heart of the
album, and what a fucking heart. It turns out Dear John was just giving us a taste of what Taylor was capable of doing with
a lengthy, confessional ballad. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but holy fuck, what a song. The production is
gorgeous on the original, but the version with just Taylor at a piano is just impeccable. It’s not just the best Taylor song
I've heard so far, but one of the best songs, period - from anyone in any genre - I've heard in a long time. I’m infatuated
with that track, and for such a long record, Taylor decided to double-down and give it a second heart on the back end Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
with Nothing New, which is just so well-executed on every level. Soundtrack Sweeter than Fiction 3 2 1 6

I thought Fearless was a clear step up from the debut, and Speak Now was maybe less consistent but certainly
showcased more promise than Fearless. But those three albums are all grouped together in a class below this one. My
benchmark for what makes a track a ‘skip’ is somewhere around a 13-14 overall score, and so the only definite skip for
me from this record is Run, and even that’s just barely a miss. Every single other track here is adding value to the album
and is worth listening to. So it’s more consistent than Fearless and it also has both more and better high points than
Speak Now. I can understand someone thinking that either of those two albums is better than the other, but I would
have to disagree with anyone who would put Red below any of her first three records. This is very clearly her strongest
album yet, and in my opinion every one of her first four records has now topped the previous one.
Sweeter than Fiction - This song had potential, but it just didn’t get the polish that it needed. If this was workshopped
for another few days and a little more care was put into the production and the songwriting, it could’ve been a really
decent track. Instead, that jump from the verse to the chorus is such a sloppy, startling cut. Who thought that was a good
idea? I’m not even sure how you would play this live - you’d have to tweak it. It’s too abrupt. And the whole sound is
pretty compressed, too - just kind of stuffed into a very narrow window.

I think Taylor’s approach of solo writing a full record to learn that skill set was great and I think Speak Now is a good
record, but what I think was an even smarter decision was not getting hooked on the idea of being someone who writes
100% of your own stuff and recognizing that you’ll box yourself in that way. Instead, she stepped out of her comfort zone
and worked with some next-level songwriters like Max Martin and Shellback, and it immediately paid off dividends.

I’m left feeling kind of concerned about where things go from here, because I have trouble believing that she can keep up
that trend, even though all signs point to her doing it. One thing’s for sure, I’m having a goddamn great time.
1989 (2014) Shake It Off - This album’s got two Taylor tracks I’d previously heard, it seems! This one very much seems like a sister
track to Blank Space: both tracks are a direct response to the media scrutiny and speculation around her life. Blank Space
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall is sarcastic, but Shake It Off is a much brighter and more sincere take. Both are great in different ways. Blank Space is
more clever, but Shake It Off is a step above as a pure pop song. Very few pop songs of the 2010s are as comprehensively
1989 Welcome To New York 4 2 6 12
crafted as this one. It has no low points, the verses are as essential and as catchy as the chorus, the breakdown is super
1989 Blank Space 8 6 8 22 memorable, and vocals are some of Taylor’s most adventurous both on the bridge and the big belt that opens up the
1989 Style 9 4 9 22 final chorus. As I’ve been obsessively listening to Taylor’s music for the last few weeks, this is the only song that got my
wife to run into the room and start dancing with me. That counts for something. This song has power.
1989 Out Of The Woods 8 5 8 21
Favorite lyric: I'm dancing on my own, I make the moves up as I go
1989 All You Had To Do Was Stay 5 3 6 14
1989 Shake It Off 8 6 8 22 I Wish You Would - This one feels similar to All You Had To Do Was Stay - except it’s a little more creative, and the
production works a little less well. But overall it’s just a really solid, B-tier pop track that’s a fun listen but has the
1989 I Wish You Would 6 5 5 16
unfortunate placement of coming right next to an all-timer pop track.
1989 Bad Blood 5 2 7 14 Favorite lyric: 'Cause you still don't know what I never said
Single Bad Blood (feat. Kendrick Lamar) 5 2 5 12
Bad Blood - I’m, uh… I’m really surprised that this was a single and got a special MV remix. This is by no means a bad
1989 (TV) Wildest Dreams 9 5 9 23
pop song - I think it’s pretty comparable to a couple other tracks on the album so far - but I think the chorus is much
1989 How You Get The Girl 7 4 6 17 weaker than the choruses of Blank Space, Style, and Shake It Off. That’s a little bit of a scary sign that we might not be
1989 (TV) This Love 6 4 7 17 getting another track on this album that’s as good as those three. As for the MV remix - look, I'm a massive Kendrick fan,
he’s one of my very favorite artists, but aside from that cute little Backseat Freestyle reference, his verses here are
1989 I Know Places 6 5 6 17
possibly the single most forgettable things he's ever done in his career.
1989 Clean 8 6 10 24 Favorite lyric: You say sorry just for show, if you live like that you live with ghosts
1989 Wonderland 4 2 5 11
Wildest Dreams - Taylor Swift, Queen of Bridges. What a truly exceptional bridge. Also, uh, turns out my fears were
1989 You Are In Love 6 5 5 16
immediately assuaged - this song is absolutely on the level of those other three. Great hook, really pretty production, and
1989 New Romantics 8 5 7 20 yeah, again: possibly the best bridge in her whole catalog to this point. The round vocals - burnin’ (burnin’) it (it) down
(dowwwwn!) - are just gorgeous. On top of all that, the production is extra crisp and clean here because it’s got a Taylor’s
Version cover. The depth and range of sound is so clean and sharp. Love it.
Welcome to New York - How do you say, “I’m doing a pure pop record” without saying “I’m doing a pure pop record”?
Favorite lyric: Someday when you leave me, I bet these memories follow you around
You do it like this. I might not find much in this song lyrically, but I don’t think Taylor does either? This is a mood-setter,
and in that regard it does its job very well. “It’s been waiting for you” reads as a little wink to the fact that she’s clearly
How You Get The Girl - Taylor’s bouncing around in this album between some truly stellar pop tracks that rival any in
been hinting at dropping the country image and aesthetic for a while now and the time has come. Not a song I would
her career to-date and some that are passable and fun but not quite as memorable. This one is somewhere in the
ever really listen to on its own, but like Speak to Me on Dark Side of the Moon, it’s an essential stage-setting track to play
middle. I really love the chorus - that hook is incredibly catchy - but the production here is among the flattest on the
when listening to the album in full.
album and the verses are a little lacking compared to the best songs on the record.
Favorite lyric: Tell her you must have lost your mind
Blank Space - This is one of the few Taylor songs I knew before going into this deep dive, and it’s probably my favorite
of the Taylor songs that I knew of. I’ve always appreciated the snark and sarcasm of it, as I recall her getting quite a lot of
This Love - I was beginning to wonder whether we were going to get a ballad on this album at all. I’m glad we did. I think
media attention for her boyfriends and breakups at the time, and I always felt like this was a really sly and sarcastic
it’s important for the record to take a little breather, and this hits the spot! This one didn’t blow my mind or anything, but
response to all of that. "Is that who you say I am? Oh, yeah, totally! I’m all of that, for sure!" On top of that it’s just a really
it’s really sweet and simple, well-produced, and with just enough of a hook to keep you bobbing your head without
catchy pop song with nice, snappy 808’s and relatively stripped down, lean instrumentation.
transforming it into another full-on pop track.
Favorite lyric: Rose garden filled with thorns
Favorite lyric: Lantern burning, flickered in my mind - only you

Style - Fuck me, man! Wow! This is a strong candidate for Taylor’s best pop song to date. That 80’s guitar riff and that
I Know Places - I’m beginning to feel like a broken record talking about the tracks on this album, because I do think it
gritty bassline, the super echoey vocals, the throwback lyrics to match - this is a well-oiled pop machine. Taylor dropping
might be her most consistent album to date. It has a strong, singular aesthetic it’s aiming for, a clear songwriting pattern
lyrics like “tight little skirt” is really her fully embracing a new image and it’s selling - that’s not easy, rebranding after you
it’s using, and the main difference between a lot of the pop tracks is just how catchy the hook is, how well the verses hold
had such a distinct cultural image, but it’s working. I’m convinced.
up to the choruses, and how complementary the production is. This fits right in with that pack of pop tracks, definitely on
Favorite lyric: I said, "I've been there too a few times."
the higher end. Taylor’s vocals here are pretty good as well - she’s been pushing her voice a lot more this album than she
ever had on the previous ones and so far she’s doing a good job with it.
Out Of The Woods - This song really brought in a lot of depth and layers to the production that had been a little
Favorite lyric: Love's a fragile little flame, it could burn out
stripped down up to this point and it works super well. Really catchy hook, yet another highlight bridge from Taylor, and I
love that little breakdown with the male backing vocals. Putting aside the intro track, three really, really solid pop songs
Clean - “Oh my god, is that an mbira?!” was my immediate reaction just a few seconds into this song, and I was instantly
to start off her adventure into pure pop-making. That’s a pretty damn good way to get off the ground.
sold and hyped. What a strange and beautiful and unexpected thing, and it’s followed up with easily some of my favorite
Favorite lyric: I walked out, I said, "I'm setting you free."
production on any track, from this album or from any previous one. As I was listening and wondering whether it was
Taylor’s idea to put an mbira on this song, it clicked and I recognized those backing vocals. Of course it’s goddamn
All You Had To Do Was Stay - While the hook here is still pretty good, I don’t think it’s quite as good as the other
Imogen Heap. A combination that I didn’t know I needed, she absolutely crushed it. Beautiful lyrics that keep your
hooks we’ve seen, and I think the verses here don’t quite hold up to the hook in the way they have on the previous songs.
attention the whole time, a bob-your-head-along chorus, and shimmering layers of sound behind it all. My favorite track
This is still a really solid pop track, but I think following up the last three, it falls a little short by comparison.
off the album so far and a killer closing track to the non-deluxe version.
Favorite lyric: Let me remind you - this was what you wanted
Favorite lyric: The drought was the very worst, when the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst
Wonderland - Of all the songs on the record, this is the only one that immediately jumped out at me as being clearly
derivative of contemporary music. You could’ve told me this was a Sia song that Taylor was covering and I would’ve
immediately believed you. In fact, I’m still not sure it isn’t. It’s not a bad track exactly, but it’s really just lacking any of the
things that I like that most about Taylor’s music and feels uncharacteristically generic.

You Are In Love - I really like the chorus and the bridge of this track, and I especially like that post-bridge breakdown
where it’s just Taylor’s vocals floating in a big vacuous space, but the stuttered delivery of the verses weighs down what
could've been a contender for one of the better tracks on the album. The whole ‘two syllables stop, three syllables stop,
two syllables stop’ thing just doesn’t work for me. But it’s an interesting idea, I’ll give it that.
Favorite lyric: Pauses then says, "You're my best friend."

New Romantics - Wow, way to come through and end the album on another absolute banger! This song really
completes the trilogy of Blank Space and Shake It Off, three excellent pop songs all addressed to her critics. Her delivery
change mid-way through the chorus between the first four slower bars and then the rapid-fire conclusion is super fun
and unique. It just works. Lots of fun little vocal flourishes here too (ace-ahhh!). The overall vibe of it feels very slightly
dated, especially that pitched-up shout before the choruses, but that only adds a charm to it, in my opinion.
Favorite lyric: The rumors are terrible and cruel, but honey, most of them are true

Takeaways from 1989

Taking a wider view of these first five albums, there's actually quite a gentle transition that’s been happening. From her
debut having a few tracks with fairly rock/pop-ish chord progressions to Red having only a few drops of country left to
this pure pop record, she really took her audience by the hand and walked them very slowly in a new direction. And I’d Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
say that it’s been a complete success - her music has gotten better and better for it. I did feel like I was missing some Soundtrack I Don't Wanna Live Forever (Zayn, feat.) 6 2 3 11
more lyrically-dense songs and thoughtful ballads here, but at least we have Clean.

Clean is really essential to this album like Dear John and All Too Well before it. Without it, I think it’s just a collection of
great pop songs instead of feeling like a complete emotional package. Really, I would’ve loved a second track of that style.
Still, I can’t complain - she set out to leave her comfort zone and do some bangers and make a name for herself as Pop
Taylor and she absolutely executed that with at least six pop songs worthy of being compared to anything she’s done in
her career to this point. And she’s definitely created a much more cohesive aesthetic here than ever before. There’s a
common sonic palette used on like 80% of the tracks here and it gives the record a flavor unto itself.
I Don’t Wanna Live Forever - Much like Sweeter Than Fiction, this song definitely has potential, and somehow the
execution just falls really flat for me. I expect someone has done a beautiful cover of this which also sounds totally
different than this version, something with a fat bassline and vocals with actual depth and timbre, ‘cause there’s a pretty
good song buried somewhere under this.

Comparing 1989 directly to Red (TV) is trickier and a little unfair. I gave seven tracks from this album 20+ scores
compared to eleven on Red (TV), but five of those were From The Vault tracks that weren’t on Red when it first came out.
So in a real side-by-side of records as they were originally conceived, I loved more songs from 1989 than Red. That said, I
also gave four songs on this record sub-15 scores, compared to only one on the original Red. So it’s difficult to say
whether Taylor’s trend of improving with each album is continuing (I’ll have to do the math at the end of all of this - scroll
way down for that!), but certainly if it’s not, it hasn’t dipped by very much. Even if it turns out that, track-for-track, I liked
Red more, the aesthetics and cohesiveness of this record, and the ambition of it, makes it more exciting in a lot of ways.
It feels like a progression. It feels like growth and improvement as an artist.

I’m expecting the next album to be yet another gradual shift like she’s clearly been interested in doing - but now that
she’s firmly landed in pop, which had felt like the destination all along… a shift to where exactly? I certainly hope that
radio-friendly, super danceable pop was not the end of the line in terms of creative evolution, even if I enjoy it - because
I’ve enjoyed the diversity and evolution much more.
Reputation (2017) Delicate - Ohhhh baby. That’s the stuff right there. Taylor’s doing that fifth track thing again! (I’m pretty sure this is
intentional but also the fifth track on 1989 wasn’t great so…?) Just an absolutely beautiful blend of an incredibly catchy
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall pop tune rivaling any that she’s done with the really great production of the previous tracks, some of the best lyrics from
this album so far, and truly great songwriting. I was hooked from start to finish. There’s this distinctly melancholy,
Reputation ...Ready For It? 8 3 9 20
love-drunk energy to this, a perfect fit for the vibe of the album while also being a distant cousin to her standout ballads
Reputation End Game (feat. Ed Sheeran & Future) 7 4 8 19 in a strange way. A stand-out track on an album with several stand-outs already. This one just nails everything.
Reputation I Did Something Bad 6 6 7 19 Favorite lyric: Is it cool that I said all that? Is it chill that you're in my head?

Reputation Don't Blame Me 7 4 7 18

Look What You Made Me Do - Hahaha what! I laughed out loud twice listening to this - first on the initial drop, which
Reputation Delicate 10 6 9 25 is just ridiculous and amazing, with the moan and the I’m Too Sexy melody, and then again on that “She’s dead!” line.
Reputation Look What You Made Me Do 8 4 10 22 Genuinely hilarious. This is such an insane track - no questions about it that it’s the most unique song in her whole
catalog to this point, nothing else even close to it, and while I’m confident that means that it’s probably very divisive, I
Reputation So It Goes... 7 5 9 21
think it’s a goddamn bop. The vocal delivery and production on the chorus are insane, her pronunciation of “bad” on the
Reputation Gorgeous 8 5 9 22 bridge kills me… I could talk about this song for 30 minutes. On an album that was already so unexpected, I thought by
Reputation Getaway Car 10 7 10 27 the sixth track it wasn’t possible for her to surprise me, but she surprised the fuck outta me with this one. This is
unbelievably fun and over-the-top and dramatic and tongue-in-cheek in all the best ways.
Reputation King Of My Heart 8 4 9 21
Favorite lyric: I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time
Reputation Dancing With Our Hands Tied 6 4 8 18
Reputation Dress 8 5 8 21 So It Goes… - The extra vocal flourishes, backing lines, and whispers placed all around the final chorus and refrain are
fantastic, and we’ve got another super catchy and super bold pop track. Like 1989, this album is cohesive enough that
Reputation This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things 7 6 9 22
there’s not a lot to say about every track that hasn’t already been said - she’s giving us more of this thing, and it’s a good
Reputation Call It What You Want 7 4 8 19 thing and I want more of it. And man, the production on this album is on a whole new level.
Reputation New Year's Day 8 7 8 23 Favorite lyric: You make everyone disappear, and cut me into pieces - gold cage, hostage to my feelings

…Ready For It? - I paused this song three seconds in and just sat there for a second taking it in. The album art was a
kind of a clue I suppose, but I didn’t read it that way. It took until those first few notes played for it to hit me.
Immediately, this sounds nothing like anything Taylor has ever done before. Instantly we are in completely new territory.
Then Taylor shows up with an almost-rapped delivery, and there’s this cat-growl record scratch behind her, and we’re
just going SO much harder than anything I ever could’ve expected from Taylor.
Gorgeous - Taylor's gotten much more creative with her vocal delivery on this album, and this song in particular is full of
words delivered with these great little emotional twists. She's painting the emotions of the words with her voice. It’s as
though Dark Taylor has a different voice than normal Taylor does, so she doesn’t say “bad”, she says “bahd”; she doesn’t
say “Vine”, she says “Vayyne”. And that pre-chorus bell! Why does that work so well? I was getting hyped for the next little
ding! Ding! That really, really shouldn't work as well as it does.
Favorite lyric: Guess I'll just stumble on home to my cats - alone - unless you wanna come along?

And just as I’m starting to adjust to how much of a heavy, dark electronic sound we have going on, the goddamn floor
Getaway Car - This album is gonna fuckin kill me. I mean, holy shit. This is so close to being a perfect pop song. I’m kind
drops out from under me and I land in the ball pit of a completely bare and understated pop chorus. Then we go back
of speechless about it. Everything I've said about other songs on the album - pop songwriting, vocal delivery, etc. - all
again! And then she fucking moans! I mean, guys, this song kind of blew my mind. Short of maybe All Too Well, no song in
comes together here, with super fun lyrics, incredible production, the kind of swells you expect from her best and most
her whole discography up to this point has had a more immediate emotional reaction from me. It’s not even like this is
calculated ballads, except pinned onto maybe her single catchiest melody to date. Just an unbelievable home run, out of
one of the greatest songs she’s ever written or anything, I just feel like I walked down the hallway of my house and
the park, touchdown, firework show, pièce de résistance, chef’s kiss, mwah. Here I was waiting for her to finally follow up
suddenly fell into the deep end of a swimming pool, just out of nowhere. An ambitious and shocking album opener.
Dear John or All Too Well with another one of those stand-out ballads, and instead she dropped this nuclear explosion of a
Favorite lyric: I forget their names now
pop song. Wow, wow, wow. I’m in love with this song.
Favorite lyric: Put the money in the bag and I stole the keys, that was the last time you ever saw me
End Game - Jesus Christ, Reputation Taylor just put Future on the second song of her album. What is going on?! I’m
shook. I was not remotely prepared for this album. Uh, okay, okay… so this song is really good! I love those group female
King Of My Heart - This album cracks me up, man. Did y’all hear the way she said “jag-u-ar”? Did you hear how she
vocals singing “big reputation!” Also, I'm not an Ed Sheeran fan at all, but I thought he kind of crushed his verse here
totally unnecessarily was like, “Inside my room - aohh!”? Do y'all hear that speaker-exploding bassline outta nowhere?
honestly - the boy’s got flow! The pop songwriting on this album is starting off really strong, less derivative and more
She’s having so, so much fun recording this. The way she pronounces "crush" is a perfect example of the kind of fun and
ambitious. This is at once everything I wanted from her next album and also nothing like what I possibly imagined.
bravery that just didn't exist before this album and it ironically makes her black-and-white album easily her most colorful.
Favorite lyrics: I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put 'em. / The group vocals over the first post-chorus.
Favorite lyric: And we rule the kingdom inside my room

I Did Something Bad - Wow, okay, so now we’ve got a thesis statement from Taylor. She’s not just sarcastically going
Dancing With Our Hands Tied - I love the really fast, intense-but-chill, ethereal atmosphere of the verses here. It
along with what the critics say about her, she’s going full Villain Mode. She’s like, “Yeah I’m gonna ruin some boys lives
reminds me of something off Drake's Take Care or something. And that little drum roll in there, too - I love that. I’ve gotta
because I can and it’s fun, and fuck you if you got something to say about it.” Because they’re burning witches even if you
point out that we’re 11 tracks deep and Taylor hasn’t even come close to missing even once yet. This album is on an
aren’t one, so she might as well be a motherfucking witch then. Max Martin just doing Max Martin shit and really fun lyrics
unbelievable roll. Not a skip in sight.
from Taylor. I’m absolutely vibing with this record so far.
Favorite lyric: You said there was nothing in the world that could stop it - I had a bad feeling.
Favorite lyrics: If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothin' / The delivery of the over and over and over again line

Dress - Okay, so there have been a lot of moans and sexual lyrics on this album already, but I really feel like the little
Don’t Blame Me - Oh shit, that drop - my headphones nearly buzzed off my head. They say, “She’s gone too far this time.”
country girl got the dirt thrown over her coffin with this one. This is not something I ever, ever expected to get after Red.
is exactly what I imagine a lot of people said in response to this album. Undoubtedly this kind of thing alienated a
Big Kimbra energy from the vocal delivery on this track too, in the best possible way - raspy, sharp, biting, really hitting
significant chunk of Taylor fans and certainly some critics, but I’m so goddamn here for this. This is Dark Taylor, the
every consonant like it’s the song’s percussion (and it kind of is). The layered vocals are great, and I really love those two
Queen of Night, and she’s got a tower of bass amps behind her and a bunch of guys groveling at her feet. The acapella
full beats of silence after “everything just stops” in the final chorus. I’m telling you, they had so much fun making this.
group vocals at the start of the breakdown are really nice, another super catchy chorus, continued excellent production.
Favorite lyric: Only bought this dress so you could take it off
Favorite lyric: Toyin’ with them older guys - just playthings for me to use
This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things - Taylor just has more and more fun with the vocals and the lyrics as the
song goes on and it’s absolutely contagious. For such a snarky and resentful song, this is insanely feel-good. She used the
word “therein” in a pop song. Like, are you kidding me? Her little hmm-mm after “I’m not the only friend you lost lately”, the
sarcasm that’s absolutely dripping all over her delivery of “forgiveness is a nice thing to do” before she just bursts out
laughing. Like, just in case you didn’t realize that she’s the villain now, she’s going to laugh in your face while talking
about how you’ve lost your friends and she’ll never forgive you. This is just a joy of a track, playing up the villain role to
hilarious proportions while also being a subtle diss at all her critics in showcasing just how preposterous their image of
her is. Amazing.
Favorite lyric: And therein lies the issue
With all that said, there’s no doubt for me like there was with 1989 as to whether this is a complete improvement over
the previous record. This isn’t just my favorite Taylor Swift album so far, this is instantly one of my favorite pop albums of
all time. No song here even comes close to being a skip - there’s no intro that’s just there to be an intro, there’s no dip in
the middle or wane at the end. I strongly suspect that there’s a large faction of Taylor fans who disagree with that - I’m
about as confident as I can be that this record must be divisive in her fanbase - but all I can say is that I had an incredible
time listening to this, laughing and dancing the whole way through. Even if everything else after this album was terrible,
which seems very unlikely (although virtually all artists drop the ball on at least one album, so I’m anticipating that), I’m
still gonna call myself a Taylor Swift fan after this one. Her catalog’s been too good already.

Call It What You Want - You know what’s interesting, and what this track really brings to light? This album has had a
lot more positive descriptions of love than negative descriptions of heartbreak compared to all four of her previous
records. Like this song just drops all the pretense and all the dissing critics for a second to just let you see through to the
core of the record, which is that Taylor’s very happy with her relationship and doesn’t give a fuck about what the critics
have to say. She’ll be whatever they want her to be, ‘cause she’s doing her own thing and it’s working out really well for
her. So she’s happy to just have fun playing whatever over-the-top, ridiculous caricature they paint her as and she’ll do it
while making absolute bangers. This track really does much more than it seems on the surface. In the context of the
album, it really helps to let the themes shine forward in case you missed them in all the thunder and dazzle.
Favorite lyric: "You don't need to save me - but would you run away with me?"

New Year’s Day - And now that we understand the real heart at the center of the whole performance thanks to the last
track, Taylor is free to give us the song that’s really in her heart, when she’s not performing, when the party’s over, when
she’s not playing the role, when she’s not responding to anyone else - when she’s at home with whoever it is that she
loves, in spite of the storm going on around them. I’m delighted that this song is here as the finale of the album. This is
the prize in the cereal box, the soft nougaty center in the hard candy. It also probably alleviated some fears of people
who really didn’t vibe with this album or who took the whole character super seriously and thought Taylor had become a
genuinely villainous person - like, “Hey, by the way, I’m a performer and I’m giving them what they say I am, but I’m still
Taylor, and I’m actually doing great, all things considered. I found something more real than any of this.” I love that for
her. Totally stuck the landing.
Favorite lyric: Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you

Takeaways from Reputation

If it wasn’t obvious, I adored that record. It was such a hard shift - that gentle transition between albums I talked about
with 1989 was thrown out the window and got ran over by a truck and Taylor was driving it. She slammed her foot on the
gas and we took off into the night with no seat belts and no preparation from the very first seconds. The pop songs on
this record are so goddamn catchy, the production was so over-the-top and bombastic and colorful and layered, but
never muddy, never cluttered, never compressed, always clean layers.

The lyrics were super fun and sometimes genuinely funny - I’m compelled to sing along to more tracks on this album
than any of her previous ones - and her vocal delivery! Probably half of these tracks had some kind of really creative and
fun vocal delivery from Taylor, like she was allowing herself to be more than just the singular Taylor we’ve known and
instead step into this multifaceted role that was created for her.

Even though her debut and 1989 seem worlds apart, and even though 1989 and this record are both pop albums and so
might be naturally grouped together, I kind of feel like the first four records are a unit unto themselves and we’ve now
departed that - like there’s a line between the first five albums and this one. Those first four records were all Taylor being
Taylor, and she was growing up and her life was changing and her musical expression was transforming and moving
through genres, but there’s no question that everything we were getting felt like authentic works from the heart and
mind of a single songwriter.

Here we’ve entered into new territory - we’ve got characters now. And this is something all the best songwriters and
performers can do, and really only the best ones can do well. Bowie did this: his first four albums were all very much
David Bowie albums, then his fifth album was suddenly “David Bowie starring as…”. He reinvented himself. I would
contend that 1989 was not a reinvention, even if it was the completion of a genre shift. Reputation was her first
reinvention, her Ziggy Stardust, and perhaps it won’t be her last. It’s so obvious to me that she had a ton of fun recording
this record, so I strongly suspect that the gradual shifts of the first five records are over, and from now on we’ll be seeing
a lot more diversity and some much more colorful, thematically distinct shifts between albums. O.G. Taylor fans from
back in her country days: buckle up.
Lover (2019) The Man - Tell ‘em! Tell ‘em, girl! Oh, this is great. What I like so much about this is how incredibly easy it would’ve been
to botch this. Like trying to write a whole song around the premise of your critics judging you with sexist
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall double-standards, despite that being 100% true - it’s easy to come off the wrong way. It’s easy to sound excessively
spiteful or to get lost in the sauce of the explanation rather than trusting your audience to understand you. Basically, it
Lover I Forgot That You Existed 6 6 9 21
would’ve been really easy to do something that would just give those same critics even more ammunition. But instead
Lover Cruel Summer 10 6 10 26 she focuses on this hypothetical and shines a positive light on that, thereby revealing the issue and the negativity only in
Lover Lover 9 6 8 23 contrast. That’s just incredibly clever, and I especially like her sort of ‘grown up explaining to a child how this all works’
tone in the bridge. Like, “Do you understand, champ? You get it? Do you need me to explain it again for you there, bud?”
Lover The Man 7 7 8 22
And of course, on top of all that, it’s just another super catchy, well-produced pop track. She just does that now.
Lover The Archer 8 8 9 25 Favorite lyric: They'd paint me out to be bad, so it's okay that I'm mad
Lover I Think He Knows 8 6 8 22
The Archer - The fifth track strikes again! At this point I googled “Taylor Swift fifth track” and saw like two dozen articles
Lover Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince 8 5 7 20
about this, so yes. Yes, it is a thing. I’m genuinely just stunned at the roll that Taylor is on from Reputation through here.
Lover Paper Rings 10 5 8 23 This is the precise moment, in case you were wondering, when I'm becoming baffled and mad at myself for the fact that I
Lover Cornelia Street 9 8 8 25 haven't listened to Taylor before, but also thrilled that I’m doing it right now. Like what was I even doing with my life? And
how lucky am I to be hearing all of this for the first time now? The slow-building production here that kind of evaporates
Lover Death By A Thousand Cuts 7 6 9 22
into smoke instead of breaking at the summit is so great. It seems that even if Taylor’s capable of playing roles now, the
Lover London Boy 10 3 9 22 original role - her self-identity, what she wants, how she forms relationships, the kinds of interactions that she’s attached
Lover Soon You'll Get Better (feat. The Chicks) - - - - to, the things she knows about herself - are very much in question. Despite the brightness of this album, there’s a very
heavy and serious undercurrent beneath it all, and this track gets us close enough to touch that.
Lover False God 6 5 10 21
Favorite lyric: I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost, the room is on fire - invisible smoke
Lover You Need To Calm Down 7 5 8 20
Lover Afterglow 8 5 8 21 I Think He Knows - Another song full of really creative vocal play. Taylor’s little laughs, those two very different
deliveries of “nobody understands” and “no one. under. stands.” - both very teenagery, one whining, one apathetic - the
Lover ME! (feat. Brendon Urie) 6 2 7 15
little group vocals popping up here and there, that sultry, Lana Del Rey, “Where we gonna go?” I just love that shit. I never
Lover It's Nice To Have A Friend 5 7 8 20 get tired of singers being really creative and playful with their vocal delivery, and Taylor’s just serving a buffet of it.
Lover Daylight 7 7 8 24 Favorite lyric: "So where we gonna go?" I whisper in the dark

Lover All Of The Girls You Loved Before 8 6 9 23

I Forgot That You Existed - Taylor of the Dark Night has departed, and Taylor of the Bright Day has arrived - but what
stuck around was the sarcasm, incredibly colorful vocal delivery, and having a ton of fun. I love this stark, simple, cute
melody with the piano, and I love how it plays against Taylor’s voice (the moment at 1:30 where it swells and builds and
builds and then just vanishes!), but it’s really her vocal delivery itself that carries this track. Sometimes sarcastic,
sometimes apathetic, sometimes carefree, sometimes condescending - all conveyed with just little shifts of emphasis and
tone. The laughs are genuine and adorable and the, “Sooo… yeah,” at the end is the cherry on top. And all of that is
bolstered by the fact that, between these two albums, her voice has finally reached the place where it is on the Taylor’s
Version remakes, which I really love: that raspy, airy timbre that’s pretty much entirely replaced the sharper tone she had
when she was younger. This track may seem really simple but it’s actually packed with things to love. A much better
example than Welcome To New York of the “simple tone-setting opener”.
Favorite lyric: The laughs scattered across the track. / The so... yeah at the end.
Cruel Summer - Uh, have I been poisoned? Possessed? What’s happening to me? Do I just fucking love Taylor Swift?!
Like, somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but is this not an all-time great pop song straight out of the gate, as good as
anything on Reputation? I’m getting a little startled by this whole experience at this point, to be perfectly honest. I was
really beginning to think I was just going to have a special fondness for Reputation and I would think less of her next
album, but this song fucking S.L.A.P.S. slaaaaps, hot damn. That floaty, layered oOooOoOo in “cruel”, that punchy drum
through the verses that always culminates with a big raise in energy right before the chorus, the stellar bridge with the
“He looks up grinning like a devil!” scream from far away. Just a banger to end all bangers and how does Taylor keep doing
this and I might be dying and/or hallucinating.
Favorite lyric: "I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
Lover - Fuck me. Okay. Wow. This reminds me a lot of Delicate - not quite a big pop song, not quite a ballad, but
something with the best elements of both. Super catchy, super heartfelt, and some of the very best songwriting
anywhere in her catalog to this point. This song has no low points: the verses are as essential as the choruses and keep
your attention the whole way through, and then Taylor once again nails the bridge. Incredibly polished, incredibly pretty,
incredibly sweet without quite breaking through to saccharine. This is a real first dance at the wedding track.
Favorite lyric: Take me out, and take me home
Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince - Okay, we’re seven songs in, and I have a slight critique! Aha! I'm, uh, I’m
not crazy about those "Fight!", "Win!" cheerleader chants. But it's, y'know, it's an idea. I get it. It’s fine. On the other hand,
this song has one of my favorite choruses on the album so far, and in general I just really like how bittersweet and
conflicted the music feels here - you can almost feel this really upbeat, bubblegum pop song buried underneath this
really dark and ominous layer that’s weighing on it all, which is exactly the imagery of the lyrics. And the metaphor…
yeah, okay, it works. It’s not my favorite but I get it and it works.
Favorite lyric: Voted most likely to run away with you
Paper Rings - Well isn’t this just a mountain full of gumdrops and sugar plums. God help me if this isn’t one of the
catchiest pop songs ever written by a human hand. This may not be a "serious" song for serious people to seriously
analyze, but I'm not sure there's a human alive who could be sad listening to it. I was conflicted about giving this a 10 in
Songwriting, but after maybe a dozen listens, I’m dead-set on it. This song isn’t trying to be profound, it’s trying to be a
singalong bubblegum pop song, and it achieves that flawlessly. That’s a 10. Can I also say - I love the fadeout! Bring back
the fadeout! Fadeouts make songs last forever, and this song doesn’t need to end.
Favorite lyric: In paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams - you're the one I want
Cornelia Street - I tried to maintain my initial reaction to the tracks for this project, but there were two tracks in
Taylor’s discography that I went back and completely rewrote my thoughts on, because my original take changed so
drastically on multiple re-listens, and this is one of them. This was my least-favorite song on the album on my first listen,
if you can believe it. What an idiot I was. This is easily a contender for the best track on the record.
I think my issue was just that this is a bit of a strange one in that it’s not trying to be a pop song and not trying to be a
ballad, but isn’t trying to be both at the same time like Delicate or Lover, either. It’s just kind of its own thing and it took
me a while to appreciate that it actually totally works. I should also say that I really like the idea of the breakdown, I like
that we get a moment of just Taylor quietly against empty space, but I do really wish she didn’t do that little Ariana-style
run there. It just isn’t something she ever does and isn't really what her voice is suited for, so it still catches me off guard
every time. Feels out of place. But look, that’s a tiny nitpick in a song that’s the closest thing this record has to its Dear
John, All Too Well, or Clean. After enough time spent with this record, this is the track I keep coming back to as the heart of
it all.
Favorite lyric: Barefoot in the kitchen, sacred new beginnings, that became my religion, listen
Death By A Thousand Cuts - That little guitar riff is so nice, it really brightens the song dramatically in contrast to the
someone darker keyboard melody. I once again really appreciate the fact that they’ve allowed a good amount of space in
the production here. Reputation is so packed and dense (in a good way!) so it’s really refreshing to go in the opposite
direction and just have three or four sounds happening at any given time, enough to just let Taylor and her lyrics be at
the center, and adding just enough around it to reinforce the feelings of any given line. Plus, it allows the really cool
sounds - like that harpsichord-sounding synth on this track, which is amazing - to stand out in the mix.
Favorite lyric: Paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans
London Boy - Another one of Taylor's pure candy pop songs, kind of a twin to Paper Rings. There’s no nutritional
content here (unless you're the London Boy himself, he probably loves this one), but boy is this just the catchiest shit in
the world. This song and Paper Rings are maybe the two catchiest bubblegum pop songs I’ve ever heard from any artist,
and I’m not exactly a stranger to the genre. Even the tiny little bridge is super fun and quirky, and those horns at the end
are just the cherry on top. The only shortcoming of this one compared to Paper Rings is that I think there’s even less to be
found here lyrically, but that’s fine. I’m still going to be singing about this London Boy for the rest of the day today.
Soon You’ll Get Better - So like Ronan I had to look up the inspiration for this song because it felt exceedingly sad and
personal, and indeed it is. Such a tragic and unfortunate, late-arriving sequel to The Best Day. And once again this is just
not something that I can comfortably rate or judge. Personally I just don’t know how anyone could seriously take a song
like this and judge whether it’s “worse” than whatever great pop songs she’s made. I won’t be doing that.
Favorite lyric: Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you
False God - The saxophone, ladies and gentlemen. The saxophone! Paired with that little warped, underwater-sounding
synth, it creates such an atmosphere. This is almost like if the Weeknd remade Like a Prayer or something. It’s just such a
vibe, a sexy nighttime energy that I didn’t think this album was going to have, and it’s so good. This is a little tiny piece of
Reputation reaching out into this album and nestling up against it like a black cat on a giant pink couch. I just wish it
didn't end so abruptly?
Favorite lyric: Staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town - I'm New York City
You Need To Calm Down - Taylor's got a knack for doing very upbeat, danceable "fuck you" music. I’m sure I’m not
the first person to notice it, but I think it’s commendable. The world needs more upbeat, happy-sounding fuck you’s in
general. A part of me feels like this song pulls some punches unnecessarily - like we could really be judging homophobes
a little more harshly than telling them to just calm down - but any major pop star, especially one with a big country music
fan base, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community is a positive thing and I’m not gonna step on that too much. The intentions
are really good, and it's a big step above Macklemore or whatever. Plus, those chorus uh-oh’s are a delight.
Favorite lyric: And I'm just like, damn, it's 7 AM
Afterglow - We've definitely seen self-deprecating or guilty lyrics in the past, but more often than not Taylor is talking
shit on her exes for the things they’ve done to her. But that’s not this. My impression is this is not about an ex, but a
relationship she’s invested in, the one this whole album (and possibly Reputation as well - honestly I know nothing about
her life, I’m just inferring shit and possibly doing it poorly) have been centered on, and it’s one she’s working to save. So
she’s willing to say “my bad, I fucked up, let’s work on this”. That’s definitely some emotional maturity and life experience
shining through and it’s great. This is far more relatable for a lot of older listeners than most of those breakup songs.
Favorite lyric: Meet me in the afterglow
ME! - I found it really difficult to grade the songwriting here. This is a real one-trick pony, but that trick (a really, really
catchy chorus) is a good trick. Ultimately, the lack of musical depth does stand out here - the marching band percussion
on the verses just doesn’t really work for me, the bridge is uncharacteristically not a highlight on this track, and despite
Taylor getting the best out of Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody (neither of whom I like very much), not even she could
make Brendon Urie’ sound not-whiney. Very sad to say we’ve finally hit a slight miss after damn near two full albums
without one. I also just learned that this was the lead single of the album?? Uhhh??? Why?! This album is so fucking good
and has so many great pop songs - why this one? Just trying to lure Panic! fans in maybe? Ooooof.
It’s Nice To Have A Friend - Those steel pan drums fit the vibe here so well. Big shoutout to whoever was sitting in
the studio and thought, "You know what this song could use? Steel pans!" This song feels like floating an inch above the
ground, just peaceful and smiling on a sunny morning. Kind of a weird parallel track to the opener, both of which are
these really bare tracks conveying really simple feelings with light, happy melodies - the first, forgetting an old lover, and
this one, finding friendship with a new one. That’s awesome. Good for Taylor.
Favorite lyric: "Wanna hang out?" "Yeah, sounds like fun."
Daylight - Oh man, the lyrics here do something really cool - all the references back to her last three albums and the
imagery in the songs from them, culminating in the reference to how she saw love as “burning red” and “black and
white”, the thematic colors of the albums, and how she’s moved past that. It is not often at all that I see a songwriter tie
back their lyrics to multiple albums in their catalog like that. She’s affirming that all of her albums come together to form
a singular narrative of her life story. If that doesn’t get you invested in a songwriter, I don’t know what would. That’s cool
as hell. For two albums in a row now (three if we’re counting Clean as the original closer of 1989) she’s ended the albums
with these slow, beautiful songs that really tied everything together in such a nice way and really showcase that her
albums are cohesive works of art - which is absolutely not true of a ton of pop stars. Mad respect.
Favorite lyrics: Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke
All Of The Girls You Loved Before - Hi, it’s me from the future! Adding this one to the tracklist months later! It’s
insane that this got cut from this album when it easily slots in as better than 50% of the tracklist. A classic pop hook with
a nice, slow groove to it, and one of the best bridges on the record with her climbing up to that big high note that soars
out over the final chorus. I also feel like there are some really strong Ariana vibes here, and combined with that little
vocal run in Cornelia Street and the energy of the leaked Need, I think maybe the original conception of this record
overlapped a bit with the sounds of Ari’s Thank U, Next and she dropped some of the tracks that felt the most like it?
Pure speculation there, but it’s hard to think of why else this would’ve been cut. This song, along with the great Vault
tracks we got for Red, makes me wonder just how many absolute gems Taylor’s been sitting on for years.
Favorite lyrics: I wanna teach you how forever feels
Takeaways from Lover
I was just staggered and impressed the entire time I was listening to this. Like, Reputation is an amazing record. I liked
that album so much, and it was such a change of direction that I knew she was going to keep shifting character and
exploring new dimensions and aesthetics… so it just seemed super unlikely that I was going to like the next one as much
as that one, or that she could keep writing pop songs that were on that level, or that the production would be able to
compare. But then she just did absolutely all of that and maybe more. She went about as hard in the opposite direction
of Reputation’s aesthetics as it’s possible to go, and yet I actually think these two albums make a really perfect pair: a real
angel-and-demon, night-and-day, enemy-and-lover duo. And she nailed this every bit as much as she nailed Reputation.
I hate to reuse a comparison I’ve already made, but Bowie is one of the only people who comes to mind as an example of
someone who I’ve seen do this, go really hard in two radically different directions and smash both out of the park. It’s
exceptionally difficult to do. The vast majority of artists can’t even stick in one lane and make it land every time. Most pop
artists can’t do a full album without pouring in some filler tracks. So to shift lanes as drastically as she has over these last
two albums and have them both be excellent records with nearly no skip-worthy tracks is just incredibly impressive and
something I’ve seen almost no artists ever do and has earned a ton of my respect. What a mind. What a talent.
I was still a bit worried after Reputation, but I’m not worried anymore. I have no idea what to expect from the next record
but I now have a great deal of trust in Taylor to do it well. I’m sure there’ll be a dud album or one that I just don’t vibe
with, but even if there is, I don’t know if that’s going to do anything to diminish my admiration for her craft at this point.
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
Soundtrack Beautiful Ghosts 4 5 5 14
Single Christmas Tree Farm - - - -
Single Only the Young 6 2 6 14
Beautiful Ghosts - I’m not a theater guy, and when I am I’m more Sondheimian than Webberian, but I can definitely
vibe with this, and Taylor’s vocals are really very good. She really shows off her voice here in a way that she rarely gets
the opportunity to do with her records.
Christmas Tree Farm - She found that "classic" sound for this with those old-timey chords. This could easily fit right
into any Christmas playlist. Once again, something most pop artists fail to pull off, but she does it.
Only the Young - A nice message, albeit a bit more tame than I think it could’ve been given the presumed subject
matter, and really a musical one-trick pony. Kind of reminds me of ME! in a not-great way.
 with that, “So step right out!” What a moment! But the highlight of the track is definitely that long outro, repurposing the
Folklore (2020) bridge with both of their voices overlapping and the rising piano. Easily my favorite bit from any of Taylor’s duets to-date.
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall Favorite lyric: You never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)

Folklore the 1 7 6 7 20
my tears ricochet - I’m such a sucker for that songwriting trope where you build something up really big, then drop it
Folklore cardigan 7 7 8 22 all away, then pick it right back up again. The way this incredible bridge swells up with all the ethereal voices and then
Folklore the last great american dynasty 6 9 7 22 disappears behind the curtain before re-emerging for the final chorus is just wonderful. That moment of quiet tension is
so good. The songwriting on this album has been really good so far, but it’s really the production and the lyrics that are
Folklore exile (feat. Bon Iver) 8 8 8 24
standing out to me. The mix here is just so crisp, even when it’s full of sounds like those ghostly bridge vocals, it feels
Folklore my tears ricochet 8 7 9 24 spacious and never crowded. And I’m just loving Taylor’s word choices here. Describing a “sunlit room”, a “ghostly scene”,
Folklore mirrorball 8 8 9 25 her “stolen lullabies” - she’s really painting an ornate, antiquated panorama for us.
Favorite lyric: And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake?
Folklore seven 8 7 7 22
Folklore august 10 8 9 27 mirrorball - This is the best string of three songs in her career to this point, I think. I loved the last wo, and now this one
Folklore this is me trying 6 6 7 19 is just intoxicating and enchanting. I love the lyrics here - the symbolism of the mirrorball, the transition from every
version of myself to every version of yourself, the way it depicts both the beauty and the tragedy of her career - and all
Folklore illicit affairs 6 7 7 20
set against this rich, dazzling backdrop, with metallic reverb dancing around, impossible to pin down. The production
Folklore invisible string 8 8 7 23 here is full-on dream pop, like something from Beach House or My Bloody Valentine, and it’s got the best hook yet on the
Folklore mad woman 6 7 7 20 album - and such a slow-burn of a hook too. Instantly one of my favorite Taylor tracks not just from this album but any
album. Really, really great.
Folklore epiphany 6 7 9 22
Favorite lyric: Drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten
Folklore betty 10 10 8 28
Folklore peace 6 9 8 23 seven - Look, I'm a 29-year old straight guy, so while I’ve been really enjoying a lot of Taylor’s lyrics, relatability hadn’t
been the biggest part of that. But! I'm a native Pennsylvanian who had a happy childhood and my first childhood
Folklore hoax 7 7 8 22
girlfriend grew up in an abusive home, so, uh… unexpected bullseye on this one, Taylor. You got me right in my soft
Folklore the lakes 8 6 9 23 spots. The driving piano melody throughout is really nice, as are the strings that come in, and I’m particularly fond of
Taylor’s vocal delivery on the chorus. The way she stretches out the vowels while keeping her voice very calm and low
really sells the kind of contemplative, quiet longing that the lyrics convey. Almost feels Iron & Wine-like.
the 1 - “I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit,” is easily my favorite opening line of any of her albums to this point. What
Favorite lyrics: Are there still beautiful things? / I used to scream ferociously any time I wanted
an entrance. I also like that Taylor’s doing the same thing to start this album as she did to start Lover - a really simple,
stripped-down track that just lets her voice and words set the stage, with a really minimal but catchy melody just to fill
august - This forms part of a trilogy in my mind with Delicate and Lover: each are very sentimental tracks that could’ve
the space behind her. It worked on Lover and it works here again. The differences here are the much more subdued, soft
probably been orchestrated as ballads, but were instead turned into incredibly catchy pop songs with a gentle, flexible
energy, and much more thoughtful and contemplative lyrics. Don’t get me wrong, I think I Forgot That You Existed has very
spine to them. These kinds of tracks are really Taylor in her peak form, at the height of her powers, and of the three, this
good and fun lyrics, but this one captures an even stronger and more intriguing tone, nostalgic but not sad, a very calm
one has the highest-quality songwriting and production. Putting that driving, upbeat guitar at the center of the track
and delicate kind of well-being. Like someone softly saying, “I’m alright. I’ve been thinking about you.”
brings the energy way up right from the start and it just builds and builds and builds. You think it peaked with the first
Favorite lyrics: I'm doing good, I'm on some new shit / But it would've been fun, if you would've been the one
chorus, then it peaks again with that huge, swelling bridge (Taylor’s vocals just soar above the song there), and then it
peaks a third(!) time with a killer outro that’s the biggest, most sonically complex part of the whole song. It just takes you
cardigan - The production here is really interesting and completely unlike anything Taylor’s ever done before. That
higher and higher. What an absolute gem of a track and a rival to the best stuff she’s ever done to this point.
super soft, warm piano is sat in front of a whole array of strange sounds - machinery echoing and clicking and thumping,
Favorite lyric: Cancel plans just in case you'd call and say, "Meet me behind the mall."
little tiny dances of guitar in the mist, shrill glitches like birdsong. Both Reputation and Lover were albums with tons of
texture to them, but the texture was made of much more recognizable components. This would sound straight-up
this is me trying - While Taylor has written songs about her personal regrets in the past, this one seems to fit more
otherworldly if it weren’t grounded by the piano. It creates this feeling of being transported to some strange place, but in
into the non-autobiographical aspects of the album. This feels like a song of sympathy for other people rather than a
a way that’s calm and comforting. We’re lost in a thick fog in an unrecognizable territory, but we’re not scared. We’re
plea on her own behalf - although perhaps it’s a bit of both. I like that it’s not obvious! I like that there’s some ambiguity
inside the pages of some magical book, perhaps, or entranced by photos of some faraway time and place. Very curious
to it. It’s more about the experience of the protagonist of the song, whoever that may be, and Taylor is embodying that
and captivating aesthetic here.
person in this moment, whether it’s solely her or not. That’s the kind of nuanced lyricism we’re getting with this record
Favorite lyric: I knew I'd curse you for the longest time, chasing shadows in the grocery line
and I think it’s a significant improvement over anything that came before it. Compositionally, it’s probably the simplest
song on the album so far, but like always, it’s got a really solid bridge that mixes things up in a refreshing way.
the last great american dynasty - Maybe I’m forgetting something, but I believe this is only maybe the third or
Favorite lyric: I have a lot of regrets about that
fourth explicitly not-autobiographical song of her career? As much as I’ve been enjoying Taylor’s lyrics more and more,
this is perhaps the jump that I’ve been wanting. Telling other people's stories or telling fictional stories is the jump
illicit affairs - We’re staying with the non-autobiographical tracks here (assuming Taylor is not confessing an actual
between her songwriting and someone like, say, Bob Dylan. She’ll always be limited in the range of stories she can tell if
affair she had to the world here) and what a perfect example of the kind of song Taylor would’ve never written if she was
they’re only ever about her lived experiences, and this might be her standing on the diving board to make that leap. Also,
sticking exclusively to her own experiences. There’s a kind of sourness and resentment in her voice in places here that’s
who doesn’t love that “And then it was bought by me” moment? What a classic folk song twist there at the end. I was so
really great - and as usual, it shines the most on the bridge. I really love that rapid fingerpicked guitar. A lot of the sonic
caught up in this fascinating character portrait that I didn’t see it coming at all. Really made me smile.
palette of this album feels almost metallic, kind of ‘twinkly’, light and high. It really creates such a unique atmosphere -
Favorite lyrics: She had a marvelous time ruining everything / And then it was bought by me
every bit as aesthetically distinctive as Reputation was but in a radically different way than Lover.
Favorite lyric: A dwindling, mercurial high - a drug that only worked the first few hundred times
exile - I’m a big fan of Justin Vernon and Taylor has been consistently challenging my dislike of duets, so this is the
perfect storm for me. I think Justin’s voice goes incredibly well with Taylor’s - so much contrast in depth, but both
delivered with the same airy, heavy timbre. And we get the first great bridge of the album here too, when Justin shows up
invisible string - The lyrics here are stuffed. The Hemingway reference, the sudden emergence of autobiographical
details, the references to her previous albums and her career to-date, and assuring us that Folklore is still a part of the
cohesive story of Taylor despite the ventures into new types of writing. I really enjoy the large variety in cadence
throughout the chorus - some lines are so slow, some are so fast - and then the way everything drops out for a moment
after the bridge, just like it did with august. This feels like a “classic” Taylor song to me, whatever that means.
Favorite lyric: Time, wondrous time, gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies
mad woman - America's Sweetheart just said 'fuck you forever'! Taylor ain't playin' everybody, take a few steps back.
This feels like the angry big sister of Nothing New, the same sarcasm and resentment given a longer leash and coming
from a place of an adult woman who knows exactly who she is rather than a young adult who’s hoping to hold onto
herself long enough to find out. I love how slowly she delivers some of the lines here. Words like “crazy” and “angry”
sometimes take the same amount of time as three or four other words, almost groaning. And it was only revisiting this
track months later, after I learned so much more about Taylor’s life and career, that I really appreciated how biting it is.
Favorite lyric: What a shame she went mad - you made her like that
epiphany - Writing a song about such a pressing current event like this takes some serious courage. Kind of like I was
saying about The Man, it's extremely easy for a song like this to fall flat on its face, or for it to feel patronizing or even
exploitative. Like, “What does Taylor know about the struggles of less-privileged people?” Remember that version of
Imagine that was going around with a bunch of celebrities? Yeah. So it was a bold and dangerous play to make a song like
this, but I think she just barely finessed it. It was really clever to tie it back to historical tragic events and to focus on the
experience of trauma itself and individual moments of tragedy rather than trying to really specifically address COVID
outside of brief allusions. And I just think the instrumental behind this one is just really wonderful - I particularly like the
‘heartbeat’ that rises and falls in the mix and the asymmetrically overlapped vocals toward the end.
Favorite lyric: And some things you just can't speak about
betty - Woah! Okay, woah, woah, woah! From cardigan’s “Standing in my front porch light” we get “I’m here on your
doorstep”, complete with a reference to cardigan’s titular cardigan. And then from august’s “Remember when I pulled up
and said ‘get in the car’” we get “She said, ‘James, get in, let’s drive’”! The idea that we listened to cardigan and august and
accepted that each was its own story, but then to suddenly have them recontextualized later on, and the characters have
names, and we have a whole new dimension to these songs that we thought we knew, I mean… just wow. It’s all
connected. Everything is brought into cathartic clarity, and it’s done with my favorite melodies on the album, just
exceptional storytelling and writing, plus really pure vocals from Taylor (her delivery here is more like the Red and
Fearless TVs than it is like the rest of folklore). A genuine rival to All Too Well as my favorite thing she’s done lyrically to
this point, and I haven’t even mentioned my favorite part of this song yet.
The way the chorus is written is absolutely masterful, full stop. The way it repeats the same “would you” three times for
three different questions, then follows that up by repeating the “in the garden” line as well… it creates this structural
solidity and a really unique flow to the vocals there, but more than that it’s a manifestation of the feeling of relentless,
repeating thoughts - exactly the kind that James is having as he anxiously imagines this scenario. And then! And then she
caps it all off with the classic Taylor trope of rephrasing everything in the final chorus, so all those same repetition tricks
come back but with new words and new meanings: the woulds become much more certain, present, pertinent wills
instead, and the focus shifts from the garden environment to the kiss itself. Just insane. This is next-level shit.
Favorite lyric: Just thinking of you when she pulled up like a figment of my worst intentions
peace - Taylor has talked a lot in her lyrics about how her massive celebrity affects her relationships, but never with so
much emphasis on her concern for the well-being of the other person, and never with so much respect for herself. It’s
really been remarkable to watch a songwriter and lyricist develop so much maturity over the course of the last eight
albums. This is not far from things she was writing on Red, in a way, and yet it’s miles above it. This is also some of my
favorite production on the album. I love how incredibly minimal and patient it is. It feels like Taylor standing in a room
with just two musicians behind her and a little synth ticking away like a clock. The spotlight is all on her voice and words.
Favorite lyric: You paint dreamscapes on the wall, I talk shit with my friends, it's like I'm wasting your honor
hoax - Damn, here's the autobiographical heartbreak. It had to show up sooner or later, and it showed up right at the
end. Faithless love, a hoax to be believed in, akin to being pulled apart. Taylor’s last two albums mostly spoke of her
romantic relationship in a very positive way, but this one’s just a little bit darker. There are some struggles happening.
But this time, unlike with all those songs about exes in the past, she’s staying. She believes in it, even if it’s irrational, even
if she knows she shouldn’t. It’s very much a companion song to peace in that both deal with similar themes and
contemplations around her romantic relationships that she’s sung about in the past, but now, in totally new ways.
Favorite lyric: No other sadness in the world would do
the lakes - What a gorgeous soundscape. So many strings, bowed and plucked, dancing all around Taylor’s voice like
rolling hills and lakes and foliage. She also really broke out the thesaurus for precisely the song in which she's recalling
the Romantic poets of time gone by. For almost anyone else I feel like a line like the Wordsworth one wouldn’t work, but
she lands it somehow. There’s this kind of unabashed sincerity to a topic that can so easily feel cheesy, and with this
whole album behind it and with that really beautiful instrumentation, I just buy it. I’m on board. If anyone can follow in
the footsteps of the romantic poets of the past unironically, it’s Taylor. This is almost too good to be a bonus track - but
on the other hand, it’s perfectly suited as an epilogue to the deeply bittersweet taste that hoax leaves behind.
Favorite lyric: I want auroras and sad prose - I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet
Takeaways from Folklore
Phew, man. I speculated that Taylor might be going back in a country-ish direction at some point, and she kinda did that
here: she went back to pure singer-songwriter stuff with none of the flourishes. In fact, she stripped it down even more
than any of her country records. The production here is so spacious and patient. She gives her voice and the lyrics all this
room to breathe, to really stand on their own. I’ve been listening to her music very carefully in this process, devoting
100% of my attention to it with no distractions except to occasionally pull up some lyrics, and this is the first album
where I feel confident that I caught every single sound on the first listen. It’s all laid bare. There’s no magic curtain. It’s not
hiding anything, and likewise, it has no room to hide. It’s very vulnerable and honest, not just lyrically, but musically.
And I find it really interesting that the album that does that is also the album which is her least explicitly
autobiographical. I wonder if the fact that she was telling stories other than her own, or blending so many stories about
other people with her own story, gave her the confidence to really expose the essence of her craft - the lyrics, the
melodies, the songwriting - to such clear scrutiny. If you dislike any song on this album, you could never say you disliked
it for the production, as I’ve said about some of her songs in the past. The songs each live and die on their lyrics, the
performances of the vocals and the instruments, and whether the melodies develop in compelling ways. It’s really a huge
risk of a record in that sense, although frankly that risk is mitigated when you consider just how fucking good all of those
things are. It’s not that big of a risk when everyone involved in this is peaking at the top of their respective crafts.
This is easily her album with the most consistent highs and the fewest lows. No question. Besides the stark, pristine
production and the unfalteringly strong songwriting (which has been true for her last two albums before this one as well,
in my opinion), her lyrics made a substantial jump here. Songs like the last great american dynasty and betty are absolutely
timeless folk songs, able to stand up to anyone’s, anywhere. I was actually beginning to wonder if I was going to have to
go back and adjust my grading system, because my ‘Lyrics’ grades were so consistently lower than the other two scores. I
thought maybe I was holding Taylor to an unnecessarily high expectation for lyrics as someone who listens to a lot of
lyric-centric music like Joanna Newsom and the Mountain Goats. But no, this album proved that I had it right. I needed to
be saving room at the top for this record. And she still left ample space for tracks like mirrorball and ivy whose strengths
are their emotional, dazzling soundscapes, which somehow don’t feel like abrupt mountains in the quiet field that is this
album, but as perfect, complementary facts that complete the gemstone.
I’m on Taylor’s 8th record and I still feel like she’s improving with each one. I listen to a whole lot of music and I am
certain that I can’t say that about any other artist that I know of. It’s truly an astonishing feat to be topping yourself like
this over and over again.
Evermore (2020) ‘tis the damn season - Wow, the references are really on a roll here. This really is a photobook album. This could easily
be interpreted as a reference back to that boy all the way back in Tim McGraw, the hometown kid with the pickup truck,
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall and of course “the only smiles I’m faking” takes us back to Fearless on The Way I Loved You. It’s such a simple composition,
instrumentally, but it’s deceptively super unique. Taylor brings so much character out of it in those choruses. I
Evermore willow 9 6 8 23
particularly love the double chorus - right when you think the momentum’s going to fall back down for a verse, Taylor
Evermore champagne problems 8 7 8 23 hits you with the, “time flies” and just keeps it going. I can’t recall her doing anything quite like that before and I think it
Evermore gold rush 7 6 8 21 worked super well, blending us right into the bridge, which gently lowers us down to the quietest moments of the song.
Favorite lyric: I won't ask you to wait - if you don't ask me to stay
Evermore ‘tis the damn season 8 7 7 22
Evermore tolerate it 7 8 8 23 tolerate it - Okay, it can no longer be ignored. There’s a real growing melancholy on this record that was absent from
Evermore no body, no crime (feat. HAIM) 6 3 7 16 folklore. Willow was full of infatuation, but since then we’ve had four straight tracks with heavy weights hanging from
them. Even the desires and sources of happiness are bittersweet or questionable, and here we’re in full tragedy. This
Evermore happiness 7 8 9 24
theme of a dissatisfied relationship is weirdly new for Taylor. Like obviously she’s written a ton about breakups and exes
Evermore dorothea 8 10 9 27 and past relationships, but she’s only really described them in the context of them falling apart and ending, like in All Too
Evermore coney island (feat. The National) 8 8 8 24 Well or The Moment I Knew. But here, this troubled, complex, painful, unequal adult relationship described exclusively in
the present tense? That feels like something only a (pardon the reference) much older and wiser Taylor could pull off. And
Evermore ivy 10 9 9 28
I really, really love the high vocals in the second chorus. They just carry the lyrics up to the mountaintop. What a great
Evermore cowboy like me 7 8 7 22 apex of the track: dagger in hand, bleeding, telling him that she’s capable of doing more than he thinks. Hell yeah.
Evermore long story short 7 6 7 20 Favorite lyric: Believe me, I could do it

Evermore marjorie 7 9 10 26
no body, no crime - Woah, what a shift. I'm not very familiar with HAIM, but I have a feeling this might sound more like
Evermore closure 8 8 9 25 a HAIM song than a Taylor song? Very unexpected change of pace, musically and lyrically. Sure, many of the lyrical
Evermore evermore (feat. Bon Iver) 8 7 10 25 themes of infidelity and troubled relationships are obviously connected to the rest of the album, but all that subtlety has
been cast aside for a really, really straightforward, uh, murder story with one of the most explicit narratives of any song
Evermore right where you left me 7 8 8 23
she’s ever written. I do think the instrumentation here is really nice, it’s got such a timeless sound to it, but I’ve been so
Evermore it's time to go 7 8 7 22 very much enjoying her lyrics on these last two albums, and this one just doesn’t do for me what the rest of these songs
have done. It’s a fun track, but I’m hoping it isn’t a reflection of the rest of the record from here.

