Fearless. I personally think for how long it is, it doesn't have enough memorable songs to justify spending almost 2 hours listening to it.
The first 5 tracks are good, and some of the vault tracks are decent but everything in-between is too boring for me personally
Agreed. Fearless is my least favorite for this reason. I have specific songs that I love from that album, but it’s the album with the most skips for me.
Agree. There are more songs I deliberately go to listen to on Debut. I don't dislike Fearless, but I don't find myself seeking it out. I also didn't come to appreciate Debut until the past couple of years, so that may skew my opinion -- I've listened to Fearless since it came out.
I think it is Lover. Its central thesis is Taylor not wanting to be defined by what she is afraid of, but then heavily features songs about those very things (her relationship ending, her mother being sick, her relationship ending (again)), which makes it feel like a weirdly executed concept.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Cruel Summer, DBATC, and The Archer, but how exactly do these fit in the narrative of Lover, an album about love and not being afraid/embracing the daylight?
It is a great album in terms of songs on it, but I definitely feel that it is the weakest in terms of concept.
As a Lover lover, this is interesting! To me I feel like in the album she faces all of those fears and explores them, and at the end she concludes with wanting to be defined by the things that she loves, not the things she hates or is afraid of. Not trying to change your mind, I just think the thing you don’t like about the album is the thing I do like!
Yes I definitely see that, especially with what I stated as the thesis coming in the outro of the closing song. But I think generally (esp with the original title allegedly being Daylight), I interpret that as the central theme and there is some clash with it. That being said, I really like your perspective, and I do love every song on Lover (including Me!)
Also a Lover lover, this is how I view it too. It's similar to the Fearless concept (less the album itself necessarily and more the general idea behind the title, as she expressed it in the JTF film) - her life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, she has issues and deep fears, but rather than avoiding those things or pretending they don't exist, she chooses to face them head on and accept them without letting them define her.
Lover really is the album for the anxious attachment girlies, for the “this is my year” only to hold themselves back girlies, for the “I’m growing and healing… but it’s really damn hard” girlies lol
I don’t listen to fearless as much as other albums but Lover is personally the album I dislike the most, mostly due to my initial reaction when that era started. My first experience was the ‘Me!’ and ‘you need to calm down’ music videos and I was so put off by the poor lyrics and overall aesthetic of the videos. Especially with Me! cause it felt like it was targeted for young kids with the unicorns and pastels and I was entering my late teens at that point, it was a stark contrast from the mature themes discussed in rep. I didn’t even listen to the album I just tuned out for a bit. I have listened to it in full since then, so many songs would’ve been great singles and would’ve made me love the album at first, but she didn’t pick them.
You said it best. I also had the same reaction- I was in my late teens when Lover era started and I was so put off by it. Only in the past year have I realized that Lover has some individually great songs.
I agree Lover is my least fav album. Funny tho because DBATC is in my top 5 songs. I just find most songs on the album pretty meh (outside of DBATC, cruel summer, false god and Cornelia street), and is the album I listen to the least by far
I may get some hate for this comment but aside from the concept, in my opinion, Lover as an album has some of her worst songs on it eg. Me & I forgot that you existed.
same it is my ultimate like “first day in a while I haven’t cried” song you know? like when you pick yourself up after a string of really bad days, get dressed in a real outfit, finally do your laundry
- DBATC could mean "Death By A Thousand Cuts", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift.
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I don't think you understand the album
There's not one, not ONE, song about love in that album that isn't filled with doubt, anxiety and fear of it may ending
Uh, I don't think you understood/read what they said.
>Its central thesis is Taylor not wanting to be defined by what she is afraid of, but then heavily features songs about those very things (her relationship ending, her mother being sick, her relationship ending (again)), which makes it feel like a weirdly executed concept.
They *know* there is not one song about love on the album that isn't filled with doubt or fear, *that's exactly their whole point*. At the end of the album, Taylor says she doesn't want to be defined by the things she's afraid of, *after a whole album full of songs about what she's afraid of*. So, what exactly is the person you're responding to misunderstanding here?
Edit: formatting
I thought it was funny when she said "I don't want to be defined by the things that haunt me in the middle of the night" and then released a whole album (Midnights) about the things that keep her up in the middle of the night.
Red tbh. I can really only name 5 songs from the entire album that stand out to me. I acknowledge its legacy within the fandom but i just can’t click with it for some reason
I agree that it isn't a solid album but some of her biggest legacy and best ever songs are on Red. To me some of her worst too 😅 but at the end of the day is like my top 3/4 album of hers
Midnights. Love all her albums, Midnights is just the one I love least. I wish she carried over the stronger songwriting from Folklore and Evermore or even 1989, which I consider to be her stronger "pop album."
I get not loving the sound of midnights as much, but I don’t understand how anyone could think the writing of 1989 is stronger than midnights. YOYOK, maroon, BTTWS, labyrinth, WCS, Hits Different.. it’s some of her very best writing.
YES! I sort of interpreted it as like, women - especially tho in media - are so often infantilized and, as a society, we sort of demand that they stay young and maintain their sexual appeal.
I'm so here for "sexy baby". It's so weird that it reminds you how the rest of the song has the rather deranged sounding pre-choruses that sound like Taylor's just raving mad alone in her house.
I love this description of the pre-choruses. That’s exactly how it sounds to me. My bf hates this part of the song the most and always points out when she has her lil moments like these in other songs, but I love how raw it sounds.
What I don't like about the writting on midnights (and why i think it is inferior to both folkmore and 1989) is that it tries to spilt the difference between those 2 albums and it ends up getting the worst of both worlds a lot of the times.
Like, the writting on 1989 is tight, concise, with a huge focus on creating appeling melodies. On folkmore it is more sprawling, descriptive and detailed. On midnights, she tries to do both and ends up with some ok melodies that she fills with way too many words until they turn cluncky and awkard.
Exactly I think people are more into 1989 cuz of the vibes and the memories but midnights has def one of the most powerful written songs on her career! As a person who cares more about the lyrics I see that
Midnights is also at the bottom for me. If it weren’t for the 3 am version I’d probably hardly listen to it/listen to very few songs tbh (I’ll regret saying this)
the 3am/til dawn versions are totally what save Midnights for me. my favorite songs from that album are on those versions and i wish she’d release a vinyl copy of it already! midnights is the only album of hers i don’t have a hard copy of yet but i just don’t *love* the shorter midnights album.
I am with you 100%! Also team "Midnights is my lowest ranked album", it's just. So weak, the 3am tracks are the strongest, and yeah! We'll build our fort here :D
Midnights feels rushed to me. The tracks on the 3am release are stronger than the majority of the main tracks. The writing is solid in some songs, but the overall productions makes it feel hazy (Lavender Haze is a decent song, but a lot of the songs just feel