willow - So this album is clearly something totally different than what we’ve been getting. Every Taylor album since 1989
happiness - Oh yeah. We’re back in the sad, piano-filled woods of scattered memories and crying, angry ghosts. What a
has been a really significant shift in style and most albums have had 2-3 years between them, but here - in the middle of
goddamn beautiful song. The instrumental is simultaneously so gentle and so powerful and it’s a perfect accompaniment
peak COVID - we’ve got a second album released in the same year, and clearly it’s part of the same songbook. We’re in
to her lyrics and the vocal delivery. She’s singing so lightly but in moments it’s behind gritted teeth, like she’s burying a
the same kind of dreamy, forestry mythscape here as we were with folklore, and I’m more than fine with that! Give me
snarl inside her, and all the while those plucked strings, a little louder in the mix and plucked a little more forcefully than
more folklore, yes, please, thank you! And this track has poppier songwriting at its core than just about anything on
you might expect, holding the song taught and tense. Blood, bruise, curses, cries, terror, nightfall, haunting - and a
folklore did. It’s kind of the song I was waiting for from folklore and never got. It’s everything I liked about the production
glorious sunrise, too. A song of such contrast and contradiction and that tightrope strung between and tied back to her
on the best tracks from that album combined with a really catchy beat. What’s not to like?
long-recurring theme of reclaiming or rediscovering her old self, but now turned to face the future far more than it ever
Favorite lyric: Show me the places where the others gave you scars
had been before. Leaving it all behind. This is both the musical and lyrical highlight of the album so far for me.
Favorite lyric: I haven't met the new me yet
champagne problems - The lyrics here are carrying on themes and symbols from the previous song, but they’re also
referencing back to songs on folklore, and even from some older Taylor stuff. This is a quilt and she's patching and
weaving a bunch of stories into something new. I love this new spirit of focusing on telling beautiful stories, regardless of dorothea - I know this is probably a weird take, ‘cause it’s a pretty subtle and subjective thing, but this may be my
whether they describe one specific event in her life, or in anyone’s life for that matter. It feels more dreamy and the favorite Taylor vocal performance of her career to this point. I just love everything about her delivery here, you can feel
emotions really shine through. It’s why all good biopics sprinkle in some fiction. the nostalgia and longing and saudade, and it fits the lyrics absolutely perfectly. Do the Taylor fans talk about this? About
the way she sings “pageant schemes” or those little Dorothea-ah-uh’s? I honestly don’t even really know how to talk about
And man, Taylor’s vocal delivery continues to improve. The way she sings “celebrating” at the end of the second verse… this song. Sometimes music just comes together to make something inexplicable and magical, and the piano here, and
there’s like four emotions packed into one word. I’ve never heard Taylor talked about as a great singer, and she’s not these lyrics - both so vague and so hyper-specific in turns - just transport me.
Adele out there breaking the ceiling with her voice or anything, but man she’s gotten so fucking good at conveying feel
and atmosphere with her delivery. She changes her voice in substantial ways a dozen times in some of these songs As I’ve said before, I don’t exactly relate to Taylor’s lyrics very often, but at their best they make me feel like I do even
(something those big-belting singers rarely do, for the record) which I find actually contributes to the impact of music when I don’t, and never before has she done that so potently than here. By the end of this track I know Dorothea, I
more than a really impressive high note could. remember what we did together, and I miss her. After I first posted this Discography to the subreddit, someone pointed
Favorite lyric: "She would've made such a lovely bride, what a shame she's fucked in the head," they said out that my deep feelings toward this song could be related to the fact that it’s (along with betty, another song I adore)
one of the only tracks she’s ever written from a male perspective, and I’m a guy. I think there’s almost definitely
something to that, and shoutout to that person for piecing together the obvious in a way that I couldn’t do myself.
gold rush - These last two tracks are both unusually cryptic and symbolic for Taylor, and with a very staggered narrative
Favorite lyric: You’re a queen selling dreams, selling makeup and magazines
- little snippets and glimpses at moments in time, brief shots of individual memories. Part of me thinks these two songs
are deeply connected and essentially showing two facets of the same relationship and part of me thinks they’re
completely unrelated and I could sit here and puzzle over it for a long time. And that very fact that I’m compelled to
puzzle over it, that she’s not just laying out the details in a precise sequence, is something we almost never saw
pre-folklore, and that has been cranked up to 11 here. This is a shuffled photobook of a record so far.
Favorite lyric: My mind turns your life into folklore - I can't dare to dream about you anymore
coney island - I said about Cornelia Street that it was one of two songs from Taylor’s discography that I ranked as one of
the lowest songs on the album on my first couple of listens but then it “clicked” and I suddenly realized it was one of the
best. This is the other one. I don’t know what was wrong with me, but this song fell so flat for me at first. Alas, the idiot, it
was me. Like most of this album, it has this beautiful, driving, tense-but-quiet instrumentation, but this one has a more
potent build than any of them so far. By the end you feel like a balloon inflated to the point of bursting.
And just like most of this album, there’s some really great vocal delivery. I particularly like how much Taylor lets words
really simmer before she takes them off the heat, since that’s the way Matt sings all the time. It creates instant vocal
chemistry. That “big cake, happy birthday” line - possibly a call back to “it’s supposed to be fun turning 21” - just, man, this
is proving to be her saddest album by a mile. The heartbreak here isn't revenged, it isn't redeemed. We're right in it, and
it's lingering, and the forecast is calling for more, and it's full of regrets, and all the ghosts from her past albums are
showing up for the haunting.
Favorite lyric: Did I close my fist around something delicate? Did I shatter you?
ivy - She can’t keep getting away with this. Here comes yet another in that series of Delicate, Lover, and august - half
beautiful ballad, half incredibly catchy pop song. And once again, just like with those three tracks, this is just Taylor at her
very best. I love the writing and the imagery, a full commitment to the aesthetic of these two records. I could practically
write every single line of the song as an example here, but just that first verse alone is dripping in this dark cottagecore
energy and crushes my metric of, “Would this work as a poem without any music?”
Then we get an incredibly catchy, sing-along-able chorus, which also has among the best lyrics of any Taylor chorus in her
whole catalog, and then she gives us two different bridges! Two! So the song never sits still, never gets bland, never feels
repetitive. I don’t know how she does it, but she just tops herself again and again with these tracks. Each of the last four
albums has had one of these and they’re like the glistening diamond at the center of the rings, and this is probably my
favorite of them all so far. It’s about as close to perfect as a song can get.
Favorite lyric: I can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland - my house of stone, your ivy grows, and now I'm covered in you
cowboy like me - This is perhaps the very clearest example of how Taylor’s songwriting has evolved. Here’s a country
song, like so many country songs she wrote before, but let’s ask: what’s this song about? I’ve got three different
interpretations and I can find four or five lines in the song that point toward each of them being “correct”. But I think
that’s a mistake - why should any of them be incorrect? It’s a song about tricks and cons, cowboys and love, loneliness
and getting burned - whether that’s Taylor and the music industry, her love interest, or a fictional story of a sex worker or
something. It’s all of them and any of them, because it’s a universal story built on tropes of love and pain and desire and
hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I think her hyper-specific, intensely personal songwriting is really good and kind of her
trademark, and this approach isn’t necessarily superior, but it’s certainly not the kind of thing she ever really did before
these last two records. It’s a far, far cry from Last Kiss-era country Taylor.
Favorite lyric: And the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to fuck this up
long story short - This was kind of unexpected! Some of the most minimalist production on an already very minimal
album, but with the kind of song that you’d expect to be put over a real banger of a backing track. Like, you can tell Taylor
just enjoys writing pop songs and can’t help but write them, and this was absolutely written like a pop song. It’s got that
bright, sing-along hook in the chorus, relatively straightforward lyrics, and the repeated refrain through the outro. No
question this would’ve been a full-on pop jam if it was on an album like 1989 instead. It’s almost like we got the alternate,
acoustic version of the track (like she’s done with several pop songs on previous albums) and just didn’t get the full-on
radio version. I think it’s cool that she made a song like this work and not feel out of place on the album, and the
optimistic, love-centric, pain-is-in-the-past lyrics bring us back to the energy we got from willow and then haven’t really
seen again since. These two tracks are like little windows with golden sun rays shining through them, just barely
illuminating the dark and melancholic cabin that is evermore.
Favorite lyric: Long story short, it was a bad time
marjorie - Jesus. This is the second song of hers after Ronan to genuinely bring tears to my eyes. I’ve said before that I’m
a sucker for slow-building instrumentation, something that spends three or four minutes just very gradually ramping up,
riding one giant wave to the top, and here she does that better than she’s ever done before. This is a Sigur Rós or LCD
Soundsystem-worthy build. And then you combine that with these incredibly simple and beautiful lyrics, reminiscing on
these lessons that she learned and the undying presence of this person in her life, all culminating in a stunning bridge - a
top 5 bridge in Taylor’s whole catalog - where suddenly the lights shine down into crystal-clear focus and we get the
explicit details of all these moments they shared together: dropping “Marjorie” so deep into the track, and then topping
her “and then it was bought by me” from folklore with the heart-squeezing line, “and how you left them all to me.”
But then, as if all of that wasn’t enough (this was already one of my favorite tracks from the album on my first listen, so I
hardly needed any more convincing), on my third or fourth listen, I was reading through the credits for the
instrumentation and songwriting, as I’ve been doing for every track, and discovered that the beautiful, ethereal, ghostly
voice at the end is Taylor’s motherfucking grandmother, Marjorie Finlay. I mean… fuck, man. Unbelievable. What a
beautiful piece of art this is. What a wonderful thing to have wrought into the world.
Favorite lyric: I should've asked you questions - I should've asked you how to be
closure - What a fucking roll she’s on right now. That crunchy, smacking percussion, like digital garbage can lins
smacking together behind such a warm and playful piano line… such an ambitious and unique choice, so unlike anything
Taylor’s ever done before. This song stands on its own, sonically, apart from the whole rest of the album and the whole
rest of her catalog, like some weird Reputation-folklore baby. And these are some of my favorite lyrics on the album so
far, too. She’s really pulling out the snark and fierceness here in a way that she hasn’t done for a little while now. I've
been finding myself wondering, listening to these heartbreak stories that Taylor’s made so very public, if any of her exes
have reached out to make amends over the years - like, “Okay, I need to stop her writing songs about me, let’s make this
better.” And now I know, and I can't help but laugh. Taylor says you can make amends with her ass! She buries hatchets
but she remembers exactly where she put them. You and your closure are both cordially invited to go fuck yourself.
Favorite lyric: I'm fine with my spite, and my tears, and my beers, and my candles
evermore - So, this is the song that brought me here. Some silly, amusement park-themed cover of this, played on a
lute for a Jenny Nicholson video. And I already thought it was beautiful as this ridiculous parody song, but the real
version is just next-level. That core piano melody of this track is one of my very favorites in Taylor’s whole discography,
and the secondary one that comes on top when Justin joins is such a perfect and distinctive complement. Exile felt like a
Taylor song featuring Justin Vernon, whereas evermore feels like a true Taylor-Bon Iver track, a dual artist line,
inseparable from either of their styles. Justin wailing in falsetto, “I’m on waves, out being tossed - is there a line that I could
just go cross?” is the most quintessentially Bon Iver shit imaginable. This track’s both really simple and exquisitely crafted,
a song that feels like it’s the shortest track on the album even though it’s very nearly the longest, just because you’re so
carried away by the piano, by the staggered pacing of the verses (note the way the emphasis is placed on “catching”
despite it being the world in the middle of the bar, etc.), like ocean swells and winter winds. So good.
Favorite lyric: Writing letters addressed to the fire
right where you left me - My immediate, gut reaction to this track was that it reminds me of a lot of her older music.
The hook here and the way the verses are structured feels like something from back somewhere around Red. And then
the lyrics really start unraveling and they’re about being stuck in a moment in time, and they reference back to her being
23-years old, about losing her mind over breakups, and about how that’s all still with her. One never knows whether
these things are intentional, but in my mind they just make a really clever pairing. And this is a track that’s really woven
into these last two albums, connecting more of these narratives together into this complex spider web of songwriting
that’s she’s made here - “Kids and Christmas” from ‘tis the damn season, “I can’t bear witness” from my tears ricochet, and “if
you ever think you got it wrong” from dorothea. It’s also yet another that could’ve been much more of a spark-and-dazzle
pop song in a different era of her music, but here becomes a forceful little whirlwind, barely big enough to fit inside a
diner booth but strong enough to shatter the glass on the table.
Favorite lyric: Breakups happen every day, you don't have to lose it
it’s time to go - We spent the last track stuck in a diner, and we open this track at a table where the dinner is cold. It’s
the little things with Taylor’s lyrics, y’know? It’s the little things. I also prefaced all of my writing here with the caveat that I
know very little about Taylor’s life, so I was likely going to be missing specific details about relationships and such that the
dedicated fans of hers likely know all about, but learning about why the Taylor’s Version records exist put me in the loop
enough to understand the third verse of this track, and I got a little taste of what it’s like to have that, “Oh, she’s talking
about the thing!” moment that I imagine long-time fans get all the time. So that was fun. But mostly, I feel like this track
brings a new and, in my opinion, essential facet on the themes of the album: all these unfinished stories, all these
haunting memories, all this looking back, and here, finally, the acceptance of walking away, and letting it stay unfinished.
Finishing it by walking away. What a perfect conclusion to the album’s thesis.
Favorite lyric: He's got my past frozen behind glass, but I've got me

Takeaways from Evermore

My understanding is that this album was produced roughly simultaneously to folklore, or at least no more than weeks
apart, and that makes sense. They are clearly sister records. The production is just the same and just as stellar, the
songwriting and the lyrics remain the very best anywhere in her catalog to this point, and it still conjures up the same
deeply wistful feelings in this very strange, spacious, sylvan aesthetic. But with that being said, it’s not merely more tracks Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
from the same record. evermore is definitely the darker and the more personal of the two albums. If folklore felt like a
Single Renegade (Big Red Machine, feat.) 7 5 7 19
collection of historical or biographical stories pulled from a dusty tome, evermore is like a well-worn photo album, and in
every picture there’s an ethereal figure standing just in the background, a faint shadow lurking beside Taylor, whispering Single The Joker and the Queen (Ed Sheeran, feat.) 3 2 3 8
all of her fears and concerns, the things that weigh on her, with just enough hope and optimism to remind you that she's Soundtrack Carolina 6 5 7 18
okay, she's just facing some things about herself - like we all were during the pandemic, really.

Nearly every track on this album hits on the same themes of unhealed wounds, unwanted closure, unfinished love
stories, untraveled roads, unseen outcomes, inescapable moments, intractable fetters, things that never ended and so
they never let go. It’s an album of feelings, beliefs, aspirations, and desires lingering without completion. It’s an album of
ghosts - and not the stories of their lives when they were still living, but the stories of their hauntings here and now. And
despite how dark and tragic that all sounds, each of the ending tracks on the album - evermore and it’s time to go - remind
us that “the pain wouldn’t be for evermore” and that “sometimes walking out is the one thing that will find you the right thing”.
Perhaps she’s walking away from some of the ghosts, perhaps she’s learning to live with others, but the suffering that
they cause her is not eternal. This album is a reminder that pain can be managed and wounds can be held in the palm of
another’s hand, if only for a little while. And it’s a reminder that some things that didn’t stay dead, things that are still
alive - if only in your mind - are sources of power and wisdom and inspiration.
This album is just so mature and so thoughtful. The compositions are so beautiful, the lyrics are so carefully interwoven,
spun together into a central thesis more meaningful than Reputation’s, more complex than Lover’s, and even more
cohesive than folklore’s. For an album that could’ve just as easily been the tracks swept up from the cutting room floor of
the folklore studio, in my opinion this is her most singular and purposeful record to this point in her career. It’s her
saddest record but it’s also the one whose hopefulness is the most grounded, whose optimism has the deepest roots. It’s
like a tree nurtured and nourished by grief and heartbreak, whose limbs grew stronger and reached higher for it. Anyone
who has ever dismissed Taylor’s music for being just a bunch of breakup songs, as just radio pop music, as thematically
shallow, as compositionally simple, is buried beneath the vast shadow cast by that tree.
Renegade - Compared to all of Taylor's other featured tracks, this one feels the most like a true Taylor song. Which isn’t
too surprising, given that it’s a collaboration with two people she worked with on her last two albums, so the creative
chemistry and trust was there. Dessner just let Taylor do what Taylor does best, and it worked. This could easily have
been a bonus track on folklore with that twinkling, fingerpicked-and-sliding guitar, the glitchy little percussion hits, and
that catchy, slightly sad-sounding chorus. I think that also makes this my favorite track on which Taylor has songwriting
credits but for which she isn’t the line artist/which isn’t on any of her albums.
Favorite lyric: Is it insensitive for me to say, "Get your shit together so I can love you"?
Carolina - Such a simple and traditional song, so convincingly “classic” sounding that if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve
gotten so familiar with Taylor’s writing style, I almost certainly would’ve thought this was a cover of some song from the
30’s or something. Those old-school, Appalachiany vibes pair really well with the lyrical space that Taylor’s been in for
these last two albums, and I think the end result is gloomy and strange in the best way. I fully expect a bluegrass band to
do a more colorful version of this with a fiddle right at the front of the mix and I think it’s going to be awesome.
Favorite lyric: Carolina pines, won't you cover me? Hide me like robes down the back road, muddy these webs we weave

I fucking love this album.

 It’s also very interesting to consider this meditation on redness that Taylor’s been on for several albums now. Red,
Midnights (2022) obviously, but then the rebuttal of that in Daylight, and now the red’s gone darker and deeper - literally and
Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall metaphorically. I really love these cross-album themes. Taylor’s got this special ability to make it feel like there are strings
tying together all of these songs across her discography and send me scouring for past lyrics like the It’s Always Sunny
Midnights Lavender Haze 7 6 8 21
conspiracy theory meme.
Midnights Maroon 7 6 7 20 Favorite lyric: Sobbing with your head in your hands - ain't that the way shit always ends?
Midnights Anti-Hero 8 7 8 23
Anti-Hero - Taylor’s had some pretty self-critical lyrics in the past, but never anything quite like this. Explicit mentions of
Midnights Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey) 6 5 7 18
depression, saying she never gets wiser, saying that she knows the people around her are going to leave, that she’s a
Midnights You're On Your Own, Kid 8 8 8 24 narcissist who never looks in the mirror. There’s not even a twist here, not even a, “But hey at least I’m…” - nope. It’s an
Midnights Midnight Rain 7 8 8 23 identity crisis. And she pairs those lyrics with the poppiest music on the record so far on the lead single of all tracks. I
think that really gives us a strong idea of the energy and intention that went into this album and some clues about how
Midnights Question...? 7 7 8 22
to interpret things going forward, and it’s clear that evermore’s relatively dark and heavy energy is absolutely still here.
Midnights Vigilante Shit 7 5 8 20 Also, I can’t not mention it: the vocals on the bridge! That raspy, breathless, growl-whisper that lingers into a hiss. We had
Midnights Bejeweled 8 7 8 23 so many fun vocal flourishes on Reputation and Lover which mostly went away for the last two albums, but I’m so
psyched that they’re back.
Midnights Labyrinth 6 5 10 21 Favorite lyric: When my depression works the graveyard shift, all of the people I've ghosted stand there in the room
Midnights Karma 9 8 8 25
Midnights Sweet Nothing 9 9 10 28 Snow On The Beach - “Like snow on the beach, weird but fucking beautiful” has got to be the weirdest simile of
Taylor's catalog since Red. What a strange, strange line to put at the center of a song. Really the lyrics through this whole
Midnights Mastermind 8 9 8 25
track are some of her most peculiar. The description of doing an internet search and the reference to All For You are
Midnights (3am) The Great War 8 7 8 22 really unusual and unlike anything I can remember her having written before. I do like the chorus - it’s really mellow but
Midnights (3am) Bigger Than The Whole Sky 7 7 9 22 also very catchy, and the vocal layering gives it a lot of texture. I’m particularly fond of the post-bridge chorus’ acapella
intro, one of the few moments in the song where you can clearly tell that Lana’s actually on the track at all, and the sound
Midnights (3am) Paris 6 3 7 16 is super dense and shimmery. This song is affirming more than any other so far that this is basically a dream pop record,
Midnights (3am) High Infidelity 8 7 8 23 it is first and foremost concerned with creating a vibe, and that vibe is warm but with an unmistakable hint of sadness,
never allowed to become outright upbeat or optimistic. Even in its most positive moments, lyrically, it’s anchored down.
Midnights (3am) Glitch 7 7 10 24
Favorite lyric: And my flight was awful, thanks for asking - I'm unglued, thanks to you
Midnights (3am) Would've, Could've, Should've 10 9 10 29
Midnights (3am) Dear Reader 5 9 8 22 You’re On Your Own, Kid - Fifth Track Taylor is here, and it’s intense. The recent reflections back on her life and
Midnights (Lav.) Hits Different 9 7 7 23 career as a whole in a very bittersweet way are still absolutely at the front of Taylor's mind. Rapid-fire snapshot
memories, moments in life from childhood through adulthood, love and heartbreak, money and family, loss and fame,
fear and joy. This track is like a time capsule containing the tiniest mementos of her whole life, the things that she can’t
Lavender Haze - We have officially left the forest. From the very first seconds of this track, it’s clear that we’re in for a help but recall all at once in a moment of solitude when her partner’s off at some social thing and she’s alone.
very different vibe than anything we’ve seen for a few albums. If I had to place this track on any previous Taylor record,
it’s closest to what might’ve been one of the chillest tracks on Reputation, maybe? There’s been a trend of her album This is truly a midnight moment, a late night head-hole, and the first moment when I feel like I’m seeing the concept of
openers not being my favorite tracks on the album, but really just setting a strong tone for what to expect going forward, this record clearly: late night reflections and all the pains and worries and regrets that bubble to the surface when the
usually in a fairly stripped down way - almost like a list of ingredients before a recipe, the frame on which the layers and world is quiet and you’re tired and alone. It’s also the first song that has a real build and climax, and I really love her vocal
textures will be built. And this track definitely sets a mood and an aesthetic, and it’s something vaguely like the delivery here too. It’s almost like she becomes her younger self, particularly in the early verses. That singing style and the
melancholy and production spaciousness from evermore with the sonic palette and lyrical vibe of Reputation. It’s timbre of her voice sounds so different from how it has on other tracks, like she’s instilled some kind of youthfulness or
simultaneously not quite as much of a sharp turn as we’ve had with previous album openers while also being perhaps innocence into it. It’s both fairly subtle and also unmistakable once you hear it. Definitely the lyrical, musical, and
the most unique-sounding opening track she’s ever done. execution highlight of the album for me so far.
Favorite lyric: I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this - I hosted parties and starved my body like I'd be saved by the perfect
In other words, while I can’t immediately pin down the vibe here and say that it’s something completely unlike any of her kiss.
previous records (like I could with …Ready For It? or I Forgot That you Existed or the 1), this also sounds much less like
music I’ve heard from other artists than any of those songs did. On top of that, it’s very intriguing lyrically. Is this Midnight Rain - By the time the first verse starts here, it’s already my favorite production on the record. The drums
describing a current, good relationship that you’re trying to hold onto? Or is it a relationship that’s falling apart that you and the synths are so sharp and crystal clear, right at the very top of the mix twinkling in your ears, and the voice
wish was still in the honeymoon phase? I just don’t know yet, and I’m hoping the rest of the record reveals some themes distortion is so cool and so different, once again something that feels like it was pulled from Reputation. And then we get
that help shed some light on this one. Very curious start. lyrics that bring us back to themes explored in evermore, another reference to a family with kids on the holidays like right
Favorite lyric: Get it off your chest - get it off my desk where you left me, and an ex not thinking about her except when she’s on TV, which immediately brought to mind
dorothea. And of course framing herself as seeking pain, as breaking her partner’s heart “‘cause he was nice”, and of
Maroon - The production and mixing here is very interesting. There’s only like three sounds in total,but each of them is chasing fame - more of these reflections on herself from very unflattering angles, like in Anti-Hero.
so continuous, and there’s so much layering on Taylor’s voice, that we get something bordering on a wall of sound effect.
The sonic space is absolutely packed, but it’s only packed with this handful of very wide, resonant sounds. I have trouble Then finally a thesis statement for the record: “I never think of him - except on midnights like this.” I was iffy on the vibe
putting it into words other than by analogy. Instead of a few pots boiling, it’s like a wide pan on a quiet simmer. Instead of the album so far, to be honest. I’ve liked the music, but I haven’t been as crazy about the core aesthetic of the record
of big clouds against an empty sky, it’s overcast, a thin blanket with no holes. It feels almost ambient in that sense, like as I was about her previous ones, but I’m starting to appreciate it now as this theme of liminal, late night reflections is
Taylor is more interested here in creating a vibe and a musical atmosphere than she is in taking us on the ups and downs starting to solidify. Combined with that really bright mix that breaks up the overcast skies with some flashes of moonlight
of a melodic roller coaster, kind of like dream pop tends to do. and a few glistening stars in the sky, this track is definitely another standout.
Favorite lyric: He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain - he wanted a bride, I was making my own name
Question…? - I had to spend 15 minutes pondering over the chorus of this song. If I thought Snow On The Beach had
some of her weirdest lyrics, she’s double-down here. I’ve concluded that how very peculiar I find the situation she's
describing must be exactly what she's intending to communicate: a bizarre, almost inexplicable mix of very intimate and
very social experiences. She's mocked and applauded simultaneously in the middle of these really precious and personal
moments of her life, and that’s a deeply confusing experience with no obvious answer for how to proceed. My answer is
that, no, Taylor, I’ve never experienced anything remotely like that, and your life is probably confusing as fuck.
I’m also curious whether that “I remember” here is a reference to the “I remember” from Out of the Woods and if Taylor’s
connecting back the specific relationship referred to here to the one that she was writing about way back then. It seems
to me that she’s likely reflecting back on multiple different relationships in this album as all these different memories and
pains come back to her in these midnight moments, and that line really stands apart from the rest of the song in such a
distinctive way that I feel like it must be carrying some weight and meaning. And then just putting aside the lyrics, I think
this is another song with much more vibrant and powerful production than the first few on the record had, much more
akin to Midnight Rain, and I personally prefer that.
Favorite lyric: And what's that I heard? That you're still with her? That's nice, I'm sure that's what suitable and right
Vigilante Shit - Oh, this is fun. I said from the first track that this album felt like something of a hybrid between
evermore and Reputation, and this track is the smoking gun. It’s got the simple, intense structure of no body, no crime,
the disciplined venom of closure, but all of the badass run-this-shit energy of a Reputation song. One of the most stripped
down, bare-bones tracks that Taylor’s ever released, nothing but her voice, a drum machine, and a sporadic synth - but
her vocals are spectacular (listen to “on the weekendssss-uh” - so good!) and that synth has so many textures and little riffs
and runs throughout - it’s almost psychedelic in how many strange sounds emerge from it for just a moment and then
dissolve back into the shadows. It really does feel like Taylor’s just in an almost completely dark room, a single spotlight
on her, staring right at you as fleeting, out-of-focus flashes of color appear behind her for just a second at a time. No
denying that this is a vibe and a half.
Favorite lyric: You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them
Bejeweled - The production here reminds me of some things she did on Lover, not to mention the little Miss
Americana-style “Nice!”s in there, while the lyrics, on the other hand, are kind of a combination of the I’m-a-badass energy
from the previous song given a new layer of depth. I think you could read this as a sort of rebuttal of those fears she
expressed in Nothing New, as a self-affirming mantra about making a pop banger after two very lowkey, folk-adjacent
records, or even as a fuck-you to her previous label and as a theme song for reclaiming her work and making new
records without them. Because what makes this song unique is that this isn’t just a song about Taylor being beautiful or
powerful or free, it’s a song about her still being those things. There’s this inherent implication that one might not think
she could do those things anymore, which I really like - or I should say, I like how subtle it is and that Taylor doesn’t feel
the need to spoon-feed us the question to which she’s replying.
And then of course a line like “And by the way, I’m going out tonight,” is just pure Reputation-era don’t-fuck-with-me
energy that I’m a sucker for. On top of that, it’s got the catchiest pop hook of the album so far, and I was a little
disappointed by how the production didn’t really make the first chorus soar, but then the second chorus takes off like
fireworks - like, a-ha! There it is! There’s the classic Taylor pop banger chorus!
Favorite lyric: And when I meet the band, they ask, "Do you have a man?" I can still say, "I don't remember."
Labyrinth - This is the vibe. If this is a record aiming for creating a sonic atmosphere above all else, this is the track that
hits the bullseye. Distant, muddled voices, rising and falling ethereal nothing-noises, a bright trumpeting synth dancing
over the top, glitching and twitching noises - nothing you can put your finger on, just vibes on vibes. This is probably in
the bottom 5 fewest lyrics Taylor’s ever put on a track. She hardly says anything, and most of what she says is the same
refrain over and over, but hitting it from a slightly different angle every time. Some “uh oh”s are in despair, some “oh no”s
are sighed in relief, some “oh”s are practically moaned. Seemingly one of the simplest songs in her whole catalog and yet
one with so much to be found on repeated listens. If you really crank the headphones for this one, it’s like zooming in
with a telescope and finding all these new things just on the edge of visibility. Labyrinthine indeed.
Favorite lyric: Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out - I'll be getting over you my whole life
Karma - "Yeah I cried my heart out in public for the last fifteen years, but now I'm the goddamn Queen of Pop, so you
can't fucking touch me." This is such an anthem and such a message. She’s been through some shit, she’s suffered for
her art, she’s got scars and learned things the hard way, and she’s seen some shit on the climb up the mountain. She’s
watched people get stepped on, she’s watched their fingers slip from the cracks as the other climbers stole their gear.
And now… now she’s seen all those thieves and kickers and betrayers fall down, too. But she’s still there.
This is the kind of song that only like five people on the planet could write with full sincerity and she’s one of them. And
she’s so confident in her position that she can put a line like, “Karma is a cat purring in my lap ‘cause it loves me,” in her
song and it doesn’t even come off as ridiculous, because there’s no one above her to tell her she can’t. This is almost like
a sequel to Mean, 12 years later.
And beyond all of that, I love that weird THX-esque synth sound holding everything together here, and I love how Taylor’s
got two distinct voices for the verses and chorus here. Verse Taylor sounds like she’s just smoked a pack of cigarettes, in
her full raspy, half-spoken voice that I liked so much on parts of the last couple albums, but she pulls her pop chorus
voice out, high and soft, to really sell the way-above-you, “Hope you’re having fun down there, haters” energy. Love it.
Favorite lyric: Ask me what I earned from all those tears, ask me why so many fade, but I'm still here
Sweet Nothing - I want to turn this track into a plush teddy bear and fall asleep holding it. I’m going to have to stop
myself from writing three pages about it, so here goes the short version: I’ve been married for ten years, and there’s this
thing that happens in all long-term relationships, where you develop these almost child-like rituals together. Like some
couples do baby voices, some have really silly pet names, or some other kind of ridiculous thing that would be so absurd
if viewed in some very serious setting by some objective outside observer, but it’s a vulnerability shared between two
people who are completely willing to be silly with one another. This song opens with an “I spy”, a childhood game,
followed by what seems to be an inside joke about a pebble that Taylor and her partner collected and how it might miss
its home. Immediately we’ve got this tiny, precious, intimate, silly moment the likes of which are only found in
relationships that have lasted past the fire and the spectacle and made it into the deep end.
And we get more. Standing in the kitchen humming. A sincere, so-very-simple complement in response to a poem Taylor
wrote. An admission that your persona to the outside world hurts you. The littlest, quietest, and simultaneously most
important and precious moments in a relationship. They’re all she wants from him and it’s all he wants from her. I can
only imagine - as someone who has a fraction of the talent and money of Taylor - how much that sense of someone
wanting nothing from you but those little moments must be absolutely and utterly treasured.
I want to once again stress that I know virtually nothing about Taylor’s love life, but after so many descriptions of
relationships in her catalog to this point, even including some really positive and optimistic and mature ones on Lover in
particular, this is the first time where I’ve heard Taylor write about a relationship and thought to myself, “This is a song
about a serious, long-term, deep relationship,” and, “I’m very happy for anyone who can write a song like this from the
bottom of their heart for their partner.”
And then on top of all of that, the piano melody is spectacular and creates such a light and warm vibe for the song - not
too upbeat, not too subdued, just the right balance of happy and peaceful but in a very calm and neutral way. Every
verse feels completely different and unique, and the chorus is just the right change of pace without interrupting the vibe.
It’s so sing-along-able (I love the “a-runnin’” every time). Then the bridge drops my favorite line of the song and of the
whole album so far, and then the final chorus swells up like a big beautiful sunrise of layered voices and saxophones for
just a moment, just one embrace, and then sets us gently right back down. It feels like a moment of laughing and smiling
looking in someone’s eyes while walking across the room. Beautiful, wonderful… this is everything I want from music.
Favorite lyric: And to the voices that implore, "You should be doing more," to you I can admit that I'm just too soft for all of it
Mastermind - Taylor was conceding to the fates in invisible string, but here? The fates just provided an opportunity -
one that could’ve gone by without incident. But Taylor is not a loose sail in the wind - she's the motherfucking wind. I’m
not sure how this song is typically interpreted, but I, for one, am wholeheartedly convinced that she's not being sarcastic
or disingenuous here at all, even if you might call it being a little playful or a little bit of showmanship, leaning into the
title for the theatrics. But it’s not false and it’s not dishonest. She’s been very self-critical at times on this record, like we
saw on Anti-Hero and Midnight Rain, and I think she believes those self criticisms while still just as much believing the
words of this song 100%, all the way through. And just in case it came off as excessively boastful, she qualifies it at the
end, conceding that her partner was wise to it all along. That’s cute as hell.
And the rumbling, unending bass just droning on in the background against the dancing, glitchy piano creates a really
appropriate backdrop - it sounds like a puzzle, like something that would be playing inside Sherlock Holmes’ head as he’s
putting all the pieces together, and the faint strings that come in at the end are all it needs to go out with a shine. They
brighten everything just enough while hardly even making their presence known. Treating this as the original, intended
album closer, this record really went out with a string of great tracks, and ones that balance each other out thematically
and musically super well and create something much more complex and subtle than I was expecting.
Favorite lyric: I laid the groundwork, and then just like clockwork the dominoes cascaded in a line - what if I told you I'm a
mastermind?
The Great War - I’m remembering back in Blank Space when Taylor said that “boys only want love if it’s torture”, and I
thought I’d probably never really be able to hear that line quite the same way after listening to The Archer and Afterglow,
when Taylor is acknowledging herself as the combative one in past relationships - that she, for a long time at least, only
wanted love if it was torture, too. And this feels like another sequel in this string of tracks (and probably another one or
two I’m forgetting) in which romance is martialized. And here we’re seeing not just an apology from her or a concession
from him, not a victory or a defeat for either of them, but instead a calling off of the troops, because “I really thought I’d
lost you”. Taylor has appreciated the toll of the combat and is wearing an Armistice poppy and is raising the white flag.
It feels like a fitting possible end to that string of love-as-battle songs, the treaty and the remembrance and the vow, and
solidifies some of my assumptions about Taylor’s relationship I made listening to Sweet Nothing. Also, I just love the mix
here - Taylor’s voice is so bright and clear over that rolling percussion, and I love how the drums turn full-on military
drumline to match the warfare theme of the lyrics. It really works.
Favorite lyric: And maybe it's the past that's talking, screaming from the crypt, telling me to punish you for things you never did
Bigger Than The Whole Sky - This is wearing its Mazzy Star influence right on its sleeve and I’m so very okay with
that. This also reminds me a lot of Sad Beautiful Tragic, except turned up in all the places I wish that song was turned up,
and turned down in all the ways I wish that song was turned down. The way the music almost entirely falls out before the
second chorus, that twanging slide guitar, the way the final chorus is just Taylor’s voice and that ethereal wave of sound
behind her, barely even singing at that point, with a full, deep timbre - never before has it felt so much like she’s speaking
directly to the ‘you’ without any pomp or pretense. Just a human voice communicating something that hurts them.
But most of all, this song feels like a less vengeful and much sadder sister to closure: this past relationship that Taylor was
lingering on (whether it was romantic or with her previous record label), still longing for in some quiet ways (“I’ve got a lot
to pine about, I’ve got a lot to live without”), she's now accepting as gone. She did, maybe, just a little bit, need some
closure. But she didn’t need it from him - she needed it from herself. She's grown past it on her own and made peace
with herself and those parts of herself. And if that isn’t exactly the kind of lyrical theme to pair with some Mazzy Star
instrumentals, I don’t know what is.
Favorite lyric: I'm never gonna meet what could've been, would've been, what should've been you
Paris - This song is so difficult for me. On one hand, I think it’s got a pretty good structure, a catchy chorus, and I like
Taylor’s vocal delivery - the whole thing gives big Lover vibes and would’ve fit well on that record… almost too much so,
because it feels really different than anything else on Midnights. And then there’s the thing that really gets me, which is
rhyming “Paris” with “where else”. I just can’t quite get over it. I know it’s such a silly thing to get hung up on, but I’ve
listened to it at least a dozen times and I just can’t get past it. So those two things combine to make this the low point of
the record for me for sure, but it’s still a really decent song. Like, I don’t skip it - I think it’s worth listening to. But it’s one
of only two tracks on her last three records that I’ve had some genuine gripes about, which is unfortunate. Maybe it’ll
grow on me and that little snag I get with those lyrics will fade with time.
Favorite lyric: "Did you see the photos?" No, I didn't, but thanks, though
High Infidelity - I feel like I’ve been doing a pretty good job of keeping track of Taylor’s lyrical themes, and most of
them make me really excited - I really like when I can be like, “Oooh, she’s referring back to X or Y other song!” And one of
those themes is the idea of keeping count or keeping score, and it’s the most puzzling of them all for me. I don’t quite
feel like I fully understand what the score or count is or why anyone is keeping track of it. This track even doubles down
with a reference to a game token and with that almost arcade-sounding synth beat. Did Taylor and an ex break up over
their fiercely competitive Street Fighter rivalry? Has it been Donkey Kong the whole time? It’s all probably metaphorical,
but it’s one of her only such metaphors that feels lost on me.
With that said, I think the lyrics here are full of really interesting things. I love the “dancing around it” - sung in such a way
where it’s clearly both a description of actual dancing but also ‘dancing around’ the truth or a confession of what really
happened - and that reference to April 29th is classic hyper-specific Taylor like we saw a lot more of earlier in her career,
where she’d just name-drop some incredibly exact thing which clearly only the person who inspired the song would fully
grasp. And hey, it’s a really catchy chorus - one of the best hooks on the album - and I really love the oo-ooo-oo’s before
the bridge and the raspy, whispered little miniature bridge itself.
Favorite lyric: There's many different ways that you can kill the one you love - the slowest way is never loving them enough
Glitch - Goddamn do I love everything about the soundscape here. This is almost certainly my single favorite Taylor
track ranked by production alone. The mix is so nicely balanced, the record sizzle is so soft and warm that it practically
sounds like a campfire, the ghostly warped vocals are really colorful and strange and come in like ten different flavors
over the course of the track, the layering on Taylor’s voice is done in a totally different way than I’ve heard on any other
song of hers and, and the guitar and bass come through so subtly and just drop these little dashes of salt and pepper on
everything, seasoning it perfectly.
And then on top of all of that, Taylor’s vocals are just superb here. I’m not one of those people who has an ASMR trigger,
but the feeling this song gives me must be pretty close to those tingles I’ve heard so much about. Oh and then we’ve got
a really distinctive patter and flow to the lines, kind of like that fast-then-slow thing that she did on invisible string, but
with an almost hip-hop inspiration to it here? And it’s full of really fun lyrics and word choices like “situationship” and
“glorious happenings of happenstance”. And did I mention all of that happens in what I believe is the very shortest track
in Taylor’s entire catalog at <2.5 minutes? So nothing overstays its welcome, no trick is used twice, and every moment is
deliberate and special. This is just a little, perfect gem of a song.
Favorite lyric: And I'm not even sorry, nights are so starry - blood moonlit
Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve - What the fuck? This song knocked me onto the fucking floor. I said about marjorie
that it was the second Taylor song after Ronan to actually bring me to the verge of tears, but this one actually full-on
made me cry. I cried. Those previous two were these really slow burns and beautiful and I felt these emotions welling up,
but this one? This one carried me on a giant wave, sunk its hooks into me on that giant buildup, had me distracted, and
then just absolutely demolished me. What a fucking song and what a fucking performance from Taylor.
After the first verse I was vibing with that rolling drum and those layered guitars, but I was really caught off guard by how
big the chorus was. That chorus just comes in and lifts the song to heights that no other song on this album reaches.
That music and Taylor’s vocal delivery just come together in perfect unison, and the hook is so, so good. The way she
sings “I woulda stay-ee-ayed”, the way her voice raises and then drops again through the, “And now that I’m grown, I’m
scared of ghosts” line, and then the way she starts to really punch the words out in the pre-chorus lines are all so
effective, and the whole time you’re captivated by her vocal delivery, the music is quietly building and building. Then we
hit the bridge and at that point we’re fucking flying, and she’s throwing out three rapid-fire lines followed by two slow,
lingering ones to create these mini-builds and mini-releases within the larger structure of the song.
And then… is it a third verse? A second half to the bridge? The first two lines come out the way you’d expect, and then her
voice shifts up to this whole new place where it hasn’t been for the entire record and takes on this tone that feels like
wincing and pleading, almost a cry, and drops those final two lines before just shoving “It was mine first” directly into my
heart and holding it there for what felt like a thousand years. One of the best vocal performances of her career, one of
the best musical build-ups of her career, and one of the best lyrics of her career, all hitting at the exact same time.
Somehow Taylor wrote a sequel to Dear John, already one of her best songs, and unquestionably topped it. I’m just
gobsmacked. I’ve listened to like 200 Taylor Swift songs at this point and somehow I wasn’t ready for this one.
Favorite lyric: Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts - give me back my girlhood, it was mine first
Dear Reader - Boy oh boy have I just been in love with so much of the production on the latter half of this album. This
is so sharp and crisp - those drums are snapping, the synths are simmering, and the layers and effects on top of Taylor’s
vocals are absolutely wild here. She brings her voice so deep in a few moments here in a way that I’m pretty sure is just
her natural vocal range - but then it goes all over the fuckin’ place. Her voice is the lead instrument on this track. And
beyond just her voice, we’ve got a ton of other little colorful flourishes. It feels like almost every single little quirk from
every other song on the album came back for a reprise here, even Bejeweled’s little Alvin and the Chipmunks voice.
But beyond that really pretty production, this is just a really appropriate conclusion to an album that’s clearly been
reflecting on a lot of different parts of Taylor’s life: a letter to her past self, the closest thing to a literal diary entry she’s
given us as an artist whose catalog often feels like a diary. And those words that she has for her younger self - or for any
listener who might be standing in similar shoes to those that she once stood in - genuinely wise, thoughtful, clever, and
considerate. And yet, “You wouldn’t take my word for it if you knew who was talking.” Simultaneously a reflection on her
own image of herself and of the distinction between her real self and the persona, the character, of Taylor Swift. She’s
looking at herself looking at herself, and just like from the very first track of this record, exactly how happy she is with the
situation she’s in is left very ambiguous. This might be the “3am version”, but this is a track for just sliding into bed at
6am with the sun already coming up, half-human, half-illusion, mind fluttering on the precipice between disaster and
clarity, too tired to cry, too overwhelmed to sleep.
Favorite lyric: And if you don't recognize yourself, that means you did it right
Hits Different - I love how raw and blunt the lyrics here feel - like she's just being much more candid, not forcing
rhymes, passing on opportunities for flourishes in word choices. A line like “asshole outlaw” is just there because that’s
what Taylor felt like, alright? Who cares if it rhymes? She’s just got some stuff to say right now. There’s so many fun, silly
lyrics in this song that I could just list like seven of them, and most of them have a slightly strange pacing or rhyming, and
look - if you’ve got any issue with it, you’re about to get smacked with the single catchiest chorus on the whole record, so
you don’t care. This chorus is so catchy that I’m truly baffled that this track was an exclusive. This could easily be a single
with a music video and everything and people would be singing along to it in every sorority party across the country, and
I didn’t even know it existed until I’d already heard this album five or six times.
Midnights somehow is an album with three closing tracks (Mastermind, Dear Reader, and Hits Different) and it’s like one of
those Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books where each one really leaves you on a very different tone and with a different
sense for what you should be taking away from the record as a whole.
Favorite lyric: Bet I could still melt your world - argumentative, antithetical dream girl
Then of course there’s a handful of super catchy hooks here as well and even a few real singalong pop tracks. On top of
that, this record has 2 or 3 of my 10 favorite songs from her whole catalog on it. I don’t know whether I’d say that this
album tops folklore or evermore (I’m curious to go back and analyze all my scores now and see how that all shakes out),
but certainly it might just, and I think it must be in very close contention with them at any rate. It’s truly astonishing how
she’s released ten records now and not only have they, in many ways, gotten better each and every time, but that she
just has not missed even once. I no longer believe that she ever will. She’s just too good, and she’s working with other
people now who are also just so, so good at what they do. Jack and Aaron combine with Taylor to create pure magic.
I haven’t the slightest clue what’s in store for us next from Taylor, but the one thing I know for sure is that I’m going to be
ecstatically awaiting it when that time comes. I’ve got ten albums to hold me over until then, all of which are effectively
brand new to me, but even ten records don't feel like enough. May Taylor continue making music forever, and may that
deep and quiet happiness that shined through in moments on this record be hers to keep. She sure has earned it.

Takeaways from Midnights

After the first few tracks of this record, I was wondering about what its musical identity was going to be. I was catching on
to the lyrical thesis of the album - late night reflections about past and current relationships and struggles in her life - but
the album cover and the sonic palette weren’t giving me some really clear aesthetic in the way that every record since
1989 had done. And while it did start to take on that identity later on (interestingly, I think the musical signature of the
album and its distinctive production style and quirks really shine through clearest in the 3am tracks, so songs not
technically on the ‘base’ album), I think that feeling I had of it not having quite as potent and unmistakable of a musical
identity as her previous records was actually both correct and purposeful.

Midnights is not like Taylor’s other albums. 1989, Reputation, Lover, and Folklore+Evermore each felt like they were
Taylor reinventing herself. The way she talked about herself, the way she talked about her life, the opinions she
expressed, the metaphors she used, the instruments she chose, the types of songs she wrote - you could watch her take
off one hat and put on another and say, “Now I’m Dark Taylor,” and, “Now I’m Bubblegum Taylor,” and, “Now I’m Cottage
Poet Taylor,” etc. But I think somewhere in the process of folklore and evermore, which are just such beautiful and
mature records and so clearly reflect her coming into her own as a songwriting and a creator, that pattern died out. I’m
not sure she feels the need to reinvent herself anymore, and I think that should’ve been obvious from the very existence Album Song Songwriting Lyrics Execution Overall
of evermore, but it took me until deep into Midnights to realize it.
Single The Alcott (The National, feat.) 5 7 7 19
Why doesn’t she feel that need? I don’t know, that’s Taylor’s business. Maybe the reinventions were things she did for the
public, for her fans. Maybe it was a need to feel like she wasn’t Nothing New, something to be discarded by the music The Alcott - It’s not much of a surprise that feels so much like Coney Island, is it? And just like Coney Island, this track
industry and her fan base for not having some novelty to bring to the table. Maybe it was a personal quest of figuring out took me a good few listens to really “get”. The melody is subtle and slow and I had to let it sink in for a while, to tune into
exactly who she was as an artist and what kind of music she wanted to make. Maybe it was a journey to find out what the frequency they were operating on. But I learned to really like the way it builds these increasingly dense layers, made
kind of person she is. Maybe it was just the normal thing that almost everyone goes through in their 20’s of just learning of only a few very simple parts. Taylor and Matt’s voices are so different, and so giving her a different cadence for her
about and finding a lot of cool new shit and wanting to try it all and find out how you feel about things. Maybe - almost lines really helped to make them feel totally separate and completely intelligible even when they overlap. I also
certainly, really - it’s a little bit of all of those. appreciate that they brought Taylor in on a song that’s sung to a girl with a “golden notebook” - that’s her, alright.
Favorite lyric: Everything that’s mine is a landmine
But what’s clear to me is that Midnights is an album of a grown-ass woman who knows who she is and who is just
interested in making the record that she’s interested in making. Whether it comes with a reinvention and some potent,
distinctive shift in image is not so important anymore. She’d been reflecting on those sleepless nights over the course of
her life and she realized she had more things to say about them and new perspectives on them. And I think it’s quite
likely that she also felt empowered to weave those narratives in new ways after she explored non-autobiographical
songwriting on the last two records, and felt like she still had a lot of raw materials for crafting new things with. And so
we get Midnights, an album which in some ways is perhaps the most authentic record to date, because it was made
without those thoughts about branding and reinvention. It also leaves me very unsurprised that, as a record that’s about
reflecting on all her past records and isn’t striving so hard for a singular identity of its own, that the tour scheduled to
accompany it is a tour about her full catalog and her whole musical career as opposed to just a Midnights Tour.

All of that is speculation, of course, but what’s not speculation is that I think this is a really great record, as good as any
that she’s ever released. Only a single track is anywhere close to a skip for me and it’s a strong contender if not an
outright winner for the best production of any Taylor record. The lyrics at their best hold up to anything she’s done
before, too, and I think the lyrics here are deeper and subtler and more mysterious than anything from any other album.
Is she happy? Is she in a really dark place? Is her relationship thriving? Is it falling apart? All of those seem like realistic
possibilities, and frankly, she’s got a complicated life - it could be all of them. This album leaves room for uncertainty and
exploration and revisitation and reinterpretation to a degree that none of the others did, and I’m going to be dwelling on
these lyrics for a long time to come.
Discography Final Thoughts Unrated #140 - The Last Time #67 - Dear Reader
Ronan #139 - The Very First Night #66 - the last great american dynasty
This whole experience has just been incredibly unexpected. Soon You’ll Get Better #138 - How You Get The Girl #65 - epiphany
Christmas Tree Farm #137 - Ours #64 - The Man
#136 - The Other Side Of The Door #63 - Our Song
I thought I was going to end up listening to each album once, vibe with a couple singles here and there, and 4-7’s #135 - This Love #62 - Treacherous
#134 - I Know Places #61 - Look What You Made Me Do
#202 - Beautiful Eyes
maybe - if I was lucky - find one album that I really enjoyed all the way through, and that would be that. I’d #201 - The Outside
#60 - The Great War
#200 - A Perfectly Good Heart 18’s #59 - Death By A Thousand Cuts
have a dozen new songs that I could add to some playlists and I’d consider that a success. #199 - Sweeter Than Fiction #133 - The Story of Us #58 - London Boy
#132 - Carolina #57 - seven
#198 - Both of Us
#131 - Sad Beautiful Tragic #56 - cardigan
#197 - A Place In This World
#130 - Never Grow Up #55 - Blank Space
Instead, I’ve somehow just found the artist with the single largest number of albums that I enjoy front-to-back #196 - Today Was A Fairytale
#129 - White Horse #54 - Gorgeous
in my entire life. I listen to a lot of fucking music, everything from the Grateful Dead to Death Grips, from 8-9’s #128 - Mr. Perfectly Fine #53 - cowboy like me
#52 - Style
#127 - Snow On The Beach
#195 - Breathe
Twice to Kamasi Washington, from Fiona Apple to MF DOOM, and there is no other artist with this many #194 - Cold As You
#126 - 22 #51 - I Think He Knows
#125 - Fifteen #50 - ‘tis the damn season
#193 - The Joker and the Queen
tracks and this many albums that I enjoy this much. It’s always a privilege to discover a new artist that you #192 - Best Days of Your Life
#124 - Message In A Bottle
#123 - The Moment I Knew 23’s
enjoy, doubly so if they have a back catalog with a lot of good music in it, but finding a new artist with a #191 - You’re Not Sorry
#122 - Don't Blame Me #49 - Paper Rings
#190 - Superstar
#121 - Dancing With Our Hands Tied #48 - New Year's Day
discography that pretty much instantly ascends to your favorite of all-time? That makes a run for the #1 spot? #189 - Jump Then Fall
#120 - Babe #47 - The Lucky One
It’s the kind of thing that happens only a couple times in your whole life. 10-11’s
#119 - Bye Bye Baby #46 - tolerate it
#118 - Last Kiss #45 - All Of The Girls You Loved Before
#188 - I’m Only Me When I’m With You
#44 - High Infidelity
#187 - We Were Happy
19 ‘s #43 - invisible string
Every album since Speak Now landed at least two songs in my top thirty Taylor tracks. She’s made about #186 - Tied Together With A Smile
#117 - Safe & Sound #42 - peace
#185 - I Don’t Wanna Live Forever
#116 - Hey Stephen #41 - Midnight Rain
twenty songs that I consider flat-out masterpieces, the kind that most artists are lucky to have one or two of. #184 - Invisible
#115 - The Best Day #40 - Anti-Hero
#183 - Better Than Revenge
#39 - champagne problems
Her discography covers an incredibly diverse range of pop music, something for every mood and every vibe. #182 - Wonderland
#114 - Begin Again
#38 - Lover
#113 - End Game
Want something chill to put on during a cold morning? She’s got you covered. Want something for a sunny 12-13’s
#112 - The Alcott #37 - right where you left me
#111 - Red #36 - Bejeweled
#181 - Stay Beautiful
afternoon road trip? Got that. Need a record to keep your head above water at 2am when all your #180 - Change
#110 - Call It What You Want #35 - Hits Different
#109 - I Did Something Bad #34 - the lakes
least-favorite memories come back to you at once? She’s got you. She’s got songs for the blues and burning #179 - You All Over Me
#108 - this is me trying #33 - willow
#178 - Tell Me Why #32 - I Bet You Think About Me
#107 - Picture to Burn
reds, for pitch-black nights and for purple-pink skies. #177 - Welcome To New York
#106 - Renegade #31 - Wildest Dreams
#176 - Run #30 - Mean
#105 - Fearless
#175 - Haunted #29 - Forever Winter
#174 - Don’t You
I finished this project with a deep feeling of gratitude, just honored and delighted to have found this catalog of 20’s
#104 - New Romantics 24’s
music that I connect with so much and so unexpectedly, and that I could confidently say that I’m going to be 14’s #28 - You're On Your Own, Kid
#103 - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
#173 - I Heart ? #27 - Glitch
#102 - It's Nice To Have A Friend
hanging out with these records for the rest of my life. #172 - Innocent
#101 - ...Ready For It? #26 - exile
#171 - Only the Young #25 - Daylight
#100 - Vigilante Shit
#170 - Bad Blood #24 - happiness
#99 - New Romantics
#169 - If This Was A Movie #23 - my tears ricochet
#98 - mad woman
#168 - Come Back… Be Here #22 - Clean
#97 - Maroon
#167 - Beautiful Ghosts #21 - coney island
#96 - the 1
#166 - Superman #20 - Dear John
#95 - You Belong With Me
#165 - All You Had To Do Was Stay
#94 - Better Man
#93 - Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince 25’s
15’s #92 - illicit affairs #19 - Karma
#164 - Starlight #91 - long story short #18 - evermore
#163 - Eyes Open #17 - Delicate
#162 - Mary’s Song (Oh My My My)
21’s #16 - Nothing New
#161 - Teardrops On My Guitar #15 - The Archer
#90 - Afterglow
#160 - Should’ve Said No #14 - closure
#89 - False God
#159 - Stay Stay Stay #13 - Mastermind
#88 - State of Grace
#158 - Forever & Always #12 - mirrorball
#87 - So It Goes…
#157 - Girl At Home #11 - Cornelia Street
#86 - Dress
#156 - ME!
#85 - Out Of The Woods
#155 - That’s When
#84 - King Of My Heart
#83 - Labyrinth
26+
16’s
#154 - The Way I Loved You
#82 - Love Story #10 - marjorie
#81 - Holy Ground
#153 - Crazier #80 - Untouchable #9 - Cruel Summer
#152 - Back to December #79 - Speak Now
#151 - Paris #78 - gold rush #8 - dorothea
#150 - You Are In Love
#149 - Come In With The Rain
#77 - Long Live
#76 - Lavender Haze
#7 - august
#148 - I Wish You Would
#147 - no body, no crime
#75 - I Forgot That You Existed #6 - Getaway Car
#74 - Enchanted
#146 - Sparks Fly #5 - Sweet Nothing
22’s
17’s #73 - Shake It Off
#4 - betty
#145 - Tim McGraw
#144 - Mine
#72 - Question...? #3 - ivy
#71 - hoax
#143 - Everything Has Changed (feat. Ed Sheeran) #70 - it's time to go #2 - Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve
#142 - I Knew You Were Trouble #69 - This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
#141 - I Almost Do #68 - Bigger Than The Whole Sky
#1 - All Too Well
 Taylor Swift Videography Deep Dive
So when I posted that Discography Deep Dive to Reddit back in late January, it received both a really warm
reception (thank you to everyone who said nice things about it!) and also one very common response: a ton of
people were directing me to particular music videos or performances, saying that I didn’t even know how
good X or Y song really was until I heard the tour version, or that I would really learn to appreciate the detail
of her craft and the meaning of a song once I saw the work she put into the music video for it. Other people
told me that they were excited for “part 2” when I explored the rest of her creative output.
So I thought to myself, hey, I guess I’m gonna actually do that. I’ll deep dive into all of Taylor’s music videos
and live performances and review them just like I did for the records. I’ll get that part 2 out for folks real quick!
Uh…
Funny thing about that.
Taylor Swift, it turns out, has over 300 recorded song performances and music videos. That’s about 100 more
things to review than in the original Discography Deep Dive, and now there’s this whole visual dimension to
everything, and now I know a lot more about Taylor’s life and I’m much more familiar with her music, and so I
had a lot more to say about almost every performance than I did about most songs… and it just kind of got
out of hand. I apologize for the wait. But, I did it!
I did the thing!
This is Part 2. This is the deep dive into Taylor’s Videography, from her first music video in 2006 to her last
music video in 2023, and with all the tours and live performances and long-form videos that I could possibly
find in-between.
I graded everything on a simple 1 to 10 star system this time, because I felt like using a more complex system
was producing results that didn’t reflect my actual feelings about the songs. I graded each music video on the
considerations of:
1. How entertaining is it? Is this an engaging piece of visual art unto itself?
2. How well did it complement the music? Did it reflect the lyrics or add new facets of meaning?
3. Will I realistically watch this again the next time I want to listen to this song?
And then in addition, for live performances:
4. How technically proficient was it? Were the vocals and instrumentation impressive?
5. Would this version be worth listening to without the video on at all? Does it hold up as a piece of music
without anything else happening on the screen?
The way I broke down each performance and video is as follows:
A key aspect to this is that I’m trying not to rate these performances or videos in any way based on my
preference for a given song. I’ve tried to put my song ratings entirely out of my head and simply rate each of
these on the quality of the performance and/or the visuals and how well they complement the music and
themes. That said, I think this is inevitably impossible and I will be biased toward songs that I really like, at
least a little bit, so I’ve disclosed my song ratings next to each performance or video so you can be aware of
my potential biases when reading. If you think I underrated or overrated a performance and you look at my
song rating and think I also underrated or overrated that song, that’s probably my bias. Or we just disagree!
It’s also worth mentioning that Taylor did a lot of TV show performances (The Late Show, the Tonight Show,
etc.) early on in her career, and I only included a handful of those here because performances on shows like
that tend to be really straightforward, just promoting singles and not really designed to be unique or
stand-out individual performances. They’re the only performance of any kind with quality recordings available
that I didn’t include 100% of, to my knowledge. But if there are any such performances that you know of that
are particularly special and worth watching, please let me know! I’m obviously interested!
Oh, and last thing to note: I went as chronologically as I possibly could here, but I also wanted to keep all of
my reviews of a given song (its music video and all of its live performances) together, so there are some very
minor jumps in time. The only exception to this is that, for every era that had a tour, I saved that as the very
last thing I watched. All performances and videos are time stamped for your clarity.
 Academy of Country Music Awards (May 2007)

Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

First, it has to be said: boy oh boy have Taylor’s vocals improved
over the years! This is about a million miles away from 2022
Taylor’s vocal abilities. Her singing here is never outright bad,
she’s not missing notes left and right or anything, but there’s
certainly a lack of finesse that stands out in contrast to even the
studio recordings, let alone her career in the years that followed.
For that reason, I really do like the choice of the twelve-string
guitar. It feels important for such a bare-bones performance like
this, with her voice having not come into its own yet, to make
sure the guitar sound is rich enough to hold its own (the studio
version has some little flourishes that help round out the sound
that she doesn’t have here - it’s really just this 17-year old and her guitar on national TV).

I wouldn’t say Taylor seems outright uncomfortable to be performing there, she’s clearly not relaxed. This is her first
live television performance, I assume - or at least the first one with such a large audience - and you can feel it in the
body language. But then with those inevitable nerves, she goes up and plays the final part of her song like six feet away
from the man himself, Tim Motherfucking McGraw. And yeah I know this was all choreographed and Taylor didn’t just
go spontaneously decide to do this, maybe she even met him beforehand, whatever, who cares - there’s no way that
wasn’t a mind-blowing moment for her to be doing that in the moment, but she swallows her nerves and finishes
strong, and even gives us a little lyric twist with, “And when you turn the ACM’s on” (I’m such a sucker for changing lyrics
for the context of the performance like that). Shoutout to whoever at the ACM’s came up with this concept - the “Hi, I’m
Taylor,” and the hug from Tim and Faith. Really endearing and adorable as a viewer and undoubtedly an unparalleled,
incredible moment for a 17-year old who most people still had never heard of.

So while this certainly wasn’t a stand-out from a musical performance perspective, this video is cute as hell and feels

Tim McGraw like an important hallmark of her early career. Her first single culminating in meeting the very person at the center of it
at the ACM’s is pretty special.
Music Video (July 2006)

Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Teardrops On My Guitar

This isn’t a particularly remarkable music video and I didn’t really Music Video (February 2007)
expect it to be - but it really did remind me right from the start
just how ridiculously young Taylor was when she started out. Like, Song Rating 15 / 30
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
“Ah yes, these are children.” It’s no surprise then that there’s not a
This is really a song that was begging for a music video, so it’s no
ton of performance here, Taylor and ‘Johnny’ are not exactly
surprise that it just works. The little clip at the beginning
professionals at this, and it’s mostly devoid of facial expressions.
introducing Drew as a boy with a crush on some girl other than
Taylor is a total of maybe ten seconds and yet sets the stage
We do at least get that one moment where Taylor looks at him,
perfectly, giving us everything we need to know for the entire
then down at their hands, which I felt was filmed and acted pretty
premise of the song. We get way more emotion and acting from
well, and I appreciated the pacing of the cuts during the bridge,
Taylor here, too - even outside of the ‘acted’ scenes in the high
which helped to accentuate the swelling intensity of the music
school: the heartbroken frown laying in bed, throwing her arms to
and the lyrics in that moment. The shots by the pond with the reflections of the pink sky, that brief flash of fireflies
the side and arching over to really convey the emotion of the
behind them as they walk down the road, and the starry sky were all nice touches too.
lyrics.

I don’t have any particular sense for what they could’ve or should’ve done differently - I think with a cast of 17-year olds
There’s nothing too fancy or sophisticated going on here, no spectacular visuals or anything, but it all just works. The
making a pretty safe, classic pop-country ballad, they made a pretty safe, classic pop-country video, complete with dirt
video convincingly stages Taylor as a heartbroken high school girl with a crush on this boy, she acts that part, and that’s
roads and a pickup with a column shifter. Makes sense to me. So, yeah, of the music videos I’ve seen, that was certainly
exactly what the song is about. Boxes checked.
one of them.
Our Song I’m Only Me When I’m With You
Music Video (November 2007) Music Video (February 2008)

Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Song Rating 10 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

This is a pretty significant shift from the previous two music
videos. Whereas the last two relied primarily on the storytelling of
the visuals themselves, this one forgoes that entirely for
essentially abstract visuals that have nothing to do with the
places and events described in the lyrics. On one hand, I don’t
love that - I think country music is really well-suited for visual
storytelling in music videos - but on the other hand, Taylor carries
this video with her charisma.
Compared to the previous two videos, she’s really full of charm
and laying on the sly facial expressions, cocking her eyebrow,
tilting her neck, going full performer mode. I honestly didn’t think she had that level of performativity in her yet, but she
really keeps your attention the whole way through with a confidence and ease that’s hard to fake. But of course, with
that said, if you’re not captivated by Taylor herself… there’s really not anything else for you here. We certainly don’t get
any of the descriptions in the lyrics brought to life by visuals - no screen doors are slammed and no windows are
tapped upon. And while I think the porch stoop shots with the big princess dress are well-composed and Taylor’s
performances there are fun, and the bed-of-roses shots are fine (if maybe a pinch on the objectifying side for a
teenager), I’ve got the most mixed feelings about those white studio shots with that black dress and the evening gloves.
That’s, uh… that’s a look, I guess!
Country Music Awards (November 2007)
Not too much to talk about with this one. What mostly stands out
is just another reminder of how incredibly young Taylor was for
this first album cycle. She’s a kid acting like a kid, filming videos
like a kid, doing kid shit. And at the same time she’s performing at
the CMA’s and touring the country and releasing music videos. It’s
just so ridiculously early in your life to be having that level of
fame and to be having your whole world turned upside down.
I was just discussing this with my wife (who, as an aside, has
shown saintly patience for me bringing up Taylor Swift, somehow,
in every conversation we’ve had for the past month): how many
people who get that famous that young end up being well-adjusted, thoughtful, reasonable adults? It’s a pretty damn
small percentage. I can list a dozen who got seriously fucked up by the industry and by that experience right off the top
of my head, and I can think of maybe two or three, including Taylor, who ended up being, by all accounts, genuine and
healthy people. That’s what this video makes me think of - a testament to the miracle that is Talyor’s sanity. I should
hope she’s every bit as proud of that as she is of her accomplishments as an artist, because without it, they’re not
worth much.
Should’ve Said No
Academy of Country Music Awards (May 2008)

Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Song Rating 15 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Wow! I loved everything about that. I loved the black hoodie -
I have no one to blame but myself for talking shit on the evening
such a dramatically different look than anything she’d ever done
gloves - but hey, it works much better without the garish white
to this point. I loved the pull-away to the dress and was sure that
studio lights and with dramatically better makeup.
was the ‘big moment’ of the song - and then the fucking rain!
Crazy! What a wonderfully designed performance.
This performance is a little awkward. On one hand, she’s clearly
gotten so much more comfortable performing on stage. On the
Taylor had none of that awkwardness from the CMA’s. She was
other hand, she’s not great at it yet. It feels a little unnatural, you
fully in control of that performance and had the audience in the
can read the beats of the choreography too clearly. It lacks a
palm of her hand from the start. The moment at the end of the
certain ease and believability. You can kind of see the thought
bridge, the final “Was she worth this?”, she puts on such a curious
process of, “Okay stop pretend-strumming and twirl your hair in
expression. She’s looking at you like she’s got some trick up her
3… 2…1…” That vibe isn’t helped by the audio. While it’s certainly
sleeve, like you’re not expecting what’s about to happen, and she’s goddamn right about that. She just sells it perfectly.
commendable that these vocals were very clearly done 100% live and there’s hardly any backing to support her (the
It’s hard to overstate the jump in performative skill over the last six months. And sure it’s helped by the ACM folks
singing itself is somewhere between passable and forgivable) a problem with either the mic or the mix has resulted in a
planning out a more interesting performance, but it only works so well because Taylor runs it like a total pro.
lot of rustles and background noises and unscreened breathing that certainly does not help in making things feel
smooth and natural. (To be clear, preventing this from happening is not Taylor’s job - someone else dropped that ball.)
And my favorite part isn’t even any of that - it’s after the performance ends. Taylor is so genuinely shocked and
The pseudo-Southern accent is also feeling a bit touch-and-go here. It’s just not quite right, you know?
delighted with the audience’s reaction. She’s having her mind absolutely blown, she doesn’t even know what to do with
herself. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone so happy in my life. And she should be - look at that giant, incredibly
The whole performance has got a sort of Baby’s First Big Show energy to it, which is endearing in its own way, but my
genuine grin on George Strait’s face! He’s like, “That’s the coolest shit I’ve ever seen at a country awards show!” When
guess is that Taylor would find this performance more difficult to watch than most. She’s trying harder than she’s
you’re a teenage country singer and you just made George Motherfucking Strait’s whole night and got a standing
capable of delivering at this point. You’re rooting for her but you know she’s not quite there yet.
ovation from the ACM crowd, you don’t get any higher than that. It’s just so fun to watch.
Picture To Burn Academy of Country Music Awards (April 2009)
Music Video (March 2008) Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ There’s not all too much to talk about with this one - she only gets
one verse and one chorus here as part of a large, multi-artist
That was fun! Taylor’s charisma at the ACM’s was not a fluke - performance. That said, in that short bit of time she’s matching
she’s just got the X factor now. I really wasn’t expecting her to the veteran performers up there with no issue and doesn’t feel
have it this early in her career, but she totally does. Really one bit out of place. I’d also like to note that the cameras cut to
high-energy, colorful performance from her here, both in the George Strait during the line in Play Something Country that
studio shots and sitting on the couch, selling all of the anger and references him and even with his own name being sung on stage
confidence and sass of the lyrics the whole way through. he’s smiling 1/10th of the smile he had watching Taylor stomping
in the rain at the ‘08 ACMs. Some say he’s never smiled that big
The guy licking the fucking silverware cracked me up, then the girl again to this very day.
spitting the mouthwash back into the bottle. Genuinely funny and
unexpected, and it’s impressive that they managed to make those Taylor returns for a very brief reprise for the last few lines of Play Something Country, sharing a mic stand with Ronnie
fully comedic moments work without ruining the whole vibe of it Dunn, and she’s having a lot of fun up there and really helping to put on the show, but her vocals are completely
being a ‘fuck you’ kind of song. And I really loved the ending - the dream-like swap of the boy and her friend saying her undetectable in the mix. And then that’s it - short and sweet.
name and the reveal that it was all a fantasy. It’s a perfect fit for the lyrics and really puts a bow on the video as a
cohesive, complete story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Beautiful Eyes
Without a doubt my favorite music video of hers to this point.
Music Video (June 2008)

CMT Music Awards (April 2008)

Song Rating 4 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Yes, of course, I expected this video to feature a lifted,
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ bubblegum pink Silverado, several appearances from John Rich,
Woah, I really didn’t expect that blues-inspired intro! Such a and the Electric Slide. Totally, yeah. Of course I did.
different vibe than anything I’ve ever heard from her. She really
got those notes, too. If she’d been even slightly off with those she This video is a lot like the I’m Only Me When I’m With You One in
would’ve had nowhere to hide, but no, she hit ‘em all. Once she that the main takeaway is just what a crazy life Taylor has had. My
got into the song proper I thought we’d gotten the last of the 18th birthday party was, uh, not like this. Nobody’s 18th birthday
unique twists, but she brings it back one more time for the party has ever been quite like this. A fascinating glimpse into an
slowed-down bridge. “Look who’s laughin’ now!” That was really unfathomable world. And hey, distracted by all the things
fun. I really appreciate a live performance that mixes things up happening on the screen, Beautiful Eyes was a pretty passable
and gives us something that isn’t identical to the version of the track in the background. Maybe I solid it just a tiny bit short.
song we know.

Debut Era Thoughts

She totally commanded the stage here (this performance was a month before the ACM one that she crushed, so I
My main takeaway from this era of Taylor’s performances and videos is just how rapidly she progressed in this short
suspect this was a good warm-up for that more elaborate production) with the hair flips and the head bangs. She got
period of time. The Taylor who was performing Tim McGraw in May of 2007 and the Taylor who was performing Should’ve
the energy of the song out into the audience and you could tell they were feeling it.
Said No twelve months later were radically different performers. The confidence, stage presence, charisma, and vocal
control she gained in just one year is really impressive. She’s still got a long way to go in being able to move around and
That said, she did definitely struggle with her breath quite a bit during the choruses here - you could tell that she just
sing at the same time (a very hard thing to do even for many much more experienced musicians) but I was not expecting
had no air to work with for some of those lines, barely able to push the words out. But with that aside, her vocals were
her to already be as good as she is before we even got to the Fearless album cycle. She’s really the definition of “born to
really solid! She missed very few notes here compared to her earlier performances and she did that while being super
be doing this.”
animated and energetic on stage. 2008 Taylor is an absolute professional compared to 2007 Taylor.

Favorite Music Video:

● Picture to Burn

Favorite Performances:
● Should’ve Said No (2008 ACM Awards)
 Love Story
Music Video (September 2008)

Song Rating 21 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

The styling and aesthetics of this video really work for me. For a
song with a literary reference at its core, tying in another literary
reference in the music video is a great idea - that historical
imagery conjured by the Romeo & Juliet references in the lyrics
really comes to life here (and yeah I know there’s like a 250 year
gap between the two settings, but it works anyway).

I think this video is also her first MV without the use of extreme
Change close-ups. The close-up shots here are much less, uh, weird (the
camera doesn’t feel like it’s being held an inch away from her
Music Video (August 2008)
mouth or eyeball) and work way better as a result. Never
Song Rating 12 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ understood the appeal of those. We don’t get a ton in the way of
acting from Taylor or her costar, it’s a lot of empty expressions and stares, but the bits we do get work well enough. The
Not a lot to discuss with this one. A single-stage video for a song horse did a great job - please clap for the horse.
without a particularly strong narrative thread doesn’t leave much
room for creativity in the visuals or performance. I also like that Taylor is apparently developing a penchant for twists in her videos. This is the second one in which the
events of the whole video are just imagined in her head and it’s revealed at the end that they didn’t actually take place.
Putting a song with a major refrain of “Hallelujah!” in a church was I think that’s fun just from a narrative perspective, but it also can be seen as a metaphor for her songwriting: these
a cool choice and I think the lighting and camera work is pretty stories she’s telling are based on things in her life, but given imaginary details and flourishes in her mind in the process
solid, Taylor gives a decent performance, but this one’s very of translating the factual, lived experience into lyrics.
no-frills. If you’ve seen 30 seconds of it you’ve seen the whole
thing.
Country Music Awards (November 2008)

Song Rating 21 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Academy of Country Music Awards (April 2010) First, shoutout to Brad Paisley’s introduction. “Once upon a time
our next performer graduated from high school. That time was
Song Rating 12 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ earlier this year.” That was great.

For the first three minutes of this performance I was a little

The audio here was a bit of a mess. Taylor’s vocal delivery in the
underwhelmed. They waited a little too long with Taylor just
early parts of the song is very quiet, she’s not projecting much at
standing there in the cage that was clearly going to take her over
all, and either she didn’t do it that way in rehearsals or they didn’t
the crowd - long enough that we all knew what was going to
mix the audio properly if she did, because her voice gets
happen and weren’t really excited about it anymore - but then in
absolutely buried by a cacophony of cymbal crashes in the first
quick succession we get an outfit change, a crowd walk, and the
chorus (the cymbals should’ve been dampened, too). But she
sudden appearance of a backing choir, just before Taylor goes
starts to project more later and they might’ve also made a small
into full arched-back belting mode.
on-the-fly tweak to the mic balancing to fix it, and it gets better as the song goes on.

This is the kind of massive energy that this song needs, in my

It seems like they were trying to strike a balance between not having her move around too much and struggle with her
opinion. The lyrics are so dramatic that I’ve always felt like the
breath and also make sure the performance felt dynamic and exciting, and I think they mostly achieved that here. The
music and delivery didn’t quite sell them, but this particular performance at least aimed at resolving that. The fact that
dancers keep the stage alive even though Taylor is hardly moving at all, and she gives us some good expressions and
Taylor didn’t have to move around as much herself (the cage did that work for her) helped her vocals as well, none of
body language to make sure she still feels like a part of the performance too (I’m particularly partial to the frown during
the breath issues from previous live performances. And it caps off with a stage-dive! That’s really fun, even if watching
the bridge). And of course the costume swap just in time for the “pick out a white dress” line is good stuff. They had to
her be carried off at the end by like six really tall dudes in full crucifixion-pose was completely absurd.
fill that extra seven or eight seconds there to make it work and they nailed it - I actually think that little musical build-up
in there to get you hyped for the ‘drop’ works just as well if not better than the studio version. And of course once again
we end with Taylor looking adorably delighted and surprised by how positive of a reaction she gets from the crowd.
White Horse Grammy Nominations (December 2008)
Music Video (February 2009) Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ Another performance devoid of any visuals to speak of, but this
time Taylor splits the performance between two songs. The first
I shouldn’t have made that comment about the extreme
half is a very unexpected rendition of Brenda Lee’s I’m Sorry. It’s a
close-ups. We really had to start with shots of two disembodied
song that relies completely on vocal charisma and giving the lyrics
pairs of lips, huh? Okay.
life and color with your vocal delivery, and I wasn’t particularly
optimistic about Taylor pulling that off at this point in her career,
The main standout here is Taylor’s acting. It’s really good! We
but she totally does! It’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, but it
have a lot of very same-y shots of her with the same expression
checks all the boxes and I’ve certainly got no complaints.
from the same angle, but she’s very believably sad and crying
here. In my experience, crying is one of the hardest things to do
And then it drops straight into a very abbreviated version of
convincingly for amateur actors, but the sob she lets out right
White Horse. It was smart to make sure the bridge was included
after she hangs up the phone - the body language and the sound
despite the brevity of the performance, and once again Taylor
are both bang-on for my money. The only bit that didn’t work for me was the boy holding the grocery bag in front of
does a really good job conveying the emotions of those lyrics (though not quite on the level of the AMA’s) - but before
the house. Taylor looks heartbroken and he looks like he has no idea who she is or what’s even going on. Come on,
we know it, we’re wrapped.
man. Just give us a little ‘I can explain’-type look or maybe some embarrassment or shame. But nope, nothin’.

I’ve got mixed feelings about interrupting the song for the little scene in the cafe. I normally dislike when music videos
Fifteen
do that, and I do think they could’ve conveyed that with just good acting and editing without us needing to actually hear
them talking, but it’s so short that I don’t really mind it as much as I normally would, and I appreciate the effort they put
Music Video (October 2009)
into giving us a complete narrative here and I’m sure they felt like that was worth it for that reason. And of course, once
again, the very first shot foreshadows the final shot - this is the third time they’ve done that now. It works, so why not?
Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
The first thing that jumped out at me is that we’ve seen this same
girl in multiple Tayor videos now. She’s the “redhead named
American Music Awards (November 2008) Abigail” here, was in the car in Picture to Burn, was in the school in
Teardrops on My Guitar, and I was pretty sure popped up at some
Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ point in I’m Only Me When I’m With You. A Google search confirmed
Taylor’s had a knack with some of these live performances to that this is actually Taylor’s real-life best friend and she’s actually
leave me thinking, “This is really uneventful,” right until named Abigail! It's super cool that she’s taken her best friend
somewhere around the bridge, and then suddenly she pulls out along for the ride and put her in a bunch of music videos, but it
something that brings it to life. Now, I do still think this is also means that the girl described in the lyrics to this song is
probably her least interesting live performance to date - it’s actually in the goddamn music video for the song! That’s wild. Not
played extremely straight, and even if the vocals and the sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like that before.
instrumentation are both quite nice (the piano in particular is
really well done). But then, finally, Taylor gets up and she In terms of the visuals here, someone on Taylor’s team clearly decided early on that her brand was “barefoot in flowy
punches that bridge out with so much color. The, “Who might dresses” and they’re keeping her true to that even when we could probably have done something more interesting
actually treat me well,” is practically snarled, full of bitterness and (there’s also been this trend of having a shot of just her feet too - they’ve done it like four times now - which, y’know, is
sadness and anger. She really knocks that bridge out of the park. really taking your chances with the weirdos of the internet). Besides the clothing, though, the overall visuals of this
It really saved this performance from being almost entirely forgettable. video are just really, really strange. Even when it’s clearly sunny, the whole set is lit in a really dark and strange way, and
then we jump to a moonlit night for just a moment before suddenly we’re in a stormy overcast with cartoon tree
branches blowing around, and then one more abrupt cut at the very end to a starkly real-world shot that has a totally
different vibe than anything else in the video so far. Just really baffling decisions that I can’t explain and don’t
understand. How was all of that imagery serving the narrative of the song? Surely there was a better way to do that.

Still, with all that said, I thought Taylor gave a good performance, conveying both the happiness and the sadness
entailed in the song, and that shot of “grown up” Taylor at the end was really interesting. It’s both a reminder that
Taylor wrote this song when she really wasn’t that many years detached from being a 15-year old herself and a little
glimpse at Taylor’s conception of a more “mature” look at this point in her life, which doesn’t look quite like anything
we’ve seen from her yet, but very much does match the look that she’ll have in the next year or so.
51st Grammy Awards (February 2009) Forever & Always
Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Country Music Awards (November 2009)

An unexpected duet with Miley Cyrusand I’ve got super mixed Song Rating 15 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
feelings about it. I think Miley is extremely underrated as a singer
I’m completely in love with the concept of the intro here, with the,
(see the Backyard Sessions) and even as young as she was here
“They shouldn’t do bad things,” interview that transitions directly
she still clearly already had chops. Her performance is really
from a studio to the stage. Obviously when 1989 comes along we
solid. Taylor, too, does a really good job here. This is actually one
get quite a lot of Taylor clapping back at the media with her
of my favorite live vocal performances from her so far in her
music, but having just listened to the albums, you wouldn’t know
career.
that she’d ever really done it before then. But she totally did with
this live performance. She said, “If these interviewers want to
But these two just really have such dramatically different voices
keep asking me the same boring questions about boys over and
and singing styles and, seemingly, ideas about how to perform
over, I can use that.” This is like the very first seed that will
this song, and it creates a pretty awkward contrast. Taylor will
eventually grow into the massive tree that is Reputation. My
lay out these gentle, solemn lines and then Miley comes in and smacks them out of the park with a big belt, and the
favorite thing I’ve discovered yet through this videography dive.
song gets lost somewhere between them. And again, as individual performers, neither of them do anything wrong at
all. The wrong thing was just whoever thought, “You know who should duet with Taylor on this track? Miley Cyrus!” Its
And frankly I really like everything about this performance from a conceptual level. I like her outfit here. I like the
failure is a conceptual one.
minimal but bold stage design with the bright red screens, the interview chairs, and the firepole on one side of the
stage and the band on the other. And I love her performativity - she’s got so much stage presence here, dancing
But hey it’s still fun to watch these two so early in their careers having this little moment together, neither of them
around, headbanging, gesturing with her arms, throwing the chair. She’s holding the stage entirely on her own like a
having quite found their image nor their adult vocals yet. It gets points from me for the cute nostalgia factor of, “Wow,
true professional entertainer.
did you know they did a song together when they were teenagers?”

The flip-side of that is that this is definitely one of her weakest vocal performances to date, if not the weakest. She has a
Country Music Awards (November 2009) little trouble with breathing again, but more than that she just fell short of the notes several times in the choruses
(particularly the first chorus), which are admittedly some of the highest and hardest notes in her catalog. She doesn’t
Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ miss them by a mile or anything, but it’s off by enough that your ear immediately tells you ‘that ain’t it’.

This is super cute. Shoutout to whoever came up with the idea to

put Taylor on the world’s tiniest stage surrounded by a couple
hundred girls who love her. She’s done some really good
performances so far that were clearly well-received by the
audiences, but this is the first time we’ve seen a glimpse at just
what Taylor was on the verge of becoming, and it’s already kind
of insane.
Taylor’s performance here is very chill and straightforward, just
her and the guitar and no backing instrumentation at all, and I
actually prefer that to any of the previous versions - made all the
better by just how loudly the mic picks up on the crowd (or maybe they even had the audience mic’d up directly). She’s
practically got a choir with her for this and it’s just really fun to watch. I found myself smiling pretty much this entire
performance.
Oh, and there’s a shot around 35 seconds into the recording in which a group of like 20 girls are all swaying and singing
in unison while one incredibly awkward-looking boy with a buzzcut is chewing gum motionlessly and I went back and
rewatched that like five times. Absolute gold. Archetypal “dude who’s just here for his girlfriend isn’t sure what to do
with his body” energy.
Still, for me, I’m relatively forgiving of little things like that. I don’t expect live performances to nail every note. I just
want them to be entertaining renditions of the song. And I definitely had a lot of fun watching this and I think it’s the
best stage concept and overall performance since the ‘08 ACM’s.
The Best Days of Your Life
Music Video (March 2009)
Song Rating 9 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
That video featured way more of Taylor than I was expecting for a
song in which she’s not technically featured. That said, there’s
basically nothing to speak of - just studio shots and brief clips of
Kellie’s friends and ex - until 2:30 into the video, when the
antagonist of the song gets hit by a motherfucking bus Regina
George-style and ends up sprawled out in a full body cast in a
hospital room. Nothing in the video to that point prepared me for
that and it cracked me up.
The studio shots are, y’know, fine. It’s a passable music video and
it’s cool that they decided to include Taylor so much. But this
video really exists as an excuse to watch a man get hit by a bus and Taylor give a big dramatic “that’s gotta hurt!” wince.
Crazier The Best Day
Music Video (March 2009) Music Video (May 2009)

Song Rating 16 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

This is a bit of a weird one, since it’s not really a music video. It’s a
compilation of clips from the Hannah Montana movie, including
extra scenes of Taylor performing that weren’t included in the
original film. So I would imagine there wasn’t a lot of creative
control afforded to Taylor or anyone on her team - Disney
probably just said, “If Taylor agrees to be in the movie, we’ll make
a music video out of it too.”
But hey, the result is that there’s a lot of really high-quality,
cinematic footage of a love story playing out between
professional actors, which isn’t something you get for a lot of
music videos, and that certainly fits the song really well. I also think the general vibe of this Roadhouse-esque country
bar and the cowboy hats and big open fields fits Taylor’s early career aesthetic really well. There’s also just something
really chill about the pacing and editing here that just kind of sinks you into the warm, romantic feeling of the song. So
this isn’t exactly anything special, but it’s a pleasant enough watch.
I simply cannot get over how fucking cute the opening scene here
is. Taylor getting called beautiful and responding with her tiny
little baby voice, “Thank you, thanks for saying that.” Oh my poor
heart. And someone please tell me that, “What do you have in
your hair?” “Spiders.” has become a meme with the Swifties.
Because that’s just a spectacularly weird thing to say and I’m all
about it. Why did she think she had spiders in her hair? I don’t
want to know. I accept this for what it is. I welcome the hair
spiders with an open heart.
This whole video is just utterly precious, and it’s a perfect
complement to perhaps the sweetest song she’s ever written. We’re just straight-up seeing this song - the visuals are
there, sometimes exactly literally as they are described in the lyrics. There was simply no better way to do a music
video for this song than exactly the way they’ve done it here.
And what’s interesting about me saying that is I discovered, when searching for this song, that they remade this music
video for Taylor’s Version of Fearless, Sequel video toward the end of this doc. I’m trying to watch everything in as close
to chronological order as is reasonable, so I’m going to save that video for when we get to that point on the timeline,

You’re Not Sorry but it’s hard to imagine any other way of doing this video than exactly how they’ve done it here.

Academy of Country Music Awards (April 2009)

You Belong With Me
Song Rating 8 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Music Video (May 2009)
This whole performance is strictly Taylor sitting at the piano - no
theatrics and no set design, which means we only really have Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
three things to focus on: the arrangement (pretty nice - I like the
I’ve gotta lead with saying that this is one of the only Taylor Swift
strings in particular, although despite sitting at a piano, we get
music videos I was familiar with before I started diving into her
very little actual piano playing in the mix), Taylor’s vocals (not her
videography. I distinctly recall when this came out and it may
strongest vocal performance by any stretch, but an impassioned
have been the first time I’d ever seen Taylor Swift - I’d heard Our
one for sure), and her performativity (really good - she’s selling
Song on the radio, definitely, but I don’t think I ever saw a music
the song with her facial expressions and body language the
video until this one dropped, and it was immediately iconic.
whole way through).
Everybody and their mother knew this video, it was just an
absolute culture bomb. Was Single Ladies also absolutely
In general I think this kind of performance is kind of a mistake. At
massive? 100% it was, but I don’t think I knew until right now that
this point in Taylor’s career, she’s not a particularly consistent vocalist, but she is already a super charismatic
this was the video that beat it at the VMA’s that caused the Kanye
performer. Designing something like this that puts so much weight into the vocals and gives her so little room to
incident, and frankly, if any video was going to beat Single Ladies,
perform just wasn’t playing to her strengths in 2009. Still, I appreciated the passion and the emotion she put into this -
this is a pretty damn legendary video…
it really saved the whole performance.

The outfits throughout this video are amazing (lowkey best look of the video: periodic table t-shirt Taylor is unbearably
adorable). Taylor’s acting - from trying on personas in the mirror, to the shy girl on the bench with the glasses, to the
ridiculous dancing in the bedroom to the villain cheerleader - is her best in any video to date. The whole premise of her
playing both the hero and the villain, the nerdy girl and the popular boy having a secret friendship through their
bedroom windows, the pieces of paper that come together at the end to reveal that he’s had a crush on her just like
she’s been crushing on him - it’s just clever and classic and feel-good and it works flawlessly. It’s everything you want
from a music video for a song like this, executed beautifully in every department. When Taylor’s 60-years old this video
is still going to be included on highlight reels of her career and a part of her cultural legacy.
CMT Music Awards (June 2009)
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
We got three different performances at the ‘09 CMT Awards, so
I’ll touch on each of them briefly.
Her You Belong With Me performance is a direct homage to the
music video, which is really smart - the video was a sensation,
lean into it. She gives a super colorful performance, adding a
little extra spice to some of the lines, and the cheerleading
dancers are a great touch. On top of all that, given how much she
moves around, this is undoubtedly her best live vocal
performance to-date. She absolutely crushes it the whole way
through, a substantial step above pretty much everything else
she’s done.
Then we’ve got Taylor joining Def Leppard for Pour Some Sugar On Me. I thought this was a really smart arrangement -
they left the vast majority of the song to the band, giving Taylor basically just the intro and the chorus refrains, and
mostly leaving her to do a bunch of crowd work and dancing. I think that was a way better choice than having Taylor
trade verses or something like that. She adds the perfect amount of color and charisma to the performance while
ensuring we still get the exact song we all know. Just really tasteful and fun. I was not expecting to like that
performance nearly as much as I did.
And then… uh.. okay, and then we get Thug Story. Without a doubt one of the weirdest things Taylor has done in her
entire career to this point and probably since. I can absolutely see some cynical people out there thinking that this is
super cringe or whatever, but it’s way too self-aware for that. They know they’re doing something super dumb and
they’re having a blast with it. I love that T-Pain and Taylor were both willing to do something so ridiculous that they
knew some people would roast, and there are a couple genuinely funny moments here (like Taylor’s mom’s cameo and
T-Pain’s voice still being auto-tuned when he’s just talking at the end). Plus, it doesn’t overstay its welcome at all,
coming in at under 90 seconds. I just like watching people having fun being silly, and this is nothing if not that.
MTV Video Music Awards (September 2009)
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
I actually thought that this was the first example we’d seen of
Taylor lip syncing a minute or so into this video, because her
vocals here were so close to the studio version, but then paying
closer attention throughout the rest of the video, it’s definitely
not. I assume there’s some backing going on there, but we’ve
definitely got live vocals in the mix, and they’re just really good. I
don’t know if Taylor’s just really starting to improve as a vocalist
at this point or if this song is just written in a way that really suits
her voice, but both of her live performances of this track have
been easily the best of her career to this point.
This video is just a ton of fun, too. We get an outfit change, a Subway party, two scene changes, and a ton of movement
and energy from Taylor and the crowd. And if this recording wasn’t all from the same take, they did a really good job of
blending them together, because it feels seamless. There’s something really cool about a performance as elaborate as
this one having that feel of being an uninterrupted sequence from point A to B. Really fun concept executed well.
Monologue Song
Saturday Night Live (November 2009)
Taylor’s monologue proper is very short and has basically two
jokes in it, but they’re good jokes and she lands the delivery. She
doesn’t look a single bit nervous to be hosting SNL at 19-years
old, which is insane. Then we get straight to the song, which is
funny from the very start (even just “in parentheses, la la la” is a
good gag). The combination of the naive-smiling-girl energy and
the immediate digs at her exes is great, and she doubles down
when she hits us with the, “Hey Joe, I’m doing real well!” followed
by switching the “la la la” for a hilariously-delivered “ha ha ha!”
which just crushes with the audience. Just perfect comedic
delivery. It got a real, genuine laugh out of me.
And then kiss and wave, the little duck and paranoid glancing around, Jason Sudekis showing up with the wanted
poster, and ending it with the incredible, “And Kanye West is not here,” are all just done with equally great acting and
timing. I’ve watched a lot of SNL monologues and I’ve seen a lot of really awkward ones, even from professional actors
who should be able to do this kind of thing, and this is genuinely one of the best I’ve seen and one of only a handful
that made me actually laugh out loud twice. I can’t think of a single thing you could critique about it. It was really
well-written and it was performed as if she was an old pro at this, like she had done live comedy a hundred times
before, which I have to assume she had literally never actually done before. Impeccable. I had to go back and just
watch it a second time right after it finished ‘cause I was so impressed and entertained. She absolutely killed it.
Today Was A Fairytale
52nd Grammy Awards (January 2010)
Song Rating 7 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
This is another performance with multiple songs. First we get
Today Was A Fairytale, one of my least favorite songs in Taylor’s
whole catalog, but I actually like this performance better than the
studio version. One of the main reasons why I’m not a big fan of
this song is the fact that the “today was a fairytale” line is
repeated sixteen times over the four minute track, but cutting the
song down to just 90 seconds like this prevents it from
overstaying its welcome the way that it (in my opinion) does in the
studio recording. So I thought this was pretty decent, actually. I
like Taylor’s look here, they did a good job with her hair and
makeup and outfit, and her vocals are okay.
Then Taylor introduced Stevie Nicks, the band started playing the intro to Rhiannon, and I was immediately deeply
concerned. Taylor’s voice at this point in her career is just not at all suited to stand next to Stevie Nicks and sing
Rhiannon (and frankly hardly anyone’s voice is). And it goes… okay, actually! It goes okay. It could’ve been much worse,
and I’m glad they sang together for most of it instead of giving Taylor too much in the way of solo vocals there. That
was smart. And then we transition into a really curious version of Love Story, and Stevie Nicks is somehow even less
well-suited to be singing Love Story than Taylor is to be singing Rhiannon - but luckily she’s very quiet in the mix.
I don’t know what made someone think to put these two together on a stage, their voices are just so radically different,
but the end result is basically fine. Taylor does okay with Rhiannon, Stevie is more-or-less inaudible for Love Story, and
I’m sure the opportunity to perform with Stevie was a dream-come-true moment for Taylor, so that’s great.
Fearless
Music Video (February 2010)
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
This video is just a compilation of clips from the Fearless Tour, so
there’s not much to say about any of the shots themselves that I
won’t be going into in more detail in the Fearless Tour discussion,
but I do think this is a pretty well-edited video with some fun
moments and good editing to match the big moments in the
song with big moments in the video.
If you’ve gotta get a video out for this song quick and you’ve got a
bunch of tour footage to use, it’ll do the trick, but I don’t imagine
anyone’s really coming back and rewatching this one on the
regular.
The Fearless Tour
The Fearless Tour (April 2009 - July 2010)
You Belong With Me - I really like the in media res start, putting
a little snippet of her biggest chorus right at the start of the
show. Taylor also reliably does fun vocal stuff on this song,
putting on silly little voices for lines like “she’s cheer captain”,
and it works really well with the upbeat, lighthearted vibe of the
track. Then we even get a costume change and a unique little
vibe shift in the bridge before she milks the shit out of the
crowd at the end to build the maximum possible hype. Really
solid start to the tour. If this was a standalone award show
performance I’d call this one of her better ones for sure. 7/10
The little behind-the-scenes on Taylor’s career we get is awesome for someone like me who’s been out of the loop on
her career. I had no idea she just straight up walked away from her RCA development deal, that she joined Big
Machine literally from before day 1, or that she opened for Tim McGraw or George Strait. It’s a pretty damn cool story
and I understand why she wanted to include that here - it makes you want to root for her.
Tim McGraw - Taylor really just straight up walked into the crowd hugging and kissing and thanking people for coming
in the middle of the song. That’s wild. I mean, it’s a brilliant way to connect with your fans and establish yourself as
someone who they personally care about - you meet them individually and now they’re forever devoted to you - but
boy, talk about something I couldn’t fathom 2023 Taylor Swift doing. The difference in the fame and fandom she’s had
over the last 13 years is crazy. And, as always, I’m a fan of little lyric tweaks to match the performance, so the “Houston
radio” line was a cute touch. 6/10
Fifteen - I really, really like this rendition of Fifteen. Super slowed down first verse and chorus, and then she really
lights a spark at the end of that first chorus and brings the song up closer to the studio version’s energy. And, man, the
girl worked that hair. When she’s holding a guitar and sitting down and can’t move around, she’s gonna swing that hair
around instead! It’s a little bit of a shame to not get the whole performance here, but it was also really cool to get those
clips of Abigail and her feelings about the song written in large part about her. Was not expecting this tour video to be
providing so much behind-the-scenes info like this. 6/10
Teardrops On My Guitar - The way Taylor tells the story of her and her crush before the song starts is so ridiculously
charismatic and performative. Like, it’s really simple and it’s scripted, sure, but a lot of people just straight up can’t tell
a story like that. It’s a genuine talent that she’s got you entirely in the palm of her hand just talking, not even singing.
Then we get quite a different rendition of the song itself with a substantially more upbeat instrumental. I don’t know
that I think it’s better than the studio version, but I do think it’s nicely suited for a tour performance. Sometimes you
don’t want to bring the whole energy down for a sad ballad, and this conversion really keeps the energy high and lets
her play one of her very popular, but very slow, songs. 5/10
Our Song - Damn, the swag of handing over the chorus vocals to the crowd at 20-years old. Especially in the context of
watching these behind-the-scenes clips of how her career had just really started a few years earlier with some
unknown new label, to be able to go out and trust that a massive crowd is going to scream every word of your song is
pretty incredible. This particular rendition from Taylor was pretty much bang-on the studio performance and pretty
free of extravagant performance, but I wouldn’t expect her to make any changes to one of her best-known songs. If it
ain’t broke... 5/10
Today Was A Fairytale - Okay, I just want to point out - even in this tour video, they cut this track down to just 60
seconds before they switch over to another behind-the-scenes video about the set design, then come back and do
another 90 seconds after you’ve had a couple minutes away from it. I’m tellin’ y’all, there’s no world in which this track
should be four minutes long and even Taylor’s team editing this video knew it. It’s really solid for just about a minute,
minute and a half - that’s the sweet spot. 4/10
I’ve got to make a mention of the moment when Taylor’s standing on her stage for the first time and excitedly declares,
“I could fall off of this and die! …which is awesome!” Amazing.
Love Story - Love the staging for this one. The fact that they
were able to duplicate the castle, the costumes, and the dancers
from the music video works even better for this than it did for
You Belong With Me performance. They even carried over the
costume swap from the CMA’s, which was the best part of that
performance. It does feel a lot like a performance I’ve already
seen before, but it’s still impressive that they recreated it on a
nightly basis on tour. 7/10
Hey Stephen - Once again, the kind of thing that’s super cool
that we would never see from Taylor in 2023. We basically get the Tim McGraw-style performance again, right in the
crowd, hugging and kissing the crowd. Hey Stephen is such a chill song and I think it’s a really great choice for doing
this kind of performance. I really enjoyed the extended instrumental interlude while she walked through the crowd
with the bass line at the forefront (it’s a very Stand By Me-sounding bass line, isn’t it?) and the laugh she lets out feels
entirely genuine, like she just let her joy of the performance bubble up for a second. Feel-good stuff right here. 7/10
The “Crimes of Passion” intermission video is a lot of fun. I’ve seen a lot of intermission videos at concerts and usually
they’re not particularly interesting, they’re really just filling time. But seeing Tim McGraw describe himself as the “first
victim of a Taylor Swift song” and Taylor asking her boyfriend to spell his name after he gives her a toaster - that’s
top-tier intermission content right there.
The “T Party” scene is also just absolutely adorable and a pretty selfless idea. Taylor just walks in and scoops up this
tiny little kid and the next thing you know these little girls are just sobbing their hearts out. Like, she already was
selling out all these shows, she didn’t need to promote more ticket sales. And the amount of time and energy Taylor’s
got to devote to a bunch of people she doesn’t know after she just finished performing a two hour set on the road. It
seems like quite a lot more energy is required for that than your typical post-show meet-and-greet picture-and-leave.
Gotta respect that.
Tell Me Why - For making almost no use of the stage at all, this is maybe the most high-energy and performative song
of the show so far. So much dancing and moving, a special spotlight on each of the instrumentalists up there with her,
and really solid vocals in spite of all that movement. Really simple but really effective. 7/10
Taylor’s surprise Mother’s Day performance of The Best Day for her mom, who’s barely keeping it together, is obviously
the cutest shit in the world. Y’all already know that, nothing more for me to say about it.
Fearless - This song has some of the more dynamic vocals off her first two albums and she does a really great job with
them here. It could just be that she’s a really talented performer putting on a show, but I get the impression that
Taylor particularly enjoyed performing this track. She just seemed to be having a lot of fun and that fun is contagious.
Love bringing up all the other musicians in a line at the front of the stage. Not a lot of huge superstar solo artists are
going to do that - it’s a really good look. And once again, Taylor gives a little shout out to the city in the lyrics. I never
don’t love that. 7/10
Forever & Always - Kind of like the Love Story performance was more-or-less the ‘08 CMA’s one carried over to the
tour, this is basically the ‘09 CMA’s performance, complete with the interview clip beforehand. Which, conceptually,
remains my favorite Taylor live performance to this point in her career and which I only really critiqued because she
really struggled with her vocals at the CMA’s. But here she’s got another year of experience under her belt and a better
setup in general to support her voice. She only goes for the really high notes when she’s sitting still, then brings them
down a bit when she’s moving around a bunch more. And boy does she move - she’s all over the stage, running and
jumping and head banging, we get a unique twist on the bridge, and once again we get Taylor directly, physically
connecting with the audience. It’s got a little bit of everything - definitely my favorite of the show so far. 8/10
Picture to Burn - If comparing the CMA’s version of Forever & Always to the tour version wasn’t enough proof, this
song is really definitive evidence of Taylor’s improvement as a live vocalist and performer. She’s moving around so
much here and you can hear her really pulling in deep inhales between her lines and getting them all out full-force. I
don’t think she misses a single note here, and a year or two before she absolutely would have struggled by the end
with all that moving around. This song is made for high-energy live performances with explosions on the screens
behind her, and it just works. 7/10
Should’ve Said No - One of the more straightforward performances of the tour - a totally solid performance but
nothing to write home about - until suddenly Taylor pulls out something totally and completely unexpected for the
bridge. A total change of melody, stops the song dead in its tracks to work the crowd like a wizard casting a spell over
fifty thousand people, and then as soon as the rain starts coming down, anyone who watched her ‘08 ACM
performance (my favorite live performance of her career to this point) should know what’s coming and be fuckin’
hyped for it, ‘cause it’s about to get cool as fuck. I’m so glad that if she carried over some of her best live performances
to the tour, she carried over the best live performance and saved that for the finale. Yeah, it might’ve been cool to see
something totally original to end the tour on, but the rain thing is just great, it really works so well, so I’m happy. 9/10
Tour Thoughts
As I mentioned with several specific songs, Taylor really improved as a live vocalist from the ‘08 and ‘09 award show
performances to the tour clips we see here. I know they probably picked some of the best cuts for this video and I
know she’s got a backing track on a lot of the songs, but I was really impressed by the vocals here. I think her voice
improved a lot starting around 2015 or so, but I don’t think I appreciated how much it improved in the years before
that until I watched these live performances over the first three years of her career. I guess that’s what a year-plus long
tour will do for you.
I also found it interesting how much of a “pop tour” this felt like. My understanding of Taylor’s career from listening to
the music on its own was definitely that she was firmly in the pop-country camp for her first two albums and only
slowly started to drop the country and move into pure pop during Speak Now, and didn’t complete that journey until
1989 came along. But the truth is that you can already see with the way this tour is performed that Taylor was
envisioning herself as a pop artist. This did not feel like the tour of someone promoting their country album, or even
their pop-country album. This felt like a pop show. I think there was something in Taylor from very early on that was
primarily interested in writing and performing music that transcended genre in the way that the best pop music does.
But my biggest takeaway from this was thatI was just really not expecting nearly so much behind-the-scenes footage. I
thought I was in for just a straight front-to-back recording of a show on the tour, but we got everything from Taylor
doing promo for her debut album to rehearsals to the first show on tour all the way through the final stadium show. I
feel like this gave me a much better sense of the perception that long-time Swifties have of what a Taylor tour really
means, not just to them as fans but to Taylor herself.
And the whole thing was just so personal. Like, obvious Taylor
makes extremely personal music, she compares it herself to a
diary, but both with the amount of behind-the-scenes stuff she
shows here and with the amount of direct interactions she has
with the fans at her shows here, it’s really astonishing that she
managed to convey that personal quality of her music in her live
performance and in the recording of it. Even having just watched
it all on a computer screen, I felt way more like I was “there” then
I would if it had just been a recording of the one full tour show.
Super cool and has me really excited to see her future tours.
Fearless Era Thoughts
I don’t have a whole lot to say here that I didn’t already say about the Debut era: the takeaway is that rapidity of Taylor’s
improvement as a performer. From her acting in her music videos to her ability to command a stage to sharpening the
skill of singing while dancing, she’s just better at basically everything by the end of the Fearless era than she was at the
start of it. And to some degree that’s to be expected - I was better at everything when I was 20 than I was at 18, too - but
having reached the level of fame that she had at such a young age, it would’ve been all too easy to settle into just
repeating the thing that people liked over and over again, and countless artists who get popular at a really young age do
exactly that.
It’s clear that Taylor was putting in the work to hone her craft at every level (not to mention songwriting itself, which she
was apparently doing simultaneously with putting on all these shows), which I think is a reflection of not just a passion
for what she was doing, but a respect for the fame and recognition she got. She wasn’t taking it for granted or content to
just bask in it. She clearly wanted to continue improving and delivering something better than before, whether that
meant a better live show or a better vocal performance or a better album. I don’t think you do that unless you’re
grounded and thankful enough to recognize that what you have isn’t something that you just inherently deserve, but
rather is something you earn through hard work.
Favorite Music Video:
● You Belong With Me
Favorite Performances:
● Should’ve Said No (Fearless Tour)
● Forever and Always (Fearless Tour)
● SNL Monologue Song (Unironically)

Mine
Music Video (August 2010)
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Did we really just get another “it was all a dream” ending? She
can’t keep getting away with this!
This video is just kind of… weird, to me. All those photos dangling
from strings in the woods is just kind of a strange idea. It’s not
bad, necessarily, it’s just a really odd idea. And Taylor’s acting in
this is pretty good, as usual, but something about the chemistry
between her and her co-star in this one just feels off. Their
interactions lack a certain ease and naturalness that she’s had in
previous music videos and it makes the relationship feel a little
less believable - which they double down on by showing us these
two baby-faced 20-year olds with a, like, seven-year old kid, and that shot of Taylor with her hand on a pregnant belly.
I think the basic concept of this video (Taylor imagines a whole relationship with someone and all of its ups and downs
while also recalling flashbacks of her parents’ relationship) is the only possible way to do a MV for this song, I just
wasn’t really feeling the execution of it here in lots of small ways.
BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards (November 2010)
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
This was actually a three song set, featuring Mine, Love Story, and
Speak Now, but I’ve scoured the internet up and down and I just
can’t find anything but shoddy audience recordings of the latter
two songs. For a televised award show, you’d really think those
performances would be preserved somewhere, but I really don’t
think they exist. If anyone has them (I don’t have Facebook, so
many they’re there?), please let me know!
Anyway, for the Mine performance, the first thing you can’t help
but notice is that she’s rocking a full lace dress and the lighting
for this performance really makes her rhinestone’d GS6 sparkle
like crazy. That thing is spitting rainbows - the whole look really works and captures a very Taylor vibe. (It just occurred
to me that both of Taylor’s primary acoustic guitars, this one and the PS14CE, and the electric she used for Should’ve
Said No are all Taylor brand guitars - nice.) Her performance here is pretty straightforward, with solid vocals and few
flourishes, but she gives the audience an overhead hand-heart and sells it with just enough gestures and expressions
to keep the energy high throughout. Nothing stands out positively or negatively here - it’s a solid passing grade.
Innocent
MTV Video Music Awards (September 2010)
Song Rating 14 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Okay, I’m having a small epiphany over here, and I know just by
saying that y’all are already like “oh my god, this idiot…” but just
let me have a moment here.
First, real quick, I just want to say: Taylor’s whole look - her hair
and her dress, but even the microphone she’s using at the start -
is all clearly giving big 1950’s vibes, she’s walking straight out of
Mad Men (while also still doing the barefoot+flowy dress thing)
and she pulls off that look really well. I don’t love the shape of this
particular dress, but I do like the color, which gives her whole
look a sort of solemnity and subduedness that fits the vibe of this
song really well. Her live vocals here are okay - not great, but bolstered by a very emotive and uncharacteristically
heavy, slow, and serious performance. It’s got an almost mournful quality to it, totally unlike anything else she’s done.
Okay but now the big thing - I didn’t comment on Innocent at all in my Discography Deep Dive and I’m actually really
surprised more people didn’t call me out on that. It seems so stupidly obvious now - and it took me seeing her
performing it at the 2010 VMA’s for it to click. This song is obviously about Kanye. I truly don’t know how I didn’t realize
this or what I had thought the song was about before. I think my mind just glazed right over some of the key lines. I’m
as baffled with myself as you are. What a choice to debut this song to the world on this particular stage! Wow.
I’ve gone back and spent more time with this song and I find it way more fascinating than I originally did. It’s not about
what Kanye did, like a Picture to Burn, but a song written to him, which is very interesting. It’s both passive aggressive
and also, I think, very genuine - she really is trying to see the best in him and cut him some slack while also basically
calling him a child. I think this performance provides some insight into the emotions at the heart of those sentiments -
there’s no joy in her survival or his mistake, just painful memories and a resolution to not let it define either of them.
The Late Show
The Late Show with David Letterman (October 2010)
Taylor did a five song set at the Ed Sullivan theater (where the
Late Show is filmed) in October 2010 featuring You Belong With
Me, Back To December, Love Story, Mine, and Speak Now - and she
also did a second performance of Speak Now as the Late Show’s
musical guest (wearing a bright yellow dress instead of the
purple floral one pictured) on what appears to have been the
very same day. I’m not sure if the other five performances were
actually ever aired or not - I can’t seem to find much about them
online, and none of them feature Dave coming out to promote
the album at the end like the yellow dress version of Speak Now
does - so this set’s kind of a mystery to me! Let me know if you
happen to know more about it!
This whole set has got a very chill energy, Taylor moves very slowly and deliberately on nearly every song, her body
language conveying a very lowkey mood - but in spite of that, she’s constantly working the hell out of the crowd. For
You Belong With Me, she walks up and down the aisles holding people’s hands and connecting with them directly and
making the absolute most of the small theater size (probably one of the smallest venues she’d performed in quite at a
while by this point in her career). 6/10
And then for Love Story she doubles down on that crowd work and spends basically the whole song among the
audience, having real personal moments with her fans - especially the young ones. I’ve seen artists try to really put on
a massive, serious show on late night, and it rarely works well, so I think this approach Taylor took here - working with
the small venue and making the most out of that as opposed to trying to force it into feeling bigger than it does - is
really smart and works way better than trying to do something too theatrical. 6/10
Her performance of Back To December - a song that I think is relatively difficult to convey well live, just because of its
pacing and energy - felt really heartfelt and honest. 5/10 And Mine is one of her better vocal performances to date -
she really nails all those big moments throughout that song. 5/10
Speak Now is a song with such wonderfully colorful and descriptive lyrics, and Taylor really leans into that for the live
performance. At times she’s practically acting out every line - miming a veil, knocking on the church door, outlining a
bowtie - and it’s just really cute and fun and matches the vibe of the song perfectly. A performer with less experience
and natural charisma could make something like this look super
cheesy, but Taylor just owns it. 6/10
Then for the yellow dress performance of Speak Now that aired
on Letterman, she actually refined everything I mentioned above
even further - matching a bunch of sly smiles and brow furrows
to all the gestures. Given the fact that she just stands at a
microphone the entire time, it’s undoubtedly one of her most
captivating and impressive performances to this point in her
career. She doesn’t need any theatrics to keep you 100% on the
hook for the whole song. 7/10
Back To December
Music Video (February 2011)
Song Rating 16 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I was hoping we’d gotten rid of the extreme closeups, but they’re
back with a vengeance here! I really like some aspects of the
design here - the muted indoor tans and off-whites to match the
feeling of the outdoor shots, the snow falling indoors, etc. But I
truly just don’t get the appeal of a sustained shot of someone’s
mouth and only their mouth. I’ll never understand.
I think basically all of Taylor’s music videos that weren’t just
compilations of clips or her playing with the band have been
really narrative-focused so far. She’s had a lot of full storylines
playing out in the visuals of her videos that either add to, or
reenact, the lyrics. This one is much lighter on the narrative stuff
- I thought it was going to be strictly about a “vibe” until like 4/5ths of the way through when suddenly we actually get a
connection between the two recurring scenes via the note in the pocket, but that’s really the full extent of a “story’ we
get here. It’s just Taylor being sad in December. Which, y’know, I guess that’s fine, but if they were going for vibes I wish
they fully committed and created some really interesting aesthetics and visuals, and if they were going for story, I wish
they’d shown us some real story play out. Instead we’re just in a middle area where we don’t get as much of either as
I’d like.
Country Music Awards (November 2010)
Song Rating 16 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
I know I said something about Taylor’s last live performance
where it was just her at a piano that it felt like a bit of a waste of
her talents as a performer and put excessive focus on her not-yet
fully developed vocals. But this one works a lot better, in my
opinion. Her vocals here aren’t perfect, they have their ups and
downs, but she conveys a lot of emotion with her delivery,
especially around the bridge, and that’s more important than
nailing every note 100%. Singing is an art, not a science.
But what really works so well about this performance is the set
and costume design. I love the fog, the snow, the the streetlights
and the wrought iron fences, the orchestra in the shadows behind her, and her dress pouring out onto the floor. It’s
such a vibe and it really suits the song incredibly well. (The best recording of this I could find is actually posted by the
YouTube account for the company that provided the fog machines lol) And while Taylor has had several great
post-performance reactions in the past where she seems genuinely surprised at the reception she got from the crowd,
this one might be my favorite yet. She starts off with a bashful smile and downward gaze before looking up at the
audience - and her face just falls into utter shock and she says, “What?!” as though she simply cannot compute the
reaction. For someone who just came off of a huge world tour, it’s honestly incredible that she’s still grounded enough
to have such a sincere reaction like that, with zero pretense, not taking for granted that people will be impressed by
her in the slightest. I have to imagine it’s the fact that the crowd is full of her musical contemporaries that makes it
different and special for her. In any case, it’s super endearing every time.
American Music Awards (Nov 2010) Haunted - Performing this song in the Psycho house is such a cool idea and was not something I saw coming on a
“Thanksgiving Special”, but it’s unfortunate that this one is clearly not an actual live recording - this is the studio version
Song Rating 16 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 100%. Which, y’know, it was probably impossible to get a working recording setup going inside that house, so I don’t
Woah, Taylor’s look here is so different from anything we’ve seen blame them, but it’s a little disappointing since this is a song I’m trying to “click” with.
from her so far! She looks incredible - a black blazer, a pony and
bangs, and dark eyeliner have aged her five years in a month - Mean - Taylor says this is the first time they’ve done Mean, and
that’s crazy and unexpected. And just to make things even more I’m not sure exactly what that means (the first publicly or the
unexpected, the song suddenly and briefly morphs into first the band has ever done it live together at all), but they really
Timbaland’s Apologize! There’s a song I haven’t thought of in a got it right! I love how much twang Taylor puts on her voice here.
very long time. It’s a perfect fit, thematically, to merge with Back Her delivery of “blow-oo-oh!” at the start and “ever gonna be”
to December, and not something I ever would’ve anticipated, but when they come back from the cut are just dripping with drawl. I
it totally works, and doesn’t overstay its welcome in the slightest. know it’s not Taylor’s natural accent, but it’s such a crucial part of
this song and it gives me life. 6/10
The set design here isn’t quite as good as the last one, but I do
think the trees and the snow are a nice touch, and it was cool Back to December - This one is set right below Central Park’s
that Taylor got up from the piano to really bring everything to a grand finale. And Taylor’s look is so cool and different famous Bridge 28 with about a dozen string performers behind
here that I’m much more focused on that than the set, frankly. Taylor at the piano, and it’s just a beautiful arrangement. After having seen the other two performances of this one,
I’ve come to the conclusion that Taylor’s just really good at performing this song live. It suits her voice and I think it
All the YouTube comments on this video say that she was sick for this performance, but I certainly wouldn’t have naturally pulls up a lot of emotion for her, and we can see it and feel it. 6/10
known it. Her vocals here are actually better than the CMA’s performance - besides the “too late” refrain, which she just
couldn’t quite find, I don’t have a single thing to pick on about her voice here. I thought she crushed it, and I also never Enchanted - Okay, so, Taylor’s performance here is really good - she starts it off really soft and simple and then builds
get tired of the genuinely delighted smile she has at the end of nearly every live performance. It’s the cutest shit and it it all the way up to the point that everyone in the crowd is swaying their arms in the air and she’s giving full on
gets me every single time. squinting, shouted delivery. A really big chunk of this one gets cut out, but what we do get is really nice. 6/10

Speak Now - For the most part, this performance is really very similar to the previous two performances we got of
Speak Now on Letterman, both of which were really good, and this one is too - she does all the same gestures and
Thanksgiving Special brings all the same upbeat energy - but there’s one moment in this version I have to talk about. The way she delivers,
NBC’s Thanksgiving Special (November 2010) “But you are not the kind of boy,” here is so, so fucking good. Man do I wish that was the way it was delivered in the
studio version and I’m really hoping that she does it that way on the Taylor’s Version of this record. The energy and
We don’t get full recordings of any of the songs here, so it’s
tone of that line is fucking incredible. Straight-up gave me chills. If we got this full song, I have a feeling it would be one
difficult to talk about some of them in any detail. Sparks Fly, for
of my very top Taylor live performances to this point. 7/10
example, we get about fifteen seconds of - so was it good? I don’t
know! So I’m only going to talk in detail about the tracks that we
That was really cool! I wasn’t expecting this to have so many different settings across New York and L.A. and I definitely
actually got most or all of.
wasn’t expecting all the behind-the-scenes footage. I always love getting to see the production of an album - seeing
Taylor in the booth testing out different deliveries for various lines, etc. was awesome. The haunted house scene was
Mine - A really, really solid, clean performance against an
also pretty funny, and it was really cool to see how much Taylor liked New York City at the time and how excited she
incredible backdrop of the Empire State Building illuminated at
was to be there, all while knowing that in a few years she’ll be writing a whole album inspired by it.
night. I found myself listening really closely here thinking that
she might not be using live vocals because the vocals were so
But there’s a tradeoff for that behind-the-scenes footage, and it’s that the absence of complete songs really hurt in
spot-on, and no, she just totally nailed it. Her live vocals are
certain places. Like, I simply cannot find it in my heart to forgive whoever decided to edit out basically every single
continuing to improve quite a lot. 6/10
bridge from this special. How do you cut out the bridge of Mean? Just - how? How do you do that? How do you hear the
bridge of Enchanted and say, “Nah, let’s just skip to another chorus”? Truly maddening. I would love raw, full recordings
Story of Us - Taylor’s performance here is super colorful and energetic. She’s jumping up and down, tossing her hair
of each of these songs. As it stands, at least I can say this was a super entertaining watch, with a couple moments that
around, and serving looks the whole time - and once again, the vocals are really, truly great. She knocks the big notes
really shined and some really fun extras.
out of the park and adds a little flair in some places - super fun. 7/10

Long Live - So cool to see this song done live, since it’s so clearly a song just designed to be played to a crowd (Taylor
herself introduces the song as being for the crowd as she’s standing on top of a bus in L.A.) I think there’s only so
dynamic you can comfortably get on top of a bus, and this song gets trimmed a fair bit in the edits here, so it’s not
quite so exciting as the previous performances, but it just made me really happy to see Taylor perform this song to a
crowd. 5/10
Mean
Music Video (May 2011)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Of all of the “studio shots” in her music videos, where it’s just
Taylor performing with her band, this is easily my favorite.
Taylor’s style in both the jugband scene (feels almost like the
early parts of the Wizard of Oz) and the Vaudeville-esque
Broadway stage scene is great, and her acting throughout -
understated as it may be - is some of her best. Her expression
while delivering lines like, “As if I don’t already see them,” is a
bang-on match to the tone of the lyrics. She really has a talent
for that in a way that a ton of talented singer-songwriters don’t.
The comically overstated old timey aesthetics work really well
too and I like how hard they lean into it. It’s got an almost
cartoonishness to it that’s a lot of fun and very memorable. You’d never forget the look of this video or confuse it for
any other.
The boy in the locker room, the girl wearing the star costume, and the little girl in the cafeteria really help this song
expand its message, too. Like, yes this song is ultimately about Taylor rebuking some specific critic of hers, but she
recognizes and I think desires it to be an anthem for anyone who feels like they’re bullied or put down by someone and
needs a boost of optimism and confidence. Depicting some extremely relatable scenarios of being bullied as a kid that
nearly all of us probably can relate to in at least some small way makes this song feel even bigger and more important,
and I love that.
This succeeds on basically every level and is definitely one of her very best videos to-date.
Academy of Country Music Awards (Apr 2011)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
That jugband farm scene in the music video is really great, so no
surprise they duplicated it here. And boy I love how the entire
audience started clapping along like ten seconds into the song -
they were instantly and completely on board and excited. That
shit ain’t easy, fam! When’s the last time you saw a performance
at an award show that got the crowd hooked that quick? It
doesn’t really happen.
There’s something about this performance that I can’t quite put
my finger on that feels a little bit faster and “fuller” than the
studio version. It just sounds really good. The way Taylor starts
the bridge - pausing for a good two seconds after, “How I can’t sing,” leaning away from the mic and staring dead into
the camera with an incredulous ‘Really?’ look on her face that invites the audience to basically be like, ‘Yeah, fuck that
guy! You tell him, Taylor!’ is just the best.
And I know I’m just a broken record at this point but there may be no more heartwarming thing in the entire world
than Taylor’s reaction when an audience goes wild after an award show performance. It’s the biggest, most candid
smile every time and it’s utterly contagious.
54th Grammy Awards (February 2012)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆
This has pretty much everything I liked so much about the ACM
Awards performance, but then more on top of it. I like Taylor’s
style even more here and the set design is even more interesting.
The choreography is so simple - just everyone leaning together in
unison - but it really works and adds a little flair to the whole
thing. The eye roll at, “How I can’t sing,” followed by the big, sly
smile after, “But all you are is mean,” is an even better
performance of that highlight from the ACM’s.
And then Taylor goes straight for my heart subbing in the line,
“Someday I’ll be singing this at the Grammys.” That’s goddamn
iconic, folks. Not surprised to find half the YouTube comments are about that line. Absolute S-Tier lyric swapping in a
song that’s already a giant ‘fuck you’. And even Taylor’s reaction to the audience at the end is the just amazing here. Her
jaw literally drops. She’s looking around at her bandmates like, ‘Are you seeing this shit? Can you believe it?’ Absolutely
giddy. This is absolutely an era highlight right here, if not a career highlight. Solid gold.
The Story Of Us
Music Video (May 2011)
Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Taylor’s not done with narrative love story videos and I’m glad for
it. This one does maybe the best job of any of them so far at
matching nearly every single shot to the lyrics - it’s practically
cinematic. I’m a total sucker for the dress shirt, loose tie, and
messy hair look - it might be my very favorite look of any of her
videos to-date - and the rest of the styling in the video, like the
black pullover, are also just really complementary looks for
Taylor’s style.
Her performance here is also so dynamic and so fun. She fully
commits in those library shots, practically throwing herself into
the bookshelves, pouring down the walls, pulling her hair out, screaming. I don’t know that we’ve ever seen her go
quite this hard before and I’m all about it. The intensity comes through perfectly and the camera work is just right - we
can really feel all that energy instead of wasting it on extreme close-ups like they’ve done in the past. Taylor’s too good
of a performer for that. And in addition to those really high energy scenes, we also get some really cute and quiet
moments of her bashfully looking at the boy across the classroom, giving a shy wave in finger-length sleeves, and
those look just as good and are delivered just as well.
Top-to-bottom this is just a collection of great looks and great performances against a really unique and tonally
cohesive backdrop. They could’ve gone with just a boring old high school but they went with something so much more
flavorful and memorable than that, and Taylor just owns the camera every moment she’s on screen. She really seems
to be on quite a roll here in this mid-2011 to early-2012 period and I’m hoping that bodes well for the final few videos
and performances of the Speak Now era.
Sparks Fly Country Music Awards (November 2011)
Music Video (Aug 2011) Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Song Rating 16 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ I think this might be only the second or third time we’ve ever
gotten just Taylor and her guitar, with no backing tracks for her
This is now the second era where we’ve gotten a video of tour
vocals or for the music (the ‘09 CMA’s Fifteen is the only other one
clips before I’ve watched the tour itself, which is kinda neat - it’s
I can recall off the top of my head) and I really love it when she
like a little teaser for the tour to come.
does this. There’s a purity and intimacy to it that you just can’t get
any other way - real bonafide singer-songwriter stuff in the
Since there’s not too much to say about tour clips that I won’t be
lineage of Dylan and Baez - and we’re not watching anything else
discussing in the tour video, let me indulge in a personal thing
but her. It forces you to be fully conscious of the words and the
for a moment. I’ve seen Taylor writing 13 on her hand for a while
music, and it makes things like vocal precision feel less important
now, but in these clips she’s got stuff written down her entire
because you’re connecting with the performer and their story
arm. From ages like 15 to 19 (so roughly 2008 to 2012), I used to
and their feelings.
write a message to myself in marker on my left arm every single
day. I don’t remember exactly why I started doing it, but I found
My only tiny nitpick here is that I think she probably could’ve gone with a softer pick or no pick at all, or maybe they
it really helpful for my mental health to create a daily mantra,
could’ve just lowered the guitar mic in the mix just a tiny bit, ‘cause it’s slightly clicky-clacky at times. But in general I
and I did it with such regularity that I eventually got one of those messages tattooed on my forearm.
think she killed this and the crowd ate it right up. There’s something particularly special, performing like this - just her,
her voice, her guitar, and the song she wrote - and getting a standing ovation. She had to know that they weren’t just
I had exactly zero idea that Taylor Swift was apparently doing the same thing at the same time. I know a lot of her fans
applauding the work of set designers or choreographers - it was all for her. That’s the good stuff.
comment about how her music lines up with their lives, and with the exception of some of her much more recent stuff
like Sweet Nothing, I can’t generally relate to that - but of all possible things, this really weird arm-writing thing has
suddenly give me a moment of, ‘Oh shit, I get that. I understand that, viscerally.’ Really peculiar and really unexpected.
Safe & Sound
Now I’m thinking that it’s inevitable that some strangers saw me in those years and assumed I was a big Taylor fan
copying her thing, and I just had no idea.
Music Video (February 2012)

Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Ours So I want to preface any discussion of this video with the fact that
Music Video (December 2011) I haven’t seen the Hunger Games films, so I have no idea if the
aesthetics of this video are pulled straight from that universe or
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ not, and I’m going to just be judging them for what they are
without any regard for that.
This is a song that was made to get a music video - the lyrics
have such a strange specificity to them that you can’t help but
I’ve commented several times before about her ‘brand image’
visualize some of the things she’s describing when you listen to
being a barefoot girl in a flowy dress, which we’ve seen probably
it. And while I’m actually surprised at how many of those
a dozen times in live performances and music videos so far, and
descriptions didn’t get depicted in this video at all (her love
we get that here again in one of its purest forms, but it’s also
interest does not have a gap in his teeth and has no visible
flipping it on its head in a really interesting way. Usually barefoot
tattoos, etc.) I do think that running with those opening lines first
flowy dress Taylor conveys feelings that are bright and warm and sunny and free-spirited, but here we’re in a barren
and foremost was the right call. The silent strangers in the
winter landscape, the trees are dormant, and the sky is in perpetual overcast. The colors are all in a very narrow
elevator on the way to work is the imagery that sets the unique
spectrum of pale browns and golds, and Taylor’s got one of her more minimalist and mature looks, with no lipstick and
scene for the whole song.
barely-there eyeshadow. This is a colder, darker, more mature, more solemn version of the girl we’ve seen in so many
videos before - all the same tropes are there, repeated clearly, but they’re different this time. I like that a lot; I think
I like how they went for this really drab, washed-out neutral color palette for pretty much the whole “world” of the
that’s a great idea and one that’s executed really effectively.
video except for Taylor’s scarf and the painting in her cubicle, which hints at her having this liveliness and emotion
inside her that’s being repressed by this drab world she’s in, and then suddenly we get this bright pop of yellow with
I also really enjoy a lot of the cinematography and direction in this video. Some of the wide landscape shots really really
the Post-It note which leads us down the vivid and bright world of her romance. That use of color and contrast is really
beautiful, the ancient-feeling tomb up on the hill and the ruined old building, and even the shots of the Civil Wars inside
well-executed. There’s also quite a few genuinely funny moments in this video - not quite on the level of Picture to Burn,
the cabin are all just really cinematic and beautiful. And the little bits of acting that we get from Taylor (like the shot in
but still pretty good (I’m especially fond of elevator banana guy - give that man an Oscar!).
the attached picture) are all very subtle but really good in a way that feels appropriate to the tone of the song and the
vibe of the imagery - anything bigger would’ve felt excessive, anything less would have felt hollow. Just good stuff all
My only gripe is that I found the reveal at the end that her love interest is in the military and presumably returning
around here.
from deployment to just be, uh, kinda weird? Totally out of left field and not sure how it serves the song or story at all.
Ryman Auditorium (January 2012) The Speak Now World Tour
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ The Speak Now World Tour (February 2011 - March 2012)

I wasn’t planning on including any fan-recorded videos in this Sparks Fly - Once again we get an in media res tour start, “Drop

deep dive because both the audio and the video quality of them everything now!” - boom, fireworks, we’re off! I really liked that -

is usually pretty awful, but when I stumbled across this one, I but what I liked even more than that is the huge change of pace

simply couldn’t not talk about it. With absolutely no opportunity we get around the bridge. That works incredibly well to the point

for post-processing tweaks or vocal layering or any of that, Taylor that I’m tempted to say I might like it more than the studio

goes up there and fuckin’ knocks this right out of the park. version. It really condenses all of the energy and builds up all
the tension before letting it explode into the final chorus. And

This is not at all an easy track to sing and sits right on the very then, of course, we get our obligatory “Taylor mouthing ‘oh my

edge of what seems to be Taylor’s comfortable vocal range for god’ because she can’t believe her life is real” moment at the end

close to the entirety of the song. It’s so goddamn good that the as the crowd goes nuts. 6/10

crowd interrupts them with thirty solid seconds of applause and

hollering at the end of the bridge and they have to just wait for Mine - Taylor gives us a really high-energy, impassioned performance here with some really solid vocals, but it’s also,

everyone to get their shit together. compared to most tracks on the Fearless tour at least, very straightforward - really just her and the band getting into
the song and playing it straight. There are some visuals on the screen behind them but they, uh… I have no idea what

My favorite live vocals from Taylor to this point in her career for sure, and I love that she just walks straight off the fuck I’m looking at with those, honestly. Strange stop-motion drawings of fish? Er, why? 5/10

afterward like she wasn’t even really planning on being there, but just swung by to sprinkle five minutes of utter grace
over the audience on her way to the airport or something. After Mine, Taylor takes a moment to acknowledge the experiences of all the people in the audience - the fact that they
could’ve been doing something else with their Friday night, that they had to wait in line and pack into this big crowded
room, etc. and she directly acknowledges some of the big signs and costumes people have made, even though they’re
sitting super far away. I just love that. That kind of gratitude and acknowledgement is an invaluable and precious thing.
Both of Us Taylor seems to understand that something that takes only the tiniest amount of effort from her can mean the
absolute world to other people and she’s willing to spend that tiny effort. So many famous and powerful people just
Music Video (June 2012)
don’t fucking get that, or they don’t care. Such an admirable and respectable quality.
Song Rating 7 / 30 ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Story Of Us - Just when I was a little concerned about the level of theatrics and set design we were going to get from
This video suffers from pretty much an identical set of problems this tour compared to Fearless, a bunch of dancers emerge out of nowhere and Taylor’s acting out the lyrics with her
as the song suffers from, in my opinion. It has only the vaguest guitarist. Another really solid vocal performance too - there’s a backing track, but you can make out Taylor’s live vocals
idea of what it’s actually about, something to do with feeling over it and she’s really punching those power notes. 6/10
inspired despite being disenfranchised - like the Wish.com
version of Kendrick’s Alright. (Interlude) - This part deserves its own discussion. This was just wonderful, man. First we get a guy with a big push
broom tap dancing to a bongo drum beat. Which, like, you don’t gotta sell me on that, I’m down. Then the dude flips a
The video just kind of does that same thing, alternating between switch and Taylor COMES FLYING OUT OF THE GROUND LIKE A CARTOON CHARACTER, going from completely beneath
shots of some run-down areas around Nashville with brief the stage to floating a solid three feet above it before plopping back down like Princess Peach popping out of a pipe. I
snippets of people looking happy, and a couple moments of made some kind of involuntary “hwah??” noise out loud and had to go back and rewatch it because I couldn’t believe
Taylor being cute and staring at the camera. I think they might’ve my own eyes. That effect is a-maz-ing and ridiculous and perfect.
been able to lift this song up and find a real thesis for it if they
created a clearer narrative and message with the imagery, but Then Taylor, in full mime mode, gestures wordlessly at a banjo, so the whole audience is getting hyped - but instead of
instead they just followed the cues of the lyrics and meandered around without really landing anywhere. going straight into Mean, which is what I expected, she just plays a little riff on it and stops. And just when you’re
feeling unsure what might be happening next if it’s not leading straight into Mean, her fiddle player shows up and now
she’s riffing on the Our Song (!) melody in a little solo herself (beautifully, I might add). And we just get to enjoy the two
of them dancing around each other for a minute, getting everyone excited, before they explode into Our Song.
Probably my single favorite piece of any Taylor tour performance to date. It caught me off guard like four times in
three minutes. Loved that!

Our Song - After that intro, you couldn’t have possibly gone into this song not hyped up for it, and it’s just a really solid,
straightforward performance. The band brings the energy, Taylor’s vocals are really strong, and the crowd is elevating
the whole thing with their excitement. Nothing different than past performances of this song, but in this time and
space it feels special, and fans probably weren’t sure she’d pull out a fan favorite from two albums back, either. 6/10
Mean - Of course there was no way she was pulling the banjo
out and not doing Mean, so we get that next. And even though
we knew it was coming and she could have rode straight into it,
she used it as an opportunity to hype up the audience and make
everyone feel heard. I love that they copied over the little leaning
choreography thing from the Grammy performance. Taylor’s got
a clear aesthetic for Mean that she uses every time, and while I
could see someone saying that it’s repetitive, I actually like that
the song has a clear and complete audio-visual aesthetic. I’ll
never hear Mean again and not picture a jugband in front of a
run down house. This particular performance also has my very
favorite, “And a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life,” delivery. Taylor’s got an expression of… let’s go with ‘giddy spite’.
It’s really great. They nail this one live every single time and this one is no different. 8/10
Back To December - They mixed together the best parts of all three of her previous performances of this song here! A
beautiful snowfall of backlit confetti falls over the crowd to create a wintery feel (like the CMA’s) as this really delicate,
shimmering melody plays before a bunch of live strings appear over a bridge, and Taylor’s at the piano beneath it (like
Central Park) until finally we get a brief detour into Apologize (like the AMA’s). I think this really shows the
thoughtfulness of Taylor and her team when putting together these tours. They thought about what worked best in
the past, pulled good ideas from multiple places, and put them together to create something that captured it all, going
so far as to build a giant bridge. Taylor’s performance here is very much on par with her previous ones, conveying a
ton of real emotion. 7/10
Better Than Revenge - Taylor opens this song with some furious headbanging! This wasn’t one of my favorite songs
off the album, in fact it was probably my least favorite, but it really does come alive in a live performance. Taylor’s
bringing a crazy high level of energy to this song, serving angry looks and pointing and shoving and stomping and
flinging her hair around and getting a workout! And then she hands the stage over to her two guitarists, who go wild
with a duet solo that’s pretty solid! There might still be a couple lyrics that I feel weird about in this track, but I
definitely think this live performance helped me ‘get’ this song a bit, which is exactly what I was hoping for out of the
videos and performances of the songs I didn’t rate very highly initially, so I’m really pleased with that. 7/10
Speak Now - On a dark stage, stained glass windows and cathedral arches appear on the screen as Jesu, Joy of Man’s
Desiring starts playing on a pipe organ. I just love that. It’s such an immediate vibe, you know exactly what’s coming up
next, and it’s just beautiful on its own. The next thing you know, a full wedding scene is playing out, with a bride in a
giant, ridiculous dress and a profusely sweating groom. And here I was worried about the theatrics on this tour - this is
next-level shit here, we’re practically watching a play.
And then when the song actually gets going, we get a full choreography for it! Taylor and two dancers at her side have
a movement for virtually every line in the song, and it’s got a very early ‘60s doo-wop kind of vibe to it, like the Ronettes
or something, which somehow fits the vibe super well. It’s just all so over-the-top and elaborate and cutesy and perfect
for such a narrative song. Taylor even leads the groom on a crowd walk to the B-Stage, so the audience goes totally
nuts (all the while the bridesmaids do a conga line for the folks who can’t see her), and a super-extended interlude
plays that’s actually very pretty, and that interlude keeps going because Taylor’s going to deliver one final line at the
B-Stage, and only then will the performance actually be concluded. How great is that? It’s really hard to find much to
critique about this one. This is what big pop concerts are at their best. 9/10
Fearless - Definitely did not expect a performance of Fearless with just Taylor and a ukulele! Well, Taylor, a ukulele, and
the entire audience singing along. And then half way through, it very briefly merges into a song that I very much forgot
existed, Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours. A completely different rendition than the studio version or her previous live versions. I
don’t know that I like it better - I think Fearless is a “big” song in my mind and thrives in that space, but this was still a
pretty fun alternative approach. 5/10
Last Kiss - She really broke out a blue satin guitar covered in koi
fish! What a beautiful instrument - and what a beautiful
performance. This particular song really solidified it for me -
there are really only two possibilities. Either Taylor wears her
heart so completely on her sleeve that when she performs a
song like this, she really can’t help but have all the feelings that
went into writing it bubble right up to the surface, and you can
see them all when she’s singing, or she’s a phenomenally subtle
and gifted performer who has mastered micro-expressions.
Because a performance like this one is just full of these little
moments where a flash of pain or sadness flickers across her
face, a tweak of her brow or her lip that lasts for literally one or two frames (I actually went through some parts of this
song frame-by-frame ‘cause I was mesmerized by this) and it’s just not something I’ve seen very often, even from other
artists who write their own songs or are known for passionate performances. It’s really something, man. Totally
captivating. 8/10
Drops of Jupiter - I really like her vocal tone for this song - she delivers this song with a slightly different cadence than
usual, and she moves her vowels around a bit, dropping them into almost a Georgia drawl. It’s really distinctive and
really fun, and she makes a song that was already overplayed by 2011 feel really fresh and different. 7/10
You Belong With Me - Taylor makes a really silly face at the start of this song, and I feel like it was a moment of her
snapping into ‘performance’ mode after two really slow and heartfelt songs. Her whole energy shifts right there in that
moment, you can literally see it happen. The next thing you know, we’re off the B-Stage and back into the big concert
energy, and we get that pop-out-of-the-ground-into-the-air effect again, except now it’s like six dancers at once who do
it! Do they have fuckin trampolines beneath the stage? How are they doing that?? It works so well! I feel like a little kid
being mesmerized by this one incredibly-explainable effect but it’s like a magic trick to me.
The latter part of this song does a really weird little dip where all the instrumentation fades away and then those same
bongos (?) from earlier come back for just a second in time for Taylor to hand over the chorus to the crowd. Really odd
but really high energy, and then Taylor ends this song once again just totally catatonic at the crowd’s reaction. It’s like
she’s not sure whether to laugh or cry and she can’t look away. It’s the kind of total disbelief at what’s happening that
you really can’t fake. 7/10
Dear John - I don’t know why, but for some reason I wasn’t expecting this song and got so hyped when I heard those
first notes. I’ll say that I normally think her charades thing of miming out the lyrics is pretty fun - for a song like Speak
Now, for example, it really works - but I don’t like it as much here. It dampens the weight of a big ballad like this for
me. She only does it a handful of times but it throws me a bit. Post the big fireworks explosion (which was a lot of fun),
she just plays it straight and shows the anger of the lyrics on her face, and that was easily my favorite part of the
performance. 5/10
Enchanted - The extended intro with the fiddle and the dancers was really beautiful. They’ve filled the space between
the costume changes so well this whole show, big kudos for that - not every show puts that kind of thought and effort
into those interludes. I really enjoyed the choreography throughout the whole song, too. Taylor moves so slow and
deliberate in these very soft, fluid gestures, taking long strides and arching her back. It matches the slow and smooth
flow of the verses perfectly. “Pleasant” feels like such a weird word to use but that’s the best description I’ve got for the
feeling of this whole performance - it just makes you feel warm inside. 7/10
Haunted - The transition out of Enchanted, with Taylor looking scared and taking off running, and showing up
moments later wearing a new dress and banging a gigantic fucking bell was crazy! What a wacky idea! Someone said,
“Let’s put a gigantic fucking bell on stage and you’ll bang it with a mallet and look like you’ve lost your entire mind!” and
Taylor said, “Sign me up, chief.”
The Discography Deep Dive got a very positive reaction from
folks, but the #1 piece of critical feedback I got was, “You’ve gotta
revisit Haunted,” and a couple people specifically referenced this
performance - and now I totally get it. We’ve got a bunch more
gigantic bells and some Cirque du Soleil shit going on, dangling
from them in the rafters and Taylor throwing herself around
with a ferocious intensity, staring into the camera like she’s
ready to bite your head off.
The whole performance is just so potent and in-your-face, a
dramatic shift from several pretty warm and lowkey songs in the
later part of her set here, and she caps it all off by disappearing
under one of the giant bells, which just sits there wobbling back and forth in the darkness even after the music has
totally stopped. Pretty sure I saw something like this in a dream one night after doing mushrooms.
It’s batshit crazy and so weird and so hype and Taylor gives one of her most energetic and exciting performances of
the whole show here. I totally understand why people saw this and were completely sold on Haunted. I still don’t know
how I’m going to feel about the song on its own, but as the musical pairing of this performance, it totally crushes. 8/10
Long Live - Taylor appears with a third costume change in as many songs from beneath the giant fucking bell, with the
rhinestone GS6 in hand before opening the track with a really sweet intro that gets the audience as hyped as they
could possibly be. I already described this track from listening to the record as an “arena anthem” and she really
delivers on that.
All she really has to do is spin around a little, make a funny face
when she sings, “This is absurd!” and pause a few times to look
up at the audience with a big smile on her face and everyone in
the building is madly in love with her for the duration of the
song. I also really appreciate that she once again brought the full
band up in a line. It’s symbolic of saying that she’s not more
important than any of them, they’re all side-by-side in this, and I
just think that’s fuckin dope. Nobody would blame her for not
doing that and she does it anyway. 7/10
Fifteen - Taylor come out looking doe-eyed and adorable in a massive dress on an empty couch - something about
this is my favorite look of the show - and then after a great opening verse and chorus by herself, the whole band joins
her like a bunch of friends just plopping down on the arms and back of the couch, hanging out together - and we get a
bunch of polaroids (foreshadowing Taylor’s apparent infatuation with them) of the band over the years on the screen,
doubling down on giving her bandmates some real recognition. 7/10
You know, I’ve got something else to say about that, too, that’s been in the back of my mind for a while now. Taylor is
in a band. She doesn’t just have touring musicians, she has a band. I think that’s pretty fucking cool, y’know? I’ve been
seeing the exact same musicians since her very earliest performances that are now on tour with her for her third
album, and I suspect some of them are also the studio musicians for her albums. She doesn’t just hire randos to go on
tour with her, she’s got this consistent group of bandmates who are in her music videos and at all her live shows and
that she’s clearly very attached to.
Most big solo pop artists don’t do that, and I think there are a lot of very positive things that could be reflected on
Taylor’s character for not just thinking of them as necessities for performing live but as genuine partners in making her
music that she actively and repeatedly recognizes in her show.
Love Story - Obviously we had to get something big to send
things off and they pulled out all the stops for this one. Massive
single, dancers all over, more Cirque du Soleil acrobatics, Taylor
floating over the audience, confetti, fireworks, an extended
guitar solo during the bows… they really pulled out all the stops.
From a musical performance perspective there’s not too much
to say about this one, but as a theatrical grand finale, this was a
blast. 6/10
I found a handful of one-off songs she did at various stops on
this tour, most of which were either atrocious quality in just little
snippets (like her duet of Jimmy Eat World’s The Middle, an
underappreciated pop classic that I really wish got recorded by someone closer than 3 miles away), but I wanted to
comment on a handful of high reasonable-quality recordings that stood out to me, particularly because she chose
some songs I really adore and did a really nice job with them.
Lose Yourself was hilarious and so unexpected and you could tell everyone in the crowd was just like, “Is she really
doing this right now?!” Sugar, We’re Going Down isn’t a song I’m a big fan of, but I think Taylor’s rendition of it really
worked - it’s simple and poppy and had a little punch to it, completely in her comfort zone.
Introducing Usher to the stage for Yeah! by saying, “Peace up, A-Town down,” cracked me up. I miss Usher. Y’all miss
Usher? Dude couldn’t fuckin miss for a few years there. Taylor was clearly having so much fun with this one, just
dancing around as Usher performed, and I thought she basically wasn’t going to contribute at all, but then she went
and did Luda’s verse and I died a thousand deaths.
And then she played God Only Knows and I came back to life a thousand times. I would write a blank check for a
studio recording of Taylor covering God Only Knows. Even in this shoddy crowd recording, I just adore this. She follows
it up immediately with Sweet Escape, and even though the original relies heavily on its wacky production, Taylor
manages to find a lot of life and energy for this with just her guitar. The LA crowd that got both of these were really
blessed.
And then for a different LA show she does Bette Davis Eyes, a song I just adore through and through, and does a
really gorgeous and simple rendition of it. It’s another song that feels really natural for Taylor, it’s right in the middle of
her skillset as a performer, and so it’s no surprise that she just nails it.
And then the James Taylor performance of Fire and Rain is great for so many reasons. First and foremost, it’s just cool
as hell that Taylor prefaces it with the story that she was named after him and now she’s there with him on stage. And
then she spends the entire performance just staring at home like she’s sitting three feet away from Jesus - I don’t think
I’ve ever seen her absolutely glow with admiration like that. “I’m having a childhood daydream coming to life right
now.” And then James just can’t believe the crowd’s reaction -
the dude is one of the greatest American singer-songwriters of
all time and yet I strongly suspect he has never been in front of
a crowd quite like that one before, or at least not since, like,
1970 playing with Joni Mitchell or something.
Both of them are just having the greatest time playing one of the
saddest fucking songs ever written and it’s just beautiful. He
even hangs out on the couch awkwardly not really knowing what
to contribute to Fifteen just to chill with Taylor for a bit longer.
Chef’s kiss, wonderful wonderful wonderful, I loved every single
second of this.
It’s tricky to do a direct comparison between this tour and the Fearless Tour, just because the tour videos are done in
totally different ways. The Fearless Tour video was like 30% behind-the-scenes footage which left a big impression on
me and really shaped the viewing experience, whereas here they just gave us the full show. I think from a performance
perspective they’re largely equal in my mind - Taylor’s vocals were slightly better here, I think, but the Fearless Tour
was more consistent with delivering big theatrics. But that’s counterbalanced by the fact that many of my favorite
moments from this tour were the most lowkey ones, and getting to actually hear the full songs - including the bridges,
thank you very much - is always superior to chopping them up.
What’s worth noting, too, is that my favorite two performances from the Fearless Tour (Should’ve Said No and Love
Story) were both pretty much pulled beat-for-beat from awards show performances she’d done of those songs
previously, and while that was true for Mean here, it wasn’t true for Haunted or Speak Now - both of which were just
fantastic and totally fresh. Speak Now is right there with the Grammy’s Mean as my favorite Taylor live performances of
any kind to-date, and Haunted was so balls-to-the-wall that it gave me a whole new appreciation for a song that I hadn’t
really clicked with before. And then there was the absolutely beautiful Last Kiss, which was more intimate and
emotional than maybe anything I’ve seen yet.
So I think I give this tour a slight edge over the Fearless one on the whole, but it’s definitely quite close and I’m equally
likely to be going back and rewatching either one of them again sometime soon.
Speak Now Era Thoughts
There’s just so much content in this era. She did eight music videos! She visited every award show, many of them twice.
She did a ton of experimenting with her whole style and aesthetic here that we hadn’t really seen before - everything
from the Mad Men vibes for Innocent to that really distinctive bangs look for Back to December at the AMAs to the mature
version of her O.G. look in Safe & Sound to the crazed schoolgirl in the Story of Us video. We got more elaborate theatrics
than ever before with the Haunted performance, but also her most beautiful and stripped-down performances yet as
well with Ours at the CMAs or Last Kiss on tour, and her most stand-out vocals to-date for that live performance of Safe &
Sound.
She really took everything up a notch, showcasing her talents more completely, improving as a singer and performer,
expanding out of her comfort zones, and pushing her brand and her image in new directions. Both for live shows and
music videos, this era easily matches or surpasses anything that came before it. And that’s no surprise - I felt the same
way about her albums, that they were on a pretty constant upward trajectory from the start, so I was expecting the same
thing to happen here, and it is. It doubles-down on my belief that Taylor started off her career more talented than most
people on the planet and somehow was immediately set on a rapid upward trajectory that virtually no other artist I’m
aware of has ever gone on.
It’s just now I know that wasn’t just limited to her studio recordings, but to her entire creative output at the time.
Favorite Music Videos:
● The Story of Us
● Mean
Favorite Performances:
● Mean (2012 Grammy Awards)
● Speak Now (Speak Now Tour)
● Last Kiss (Speak Now Tour)
 We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Music Video (August 2012)

Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

This song feels more like 2012 than anything else has ever felt
like 2012. The animal costumes, the big black glasses, the cutesy
quirky instruments everyone is playing, it’s all just dripping with
that ironically-ironic hipster energy. There’s not even the slightest
whiff of cynicism here. Donald Trump’s hosting a shitty reality TV
show, the US is confident in its preparations for any pandemic,
and the internet might have some dark corners, but it felt like
you had to actually be looking for them to wind up there. Would
we tolerate this kind of energy for a single second in 2023?

This video also marks a dramatic shift in Taylor’s approach to

WANEGBT / Treacherous / 22
Red Web Chat / Google Hangout (August 2012)
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - The studio version
of this song has such a big and rounded-off pop production,
which works well for it as a radio single, but which I’m not
personally in love with. I actually prefer this stripped-down
version. By virtue of being less anthemic, the sarcastic and funny
tone of the lyrics really shines through as the heart of the song.
7/10
Treacherous - Now here’s one where I really like the studio
production, and yet I still think this rendition is at least as good
as the studio recording. Taylor’s enunciation and delivery here is
beautiful. I could just list a bunch of words that she said in a way
I really enjoyed (“stay”, “friction”, “dangerous”, “home”).
It’s fascinating how this song is precisely the same length as the studio recording (pretty much four minutes on the
note) and yet it feels so much slower by virtue of being just Taylor and a guitar. I think it’s also an indication of the
quality of the songwriting here that you don’t need any of the extras at all for this to still work 100% as well as it does in
the studio recording. 8/10
22 - This is a song that does benefit a bit more from the studio production, but it’s hard to care about that when Taylor
nails the vocals like this. This song has no shortage of notes that really take center stage, and falling off on even one of
them would’ve really stood out, but she nailed it. Such a clean performance. 7/10
Three great acoustic renditions, each of which brought out some new dimensions to the songs or charged the way I felt
about them. She’s just getting into the part of her career where doing an acoustic cover of her big songs could feel
hollow or lacking, and these are hardly the barest songs on Red, and yet it just works super well for all three. Really
enjoyed this whole performance and also enjoyed her discussion with the fans as part of the same broadcast.
music videos. This is her first non-studio performance video (e.g.
putting aside the likes of Change) video that doesn’t make any attempts to disguise itself as a cinematic world at any
point, to make you feel like you’re looking in at real scenes or to suspend your disbelief. It is aware of itself as a music
video from the first instant, immediately stepping through the fourth wall, with sets that are intentionally, obviously
artificial and impossible and comically colorful sets and scenarios - more like a stage performance than her videos of
the past. It’s here to entertain you with fun visuals while you listen to the song.
All of that makes me feel like this is the first moment that Taylor has decided that she’s a pop star making a pop video
for her pop music. This album undoubtedly still has a lot of country to it, but launching the album cycle with a video like
this really shows the direction and intentions she had in mind for her career and brand at this point, if you didn’t
already get the hint from the music itself.
At any rate, this video might not leave a big lasting impact or anything, but it’s a good time while you’re there! Taylor’s
really charismatic, her band gets a lot of spotlight and make the most of it, and the little scenes playing out are silly and
high-energy and take me back to a time and place that I’ve definitely got some nostalgia for, that I found cringey at the
time but look back on as kind of cute and innocent.
MTV Video Music Awards (September 2012)
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
Taylor’s reached VMA closing act status. We’re getting into the
big big leagues now, folks.
This is already a song with really colorful and dramatic vocal
delivery in the semi-spoken-word sections, but she goes even
harder on it here than in the studio version (“I hate you!”) which
helps to really sell that as a quirky, unique aspect of this track
and distinguish it a bit from the version everyone’s already
heard.
Taylor’s vocals here are a little shaky at times. It’s been a while
since she’s done a live performance where she was moving
around so much that wasn’t a tour song she’d practiced until it was down to a science, so it’s not too surprising, but it’s
one of the first times I’ve had anything negative to say about her vocals in quite a while.
The stage and costume design here is very much in line with the video, in some cases directly so (the band’s in their MV
outfits), and everyone on stage putting on Ray-Bans at the same time is truly a throwback to a time and place that feels MTV Europe Music Awards (November 2012)
a million miles away now.
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
Taylor got the audience really hyped at the end there and did her first “real” stage-dive (the previous one she was I think it’s safe to say that Taylor has a “thing” for a certain
caught by crew that carried her off - this one looks like a genuine fall into the actual crowd there), after which she old-timey early-1900’s Vaudeville-y, circus-y, aesthetic. This isn’t
looked immensely pleased with herself and flipped her ponytail in a, “Yeah, that’s right!” kind of way and blew the the first time we’ve seen her use this kind of imagery in a video,
crowd a kiss. Very different from the awestruck smiles we’re used to. This album cycle is bringing a whole new energy and we know that she’ll use Coney Island (perhaps the most
to the table that feels much more pop-star-y in every way. archetypal example of that aesthetic anywhere) as a metaphor
much later on in her career.

BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards (October 2012)

The theatrics here are huge and insane, there are so many actors
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ and dancers and effects, it’s one of her biggest stage productions
ever, and Taylor’s rocking a hell of a look - but I think all of those
This performance ended up being four songs, not just
theatrics come at a bit of a price. She’s got too much going on to
WANEGBT, but I didn’t realize that until after I started watching
really commit to the colorful inflections and fun deliveries that
it, after I’d already structured my listening order. Turns out, that
she normally puts into this song, and her vocals in general are pretty iffy in a few moments (although I also think the
was a blessing in disguise! This performance needs to stay here,
audio production team here dropped the ball - the mic just doesn’t sound good and the backing track should’ve been
in chronological order, because it’s a game changer.
way stronger for such an energetic performance).

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - A very different

Very mixed feelings on this one in the end. It’s a hell of a show and I’ve gotta commend that, but I think both previous
rendition than the last one. A few of the same beats are in there,
versions better served the ideas that make this song memorable and interesting. Bigger isn’t always better.
like having the crowd join in, but a lot of the big theatrics were
condensed down into just Taylor and four dancers, and the
bright hipster colors were all swapped out for black and gold.
Given that there are like five live performances of this song, I’m glad we’re getting more than just a rehash of the same NRJ Music Awards (January 2013)
thing. And Taylor always makes the most of the “Like, never!” bit in the bridge, and this is no different. 7/10
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
You Belong With Me - It’s so different to see this performed by Taylor wearing a lacey, lingerie top, swaying her hips,
The nude lip, super straight bangs, and massive eyelashes really
putting a heavy dose of sultriness and maturity into her whole energy that’s about a million miles removed from the
combine to create such a different look. I kind of love it?
version of herself who wrote this song. This is not a version of You Belong With Me that I ever thought I’d see, but I kind
Something completely fresh and different, and it just feels
of love how totally different and unexpected it is. And of course an unstoppable giggle escapes from her at the end as
European, you know? Straight blonde hair and bangs and an
the crowd goes wild. No, I won’t stop commenting on this. Yes, it’s always the best. 7/10
ultra-understated makeup look just makes me think of Europe -
so it feels like a very fitting choice for a performance in France.
Love Story - Oh Jesus, she’s doing it to Love Story now! She’s making Love Story sexy! For the love of God, are we gonna
let her get away with this? Somebody stop her! Man, I hadn’t sufficiently processed what just happened with You Belong
Speaking of which, swapping in the, “Je t’aime toujours!” in the
With Me and she comes out running her hand down her hips and giving a sly look to the camera while singing about
bridge was super cool and the crowd loved that. It’s a tiny little
Romeo and Juliet. I was saying that the WANEGBT video was a clear indication that we’d entered a new era of Taylor’s
touch but it’s immediately a stand-out moment that makes this
brand and career, but no, I recant that. This is the new era. It’s not like she just chose to wear something other than a
performance instantly memorable.
flowy dress, she’s completely transformed the vibe of these songs - some of her work which has the strongest
attachment to her former image - and reclaimed them for a new time and a new her. Without any hyperbole or
I also liked that they trimmed this track down to just a short and sweet 2:30. Maybe it’s just because I’ve listened to this
sarcasm, this performance feels like a transformational moment in her career. There’s no going back now. 8/10
song like five times in the last hour, but I don’t necessarily feel like this particular track needs the full runtime to do its
work. Most Taylor tracks definitely do, to be clear, but this is one of a handful that doesn’t. It’s got two primary things
Red - “It seems like you think that’s a good idea!” Taylor shouts with two thumbs up. Her crowd talk interludes have
going for it (the full little spoken word bits and the catchy hook) and as long as you get both of those in there, you’ve
gotten so good. She just owns the stage from the moment she walks up to the moment she walks away. In one sense,
done enough. I liked how lean this was, and combined with her really distinctive look and the French bridge, this one
this is the most straightforward of all her performances in this show, but I think it might be my favorite. This song is
works for me.
such a “band” song, the rock instrumentation is really at the forefront, and so Taylor standing at the front of the stage
with her guitar just serving looks with the big moments of the song is exactly what I want from a live performance of
Red. And I also want to take a moment to appreciate that her guitarists never use their solos as an excuse to steal the
slightest bit of spotlight away from Taylor. The balance between Taylor giving her band a lot of love and the band
recognizing Taylor is the act everyone’s there for is just a pleasure to watch. 7/10
55th Grammy Awards (February 2013) been a recurring theme through her career. I imagine a lot of artists fear that, but keep quiet about it, or have a
sufficiently inflated ego that they assume they’ll be beloved forever. I have endless respect for Taylor for both having
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ the wisdom to recognize her career is not a certainty and for having the courage to express that fear out loud.
“I’m sorry, I’m busy opening up the Grammys!” send my arms
flying into the air in an involuntary spasm. Every time! Never And she doubles down on that, toward the end, saying, “There has to be a genuine respect for the position that the
stop doing that, Taylor. It works every time. fans are in, when they have all these memories that are attached to these songs that you put out maybe five years
ago, and maybe you’re sick and tired of playing it, but if they wanna hear it, I’m gonna play it. I’ll be playing Love Story
This is the second time in Taylor’s career that I’ve watched her ‘til I stop, ‘til I walk off a stage permanently forever.” That kind of awareness and groundedness of the perspective of
put together the best bits and pieces from previous live fans and not just her own angle as an artist is really amazing, and probably very intimately related to that anxiety
performances, discard the lesser bits, and make something about her career being an uncertain thing.
special (the Back to December tour version). We get the distinct
look from the NRJs (tempered a bit with lipstick), the huge circus She also dropped the phrase “message in a bottle” twice here, and I’m pretty sure nobody knew she had a song called
theatrics of the MTV Europe show (with much less movement that from this era until 2020. I don’t think this is one of the Taylor Swift ‘easter eggs’ I’ve heard so much about; I think
from Taylor and far superior audio work), and putting a lot of this was just a phrase in her mind at the time and she may have never thought she’d get to release that track. But it’s
spotlight on the spoken word bits like the VMA performance. pretty neat in retrospect to realize that the imagery of a message in a bottle was actually something Taylor was more
attached to than anyone knew at the time.
I also think the heavy emphasis on white instead of red just makes for a much cooler look overall than the red circus
did, and even if there’s a somewhat less dynamic and crazy stage without all the fireworks and shit, I think the In terms of the songs themselves, there were a few standouts. I really enjoyed Ours, which was one of the most
costumes are a big step up here and easily balance that out. They really just found a great balance here. It’s got stripped-down songs of the night, with just Taylor and her guitar, and her vocal delivery is even better than the studio
everything you want from a performance of this song. version. Eyes Open was not a song I was expecting her to play and was one of my least-favorite songs in her
discography, but I definitely enjoyed it much more here than I did on the recording. I still think the chorus is a little
weak, but Taylor brings a lot of emotion with her delivery (particularly toward the end, she really goes hard and lands
VH1 Storytellers some big notes) and the instrumentation and backing vocals are really nicely done here.
Live at Harvey Mudd College (October 2012)
It might not have been her most musically or visually interesting show, but all of the performances were really solid,
Taylor performed You Belong With Me, Red, Ours, Eyes Open,
the chats between the songs were really great, and it was just a very feel-good set. I walked away from it having just
Mean, Begin Again, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Our
felt like I had a really good time for an hour and with some new tidbits about Taylor’s songwriting process and a new
Song, and Love Story here as part of a collegiate contest hosted
appreciation for her capabilities as an entertainer and storyteller, and yet further respect for her approach to her work
by VH1 Storytellers.
and to being a popular artist.

The performances themselves are relatively straightforward

here. It’s not an Unplugged and it’s not a performance with any
kind of theatrics, it’s really just her and her band with a
traditional pop-rock concert vibe. But in the tradition of VH1
Storytellers, Taylor spends a pretty substantial amount of time
here going through the meaning behind each of the songs she
plays and her songwriting process in general, e.g. she explains
that her early songs were explicitly inspired by movies, which helps to explain why her lyrics tend to be so descriptive
and evocative of specific, visual imagery.
And as we’ve seen a handful of times before, Taylor’s got the gift of gab and she’s also really, genuinely funny (her
WANEGBT story was hilarious and her Southern accent cracked me up), so she’s always engaging and interesting and
there’s not a single moment of dead air or any feeling that she’s rambling emptily, and her interactions with the
audience when they ask questions are so wholesome. She’s incredibly kind and attentive to everyone she talks to,
complimenting them and making them really feel seen and heard and appreciated. She’s just a natural entertainer and
a gifted communicator from start to finish.
It was really interesting to hear Taylor say, “It’s people saying that all my songs are starting to sound the same, that’s
the big fear. That’s what I run from,” knowing that at this point in her career, despite the diversity in sound she’s
already had, her fans (and probably Taylor herself) had no clue the variety of genres and sounds they had coming from
her. She also mentions her fear of people getting ‘tired’ of her, which - based on some of her lyrics - seems like it’s
Begin Again
Music Video (October 2012)
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
This is one of her most cinematic-feeling music videos to date,
filmed in something like 21:9, with lots of depth-of-field variety
and a huge variety of angles and scenes. You could easily
convince someone that this was made by a major film crew on
the set of a big-budget movie. The whole thing also had a very
distinct color palette, slightly washed out and overcast, colorful
without ever being bright or even pastel. I’m particularly fond of
the rooftop shots of Taylor in a dress with huge, flowy layers of
sheer lavender fabric with the Opera Garnier in the background.
My mental imagery for this song was very quaint - I was picturing
Taylor in some little coffee shop in Nashville or something. I definitely didn’t expect all this elegant Parisian energy, and
frankly I still don’t know that my headcanon is going to be changing, but there’s no denying that this is a gorgeous, soft,
slow-paced video with a very strong and unique feeling to it. You’d never mistake a single frame of this for any other
Taylor MV, and I really appreciate that and hope we continue to get distinctive, idiosyncratic visuals from her MVs.
 The visuals during the song itself are all grimey dive bars, roadside motel rooms, punk concerts, and smokey raves, an
Country Music Awards (November 2012) aesthetic that’s about as far from Taylor’s “good girl” image as possible. It’s another very cinematic-feeling video, with
really quality camera work (I particularly like Taylor’s acting and the cinematography during the wasteland scenes), and
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ we get the best performance from any co-star in Taylor’s videos yet from Reeve Carney, who’s very believable as a
Just in time for me to be like, “I didn’t associate this song with charming trainwreck of a man. Taylor’s hair and makeup here are so distinctive and different from what we’re used to
Paris at all,” they double-down on the Paris thing by opening this and the setting of this video is so dramatically unlike her past ones that we really do buy the story, like we’re getting a
with a guy playing bal musette on an accordion…. hey, wait a glimpse into a world where all of this is true, and if that’s not a mark of a well-done narrative music video, what is?
second! Does that imply an association between Paris from
Midnights and the relationship described in this track? I Perhaps her most ambitious music video to this point in her career with a lot of really bold and unexpected creative
obviously couldn’t have guessed that based on the music alone, decisions coming together in a way that really serves the lyrics and the music.
but now that I’m seeing these visuals, that definitely seems likely!
It’s exciting that the music videos and performances are starting
to give me some deeper understanding of Taylor’s catalog.
American Music Awards (November 2012)
I dig the general look of this performance, too. The red cafe, red
dress, red lips, and red flowers on the table strike a really good
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
balance of leaning into the album color without making it feel like a gimmick. And the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower Woah! There’s so much going on here! We open with an Eyes Wide
might be a little on-the-nose, but the changing color of the sky (from dawn to day to night, and the Eiffel tower lights up Shut masquerade ball energy, with some really curious costume
at the end alongside the cafe lights and street amps) and the falling leaves turning to snow - that whole effect is just work (the female dancers are wearing, uh… crystal… face…
really clever and creates one of the most dynamic visuals of any performance she’s done. cages?). And from the start I already thought it was a pretty cool
visual for the song, but it just keeps going off from there!
I don’t have a ton to say about Taylor’s performance specifically - her vocals are solid, but it’s also one of her simplest
songs to sing, and her performance is a little cheesy and heavy handed, but so is the song itself. It is what it is. It’s cute The second verse comes with a bunch of strings that aren’t on
and simple and effective and not blowing anyone’s mind. the studio version of the track, but which fit the visuals really well
and that just sound really nice, and then the second chorus
features a stark costume change and the introduction of a bunch
of little dubstep wub-wub-wubs. And the whole while we’re getting
flashing strobes and tons of high-energy choreography, but then
I Knew You Were Trouble
just to mix it up one more time, all of that intense movement instantly halts for the bridge, with dancers frozen in place
Music Video (December 2012) (including one being held in the air - kudos to them!) before we explode back into more synths and strobes and a
glitchy, EDM-inspired twist on the final chorus.
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
This song is one of Taylor’s darkest and heaviest in her career to I don’t know that we’ve seen Taylor change up the actual music and arrangement of a song so much and so well before
this point (only rivaled by Haunted and Better Than Revenge), and for any of her award show performances. The strings and the electronic stuff both suited the first part and the second
so it makes sense that her image would need to go a little part of the performance really well, respectively, and the energy here peaked way higher than it had in the music video.
rougher and grittier to match it. (Imagine her singing this in the There’s so much happening with the choreography, so much happening with the costumes, I had to go back and watch
outfits from the Begin Again video!) But even so, I was surprised this twice just to feel like I took it all in. Her vocals were a little iffy at the start, but by the end she found her stride and
by how far she took that. I really didn’t think she’d even the whole thing had become so captivating and high-speed that it wouldn’t have mattered much anyway.
experiment with such a style shift like this until the 1989 era.
She’s wild for this one. Definitely in her top five live performances for me so far, really enjoyed that a lot.
Taylor shows up with rough-chopped bangs with faded pink hair
dye and a torn-up sleeveless shirt in a post-festival wasteland
and mysterious harp music with droning synths behind it starts
playing, like something out of Twin Peaks, and we’re immediately feeling something completely and utterly new.

I commented on the 21:9 ratio in the Begin Again video? Taylor went fuckin’ 4:1 (!) for this one, maybe the wackiest
aspect ratio I’ve ever seen in any music video ever. The intro here is one of the most interesting and cool things she’s
ever done, with like forty rapid-fire flashback shots of a troubled relationship as Taylor narrates the memories coming
back to her as she wakes up in the desolation left behind when the party, and their relationship, has ended. Her
delivery in the narration is beautiful, her voice wavering in moments with real emotion. (That devil-angel line was a little
silly but the rest of it was good enough that I kind of rolled past it.)
ARIA Awards (November 2012) 22
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Music Video (March 2013)

I really like how they managed to do a performance that feels Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
both really similar and completely different from the last one. We
After a couple very cinematic music videos in a row, I was really
get all the elaborate choreography and set design from the last
curious to see what she was going to do for this one and was
performance (the choreography here might be even better - I
ready to be very surprised by attempting to do such a light,
loved the breakdancing, the spray paint, and the hair-whipping
upbeat, pure pop song in a cinematic style. What we actually got, I
bit) and we also get most of the same changes to the music itself
think, a pretty nice balance between something that feels a little
(just no strings this time, appropriately). But this time we’re set
bit like those last two videos while also being far more like
on the stoop of a gritty urban brownstone, complete with
WANEGBT.
chain-link fences and a varsity jacket.

Like the more cinematic videos, we got an interesting aspect ratio

On one hand, I can understand someone critiquing this as just a
‘reskin’ of the last performance, but the aspects of the
performance that were carried over just work so well, the aesthetic difference is so stark, and the new things they
added are so cool that I couldn’t disagree more. It might not have quite the intensity and the explosiveness of the last
one, there might not be a costume change, but this is still damn near just as good. Plus, her vocals here are stronger
than they were at the AMA’s. This song was just made for big, high-energy live performances and Taylor and her team
are delivering exactly that. Despite this not being my favorite Taylor song, I’m really loving all of the creative output for
this track so far, the MV and both performances have been fantastic.
BRIT Awards (February 2013)
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆
She did it again! At first I thought we were going back to the AMA
performance again, but it quickly became clear that we were
taking it to a whole ‘nother level here. The masquerade has been
replaced with sexy maids and butlers (the maids still wearing
bizarre headgear!), Taylor’s white dress has gone fully bridal and
her costume change dress is borderline-lingerie, and the
audience went absolutely wild with the reveal.
And then rather than just adding in some extra dubstep noises to
the next chorus, there’s a full-on instrumental breakdown,
something totally fresh and unlike what we saw in the previous
two renditions. The screens and the flames are going wild and the musical buildup for the end feels even more intense
here than it did at the AMAs. The result is possibly the biggest and loudest performance of her career to this point,
closer to the Speak Now Tour’s Haunted than anything else she’s done.
I really had trouble believing she was going to top the AMA performance, and then I really had trouble believing she’d
be able to do a third one of the same quality as the first two without it starting to feel overplayed and predictable, but
all three performances of this song stand on their own, they all have unique aspects that the other two performances
don’t, and I think there’s an argument to be made for any one of them as being the best of the three. For me, this is the
one that takes the cake. The costume reveal moment was huge, Taylor’s dancing and acting here is fantastic, the
instrumental bridge was so unexpected, and everything about the stage and costume design here, from the doo-wop
style backup dancers with the white gloves and the swinging hips to the geysers of fire shooting out around the stage
were just top-notch. They just crushed this whole song cycle.
(1:1 with a kind of imitation projector screen outline around it)
and some very film-like cinematography (the beach and mirror
shots in particular); like WANEGBT, much of the video is delivered straight through the fourth wall to the camera, and
there’s a super lighthearted party vibe to the whole thing. So I would imagine this video has a little bit of something for
everybody - people who like the pretty camera shots and the feeling of the song having its own ‘world’ get some of that
here, and people who want a video to just be fun and get them hyped up get some of that here as well.
In other words, this feels like a video that can’t possibly be anyone’s favorite or anyone’s least favorite. It’s pretty fun
and it’s pretty nice to look at and it’s not too much of anything. Really enjoyed the way they ended it - the editing of the
music into the party sounds and the splash of the water was done perfectly, so the sound quite literally ends with a
splash. A lot of music videos forget to have a cathartic, conclusive moment at the end to put a bow on the whole thing
and have the viewer walk away on a high note, but this one remembered it and got it just right.
Billboard Music Awards (May 2013)
Song Rating 18 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
This concept of this performance, starting off in the dressing
room and slowly working her way toward the stage, is brilliant.
There’s a certain casual, free-spirited energy to 22 that would’ve
been really difficult to replicate 100% choreographed on stage.
And while obviously the whole thing was choreographed (and
extremely meticulously, too!) there’s a feeling of spontaneity from
that intro that really sets the right tone for the rest of the
performance.
(As an aside, it looks to me like they took the best attempt at the
intro, played that, and then as they leave the tunnel on the video -
right when the camera cuts as they pass through the curtain - we actually go to real live footage. I think that’s perfectly
fair, as there were so many things that could’ve gone wrong if they tried to do the performance entirely live from the
start.)
She threw a shout out to the city into the lyrics, which I always appreciate. The addition of the Jabbawockeez was a little
strange to me at first, but they put them to real use with yet another unique instrumental breakdown. I thought that
was great - it didn’t overstay its welcome, the instrumental matched the song well, and the ‘wockeez choreo was really
cool without overshadowing Taylor as the center of the stage. My biggest takeaway though? Damn has Taylor gotten
good at her breath control while singing and dancing live! She was moving so much and her vocals didn’t budge!
Highway Don’t Care
Music Video (May 2013)
There’s not a whole lot to say about this one - it’s, uh, horrifying
and sad and maybe even trigger warning-worthy. Most of
Taylor’s appearances are a sequence of essentially the same
(pretty, but uninteresting) shot over and over, with the
occasional very funny and very weird decision to transport her
into the rear-view mirror of the car (but not full-size like she’s
being reflected from the back seat - she’s tiny, like that kid in
Willy Wonka who gets shrunk down to fit inside the TV set). It
hits that sweet spot of “looks so dumb it’s funny”, which would
be less of an issue if it wasn’t stuck in the middle of the heaviest,
darkest music video I’ve seen in a while.
Academy of Country Music Awards (April 2013 ACM)
I have about as much to say about this performance as I do
about the song and the music video, which ain’t much, but I do
want to point something out: just six years earlier, at the 2007
ACMs, Taylor was this little curly-haired baby in a frilly white
gown who was holding her hand out to Tim McGraw and saying,
“Hi, I’m Taylor,” for her debut television appearance.
Flash forward and the woman on stage with the backless black
dress, red lipstick, and bangs wouldn’t be immediately
recognizable as the same person. She’s been on two massive
tours, she’s released a bunch of huge country and pop crossover
hits and iconic music videos, and she’s up on stage next to Tim McGraw performing alongside him, and I don’t think it’s
a stretch whatsoever to say that she’s the bigger draw than he is. Tim McGraw’s a legend and I love him, don’t get me
wrong, but Taylor at this point - just six years later - is one of the biggest stars on the entire planet.
It’s remarkable, not just because it only took her six years to do it, but just as a benchmark moment in the story of
Taylor’s life and career. I wonder if she felt that way about it too.
Red
Music Video (July 2013)
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
This is another tour footage video, like we’ve had for each album,
and maybe the most straightforward of them all with minimal
behind-the-scenes stuff. Interestingly, there’s both a shot of her
in a varsity jacket, like the ARIA performance of IKYWT, and shots
that are clearly a recreation of the BRIT award performance of
IKYWT. I have to assume she liked the jacket look enough to use
it for a different song on tour? Very curious! There’s also a shot of
her and all the dancers playing some kind of giant glowing hand
drums? No fuckin’ clue what performance that could possibly be,
but very eager to find out!
CMT Awards (June 2013)
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
First, Taylor’s look here is badass. Her dress is practically a cape,
and she starts the show off in this great asymmetrical power
stance with one leg hidden behind it and the other out, and I love
the sparkly red Les Paul with glittery hearts and filigrees, a perfect
blend of her earlier style with the new Red aesthetics.
I was skeptical about her leaning this hard into the whole red
thing, but for this song in particular, the titular Red, it really does
work. Taylor also delivers this song (both in this video and on the
tour music video) with such a seriousness and intensity, no
playfulness or smiles at all, and it really helps to create a vibe that
I didn’t really appreciate from the recording itself. I get the impression that, for Taylor, this song really really is burning,
fiery, and dangerous. It’s not a fun pop banger with a color gimmick, it’s a red-painted missile, a flaming wrecking ball.
Pretty solid vocal performance here too! Not perfect, but definitely good enough to be happy with.
Country Music Awards (November 2013)
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Just when I thought I’d had a good idea of how Taylor intended to
perform this song, just when I got done saying that Taylor
imagines this song like a wrecking ball, she totally changes it up!
All the electricity is gone, all the fiery red is gone, and we’re back
to Taylor with her acoustic guitar in hand.
It takes real bravery and confidence in your songwriting to mix
things up this much - to perform a song huge and heavy in a sexy
red dress on a stage full of flags and flashing lights and then to
perform the very same song like this - and to trust that it’s going
to work just as well or better, that both radically different
arrangements are capable of bringing the life out of the music and the lyrics. Much like how I felt about Taylor
performing with Tim McGraw and now being the bigger act than he was, here she is at the CMAs fronting a
performance with Alison Krauss and Vince Gill as her backup performers. Crazy! She’s 24 and she’s in the center of a
stage with those two legends on it.
Anyway, this is a really beautiful and unexpected arrangement. In particular, I didn’t think the “Reh-eh-eh-ed” bit would
work in a really stripped-down and acoustic version, since it’s so synthy and coated in post-production in the studio
recording, and yet it does indeed somehow work here. I love that they let Alison and Vince sing a couple of lines each
(although their mics were mixed too quietly) and their backing vocals along with the fiddle, mandolin, and acoustic
guitar just sounded fantastic. I might like this better than the studio version of the song, honestly. Just really pretty and
really simple and thoughtfully arranged. She took a big pop song and made it quiet and bluegrassy for the CMAs,
proving that she hasn’t left the world of country music just yet, and proving that her songwriting can hold up to a
variety of interpretations.
This one’s made me reconsider the songwriting score I gave to this track. Good stuff!
Everything Has Changed All Too Well
Music Video (June 2013) 56th Grammy Awards (January 2014)

Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ Song Rating 27 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★

I was pretty skeptical of this from the start when it became clear Jesus fucking Christ.
that this video wasn’t going to feature much of Taylor or Ed
themselves, but it totally won me over. Mini-Ed reading the It might not be possible for this song - in any rendition, any
newspaper and drinking coffee on the bus, Mini-Taylor longingly performance, any version - to not floor me. I might just be
watching him play guitar, the LEGO tattoo gun, the slow dance in incapable of hearing this song like a normal human being and
the empty gym… it’s goddamn adorable is what it is! not like I’m being tossed off a cliff into the ocean. So, like, maybe
it’s just me, but… am I wrong that this was utterly fucking
This idea really could’ve fallen flat and is definitely one I would’ve spectacular? Am I crazy or was this the best live performance of
expressed a lot of hesitancy about in the drawing room, but it her career to this point?
just came out so stinkin’ cute. And having Taylor and Ed show up
at the end for the briefest of cameos was a great touch. Her vocals are spotless. She never misses a note, she’s bang-on
through the whole thing, and she adds even more color and anger and sadness and intensity than the studio version
Am I going to watch this again? Okay, probably not. But did I enjoy it for what it was? Was it really sweet and has, like she’s reliving all the love and pain and trauma right there at the piano. Her facial expressions are always great,
complemented the energy of the song really well? Definitely and definitely. and she’s always conveying the meaning and feeling of the lyrics in her face when she performs, but she cranked that
knob so far past 10 here that it has completely transcended anything that feels performative and is just so unbelievably
visceral that it cannot be interpreted as anything but utterly raw and sincere. Like it reaches down into that deep part
The Last Time of the human psyche, that thing that makes you feel instinctively afraid when someone looks angry, or feel
unconscious empathy when someone looks sad - her expressions here are so unadulterated and intense that they
Music Video (November 2013)
reach you at a level far beyond what mere words are capable of.
Song Rating 17 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
The way she turns to the audience for lines like, “Your cheeks were turning red,” it feels like she’s looking somewhere
This performance was clearly done in front of a huge crowd off into the middle distance, above the audience and into the darkness of the room, staring into the eyes of the subject
(although it’s the studio recording being dubbed over the live of the song in her memory, like they’re right there in that moment. There’s an intimacy and immediacy to it, it’s the kind
performance visuals), which makes me wonder - was this a of way that nobody has ever looked at a crowd before, but the kind of way that everybody has looked directly in the
one-off on Taylor’s tour? Did Gary actually go on the road with eyes at someone across the room who’s hurt them. When she gets to, “So casually cruel in the name of being honest,”
her just for this song every night? Is this same video going to be it’s almost too much to bear. I’ve watched damn near every music video and performance she’s done in her career to
on the Red Tour recording? Very interesting. this point and I’ve never seen anything like it - I’ve hardly seen anyone in real life like it. She’s snarling, completely
overwhelmed, so deeply lost in the words and the memories that it all becomes real again in that moment, like every
In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed this performance. Having Taylor
word she speaks is true in this very time and place, not conjured up from the past but alive and on fire, here and now.
and Gary enter the stage at different times and face back-to-back
for the whole start of the song is a great way to visually represent
Even Taylor’s expression after the performance ended is completely unlike anything we’re used to. It’s not the joy of a
the disconnect between the two protagonists in the lyrics. They’re
performance that was well-received by a crowd of her contemporaries (which we especially have gotten at the
each expressing their feelings about the other one and their
Grammys in particular in the past), it’s something much more complicated than that. She looks tense and nervous, like
relationship, but not to one another. This is the perfect imagery for that and I think it was a brilliant idea to show it that
her body is still running on ten thousand volts and she’s barely functioning. There’s almost a subtle dissatisfaction in
way. Gary looks super immersed in the performance, his eyes are closed for the whole first part, and Taylor’s serving
her eyes, as though what she’s just done was so intimate and overwhelming that applause isn’t even the appropriate
her usual, great expressions to match the shifting memories and changing tone of the words.
reaction, that clapping for what she’d just conveyed is like throwing confetti at someone who’s just come back from the
frontlines of a war. I don’t know what was going on in Taylor’s mind and I don’t mean to presume, but I think she must
And then having the two of them ‘face off’ for the traded lines of the bridge works really well, too, and on top of that,
have felt terribly vulnerable and alone at that moment, on a stage in a packed venue on national TV. It’s moments like
Gary and Taylor just start having a ton of fun with the performance from there. Taylor gives the crowd a big hyped up
this that make Taylor’s life virtually unfathomable to anyone else, and that help me understand a song like Question…?
smile right toward the end of the bridge and Gary’s touching people’s hands and hopping up and down. There’s just a
really great energy that develops out of a relatively dark song, but not in a way that spoils it or feels inappropriate. You
I wasn’t a big fan of the backing singer in the early parts of the song. That’s it. That’s the extent of anything I could
can just tell that Gary and Taylor - outside of the ‘characters’ they’re playing in the lyrics - are really enjoying the
possibly take away from this performance. Everything else - as a rendition of music, as a stage show, as a vocal
performance and, if you’re me at least, you can’t help but smile alongside them.
performance, emotionally - is so fucking good here that I don’t know what to do with myself.

I think duets are naturally suited toward live performance and typically work better live than the average song does,
We don’t deserve Taylor.
and this one is no exception. It’s just a really effective way to execute this song live, one that helps to really bring it to
life with some clever but simple choreography.
The Red Tour
The Red Tour (March 2013 - June 2014)
First, what a shame that there’s not a professionally-filmed
version of this tour available anywhere! I know I’m preaching to
the world’s biggest choir here, but man, after watching those
super well-produced tours for Fearless and Speak Now, it’s just
disappointing to be watching essentially fancams. That said, a
huge shout out is owed to the people who made the two very
carefully-crafted fan edits on YouTube. I watched both of them,
as they each had some minor differences and each had some
performances that were a little better than the other.
The result of all of this is that I won’t be going into quite the
same type of depth on each song here as I did for the previous tours because, 1) I just don’t feel like I can fairly judge
things like the the arrangement and the mixing at the quality level here, and 2) I watched two versions of each
performance (and if you just YouTube search a random song you might find a third or fourth version) so many of the
specific things I might get into won’t even apply if you’re watching footage from a different night. So, take my scores
with a grain of salt here, because I take them with one.
State of Grace - This is a relatively understated opening in terms of theatrics - we don’t explode onto the stage with
giant energy and dancers and crazy shit to start the show - but I think it’s probably the right choice? State of Grace is
such an opener-y song (like Welcome to New York, you can’t imagine it anywhere else on the album) that you’ve got to
open the show with it, and it’s such a slow-and-steady building song, LCD Soundsystem-esque, that massive theatrics
just wouldn’t be appropriate. That said, I am a little bit less hyped after this opener than I was after previous ones, so I
think you just gotta accept that trade-off? 6/10
Holy Ground - I think this was a really clever choice to follow up State of Grace. These two songs are really similar in a
lot of ways and I associate them with one another in my mind: they both have this steady, unyielding, driving energy in
them that was uncharacteristic of Taylor’s music at the time. Pairing them could’ve been risky for that very reason -
you don’t want it to feel redundant and repetitive - but I think it works specifically because they’re the opening tracks:
you put the songs without big singalong choruses early in the set when people are still riding an adrenaline rush.
A track like this might not fare so well on the back end of the show like it’s on the back end of the record when people
are wearing down and need a big-chorus hit to keep them going. I’ll tell you, though, that drum solo thing in the middle
of the song really was not where I thought those drums were going to show up! Truly bizarre and not really sure
exactly how or whether that served the song, but it was definitely, uh, something! 6/10
Red - This was what we got with the Red music video, so not too much to comment on here. I will note that Taylor’s
gotten better at being performative and entertaining on songs when she mostly just stands in front of a mic with a
guitar. In her early career, she wasn’t quite so dynamic as she is
now. 4/10
The Lucky One - The interlude film here was a really nice touch
and sets the Golden Age of Hollywood aesthetic that carries over
into the performance itself. Taylor’s once again got one of these
open-front, cape-style red dresses (this time with the gloves to
match) that’s pretty fuckin’ iconic if I say so myself, and the 50’s
paparazzi theme for the dancers is hilarious. The choreography
of them swarming around her is really well thought-out and
well-executed. It’s totally fresh and unlike anything she’s ever
done before and it comes together to form one of the most theatrical and memorable stage performances of her
career. I loved it. 8/10
Mean - It was really nice to get a performance of Mean that wasn’t some version of the same one we’ve gotten three
or four times before (as great as that one is - and it really is great). This way of performing it matched the general vibe
of this show, gives the people who’ve already seen the ‘theatrical version’ something fresh, and adds a few fun little
things (like the intro of just Taylor and the banjo). 5/10
At this point, the two recordings that I’ve got access to start to deviate quite a bit. Several of these songs are
performed in just one of the two videos, so I don’t know how frequently these made the tour set list.
Stay Stay Stay - The choreography for this one is really cute and simple, a perfect fit for the energy of the song (the
little hop for “mad mad mad” in particular is hilarious, I love that). Taylor then goes up and stands next to her bassist
and they do a cute little duet bridge performance of a Lumineers song (which has the same cute-and-simple energy)
just for maybe twenty seconds before finishing Stay Stay Stay. I thought it was a nice little twist to one of her more
straightforward songs. 4/10
22 - This one has some of my very favorite choreo of the show so far. It’s so playful and dynamic, and I love her little
hair flip for “I bet you want to!” She stage dives off into the arms of her crew and is carried over to a B Stage
(interacting with a bunch of fans along the way) before the
choreo kicks back in, and here it almost feels improvise or
spontaneous at times, like each dancer was given some liberty to
just kind of have fun with it. Taylor’s little duet dance with the
chest bump and the Munch’s-The-Scream face is just the cherry
on top. This has the perfect casual, dancing around, having a
good time energy of the song.
She’s got two radically different looks for this performance in the
two versions of the show I watched - one with shorter hair, a
blue Tokyo shirt, and black shorts, and the other wearing that
same outfit we’ve seen before with the stripes, red jeans, and
varsity jacket, and longer hair in a ponytail. It may seem like a small difference but I think the latter style adds a little
something to the performance that’s missing from the former.
That said, for the former performance, she’s in Tokyo and gets some great crowd work in and speaks just enough
Japanese to make them really go wild. I really love that she took the time to learn a handful of Japanese words and
phrases for this performance. She didn’t have to do that, y’know? She was under zero obligation to do that. But she
did. 7/10
Never Grow Up - This is such a sweet song and not one I was expecting to ever hear her play live, so I’m delighted by
the fact that she’s doing it at all. She opens it with a little talk to the audience about her message to the young kids at
the show and then just plays it totally straight. I’d kill for a better audio recording of this, but from what I can make out
through the crowd going nuts, this was a really clean and pretty rendition. 5/10
Mine - This is another straightforward acoustic rendition. I think she lost track of her place in the song or forgot the
lyrics a bit in the recording that I’ve got - she started to go into the bridge then backed out of it and went back into
another chorus and did kind of an improvised outro, so the whole song ended up being pretty abbreviated. 3/10
You Belong With Me - For a song we’ve seen performed a dozen times before, I don’t think we’ve had a straight-up
Taylor-and-her-guitar acoustic rendition of it yet? And I really enjoyed that! It’s a song that works well as a radio bop for
sure, but it’s also a song that completely holds up with just one voice and a guitar. Another really simple performance
but one that’s kind of refreshing and unique in that way. 5/10
Sparks Fly - Woah, the acoustic intro of this song with the fingerpicking! That was super cool and unexpected. I didn’t
know what she was doing at first, it sounded almost like Hotel California or something! I really enjoyed that way of
opening the song, but being such a big and dramatic song, it was probably for the best that she transitioned quickly
into having the full band playing for it.
At that point, the two different performances I’ve got access to deviate. In one, she proceeds to sing virtually the entire
rest of the song directly to the crowd, probably touching a thousand people’s hands over the next two minutes. It
doesn’t make for a very interesting performance to watch, but she really directly connected with so many people! You
gotta appreciate that. In the other, she lifts up for one of her classic fly-across-the-crowd moments, which is another
way of getting closer to some fans with seats that aren’t as close to the stage in its own way. This has lost its novelty a
bit now that she’s done it several times, but I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to start replacing its novelty factor with a
‘tradition’ factor where everyone’s going to start anticipating the Taylor-flies-above-the-crowd moment for each of her
tours. 5/10
Everything Has Changed - Probably as a one-off for London, Taylor brings Ed out onto the stage for this one and of
course the crowd is already sold before they even start. This song is meant to be played as a live duet and both Taylor
and Ed just thrive in this setting. No twists and no gimmicks here, just exactly what this song is meant for. 5/10
Begin Again - Another really simple and clean acoustic performance, and one really well-suited for the song and the
vibe. Nothing much to say here other than this sounds exactly how you’d expect it to. 4/10
I Knew You Were Trouble - Caitlin (Taylor continues to use the same band, so I’m starting to get to know these people
now!) gets a solid minute of the stage to herself to open this one up in a dramatic and intense
fiddle-turns-into-dubstep intro that’s a really cool performance in and of itself, far more than just filler for a costume
change. No surprise, Taylor then does an extremely similar rendition of this song from the BRIT Awards, which I’m
more than happy with since I think it’s a stronger contender for her greatest live performance to date. Everything that
works so well about the BRIT Awards performance is here again. Since I’ve already seen this done essentially twice
before, it’s lost a little of its punch for me, but I recognize that many people at her tour may not have seen it before
and it would’ve really blown them away. 8/10
All Too Well - After one of the most energetic performances of
the night, we drop right down into All Too Well. It’s not anything
on the level of the Grammys performance (and I didn’t expect it
to be, frankly), but it’s still really fucking good. She takes a really
long pause in the middle of the bridge (right before “but you
keep my old scarf”) in both performances, but in one in
particular she wipes away a tear and pauses for what feels like
forty seconds, and I don’t know… I don’t think she’d fake wiping
a tear away for the sake of performance? That seems like a
weird thing to do. I think this song just really, and maybe
especially back then, took an exhausting amount of emotional energy for her nearly every time she performed it.
Maybe it’s all a bit, I don’t know, but she’s convinced me if it is. 8/10
You Belong With Me - A very curious intro for this one with a kind of Nutcracker-style wind-up dolls ballet
performance that gave me no clue at all which song we were leading into. Fitting that theme, Taylor emerges out of a
gear-decorated music box of sorts in a revival of her barefoot-girl-in-a-flowy-dress look. This particular look for this
song has become an essential and timeless facet of Taylor’s brand and image. The “DVD Version” video on YouTube
also includes a clip of a proposal taking place in the audience during this one, which, if you weren’t already smiling,
now you are! This is just classic. I’ve only been obsessed with Taylor for a few months now and already this feels warm
and nostalgic to me. 7/10
Treacherous - For a song about a situation that’s standing on a knife’s edge, a dangerous and slippery slope, Taylor
personifies that by performing a mock tightrope walk extending above the stage and out over the crowd. Obviously
she’s not actually walking a real tightrope, but she’s walking in
such an unnatural way that she’s actually wobbling a bit and
needing to steady herself, which helps to sell an effect. The
whole thing is very subtle and slow, an unusual example of
Taylor being basically the only performer but also not playing an
instrument. It might be slightly too understated, but overall I
actually thought it was a pretty nice complement to the song.
7/10
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor blends a
few things from the two different circus-style performances of
this song she’s done before, wearing the MTV Europe costume
but with the dancers styled more like the Grammy ones. It was looking to be pretty much an exact recreation of those
until she really turns it up a notch, soaring out above the crowd yet again, this time on a giant revolving, uh, arm-stage
thing! Fireworks, confetti, an electric guitar solo, and a whole big high-energy outro kicks in with her backup singers
playing beautifully on the chorus refrain and her name in giant flashing lights across the stage. It’s got all the hype and
power and energy you could want from an outro to a tour show. The WANEGBT circus performance is decent, it’s not
my favorite, but they really made it a very effective closer with the way they changed it up here. 7/10
Apart from the individual song performances, I love that Taylor is continuing to introduce herself to the audience at
the start of each show, even though obviously everyone knows who she is. I can’t help but think that doing so is
important to her - like she’s not comfortable just assuming everyone knows who she is, even if she quietly knows that
they definitely do. It may seem silly to think a little thing like that is admirable, but I do actually find it to be a pretty
respectable and endearing thing to do. Her intersong audience talk remains super cute and fun and a lot of the
transitions and intermissions here were pretty cool, like the film reel of clips from home movies going through every
year of her life from the time she was a little newborn until the present day. It really helps to sell the ‘story’ of Taylor,
that Taylor’s music is not just entertainment but something a little deeper and bigger than that, that you’re invited to
participate in her story and her life.
Overall I found this tour to be a little less exciting than her previous two and dolled out a lot of 5/10’s. I liked both the
theatrical performances and the acoustic section a little bit better on the last tour (none of the ‘big’ songs here were
quite on the level of Speak Now and none of the stripped down songs were as good as Last Kiss, for example) and a
larger percentage of the highlights here were similar to award show performances this time around. That said, I also
recognize that production quality and camera work can play a huge role in how one perceives this kind of thing, and so
it’s possible if we got a really professional, high-quality recording of this akin to the last two I’d feel differently about
that. We get practically no close-ups here and many of these
songs were primarily fan cams by the looks of it.
I think I’ll mostly remember this show for the opening pair of
songs, which felt like they epitomized the energy of the whole
set, and The Lucky One, which was the one performance that
really stood out here as both excellently executed and also not
something we’d seen at all before. (Maybe I’ll add Treacherous in
there too - that was a very unique performance.) But without a
high-quality release of this, I’m not sure that I’m likely to revisit
these recordings again.
Red Era Thoughts
I said the Speak Now era had so much content - this one surpasses it! Eight music videos once again, a ton of award show
performances once again, but we also got several multi-song live sets here too, with the Google Hangout, the Radio 1
Teen Awards, and the VH1 Storytellers concert. I haven’t done the math yet, but my gut instinct is that the overall quality
of performances and videos improved here - a lot of 6 and 7/10’s here - and the first 10/10 and the single best live
performance of her career to this point (and frankly I don’t even think it’s up for debate).

From hipsters to circuses to grungy tattered shirts to little black dresses to dazzling red capes, Taylor was clearly
experimenting with her look here and pushing boundaries with her image just as much as she was exploring and
pushing boundaries with the music on the record itself. If you could feel her pressing at the pop star image in the Speak
Now era, in my opinion she fully achieves it in several moments of this era. In precisely the same way I felt about the
album, these videos and performances have cemented my sense that Red is the bridge between Early Taylor and Middle
Taylor, between young country girl and pop superstar woman.

Favorite Music Video:

● I Knew You Were Trouble

Favorite Performances:
● Love Story (2012 BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards)
● I Knew You Were Trouble (2013 BRIT Awards)
● The Lucky One (The Red Tour)
● All Too Well (2014 Grammy Awards)
 MTV Video Music Awards (August 2014)

Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

What a simple and excellent performance to pair with this song.
The extended instrumental around the intro and the bridge give
the song a very subtly different feel (while obviously also serving
a practical purpose), the male dancers in tuxedos all trailing
around her is a perfect and subtle compliment to the themes of
the song and the album, Taylor’s outfit is flashy and sexy without
being shocking or stealing the stage, and her vocals are really
solid the whole way through.

There’s all of that, and then of course there’s the thing that I
imagine most people remember this performance for, which is
the little joke at the bridge where Taylor refuses to jump off of the big “1989” on the stage and mutters about how it’s
dangerous and how “there’s all kinds of people getting bitten by snakes” as she pants down some hidden staircase only
to reappear for the biggest note of the song. It’s a totally unexpected bit for a performance that had been played
Shake It Off
relatively straight until then, and it lightens the whole mood and creates a playful energy that carries on through the
Music Video (August 2014) choreo and the pyro throughout the last chorus.

Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★ It’s a perfect complement to the energy of the song and makes this pretty simple and clean performance into
In my experience, the most popular songs and videos for artists something really memorable to kick off the album cycle. Good shit.
are often their really dedicated, hardcore fans’ least favorites.
And I get it, really poppy and mass-appeal things often are
relatively devoid of the most characteristic qualities of an artist
that makes the really devoted fans so attached to them. I totally German Radio Awards (September 2014)
understand it and often feel the same way. But… I just gotta say,
if anyone thinks the Shake It Off video is anything less than a
Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
masterpiece in music video production, they’re out of their mind. This is at once a really uneventful performance and also one of
the most bizarre. Like, on one hand, this is really just Taylor and
Mark Romanek is the greatest music video director who’s ever her band and backup singers on the stage doing a straight-up
lived (see Fiona Apple’s Criminal, Jay-Z’s 99 Problems, or Johnny rendition of the song. Taylor’s stage presence and charisma
Cash’s Hurt - the latter of which is unquestionably one of the five greatest music videos ever made), and he and Taylor carries a lot of the load here, but ultimately there’s not really
just crushed this. The imagery is striking, distinct, and immediately memorable. It’s got a ton of diversity in costumes anything to write home about here.
and looks and performance styles - most videos cut between maybe three scenes, this one has nine) without being
riddled with rapid-fire jarring cuts or without any of them feeling weaker or stronger than others. It showcases But it’s also such a high-energy pop performance and Taylor’s
genuinely impressive and captivating performances, but it’s also funny and lighthearted and feel-good from the very wearing this super mini skirt and she’s got her bangs nearly over
start. And the whole thing is tied together with a subtle but powerful narrative thread that comes to a satisfying and her eyes and her cheekbones contoured really high and she’s
uplifting conclusion that perfectly matches the message of the lyrics and the energy of the music. constantly in a cloud of fine smoke and the camera is doing
insane shit, spinning and twirling and zooming in and out like it’s
It’s just a faultless music video, and long before I knew anything about Taylor Swift, long before I’d heard anything more some psychedelic 60’s shit… and then they occasionally pan out to the audience, and it’s a bunch of these Germans
than like two or three of her songs on the radio, I remember when the video came out, and immediately I was like, sitting in full black tie around these little tables with white tablecloths like it’s a wedding reception or the White House
“Well that’s the best thing Taylor Swift’s ever done,” and for years if people brought up Taylor Swift around me, I’d have Correspondents Dinner or something.
nothing much to say about her and couldn’t even name any of her albums, so I’d just join the conversation by saying, “I
think Shake It Off is one of the best music videos of the decade.” It’s such a strange juxtaposition and the camera is so wacky that I actually found myself giggling in a couple moments. It
seems like it’s one of the least-watched performances of any that I’ve come across so far, so if you haven’t seen it, I’d
Also sincerely enjoyed the 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage available for this video! Taylor is genuinely, actually say it’s worth watching just to have a weird experience.
hilarious in both her intentionally bad performances but also in the way she discusses them (“I’m pretty much just
wearing what I wear every other day, so it’s like a really normal scene for me,” Taylor says in bone-dry deadpan while
wearing the pictured outfit with the bracelet-sized earrings.) Highly recommend those if you haven’t seen them; there
was a ton of really great footage left on the cutting room floor for this shoot.
BBC Live Lounge Blank Space
BBC Live Lounge & Radio 1 Teen Awards (October 2014) Music Video (November 2014)
Love Story - Holy shit! This is easily the most inventive and Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
unexpected arrangement that I’ve ever seen from Taylor. Just
synthy piano, a drum machine, a quietly mixed electric guitar, This is another video with a super cinematic feeling to it right from
right-at-the-front backing vocals, and Taylor. It caught me the start, and I get the impression that that’s just how Taylor rolls
completely off guard - it changes everything about the vibe of now - that we’re pretty much only getting videos shot on
this song right down to its very core and has exactly nothing in film-grade cameras in theatrical aspect ratios from now on. There
common with the original version except for the melody and are some fun costumes here (I’m particularly fond of the
lyrics. And it’s all executed so well! The backing vocalists crush it, equestrian fit) and a good setup of the relationship and its
the guitar is so quiet but when it breaks through it really, really deterioration, but really this video comes alive around the
shines, and Taylor changes up the vocal delivery in a bunch of 2-minute mark.
places in ways that perfectly match the change in vibe.
From the moment she grabs Sean’s face for “Darling I’m a
I just think this is beautiful and creatively ambitious and I love that the 1989 era features, very early on, a super synthy nightmare…” to the phone dropped into the pool to the scene in
reinvention of one of her oldest, most quintessentially country hits, and Taylor looks friggin’ gorgeous here to boot. the screenshot here (with an actual deer in the background! I assume a reference to Audrey Hepburn’s pet deer?), it
Her vocals are maybe a little wobbly in places, but man I just don’t care even a little bit, I love everything about this really peaks at a level that few of her videos have reached before. Taylor’s acting, the faces she makes for lines like the
performance. 9/10 final “I’ll write your name,” before the bridge, is spectacular. She sells the melodramatic, deranged parody of herself
100%, and she does it without it feeling cheap or cheesy or forced. It’s real, actual acting, not the “musician technically
Vance Joy’s Riptide - I’m not sure I’ve ever seen and heard Taylor enjoying a performance as much as that one. She’s acting” that you see in almost all music videos of this nature. She just gets it, she delivers, and it sells. She’s an actress.
just cheesing it up the entire time, practically giggling at points. I have a feeling this was a song she was really vibing
with at the time and that this was maybe the first full take they did of it, or a much better one than previous ones, It also really, truly looked like she was beating the shit out of a Shelby Cobra with a golf club, and I had to Google it just
because there’s no disguising the joy she’s deriving from the mere act of performing it. to see if they actually did that (they didn’t).

On top of that, this rendition is just like 3x better than the original, in my opinion. I am very much not a fan of the
“stomp and holler” vibe that the original is dripping in, it reminds me of, like, some shitty commercial telling me to buy
my wife a Lexus SUV for Christmas. I would’ve dismissed this song out of hand, myself. But this version strips all of that
Mumfordy stuff away and just gets down to the heart of the song, which, as it turns out, is a pretty nice melody and
even some interesting lyrics. Taylor saw that potential in it and brought it out - maybe that’s why she was smiling so
much. “I’m lowkey blowing the original out of the water right now.” Really nice performance all the way through. 7/10
Oh, and apparently there was, at one point, a 360-degree “Blank Space Experience” app that you could download that
allowed you to roam around the set and find hidden objects and easter eggs (I’ve found a few small clips of it around)
but it doesn’t seem to be available any longer. That’s an… interesting idea. It sounds like it was fairly underwhelming
(understandable given that it would negate all of the cinematic aspects of the video proper) and I think it probably
would work a lot better in 2023 as, like, a VR stage or something, but it’s still kind of a shame that I apparently have no
way of checking it out anymore. It’s one of the very, very few Taylor performances/videos that is just gone now.

The BBC Radio 1 YouTube page also has a Carpool Karaoke-style Anyway, I really like all the component parts of this video - the sets, costumes, the way it manifests the lyrics and the
video released just a month after the two above performances way it’s framed around the major beats of the song, and most of all Taylor’s superb performance - but somehow it
with Taylor and Greg James in a car lip syncing to Blank Space, doesn’t quite come together to be anything more than the sum of its parts for me? And the sum of its parts is still damn
which I assume was recorded on the same day. It’s a lot of fun, good, it’s just a bit odd to say that I truly have no critiques of any specific part of it, and yet I feel like it’s somewhere
and I’m particularly fond of James taking over the ‘lyrics’ in the around an 8.5/10? There’s some je ne sais quoi that could’ve elevated it and put the cherry on top that wasn’t there for
bridge and Taylor just mimes the percussion. me.

There’s also an outtakes video from it as well (“Taylor Swift & On that note, I hope it’s been clear that I really try not to talk in vague terms like that. I’ve made an active effort to catch
Greg James Blank Space Outtakes” on YouTube) that I highly, myself saying things without explaining them and to go, “Hey, no, be introspective, figure out why you think what you
highly recommend. It’s an 11/10 on the Taylor Being Cute meter. think and explain it” but in this case I’ve really just got nothing. It’s missing that ephemeral, unexplainable, artistic
X-factor - that moment where you just viscerally feel, “Wow, I love that! That all worked perfectly, I need to watch it
again!” I thought this was perfect with my eyes, but it didn’t get me in my gut like that.

If you think I’m being ridiculous and you consider this a perfect video, I definitely get it and you’re probably right.
American Music Awards (November 2014) Style
Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Music Video (February 2015)

Okay, first, I apologize for the screenshot that I chose for this Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
one, but I couldn’t not do it. Her expressions all through this
Oh boy… I feel a hot take coming on here.
performance are absolutely insane. I’ve been trying to pick
moments that capture the overall vibe of the video for my
So, first, some things that I liked. The opening shot is cool - the
screenshots, and this is just the one. That’s the vibe, right there.
fade from Taylor’s silhouette to the cove is a nice effect and sets
us up for that cinematic feeling that she’s established for a lot of
This performance is framed a lot like the music video, and just
her recent videos. Despite the rumors, barefoot, flowy dress
like in the music video, the “Darling I’m a nightmare…” line is a
Taylor is very much still alive and well and makes a reappearance
big moment - in this case it’s because the dancer she shoves
here. The double-exposure shots generally work really well and
away, uh, goes flying off the stage (and I do mean flying) in what
remind me of the True Detective intro (in a good way). The
can only be described as a “Looney Tunes kind of way”, his torso
outline of Taylor filled in with trees or smoke or something, or
accelerating faster than his limbs, which just flail out behind him. It’s a hilarious and preposterous effect and I loved it
the outline of her co-star filled in by the passing headlight-lit
and went back and rewatched it like five times.
roadway, that’s cool, I dig that. The projector shots too are mostly okay. They’re fine.

Other great moments include basically every “I’m insane” - one where a massive pyro effect blows out the whole screen
But some of the other shots here, like the ones that are so glared out that they’re more sun flare than actual image, are
in a fiery glow and another where Taylor tousles her hair and serves the most deranged looks of the night, and the
doing a lot less for me. I actually actively dislike that cheap CGI-looking mirror effect that lingers around for way too
post-bridge breakdown where Taylor starts alternating between wild-eyed anger and terrifying exuberance. Like, don’t
long in the middle of the video. It reminds me a bit of a similar effect in the Highway Don’t Care video - it’s done slightly
get me wrong, Margot Robbie is a generational talent, but if she ever calls in sick, bring Taylor in as Harley Quinn,
better here, but only slightly. It’s just damn near impossible to get the lighting right such that it looks like a real
‘cause she’s got the whole “delighted to be on the verge of madness” look absolutely down pat.
reflection, and since it doesn’t look like a real reflection, it just looks like a green screen instead. It’s not good.

The vocals here are much too buried under the prerecorded audio, it’s one of the most lipsyncy performances she’s
And because the video is edited so rapid-fire without any ground to plant our feet in, without any sense of where we
done to this point in her career, but when her voice does come through, she has some wild delivery to match her
are, it just feels like getting bombarded with a bunch of contrasting aesthetics all trying to evoke slightly different
acting, most notably for “I can make all the tables turn,” which she just growls like a fucking panther. Still, I can mostly
things. A sunny field, the road during the day, the road at night, a sexy bedroom, a beach at sunrise, a lightning storm,
forgive missing out on a real live vocal performance when she gives so much on the visual front. No question about it
hazy woods… what’s the vibe supposed to be exactly? Am I supposed to take all of that in at once and come out with a
that this is not a performance you’ll soon forget. I think even people who barely knew Taylor probably watched that
complex feeling that combines them all like a bunch of ingredients coming together to make a meal? Because for me it
and went, “Woah, she really committed to that, didn’t she?” It’s the fullest realization of the caricature of herself that the
feels less like a carefully crafted charcuterie board and more like a bag of jelly beans - only a lunatic tosses buttered
song represents, and by virtue of being so much less polished than the music video, feels that much more unhinged.
popcorn, kiwi, and licorice in their mouth all at once.

BRIT Awards (February 2015) Are there some really pretty shots here? Totally. Is Style a very vibey song that could work with a kind of low-narrative,
heavily stylized music video? For sure it is. But the execution here just kind of leaves me feeling like I watched a
Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆ 4-minute cologne commercial. If they’d just picked one of the settings and used it as the anchor for the rest of them
and used that extra time lingering in that space to replace the mirror scenes, this could’ve worked a ton better.
Wow! I was disappointed at first to see that she wasn’t going for
as much of a wild and wacky thing here, but I should’ve known
better. When Taylor diversifies she always knows what she’s
Ghosttown
doing. From the start: she looks incredible, she totally rocks that
fit, and I love the shadowbox effect too, but it’s when the dancers iHeartRadio Awards (March 2015)
come out that this show really comes to life. They’re scary good. This isn’t a Taylor song, Taylor doesn’t actually sing, and on the
whole it’s not very good or interesting, so I’m not going to spend
They do some really neat things with “time” - the slow motion too much time on this one. But I did just want to acknowledge
effect about a minute in is incredibly cool and cleverly executed, that Taylor and Madonna have very different voices and singing
the jolts from slowmo to an abrupt flash of movement, the way styles, and this song is not composed in a way that’s conducive
they made the ending feel so huge without adding any extra to a duet, and so… they just didn’t do it! Taylor can play an
effects besides some confetti, just by amping up the choreo, it’s just so impressive. And the little touches like the instrument - so they just let her do that! It’s so incredibly easy to
camera flashing at the end of each chorus and the monochromatic visuals make this feel so distinctive and unique. Oh, imagine how this might’ve gone poorly if they forced this into a
and Taylor’s live vocals are at the front the whole time, and they’re excellent! This one’s just so simple, so clean, so duet and it’s frankly kind of stunning that they didn’t. Huge
aesthetic, so cleverly thought-out and precisely executed, and easily her #1 to-date for pure choreography. This feels kudos to everyone who signed off on the decision - it was the
like the Mercedes-Benz of live performances, just engineered without any excess and with care for every detail. right call 100% and I’m confident it took some persuading.
Bad Blood
Music Video (May 2015)
Song Rating 14 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Ever watch one of those cheap summer blockbuster comedies
where it feels like they probably had more fun making it than you
had watching it (like half of Will Ferrel’s movies)? This feels like
one of those. It’s got a certain appeal on the first watch just
because you’re like, “Oh hey look, it’s Zendaya. Is that Mariska
Hargitay? Wow, she really got Cindy Crawford!” But that’s a really,
really thin novelty, especially given that half of them get about
five seconds of screen time.
I’m a bit curious and confused by the transition we’ve had here.
The 1989 era opened up with Shake It Off, an all-time classic
music video, followed by the really cinematic and engaging Blank Space. Both of those videos have huge rewatchability
and feel really interwoven into the songs. I won’t think about either of those tracks without thinking of those videos too.
But for Style and Bad Blood? I mean, I’ll say this of Bad Blood - it’s a song that doesn’t given me a ton to think about as it
is, so maybe I will think about this video, but only in the sense of, “This is the one that had twenty cameos in it.” I won’t
actually go back and rewatch it.
I think the opening 30 seconds or so were probably my favorite part - we got a narrative unfolding for a second there
with a little twist ending, and I liked Taylor laying on the car she’d just plummeted onto in a pinup pose, totally unfazed.
That was fun. It was well-shot and very professional and the CGI was mostly pretty good (the explosion at the end was
the only part that stuck out as poorly blended), and I bet it was a lot of fun to make, but this one feels pretty thin.
MTV Video Music Awards (August 2015)
Song Rating 14 / 30 ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
We’ve really hit a dip in the road here. When I saw that Taylor
had a liver performance of Bad Blood with Nicki, I was actually
pretty excited about that. I thought Nicki might do Kendrick’s bits
but give them a spin with her trademark delivery or maybe even
put in some fresh bars. It was an idea with so much potential!
Uh, well, that’s not what we got. The majority of the performance
is actually Nicki’s The Night is Still Young, which is easily one of
NIcki’s most generic and uninteresting singles - a song that
could’ve been released by virtually any pop artist in the last
fifteen years, basically just a Black Eyed Peas B-side. Taylor
emerges half-way through it to sing the first two lines of the chorus and then, despite the fact that they both had live
mics up until that point, the remainder of the performance is entirely lip synced. We hear Taylor faintly over the
backing vocals for all of two lines before we’re just listening to studio recordings.
Bad Blood shows up for just a single chorus. Nicki halfheartedly mouths a few words and Taylor’s lip syncing is super
obvious and poorly timed (not something I fault her for at all, for what it’s worth - the fact that lip syncing is not a skill
she has is a testament to her almost always legitimately singing in her live performances). These last few videos and
performances have been a real pothole in what was such a genuinely stellar era up until this point. I’m really,
desperately hoping that Wildest Dreams can bring us back on track. It’s a banger and it deserves a banger video.
Wildest Dreams
Music Video (August 2015)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★
There’s so much to talk about here. First, I’m a real sucker for the
“epic romance” genre and this whole video is essentially a giant
homage to the genre (specifically and explicitly Out of Africa,
which is great and you should watch it) while also incorporating
Taylor’s love for the whole “Old Hollywood” aesthetic (Mean MV,
The Lucky One on the Red Tour, etc.)
Taylor’s look here is very Ava Gardner/Elizabeth Taylor-y, and I
love that she went for the brunette wig. It immediately lets you
know that we’re not watching Taylor, we’re in a movie and she’s
just playing a character (which is true on two levels). And the
choice of casting Clint Eastwood’s son, who’s doing his best impression of his dad in his first shot, immediately brings to
mind The Bridges of Madison County (another epic romance film that you should absolutely watch).
And the premise of the narrative here - this relationship that’s unfolding both in front of the cameras and behind them,
half artificial and half real, where they’re falling in and out of love in their own little “just pretend” world - is so fucking
perfect for this song. Whoever had this idea, if this was Taylor’s idea, what an incredibly clever idea for visualizing this
song. Not to mention the stunning imagery we get: the aerial landscape shots, the animals, the dresses, the makeshift
sets and tents. I complimented a few recent videos for being very cinematic but this just takes it to an entirely different
level. They went to the goddamn Serengeti for this. There’s maybe a conversation to be had about romanticizing African
colonialism or something here, but I honestly think that’d be misguided. This just isn’t the hill to fight that battle on.
At any rate, the bridge suddenly explodes into a flash of imagery, shots of nature and animals and lightning juxtaposed
with their evolving relationship before we plummeted back to earth, back to Hollywood, in a studio filming the final
shots. That’s so smart, man. That’s so friggin’ good.
But then! But then! When the final chorus comes around, she changes up the music! Christ on a cracker, I had to go
back and listen to the original version of Wildest Dreams (I only have the TV in my rotation) to see if I had somehow
missed it being like that, but no - this is a music video-specific rendition of the final chorus with this huge driving
percussion that fills in all the spaces and hoists the melody on top of this big, expansive foundation that just isn’t there
in either the original or Taylor’s Version (the latter of which has slightly more of that than the original, but nowhere
close to the MV). I think this is the first time she changed a song for the video, or at least the first that was noticeable to
me - something I hadn’t even really considered that she would do - and it’s such a positive addition.
My little checklist that I run through for the music videos is:
● Did it complement the lyrics, elevate the music, and bring out new facets to the song as a whole?
● Was it visually engaging and interesting?
● Do I want to be watching this when I hear the song again?
In the case of this one, it’s easily the most brilliant example of capturing and elevating the themes and story of the
music, working in this regard on multiple levels at once. It’s undoubtedly her prettiest, most ambitious, and most
cinematic video to watch, with really excellent cinematography and really thoughtful editing and pacing, giving us a
complete narrative with rising action, a bridge climax, and a moving conclusion. And because this literally sounds better
than her other versions of the song, I absolutely want to be watching this when I hear it again.
This one’s so fucking good. I can’t believe I’m giving out two 10’s in one era, but it deserves it. This is phenomenal.
Grammy Museum
The Grammy Museum Special Performance (September 2015)
Here we get four completely solo performances, just her and a
piano or a guitar, and they’re all really interesting and extremely
different from the studio versions, so I’ve got to talk about them
all individually.
Out Of The Woods - Some songs with big production feel empty
when they’re stripped down and some show whole new facets
that were hidden, and this is definitely the latter. It ends up being
about 30 seconds longer than the original recording in total, in
part because of a really slow and gentle piano intro, but once she
gets into the heart of the song, Taylor really hammers it down
and brings way more energy and intensity to this than I was
expecting. The end result is a song that feels really raw and intensely emotion, somewhere in the ballpark of the
energy of her piano versions of All Too Well. The changing tone of the final “good” in the chorus to something a little
darker and sadder compared to the scream of the studio version is such a beautiful change. This feels like an true
equal to the original rendition. 7/10
Blank Space - This feels like cold lemonade, man. This is so light and refreshing, played up high on an acoustic. It’s got
a real airy, open quality to it, leaving a lot of space for her vocals to breathe in the mix, and the carefree energy feels a
little more predominant.. That post-chorus/pre-verse guitar riff here (which she also uses in the intro) doesn’t really
feel like anything at all in the studio version and almost gives me almost Mountain Goats-y vibes, and the way she ends
each chorus with a hard string mute and a little wink-and-click works so well. I love the original production on this
track, but once again, this one works every bit as well stripped down to just Taylor and the guitar. I’d love to get an
acoustic rendition with these same guitar flourishes on the rerecord. 8/10
How You Get The Girl - The bouncing percussion and backing vocals are such a huge part of the way this song sounds
on the studio version, like I’d go so far as to say that the percussive bass is the heart of the song, and so taking that
away with something I was pretty wary about - and it’s true that the song sounds incredibly open and incredibly
skeletal without it. It’s basically an entirely new song, radically different from the original - but that new song is still a
really beautiful one. I don’t think it shines quite like the previous two, but it’s still really good. I’ve got one little gripe,
but it’s not Taylor’s fault, and I’ll talk about that in a moment. 6/10
Wildest Dreams - My God am I just so completely in love with that Jaguar’s tone. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Taylor
perform solo with an electric guitar before, and I would’ve imagined she’d be likely to go with a really clean sound that
more closely mimicked the response of an acoustic. But no, she went with this really gain-y, grumbling, raw and
snarling Jaguar, and fuck I love the way it sounds and the way it complements her voice. It’s just outstanding. And so I
was already riding a high when we got to the bridge, and that’s when she started doing this dampened, thumping
strum on the low strings that just brought out everything I loved so much about that tone to a peak, and my soul
departed my body never to return. This is just fucking excellent. This is already a contender for my favorite song on the
record and I think this version - like the music video one - is at least as good if not better than the original. Just
amazing. I so, so very much hope that this isn’t the last time Taylor does a solo electric performance. This may just be
my favorite live performance she’s done yet, right up there with All Too Well at the Grammys. 10/10
Okay, a couple other things I want to talk about.
First, Taylor’s vocals on all of these performances are so spotless and squeaky clean that there’s definitely some pitch
correction going on. It’s subtle in the sense that I never specifically hear it happening, but it’s not so subtle in that
there’s not so much as a single errant note at any point in these four songs. So while I think she sounds great and I can
say good things about her cadence and delivery and her enunciation and emphasis, whether this was a particularly
strong vocal performance from a more technical standpoint is simply anyone’s guess, because there’s just no way
we’re hearing the raw mic audio here. And, for what it’s worth, I’m basically fine with pitch correction in general, I just
become skeptical of whether it was used tastefully and whether we actually lost some color and naturalness from her
voice when I’m not hearing even the smallest breaks or deviations.
Second, I noticed that there was a sunburst acoustic guitar on stage that she doesn’t play in any of these four songs, so
I did some digging and apparently she also performed Shake It Off, Clean, and All You Had To Do Was Stay as part of this
same performance but they’re nowhere to be found online, which is a real shame. These four tracks combine to make
one of my favorite live sets she’s ever done, and I would kill for three more. It seems like the four that we have weren’t
all released at the same time, so maybe there’s still hope for the others to come out someday.
And then finally, before the performances, there’s was a “Taylor Swift NOW Listening Session” she did with the
Recording Academy’s Nashville Producers & Engineers Wing where she briefly discusses the progression of the
production of her albums starting with the debut record, then breaks down (in some real detail) the production of
several of the tracks from 1989. It’s entertaining and insightful and Taylor’s really charming and I highly recommend it.
She’s such a gifted public speaker and turns any anecdote into an engaging story with her tone and body language,
and there are some great moments where she honestly embarasses herself by playing voice memos to this audience
of veteran engineers and producers. It feels really candid, too, in a way that showcases a kind of self-confidence in her
own creative agency that feels like something relatively new for her at this point in her career (“I really need to think
about whether I’m listening to a scared record label and what that’s doing to the art I’m making.”) It’s just a really great
time and if you haven’t watched it, you really should.
Out Of The Woods
Music Video (December 2015)
Song Rating 21 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Okay, let me try to work this one out, because I had to watch this
one a half dozen times to feel like I really grasped what they were
going for. So, we open on the classic barefoot, flowy dress Taylor,
and she’s running from the fears and anxieties and stressors of
her life and relationship as personified by the wolves chasing her
through the woods.
As she falls, we flashback to “last December”, which finds Taylor
in a snowy landscape in which the wolves are present, but behind
her and stalking, not yet actively chasing her. She makes a leap of
faith “like [she] stood a chance”, and what she thought would be
an ocean turned out to dump her into a barren desert. In this barren landscape, she actively seeks out a tree, the one
sign of life she can find, and suddenly she’s caught by this huge storm.
And then there’s this uplifting moment at the end of the bridge where the sun comes up, and the storm is over, and
Taylor’s being lifted up by the very woods themselves - the thing she was running from and is still entangled by. In this
moment of “I remember”, she sees flashbacks to the full saga of their relationship, and in each shot she looks
increasingly confident and powerful and in control, no longer afraid of the environment she’s in, but with an expression
of security and confidence. Finally, we get a shot of her plunging into the water again, and this time she looks serene,
like that moment when she took the dive was actually worth it all along. And that’s when, finally, with the whole
relationship having been seen in retrospect for what it was, with the lessons learned becoming the highlights instead of
the fear and chaos that they were in the moment, the woods vanish, and she discovers a “clean” version of herself.
Is that all accurate? Is that right? Does anyone really know? New Romantics
Music Video (April 2016)
There’s so much that’s going on here, so many different scenes and so much contrasting imagery, all of it stitched
together with these really distinctive match cuts which could have any number of implications, and so much of it seems Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
(to me) to be going backward and forward again in time and through memory. The end result is something that’s
We’re back again for the fourth (or fifth, if you count I’m Only Me
extremely surreal and dreamlike and chaotic, and anything like that is going to suffer from a certain amount of, “Is this
When I’m With You) installment in the “Tour Footage as a Music
intentionally difficult to parse, or is it intended to be clear but they failed to make it so, or does some of this just not
Video” series. This was the best-edited of all of them in terms of
actually have any particular meaning at all?”
capturing the feeling of the tour.

I don’t know which of the three it is, and I’m always wary of ascribing meaning to things that don’t have any, but in this
Unlike the Sparks Fly or Red videos, in which the footage was
case I think I’m going to put my faith in Taylor, whose art thus far has only ever surpassed my expectations and who’s
anchored by clips of her performing those particular songs on the
shown a real capacity for meta-narratives and nuance, and assume that this video is deliberately a bit inscrutable and a
tour and interspersed with extra tour footage, this one was much
bit cryptic, not intended to reveal itself obviously and easily, but that it does in fact have an intentional narrative, and
more of a pure homage to the tour itself with New Romantics as
each of the different scenes and their sequence were constructed with meaning and purpose. I’m not certain that that’s
just the soundtrack. We even get some narration from Taylor -
actually the case - there’s a part of me that still suspects some of these shots were basically a showcase for the CGI
nothing particularly interesting, but it does cement the thesis of
team or the editors and that I’m stretching too far to perceive the story that connects them all - but I’m just gonna roll
this video of, “This tour was magical and I loved it.”
with it for now.

Anyway, nothing much to be said besides that. It’s a tour video! As it’s done for the past three, it’s got me excited to
After my first watch, I was feeling like this was a 3/10 or 4/10, but giving it the benefit of the doubt and having spent
watch the actual tour, and it’s reminded me that I’ve actually got a high-quality, professional recording of this one,
some time contemplating it, I think there’s more to this one than meets the eye.
unlike Red’s. Super happy to have one of those again.

58th Grammy Awards (February 2016)

Song Rating 21 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆ I Don’t Wanna Live Forever

I think the stage design here is beautiful - I love the silhouettes of
the gnarly, curly trees against the lavender clouds and the heavy
fog on the ground at the start. I also love that Jack Antonoff is on
stage with her for a song that he co-wrote - that was a fun little
surprise and has got me curious to know how often we’ll see him
going forward given his increasingly significant role in the albums
to come.
I was slightly disappointed with how straightforward the played
most of this song. Taylor serves some really strong looks for the
camera and the crowd, but all things considered it seemed like
they weren’t really taking this opportunity to do something special for one of her strongest tracks on the album…
But then of course Taylor is Taylor and I have apparently yet to learn my lesson. After briefly introducing the Grammy
Awards, she walks to a B-stage and gives one of her best live vocal performances to this point in her career. She swaps
out the normal lead vocals of the bridge for something totally fresh. She’s got way more power and color behind them,
it’s all chest voice, and each of the lines is stretched out over two bars instead of just one, with a pause between them
all, before we get some full-on belting. It’s the kind of playful, dancing-around-the-beat vocals that you expect from
people who are primarily known as great vocalists like Adele or Ariana, but Taylor absolutely crushes it here, and I can’t
overstate what a complete reimagining of the bridge it is.
This really rapidly went from “just okay” to “really great” in about ten seconds for me. I’m probably not going to
remember much about the first part of this song, but no question about it that I’m going to remember that outro
bridge. I talked a lot in my album reviews about how Taylor’s vocals started making a radical improvement right around
this album, and this is the clearest example of that in action. Ain’t no way in hell the Taylor of a few years before was
going to pull this off. I really do think she gets seriously underrated as a vocalist even by many of her devout fans.
Music Video (January 2017)
Song Rating 11 / 30 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
So not only is this track her most-streamed on Spotify (I
appreciate that her music was off the platform for a few years,
which affected that), but this music video also has nearly 700
million views, enough to crack her Top 10. I, uh, I just don’t get it,
folks. I’m just not fathoming this one.
The first 74 seconds is a man walking. Then we get 42 seconds of
Taylor lit by strange lighting in an elevator and then she’s walking.
It’s not until we’re 2 minutes and 19 seconds in that anything
resembling a music video really starts, and it almost exclusively
consists of alternating shots of Zayn throwing random objects
around a hotel room and Taylor sexily flailing around on the bed. The primary thing I was left thinking about after this
one was how interesting Taylor’s lipstick looked and ended up going down a rabbit hole about whether glitter in lipstick
is biodegradable or safe for consumption. That’s where this video left me. On the Wikipedia page for microplastics.
Taylor looks pretty. Zayn’s got hella eyelashes for a dude. I thought it was funny how all the glass and porcelain on the
table instantly exploded into a million shards the second he touched it. There are some cool looking lamps in this
video. That’s all I’ve got. Maybe if I’d see the 50 Shades movies I would be like, “Oh yeah this perfectly matches the vibe,”
or, “Taylor’s wearing that ring that the character wears!” or something, I don’t know. Would that really be enough to
make this one interesting? Probably not.
The 1989 World Tour
The 1989 World Tour (May - December 2015)
Welcome To New York - 1989 and Reputation both feature such
iconic opening tracks that set the tone for the album so well, so
there was no way she wasn’t opening it up with Welcome To New
York. It’s not my favorite song off the album by any means, but it
sure does create a ton of hype and energy. The white sunglasses
look is so emblematic of this era, I love that. I also had to look up
how she managed to get the entire crowd to be flashing the way
they were, and learned that she gave out electronic wristbands
that were synchronized wirelessly, so they can all match whatever
lighting effect is happening on stage, or whatever the particular
aesthetic a song is going for. That’s so cool and it’s not something
I’ve ever seen before.
I’m also really delighted that we’ve got a proper production for this show again, with a bunch of cameras and
high-quality audio, although I’m a little concerned that it might actually be over-edited. I don’t mind the slow motion
and all that, but there were a few of these weird effects added in post that came in at a couple of points that simply
were not there in real life (like just weird geometric patterns and shit that covered up a significant portion of the
screen), and I have no idea why they’d do that. It doesn’t look good, it doesn’t help me feel like I’m there. It’s just an
obstruction. Hopefully they use those very sparingly going forward. 7/10
New Romantics - This one is played pretty straight, riding the hype wave from the opener. There’s a few moments of
fun choreo, like Taylor dropping a circle of dancers with the wave of her hand and being carried on a park bench and
some break dancing. It’s occurred to me just now that, unless there are some dancers we haven’t seen yet, she’s got a
100% male dance crew for this show. It seems like an appropriate choice for the themes of this record, Taylor with a
trail of men following her around. And of course we got another, “Hi, I’m Taylor!” This makes me happy. 6/10
Blank Space - I appreciate that Taylor tends to decide on an aesthetic for a song and keeps to it - it gives the track a
certain visual identity that becomes really strongly associated with it. I can’t think of Blank Space and not think of guys
in suits and silhouettes and picture frames. And I also appreciate that, since the pre-Red era, she keeps that visual
identity without simply repeating the same stage show. It’s a little bit mixed up every time, and that’s what we get here:
it’s a new interpretation of the visual tropes we’ve come to associate with this song.
And then she really blew my mind by doing something so totally unlike anything she’s done before - the “experiment”
of the golf club bang and the looping vocal of the city name and the layered bridge was crazy! That was such a
completely novel and unexpected way to spice up the song that I never would’ve seen coming. Super fun. 7/10
I Knew You Were Trouble - Oh hell yeah! This is what I want out of a tour performance! A totally new arrangement
from the first moment of the intro - sparse and cinematic strings
and drums, with a rolling piano in the bridge and tons of little
changes to notes and delivery (the “oooo” added to the end of
“trouble”, the darker tone of, “and I heard you moved on from
whispers on the street” and “and the saddest fear comes
creeping in”, etc). And what a cinematic and intense stage
performance: sweaty, oily dudes being thrown around and frozen
in place at Taylor’s command as she catwalks up and down the
bridge stage (and shoutout to the editor for how they pieced
together the finger-gun bit, loved that.)
Taylor just knows how to make this song into a performance, man. This is completely and totally unlike her numerous
excellent previous renditions, and yet once again it just works so, so well. From the design of the sound and
arrangement to the vocal performance to the dancing, they really committed to this one and it shows. 9/10
I Wish You Would - With the Fearless and Speak Now tours, I talked about how - to some degree - my experience of a
given performance was necessarily shaped by the way it was filmed and recorded and how it’s impossible to totally
separate that from what Taylor and her team actually did with the stage, the lighting, the sound, the dancing, etc. And
with the Red Tour it was particularly relevant because the recording quality was so poor for some of the songs.
So it’s with that in mind that I say: these stupid CGI effects added on in post really detracted from my enjoyment of this
performance. Do we need to see Taylor flashing between her real self and a pink neon sign? Do we need these flashing
white bars at the top and bottom of the screen? Is that helping me feel like I’m there? I understand that in some cases
they’re probably trying to replicate the effects of the stage lighting that you’d get from a farther-out view when the
camera pulls in tight, but in practice it just doesn’t work. It’s just shit on my screen. I’m trying to put that aside when
deciding how much I liked this performance, but to some degree,
I just can’t. They’re there and I can’t make them go away and
they’re a part of the experience of watching it.
Anyway, other than that, this was a pretty fun and
straightforward performance in the style of New Romantics, and
the shots of this whole massive crowd waving their glowing
wristbands in unison were really great. 5/10
How You Get The Girl - I liked the opening of this one, with the
kind of glitchy samples of the intro being played over some really
surreal choreography - floating lamp posts and spinning, glowing
umbrellas are a really strange idea but they both work - and I was prepared to be more than content with those ideas,
although I was going to mention that I didn’t like Taylor’s dress very much. Yeah, it’s got lights on it, but you can hardly
even see them. Is that worth it?
And then all the fucking lights go out on the stage and Taylor is like a glowing, neon pink beacon in the void and I was
like, “..oh!” Suddenly Taylor and the umbrellas turn into a total rave aesthetic, like you’re inside a 90’s bowling alley or a
laser tag arena, and the whole crowd bursts into blacklight blue. It’s probably the single coolest moment of any Taylor
tour performance to date. Even if I’m not really sure that it does (or is even meant to) “complement the song”, it’s just
an awesome moment where the whole vibe and feeling of the arena makes a radical shift in an unexpected way. 8/10
I Know Places - Three of the first four songs had relatively straightforward choreography and stage design and I was
beginning to be a little worried that she wasn’t going to go as ‘big’ and ambitious with this concert as I was hoping,
given that it’s her first true 100% pop tour, but uh… yeah, those worries have been assuaged.
After the neon madness of How You Get The Girl, we cut to all of
her dancers wearing some kind of cross between a motorcycle
helmet and lucha libre mask and they’re dancing through a bunch
of moving metal doors across the stage. The inventiveness
cannot be called into question. I don’t know whose idea was,
“Let’s use a bunch of doors on wheels!” but it works really well for
the themes of the song and, oddly enough, works really well as a
tool for the dancers to work with, too.
Ignoring more of those really silly CGI effects, this one’s a lot of
weird and a lot of fun. 7/10
All You Had To Do Was Stay - This was really reminiscent of some performances earlier in her career, like Speak Now
or Enchanted - a clear lead role among the dancers that’s playing off of Taylor as the “you” in the lyrics, very theatrical
and leaning straight into the core concept of the song. Almost West Side Story-ish. This one feels quite a lot more bare
bones and straightforward compared to those ones, less costumed and colorful, but I still like this concept and often
find myself wanting her to do it more often, so I can’t knock it too bad. 5/10
You Are In Love - This is another one that feels like something of a hallmark of her tours at this point, which is the
“floating above the crowd connecting with the audience” song. Taylor invites the crowd to provide the reverbing vocals
(for “silence”, “way home”, and “lights out”) and then rewards them with an enthusiastic, “Excellent!” like a proud
schoolteacher. No dancers here, just Taylor and her guitar a la the B Stage sets of the past, which were a highlight of
past shows for me, and this one is really good too. As much as I think the ceiling for her big stage performances is
higher, the floor for the “just Taylor and a guitar” performances is higher. These are never not good, even when they’re
played without any deviation from the studio version. 6/10
Clean - Taylor opens this track with a monologue to the crowd about not listening to other people’s opinions or
judgments about you and about prioritizing your happiness over conforming to what other people deem to be cool or
beautiful, which is wonderful and which is something I really hope the younger fans in particular genuinely listened to
as serious words of wisdom and not just as an intro to a song. The world could use more people who can draw a
crowd of 75,000 people saying things like that.
Anyway, I wasn’t crazy about this performance? The revolving stage is cool, but Clean is my favorite song off 1989, it’s
such an ethereal and emotional and powerful track, and just having Taylor up on this rotating arm with no piano, far
away from any cool stage visuals, delivering the song in a very
straight-faced way, it just doesn’t really do the song much justice
in my opinion. Whereas her relatively happy and unemotional
version of All Too Well felt like a cathartic moment in her career,
this one doesn’t really have that same history, so for me it just
felt a little empty. 3/10
Love Story - Oh hell yeah! She brought back the synthed up
version of Love Story from the BBC Live Lounge performance!
That’s amazing, I truly thought that was a one-off thing we’d
never hear again, and not only did she bring it back for the tour,
she actually improved upon it. It still has those backing vocals,
but now it also gets these spaceship synths half-way through and the electric guitar is brought way higher into the mix
and given a little more flair. Whereas the Live Lounge version felt sparse and Phil Collins-y, this one is big and full and
perfect for a tour setting. And the wristbands flashing in a heart pulse in ultra-hot pink is just the cherry on top.
What a great way to bring back one of her most popular and timeless tracks in a way that fits so perfectly into the
sonic palette and aesthetics of 1989. 9/10
Style - There was a planning session for this tour in which a bunch of people - creatives, choreographers, musicians,
business directors, stage designers, tour managers - all sat down to figure out the details of how this tour should go,
what it would cost, which songs would be performed, how the sets would be designed, etc. And someone walked into
that meeting and said one word: “Heelys.” I love that. One million points to that person.
This performance has a lot in common with All You Had To Do Was Stay, but is an example of executing that in a much
more memorable and interesting way. It’s just as simple, but this time everyone - both Taylor and her dancers - are in
really stand-out outfits and their interactions revolve around a core novelty that we haven’t seen before (fuckin’
Heelys). That’s all you need to do one of these “Taylor against the dancers” type performances and make it work super
well, and this one does exactly that. 7/10
This Love - I kind of feel the same way about this one as I do
about Clean. I like this one a little bit more because the backup
singers and the small amount of choreo adds a little dynamism,
and yeah the vocals are totally fine here, but there’s just
something a little flat and sterile about it. It’s such an intimate
and emotionally driven song and here it feels a little bit like going
through the motions as opposed to embodying those feelings. It’s
curious to me that this is a critique that I’ve simply never had of
Taylor’s live performances whatsoever up to this point, and now
I’ve felt this way twice in a single show. I’ll save some more
comprehensive thoughts about that for the end. 4/10
Bad Blood - This song served as a reminder that Taylor used to be pretty bad at dancing while singing. Yeah, her
production team is better now and she’s got a better backing track mix and talented backing vocalists that give her a
lot of wiggle room, but she’s just really good at it now, straight up. And it is the choreo that’s really the stand-out
feature of this performance. This is a song that could probably benefit from a creative mixup, given that even the
studio version was deemed worthy of a substantial twist for the music video, so it’s a bit of a shame that they didn’t try
to do something inventive with it. But the choreo’s really fun anyway (I particularly like the plexiglass bit) and Taylor’s
back to being really lively and energetic here, throwing in little winks and smirks in the midst of the faux anger. 5/10
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - SHE BROUGHT BACK THE JAGUAR?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???
Oh my god, oh man,I didn’t think we’d ever see it again. She’s got that same distortion, that same warm, cranked gain,
oh man, oh man. Jesus take the wheel, I wasn’t ready for this.
I absolutely love the dark, heavy, almost solemn, wordless intro
with the soft red backlighting. I love that she keeps the guitar
going through the whole first half of the song, chopping away on
those muted strums just like in her Grammy Museum
performance. I love her lead guitarist plucking away at little shrill
bends behind her to add accents on top of her playing. I love her
vocal delivery throughout the whole song - the “euh!” grunts, the
practically-screamed bridge, the intensity and variety in there,
above and beyond anything on the studio version. I love the
switch-up of the arrangement to make it all darker and give it a
more rock-oriented sound. I even love her body language and expressions, they’re the most passionate we’ve seen
the whole show. This is everything I wanted from the Return of the Jaguar. This checks all of my boxes.
All I can say is that I hope my favorite performance of the night doesn’t end up being a non-1989 song, but it isn’t
gonna be easy for her to top this one in my book. 10/10
Enchanted / Wildest Dreams - Holy shit, the back end of this show is getting so good! I wasn’t expecting Enchanted to
last beyond the intro, I figured it would just be a fun little way to open into Wildest Dreams on piano, which itself
would’ve been a pretty interesting performance. And Wildest Dreams sounds great with just Taylor and the piano, so I
was perfectly happy with that. But then when it came back again as a refrain a minute or so later, I thought, “Oh that’s
really cool that she brought it back again,” and was more than happy with that.
But oh no, Taylor had bigger plans still. After an excellent rendition of the bridge, with some of the most powerful
vocals of the show, she cements this performance as a full-on mashup: from the bridge onward, every time I thought
the song had reached its peak, it built up a little higher, and a little higher. This summit this song reached at its end is
bigger and grander than almost anything she’s ever done live to this point. Really loved this one. 9/10
Out Of The Woods - I really like the visuals for this one - the Super Saturday Night
imagery on the screens, Taylor’s really deliberate, intense Super Saturday Night (February 2017)
movements, the paper airplanes, all of it just works for me.
There’s a punchiness and pop to the choreo here, almost like As far as I can tell, after her Grammy performance in February of

vogueing. Even when she “breaks character” a bit to give the 2016 and for the next nearly two years (until the release of

audience a smile for, “I remember” it feels perfect for the Reputation in November of 2017), there were only three releases

moment. And for the second time in the set, Taylor invites the of any kind from Taylor: the New Romantics tour-style video (not

audience to provide backing vocals, which are mic’d up well and much of anything), I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (likewise), and this

which really contribute to the performance. show. So this performance really was kind of the very last hurrah
of pre-Rep Taylor and basically her last public appearance of any

And then she brings back that same outro from the Grammys kind for about ten months. In that sense this feels like a

performance, which I said at the time was just outright better than the outro of the studio version, and hearing it a significant moment - this is kind of the end of her early career,

second time, uh, yes, that’s correct. It’s just such a great way to end this song. The camera cuts in close to Taylor right the conclusion of a non-stop stream of activity for ten years

after she knocks out the last “good” and holds her hand in the air, and she’s got a big smile, but then her expression straight. This is the send-off, the grande finale, the cliffhanger

rapidly closes up and for just a second a really emotional look flashes across her face. Like for just a second there the right before the intermission, the big scene at the end of a movie destined for a sequel.

scale of the stadium slipped through her performative guise and hit her right in the chest. She looked like she was
about to cry. And then the next thing you know she’s smiling again and walking back down the stage, and disappears New Romantics - I like that she mixed it up by not just going with Welcome To New York again - that wouldn’t have

into the floor as an extended outro of just the backup singers plays her away. What a moment, and what a string of been fitting here. It’s a really simple but high-energy performance, just Taylor rushing around the stage putting on a

great performances we’re on here. 8/10 show with movement and charisma. She extends the track out past five minutes thanks to a brief interlude to
welcome the audience, acknowledging that a lot of the people in attendance are in Houston for the Super Bowl (which

Shake It Off - Turns out that revolving stage is capable of moving much faster than we’d seen! That thing was booking was taking place the next night) and her necessary, “Hi, I’m Taylor!”. Nothing super flashy about this one but it’s just a

it! The spontaneous, free-and-wild feeling of Shake It Off’s music video feels so integral to the vibe of the song to me really clean, high-quality, high-energy pop performance. It’s everything you can hope for out of a performance shy of

that something a bit more structured like this (with everyone anchored via safety belt to about three feet of adding theatrics and dancers. 7/10

movement) feels a little unsuitably restrained and controlled, but still, the revolving platform is very cool. And for the
third tour in a row, Taylor ends the song with a really great ultra-extended outro full of backing vocals and guitar solos, Blank Space - I like that she managed to maintain this song’s visuals without any dancers at all - just with the

gives a special shoutout to her band and dancers, and lets them all share the spotlight for a moment. I can dig it. 6/10 silhouettes on the screens - although it does serve to remind me how lean this performance feels in comparison.
Taylor’s vocals get swallowed up a bit by the track and the backing vocals at times, but when they do come through,

Apart from the individual performance, Taylor once again thanked the crowd for deciding to spend their Saturday she gets pretty playful with it and in general just seems like she’s having a really good time performing this one. It’s

night with her when they could be doing so many other things. And, look, I know it’s an easy thing to say, and I know simple, it’s fun, it’s not hugely memorable. 5/10

anyone could say it and not really mean it or care about it, but it really does feel like she’s still very genuinely grateful
that everyone there decided to come, that she hadn’t grown jaded - and likewise for the respect she continues to I Knew You Were Trouble - The breakdown on this song goes so hard that Taylor being alone out on the stage feels a

express for her band and backup singers and dancers (I still can hardly believe she’s performing with the same band little bit emptier than it has for the previous songs. She commits to it and gives a very dramatic and colorful

since her debut era - that’s insane, pop stars just do not do that). performance, whipping her hair around and falling to her knees, and there’s bursts of smoke and all that jazz, but this
is a song that’s begging for a big, theatrical stage show with dancers flailing around like crazy. Taylor does absolutely

In terms of “behind the scenes”-style footage, it was all reflections every bit as much as any one person could do up there, though, and she really wallops those big notes. 6/10

on the various guest performers she had, and the caliber of

guests that she got for this tour is just bananas. And they’re not I Don’t Wanna Live Forever - Woah! If one of my metrics for judging a live performance is, “Does this stand apart

just, like, her pop contemporaries either. She got Mick Jagger and from or above and beyond the studio version in some way?” then this gets an A+ in that regard. A slow, bare, acoustic

Steven Tyler. Joan Baez went up on stage wearing a tour shirt. solo rendition of this song that requires quite a bit of vocal dynamism from Taylor, and she nails it. She also

The clout and the reputation (pun not intended) that she had acknowledges that the crowd is filling in the backing vocals for her, so invites them for a nearly-acapella final chorus

accumulated by this point in her career is just in another fucking together, and it’s just a beautiful moment - Taylor’s cheesing the whole way through it. I still don’t think this is one of

dimension from only a few years prior. She had Kobe fucking the better songs in her catalog, but without a doubt I like this version way, way more than the studio duet. If she did an

Bryant on stage with her this tour. It’s truly remarkable. acoustic version of this on, say, the Lover TV, it’d definitely make the cut for my playlists. 8/10

I really loved a few of these performances, and a few of them You Belong With Me - Of course at this point I’ve heard Taylor do this song live maybe a dozen times, but there’s

were my least-favorite of her tour performances to-date. I’m not something about this performance that I really liked. There’s nothing objectively different about it, really, but it just

sure if that sterility I felt for some of the songs was indicative of the place Taylor was in at the time (physically, comes off really clean and bright, the audio’s nice, the way the visuals come in with a big burst and then just vanish

emotionally, spiritually, any and all of the above), or maybe burnout, or maybe social stresses and pressure, or frankly back into darkness at the end creates a really cool effect, and Taylor’s vocal chops are just that much better at this

it might just be a totally deliberate stylistic choice, but there was a certain rawness and sincerity that I’ve come to point in her career (she reaches down deep and finds a really sultry, Aretha-styled tone at one point that was pretty

expect from her that felt absent here in exactly the moments when I expected it to be strongest. But I have the context unique to this performance). And she just seems to be having a blast performing it. I think she was just feeling it

to know that she’s going to be taking a very long break after this tour, and that feels like it could be really important. tonight, and it showed. 7/10
Red - This is one of the songs that I most underrated relative to
the fanbase’s popular opinion, as far as I perceive it (I’ve warmed
up to the lyrical novelty of it a bit, or maybe the aversion has
worn down) but the live performances of it thus far have helped
me appreciate the song a bit more. She always performs it with
an electric guitar as a straight-up rock anthem, and it’s one of the
songs that feel the most like a “band” performance - she’s the
frontwoman of a rock band playing a big rock bop.
This one deviates from that, and I think I like this version a little
bit less in that regard, but it’s also nice to see it get changed up
and not just rehash what we’ve already seen. Plus, Taylor’s just rolling on the smiles and charisma all night here and
she lights up the stage all by herself (speaking of which - the stage lighting flashing through the blue, dark gray, and
red is a cute touch). And I always respect Taylor introducing her band members by name - absolute class. 6/10
All Too Well - Haha, oh wow! Nevermind the rhinestone guitar, your girl’s got a rhinestone piano! Look at that thing! I
feel like this retrospective through her career has given me a deeper appreciation for Bejeweled. When she says she’s
“still bejeweled”, she’s not referencing some arbitrary sparkliness - she’s referencing a very specific sparkliness that she
has very much embodied in the most literal sense. I love that.
Taylor also opens this song up by talking around the actual title of the song, referring to it like an unspeakable secret
thing, and fully aware that everyone in the audience knows what song she’s referring to and is especially excited for it.
I don’t know that I appreciated that All Too Well already had this immense power and reverence in the fandom at this
point in time. Maybe someone in the replies to this who was there at the time can tell me just how soon after the
release of Red that All Too Well became widely recognized as her magnum opus despite not being a single?
Anyway, the energy of this performance is really interesting. The Grammys performance was intensely,
overwhelmingly emotional, and the performance on the Red Tour wasn’t quite that, but you still felt the heavy weight
of the lyrics in Taylor’s expressions and delivery. This is completely different. I mean, completely completely.
By this point Taylor has reclaimed this story as her own anthem,
emblematic of how she turned her pain into something beautiful.
She’s got more of a, “Yeah this is my masterpiece, I’m that good,”
energy here than I’ve maybe ever seen from her before. She
flashes these prideful, lighthearted looks to the audience, some
of them like, “Yeah - I said it!” and some of them a sarcastic pout
like, “Hey, this song here - this is uh, this ain’t too bad, huh? You
guys think this song’s not too shabby?” She stops in the bridge to
toss her hair and dust off her shoulders. It really could not
possibly be any more different from her previous performances
of it. This is Taylor’s emotional and professional transformation
wrought visible.
And yeah, you know, there’s definitely something special about that Grammys performance that can’t be topped, but
even if this one doesn’t rip your heart out in that same way, it’s really cool to see Taylor have reached the point where,
like a kintsugi vase, her scars have been filled in with gold, and with such a clear joy in all. 8/10
Bad Blood - Coming out of All Too Well, Taylor’s hair’s gotten messy and wet with sweat, and it’s a very appropriate look
for Bad Blood - she’s right back off of the piano and into her intense, high-energy one-woman stage performance.
Otherwise, not too much to say here - Taylor’s vocals are particularly strong on this one and I enjoyed the little thing
during the bridge where it falls into an instrumental and she kind of prowls across the stage. 6/10
Out Of The Woods - It varies between performers and even
individual performances whether a vocalist tends to get better or
worse as the night goes on - sometimes their voice warms up
and improves, sometimes it wears down and degrades. It seems
to be a pretty consistent trend for Talyor that her voice is much
better near the end of a set than at the start of it, and it’s
definitely true again here. Both Bad Blood and Out Of The
Woods afford her the ability to be fairly sparse with her vocal
lines, letting the backing vocals and beat hold up a lot of empty
space, and she’s just been filling it with some bang-on notes (like
that “you were lookin’ at me” that’s floating up in a higher key).
And then, just like on tour, she pauses to invite the audience to do the backing vocal loop, and then breaks into that
fantastic outro-bridge thing. I’ll never get tired of this rendition and I very much hope that whenever 1989 TV comes
around, Out of the Woods gets that outro added onto the studio recording. I want this on Spotify. 8/10
Shake It Off - This wasn’t a surprise choice for the closer, but it feels like a particularly great track to end the show on
given how much fun Taylor seemed to be having this whole night. I feel like there was a real genuine joy and
enthusiasm in her performances here, and of course it being the only show she did in a, like, 18-month period, she
probably came into this pretty refreshed and excited for it. The amount of energy she maintained right through the
end was impressive - Shake It Off was one of the most high-energy songs of the night and she was going all-out for it,
dancing from start to finish.
This song also featured my favorite Shake It Off bridge performance yet: the “dirty, dirty cheats” are spat out with
disgust, and then, “you could’ve been gettin’ down to this! Sick! Beat!” comes out like a boxing announcer, way down in
her most resonant chest voice, like she’s doing an impression of a baritone. It’s all the fun vibes you want from Shake It
Off, spontaneous and danceable, with the energy levels you’d expect from the very first song of the night. 8/10
This was such a good show. Taylor’s intersong banter was great as always. After Blank Space she reminds the crowd
that this is scheduled to be her only live show of 2017 and that they’ll be her last memory of performing live for a long
time to come, so asks that even if they’re not feeling like dancing, “Would you do it for me?” I love that. They’re going to
have a really good time committing to the show and getting lost in the fun, and they’re going to feel like they’re doing
Talyor a favor at the same time. And she got a real laugh out of me by ending with, “Be safe! Have fun! …Play ball!?”
Intense Sports Ball Enthusiast Taylor Swift in full action there.
That sterility I commented on for some of the tour performances
wasn’t here at all. Even All Too Well, which wasn’t done in the
heavy, emotional way I expected, didn’t feel hollow in the way
that Clean did on tour, it felt confident and strong. This show
was really reassuring to me that my feelings about those couple
of performances are not indicative of any lasting trend and are
indicative of some more localized, passing thing.
Also, this is totally an aside, but give me a moment for this - the
amount of people with the best seats in the house who are
holding their phones up for practically the whole show is maddening. If you’re going to the Eras Tour, listen to me:
there’s going to be a ton of bootleg recordings of it and there’s going to be a beautiful taping done by a professional
camera team. Let them do the work for you. Take one little video for your Insta or whatever, then put your phone
away and just be present. I promise you, the memories formed living fully in the moment will be infinitely more
precious to you than some mediocre video drowned out by crowd screams that you’ll watch, like, twice ever again.
1989 Era Thoughts
I only thought one video or performance before this era was a true 10/10. This era got two 10/10 videos and two 10/10
live performances from me. This era also had multiple music videos that I have 2’s or 3’s, and there were some live
performances that were strangely disappointing. Interestingly, in my review of 1989 as an album, I said (comparing it to
Red), “1989 is much denser in great songs, but in exchange it’s less consistent,” and that’s basically how I feel about this
era of videos and performances as well. The highs here are much higher and more frequent than in any previous era,
and I think there’s no question that she’s a better performer and creating better visual content this era than ever before,
but the bar hasn’t been consistently raised. Quite a bit from this era wouldn’t have stood out as a let-down in previous
eras, but in the shadow of a video like Shake It Off or a performance like Wildest Dreams at the Grammy Museum, it does.

From listening to the records alone, I got the impression that I perceived 1989 to be more of a natural progression than a
lot of the fanbase has historically seen it to be. Speak Now had a lot of pop in it, and Red was nearly all pop, and then
1989 finally was just all pop. That felt like a pretty smooth slope. Watching these videos and performances, though, I can
better understand why the leap from Red to 1989 feels more dramatic to some people. There were stylistic (“brand”)
choices that were consistent in her videos and performances from her debut straight through Red that suddenly
disappeared for this era. Everything she does feels like a character, feels like a level of performance here, where she’s
taking on different roles and faces, and really embodying her music. We virtually never see humble little cute and bashful
Taylor in this era - the young girl thing, the teenage girl who’s all smiles and just wants to sing you her song thing, it’s
gone, and in its place are a variety of colorful, dark, intense characters.

In general I dislike speculating about Taylor’s personal life (both because I know so little about it and because it’s exactly
none of my damn business), but in light of the thoughts I shared about some of her most emotional songs on the tour,
taking into consideration the performances in this era as a whole, and knowing as I do that she’s about to depart from
the spotlight for about a year, I can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t exactly the happiest time for Taylor. No doubt she had
a ton of fun and a ton of happy moments and she talks about them and we have video of some of them, but those
moments where it’s clear that she’s just overwhelmed with joy are fewer and farther between in this era, and her
on-stage emotions feels a little more performative (e.g. she’s more likely to be smiling in the middle of a not particularly
upbeat song than she is in the moments between songs, and she’s less likely to show the heavier emotions that she
seemed more open to expressing before). She also got very thin over the course of this era, and there are lots of possible
explanations for that which I won’t speculate about too much (I’m super skinny myself, some people are just built that
way - but we all know how virulent and despicable the body image pressures on women are in our society, doubly so if
they’re being followed around by paps everywhere they go).

With all of that said, there was a ton to love about this era, some really incredible videos and performances, and my five
favorite Taylor albums are all still yet to come - so I’m incredibly excited to see where this goes.

Favorite Music Videos:

● Shake It Off
● Wildest Dreams

Favorite Performances:
● Wildest Dreams (Grammy Museum)
● We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (The 1989 World Tour)
● Blank Space (2015 BRIT Awards)
● Enchanted / Wildest Dreams (The 1989 World Tour)
● I Knew You Were Trouble (The 1989 World Tour)
● Love Story (The 1989 World Tour)
 brilliant, please step forward and justify yourself to me. It’s so fucking smart, man. What a way to reclaim control over
your brand and your image in like twenty seconds flat. All the insults that someone could sling at her, she points
directly at herself - literally. She’s self-aware enough about any possible way that she could be perceived, about the
types of criticisms she received by the public and the media in every era of her career, and simultaneously owns them
all and sets them all on fire. Music video aside, this had to be an incredibly effective piece of PR work… right?

I poked around the internet to see what the reception was to this video when it came out (the song itself aside), and
while plenty of people seemed to feel the way I do about it, I found no shortage of others who described it as an
“all-time low” for her and expressed their disappointment that her identity had now become about “lashing out at her
enemies” and that that she wasn’t being “more mature”, while in the same breath singing the praises of how great she
used to be and how this is a fall from grace. It’s pretty revealing when the very same media that fueled the things you’re

Look What You Made Me Do lashing back against now says, “Oh actually we liked all those things about you, it’s this new thing we don’t like.” It just
reeks of “smile for us, sweetheart” energy, like anger is an unbecoming feeling for a woman to have, and that she
Music Video (August 2017)
should take all their critiques in stride and thank them and ask for another.
Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆ In short, this video and how brilliant I think it is and how hostile some of the reactions were have really helped me to
I want to be clear that when I was listening to Reputation, I didn’t understand the historical perspective of Swifties and how they’ve managed to get a reputation for being so fiercely
realize that she’d been essentially missing from the public for a loyal and hostile toward any critiques of her. She’s busy being a fucking genius and a substantial portion of the media
year when it came out, and I also didn’t realize that this song and the public said, “We liked it better when we were making fun of you for your breakup songs, stop it.”
(which i described as, and still believe to be, the most unique
song in her entire discography to this point) was the lead single This video fucking rules, this song fucking rules, everyone can kiss my ass.
until a redditor told me that in response to my discography deep
dive. That’s insane. Taylor, you fucking lunatic, you were away for (Also the behind the scenes clips from this video are hilarious. Taylor frantically shouting, “Gah! I hate you! Get! Out! Of!
a year and you came back and hit them with this?? They weren’t My! House!” before it cuts to her, in something of a daze, clarifying that she has no experience with home invasions had
ready! me dying.)

That really helps me understand why Reputation was so divisive.

Like, I knew this song was going to be a super divisive one just because it’s so unique, but the lead single sets the tone
for an album in such a powerful way, and just like ME! got Lover off on the wrong foot, LWYMMD sets Reputation off (in …Ready For It?
my opinion) in an amazing, but undoubtedly very controversial and polarizing way.
Music Video (Oct 2017)

Also, I had to do some research on this one. We’ve officially entered the era where I’m spotting some of these famous Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Taylor Swift references and easter eggs, but I know that I simply was not tuned-in enough to pop culture at the time
I’m not afraid to admit that after my first watch of this video I was
and with the headlines about Taylor to catch them all or appreciate the subtleties of what she’s referencing here, so I
like, “Uh, is that it?” I had no idea what any of that had to do with
poked around a bit on the subreddit and such to learn a little bit more about what’s going on here. That single $1 bill in
anything. I really was just at a total loss and I was ready to write
the bathtub, for example - that’s something I never would’ve understood without some context (what a fuckin’ doozy
this off as a filler video. But then I thought, “Hey, I wonder what
that context was, too - wow.)
those Chinese characters on the walls meant?” and went back to
scan them with Google Translate and found that they were all
This video walks an incredible tightrope of having some really intense “fuck you” energy to it - a giant middle finger to
deliberate - “Joseph”, “Reputation”, “Year of the Snake”, etc. And I
pretty much everybody she’s had any kind of beef with, from the media to streaming services to specific celebrities -
thought to myself, there’s no fucking way someone who took the
while also being extremely tongue-in-cheek and self-deprecating. That’s a really difficult line to walk. It’s a bit like the
time to do that would’ve released a video without any apparent
final rap battle in 8 Mile, where B-Rabbit insults himself at point-blank range to such a degree that no one else has
meaning, so I rewatched it two more times, and it finally clicked.
anything they can say about him. The imagery here is all working toward that end: the zombie is genuinely creepy, but
it also tilts the whole graveyard with the pull of a tombstone. Biker Taylor can magically lift two motorcycles. Et tu
Hooded Taylor is the world-facing representative of Taylor, her public persona, capable of operating in the dystopian
Brute? Taylor on her throne is drinking tea held aloft impossibly by coiled snakes. Squad Supervillain Taylor is
world of robots and machines, while Taylor’s true self is kept contained in secret. We see each manifestation of Taylor’s
indoctrinating her friends into cat worship. At no point does she ever take herself seriously, and yet her digs at the
inner self, representing each of her albums, before finally her real self becomes too powerful and gets too close to the
people she’s mad at all come off as absolutely serious. That’s a really delicate and impressive balance.
Persona Taylor, and breaks free from the cage. Persona Taylor explodes beautifully as the real Taylor happily watches
on, questioning whether we’re all ready for it.
And then just in case you didn’t get the message, she condenses that whole energy down into a highly-concentrated
tincture and splashes it right in your face for the outro. I know some people might not like this song, and maybe if they
So, uh, yeah I learned my lesson in thinking anything Taylor does is meaningless. Won’t make that mistake again.
don’t like this song they also don’t like this video, but if anyone thinks the outro of this video is anything short of
New Year’s Day
ABC Fan Performance (November 2017)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
You know, I had this idea when listening to Reputation that this
song was kind of this secret little moment of raw, quiet
vulnerability that you only got to hear if you listened to the whole
record. It’s hidden there at the end for people who make it all the
way through, for the album-listening fans. I definitely did not
imagine that this would be the first song she’d perform live from
the album (this video is from a day before the record came out).
That’s very surprising to me. Maybe the idea was, “If people heard
the big singles and were on the fence about them, they’ll be very
intrigued to find out that something like this is on the record too.”
Taylor really basks in the fans all singing along (this being a “secret session”, this would probably be the first time she’d
heard anyone else but her sing along to a song off the new record, and certainly the first time in-person), you can tell
she’s genuinely delighted by hearing them, and their shy backing vocals during the chorus are really the one thing that
stands out about this performance musically. A shoutout is also owed to the camera team - they did a really good job
of making the atmosphere feel warm and cozy with the bokeh candle flames and the close ups on the piano keys.
The Tonight Show (November 2017)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
This is such a beautiful performance. These aren’t the strongest
vocals she’s ever had, but they’re really intimate and heartfelt. (I
also really like how low she gets for “you and me, forevermore”. I
don’t know that she was capable of that when she was younger.)
There’s absolutely no facade to her expression, not the slightest
hint of a fake smile, nothing that doesn’t match the words in the
slightest. It’s abundantly clear that she’s there, with the music,
feeling everything she’s singing when little microexpressions of
pain flash across her face in the bridge, brief winces and frowns,
and then the slightest bit of happiness leaks through in the final
chorus.
When the song’s over she gets up and gives Jimmy Fallon the most genuine hug. Like, longer than TV hugs are
supposed to be, dead serious expression, a real-as-hell hug that isn’t for the cameras. Like… I don’t know, man, there’s
something about this performance that I love so much. If this isn’t proof that the “real Taylor” has escaped, per the
…Ready For It? video, if this isn’t the most potent rebuttal to anything I said about sterility in the 1989 Tour, I don’t know
what is. This is just a really, really honest performance - an honest human being at a piano who’s got something to say.
This is my favorite kind of thing, a borderline 9/10 in my book, and I know this is one of those cases where I can’t fully
justify my opinion and it’s really just “vibes”, but the vibes are really strong with this one, fam. I really hope this is
indicative of other live performances to come.
NOW: The Making of a Song
Taylor Swift NOW: The Making of a Song Series (November - December 2017)
I so very thoroughly enjoyed this. I was expecting this to go in one
of two directions: either to be a very clinical insight into the
songwriting process that was going to be really fascinating in a
How It’s Made kind of way, but not particularly fun or
entertaining, or it was going to be a bunch of fun clips pulled from
the studio without really offering much of a glimpse into the
creation of the songs. Turns out it’s completely both.
We got to hear some alternative ideas they had for a bunch of
songs, like how the final line of the bridge on Delicate had been
much more uplifting and warm, or how folksy and bluesy the
seed of Don’t Blame Me was. We got to watch tiny little ideas manifest into incredible reality, like Taylor’s silly little
machine gun vocals that she apparently recorded on her phone in the middle of the night, and then suddenly they’re
one of the most distinctive parts of I Did Something Bad, something I can’t imagine the song without. Or like how the
piano faltering and the laugh at the end of the bridge of This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things was just a natural
emergence of fucking around in the studio.
Watching Max and Shellback work is like getting a glimpse at bigfoot. They’re like mythical creatures, but there they are
as real people in the studio. Max in particular seems super eccentric and quirky, and Shellback just pulls the exact
patter of the fast-tempo vocals of King of My Heart out of thin air, just on pure instinct he knew exactly how that
should sound. Then we get to watch them piece together how to make the “trying on clothes” line at the end of the
first verse transition seamlessly into that new tempo, and it’s interesting to see that process unfold while quietly
knowing where they’re going to land with it, and that they’re going to make it work as well as it does.
Watching Taylor trying to conjure up the lyrics for Gorgeous in this tedious, repetitious ritual was super fascinating,
too. It feels kind of like a meditation, like she’s trying to switch off her conscious mind and make space for her
subconscious to arise like a muse out of the waters. You can practically feel her mind dancing around and then going
still, and then you see that visceral satisfaction when the words emerge. It’s beautiful, it really is.
And for me nothing tops the Getaway Card scenes. It’s so cool to know that Taylor was taking explicit inspiration from
Dylan for the “until I switched to the other side!” delivery (even if that’s tempered down a bit in the final cut) and that
moment where they piece together the lyrics for the bridge just feels like watching Michaelangelo putting the tendons
in David’s wrists, it’s so beyond me that I just sat back and shook my head like, “I don’t know how you fuckin’ did that.”
You’ve probably seen it so I won’t just keep recounting it scene by scene, but yeah, I just thought there was something
wonderful about every clip they included, and I could’ve easily watched two more hours of this and not gotten bored
for a second, and I’d kill for something similar for her other albums. Even when we’re not getting any specific insights
into the songwriting process, we’ve got Taylor making ridiculous faces or noises, or the window slowly closing behind
her as she spins around in both directions trying to figure out what’s happening (“...ghosts.”) And just watching Taylor
and Jack in the studio, they’ve got such a fantastic and playful and friendly dynamic, it really does feel like you’re just
watching two long-time best friends, picking on each other and vibing with each other. I was grinning through the
entire Call It What You Want section just because watching those two interact was so fun.
It really does feel like a privilege to me to have been able to get this glimpse into Taylor’s creative process, for her to
have shared these videos (many of which aren’t filmed from flattering angles, or in which she’s just wearing sweats and
hardly any makeup, or in which she’s singing fast and sloppy) with the world. I think it’s important to stop and
remember, when Taylor gives the fans something super cool like this that doesn’t portray her in the perfect light of
marketing, “She didn’t have to do that.” This one is a real gift.

End Game
Music Video (January 2018)
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Taylor has done some pretty huge, cinematic music videos that
were far beyond her reach in the early years of her career, and in
some of those she portrays herself living opulently, but always as
a character (Blank Space, Wildest Dreams, etc.) The closest we’ve
ever previously come to Taylor just being like, “This is actually me
and I’m actually rich and I’m not the girl next door,” is 22, but this?
This is a whole different dimension.
This video is a total abandonment of any pretense that Taylor
lives a life that any of us can relate to. It’s so over-the-top in that
regard (the yacht, the Aventador, and so on) that it’s got more in
common with hip-hop videos that are intended to boast about excess wealth to the point of near absurdity, which
makes sense given that this is the closest to a hip-hop crossover she’s ever done. I think that match cut from Taylor’s
bare feet on the beach - a callback to the barefoot, flowy dress look that she’s done about fifty times to-date - to her
walking in these crazy, black leather boots in Tokyo is probably intended as a metaphor for exactly this transformation.
Visually, this video’s just really sexy. Every single scene is filmed at night or in a dark, indoor environment, the vast
majority of the lighting is strongly colored, often garish and neon. Some of the cinematography is among the best in
any video she’s done too - lots of interesting angles to catch lots of light and reflections, and outdoor shots often feel
like the camera is a passerby catching Taylor out in the world, like the shot through the window of the ramen shop or
the exterior shots of the London bus. It’s dark but colorful, it’s excessive but sleek and deliberate. It’s a sexy video.
I watched the behind-the-scenes for this one and found it interesting that Taylor’s protective enough of her music that
she’s got everyone in the pub and club shots dancing to click tracks, and only she has the actual music playing through
an earpiece. That’s really interesting - I’m not aware of whether she’s had issues with leaks in the past or whether she’s
just very protective over her music and the way it’s released into the world and is seriously concerned about the risks
of her fans obtaining it in a way that will cheapen their experience of it. That feels like a Taylor way to be.
Oh and hey, this is the tiniest little nitpick, but for the line, “from my red lips”... why did they choose one of the shots in
which Taylor does not actually have red lips? Come on, man! How hard is it to find Taylor wearing red lipstick?
Also, because the Chinese characters ended up translating to meaningful easter eggs in the …Ready For It? video, I ran
this one through Google Translate as well and found that one of the signs in Japanese at 1:34 reads “Meredith, Olivia” - I
just thought that was really cute.
Delicate
Music Video (March 2018)
Song Rating 25 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆
I had these moments as I was going through her discography -
right around Reputation for the first time, actually - and I’m
having another one now, where I just kind of stop and shake my
head and say, for lack of anything productive to add or any
criticism to impart, “She’s just so fucking good at this.”
What a great video. We’ve got a return of themes from the
…Ready For It? video: Taylor’s bombarded with this volley of media
attention, but it’s all for fake-smile, fake-persona Taylor, not the
real her. Even when she gets away from the media, she needs
security to avoid crazed bellhops, but can’t take a single step
without that security sticking to her like glue. She’s suffocated by the performativity of it all, turning her fake smiles in
the mirror into silly faces just as a respite of breaking character for the slightest of moments.
And then the magical note suddenly makes her invisible from everyone, free to be herself and take off the facade. She
becomes barefoot, flowy dress Taylor again, dancing however she wants, wherever she wants, with all of her inhibitions
cast off like fetters in the wind. But then, as in all Hero’s Journeys, a new problem arises from the apparent solution:
she’s free to be her real self, but only in solitude (she thinks she’s about to make a real human connection for a
moment, even, but it vanishes). She’s hit with alternating waves of enjoying the freedom and self-doubt and loneliness
until the very last moments of the video, when the glowing note, like a treasure map, leads us back to where the
beginning: “dive bar on the East Side, where you at?”
My understanding is that Taylor started dating her current partner around the time of writing Reputation and that
many of the stories on the album, like the message that opens this song and closes this video, were from him. Taylor
found a person who she can be herself with, who quenches the insecurities of revealing her true self beyond the mask
of her public image. If …Ready For It? was a straightforward and confident, “Love me or hate me, here I am!” then
Delicate is a much more complex, “Do I love me or hate me? Do you love me or hate me?” It’s a concise retelling of the
experience she’s had breaking free of her image and her reputation, of risking showing her true self, of the
self-consciousness and fears but also the joy and excitement that brought, and the loneliness that turned into the most
real and important type of connection with another person.
The previous videos in this era have all been reflections of the powerful, fuck-you, I Did Something Bad-type energy of
the album, but there’s a huge facet of Reputation that’s about self-doubt and vulnerability and making a deeper
emotional connection than she’s been able to in the past, which has been absent from the visual side of the era until
now. And this video brings that dimension into the fold perfectly. I think it’s brilliant.
It’s got some really funny moments: the faces in the mirror, the jumping up and down behind security, the
reappearance of the bellhop and the finger wag at him. I think the choreography is fantastic. It’s got that Hotline Bling
energy where it’s so over-the-top and silly and intentionally unattractive in a way that it only works when you
completely and unabashedly commit to it, but when you do - and Taylor does - it’s amazing. It actually feels like you’re
watching Taylor making faces and dancing as though she really believes nobody is watching, but it’s precisely that
unflattering awkwardness of it that makes it so endearing. It’s like stand-up comedians admitting really embarrassing
stuff about themselves and it makes you go, “Haha! Yeah, me too! I’m glad someone said it!”
And it takes bravery to put yourself into the world like that. But if there’s one thing that’s never been in question about
Taylor’s creative output - and doubly so with the Reputation era - her bravery is not in question.
NOW: Chicago
AT&T NOW Chicago Secret Concert (June 2018)
Taylor opens this set with an acoustic rendition of Gorgeous,
which is a song which I think of largely in terms of its really fun
production (gotta love that DING!), but which, unsurprisingly at
this point, works really wonderfully with just Taylor and a guitar.
Doesn’t matter that this song comes from her most heavily
produced album to-date: her songwriting process - actually
coming up with the melodies - is done from such a bare-bones
place (coming to her in a dream, worked out on a guitar or at a
piano) that the core melody is all you need for any given song to
work, and the production flourishes are just the icing on the cake.
Plus, Gorgeous has some really fun lyrics that she’s able to spin
around a bit live, like the bridge’s “Unless you wanna come along?” It’s not better than the studio version, but it’s really
nice and has a kind of refreshing feeling, like the romance of the song comes forward instead of the louder and more
intense lustful energy of the studio version. 6/10
And then Taylor goes into Delicate and, uh, I learned about “1, 2, 3, Let’s go, bitch!” Well, when I say ‘learned’... I mean,
uh… I understand that people do this. I still don’t really understand what it means or why they do it. Something to do
with a suspended Twitter user? But, look, hey, y’all do y’all. I accept you for who you are, you friggin’ weirdos. Anyway, I
don’t think Delicate works as well acoustic as Gorgeous does. I mean, it’s still a very good song, I couldn’t write that shit,
but Delicate’s production is so, so good. Like the vibe of that song is in another dimension, so you definitely miss that
acoustically. 4/10
Then Taylor introduced All Too Well by confirming everything I was speculating about when discussing the song’s
performance on the 1989 Tour: that it was a song that used to break her heart every time she played it, but that she
now associates not with the original pain that inspired it, but with the joy it’s brought her through how much the fans
have connected with it and sang it back to her. That’s goddamn beautiful. For Taylor or for anyone else in the world, if
you make heart that takes your tears and your pain and transforms them into something that brings you happiness,
that’s just about the most fucking spectacular thing that you can do, creatively, as a human being, and I’m just delighted
for her that that happened. There will never be another performance of this song like the one at the Grammys, and if
that means Taylor’s done feeling this particular pain, then good riddance. We’ll always have the tape.
It’s a great rendition of All Too Well, too. She reeled in a bit of her joy from the most recent performances and let a little
more of the rawness shine through and I think it’s just about the perfect balance of “this song hits hard and Taylor’s
feeling those feelings” and “this isn’t tearing her apart at the seams just to perform it for us”. The absolute star of the
show, though, is the girl in the audience who is going harder than anyone else, eyes closed, in her own world, just
screaming the words, who holds a note way longer than Taylor or anyone else in the crowd, and everyone - including
Taylor - immediately cracks up in the middle of the song. God bless the cameraman for having a shot of that girl for the
whole moment. It’s incredible. If you’ve never seen this performance, you gotta watch All Too Well at least to see that
moment. It’s free dopamine, I promise. 7/10
A smaller, similar moment happens during her really solid performance of New Year’s Day (very similar to previous
performances of this song) when, after the bridge, someone quietly says, “I love you, Taylor,” and Taylor just looks up
with a smile and says, “I love you too!” 6/10
Taylor then follows up two Reputation hits and two of her slowest piano ballads with, uh, acoustic Shake It Off! And,
man, that Am-C-G progression of Shake It Off sounds completely different on an acoustic guitar than it does in the
studio version. It’s practically an entirely different song, and with the audience clapping and screaming the lyrics and
the muted guitar strums on the bridge… it’s everything you could hope for from an acoustic version of a pop song. 8/10
I Did Something Bad
American Music Awards (October 2018)
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★
Holy shit! What the fuck was that? Woah, woah, woah. I wasn’t
prepared for that. She just turned one of the more
straightforward tracks on Reputation, a 4-minute song, into an
absolute spectacle of a 6+ minute stage performance to rival
anything she’s ever done on a stage before.
I have to assume this is pulled directly from the Reputation Tour,
which still had some international dates ahead at the time of this
performance. So I assume the dancers, the gigantic snake stage
prop, all of that was just shipped on over for a pit stop at the
AMA’s. Because this is so well-choreographed, so thoughtfully
arranged, so perfectly unique and totally unlike the studio version, that there’s no chance in hell it was whipped up as a
one-off AMA’s performance.
The intro is incredible. Talyor’s every movement commands the dancers - playing them “like a violin” bringing in a
sudden swirl of strings into the mix. That sultry, slow tone of it all, with the long pauses between each line is brilliant.
And then there’s that fake laugh that instantly dissolves into an icy stare. The intro is genuinely one of the best things
she’s ever done on stage, it’s too fucking good, I can’t get over it.
And then the intro sends us straight into an incredible run of choreography, easily among the best choreo she’s ever
done, with crazy pyro and stage effects to boot. And something about Taylor’s delivery of the, “Then he had it coming!”
line just banished me straight to the shadow realm, it was too much. My spirit couldn’t take it. My soul was too frail. It
had to be rebuilt from spare parts.
And then just when you think “they’re playing it straight from here” the bridge goes in a totally new direction again - not
even just repeating the way the intro felt, it’s a totally new, third vibe. Taylor fucking crushes the choreo the whole time,
her expressions and the forcefulness and snappiness of her body language is flawless, her dancers are absolute pros
through the whole thing, and that giant cobra is just fucking bananas.
What more do you want? What more can you ask for? Take a great song, rework it dramatically in ways that sound
every bit as good, if not better, than the studio version, building on the same tone and themes in new ways, give it
choreo that’s perfectly in theme with the sexy, dark, fuck-you vibes of the album, drape everything in a really stark color
palette, design world-class choreo for it, hand that to some of the greatest dancers money can buy, put them all on a
stage with a 50-foot prop and a ton of pyro, and hand over the reigns to one of the most talented stage performers of
her generation. What more do you fucking want than that?
This is the pinnacle of pop music. This is like Prince when he played Purple Rain in the middle of the downpour at the
Super Bowl. This is the kind of thing you show someone who says they hate pop music. It cannot be denied.
When I was done listening to Reputation I said that it wasn’t just Taylor’s best record, it was one of the great pop
records of all time, and this - the final non-tour performance of the Reputation era - is really the perfect complement to
that. This isn’t just Taylor’s best pop* performance, it’s an all-timer. This is in the Pop Pantheon. Unbelievable.
* I’m not comparing this to the All Too Well Grammys performance, which is really something totally different than a pop stage
performance. It’s just a whole other category.
The Reputation Stadium Tour
The Reputation Stadium Tour (May - November 2018)
…Ready For It? - LIke pretty much every
opener for every Taylor tour, this isn’t
really a whole lot of anything on its own,
and I think that’s intentional. The crowd is
so insanely hyped for the first song, just
for Taylor walking on the stage, that you
don’t need to put a ton of effort into the
first song. They’re going to eat that shit up
no matter what. That said, I really liked
the intro (unsure if that was actually
played on the screens in the stadium or not, but I imagine it was), and the almost, like, medieval dystopian garb of the
male dancers is a look, that’s for sure. 4/10
I Did Something Bad - Yeah, there it is! As expected, this performance was developed for the tour. I’m actually really
pleased that we’re getting it in early so that the entire rest of the show will be new to me as I have no idea what to
expect for any of the other performances. I really liked how just as Taylor is hyping up her own power and
independence, there’s suddenly a bunch of female dancers accompanying her, and all the men are sent dramatically
prostrating on the ground. And then of course it goes on to be every bit as good as the AMAs version, and in several
places, better. The choreo’s way bigger and more elaborate and the gargantuan stage and crazy pyro effects just
double down on everything. And she did the same delivery again on the “then he had it coming” line and it was just as
great the second time. What an incredibly well-designed performance from top to bottom. I just love it. 10/10
Gorgeous - Taylor goes through some of my favorite rituals again, like thanking the crowd for deciding to spend their
Saturday night with her (as though any person in that building wouldn’t need to be dragged kicking and screaming to
anywhere else on the planet at that moment), introducing her dancers by name, and by reminding the crowd that she
is, in fact, Taylor. Also, note to the people who put those cornball effects all over the 1989 Tour video: so far the
Reputation tour hasn’t had any of that at all, until in the middle of Gorgeous, for the cats lines, like twenty pictures of
Taylor’s cats appear on the screen. That is how you do a fucking post-effect. Chef’s kiss. Molto bene! Mwah! 6/10
Style / Love Story / You Belong With Me - This is such a cool performance. First, the camera work here is like ten
levels above anything from any of her previous tours. This is without question the best cinematography I’ve ever seen
for a concert. Tracking Taylor across the
stage, having her play directly to the
camera, the close-up shots of the crowd
having the time of their life, it’s really just
beautifully filmed.
Then we go from a brief snippet of Style
straight into Taylor’s band entering the
stage for a Love Story / You Belong With Me
mashup. Those songs feel a million miles
removed from Reputation-era Taylor, so unlike the harsh blacks and dark lipstick, but then there’s Taylor, dancing
around in an imaginary flowy dress, tapping her same guitarist on the nose that she’s been performing with since Love
Story wasn’t even released yet. I’ll never stop finding it incredibly endearing that she’s kept the same musicians for this
whole crazy ride despite these radically shifting styles and genres, and the way she just transforms her whole
performance and style to teleport the whole arena back to this polar-opposite era is just so fun. What other performer
does that? What other artist takes you from shaking her hips and snarling in I Did Something Bad to adorably poking
her guitarist’s nose and giggling in Love Story in, like, 5 minutes? Fuckin’ nobody, that’s who. 8/10
Look What You Made Me Do - So I know Taylor is on the Eras Tour at this very moment while I write this, but the
video she played for her costume change intermission before this track is some real Eras vibes and an amazing way to
follow up that time-jumping mashup she just did, and an equally fantastic way to preface her boldest and most unique
song that I still feel is the archetypal example of Rep-era Taylor.
And then we get another huge stage performance, with a literal “tilted stage”, with the dancers directly interacting with
the gigantic gold cobra on the screen, ducking every time it strikes. The screen work is phenomenal. The giant
inflatable cobra appears, but it’s also flanked by two more on either side on the screen, and the effect just works really,
really well. This shit’s unreal. It’s really, truly unbelievable to me that this is the fucking girl who was awkwardly singing
Tim McGraw in front of Tim McGraw a decade earlier who’s putting on this utterly immense show. 8/10
End Game - I really love the choreography
for this one. I mean, I’ve loved the
choreography for the entire show so far
really, but this one in particular had some
really standout moments. The ooo’s and
aah’s are great, and the “bang!” moment
was too good to pass up, but there’s also a
lot of little subtle stuff thrown in there like
the “X” some of the dancers make with
their arms during the “ex-love” line. The whole choreo moves around the stage so naturally and smoothly, like Taylor’s
just rolling with her posse, but it’s all meticulously planned down to the littlest movement. These are masters at their
craft out there, and Taylor’s holding every single bit of her own with them. 7/10
King Of My Heart - This song is a great showcase of the power of a cleverly-crafted stage production for a pop artist.
Taylor’s running around so much here, moving across the stage much more quickly than the chill stroll of the last song,
and so the singers and the backing track cover her up for a lot of this, and you really don’t even notice that it’s
happening until suddenly “and all at once…” comes around and you’re like, “Aha! There’s Taylor’s live vocals!” It’s about
as smooth and believable as you could hope for, it lets Taylor shine in the moments that are worth shining in, and
keeps her from destroying her vocal chords and forcing mediocre singing when she’s dancing around. This is the kind
of high-level planning and coordination that she would’ve killed for in some of her early career performances.
Also, they built a giant golden stage that can tilt to either side, so they put it to use in a second song! And in a way that
doesn’t feel forced at all, either, which reusing props very much can. And, uh, I should say something about the
six-foot drums. This song features six drums that are each the size of a grown man, and I’m still not really sure why -
the whole aesthetic for this song is really curious, honestly and I don’t feel equipped to dive into it more deeply than
that - but they do lead the song into a really cool extended outro for a costume break. Taylor’s got a habit of doing
these intermissions that are actually just a really extended outro for a song with spiced up instrumentation and I love
that, I think it’s the best kind of way to fill the time you need and keeps the flow of the music going like you’d get from
listening to a record. I certainly wouldn’t have guessed they’d go with giant drums and chanting choir-style vocals, but
no denying it works. 6/10
Delicate - Man, y’know, I was really getting into the vibe of this song, Taylor had just given this nice little speech about
the fear of fake things getting in the way of real things, she’s got this very surprising rainbow dress on, the crowd is all
lit up, they showed a shot of a girl on the verge of tears while Taylor was talking, and the very soft intro to this song
starts up… and then there’s that fuckin’ “1, 2, 3, Let’s Go, Bitch!” thing! Why?! Why do you do this? I had to pause the
video for a second because I was just laughing and shaking my head involuntarily. That’s so fucking weird, you guys.
What a fucking weird thing that you do right in the middle of the crucial vibes of this precious song’s opening
moments. I don’t want to say, “I don’t like it and you should stop,” but I just… I need an explanation. It can’t just be a
meme. Is it really just a meme? Are y’all just memeing all over Delicate’s perfect fragile little angel wings?
Okay, that aside, this was Taylor’s
throwback to the “over the crowd song”,
something she first did way back at the
ACMs in 2010. This is far and away the
most beautiful staging she’s has for it yet,
though. That single spotlight shining
down on the glowing platform in the
megalithic space of a stadium really sells
the effect in a way that none of her other
performances, even other tour shows,
really could. As is always the case with one of these songs, there’s no space for anything else except; it’s a one-trick
pony. But this was the right song to do that for - it’s one that doesn’t need nor want any fancy stage performance, and
it’s also not a guitar or piano song. It’s a smart choice, and it ends with her back on a B-Stage once again to really
cement the callback to the Speak Now Tour. 7/10
Shake It Off - She’s got a second giant inflatable snake for the B-Stage! Haha, oh that’s ridiculous. This is one of those
performances that is so hard to quantify. Like I really don’t even want to give this a score, because this is so clearly just
Taylor inviting Charli and Camila up to have as much fun as possible and to bring some exciting energy to the folks out
by the B-Stage so they don’t exclusively get the slow songs. The backup dancers are doing a bit of something, but for
the most part it feels very slapdash and unchoreographed between Taylor and her guests, like they’re just having fun
with it. And that’s great, the vibes are great, everyone’s having fun. But it’s also far and away the least intentional
“performance” of the show so far. It’s almost an interlude. It’s the kind of thing that would be an absolute blast if you
were there live, fifty feet from the stage, but that just doesn’t really do much on film. And that’s fine. 4/10
I’ve complimented the editing of this particular recording a few times already, but I also want to say: Taylor and/or her
team didn’t edit out the moment when she had to blow her nose. They could’ve done that. Of course they would’ve
done that. But they didn’t. Yeah yeah yeah, it’s relatability and it’s a brand, but it’s also the kind of thing people just
don’t like putting out into the world visibly and publicly, so I’m still a fan of her not editing that kind of thing out.
Before the next song, Taylor also confirms something I’ve talked about several times over the course of this whole
project. She says, “I’ve always written songs with the lyrics, the feeling, and the melody in mind that hoping no matter
what production I added to the top of it - whether it took a turn for pop or acoustic or whatever - I always wanted for a
song to be able to be stripped back down and still be something that you liked and wanted to sing at the top of your
lungs.” I wasn’t sure how deliberate that was, whether she just wrote such incredible songs that they worked in any
rendition and with any arrangement, but it turns out it actually is something that she’s intentional about and mindful
of when creating her music. That makes
perfect sense and it’s cool to get
confirmation of that. The thoughtfulness
of Taylor’s songwriting has not dulled on
me in the slightest.
Dancing With Our Hands Tied - Woah!
Okay, I knew after the intro that she was
going to be doing a stripped-down version
of a song, but this wasn’t my first guess.
Then when it started I suddenly remembered a few people commented on my Discography Breakdown saying that
they thought I might enjoy this song even more once I heard the acoustic rendition. And you know what? Correct!
What a beautiful twist on this song. The titular dancing has done from a dramatic nightclub to a candle-lit living room,
and the lyrics float right to the top and all of their meaning shines forward in a new and brighter way. One of the
highlights of the set so far without question. I almost always love any of her stripped-down versions of her songs, from
her very first tour through the Grammy Museum to now, and this is right there with the best of them. 9/10
All Too Well - All of my attempts to be
impartial toward how much I like a given
song and simply judge each performance
for what it is, for how much it captures
and elevates the song, crash up against All
Too Well like castle walls. Either Taylor is
virtually incapable of performing this song
poorly, or I’m incapable of disliking any
performance of it. It’s always great. This
was great. I believe this is the first time
we’ve heard it on guitar instead of piano, and it gave it more of a singer-songwriter vibe instead of an epic ballad vibe,
more like Like A Rolling Stone than Piano Man. Just like her last performance of it, she’s still perfectly on that balance
between conveying the song’s powerful emotions and clearly allowing herself to enjoy the crowd’s love of the song. It
works every time. 9/10
Blank Space - This was one of the more straightforward performances of the night, but it’s one of those humongous
hits that needs to make it into every concert rotation, it’s a song that allows a lot of back track to fill in and give Taylor a
little bit of vocal space after a few acoustic songs, and it brings the energy of the show right back up after a few slower
songs, so I understand why it’s here and what it’s doing. And it’s performed well as always, Taylor fully commits to the
one-woman show of it all, and she plays more to the camera than she has for any other song, which is cool for the
home viewer, although it might’ve looked a bit weird from the crowd. All things considered, this one feels a lot like
previous performances of hers and doesn’t really stand out in the crowd of the show’s lineup. 5/10
Dress - I knew the big stage show energy and dancers were going to be coming back soon, and what a way for them to
come back! Like a mix of Whirling Dervishes and Halloween ghosts and, uh, pelicans or something (after the song we
learn it’s an homage to 19th century dancer Loie Fuller). Absolutely wild costume design, totally unlike anything I’ve
ever seen before. And I think it goes without saying that when the “just stops” happened and the lights went out and
everyone froze in place I felt a chill run up my spine and my eyes watered up and I whispered, “Oh yeah…” to myself. I
live for that moment. 7/10
Bad Blood / Should’ve Said No - You
know, I went to Miley’s Bangerz tour, and
there was this moment when she was
flying over the stage on a giant hot dog
and I had maybe consumed a few
substances and I was staring up at it and
just thinking, “If this isn’t entertainment, I
don’t know what is. This is the Roman
fucking Circus.” And watching Taylor Swift suspended over the crowd inside the ribcage of a snake with glowing red
eyes is right up there, man. That’s right on the same tier. If that’s not entertainment, I don’t know what is.
And then just as we start to get into the meat of Bad Blood, this twangy little guitar shows up and plucks about nine
little notes, and immediately you can feel the energy in the crowd turn to, “What was that? What’s happening!?” And I
love that after a few more little riffs they go back into Bad Blood as though, like, whoops, that wasn’t anything,
nevermind that, we’re definitely not up to anything. The whole process of the transition into Should’ve Said No is
absolutely butter. It’s just so natural and clean, there’s not a single identifiable moment where it “switches” from Bad
Blood to a mashup - It’s seamless. Like everything on this tour, it’s just really thoughtfully crafted and executed. And I
really love the synthy keyboard solo that plays the song out. That’s a killer little jam. 8/10
Don’t Blame Me - My favorite outfit of the night for Taylor, like the sexy villain version of one of her WANEGBT
ringleader outfits, and some truly insane shit for the dancers - like something out of Star Wars, with gigantic fishing net
collars and fencing mask visors for helmets. This reminds me a lot of her I Knew You Were Trouble performances, with
the drop to her knees and with the switching from slow moments to huge explosions of energy, and those have been
some of her very best stage performances, so this works for me for many of the same reasons. That catwalk bridge
played to the camera that explodes into the big final chorus is one of Taylor’s most grand and epic moments on a
stage on any of her tours. 9/10
Long Live / New Year’s Day - Just when I
thought we might not be getting any
piano at all this tour, given that All Too
Well was done on the guitar, here we go,
and it’s Long Live! Her Big Concert Theme
Song - played slowly on piano! Oh, Taylor,
you can’t keep getting away with this.
What a perfect choice for a song to
suddenly play on piano as part of a big tour show like this. And just as everyone in the audience is already on the verge
of tears, she transitions Long Live’s “Confetti falls to the ground…” straight into, “There’s glitter on the floor after the
party.” She really did that. New Year’s Day comes in with a whole new dimension: a sequel to Long Live, a message to
her fans. She’ll be with them - she’ll hold onto them. What is there to even say? What words are sufficient?
Taylor’s discography is a singular canon and she weaves it like Indra’s Net, every song a glistening sphere of dew
reflecting all others within it. Who else does this kind of thing? Who else can bring new meaning and shine new light on
two songs separated by multiple years and multiple records and bring them together into a moment like this one? I’ll
say it again: fuckin’ nobody, fam. Nobody. The whole song has to pause for a solid 45 seconds because the crowd just
lose their entire collective minds and Taylor can’t find anything to say but, “I love you guys so, so, so, so, so, so much.”
What a brilliant and beautiful idea gorgeously executed. 10/10
Getaway Car - This song is on my Top 5, so I was desperately hoping that she’d play it and felt like we were running
out of time. And then we got into that two minute short film (which was actually really nice - for how flowery and
purple the language was, it never crossed the line into cringe, which those things so easily can do) and I was expecting
it to be a clearcut intermission… and then it ends with her sitting in a car and the opening refrain plays over the
speakers and I had to pause the video just to catch my breath for a minute. What a hyped moment. If the people in
that stadium feel the way that I do about Getaway Car, and I suspect they do, I have to imagine it was just deafening at
that moment.
I was fully expecting the dancers to all come out and go hard for this one, but no - it’s all Taylor, delivering her absolute
best one-woman-show style performance, miming one-hand driving the steering wheel, money in her hands, waving
goodbye. She’s pretty much always great at rocking a stage just by herself, but this is one of the best solo
performances in that style that she’s ever done, and another massive shoutout is owed to the film production crew for
getting some incredible angles on this, for having Taylor play straight to the camera for a large part of it, and for a
dozen shots of the fans screaming the lyrics and dancing and having the times of their lives. I really didn’t think this
was going to live up to what I wanted it to be without a whole stage production, I had a hint of worry for a moment
there, and by the end I was dancing in my living room. 9/10
Call It What You Want - This has always felt like one of the more subtle songs on Reputation, a track that fills in the
record and plays an important part of the overall story arc, but not one that stands out strongly on its own - so having
the dancers make their reappearance here, as opposed to for Getaway Car, helps elevate this song and make it feel
special. Compared to some of the earlier choreography, there’s less of a distinctive, memorable novelty to this one,
but it’s still really good, and got me way more excited for this song than I would’ve been if it was performed in a more
lowkey way. 7/10
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together / This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things - There it is! There’s the big
blowout! Boy oh boy does Taylor know how to end a show. Every single tour has ended with a giant bang in the best
way, and when the bang settles down, the band and backing singers always slowly bring the plane down to the ground
again, and here it’s as good as it’s ever been. Taylor, after two hours of performing, gives her most energetic and
all-out performance of the show, jumping and screaming and flailing around, the fountain turns on to give us the big
novelty effect, and all for another mashup of an older hit with a new track. Spectacular way to close things out, as I’ve
frankly come to expect from her at this point. When Taylor finally disappears, I love the shot of the one girl in the
ground who just closes her eyes and absorbs the moment she just had. That was really the capstone for me. 9/10
I also wanted to briefly talk about some of the special guest performances on the tour. Most of them are available only
in pretty poor recordings, so I’m not gonna go too far into detail here, but I figured since I watched them I should say a
few words for posterity. To spice it up, I’ve ranked them all from least to most enjoyed:
The Middle with Maren Morris is borderline just a Maren solo performance with Taylor walking around and throwing a
few lines out here and there. Maren does a fine job, but it’s not much of a duet like her guest songs typically are.
Slow Hands with Niall Horan is a little bit better in regards to how much Taylor actually participates, but was also just
a pretty unremarkable one for me. The crowd shouting out the final line of each chorus was fun.
My My My! with Troye Sivan is the third in the group of guest performances that I think I probably won’t really
remember. It’s not bad, there’s just nothing that really stands out about it.
Curious with Hayley Kiyoko is a really difficult one to judge because the best recording I could find of it is still pretty
awful, so I can’t really even tell what vocals are live and can’t much hear either of them, but it does seem like Taylor
sings a bit of it, and mostly I just think it’s really cool that they actually brought out the dancers for a guest song.
Babe with Sugarland is also pretty straightforward, but I thought they did a really good job trading vocals for the duet.
It’s a song that’s suited well for that kind of thing, one Taylor knows very well obviously, and It adds a fun dimension to
it that’s not there in either of their solo versions.
There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back with Shawn Mendes isn’t a song I like very much, but they do everything you’d want
from a duet performance of it. The crowd is super into it the whole time, Taylor opens it, whets their appetite, and
then Shawn comes out and they trade verses. It was a ton of fun for the people there and that’s all it needs to be.
Tim McGraw with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw is so funny. Like on one hand it’s amazing that Taylor got to sing this with
these two, and you can see that Taylor herself is just on cloud nine. And for the most part Tim and Faith avoid singing
the actual like, “When you think Tim McGraw,” but once or twice they do, and like… Tim, that’s you! You’re singing your
own name, Tim! What a funny and strange thing to do, to sing a song with your own name. But I really liked the piano
bit at the opening and there’s no doubt I was smiling the entire way through this, even if I was laughing too.
Summer of ‘69 with Bryan Adams is a true duet performance, super high energy from the very start, and I love that
Taylor broke out the guitar for it. This is the baseline for what all guest performances should be aiming for.
Hands to Myself with Selena Gomez is easily one of the best of these guest performances. Taylor hypes it up perfectly
so that the crowd goes nuts when Selena appears, the two of them have perfect stage chemistry together, they share
the vocals with a good balance of letting Selena lead while still giving Taylor a big moment, and we even get dancers
out for this one again. This was a lot of fun.
Angels with Robbie Williams is on a whole other level from the rest of them, though. The second she sings the first
word the crowd is already freaking the fuck out, then Robbie materializes out of the stage in a Taylor t-shirt and is
immediately just overflowing with charisma and stage presence. It might not be the most duet-y of all her
performances, which is something I held against some other ones, but it doesn’t need to be. Taylor sings bits of it but
you can’t even hear her because the crowd is singing along so incredibly loudly the whole time. None of the guest
performers Taylor brings out are quite on her level, they can’t fill arenas with people singing every word like she can,
but there’s maybe no other song and venue combination on the planet that would get more of the crowd shouting
every single word at the top of their lungs than Robbie doing Angels at Wembley. It’s perfect.
So, with all that said, this was easily the best tour to date, at least from the perspective of someone watching them
from home. I went to Miley’s Bangerz tour, which was massive and insane. And I went to Ari’s Thank U, Next tour, which
was so professional and thoughtfully done. And I’m telling y’all, I’ve never seen a stage production this polished on
every level. The time and thought that went into everything from the lighting to the stage design to the costumes to
the choreography to Taylor’s setlist with the mashups and the transitions to the performances of everyone from the
band to the dancers was as close to flawless as you can hope to get.
And that’s not even to mention the film itself. The cinematographer and camera people did an amazing job with the
close-up shots of fans, often shot from around chest-height, capturing their eyes looking up, sparkling in the lights and
in awe and adoration of Taylor, or when she walks through the crowd touching people’s hands, the mascara-stained
tears rolling down a girl’s face. They’re just really, really beautiful shots, every one of them, that fully capture Taylor’s
impact on the people there and the emotionality and intensity of the experience those fans are having, and it conveys
it and carries some of that feeling straight through the screen to someone watching it at home. Hats off to that team,
they killed it.
The credits scenes are even great - showing the fans having little moments after the show, filming videos and
collecting confetti, and the footage of tour prep where Taylor’s struggling to time the choreo because “the words are all
the same over and over again - and I know that’s my fault”, or when one of her stage producers tells her they have
more decking than a 767 and Taylor takes in for a moment before going, “What’s a 767?” It keeps you watching and
seeing the names of all the dancers, singers, and band members, and it’s a nice way to get just a tiny bit of the
behind-the-scenes itch scratched without pushing the runtime of this thing to something that would scare off
non-hardcore Swifties from checking it out.
And speaking of the crew, Taylor’s dancers for this tour were so fucking talented. For the whole first half of the show
they were working their absolute asses off, non-stop. Like even when Taylor was just talking to the crowd, they ere
doing little motions and movements and fake-talking to each other about what she’s saying. They didn’t stop
performing for a moment, and they just crushed it. Faces, body language, movements, the whole thing, they were pure
entertainers and absolute pros. I hope her female dance crew in particular were all able to leverage this on their
resumes to go on to have big, successful careers because they fucking rock.
Oh, and one other thing.
Part of the way through the show, Taylor stops to give a shout out to all of the thousands of people who are involved
in producing the show in one way or another, specifically citing the people like the truck drivers, the stage builders, the
electricians, the sound engineers, the local security contractors, the stadium food services and custodial staff, and so
on, and asks the audience to give a round of applause to all of those people. What a motherfucking class act, man. I’ve
gone through an interesting experience these past few months, starting from, “I assume some of the bad shit people
say about Taylor is probably true,” to, “Actually, I think Taylor’s poor reputation with some people is pretty
undeserved,” to, “Taylor’s one of the realest and most genuine artists out there,” to where I am now, when moments
like that happen, where she stops her whole show to have people applaud the people who will be sweeping up
confetti at the end of the night, where I’m just like, “If I hear anyone say a single bad word about this woman I’m going
to throw things at them until they leave.”
Reputation Era Thoughts
We’ve entered the point in Taylor’s career where, post-hiatus, she’s releasing substantially less content and, it seems to
me, less pressured to be doing a bunch of smaller performances and releasing filler music videos. We didn’t get the
obligatory concert footage music video in this era, for example, and there was only a single award show performance.
For comparison:
And while that means that we missed out on what could’ve been some great videos or performances I’m sure, I think we
ended up with a quality-over-quantity situation. Half of the music videos in this era were 9/10’s for me. The single award
show performance we got was a 10/10, it was incredible. When the Reputation Tour came around, we hadn’t already
seen several of the live performances done before in one iteration or another - it was all fresh and exciting. And without
a doubt it was my favorite tour she’s done to date.
I do feel like I understand a bit better, though, why my ranking Reputation above 1989 was one of the more controversial
things among the commenters on my Discography Deep Dive. In comparison, it feels like a very lean era, and none of the
music videos here were quite on that level of the best 1989 videos. While I don’t doubt people’s ability to judge an album
on its own merits and I know a lot of folks just love 1989 as a record and don’t care for Reputation as much, I think
getting a ton of content can impact that. A great live performance or a great music video can shape the way you hear a
song for the better (as it’s done for me many times already in this project), and Reputation gave far fewer opportunities
for that compared to previous records.
But I think this era is probably unmatched on the sheer density of great videos and performances. If I averaged out every
single song and video that I reviewed, this era’s probably got a 7.5 or 8/10 average score. That’s pretty remarkable. I’ve
gotten so comfortable with the dark and villainous Taylor, I’m very excited and curious to see her make the inevitably
radical and stark aesthetic shift for Lover. Musically, it’s such a dramatic transition, and visually I think it might be even
more radical. Goodbye blacks and reds, hello pinks and golds!
Favorite Music Videos:
● Look What You Made Me Do
● Delicate
Favorite Performances:
● I Did Something Bad (2018 AMA’s / Reputation Tour)
● Dancing With Our Hands Tied (Reputation Tour)
● Long Live / New Years Day (Reputation Tour)
● Getaway Car (Reputation Tour)

ME!
Music Video (April 2019)
Song Rating 15 / 30 ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
First of all, I love that she opened the Lover era with a snake
bursting into a cloud of rainbow butterflies. In about fifteen
seconds, Taylor perfectly bridges the gap between Reputation
and Lover. Taylor’s performance in the first minute or so of this
video is also really great. I love the “JE SUIS CALME!”, the
hand-to-forehead gesture for the little grunt after the first line
and the stomp and pout on “alone”.
And then things go… all over the place. This is the first Taylor
video in quite a long time, maybe since Style, where I’m like,
“There’s nothing deeper to dig into here, really.” Yeah there are
some easter eggs, like the “cool chicks” paintings on the wall, Taylor’s cats, the album title, but uh… I don’t think we’re
meant to read into much in terms of the scene changes or decipher a secret storyline here.
That said, it feels… very appropriate to the song in that way. I wasn’t really going into this with big expectations for a
fascinating music video, partially because the song itself has a very narrow and simple vibe and message, and partly
because I’d heard how disappointed and turned off many fans were by this video being the first thing they got from the
new era (and I assumed that, even if they didn’t like the song, if the video was great that might’ve made up for it). But,
yeah, y’know, the video matches the song. I get why people were disappointed in light of the body of work she’d made
up to this point in her career. This was a poor choice of era-opening single and video.
And since this is a very rare Taylor song with a feature, I should also mention: I wasn’t really sold on Brendon’s
performance in the front half of the video, but then he won me over in the ‘60s Valentines scene, where he fully
committed to that ridiculous dancing. That was probably my favorite set of the video and it’s a shame it hung on the
screen for just a few seconds.
The most impressive thing about this MV for me? The liquid rendering at the end. Look at the way it splashes and
sloshes around when they walk in it! Someone burned up some serious GPU processing time to make all that glittery
gunk swish around like that. No idea why, but they did!
Billboard Music Awards (May 2019)
Song Rating 15 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Wow! Okay then! I was not expecting to go from that music video
that I didn’t like very much at all to a fantastic live performance,
but here we are!
I love that they opened it with a live marching band all in pastel
pink and I like that they were allowed to let that intro actually
linger for a moment before Taylor came out - in a rocking outfit
too. And then pretty much immediately we’ve got like thirty
dancers in pastel suits, pyro exploding, powder fireworks on the
screens, and Brendon floats down on a fuckin’ umbrella wearing
the wackiest suit I’ve ever seen. It’s all the vibes that didn’t make
for a great music video that make for a stellar live performance.
Even the bridge, which is my least favorite part of this song, ended up crushing here. Swapping that ridiculous “Spelling
is fun!” line with, “Vegas is fun!” was a perfect choice, and Brendon’s live vocals are awesome in his own weird way. And
that’s just in time for sparks to start raining down all over the stage, a dozen umbrella-dangling acrobats to drop out of
the ceiling, and confetti to explode everywhere before Taylor and Brendon end it floating on an umbrella of their own.
This whole thing reminded me a lot of Taylor’s ringmaster/circus vibe for WANEGBT - just completely over-the-top with
a very particular aesthetic, overflowing with dancers and band members and acrobats performing everywhere, with so
much happening that you don’t even know where to look. And like those WANEGBT performances, this just works so
well for me. This whole vibe might not make a great music video and this song shouldn’t have been the lead single, but
this performance still absolutely should exist in the world and I’m glad that it does.
You Need To Calm Down
Music Video (June 2019)
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Wow, we are just in a whole different dimension from Reputation,
aren’t we? Like we’re not even in the same universe anymore.
The music on Lover, of course, is substantially different from the
music on Rep, and I saw the album covers, I got the vibe, I talked
about the nighttime villain Taylor vs. daylight lover Taylor in my
reviews of the albums. But even so, I don’t think I could really,
fully appreciate the starkness of that transition and just how
different they are until seeing these videos.
Dumping cotton candy into a blender full of pink champagne,
then walking away from the trailer in diamond-studded jewelry and bikini under a hot-pink fur jacket… now I fully
appreciate it. I would say it’s every bit as dramatic of a shift as 1989 to Reputation was.
I like this video a lot more than ME!. It’s really silly and lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it does it in
a way that’s both aesthetically interesting and serving a purpose, and those are two big things that ME!, in comparison,
is missing. The set design and the camerawork here was really great. I love those zooms on the first pool scene and the
spinning at the tea table, and the staging of some of the still shots is almost Wes Anderson-like, very “every frame a
painting”. And the pro-LGBT messaging is everywhere, it’s the world’s gayest trailer park, and I appreciate that Taylor
got a bunch of LGBT people involved in the video.
And by a bunch I mean, like, I can’t possibly keep track of all the cameos here. From RuPaul to Hannah Hart to Adam
Rippon to Ellen to the Queer Eye Cast to Ryan Reynolds (painting Stonewall no less), the video is just overflowing with
cameos, and from the behind-the-scenes footage, it seemed like everyone just had the times of their lives filming this,
which you love to see.
I’m also aware that there was some beef between Taylor and Katy over some backup dancers, and I won’t rehash it
here ‘cause I’m sure you all know it better than me, but it’s cute as hell that she got Katy in this video to have the
weirdest hug-it-out in history.
This video almost reminds me of Shake It Off in a way in that its purpose, beyond explicitly promoting Taylor’s petition
that she promotes on the endcard, is just to be fun. It’s just here to be fun to watch, to make you feel like you’re in this
really great atmosphere for a moment, to pull you into a happy place, and its success in that regard is much higher than
ME! thanks to the aforementioned camera and art direction, even if it doesn’t quite reach Shake It Off levels of iconic.
MTV Video Music Awards (1/2) (August 2019)
Song Rating 20 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
I really do just deeply appreciate that Taylor mixes up her songs
for her live performances so frequently. It’s so nice, going through
her whole videography like I am, to very rarely have to hear the
same song played the same way twice. The first sixty seconds of
this performance are super different, with alternating flashes and
freezes, and all the performers are striking bold poses for each
splash of music and dropping them immediately when it goes
quiet. It’s a really fun way to mix it up. (I know I’m using the word
“fun” a lot for this era so far, but hey, that’s the predominant
emotion we’re working with here!)
In spite of how different it starts, musically, the performance is clearly a direct homage to the music video (which isn’t
terribly unusual for Taylor): half of the cast of the video are there, along with the swimming pool, the tea table, the lawn
recliners, the crowns, etc. The few times Taylor has done this have all been when her videos already had a great
aesthetic to work with and there was no reason to change it up, and I think that’s true here as well. It’s a very
memorable and distinctive art style in that video, there’s no reason not to cement the association of that with this song
by using it in the live performance as well. I won’t be able to hear this song and not imagine some of the imagery from
the video and this performance now, and I think that’s her goal when she knows she created really strong visuals.
And perhaps my single favorite thing about this performance: for most of it, or quite possibly the entire thing (it’s hard
to tell during the chorus since the backing singers come in and the music cranks), there’s no vocal track at all. She sang
this 100% live. Modern artists of Taylor’s caliber have excellent backing tracks and mixing and it can be very hard to tell
when you’re not hearing completely live vocals until you watch a performance like this and go, “Oh, that’s what totally
live vocals sound like.” I love it, I think she sounds great and it gives the whole thing a certain authenticity and vibrancy.
My only real hangup about this one are the massive (truly, truly gargantuan) and garish overlay effects smothering the
whole thing. I hate them a lot less for an over-the-top and lighthearted song and performance like this than I usually
would, but I still am just not a fan. What did those giant “OH-OH”s really add, creatively? Someone tell me. Oh, and I’m
aware she transitions directly into Lover after this - we’ll get to that in a couple pages, hang with me.
Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day (July 2019)
Taylor opens this set with ME!, which was her big, new, lead
single off the upcoming album, so of course she did - but this
performance, without dancers or theatrics, really lays bare the
shortcomings of this song. Its simplicity and single hook struggle
to sustain the whole performance. By the bridge, I was already
pretty ready for another song.
She then goes on a hit tour through Blank Space, I Knew You
Were Trouble, and Love Story. Each of them are perfectly solid
performances but also pretty unremarkable. It’s not quite set up
for a big stage show, but it’s not stripped down enough to be
intimate, and so they just float in a kind of middle-ground area of not really scratching any particular itch even if
there’s no obvious flaws in any of them. 4/10
Welcome to New York really lights the spark for this show, though. It’s a beautiful, bare, acoustic performance of just
Taylor and a pastel pink Gibson. The chord change sounds really melancholic and warm and Taylor sings it with a kind
of soft, nostalgic tone. It’s not the giant, celebratory parade with confetti and explosions, it’s a quiet stroll down
Cornelia Street with a friend by your side smiling and quietly saying, “It’s been waiting for you,” as though they can see
how your whole life led you to this moment and they’re proud of you. It’s really wonderful and a huge surprise after
the first three songs had me feeling like this whole show might’ve been phoned in a bit. 8/10
Delicate starts off like it’s going to be another entirely acoustic song, but then suddenly at the end of the first chorus,
the bass comes in thumping hard and slowly the rest of the band and the backing singers fade in, and it really fills in
the song in a nice way. Delicate thrives on its production and I think it was a smart choice not to leave it completely up
to an acoustic guitar and vocal delivery to fill that space. 6/10 Then Style works a bit better than those first three songs
did in surviving in that middle ground between a big performance and a quiet one, in part I think because it’s riding the
energy from Delicate and Taylor’s giving a more natural and colorful performance and she’s warmed up the crowd,
and in part just by virtue of the way the song is written. 6/10
You Need To Calm Down - Taylor introduces this as the very first live performance of this song, and, you know, it does
feel a bit like that. The choreo is a bit stilted and low-energy and the instrumental track itself sounds a little empty, like
it’s missing a layer in there somewhere. The whole thing just feels like it’s a step below where it could be in basically
every way. 3/10 And of course we had to end it with an obligatory Shake It Off. Taylor’s just a master of performing
this song in any context, on any stage, alone or with a whole menagerie behind her. It’s just one of those
crowd-pleasing tracks and she really leans into it. The way she delivers the pre-bridge spoken part here is hilarious,
shouting, “Liars and dirty, dirty cheats of the world” with all the accusatory spite she can muster. 7/10
On the whole, this set was never really designed to be a real showcase of Taylor’s ability to put on a show, she was just
one of several artists ultimately there to advertise for Amazon, but she gave that crowd a show they could go home
happy with for sure. Her ability to command a room and to strike an effortless, conversational tone between songs
goes a really long way to supporting a set where she doesn’t have her full arsenal of tricks available, and her ability to
put a beautiful twist on a song like Welcome to New York was without any question the big highlight here.
As a side note, I don’t know how great this made Amazon look. Taylor’s mic sounded a bit dim in parts of this show and
was doing some weird popping early on, and the camera for this performance was really bizarre, too. It looked like
some of the shots were being filmed by a drone with a fish-eye lens or using a really distorted ultrawide angle? Almost
every far-away shot looked really weird and bad. Nice work, Jeff.
Lover MTV Video Music Awards (2/2) (August 2019)
Music Video (August 2019) Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆ So this directly followed the You Need To Calm Down performance
from the same night as discussed a couple of pages back. I’m not
This video is a strong rival to Wildest Dreams for the throne of
sure if it says more about YNTCD or Lover that this much slower,
“most aesthetically pleasing music video”. I just love the feeling of
quieter song has twice as much power over the crowd.
this video. It gives me the warm, fuzzy singles that the song itself
evokes when you listen to it in just the right mood.
The chord progression in Lover is just too perfect. I know it’s a bit
on-the-nose, I know it’s the kind of song ten thousand people
You know how when something creates a really distinctive and
have probably played for their wedding dances, but man, did you
unique atmosphere it’s often felt to be a little world unto itself, a
see DJ Khalid nodding along and vibing with it? This sugary sweet
microcosm that lives and breathes in its own small space? Well
little love drunk song dipped in pastel pink is exactly the kind of
this is that, but much more literally so - a world within the world,
thing that man wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole, except that it’s
a snowglobe universe of their relationship, of Taylor’s whole
just that fucking good of a melody.
catalog, of Christmas and birthdays, parties and late nights, all
liminal and all forever recurring. I want to go there - it compels me to go live in that space, to walk around that house,
This performance itself isn’t anything to write home about, really. The backing track and backing vocalists carry a lot of
to sit on its couches and swim in its giant fishbowl and watch home movies in its attic.
the weight, Taylor’s guitar doesn’t seem to be mic’d up, and it’s trimmed for time as part of a two-song set, but even so,
Taylor’s expressions and movements really sell it and the crowd’s all in, hook, line, and sinker. You’re not gonna watch it
There are a lot of other really nice touches here, too. There’s a smattering of references and easter eggs throughout.
and not bob your head and smile. That’s worth something.
Taylor continues her theme of showing herself overreacting or being antagonistic in her relationships, as opposed to
showing that coming from her partner - something which feels very mature and respectful and that I appreciate a lot.
Saturday Night Live (1/2) (October 2019)
I also think it’s really wonderful that Taylor plays every part of the song at some point or another - the drums, guitar,
bass, and even the little violin plucks. And she’s not just holding the instruments for the sake of it, either, she’s really
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★
playing the parts. Most videos have to either choose between creating a fictional world set to music (the music itself
I had to pause this like twenty seconds in and restart it just to
being beyond the fourth wall) or acknowledging itself as a video and showing the song being performed, but this one
take in that opening again. Taylor’s ability to rework a song, to
finds a really special third way, where the playing of the song is interwoven through the performed narrative in each of
change chords, add notes, twist the cadence, to create something
its constituent parts. I found that especially charming.
totally new-sounding and yet still very much the same, to keep
the song instantly recognizable but to approach it from a new
There are some mysteries here, too, and maybe the more veteran Swifties can clear them up for me. I assume, for
angle, has been one of the great joys of this whole experience.
example, that the color of each room is meant to represent one of Taylor’s albums. Clockwise from bottom left: debut,
The intro and opening verse of this performance sounds so
Fearless, 1989, Reputation, Lover, Red, and Speak Now. If this is the case, is there a particular reason why the Fearless
melancholic and nostalgic, it’s got this sadness and longing that’s
room seems to have its gravity reversed? It’s a curious effect that I’ve pondered over for a while and I don’t feel any
not present on the studio recording, and it really works.
closer to understanding it.

And then she proceeds to do the same thing with the vocal
Similarly, this video was released in August of 2019 and my understanding was that Folklore hadn’t even really been
delivery - dropping filler words several times just to leave more
conceived of until the pandemic rolled around in early 2020. And yet… is it just a coincidence that the staircase and
space for quiet, long pauses, letting words fade away softly that punch through on the record, spicing and spinning
closet are distinctly gray and brown, the colors of her next two records? Or is that perhaps just a coincidence? The
little words and syllables that are normally delivered without any special inflection. And the changes in the piano and
closet is much more yellow in the close-up shot and perhaps calling that Fearless and attributing the gold-colored room
the changes in her vocals synergize perfectly and come together to create something that’s just totally magical.
to something other than Fearless would help make sense of it being upside-down? A scrapped record idea? The record
she imagined might come after Lover, before the world flipped upside-down first?
If the studio recording is a dazzling anthem and celebration of love worthy of a wedding stage, this is the glance
exchanged across the couch after you’ve both laughed at an old in-joke, the hand grabbed and squeezed after an
Mysteries and all, I just want to live and breathe in the space of this video. The way it was filmed, the pans between
unexpected gift, the feeling when they just walked in the door after being away for weeks and the house suddenly
rooms, the strange miniature reality of it all, very Wes Anderson, almost even David Lynch, the decision to pull the
becomes warm again. This is handily an equal to the original version of the song and a strong contender for its
camera out and give us wide shots, the bookends of the little girl who turns out to be their daughter in the end, even
superior, capturing all of the emotions on the record and then bringing in far more and subtler ones too. The brilliant
the that light-strung, infinite hallway, it all comes together beautifully to conjure up feelings unlike any other video she’s
decisions she makes with both the piano and her voice here create a depth and complexity that makes this the kind of
ever done.
performance that will provoke entirely different feelings depending on the mood you’re in and depending on how
you’re feeling about your own relationships. This could make you cry like a baby or swell up with joy.

This is easily right up there with my very favorite live performances she’s ever done. Entrancing and enchanting.
American Music Awards
American Music Awards (November 2019)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
What an absolute trip of a performance! It’s like a miniature Eras
Tour all in 11 minutes! We get a tiny snippet of The Man, then
make a dramatic shift into Love Story, and just as we’re getting
settled into that vibe, whoosh! Everything goes a stark,
monochrome red and a bunch of shirtless dudes are jumping
around for I Knew You Were Trouble (with a very interesting
instrumental track featuring quite a few strange sounds that
aren’t normally there).
And the next thing you know we’re all in black and white with
those classic silhouettes and suits and ties and you know
immediately, here comes Blank Space. It’s just such a fucking flex to pull out song after song like that and to have these
very memorable, iconic visuals to go with them. Like what an insane catalog of performances to be able to choose from
as someone who’s only, what, barely over a decade into their career?
Oh and just as that thought is occurring to you, she pulls out the coup de grâce with Shake It Off, weird silver spacesuit
dancers and all, with Halsey and Camilla Cabello throwing in a line or two each. Apart from, like, Beyonce, any other
artist on the planet would kill you with their bare hands to be able to pull out that many gargantuan hits in quick
succession and have the audiences know every word to every one of them and to be able to recognize exactly which
songs she was playing even with earplugs in. It’s really remarkable.
And of course there was no way we weren’t ending it with Lover, and we do indeed, with Taylor sitting at the most
Taylor Swift piano I’ve ever seen as a pair of ballet dancers put on a really beautiful performance beside her, scripted to
perfectly match the energy of the song and with several parallels to the movements in the Lover music video. Oh, and
the whole thing’s dancing with a gorgeous, swelling string track that really completes the wedding party energy, violins
dancing their way into big crescendos along with the my, my, my, my, my’s.
You don’t like Taylor Swift if you can’t love a performance like that one. It’s like a sampler platter, the Swiftian
charcuterie board, of not just iconic songs, but iconic performances that went with them. None of them individually are
the best thing you’ve ever seen, and apart from that ten-second little taste of The Man (which she’s never done live to
this point), she’s done better and bigger performances of every one of these songs, all of which you’d probably be more
likely to go back and watch again than this one. But what makes this one so great is the way they seamlessly blend
together and the density of it all, the way it creates a showcase of her songwriting ability and creative vision that’s just
on a different level. This is the thing you pull out when the aliens say you’ve got ten minutes to entertain them or
they’re blowing us all up to make way for a galactic freeway.
And, nearly forgotten in all of that, Taylor’s live vocals are really high in the mix for this entire performance and she
really knocks it out of the park. It’s one of the stronger and more consistent vocal performances I can recall hearing
from her relative to the level of dynamism and movement entailed outside of tour performances where she’s in full-on
professional mode.
The Archer
Lover’s Lounge (August 2019)
Song Rating 25 / 30 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
This performance is part of a 35 minute “Lover’s Lounge”
album-eve launch party of sorts in which Taylor reads several
diary entries that are included in the special editions of Lover and
talks with Stella McCartney, with whom she partnered on a
fashion line. The diary excerpts are pretty fun and I’m going to
have to hunt down the full versions of them somewhere, but the
real highlight of the non-performance sections of the video for me
was just Taylor referring to Reputation as when she’d gone, “Full
Swamp Witch.” That phrase is gonna stick with me.
This performance itself is as understated as the song is, and it’s
hard to imagine it any other way. Taylor’s got her four backing singers and Paul and David on the guitar and keyboard
and so she’s just there with the mic fully focused on the emotions and the delivery. The result is something really true
to the studio version without any twists or frills, but it’s also the first time, I believe, anyone was hearing the song, so
that’s really the way you’d want to do it at that moment; it’s not the right time to give it a whole new bent. So while I
think it checks all the boxes, it’s also not something, three years later, you’re going to be likely to seek out in place of
the studio recording except to watch Taylor’s expressions through the really hard-hitting lines.
Live Lounge
BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge (September 2019)
London Boy - I was super curious about this one in a Live
Lounge-type setting as a song that’s supported by so much heavy
production, and I’ve got mixed feelings about how well it works
like this. It’s really got just a totally different vibe, more like a
singalong bar song with its catchy hook and its borderline
spoken-word bridge and outro. LIke, I can just picture a bunch of
women on karaoke night singing this song in this kind of style a
la Friends in Low Places or Wagon Wheel.
It’s really fun in that sense, but as one of the catchiest, boppiest
choruses she’s written in her entire career, it really does feel like
a lot of the air is missing from that particular balloon. You can just feel how big it could - maybe should - be, and how
small this feels in comparison, and it’s just not quite there. And that’s fine, not every song can be stripped down and
still punch above its weight - the fact that it punches at all is a testament to Taylor’s dedication to writing songs that
can be performed in a variety of ways. 5/10
Lover - This is just really straightforward and clean. Taylor’s vocals are spotless, the backing vocals are beautiful, Paul’s
fingerpicked guitar is perfect, and it all comes together to create a really high and vibrant energy level that’s the exact
match for the studio version. There’s just not a single thing to critique about this one other than that they’re really not
aiming to do anything outside the box here. It’s as traditional and squeaky clean as live performances get. 7/10
The Archer - This is almost the same group that was there in the Lover’s Lounge performing this song, and so I was
expecting it to sound really similar - but no, it doesn’t at all, and it’s all thanks to those drums. That steady
thud-thud-thud heartbeat of percussion puts a backbone onto this song that makes it feel so much fuller and stronger
than the Lover’s Lounge version. The mixing and the recording equipment is also just a little bit better, and Taylor’s
vocals are even a little bit stronger here too, having warmed up with a couple of songs beforehand. It’s still a very
straightforward take on the song, but it’s really very good. 7/10
Can’t Stop Loving You - This was a performance that came recommended to me several times in the comments on
the Discography Deep Dive and by the couple of Swifties I know, so I went into this with pretty high expectations, and
I’m always worried when I go into anything with high expectations that I’ve set the bar too high for my own enjoyment.
And on top of that, I don’t love the Phil Collins version, the instrumentation and vibe of the big swell is a little too
predictable, even bland, for my taste.
And, yeah, it’s really good. Taylor is a great singer. I’ve seen it even on the subreddit, people being like, “Well singing
has never been her strong suit,” or, “She might not be as good of a singer as a lot of people, but,” and like, what the
fuck are you actually talking about? Is your standard for being a great singer the ability to summon dolphins or break
wine glasses or call a herd of sheep from across the fjord? That’s not what makes you a great singer. To paraphrase
YouTube’s vocal coach extraordinaire Elizabeth Zharoff, what makes you a great singer isn’t what notes you can hit, it’s
what feelings you can convey and how consistently and deliberately you can do it. Taylor wasn’t always a great singer,
see a lot of my comments on her early career, but by this point? Man, she’s so good.
I love how understated they kept it, forgoing Phil’s bombastic 80’s triumph-rock vibes for something much more
grounded and emotional, letting those little hooks and melodies get the spotlight, and I love Taylor’s very unexpected
delivery of the outro, reminiscent of I Think He Knows, and even she knows that it’s a really cool spin, you can tell she’s
vibing with it. So, yeah, this isn’t quite in the highest pantheon of Taylor performances for me, but I get why people
hype this one up so much. It’s great, and it’s probably the first time a ton of Swifties have heard this song, so the hook
was fresh for them, too. Don’t go looking up the original - it’ll disappoint you in comparison. 8/10
Holy Ground - So much of what made the SNL performance of Lover so good is here again: this big, anthemic, bright,
and loud song is brought down into a softness and intimacy both in the instrumentation and the vocal delivery and I’m
either just a complete and total sucker for this stuff or it’s just genuinely, completely brilliant.
The little twists she gives to certain phrases, like, “The story’s got dust on every page,” brings out the weight of the
emotions with a visceral bite that makes the studio version sound analytic by comparison. She changes up the
cadence of the main refrain from the more staggered and even “right - there - where - we - stood” to a much more
organic, emotive, natural one, and the chorus itself is brought way down to be the quietest and gentlest part of the
song, instead handing over the power to the post-chorus backing vocals. Particularly the transition from the final
chorus into the outro verse has this incredible, gentle power because she allowed the song to get so quiet and so soft
that even just a firm piano chord and some backing vocals erupts through the room.
Excluding All Too Well for obvious reasons, this is a strong contender for my favorite live performance of any song off
of Red. It’s just exquisitely crafted, so small and subtle and yet so much the more powerful for it. This titular ‘holy
ground’ had always been, in my mind, like a great, quaking consecration, a Paladinic surge of light and memory, but
here it’s like a soft, warm glow, inviting and nostalgic. Absolutely gorgeous. 9/10
You Need To Calm Down - I certainly understand wanting to end the show on a happy, upbeat note, but you also
want to end a song on the highest note possible, and I was pretty worried about this song’s ability to hold up in
contrast to the two really excellent ones that preceded it. But you know what? This song actually really works like this.
Those oh-oh’s and the acoustic guitar create a really fun, foot-tapping vibe. I don’t know that it can hold up to the
studio version in a 1v1 faceoff, but I think it’s actually got more staying power by virtue of being so much less intense.
It’s a fairly repetitive and simple structure for a Taylor song, but that feeling is amplified by the studio production, and
it’s comparatively diminished here. I could see myself listening to this song more frequently if I had this version
available to stream over the original - and that’s the most I could ask from a live rendition of this song. 7/10
False God
Saturday Night Live (2/2) (October 2019)
Song Rating 21 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆
This was the second performance from the same night as the
green piano with the time-frozen papers, and I was so excited as
soon as I saw she’d done this song on SNL.
See, this is one of the most understated and least-discussed
songs on Lover, by my reckoning (it has the third-least streams on
Spotify of any song on the album after the even barer It’s Nice To
Have A Friend and the heart-clenching Soon You’ll Get Better), so
you might think that Taylor would be inclined to choose any
number of the more popular songs from the album to play on
national TV, yeah?
Here’s the thing, though, and why I was immediately excited: Taylor’s really fucking smart, and she knows that the
bandleader and musical director of the SNL band for the last 25 years at this point has been Lenny Picket, whose iconic
sax riffs are the defining sound of SNL.
I’m just about 100% certain that she picked this song specifically because she wanted to do it with Lenny. The first time
Taylor’s ever had sax on a song and she’s on SNL? You’re goddamn right she’s doing that one. And the camera cuts over
to the stage and there’s Lenny and he’s immediately bringing the juice, jazzing up the intro.
And then what transpires is just about the perfect live performance of this song. It’s slow, calm, sultry, dark. Taylor’s
performance is heavily gestured, fierce and confident, almost hip-hop in a way, rocking the sports coat, and her vocals
are fully live and super clean. The backing vocalists are used really sparsely but in just the right places, and Lenny, man.
Lenny just crushes it. The extended sax solo in the middle is so, so good, just the perfect vibe and the perfect
compliment for the chords at the heart of the song, and then he comes back at the very end, provoking a wry little
smirk from Taylor as he plays the song out with just the perfect little punctuation marks. The man understood the
assignment perfectly, complimenting the song structure, never overstepping once, and using the moments he had like
the perfect seasoning on a meal.
The very instant that the song’s over, before the applause even begins, Taylor’s arm is up, deferring all of the cheers
onto him - which I’m taking as a confirmation of my belief about why she performed this song, but it’s also just classy as
hell, as she’s wont to be, and then she turns it right around to her band and backing singers too.
You can just tell from her face that she really enjoyed that performance, and hey, me too. The sax was, and is, my
favorite part of False God, and if I had any critique about it, it was just that there wasn’t more of it, that it was too
constrained to just that one loop. But here it’s set free to be everything it could be, and it’s all the better for it.
This is one of those performances that really does make you look back on the studio version and regret that it’s not a
bit more like this. It’s almost a shame that Lover isn’t one of the records that’s going to get a Taylor’s Version just so
she’d have the opportunity to revisit it and bring Lenny or someone like him into the studio to work their magic.
NPR Tiny Desk
NPR Tiny Desk (October 2019)
The Man - If you’re still reading this megalithic thing at this point,
you’ve probably caught on that I really love when Taylor strips
everything down and performs with just her live voice and one
instrument. As much as I love the production on some of her
later albums and I think the instrumentation on her albums is
often really effective, I think she’s a uniquely gifted individual
performer and just really thrives that way, and this one’s no
exception.
Her voice and guitar playing are both really strong from the
get-go (Taylor probably doesn’t get sufficient credit as being a
very capable instrumentalist, which isn’t true of several people often cited as her contemporaries) and she adds her
usual flair and color to it, most notably on, “Oh, let the players play!”, which comes off far more like a singular quote
when delivered this way, and flips her hair dramatically on “Saint-Tropez”.
But my favorite moment by far is the long pause and the confident, faux-apathetic side glare after, “So it’s okay that I’m
mad,” (my favorite line of the song and the thesis statement on which everything else is built). She really lets everyone
linger in that sentence, which can otherwise get a little buried in the fast-paced lyrics, before bringing the music back
at a much quieter volume for a few lines. It’s really a magnifying glass right on the heart of the track and I love that she
did that. Oh, then Taylor gives her pick to a little kid in the audience after the song, because she’s just like that. 7/10
Lover - Taylor does the same beautiful thing with the piano here that she did for the SNL performance with that
melancholic turn on the intro. Vocally, she changes it up just as much as she did there, attaching new weights to
certain lines and balloons to others, just moving everything around a little bit. Hardly a single line is delivered straight
on the line with the studio recording, and in almost every case I think it’s an unequivocal improvement. If you’re
listening to the version on the NPR Music YouTube channel, just take a moment to appreciate what she does with,
“Forever and ever, and I…” at 10:54. She dipped that line in solid gold.
Her delivery is just so dynamic and so complex and all of the things that I already rambled about at length regarding
the SNL performance (the only substantial difference: this one isn’t colored by quite as much sadness). She’s just so, so
good at performing this song, and I get the impression that she’s really fond of it. The way she just lives and breathes
the song the whole time she’s performing it, the way she just naturally knows what space she has to play in without
ever crossing the line and soiling anything, without ever losing the trail, just makes me think that this song must be
one that’s really, really deep down inside her heart, and as a listener, that comes through. She’s just overflowing.
My gut instinct was to give this one a 9/10, but I realized that’s only because I’ve already heard her do a very similar
performance of this song, and I gave that one a 10/10. If I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been a question, so it shouldn’t be a
question. This is a 10/10
Taylor prefaces the next song with a costume change (on Tiny Desk! Really!) and a really charismatic conversation with
the crowd that does that thing that good stand-up does where she’s really funny, the audience is laughing the whole
time, but also talking about some real shit. Not serious, but very sincere, about a genuine concern she had that her
career and craft was built on top of her own sadness and struggles, and that if those went away, her art might go away
too. It’s fascinating to know that the tortured artist stereotype was actually not just a cultural trope but a lived
experience for Taylor and that she really had to grapple with and wasn’t certain about.
From various interviews and inter-song talk I’ve heard from her over the course of doing this, there’s been this
continuous theme behind her words that she does not, and has never, taken her career for granted and has never
assumed that she would have continued success whatsoever. Like even when she’s one of the biggest artists on the
planet, she seems to have a looming sense that it could all just be gone in an instant for one reason or another. She
says at least the specific fear around writing sad songs was assuaged writing Lover - I hope the related anxieties left
with it at some point between then and now.
Death By A Thousand Cuts - This one was a little more straightforward than the previous ones, but at the same time,
the vibe is so different from the studio version. A lot of the power and the energy of the studio version is from that
fast-rolling harpsichord-sounding keyboard that’s rolling along in the background much faster than any other layer of
the music, but even that is kind of a quiet, gentle, buried-in-the-mix kind of energy. Here, Taylor strums like her life
depends on it in the biggest moments of this song, and that sharp pick-strummed sound gives the song a much more
blatant and front-heavy punch and intensity.
If the studio version sounds like someone in the distance slowly sinking down into a hole, this one is standing just a
foot away from the hole as they shout up at you from the bottom. And because that guitar is creating so much power,
the way she completely drops it out for the, “My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust” just throws those words right into
your face just when you’re most vulnerable to them. The anger that’s woven like a thread through the original is
embroidered right on the surface here. It’s almost overwhelming. 8/10
And Taylor’s sincere gratitude for being invited to perform at Tiny Desk and her repeated thanks to them for the
opportunity (as though they wouldn’t sacrifice any member of the NPR staff in a ritualistic bonfire to have her there)
and saying that she “understands the sacrifices that have been made for [her] today” is, like, #25 on my list of things
Taylor has done or said in one of these live performances that make me think she’s a genuinely good human being.
All Too Well - Does anyone else shake their head and let out a big sigh every time she finishes playing this song?
‘Cause this is like the third or fourth time I’ve caught myself doing it. This time I noticed myself muttering a little,
“Unbelievable…” under my breath. It’s the same reaction I have when I watch an athlete at the top of their sport do
something that would be inconceivable to nearly any other human on the planet, or when I finished watching one of
those movies that just changed the whole shape of your world for the next six months. It’s the traditional definition of
“awesome” - to be awe-inducing, to instill disbelief that something can be really happening that you’ve just witnessed.
It really is a masterpiece of songwriting, her Tangled Up In Blue. Her Both Sides Now.
This performance doesn’t have the massive, raucous, scream-along crowd that makes her grin the whole time she’s
singing it, but we’re also long past the time where every word of it was like a knife in her back. And so she just goes
into the song, like she did with Lover, and the result is a performance that feels so honest and clear. It’s a master artist
performing their signature skill with total focus and clarity, evoking all of the emotions without succumbing to them or
losing them in the performativity. It’s one of my very favorite renditions of it yet. I was totally transfixed the entire time
on the song itself, completely caught in the web, intoxicated by the spell.
And on top of that, that airy, raspy quality that I really love in Taylor’s voice later in her later albums is really starting to
show itself in this performance for perhaps the first time. I caught a bit of it in the other songs, but it really comes
through strongest in the final verse here (“I loved you so”). Her voice, the piano, the emotions, the precision, the
delicacy - it’s just a pleasure and an honor to listen to it all, frankly. I’m grateful this exists in the world. 9/10
Christmas Tree Farm
Music Video (December 2019)
Look, there’s only so much to say about this which isn’t going to
sound painfully obvious, so I’m not gonna linger here long: little
tiny Taylor is obviously completely adorable (her hair!) and the
amount of footage they have of the actual, titular Christmas Tree
Farm and Taylor opening gifts and writing letters to Santa really
made this a no-brainer choice for the video.
This song has actually grown on me a fair bit since I first heard it -
it really does achieve that very rare feat of “sounding Christmasy”,
which practically no modern Christmas songs ever do (people
who know more about music than I do can explain why and it has
something to do with back-and-forth modal interchanges and weird, jazzy chords) and this video is really the cherry on
top (or maybe the star on top - eh? eh??) that’s got me sold on this being worthy of inclusion on anyone’s Christmas
morning playlist.
The Man
Music Video (February 2020)
Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆
Yo! Ya girl did it herself! After getting co-director credits on ME!,
You Need to Calm Down, and Lover, Taylor is listed as the director
of this video. That’s a huge accomplishment!
There aren’t very many artists who self-direct their videos, and
when they do, they tend to be relatively minimalist videos that
are very simple to direct. This is about as far away from a
minimalist video as you can get and a really ambitious choice for
the first video she’d direct solo, although I imagine that decision
was made in part based on securing the help of Rodrigo Prieto
(an Oscar-nominated cinematographer who’s worked with Oliver
Stone, Alejandro González Iñárrituas, and Martin Scorsese) as her Director of Photography.
The look is genuinely incredible. It really is some absolutely top-end, AAA-movie studio-level prosthetics. In one of the
behind-the-scenes videos, Taylor describes it as a five hour process every morning, and she even had a dedicated
movement coach to instruct her on masculine body language (the behind-the-scenes also includes hilarious moments
in which she consults the men on the set on the exact way they look at women and adjust their underwear). The result
is one of the most impressive transformations of appearance that I’ve ever seen - movies, TV, anywhere.
It took me 30 seconds in, until Taylor winked at the camera, for the thought to even occur to me that it might be Taylor,
and even then, it was just an uncertainty, a sort of, “Wait… is that…?” moment. I had to go back and rewatch it from the
start and pay really close attention to some very subtle aspects of her body language to be sure about it, and this
project has probably made me more acutely aware of that stuff that the average person. I have to think that a ton of
people watched this damn near all the way through without knowing that it was Taylor. That’s really remarkable.
And of course so many of the choices of scenes are just the perfect compliment to the song. Opening with an explicit
reference to a Leonardo DiCaprio movie scene and showing scenes of ‘manspreading’ and outbursts of anger are all
in-line with the lyrics, but she goes a step further and expounds upon the same themes in some new ways with the
visuals. There’s the shot of herself on the bills being thrown around as a reference to the larger patriarchy itself (as
opposed to the specificity of the things individual men and male celebrities get away with or for which they’re praised),
and there’s also the old man getting married to someone a fraction of his age (something for which exclusively the
younger woman is typically criticized) showcasing the blatant sexism in the way the media covers relationships from a
different and perhaps even more powerful angle than the one she approaches it with lyrically.
And I love that she ends it with, even before the credits role, letting you know that she’s the one in the director’s chair,
but does so without making that some big ego-centric moment by placing the chair off to the side of the real focus of
the scene, which is this impossible interaction between Taylor and herself (voiced by the Rock of all people), and she
squeezes in one last showcase of sexism while she’s at it - perhaps the most biting and powerful one of the whole
video, in my opinion, just because of how quiet and subtle it is, and how it pervades outside of the video itself. Taylor
breaks the fourth wall, the performance is over, and yet this insidious disparity in the way men and women are being
treated hasn’t left at all. It reaches the message outside of the confines of the video and bridges the gap between this
piece of entertainment and the real world that exists beyond it, and is really the keystone of the whole video, in my
opinion. It looks like a throwaway gag at the end, and yet I think it’s actually the most important scene. Really brilliant.
And when the credits roll at the end, it’s not just “Directed by” and “Written by” Taylor Swift, she also included “Owned
by” Taylor Swift. That’s a fuckin’ boss move. I love that for her.
City of Lover
Taylor Swift: City of Lover (September 2019)
ME! - It feels appropriate for her to be doing this show in Paris,
given that both she’s had some history playing with the aesthetics
of Paris (dating way back to Begin Again) and doubly so that she
opened the show with ME!, her second song that’s set against the
backdrop of the city.
I don’t have a ton to say about this one other than something
that I’ve said for some of her previous long-form performances,
which is that I think she wisely chooses to open with songs that
aren’t necessarily the strongest, but which can just ride the wave
of excitement from the crowd. She knows she’s got a solid five
minutes of the audience just catching their breath over the fact
that she’s out there and she can fit in pretty much any song she wants there without needing to feel much pressure to
do anything super interesting with it.
And yeah, nothing super interesting with this one, but the energy levels are great. I have to think this song wouldn’t hit
everyone quite so hard if it was placed ¾ of the way through the show, having to follow up some of the real
heavy-hitters off the record, y’know? 4/10
The Archer - Wow, man. That was beautiful. This is the third The Archer performance that I’ve seen and each one has
built on the last. The first one was really stripped down, but to the point where it felt excessively bare, lacking a
foundation (I gave that a 5/10). The second one brought in that really essential percussion that I talked about, which
feels like the heartbeat underlying the emotion of the song, and that was a substantial improvement (I gave that one a
7/10). And now this one goes one step beyond that, with Taylor really reaching into the emotions of the song and really
conveying the kind of subtle power of the lyrics with her expressions and body language.
The Archer is a really interesting song lyrically, it’s kind of against the grain of so much of Taylor’s typical lyricism up to
this point in her career, relying on short bursts of symbolism and metaphor rather than detailed, descriptive
storytelling. It’s what writers might describe as a “show, don’t tell” kind of work, relying on the audience to experience
the meaning of the words through the way they’re conveyed and the music they’re set to rather than to have it
explained to them outright. And so it really, really shines when Taylor contributes to that with the physicality of her
performance. I felt like I understood and felt the lyrics to this song more deeply watching this performance than I ever
had before. They hit just a little bit different.
Really, really enjoyed that one. 8/10
Death By A Thousand Cuts - Taylor is so good when it’s just her
and a guitar, and that’s no different here. The stand-out here is
some of the vocal deliveries. I like how borderline breathless she
was in the bridge. It’s the kind of thing a vocal coach would
probably critique, but the bridge here is so full of emotion and
intensity that her gasping for air between the lines only adds to
that feeling and once again she just slings every line out like
casting stones.
And she still comes right back around after the bridge to nail every little nuance of the softer parts (“my body, my
love… my trust,”) with levels of pitch control and a timbre that just totally smokes her early career vocals. And she ends
the song in a fit of laughter, barely able to get out a sentence without laughing. You can’t watch it and not smile. 8/10
Cornelia Street - Holy shit.
Look, I’m gonna have to go back through all of this once I’m done and crunch the numbers and do some comparisons
and listen to some of my favorites again, I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’ve watched a lot of live performances
from Taylor in the last couple of months. But my gut reaction after this one ended is that it’s a strong contender for
one of my Top 3 favorite live performances she’s ever done. This just absolutely floored me. As soon as she hit the
second half of the first chorus (“and baby…”) my jaw dropped, my hand involuntarily lifted in front of my face, and I
didn’t breathe for the next sixty seconds (I know this because my chest got really tight around the second chorus and I
realized my body was reminding me that I needed air).
The way she arranged the guitar part for this was impeccable - just absolutely perfect. Her vocals were fantastic the
whole way through, but the higher register for the second half of the first two choruses was just stunningly good,
really just phenomenal. I’m sitting here strip-mining my vocabulary for the words to use for just how much I loved
those first two choruses. And then just when the bases were fully loaded, she went and hit a motherfucking
out-of-the-park grand slam with the final chorus, practically screaming it in what might be the second-most
impassioned vocal performance of her career to date, trailing only the Grammys All Too Well.
I want to provide an eloquent description of why I think this is just such a flawless performance, but I honestly don’t
know if analysis is what’s needed here. No art critic can describe why Starry Night is a work of magic. It’s the finger
pointing to the Moon: you gotta just go look at the fucking Moon. And this performance is the Moon to me. 10/10
The Man - This is a lot like the The Man performance at Tiny Desk, vocally - she even does that same long pause after,
“So it’s okay that I’m mad,” before coming back in really quietly for the next line. Taylor’s guitar playing is also really
satisfying here, and is in general. She adds the additional flourish of throwing in a couple percussive slaps on the body
of the guitar in this song, which is the kind of thing that people tend to either not use at all or substantially
over-season with, and she just throws in two or three in just the right moments, very thoughtfully.
And you know, as something of an aside, over the course of watching all these performances, Taylor has kind of
changed my opinion on using heavy picks on steel string acoustics. I’ve always been inclined toward softer picks or
even pickless strumming for my own guitar playing, finding the harsher, staccato-y sound of strumming with heavier
picks to be too abrasive. But it always sounds to me like Taylor is using a pretty heavy pick, and yet it completely
works, adding a texture and depth to the sound that really
allows the guitar and her voice to stand on their own without
even the slightest want of accompaniment. 7/10
Daylight - Really surprised to hear this just ⅔ into the set, as a
song that I think of so fundamentally as an album closer, like
New Year’s Day. But I think it fits here as a transition song
between Taylor’s solo/acoustic part of the set and getting back
into the full instrumentation (which seems to be a common
approach throughout her concerts dating all the way back to the
Fearless Tour).
And while I really enjoyed this performance and I thought the bit of instrumentation and backing vocals they brought
in were really nice and very much in-line with the sound of the studio version, I also can’t help but be very curious to
hear a version of this that was just Taylor and the piano. I feel like this song could really soar like that, like an
antithetical twin of the Sad Girl Autumn Version of All Too Well.
The producers of this concert also definitely took some lessons from the Reputation Stadium Tour, and while I don’t
think this has been filmed on quite the same level as that one, there were a lot of really great shots in this song in
particular of the audience singing along that really brought it all together. 6/10
You Need To Calm Down - Not a ton to say about this one. It’s a lot like the Prime Day performance, but with much
higher energy levels across the board. I enjoy how much Taylor’s backup singers get involved in her performances of
this song, filling in as her de facto dancers for a few minutes, and they do a really good job of it. All four of them are
just really charismatic and natural stage performers and they’re able to fill the stage and create a lot of physical
dynamism up there, which helps fill in some of the “space” created by this song’s relative lack of emotional dynamism. I
can’t think of a better way to perform this song live without a full award show-level of theatrics, but at the same time,
it’s pretty much never going to be a big highlight performance, even with a really clean execution like it has here. 6/10
Lover - Pretty much of the performances we’ve had of Lover so far have been at least slightly stripped back. Even at
the VMAs and AMAs, the fullest renditions, the backing instrumentation was far away in the mix. But here we get the
complete package, as lush and layered and anthemic as the studio version, and as much as I loved her really lean
versions of this, there’s no denying how well this works with all the bells and whistles on board.
This song is so beautifully written that it really, fully thrives in
both styles - it’s practically a whole different song in this context
than it was on, say, SNL. The quieter versions are personal love
letters, intimate and wide-eyed, but this is a song for the whole
building; this a song that has the nosebleeds swaying along and
shouting the chorus. And it’s also a song that inspired Taylor’s
most animated performance of the night, playing up every line of
the bridge with its own motions, doing a little hip-shaking dance
for “to end up with you” and pulling her hands to her chest and
closing her eyes for “all your dirtiest jokes”.
It certainly ended my questions about why she didn’t save Daylight for the end - this version of Lover makes for the
perfect capstone on the performance. 8/10
Lover Era Thoughts
How highly I ranked Lover as a record seemed to be one of the more controversial opinions in my Discography Deep
Dive, and going through these videos and performances has both helped me understand that more and left me more
confused in different ways. I think the prevalence of ME! and You Need To Calm Down in her live performances throughout
this era doesn’t do it any favors, as two of the three weakest songs on the record, and I think it’s about as close to an
objective fact as possible that ME! and its corresponding video was a poor choice of lead single. And the complete lack of
even a single Cruel Summer performance at any point is completely baffling to me. I have no explanation or justification
for that and would love to hear any theories on why that didn’t happen.

But at the same time, this era came with two really great music videos and multiple 10/10 performances, in my opinion,
including beautiful twists on the studio versions that create something really special and different from what you get on
the record. As a live vocalist and instrumentalist, she’s just never been better.

Favorite Music Videos:

● Lover
● The Man

Favorite Performances:
● Cornelia Street (City of Lover)
● Lover & False God (Saturday Night Live)
● Holy Ground (BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge)
● Lover & All Too Well (Tiny Music Desk)

Miss Americana
Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (January 2020)
Without a doubt, this was one of the most interesting
experiences in this whole project. As you might know if you’re
reading this far, I haven’t gone into this whole project knowing
very much about Taylor’s personal life, and while I’ve learned
quite a bit just through researching the songs and the lyrics and
the videos, there was still a lot for me to take in and digest here.
I ended up watching this three times over three days, just to try
to absorb everything. There’s a lot that gets hinted at or
discussed only briefly, and a lot of themes that kind of intertwine
over the course of the film, as well as, undoubtedly, a certain
amount of stage-managing and polishing of rough edges, so I really wanted to try to pierce through that as much as I
could and decide for myself what I should actually be taking away from this. What’s the story that the director and
editor were trying to tell us about Taylor here? And, perhaps more interestingly, what further inferences are there to
be found in the quotes from Taylor herself?
In the end, I came to the conclusion that there’s kind of a three part arc and three major themes here, and so I’ll just
talk about each one of them in turn.
The Insecure Ascent
In a clip of Taylor as a teenager, with her foot just barely in the world that she was destined to conquer, she says, “I
give myself 5 minutes a day to be like, ‘Yes, this is happening!’ then the rest of the time I’m thinking about how I’m
gonna make it last.” Despite being on the very precipice of the dream she’d been working toward since she was in
middle school, the only dream she’d ever really had as far as I can tell, and despite having every excuse in the world to
be a wide-eyed and naively optimistic teenager in that moment, there’s none of that. Taylor was never under the
impression that just getting to the top was enough. Getting there would mean nothing if you couldn’t make it last, and
making it last was never guaranteed.
A decade later, we see Taylor sitting on her couch, one of the biggest celebrities on the planet at this point, waiting for
a phone call to tell her whether her latest album has been nominated for any Grammys. She’s already won two Album
of the Year awards, mind you, and yet when she’s told that her latest album didn’t get nominated, she’s barely able to
hold it together. It’s fine, she says. “I just need to make a better record.” At the end of the phone call, her voice finally
breaks, and you can tell she’s just crumbling inside. Because making it last would mean nothing if you couldn’t keep
climbing. You’re never at the top - not really.
“If I don’t beat everything I’ve done prior, it’ll be deemed as, like, a colossal failure,” she says later. Having achieved all
the success that anyone could ever imagine, the itch wasn’t scratched. The fear wasn’t gone. At any moment it could
be over, any song, any record, could be her peak, and it could all be over.
Taylor is intensely aware of the fragility of not just fame and success, but of the public’s interest. She’s been conscious
since a very young age of how delicate the line is between people loving you and people not caring about you at all.
And as someone who, in her own words, got into this line of work because she’s “intrinsically insecure” and because
the sound of people clapping makes her forget about how she feels like she’s “not good enough’, the desire to stay on
the right side of that line, to walk that tightrope, is practically one of life or death. On one side is absolutely everything
she’s ever wanted, and on the other side is desolation.
Most people in these situations are either not aware of how delicate that balance is, supremely confident and
egotistical in their ability to maintain the good graces of the public, or stumbled into fame through the art they were
making catching the right wind at the right time and carrying them up. Not Taylor. Taylor wanted all of this, she asked
for all of it, she never wanted anything else, and she has none of that confidence that she can just hold onto it forever,
and that another day of success is given to her freely. She’s also painfully, profoundly aware of what it means to be a
woman in the public spotlight and how much shorter women’s careers tend to be and how much their image and their
success hinges on their appearance and the novelty of what they offer. And she’s tragically, painfully correct.
Still, when you hear these things, you can’t help but think: that would all be a bit more understandable if she weren’t
such a massive celebrity at this point and if the Swifites weren’t the go-to, gold standard example of a loyal fandom. By
now, surely, she could just give herself a moment to enjoy the success she’s had. She doesn’t have to top herself over
and over, nor does she need to fear it all going away. She’s safe if anyone’s safe, right?
But things are never so simple when you’re a brand unto yourself, when you’re not just a human being, but also an
institution - a corporation, an employer of hundreds of people, a person whose life is at the mercy of the media and
the public and whose identity has been transformed repeatedly because of that. In the present-day at the time of
filming (2019), she says, “This is probably one of my last opportunities as an artist to grasp onto that kind of success.
So, I don’t know, as I’m reaching thirty, I’m like, I want to work really hard while society is still tolerating me being
successful.” That underlying insecurity and fear that has burned like the pilot light beneath her career has not gone
out, even in the face of the almost incomparable amount of success she’s had.
The Trap at the Summit
“You get to the mountaintop and you look around and think: what now?” Taylor says, describing winning her second
Album of the Year Grammy. “I didn’t have a partner that I climbed it with that I could, like, high five. I didn’t have
anyone I could talk to that could relate. I had my mom. But I just wondered: shouldn’t I have someone that I could call
right now?”
This is coming from a woman whose media image for years was
all about her squad of best friends who were around her
everywhere she went, not to mention the romantic partners that
were endlessly blathered about. And yet here she was, at that
peak, and the predominant feeling was that she was alone.
What does a person - what would any of us do - when stopping
and taking in the moment makes you feel alone? What do you do
when you don’t feel like there’s anyone who really understands
your experience, when everyone is just a passerby to the
hurricane, and you’re stuck in the eye of it?
It’s not unique to Taylor, this is an experience of countless people with difficult home lives, with unprocessed trauma,
with demons they don’t want to confront. You just don’t stop moving. You don’t slow down. When you’re constantly in
fear that it’s all going to be over, that none of this is guaranteed, and when stopping to look around suddenly reminds
you of all the things you’re missing, you put your nose to the grindstone and you work and you become whatever you
need to become to keep going.
And so Taylor evolved into Red. She transformed into 1989. She reinvented herself entirely for Reputation. She wrote a
dozen of the biggest pop hits of her generation, but she also wrote All Too Well, and Clean, and Delicate. She dedicated
herself to her role, like a public servant in the truest sense, and allowed herself to be molded by the demands of the
work she was creating (and in turn by the society and the culture that was consuming it).
She explains it herself in the thesis statement of the whole film, discussing the demands she’s felt on herself over her
career: “Be new to us, be young to us, but only in a new way and only in the way we want. And reinvent yourself, but
only in a way that we find to be equally comforting but also a challenge for you. Live out a narrative that we find to be
interesting enough to entertain us, but not so crazy that it makes us uncomfortable.”
And that’s what she did. She walked the tightrope. She became the mirrorball.
Because that’s the real trap at the summit - particularly as a woman at the summit, particularly to be one driven there
by insecurities and a desire for recognition. It’s not just lonely at the top - it’s not even safe to be alone. It’s not safe to
just be yourself: you have to be all the selves that are demanded of you, or else all those fears that drove you to work
so hard to get to this place will come back like a wildfire and burn everything down. Taylor walks out of her front door
and she’s surrounded by a hundred screaming fans and no scene in the film makes her seem more desperately alone
than that one. It’s all a trap. It seems like the adoration of millions would mean you’re never alone, that you could rest
in your success, that you could be confident in yourself, and in
the end, it’s the exact opposite on all counts.
How do you escape that? How do you get free when every one of
your desires and dreams and all of the fears and insecurities
that have motivated you your entire life push you directly into a
place where all of them are turned back against you and
weaponized, and where the demands are insurmountable and
unachievable, where the pressure never lets up, where you can
never just enjoy it, where you can never be yourself for more
than a moment at a time?
The Two Edges of Fear
You have to let go. Maybe not all the way, maybe never completely, but at least enough to breathe. Discussing a
moment that grounded her from the chaos of her life, Taylor says, “Do you really care if the internet doesn’t like you
today if your mom’s sick from her chemo? You gotta be able to really prioritize what matters to you.”
What matters to Taylor, of course, has been abundantly clear this whole time: It’s success, it’s her career, it’s
recognition, it’s making her fans happy, but also being acknowledged as the source of that, being validated, and being
perceived as a good person. From the diary entries she wrote as a little kid to the devastation over the Grammys to
both Kanye incidents, it’s approval and recognition, of her talent, of her character, and at times (unhealthily, as she
recognizes now) of her body and her public image. That was everything to her.
And then the whole world turned on Taylor over some celebrity bullshit. And then Taylor’s mom got sick. And then she
was sexually assaulted. And then half of the politicians in the country started campaigning on culture wars against all
the most vulnerable and marginalized people in society. And then she found a stable, private, long-term relationship
and suddenly wasn’t quite so alone anymore. And somewhere in all of that, the woman who once wrote an album
called “Speak Now”, who’s renowned for her vulnerable and personal lyricism, had to find her own voice in the
commotion of a million voices shouting at her from every direction, and had to find what mattered to her, and had to
be willing to let the rest of it fall to the wayside if that’s what it meant. Maybe she wouldn’t be perceived as a good girl,
maybe she would lose fans, maybe people would criticize her in the media. It was either to accept that, or to suffocate.
And so really, in the end, just as the fear that underlies insecurity is what carried her up the mountain and to the
highest of peaks, it was fear again - this time for her mom, for her personal safety, for the safety of the people
victimized by antagonistic individuals and hateful legislation - that overcame, to at least some extent (though never
completely) the fears of failure and scrutiny.
And that’s how Taylor Swift became the kind of person who could stand up to a room of wealthy, powerful white men
who’d overseen her career to that point and be able to not just ask them what she could do, but tell them: “I need you
to forgive me for doing this, ‘cause I’m doing it.” That’s how Taylor Swift became the kind of person who, in response to
being told that the President of the United States was likely going to personally attack her, could respond, “Yeah, fuck
that, I don’t care.”
It was never about escaping fear, about casting off feelings. The fears aren’t the enemy. It was about knowing what’s
really worth being afraid of and what isn’t. In the final moments of the film, Taylor affirms, “I want to still have a sharp
pen, and a thin skin, and an open heart.” She wants to have a thin skin. She wants to be vulnerable and soft. She wants
to feel it all. These are the words of someone who has found their power, their voice, and knows how to draw lines
and how to advocate for themselves. This is someone whose fear has been reprioritized.
And the victory is not depicted as a complete one. Taylor has not attained enlightenment. She’s still in the eye of the
hurricane and probably always will be. She still looks at herself on the monitor of a video shoot and says that she has a
“really slappable face.” She’s still catching herself apologizing for things she shouldn’t apologize for. She’s still, I would
wager, to this very day, not secure in the future of her career. It feels like that all comes from an intrinsic humility that’s
a load-bearing, foundational pillar of her psychology.
But there’s a certain catharsis to be found nonetheless in watching the weight fall off her shoulders as she announces
that she’s won her lawsuit against the man who sexually assaulted her, in declaring that she’s managed to keep her
eating disorder in check, and as she announces to the public her political beliefs in spite of the advice of the men on
her team (Taylor’s mom’s rebuttal to her dad: Honey, what the hell? Come on! Bob Hope and Bing Crosby?! was one of
my favorite moments in the film.”) It’s the story of one particular woman, but it’s also in many ways the story of women
as such, in which Taylor is just an archetype of a society in which the patriarchy is slowly losing ground to equality and
slowly having to make room for the voices of women to say a whole lot more than just “sorry”.
Final Thoughts
So how much of that narrative is true? How much of that was the
clever editing and selectivity of a filmmaker with an agenda and
who needed the approval of the documentary’s star to release
it? Well, the truth is that we can’t really know for sure - but I think
we have one particularly compelling reason to think that it’s
fairly accurate: it’s a story of failures.
It would’ve been much more satisfying as a piece of cinema if it
was a depiction of Taylor successfully and comprehensively
overcoming her emotional, interpersonal, or career obstacles,
but it’s none of those things. It would’ve been all too easy to edit it in a way that made it seem like Taylor had achieved
something complete and total after a struggle against it, and as long as the battle was chosen carefully, wouldn’t have
evoked any more accusations of being a PR stunt than this version does. But that’s not what we see, and so I believe
that that’s not what really happened. This isn’t the raw and unfiltered Taylor, of course not, but I believe that what we
got here is essentially, in its major themes and beats, true to Taylor’s emotional and career development.
And there’s nothing for me to applaud or critique about that - it’s her life. But I’m grateful for the opportunity to see a
bit of it, to contextualize all this music and these performances, and I applaud the filmmakers for creating a really
aesthetically appealing documentary with some fun edits and some sharp camerawork, and I applaud Taylor for
allowing herself to be perceived to any extent after what she’s been through with the media, no matter how many
shots were left on the cutting room floor. This is all a privilege. I’m entitled to nothing and grateful for everything.
 Music Video (Cabin in Candlelight Version) (July 2020)
This isn’t a music video in the traditional sense, but I wanted to
briefly talk about it anyway, because I think it’s a reflection of
something interesting and important.

With Speak Now, Red, and 1989, Taylor had what I would call
pretty much the standard level of aesthetic for each album. In
terms of the aesthetic cohesion of each project and how strongly
they were themed and “flavored”, it was similar to what you see
from a lot of artists. With Reputation and Lover, she really turned
that up a notch, and both of those eras are very prominently
distinguished by strong, distinctive visuals that couldn’t possibly

Cardigan be mistaken for any other era, and fewer and fewer songs broke from that conformity to have their own unique style.

Music Video (July 2020)

But she really hit an entirely new place with Folklore. The visuals for this album are so beautifully, thoughtfully chosen.
Song Rating 22 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Every single shot of this video is hitting the exact same aesthetic vibe, even as they jump between environments and
landscapes and outfits. It’s giving Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, rural New England old money estates
Cardigan is a song of reflection, both bitter and sweet, nostalgic and old growth forests, Kennedy family picnics, and foggy morning fairytales. It’s the perfect cottagecore reprieve from
and longing. It’s intimately entangled with the complex narrative the year of isolation and fear and everything being flipped upside down, so comfortable and familiar even if you’ve
of characters who are only rendered clearly in other songs, and never been anywhere quite like it. She plunged deep into our shared cultural tropes and came out with something
who here exist only as first and second-person pronouns, more unmistakable. I really think it’s one of the most important moments in her career and something about the photoshoot
ghosts than characters, wearing feelings and memories rather that we see in this video really feels like getting a glimpse into the raw materials from which it was made.
than faces and names. And the reflections happen without
interruption, a stream of memories and imaginings just flowing
from the mind of the rememberer. Betty
Academy of Country Music Awards (September 2020)
And so we see Taylor in her eternal barefoot+flowy dress form,
but here, distinctly different: with her hair in uncharacteristically Song Rating 28 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★
short buns, as Betty, alone in a cabin, lost in the music that is,
In May of 2007, thirteen years earlier, Taylor played Tim McGraw
itself, her memory. And just like the lyrics themselves delve into the summer romance of streetlights and hide-and-seek
in front of Tim McGraw in her first national television
before falling into bloodstains and water that runs away, so too do the memories. Taylor’s transported into a place far
performance at the ACMs. She hadn’t played the ACMs or CMAs
more beautiful than anywhere in the world (and indeed more beautiful than any other shot in any music video she’s
in seven years at this point, having basically departed the country
ever done), so enchanting as to be only possible in the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgic remembrances.
world entirely, but here she is again. She’s back home.

But going deeper, looking beneath all of that (literally), she recalls the loss and the solitude, feeling stranded, clinging
First, real quick: I’ve made an active effort to talk about Taylor’s
onto the memories in an endless stormy sea. It’s really a gorgeously-filmed, beautifully simple way to depict the lyrics
appearance as little as possible (outside of a couple tour outfits),
of this song, not sacrificing any of their mysteriousness and subtlety (which is very intentionally not unpacked until later
but goddamn, she’s just stunning here. Really just absolutely
in the record) by using these landscapes as the symbols of the feelings that she’s returning to.
radiant. It’s a shame for us all that the camera could barely focus.

And then, just as the lyrics return to the promise - you’d come back to me - there’s escape again, back into the cabin,
And as is nearly always the case with Taylor’s acoustic performances, I really love a lot of the little things she does here.
back into reality, where in a twist of magical realism, there’s a cardigan placed on the piano bench that wasn’t there in
First, great choice on the live harmonica. Then there’s a very slight twang that she throws onto the “most times” each
the opening shot, in which she both finds comfort and warmth, but also “becomes” the character, solidifying the
time it comes around. I love the way she melts away into the “you” at the end of each verse before hard-muting the
metaphor into reality, and bringing those memories into the present world, out of the piano and into the cabin.
guitar and kick-starting it again for the chorus. I love the little knowing look she throws out for “you know that”, the
slow blink and lingering stare for the bridge’s “yeah I showed up at your party”, and the nose crinkle and head shake for
It’s the most elegant and confident video of her career and shows a creative maturity and a willingness to rely on
“stupid friends”. It’s all subtler and softer than her animated expressions in the past, but somehow also comes off more
subtlety and metaphor, rather than more blatant forms of imagery, to get her message across. (And it is her message -
deliberate than ever before. There’s a sense of her being in such complete command for this whole performance.
this is once again a Taylor Swift-directed video, and once again sees Rodrigo Prieto at her side.) It might not linger as
some iconic image of her career like more in-your-face videos of the past did, but it’s an absolutely perfect compliment
Maybe it was an escape from lockdown, maybe it was the return to the ACMs, but whatever it was, she seems to be
to the most understated record of her career to this point, and it’s very possibly the most aesthetically beautiful visual
really savoring this performance, and there’s an undeniable confidence about her here that elevates the song into
she’s ever created - it’s just gorgeous to look at and easy to watch, lit, framed, shot, and edited so well. It flows like the
something transcendent, rivaling her very best live performances. The only things it’s missing are a couple of F-bombs.
music flows, it transforms like the lyrics transform, and it’s nothing like anything else before it, just like Folklore isn’t.
Willow
Music Video (December 2020)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
I paused exactly 1 second into this video and just had to sit there
for a moment in disbelief.
Not only did Taylor break her long-standing trend of completely
switching up aesthetics between albums by releasing Evermore
as an effective sequel to Folklore, she’s also, for Evermore’s sole
music video, doing a sequel to Folklore’s only music video,
opening with the very same shot that Folklore’s ended on, and
even with a very similar intro sound to Cardigan’s outro music. It’s
a singular work, separated by six months.
What’s fascinating to notice, immediately, though, is that the
camera’s focal length is substantially changed between the two shots. Go back and open up the last shot of Cardigan
and the first shot of Willow and you’ll see what I mean. Taylor practically looks like two different people. This may be
Betty being transmogrified into Taylor herself - I’d be lying if I said I was certain, but I feel confident that this was a
deliberate choice by Taylor and Rodrigo, and that theory seems to be confirmed by the golden thread (invisible
string/”it’s golden”) leading to a more stark transition this time, not quite a seamless movement between worlds, to the
long-haired, lipstick, barefoot, flowy dress Taylor that we know so well.
And then we follow Taylor through three different scenes: into a childhood romance (a la seven), into an old school
circus (with strong vibes of Carnivàle, but possibly aiming more for coney island?), and then a witchy coven in a snowy
wood (mad woman, or mirrorball’s “masquerade revelers”, but also dressed like …Ready For It?). All before it returns
back to the cabin, where her love interest is waiting for her, and they quite literally “step into the daylight”.
I mean… there’s a lot to be unpacked there and a lot of possible interpretations of it all, but I also feel like most of those
interpretations come down to picking apart subtleties in the references and the easter eggs. Regardless of whatever
specific songs are being referenced in each moment, it’s clear that this video is intended to tie together a lot of the
recurring themes that have run through folklore and evermore, and to some extent, even beyond. Everything points to
Taylor’s sense of an inevitable connection to her partner, the Fates conspiring to draw them together.
In fact, I strongly suspect that some of the specific aesthetic choices she made here - the circus, the bonfire, etc. - are
more personally meaningful to her than we’ll ever really understand or appreciate. I think it’s very likely that each one
represents some moment in her real relationship that only she and those closest to her would recognize. Evermore is
an album like that, after all - one that withholds many of its secrets, which would rather give you glimpses than
guidebooks, that shows off facets without letting the light reach every corner. And the visuals here are just the same:
faint, warm lights against far more darkness. We know there are things we can’t see just beyond the light’s reach.
Just as I felt about the Cardigan video, I think this is just absolutely beautiful to look at. The lighting, the
cinematography, even the CGI is really well-done. Each different set is completely its own vibe - the circus feels nothing
like the forest - and yet they all anchor on a few common visual motifs that make it all feel cohesive. And frankly I’m just
a massive fan of the way she essentially filmed a single, two-part video for what I’ve been considering a single, two-part
record. It caught me totally by surprise and it works so well. And boy, that outro piano is really, really pretty too, isn’t it?
What a nice touch.
Make no mistake, friends - Taylor can direct the hell out of a music video. She’s proved it three times over now. Come
to think of it… is there anything this woman can’t do?
Cardigan/August/Willow
63rd Grammy Awards (March 2021)
Okay, I don’t know why, but I really didn’t expect my favorite era
of her music to also be her strongest era for videos and
performances, but the last time I walked away from a live
performance she did with this feeling of giddiness, of jumping
out of my seat and just going, “Wow!” and shaking my hands like
they’re on fire was way back in the Mean days.
She opens this up with such beautifully deep singing, really
hanging out in her lower register for longer than she’s ever done
in a live show before (the frequency and clarity with which
Taylor goes low, now, and the slight rasp her voice has gotten,
are my favorite things in the world). And we linger for so long with just the close-up shot of Taylor against the moss
that I was totally blown away when suddenly we cut to a wide-shot and we’re in a landscape every bit as dreamlike and
magical as her last two music videos. I genuinely thought it was CGI at first, my brain had to catch up and take in what
was happening. I couldn’t have possibly imagined that she was in such a huge set when we’d just spent a full sixty
seconds in a close up.
And what an absolutely breathtaking set it is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prettier set for any award show performance
of any artist in my life. The screens behind with the moonbeams and the fireflies, the thick moss over the cabin roof,
the warmly-lit interior (equipped with little canned goods and oil lamps), the geometry of it all… it’s really just an
incredible, no-expenses-spared masterpiece of stage design.
And before you know it, we’re whisked inside the cabin where Aaron and Jack are waiting, and the energy slowly builds
up into August. Taylor’s eyes are smiling for the whole first verse, clearly vibing with the performance with all that
same confidence that I admired so much about Betty at the ACMs, and then there’s Jack looking like he just stumbled
out of Revenge of the Nerds jamming out beside her. It’s just a pure joy, and Taylor gives everything she’s got to the big
final note. And that’s when I thought it was over.
And then that little guitar riff comes in, the camera pans out, and foxfire trails illuminate all through the moss, and
somehow the set has gotten even more beautiful, and Taylor’s turning the door frame into a stage. And from that
point through the end, I was floating about six inches above my chair, just in a different dimension.
I know I’ve used the word like four times in the last few pages, but the confidence in Taylor’s movements is everything.
She’s never seemed so comfortable in her own skin, and her movements are just so fluid and easy. She’s been a
charismatic stage performer since she was 18, but she’s somehow still finding new levels, and this is absolutely a new
level yet again, and it all seems to be rooted in this self-assured poise, the kind of thing that makes Beyonce just own
any stage she’s on. Taylor’s got that now and she’s just glowing. Not to mention the really great, high-energy
instrumentation for the chorus that’s bringing in a new bit of magic to the song, and all while spirals of golden light
climb the trees and the full moon bursts through behind them.
This is the kind of performance that I wish I’d seen back in 2021 when it happened - not because it’s any lesser now,
but because if I’d seen this live, I would’ve been sold there and then. Hook, line, and sinker, this would’ve pulled me
right out of the empty shell of a Taylor-less world I was living in and dropped me right into her magical dreamland of
bioluminescent forest glades and cabins that lead to piano waterfalls and I could’ve been riding this train 18 months
earlier than I caught it.
It’s too good. She’s too good. 10/10
The Long Pond Studio Sessions
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (November 2020)
the 1 - A huge part of my approach to listening to Taylor’s live
performances has been looking for the differences between
them and the studio recordings, and hoping that she changes
them up in interesting ways. I’m always eager to hear distinct
renditions, not just an exact recreation of what she’s already
done, just live. And this song has left me wondering whether I’ll
need to abandon that mentality for this particular project.
This is already such a simple song (the opener being
straightforward and singular is one of the few things this record
has in common with Taylor’s discography up to this point), and
so the handful of things that are changed here add up to a pretty mild effect. The percussion on the record version is
traded for the quiet strums of a nylon acoustic, and the vocal layering is gone, leaving a lot more space for each of the
instruments to breathe. It’s definitely leaner, but despite being played by just three people on three instruments, it
really does sound remarkably like the original recording in a lot of ways. Is that going to remain true for the more
heavily produced and complex songs to come? I have a feeling it might not. 6/10
cardigan - Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. That’s what I was looking for. There’s the vibe shift. All those layers in the original
recording of cardigan - the guitar, that staticky record sizzle, that soft, rolling percussion - it all comes together to
create something super ethereal and dreamlike, something that transports you to some other world. It’s actually an
effect that very much matches the music video, it’s almost fantastical in that way.
But this version is so much more raw and intimate. The sound here all hangs on the rising and falling of the vocals:
every drop, every little twist Taylor puts on a word, steers the entire track in that direction. The vocal track is the only
thing at the steering wheel here, and so the lyrics and their weight are substantially magnified. It’s much more
lamentful in that way. Whereas in the original recording, I feel like I’m being whisked away on the adventure of the
memories, here, the focus is on the rememberer, the storyteller, like I’m watching their face as they recount it rather
than seeing the memories myself. 8/10
the last great american dynasty - This one’s really interesting. I love what Aaron’s doing on the piano here, elevating
something that’s way, way deep in the back of the mix on the original recording (except for briefly in the chorus) right
up to the very top. It’s lowkey one of the most essential parts of the track, or at least one of my favorite parts of it, and
it’s really cool to have that come forward for the entire song instead of lurking so subtly in the depths. But I’d also be
lying if I said I didn’t miss the tone of that guitar on the original recording. Just conceptually, I really like the idea of
changing the musical emphasis and not just trying to replicate the uppermost layers of the original recording, but
picking one that’s a little bit lower down and deciding to bring that up instead. I do miss that gorgeous guitar tone from
the original recording, but as the song went on, I forgot about that more and more and just started to appreciate the
piano as a pretty equal replacement to it. 6/10
exile - Okay! This is the first one that I think contends for being
better than the original. In the early parts it sounds very similar
to the original recording, since it’s so stripped-down already. But
then the way Justin changed up some of his vocals completely
reframed the back half of this one. The bridge and the
harmonies in the final chorus are just a whole different monster
than they are on the album, and the absence of all the layers of
sound means you’re really, truly just hearing that raw duet -
Taylor’s voice and Justin’s voice, each in a single track, with
perfect clarity to make out both of them at the same time in full. And, don’t get me wrong, I love the way they come
together to create a kind of whirlwind of vocals on the record for sure, but having them both so stark and open really
feels like the painful, heartbreaking slow dance that this song was always meant to be. Great stuff here. 9/10
my tears ricochet - Just when the thought occurred to me that Justin’s brilliant performance might mean that exile
was the highlight of this set, this happens to me. Jesus. This is a strong candidate for a Top 5 Tayor vocal performance
in my opinion. The color and the subtle texture and depth in Taylor’s vocals here are just outstanding. I love how even
when she gets big with it, she retains a real frailty and lightness, never really going deep down into her chest voice, and
I love how quiet she’s willing to go in certain places, practically whispering some of the lines. Adding this one to the list
of performances that make it completely bewildering that I’ve seen people on the subreddit say Taylor’s not a
particularly talented vocalist. Yinz trippin.
But really what puts this performance over the top is Taylor’s expressions throughout the whole thing. Like, the
instrumentation is nice here, I think Jack’s slightly more firm piano playing and Aaron’s guitar are both really great
compliments to the song, but this track has some of my favorite production on the record (particularly the backing
vocal track), and I thought I was going to find myself really missing that.
But everything about that is completely replaced, and then some, by just the experience of watching Taylor sing this.
The scorn of “saving face”, the betrayal of “cursing my name”, the stoic bitterness of the chorus, the gut-wrenching
pain of the bridge, all culminating in the devastation of, “And I still talk to you.” I can count on one hand the number of
times I’ve been as captivated by simply watching Taylor perform a song. She becomes a fount of all the emotions
packed into this song, and undoubtedly that’s part of why the vocals are so good, but it’s also just incredible to watch
how immersed she is in it all, and to contrast the joy she felt after performing cardigan with the depleted sulk and sigh
at the end of this one. 10/10
mirrorball - So this is one of those songs that I knew wasn’t
going to be able to match the production of the original
recording for me. I think the original is just too ethereal and too
deeply colored by the way they mixed and layered everything to
possibly shine in quite the same way in an acoustic performance
- though I think the three guitars (no piano) and Aaron’s really
beautiful, twinkly playing here did it about as well as possible.
But what I wasn’t expecting, and hadn’t considered, was the
dynamism of the vocals required here. Taylor’s gotta be all over
the place with her voice on this one, and she absolutely nails it (you never know how much vocal processing happened
after this was all recorded, but it’s not noticeable, so I don’t think it was a huge amount). The dips down for “everything
about me” and then way up for “to fit in”, again for “drunk as they watch my shattered edges” and “glisten”, and the
huge spikes and quirky spin on “laughin” and “lookin” later on, all of those could’ve been real fault lines in the vocals
here that she just hop-scotched right over. Taylor’s vocal ability is quickly becoming one of the most notable things
about this whole project. 7/10
seven - So, the original recording has those swelling strings that come in and out, and those are great, but in terms of
the overall vibe of the music, this one is about as close to the original as any of them have been. The piano and guitar
each make up such a huge part of this track, and so having them both still there just preserves it almost entirely. It’s a
testament, in that way, to the simplicity of this record and the songwriting of it that you really only need three people
in a room to conjure up 90% of what makes this track what it is. But it does also mean that this particular performance
doesn’t really have the opportunity to do anything particularly inventive. 6/10
august - This is one of those performances that you just can’t help but bounce along to, smiling and nodding the
whole time. It just sweeps you up in the energy and the joy of the performers. Taylor’s clearly having an absolute blast
singing this one, Aaron cracks a rare smile part-way through, and Jack’s grinning and bouncing when the guitars come what makes the finger picking work so well on the original
soaring back in after a brief pause. recording is that the guitars are lended a rhythm to fall on by
the percussion. Every bar’s got a landing spot, then it goes back
And actually, it’s the dynamic volume of the guitars that’s everything to this performance. Aaron and Jack are playing up again, and it comes back down again.
pretty much the same chords and riffs as on the original recording, but what makes it so fun is how they’ll get louder,
then quieter, then so quiet they’re almost gone, then come rushing back in again, with Jack driving the energy of the Listen back to the record version and look for the
whole performance, and Aaron giving it all of its shape and color (shoutout to the drum machine as well - that’s quietly dun-dun-dun-DUN each second, like a train rolling down the
creating a backbone for the whole thing here). They both really knock it out of the park, not with the technicality of tracks. These two guitars alone just aren’t able to create that
their playing, but with their superb intuition for exactly when and where to bring themselves to the front and when to landing note, there’s not that driving percussive hit, and so I
take a step back. think they just end up sounding a little frail and empty. This
would’ve been the ideal track for them to break out that drum
These three just vibe together incredibly well, with Jack and Aaron constantly looking to Taylor for their queues. You’d machine, even if it only kicked in for the choruses.
be forgiven for thinking that they were bandmates for years and years instead of collaborators who’d never actually
been in the same room before. That’s the magic of these two records, I think, in a nutshell. 9/10 Taylor’s vocals and the guitars are all really pretty, I just think for the first time, I don’t see anything really
compensating for what’s missing or a creative shift to give it a new angle - it’s just the original minus something. 4/10
this is me trying - I talked about how Taylor’s expressiveness
really shone through on my tears ricochet and how it felt like she mad woman - Disney! Hey! Disney! Let Taylor say “fuck”, goddammit! Come on, man!
was just completely immersed in the lyrics and the story she was
telling, and that’s 100% back here. She looks like she’s practically Taylor’s expressiveness from songs like this is me trying is really starting to ride through just about every performance
on the verge of tears for half of this performance, save only for at this point - it kind of feels like she’s warming up to performing these songs and is really sinking into each of them
the little moments when a kind of defensive anger flashes across now - and here it’s reaching new levels. It’s practically theatric, though I hesitate to use that word just because I do
her face. believe that this is a song that is very sincerely full of anger for Taylor and I don’t think her expressions are forced or
false in any way. This performance drove home for me, even more than the dozens of times I’ve listened to this song,
It’s fascinating to me that this performance would conjure that just how biting some of the lyrics really are.
up for her, when the only other times I can recall seeing it have
all been for songs that are very clearly about her own life and And as for the instrumentation, I don’t really think anything is lacking here. There’s a little bit from the original
lived experiences, while this song - at least the way she tells it - is much more about something she imagines to be the recording that couldn’t be recreated for this rendition, sure, but nothing that substantially contributes to the feeling of
experiences of other people. I can’t help but wonder if the reason why Taylor’s been inclined to contemplate the the song. The atmosphere is all here in just that guitar and piano, and Taylor carries all the rest of the weight with the
themes of this song is that they’re at the forefront of the lives of some people very close to her, because clearly the strength of her performance.
feelings here are incredibly important to her. I don’t think she could possibly be performing it with this kind of intensity
if that weren’t the case. I can’t help but imagine going back in time and showing this performance to Taylor at, say, age 19. Can you imagine
how she would’ve reacted? Could she have even fathomed what she was seeing and hearing? 8/10
I think the end result is a performance that cuts a lot harder and sharper than the studio recording, which feels
comparatively distant and detached. This was my least-favorite song off the record, and I think part of that is a certain epiphany - Like a few other tracks so far in this performance, this feels like one where the missing instrumentation
contrast between the lyrics and the way the vocals are processed and mixed, and this version really does completely (particularly the trumpet - I love the trumpet on this song) and backing vocals are easily made up for by the intimacy of
resolve that by putting Taylor’s voice and the lyrics right up next to you, and their weight can be felt so much more the main vocal track. Taylor’s single, clean, unlayered vocal performance here, right in the front, really pulls the lyrics
clearly. 8/10 up and into your face, and the piano really hits way harder here.
There’s not too much to say that hasn’t been said about the
illicit affairs - Like a few other songs in this project (namely the last great american dynasty and mirrorball), though I other tracks already: it feels intimate and intense in all the
don’t think it was ever really possible to fully capture the magic that’s created on the record, they did something places where the original feels ethereal and lofty, and there’s
creative and interesting with what they had, and the result is a version that’s very close to catching that same spark. pros and cons to that. 6/10

For nearly the whole song, the instrumentation consists solely of Jack and Aaron each finger-picking an acoustic and betty - There’s something really fun about Taylor’s singing here.
acoustic-electric respectively, and it feels like a dancing snowfall of notes that doesn’t reach the ground until Taylor It’s far and away the most natural, casual, and easy vocal
finally grabs a guitar of her own and gives it some chords to land on. There’s a whole layer of melodies that don’t make performance of this performance. The way you can hear her
it into this version that I think are actually really huge parts of what makes this song great, but like the last great wide grin on “summer thing”, the way she just slides “planned”
american dynasty, it’s really cool to have what feels like a somewhat secondary part of the record version made into and “weeks” out of the side of her mouth for the final chorus,
the primary element here, and it’s really very pretty. 6/10 the kind of glistening, whispered deliver of the first, “yeah, I
showed up at your party” - it’s all just so relaxed and playful. Taylor looks like she’s just basking in this song, like singing
invisible string - I think this is the first one that I’ve felt like doesn’t quite work. Once again, it’s all fingerpicking from this is the equivalent of eating some indulgent dessert. Like this is just her happy place and she’s free to wander
Jack and Aaron, and the guitar tone itself is fine (Aaron’s got his palm-muted-sounding rubber bridge acoustic out), but around with the words and give them a little nudge here and a little pinch there.
Aaron looks to be having a really good time too - on that unique, upward note right before the final verse, he raises his
eyebrows like he was allowing himself to be surprised by it. The whole vibe in the room just seems really positive and
for a song that’s full of regret and apologies, this version of it feels just a little bit happier and brighter. No other
rendition so far has been quite like this one. And, hey, Disney, listen. Pulling the one “fuck” out of mad woman is one
thing, but doing it to betty’s chorus is an unforgivable offense.
There’s just no need. Get your shit together. 7/10
peace - There are only a handful of songs in Taylor’s catalog
where I’d say that I think it’s objectively true that they should be
performed in one kind of way or another - her songwriting is
intentionally flexible and robust and can work in lots of ways,
and she’s got a great ear for production and collaborates with
excellent producers. But peace is a song that should have -
practically requires - very sparse instrumentation. The record
version is already extremely sparse, and here it’s just taken down
a tiny little bit further, and it’s only a good thing.
This song thrives when it’s just Taylor’s voice and words in the vast, empty space around her, and that’s what we get
here. That little metronome piano beat, Aaron’s runs on the bass, Taylor’s voice, and the emptiness between them all.
It’s not particularly different from the original recording, but it’s just a tiny bit more raw, a tiny bit more fragile and soft,
and a tiny bit more desperate. So even though I’ve been a little bit hard on the songs that feel like they’re basically the
same as the originals, this one just thrives so well in this environment and with this instrumentation that I think that
critique just doesn’t really work. This is exactly how this song should be performed live, I wouldn’t want it any
differently. 8/10
hoax - Very rarely throughout this project I’ve had to say, “I don’t really have a great justification for why this is so
good, but it just is - I can’t find the words for it.” This, I’m afraid to say, is one of those times. It’s really very similar to
the original, missing only those wavering strings toward the end, but there’s something very subtle about Taylor’s vocal
performance here that I think is a step above. It’s a little bit less soft and gentle, there’s a slight tension in it that you
don’t get on the record, and it’s really just the cherry on top. It’s not a dramatic difference by any means, but it’s
pervasive, in lots of tiny little nuances of her vocal delivery throughout the whole thing. I hate to do it to you, but I can’t
justify it more than that. It’s that ineffable thing that makes a performance ring more true and reach more deeply, and
it’s here. 8/10
the lakes - I was kind of concerned about this one going in, as it has my very favorite instrumentation on the record,
and I knew it was going to be completely impossible to replicate anything close to it, but I think this song actually
works really well stripped down like this. It’s definitely not a replacement for the original version, but rather than a
soundtrack to an epic escape, it’s a personal letter detailing the plan for one, and that’s still a perfect depiction of the
lyrics, just in a different way. And then Taylor ends this song by repeating the final line an extra time, which I believe is
the only time in this entire performance that she’s added or changed a lyric, and she did it with the very final line of the
very final song. And, uh, yeah, I just love something about that. 7/10
I really, really enjoyed this. Perhaps even more than the performances (some of which were as good or better than the
originals), I think this is the first time we’ve ever really heard Taylor break down her writing process and her intentions
behind the lyrics of each song in anything close to this level of detail, and it was just a privilege to get to hear that. And
there were some fun anecdotes throughout as well, like Taylor being afraid to explicitly ask Justin Vernon to
collaborate with her and fearing he’d back out (she seems very self-conscious regarding her perception by other
artists), the fact that The Last Dance, of all things, influenced this record, and (my personal favorite) her description of
the “love triangle”, where she takes off on a passionate diatribe about “Augustine” and how she’s actually not the villain
of the story and has a very valid perspective, thank you very much! This all just made the album feel like this process of
collaborative worldbuilding in a way, and it gave me a whole new appreciation of a lot of things about it. So cool.
Folklore / Evermore Era Thoughts
I’m going to speculate a bit about my perception of Taylor’s personal growth here. This is just how it looks to me from the
outside - I don’t know her and I don’t know her life. So, if you’ll indulge me:
When Taylor returned back to the world for Reputation, she came in with a certain self-assuredness and confidence that
she’d never really had before. Yeah, in the 1989 era Taylor was bright and bubbly and doing a lot of public appearances
and performances and she was owning the stage, but you could feel that it was the work of a talented stage performer. It
was performative. And in Miss Americana, we learned a bit about that, as it was strongly hinted at that some of the
demons that Taylor’s battled with over her career were at their most ferocious in that era.
But she takes a break and Reputation comes along and she seems healthier and more confident, and that only grows
into Lover, such that by the time she’s doing the City of Lover concert, Taylor just seems much more at home in her own
skin. The documentary details how she started to find her voice, and there’s just an aura of genuineness about
everything she’s doing. She’s always seemed remarkably grounded, but it felt like she was finally beginning to marry that
groundedness with her obligations to be a huge performer and make it all work together naturally and comfortably.
But then there’s this second leap, one that feels every bit as drastic as the one between 1989 and Reputation, where
Taylor just feels like she shed every remaining bit of that performativity, matured and settled into everything that was
developing over the last two record cycles, and knows exactly who she is now. You can hear it in the lyrics of folklore,
evermore, and Midnights (I said in the Discography Deep Dive that I think her honesty and complexity as a songwriting
shot up radically with folklore and has stayed right up there), but I wasn’t expecting to see it so clearly - but it’s frankly
even more clear to see than it is to hear.
The calm, deliberate, relaxed energy of the Betty performance at the ACMs is followed by the total vibe-out of the
Grammys, where Taylor’s just feeling herself and feeling the music in a way that seems more effortless and comfortable
than anything she’s ever done on a stage. And the in the Long Pond Studio Sessions, the way she carries herself in the
interviews, the honesty and humility in the way she talks, the unabashed excitement and silliness at times, and the
dramatics of the performances which come off not as theatrical, but rather as a complete immersion into the lyrics… it all
just gives off the vibe of a fully-grown, self-aware, poised woman who’s been through enough, accomplished enough, and
knows herself enough to be free from a lot of things that might’ve pushed her to be anything other than her actual self in
the past. Not for a single moment through all of this era did I see even a glimpse of what felt like performativity or a
façade.
This is the Taylor’s who’s written mirrorball. It feels like she’s transcended some kind of obstacle, cast off some fetter,
discovered something important. I don’t know the details of it, but I know she seems stronger now. And the result of that,
or at least incidental or simultaneous to that, she’s created the most ambitious and complex art and several of the very
best live performances of her entire career. Both self-directed music videos are gorgeous, both award show
performances are perfect 10/10’s to me, and the studio sessions feel like wearing the warmest cardigan on a cold day,
like watching Bob Ross stoned in bed. This whole era is just a blessing. I feel blessed.
Favorite Music Videos:
● Cardigan
● Willow
Favorite Performances:
● Betty (2020 ACM Awards)
● My Tears Ricochet (Long Pond Studio Sessions)
● Cardigan / August / Willow (2021 Grammy Awards)
● Exile (Long Pond Studio Sessions)
● August (Long Pond Studio Sessions)
 The Best Day (Taylor’s Version)
Music Videos (April 2021)
So there was already a The Best Day video from way back in 2009
when the song was first released, and this new one is essentially
* I’m covering some broad ground in this section because Taylor was covering some pretty broad ground at this point in time. the same video, except with all new clips from Taylor’s childhood
So this isn’t exclusively the stuff released for the Red and Fearless TV’s, but also a handful of performances and videos featuring home movies (and serves as a showcase of just how terrible 2009
Taylor from 2018 and 2021 that just don’t quite fit into any album cycle. video quality was - these clips are all from the early ‘90s, but they
look pretty good here and looked horrible in the 2009 video).

Better Man
There’s not much to say that wasn’t said about the first video: it’s
Bluebird Cafe (March 2018) adorable and little tiny Taylor is cute as hell. They also did a better
There’s not a whole lot to talk about with this one job this time of matching up the scenes with the lyrics, cutting to
performance-wise, but I just think it’s a really cool moment in clips of Taylor’s dad and brother when they’re referenced, etc.
time for Taylor and I’m glad it was captured on film for this
documentary. For anyone who might not know (this performance My only complaint is that I wish they’d just kept in that “What do you have in your hair?” “...Spiders.” bit from the first
doesn’t have a huge number of views), Taylor had performed at one, though. That was pure gold and I still think about it.
this venue when she was just 14-years old and it’s where she met
Scott Borchetta, so it’s kind of a pivotal location for her career
trajectory. And here she is returning fifteen years later.
Renegade
The performance itself is simple and clean, and features a very Music Video (July 2021)
light accompaniment by Craig Wiseman (writer of twenty-six #1
Billboard Hot Country Songs, including several Tim McGraw songs you probably know). And you can really tell with the
Song Rating 19 / 30 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
way Taylor sings that she’s used to playing at such big venues at this point, because she’s projecting so much more You know what I like about this video? This is the kind of thing that
than anyone else does in any of the other performances in the whole documentary. There’s also an incredible shot of Taylor simply would’ve never done on her own. There’s just no
this young girl, maybe 13 or so, in the audience who definitely didn’t have any idea that Taylor was going to be there way. This is so different from anything Taylor’s ever been involved
and was internally exploding when Taylor came out. It’s just a performance that makes you smile, not for the music with, aesthetically, and I think that’s awesome.
itself so much as what it all feels like and what it all means.
I also think the vibe of this video really matches the song. Pretty
much everything Justin’s done in the last few years has this very
Babe particular style with lots of real instruments - acoustic guitars,
Music Video (June 2018) pianos, etc. - pieced together in a scratchy, glitchy kind of way, and

This is a Sugarland music video, but it features Taylor Swift - not that’s what this looks like. It’s real videos of people (Taylor, Aaron,

just on the track, but in the video, too, marking the third time Justin) with a transparent layer of paint texture smudged over it,

she’s featured in someone else’s video (Kellie Pickler in ‘09 and and spliced with weird, neon colors and VHS-style distortion, handwriting that embeds itself in the video, people that

Tim McGraw in ‘13). The last two were… they weren’t great videos. turn into lava lamps of pink and purple, forests that become flickering, surreal art.

They certainly couldn’t hold a candle to Taylor’s videos, in my

opinion. But I’m happy to say this one breaks that trend! It’s like a Zoom call run through a broken VCR on a couple tabs of acid - and yet somehow, it involves Taylor Swift of all
people. You just gotta kind of love that, right?

Directed by Anthony Mandler (I Knew You Were Trouble & 22), it’s
got these wonderful 1950’s set pieces and a very Mad Men vibe, And yeah, it’s not my favorite video I’ve ever seen, it does have a bit of a “lyric video” or “visualizer” energy to it, and I

with Taylor (with crimson red hair) playing the secretary having wish it evolved a bit more than it does - it’s really a single effect the whole way through - but I still think the result is

an affair with Jennifer Nettles’ husband. Jennifer gives a really really cool and unique and I appreciate that Taylor agreed to be in a project that’s so completely outside of her usual

charismatic performance, the cinematography is solid wheelhouse.

throughout, and most of all I really enjoyed how they matched up Taylor’s vocals coming in for the final chorus with her
side of the affair as the husband calls it off with her. It’s a bit of a twist, adding a new layer of nuance to the story of this
song: both of the women are victims, and the, “How could you do this?” is coming from each of them. It goes from
portraying Taylor’s character as a villain to reminding you that the husband is the one actually doing the hurting here.
It’s a good message conveyed with good visual storytelling and solid performances. There’s a lot to like about it.
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (October 2021)
Before I get to the performance itself, I wanted to briefly
mention Taylor’s induction speech for Carole (who, herself,
presented Taylor with the AMA Artist of the Decade Award two
years earlier). It’s a really beautiful and touching speech that I
recommend you all watch. (It’s also very funny in her classically
deadpan way - she even squeezes a cat joke in there.)
When she says, “The purity to the music that she creates exists
between two worlds: the mysterious, magical inspiration and
decades of hard-earned and hard-learned craftsmanship. Just
because Carole King makes what she’s accomplished look so
effortless doesn’t mean it has been,” it’s extremely apparent that she’s talking from, and describing, her own, personal
experience. She’s describing Carole’s experience and work, but she’s describing her own every bit as much. And just…
what a remarkable thing, you know? It really solidifies the fact that Taylor is, at this point, on the Mt. Rushmore of
female songwriters alongside the likes of Carole and Joni.
Anyway, Taylor’s performance here is insane. There are two famous versions of this song, Carole’s own and the cover
by the Shirelles, and neither of them sound a single bit like this one. She had the chutzpah to go up there and
dramatically rework one of Carole’s songs in a way that is so totally Taylor, turning it into a synth-driven, ‘80s Peter
Gabriel-inspired, swelling, dramatic ballad. Seriously, if you aren’t familiar with the original versions of this song, you
gotta listen to them just to appreciate how far Taylor took this song.
The result is spectacular and so much cooler than it ever could’ve been if she’d just sat at a piano and played Carole’s
version straight. Like, no doubt she would’ve crushed that, we know what Taylor can do at a piano, but it never
would’ve been iconic the way this is iconic. This is the move of an ambitious and confident artist who trusts themselves
to reinvent a song in front of the very songwriter they’re honoring and do it well. What a badass. 8/10
All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
All Too Well: The Short Film (November 2021)
Song Rating 28 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆
First and foremost, though: Sadie Sink. What a phenomenal
performance from Sadie here. I’m one of the three people on the
planet who hasn’t watched Stranger Things, so I was completely
unfamiliar with her going into this, and she really blew me away.
A beautiful, powerful performance from start to finish from her.
Dylan O’Brien was also very good, I should say! Sadie just kind of
stole the show here.
And this is also just very pretty to look at. I love the choice of
shooting it on 35mm - it’s got that warm, nostalgic feeling with the
tone of all the colors and the 4:3 resolution with those classic
rounded corners. It creates a feel that can’t be mimicked with any amount of post-processing. It feels like memories. It
feels like something that really happened. I think that was a great choice. And the cinematography and the framing
from Taylor and Rina Yang is excellent: the angles in particular were really well-chosen.
A lot of it was exactly what it had to be. That is to say, there’s only really one way you can put All Too Well to visuals. You
have to have the scarf, you have to have the car keys, you have to have the 21st birthday, you have to have the
refrigerator. These are inescapable constraints on any creative decisions and we knew they were coming.
So what I’m much more interested in is the way they were couched and the scenes that weren’t necessary, and what I
liked about them is that they didn’t paint a linear trajectory. It was a complex and honest timeline of a relationship that
went up and down and up again and down again, and the memories of the past shaped the present and returned
again, reflecting the way the relationship existed not as a mere chain of causality in the physical world, but as an idea in
her head. That’s the “I remember it”, and it’s an essential piece of what makes this song feel the way it does, and I’m
really glad that was captured here.
But even with all of that, it’s just a good music video. What elevates this above being a music video is really just a single
additional scene, but goddamn what a scene. Stuck right in the middle of this would-be music video are three straight
minutes without any music at all, where this story told through brief glimpses into scenes scattered across their
relationship briefly stops moving, the timeline freezes, and we see a full moment play out, this post-dinner fight in the
kitchen. And it feels extremely raw and believable and the dialogue is either unscripted or written in an exceptionally
naturalistic tone, and Sadie and Dylan just knock it way, way out of the park.
Even the way it’s filmed, where the two of them are almost never in-shot at the same time, and if they are, one of them
is always out of focus - until they make up, and then there they are - is just so thoughtful and subtle and impressive.
When that scene ended I just sat back and said, “Aw, fuck.” It’s intense and it doesn’t depict Sadie-as-Taylor as faultless,
but rather highlights the fundamental lack of understanding
between the two people in the relationship. It’s just a superb
scene and it’s the beating, broken heart of the whole video.
And then of course the final scene was very much not mandated
by the lyrics, and I thought it was a really beautiful way to put a
bow on things. The takeaway wasn’t about the end of a
relationship, but rather what that relationship did for her - how
she took that and transformed it. It’s a meta-commentary on the
song itself and how the song became a way for Taylor to connect
with her fans and how that whole relationship, in the end, meant
something totally different than she ever could’ve fathomed
while she was living it. It made the song itself, and everything that followed. And so it’s very fitting that Sadie becomes
the real Taylor in that scene, and I thought that a really clever choice.
I also can’t help but see this in the context of the behind-the-scenes video that was released as well, which - assuming
it’s not edited deceivingly - depicts Taylor as having been extremely active in every creative decision made from the
angles of the cameras to the subtleties of the facial expressions to the exact timing of each movement to the editing
and alignment with the music. Taylor’s directorial style just feels very respectful and mature - professional and clear in
her directions, but also really giving a lot of creative freedom to the actors at the same time, focusing more on what
feelings they should be capturing rather than exactly what they should do to make us feel that. And then the
behind-the-scenes ends with a really powerful moment in which Taylor encapsulates the entirety of the song and what
it should make the audience feel, but of course she’s really describing her own experience that inspired it. I highly,
highly recommend watching that if you haven’t done so.
I can understand if some people would quibble over whether this is a “short film” per se or an elaborate music video,
but I think there’s no question that Taylor was really testing out her strengths as a director with this one in a way she
never had before, and in that sense, I understand why she conceives of it as a short film. I’m both inclined to agree, and
to say that I think Taylor has some very, very serious promise as a director. I’m not sure there’s a single creative
endeavor that I would put past her at this point, honestly. Her ability to materialize her ideas is not bound by form.
Saturday Night Live (November 2021)
Song Rating 28 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★
I had a thought near the end of this performance: “How is this
woman not the most acclaimed artist of our generation?” and
then I realized that she basically is, and I’ve just been a giant idiot
for the last decade for dismissing that acclaim. Me with my cool
indie music records thinking I knew what I was talking about…
Early on in this performance I noticed that Taylor was frequently
playing to the camera and every time she looked at it, they cut
away. This is basically standard procedure for the editing booth -
they don’t really want it to break the fourth wall like that, we’re
supposed to feel like we’re witnessing a performance that doesn’t
know it’s being filmed or something. But at some point they realized that Taylor had her own creative vision for this and
was making an executive decision to look at the cameras regularly and purposefully and they had to just cave and start
letting those shots linger.
Taylor also came about a quarter of a syllable away from saying “fuck” and then just gave the camera a little eyebrow
raise and a smile, and I appreciate that she brought back the classic Taylor hair flips that we haven’t seen much of
lately.
So I’ve been doing this Videography Deep Dive long enough now that I was starting to think, half-way through, about
what I might rate this. Was it a 8/10 or a 9/10 maybe? I was really enjoying it, sure, but she’d done better performances
of this song, so it definitely didn’t feel like a 10/10 to me. And then she spits out “Who was she?” just as the music
freezes, and it sent me flying back in my seat, pinned to my chair like that moment when an airplane pulls back to full
thrust for takeoff - and that’s exactly what was coming next.
The lights go out, Taylor vanishes, and returns without a guitar and with her performance gauge turned up to 11,
throwing her arms and hair around, pointing furiously, tilting her her and wryly smirking, and raising the intensity of
the performance dramatically. “Okay, yeah, we’re definitely in 9/10 territory,” I think, still being the idiot that I am, still
doubting that Taylor had any more tricks up her sleeve. Boom, the lights go monochrome red just in time for the most
scathing lyrics of the song, the drums are pounding, then freeze, and Taylor snarls out the lines like a fucking dragon.
And at this point it’s worth mentioning that as soon as the autumnal leaves started falling a minute into this
performance, I thought to myself, “It’d be crazier if this started with warm lighting and orange leaves and ended with
cool lighting and snowfall to match the aesthetic transformation of the video, but I don’t think they could really make
that work live like this.”
And then of course, right on queue, “I still remember the first fall of snow,” and the lights turn blue, and there’s the
fucking snow. At this point I threw my hands into the air and shook my head and had that thought - this is the greatest
artist of our generation and I’m an idiot for being this late to the party - soundtracked to the gorgeous a capella outro.
Unreal.
Nashville Songwriter Awards (September 2022)
The only recordings that exist of this performance itself are
pretty shoddy and the audience is screaming the lyrics along so
loudly that they kind of took the reins at some point, but I
wanted to talk about it anyway for posterity, and because Taylor’s
acceptance speech is really interesting.
She breaks down the three “genres” of her lyricism, and they’re
named after the types of pens she imagines writing them with:
Qull (“A letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother
while sewing a lace curtain”) epitomized by Ivy; Fountain Pen
(“Trying to paint a vivid picture of a situation down to the chipped
paint on the doorframe and incense dust on the vinyl shelf”) epitomized by All Too Well; and Glitter Gel Pen (“The
drunk girl at the party who tells you that you look like an angel in the bathroom”) epitomized by Shake It Off
I find it fascinating that she’s conceptualized it like that, that she’s got these lyrical genres that exist totally apart from
the actual instrumentation and melody, and it’s, of course, very accurate as soon as you think of it. Like, “Oh, yeah,
obviously that’s true, she does have three different voices that she writes in.” (Though I would actually contend Taylor
has a fourth, rarely-used pen that’s one of those steel-cased, wedge-tipped, black Sharpies that’s all dented and
scraped and slightly blood-stained - think I Did Something Bad, Closure, Vigilant Shit, etc.)
Anyway, with regard to the performance itself, the main thing that stood out to me: Taylor can still get caught up in this
song, even ten years after she wrote it. At the start she was clearly having fun with everyone singing along, but that
slowly kind of faded away, and by the time she got to “turning 21”, she seemed like she was in a world of her own that
nobody else could quite see, and she went up to the mic and repeated that lyric again in a way that she hasn’t before.
Who am I to read into body language and tiny artistic decisions like that, really? But to me, it felt like that thing she’s
talked about several times before - this song transforming from something sad and difficult to perform into this
crowd-pleasing moment of connection with her and her fans - is not impenetrable, and there are moments when the
emotions and memories tangled up in this song are still sharp enough to cut through it.
I Bet You Think About Me
Music Video (November 2021)
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★★
What a perfect, beautiful way to visualize this song. Taylor’s on a
burning hot streak of video releases. Lover, The Man, Cardigan,
Willow, and All Too Well were all excellent, and now she follows
them up with this one. I really went into this with pretty low
expectations, since I didn’t imagine she’d go all-out of a video for
a Taylor’s Version release like she does for her new albums, but I
was very wrong. This is a Taylor Swift music video at its best.
I really love the way she (and Blake Lively, who co-wrote and
directed this video) play with the color themes here. Everything in
the video is white - this kind of pure, sterile, colorless space - and
it’s being invaded at every turn by Taylor’s dazzling red, tearing
away the white icing on the cake to reveal the red underneath, or lifting her bridal dress to reveal red Chucks.
And in my very favorite moment of the video, after the imagining of what could’ve been, when all the music has fallen
away and Taylor shares a silent first dance with the man she isn’t marrying, a drum kick hammers the music back in as
three rapid-fire shots flash across the screen of the white flowers on her dress turning red (13 frames in total, I
discovered - nothing is accidental with this woman). It’s one of the most interesting and exciting moments of
filmmaking in any Taylor video ever and I went back and watched it like five times.
(Taylor’s Version) Era Thoughts
This is a strange little era in Taylor’s career, out of the Folklore/Evermore cycles but before Midnights has been released,
and I think it’s probably indicative of a shift in the shape of her career. I don’t know how much longer her work is going to
be able to be defined by “eras” and album cycles as she continues to release re-recorded records intermittently while
working on new material as well (presumably).

Beyond just the colors, she and Blake play with imagery and symbolism in several other places here too, like with the
Maraschino cherry and with the stained glass halo around the groom’s head, creating a saintly image that gives way to
a bathroom scene with urinating groomsmen. There’s also little references and Easter Eggs as always, like a cameo
appearance from The Scarf™ and a “dropped your hand while dancing” moment. And yet with that in mind, they
perfectly balance out the artsiness of it all with a couple of lighthearted, even comedic, scenes - namely, Taylor
interacting with children at the wedding, first in tasting the wedding cake, then in teaching them how to do the whole
“wind up the middle finger” gag. Both scenes are adorable and endearing and I can’t watch them without smiling.
All of this builds up to the best visual climax in any of her videos to date, as Taylor’s white dress ignites into dazzling red
(along with several other objects, and the CGI for the color changes is super clean and well-done) and she’s suddenly
got a guitar and just starts joyfully singing the final chorus and outro as dozen flashbacks dart across the screen, and
we’re back to the groom standing in the bathroom, with Taylor’s smiling face saying, “I bet you think about me,” as the
last thought to cross his mind, and with his suit pocket handkerchief suddenly red instead of white. The lasting feeling
in that moment is precisely - precisely - the feeling of the song, with all of its subtleties included, all of the lingering
resentment and all of the schadenfreudian delight.
There’s just nothing I don’t love about it. Every shot is nicely framed, Taylor’s acting is as charismatic as ever, Miles
Teller plays his part really well, I adore all the directorial and editing choices, I love how it bounces between fun and
heavy, comedic and intense, in just the same way the song encapsulates all of those things, and I love how setting this
song to a wedding like this had turned it into an alternate-timeline sequel to Speak Now (the song). It’s the kind of video
I enjoyed just as much on the second and third watch as I did the first time - it just holds up as a work of art unto itself,
even when you know the beats, even when it no longer has surprises.
I guess my primary takeaway from this, though, is that I hope All Too Well - both the short film and the stellar SNL
performance - don’t completely overshadow anything else that happened here in the memories of the fans. That I Bet
You Think About Me music video is quietly one of the best she’s ever made, but having been released a mere week apart
from the All Too Well short film, so I have a feeling it might not have gotten the time in the spotlight that it frankly
deserves. So I’d advise anyone who hasn’t thought much about that video to go back and revisit it.
Apart from that, Taylor just continues to prove that she’s only getting better and better at her craft - as a live performer,
as a video director, as a creative - she’s constantly building and growing and releasing more finely polished and more
thoughtfully made art than ever before.
Favorite Music Videos:
● I Bet You Think About Me
● All Too Well: The Short Film
Favorite Performances:
● All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Saturday Night Live)
● Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

Three Sad Virgins

Saturday Night Live (November 2021)
Watch out Thug Story, there’s a new kid on the block and he’s
coming for ya throat.

SNL’s been extremely hit-or-miss for the last few years, but this
is a quality sketch the whole way through, and I actually think it
was a good call to save Taylor for just the last bit of it. It really
lets her just serve up the big punchlines without overstaying her
welcome. There’s also that little inside joke for Taylor’s fans that
they made her come in for the bridge specifically.

She strikes a great balance between playing it really sincerely

while obviously being super cruel, and then going super playful
and really vibing with the chorus. Taylor’s ability to lean into a sketch like this and do it naturally and match the tone is
worlds improved from where it was back on her earlier SNL appearances. And it’s… it’s actually kind of a good hook,
despite how ridiculous the lyrics are. I caught myself nodding along to it.

But yeah, it’s really fun, her part is exactly the right size, and she nails it the whole way through.
 Bejeweled
Music Video (October 2022)

Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆

For a song that’s about reclaiming and reasserting yourself, what
better way to set it to a music video than to do the kind of thing
Anti-Hero you’ve always wanted to do? And that’s what this video feels like to
me - the kind of video a younger Taylor would’ve conjured up as
Music Video (October 2022)
her perfect, unobtainable video that she’d love to make but hadn’t
Song Rating 23 / 30 ★★★★★★★★★☆ yet acquired the clout and freedom to create. It’s got several
absolute legends making cameos, it’s got bedazzling outfits, it’s
First of all, I love the aesthetic choice here. Of all the possible
got tons of easter eggs, big, theatrical set pieces, a whole narrative
vibes she could’ve gone for, this 1970’s, wood paneling, clashing
woven through it, and depicts her as a literal princess in a castle.
geometric patterns, garish wallpapers, muted colors thing is
This is the video teenage Taylor dreamed of.
really unique and not something I ever expected. Styles come in
and out of fashion, aesthetic trends come and go (cottagecore
Laura Dern showing up in the first few seconds of the video was very unexpected. I love Laura Dern - everyone loves
was definitely one of them, for example) but this is not one I’ve
Laura Dern - and she and the Haim sisters help Taylor set the stage in a really fun and ridiculous way, written in this
really seen brought back anywhere else. The 80’s are inescapable
strange combination of faux Middle English and modern slang (which admittedly gets a bit clumsy at times, like the
right now, but the 70’s? That feels fresh and interesting.
repetition of “tonight” and “last night”, or “speak not” and “worry not”). It frames Taylor as subservient to assholes who
won’t let her be free - clearly a parallel to her experience with her record label - until she sets off on her Hero’s Journey.
As for the content of the video itself, it really strikes a great
(The whole thing is also set to a string arrangement of Enchanted that’s very pretty.)
balance between capturing every aspect of the lyricism
(something that has been consistently true of all of Taylor’s
Along the way, there were two particularly interesting sets of easter eggs: The first are the elevator buttons (and the
self-directed videos) while also not doing it in a way that feels predictable and is still super entertaining. “All the people
floor indicators later on) are all colored chronologically after her albums, including the Taylor’s Versions. The 13th floor
I’ve ghosted stand there in the room” quite literally, as she’s chased around the house by figures draped in bedsheets,
(immediately following Midnights) is the exact same purple as the 3rd, and she visits the 3rd floor while walking on a
for example, is something that’s bang-on to the lyrics, but definitely not depicted in a way that I saw coming.
gemstone pathway on which she sings, “I can reclaim the land”. She then proceeds from there to the 5th floor (pale
blue - 1989). I don’t know if there’s any debate among the Swifties about what Taylor’s plans are for the next TV
Representing her pervasive, self-conscious thoughts and her anxieties about her identity and her fame with three
releases, but there certainly shouldn’t be after watching this video. It’s about as conclusive as it gets.
separate versions of herself is really smart. We’ve got the “too soft for all of it” Taylor (I’m inclined to call this the Real
Taylor), who’s dejected and at the mercy of her alter-egos, then we’ve got the performative superstar version of herself
And then I also really liked how both her “wench” outfit and the hooded “going out tonight” robe are almost exact
who throws back shots, smashes guitars, and enforces body image issues onto Real Taylor, and finally we’ve got
recreations of the outfits she wore in the Cardigan and Willow videos, and then the cabin from those videos (and the
“monster on the hill” Taylor, a towering 40-foot version of herself who isn’t a person but an entity, and around whom no
Grammy performance) makes a surprise appearance way off to the left, in the woods, in the final few seconds of the
one can be comfortable. And really, each of these versions of herself (not quite “self-images” because these anxieties
video. Combined with the references to Speak Now being the next TV, it feels like she was really creating bridges on
are rooted in very, very real things that Taylor tangibly experiences) is clearly there in the lyrics of Anti-Hero and
both sides, connecting this era to both the previous one and the next one. I love when Taylor works to tie together her
throughout Midnights. Like with Cardigan, I feel like Taylor captured subtle, slippery qualities of the song’s undercurrent
whole body of work as a cohesive, singular narrative. It’s one of the most unique and captivating things about her
and manifested them into easily identifiable things in really symbolic and clever ways.
whole creative style and I think it adds a subtle but meaningful weight to virtually everything she does.

And just as Taylor did with I Bet You Think About Me, Taylor cushions some of the heavier reflections of her lyricism with
We also get a cameo from Dita Von Teese, and not just for a second - she and Taylor do her legendary martini glass act
some outright fun scenes that still fit into the story arc. There are a bunch of little moments like that, but the big one is
together, set in a room themed after 1989’s colors before we get another throwback to the Early Hollywood era that
the two minute break in the middle of the song where Mike Birbiglia and Mary Elizabeth Ellis lead a scene of Taylor’s
Taylor’s explored multiple times since very early on in her career, as she puts on a full flapper girl dance number. That
children at her funeral freaking out over being “left out of the will”. It’s played for laughs (and works), but it’s also got
whole era, stylistically, and the way it’s so obviously a stage and not trying to be “convincing”, is extremely reminiscent
this second layer of a very real reflection that Taylor has on the fact that her life is something bigger than herself,
of the Mean music video (which was on Speak Now, too - layers, people!) in the best way.
unwieldy and uncontrollable, and that she can never completely hold the reins of her fame. She can envision the way it
could affect her children the same way it’s affected her family and partners and it understandably stresses her out.
And I love the very brief cameo from Pat McGrath followed by these hilarious proposal shots of Jack wearing this silly
little crown and a powdered wig, while Taylor’s towering over him with a foot-tall pink hairdo. It’s both patently absurd
She eats, bleeds, and vomits glitter. She is not a normal person. And yet she is, of course, a perfectly normal person
and also looks really good in the weirdest way. And the “kept the castle” metaphor is such a perfect summarization of
having to experience not being a normal person at all. This is an identity crisis of a kind that most of us will never be
the ideas explored in this song, and it’s played out by Taylor cosplaying as the Mother of Dragons as this truly gorgeous
able to really understand, and that fact just compounds it all. She packs all of that into this video, and it looks great the
orchestral arrangement of Long Live (again, Speak Now) plays that I really, really want the full version of.
whole time, too. (Taylor’s directorial style never stays the same - she’s clearly interested in flexing those muscles and
learning new tricks.) It’s not surprising that this feels like her heaviest video of her career - Midnights is her heaviest
It might be a bit all over the place visually, but this video is locked in thematically, and is just brimming with fan service.
album by far - but it ends on a fairly positive note, a moment of self-acceptance, and it feels like a relief.
Lavender Haze Midnights Era Thoughts (So Far…)
We don’t have any live performances except for the Eras Tour itself (which I have not watched any of, as I’m hoping that I
Music Video (January 2023)
can somehow manage to get a ticket and I’d like to experience it fresh for myself), but the three videos we have are all
Song Rating 21 / 30 ★★★★★★★★☆☆ really great in my opinion.

Lavender Haze was such a mysterious song to me, walking these

Midnights easily feels like Taylor’s most confessional, vulnerable, and intimate album to date, and these videos - all of
fine lines of meaning and feeling (both lyrically and musically) that
them self-directed - are clear manifestations of that creative direction. Taylor manifests her biggest anxieties and fears
I was afraid to extrapolate too far, as I could really see it going
and personal struggles (Anti-Hero and Lavender Haze), but also indulges in her fantasies and desires (Bejeweled), equally
either way. But after watching this video, I am just about 100%
unabashed and honest. There’s also a level of easter-egg-ification here, of connecting songs and albums together, that
certain that I understand this song perfectly now. Follow along
feels like it’s on a whole different level from anything in her pre-self-directing days. With complete creative control over
with me here and I’ll try to explain:
how each video is formed, Taylor really is able to tie together threads and weave an interconnected web like never
before. The way Bejeweled is tied between Folklore/Evermore and the Speak Now TV, and the way Lavender Haze is
The opening lyrics of this song - staring at a ceiling, her partner
interwoven with Last Kiss, are the kinds of dimensions and depth that I don’t think we’d ever get if she weren’t at the helm
not saying much, not reading into her melancholia, and the desire
of these videos.
for a lavender haze, the honeymoon phase of a relationship - are
strongly indicative of someone who’s struggling with their current
And I also just think they all look great. I love the lighting and the 70’s stylings, I think it’s really fresh and unique. I said of
relationship. Even though she also grants her partner some clear compliments (“you handle it beautifully”), other lines
Midnights that it didn’t feel like Taylor was as obligated to ‘reinvent’ herself as she’d been in the past, but in regards to
like “but you aren’t even listening” can be read in two very opposing ways. Is Taylor fighting to hold onto her current
the videos, she’s easily matched any other era in terms of the aesthetic shift she’s made.
lavender haze against an onslaught of opponents to it, or longing for it back now that it’s missing?

If it was up to me to pick a fourth video for the album, if we’d be so lucky to get one, I’d really love to see Karma or Hits
In the opening shots of this video we see Taylor with a stormy cloud over her head, awake in the middle of the night
Different get one (the latter maybe simultaneous to it being released on streaming services?). I think they’re both easily
while her partner is asleep, looking very uncharacteristically emotionless, not smiling, not having fun. She touches her
worthy of being singles and could easily imagine her doing great things with a video for either of them.
sleeping partner, and she sees something incredible (the starry aesthetics of Midnights itself) that inspires her into
getting up and dancing through a cloud of gray smoke. This feels like a metaphor for her relationship having helped her
manifest new music, sad but upbeat, and this is happening while her partner is unaware, literally asleep.

And then Taylor’s alone on the couch in the middle of the night, and upon seeing her partner on TV, crawls toward it in
a trance as lavender flowers emerge from the ground. But when she reaches for the TV, it pulls apart, and once again,
Midnights’ starry aesthetics appear. This time, the starscape is populated by koi fish, which besides being yet another
reference to Speak Now, are specifically a reference to the guitar she used for the song Last Kiss, a song about a
relationship that’s ended and the memories of it (more on this in a second). Taylor then sits there on the floor, looking
upset, like she’s lost in thought, and we see two scenes that feel like they’re conjured up from her memory: one in
which she’s blissfully immersed in a lavender pool, and another in which she and her partner are clearly in love and
dancing around at a party through clouds of lavender smoke (starkly contrasted to the present-day gray smoke).

Back in the “present”, Taylor knocks down the walls of the house she’s in, such that the whole thing vanishes, and she’s
sitting alone in a cloud of smoke afloat in space, surrounded by giant koi fish. The cloud is neither wholly lavender nor
gray, but contains subtle patches of both, and she buries herself in it, an immersion into sadness and into her longing
memories, which - alongside the starfields all around her - is a clear metaphor for Midnights as a whole.

There’s now no doubt in my mind that this is a song about a troubled relationship or an ended one. Taylor has never
looked more consistently unhappy in any video that I can recall, and the only time we see her looking happy, as well as
the only time we see her consciously interacting with her partner at all, is in lavender-drunk memories. If the lyrics
were unclear, the video isn’t: the lavender haze is a thing she longs for and misses, not something she presently has.

And to top it all off, the koi fish led me to revisit the lyrics of Last Kiss and it contains references to: sitting on the floor
missing someone, remembering how someone was the life of the party and how you danced together, watching
someone sleep, and changes in the weather. All four of those are clearly here in this video full of a very deliberate
reference to koi fish. It’s a crystal-clear message to someone who’s as familiar with her whole body of work as I’ve
become, and yet impossible to parse for someone who isn’t. I get it now - I understand why she does the easter eggs. I
get why the fans love deciphering them. Unlocking all of that was a rewarding feeling totally unique to Taylor’s art.
Videography Final Thoughts
First of all, a massive thank you is owed to the YouTube channels out there who have preserved so many live
And then here’s the videos charted out over time. Note that the translucent bars represent videos on which
performances that might otherwise be totally inaccessible to someone like me. This wouldn’t have been
Taylor is not the lead artist (starting with The Best Days of Your Life and ending with Renegade).
possible for me to do without them (TaylorSwiftWorld and EASMusicChannel in particular have preserved
countless performances).

It’s not terribly surprising to note some similar trends between this Videography Deep Dive and the
Discography Deep Dive. Like with her music itself, Taylor’s videos have trended upward from the very start,
and her most recent videos are much more consistently high-quality than her older ones, but also like her
music itself, there’s a few new ones that don’t quite do it for me and a few older ones that really stand out.

Here’s a breakdown of the 54 music videos I reviewed and the scores I gave each of them:

★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Both of Us Picture To Burn
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Comparing the music videos to each other and ranking them is difficult, just because so many of the best
★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Begin Again
End Game ones are great for such different reasons. But if you forced my hand (and I’m pretending you’re doing that),
Tim McGraw
You Need To Calm Down then here’s my top 10.
I'm Only Me When I'm With You
Renegade
Beautiful Eyes
Change #10. You Belong With Me
The Best Days of Your Life ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Fearless Mean #9. Anti-Hero
Mine Safe & Sound
Back To December I Knew You Were Trouble #8. Lover
New Romantics Out Of The Woods
I Don't Wanna Live Forever ...Ready For It?
#7. The Man

★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ ★★★★★★★★☆☆ #6. Delicate

Our Song You Belong With Me
Fifteen The Story Of Us
Red Blank Space #5. Look What You Made Me Do
Style cardigan
Bad Blood willow #4. All Too Well: The Short Film
ME! Bejeweled
Lavender Haze #3. I Bet You Think About Me
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
Teardrops On My Guitar ★★★★★★★★★☆ #2. Wildest Dreams
Love Story Look What You Made Me Do
White Horse Delicate #1. Shake It Off
Crazier Lover
Sparks Fly The Man
You may say choosing Shake It Off is a basic-bitch kind of choice, but that video is one of the most iconic
All Too Well: The Short Film
Anti-Hero things that Taylor has ever produced in her career and it will live on in the memories of people who couldn’t
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ name a single other Taylor song or who can’t recall a single other Taylor video. And that’s the same reason
The Best Day
★★★★★★★★★★ that You Belong With Me barely edges out Blank Space for the #10 spot: that video has a place in the halls of
Ours
22 Shake It Off music video history. Even if it’s not quite as sophisticated as her later videos would be, look at how many
Everything Has Changed Wildest Dreams people going to the Eras Tour are still dressing up like that video. It’s too influential to be denied.
The Last Time I Bet You Think About Me
And then, of course, we have the 227 live performances. I’ve sorted them all by star-rating on the next page.
 2015 1989 Tour All You Had To Do Was Stay 2010 Thanksgiving Story Of Us 2017 Super Saturday I Don't Wanna Live Forever
★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 2015 1989 Tour Bad Blood 2010 Thanksgiving Speak Now 2017 Super Saturday All Too Well
2015 VMAs Bad Blood
2017 Super Saturday Blank Space 2011 ACMs Mean 2017 Super Saturday Out Of The Woods
2017 ABC Fan New Year's Day 2011 Speak Now Tour Back To December 2017 Super Saturday Shake It Off
★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 2018 Rep Tour Blank Space 2011 Speak Now Tour Better Than Revenge 2017 Tonight Show New Year's Day
2007 CMAs Our Song 2019 VMAs Lover 2011 Speak Now Tour Drops of Jupiter 2018 NOW: Chicago Shake It Off
2008 AMAs White Horse 2019 Lover's Lounge The Archer 2011 Speak Now Tour You Belong With Me 2018 Rep Tour Style/Love Story/You Belong…
2009 ACMs You're Not Sorry 2019 BBC Live Lounge London Boy 2011 Speak Now Tour Enchanted 2018 Rep Tour Look What You Made Me Do
2011 Speak Now Tour Long Live 2018 Rep Tour Bad Blood / Should've Said No
2011 Speak Now Tour Fifteen 2019 Billboard ME!
★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 2012 Ryman Safe & Sound 2019 Amazon Prime Welcome To New York
2007 ACMs Tim McGraw 2009 CMAs Forever & Always
2012 Hangout We Are Never Ever Getting… 2019 AMAs (Hits Medley)
2008 Grammy Noms White Horse 2009 CMTs You Belong With Me
2012 Hangout 22 2019 BBC Live Lounge Can't Stop Loving You
2009 ACMs Picture To Burn 2009 Fearless Tour Tim McGraw
2012 BBC Awards We Are Never Ever Getting… 2019 NPR Tiny Desk Death By A Thousand Cuts
2009 Grammys Fifteen 2009 Fearless Tour Fifteen
2012 BBC Awards You Belong With Me 2019 City of Lover The Archer
2010 ACMs Change 2010 Late Show You Belong With Me
2012 BBC Awards Red 2019 City of Lover Death By A Thousand Cuts
2010 Grammys Today Was A Fairytale 2010 Late Show Love Story
2012 ARIA Awards I Knew You Were Trouble 2019 City of Lover Lover
2013 Red Tour Mine 2010 Late Show Speak Now
2013 Grammys We Are Never Ever Getting… 2020 Long Pond cardigan
2015 1989 Tour Clean 2010 AMAs Back To December
2013 CMAs Red 2020 Long Pond this is me trying
2019 Amazon Prime You Need To Calm Down 2010 Thanksgiving Mine
2013 Red Tour 22 2020 Long Pond mad woman
2010 Thanksgiving Mean
2013 Red Tour You Belong With Me 2020 Long Pond peace
2010 Thanksgiving Back To December
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ 2010 Thanksgiving Enchanted
2013 Red Tour Treacherous 2020 Long Pond hoax
2009 CMAs Fifteen 2013 Red Tour We Are Never Ever Getting… 2021 Rock & Roll HoF Will You Still Love Me…
2011 CMAs Ours
2009 Fearless Tour Today Was A Fairytale 2014 VMAs Shake It Off
2011 Speak Now Tour Sparks Fly
2010 BBC Awards Mine 2014 BBC Live Lounge Riptide
2011 Speak Now Tour Story Of Us
2014 AMAs Blank Space
★★★★★★★★★☆
2012 VMAs We Are Never Ever Getting…
2011 Speak Now Tour Our Song 2009 Fearless Tour Should've Said No
2012 MTV Europe We Are Never Ever Getting… 2015 Grammy Museum Out Of The Woods
2011 Speak Now Tour Love Story 2011 Speak Now Tour Speak Now
2012 CMAs Begin Again 2015 1989 Tour Welcome To New York
2013 NRJ We Are Never Ever Getting… 2012 Grammys Mean
2013 Red Tour Red 2015 1989 Tour Blank Space
2013 Billboard 22 2013 BRIT Awards I Knew You Were Trouble
2013 Red Tour Stay Stay Stay 2015 1989 Tour I Know Places
2013 Red Tour State of Grace 2014 BBC Live Lounge Love Story
2013 Red Tour Begin Again 2015 1989 Tour Style
2013 Red Tour Holy Ground 2015 BRIT Awards Blank Space
2014 GRAs Shake It Off 2017 Super Saturday New Romantics
2015 Grammy Museum How You Get The Girl 2015 1989 Tour I Knew You Were Trouble
2015 1989 Tour This Love 2017 Super Saturday You Belong With Me
2015 1989 Tour New Romantics 2015 1989 Tour Love Story
2018 NOW: Chicago Delicate 2018 NOW: Chicago All Too Well
2015 1989 Tour You Are In love 2015 1989 Tour Enchanted/Wildest Dreams
2018 Rep Tour ...Ready For It? 2018 Rep Tour End Game
2015 1989 Tour Shake It Off 2018 Rep Tour Dancing With Our Hands Tied
2018 Rep Tour Shake It Off 2018 Rep Tour Delicate
2017 Super Saturday I Knew You Were Trouble 2018 Rep Tour All Too Well
2019 Amazon Prime Blank Space 2018 Rep Tour Dress
2017 Super Saturday Red 2018 Rep Tour Don't Blame Me
2019 Amazon Prime I Knew You Were Trouble 2018 Rep Tour Call It What You Want
2017 Super Saturday Bad Blood 2018 Rep Tour Getaway Car
2019 Amazon Prime Love Story 2019 Amazon Prime Shake It Off
2018 NOW: Chicago Gorgeous 2018 Rep Tour We Are Never.../This Is Why...
2019 City of Lover ME! 2019 BBC Live Lounge Lover
2018 NOW: Chicago New Year's Day 2019 BBC Live Lounge Holy Ground
2020 Long Pond invisible string 2019 BBC Live Lounge The Archer
2018 Rep Tour Gorgeous 2019 SNL False God
2019 BBC Live Lounge You Need To Calm Down
2018 Rep Tour King Of My Heart 2019 NPR Tiny Desk All Too Well
2019 NPR Tiny Desk The Man
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ 2019 VMAs You Need To Calm Down
2019 City of Lover The Man
2020 Long Pond exile
2008 CMTs Picture To Burn 2019 Amazon Prime Delicate 2020 Long Pond august
2020 Long Pond mirrorball
2008 CMAs Love Story 2019 Amazon Prime Style
2020 Long Pond betty
2009 VMAs You Belong With Me 2019 City of Lover Daylight
2019 City of Lover You Need To Calm Down
2020 Long Pond the lakes ★★★★★★★★★★
2009 Fearless Tour Teardrops On My Guitar
2014 Grammys All Too Well
2009 Fearless Tour Our Song 2020 Long Pond the 1
2015 Grammy Museum Wildest Dreams
2010 VMAs Innocent 2020 Long Pond the last great american… ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 2015 1989 Tour We Are Never Ever Getting…
2010 Late Show Back To December 2020 Long Pond seven 2009 Fearless Tour Forever & Always
2018 AMAs I Did Something Bad
2010 Late Show Mine 2020 Long Pond illicit affairs 2011 Speak Now Tour Mean
2018 Rep Tour I Did Something Bad
2010 CMAs Back To December 2020 Long Pond epiphany 2011 Speak Now Tour Last Kiss
2018 Rep Tour Long Live / New Year's Day
2010 Thanksgiving Long Live 2011 Speak Now Tour Haunted
2019 SNL Lover
2011 Speak Now Tour Mine 2012 Hangout Treacherous
★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 2012 BBC Awards Love Story
2019 NPR Tiny Desk Lover
2011 Speak Now Tour Fearless
2008 ACMs Should've Said No 2019 City of Lover Cornelia Street
2011 Speak Now Tour Dear John 2012 AMAs I Knew You Were Trouble
2009 Fearless Tour You Belong With Me 2020 ACMs betty
2013 CMTs Red 2013 Red Tour The Lucky One
2009 Fearless Tour Love Story 2020 Long Pond my tears ricochet
2013 Red Tour Mean 2013 Red Tour I Knew You Were Trouble
2009 Fearless Tour Hey Stephen 2021 Grammys cardigan / august / willow
2013 Red Tour Never Grow Up 2013 Red Tour All Too Well
2009 Fearless Tour Tell Me Why 2021 SNL All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
2013 Red Tour You Belong With Me 2015 Grammy Museum Blank Space
2009 Fearless Tour Fearless
2013 Red Tour Sparks Fly 2015 1989 Tour How You Get The Girl
2009 Fearless Tour Picture To Burn
2013 Red Tour Everything Has Changed 2015 1989 Tour Out Of The Woods
2010 Late Show Speak Now (Yellow Dress)
2015 1989 Tour I Wish You Would 2016 Grammys Out Of The Woods
By a wonderful little moment of serendipity from the universe, I awarded exactly 13 live performances 10-star
ratings. It really took some serious deliberation to rank these, but here’s what I settled on - for now, at least -
as the Top 13 Taylor Swift live performances of her career to-date.

#13. 2019 Tiny Desk - Lover

#12. Long Pond Studio Sessions - my tears ricochet

#11. 2020 ACMs - betty

#10. 2018 AMAs - I Did Something Bad

#9. Rep Tour - I Did Something Bad

#8. 2021 Grammys - cardigan / august / willow

#7. 2019 SNL - Lover

#6. 1989 Tour - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

#5. City of Lover - Cornelia Street

#4. Rep Tour - Long Live / New Year’s Day

#3. 2021 SNL - All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

#2. Grammy Museum - Wildest Dreams

#1. 2014 Grammys - All Too Well

Is this my bias showing through in that two versions of All Too Well made it into the top 3? Maybe, but I
honestly don’t think it is. I think those performances each stand on their own merits and that even if I was an
All Too Well-denier (do those exist?) that I’d still find them to be among the very best performances she’s ever
given. It was a very close call between the top two spots and I went back and forth a couple of times, but
eventually I decided that the emotion of the 2014 Grammys performance was just too impactful. But that
rendition of Wildest Dreams is just immaculate too. They both deserve to be seen by anyone and everyone
who is a fan of Taylor’s music.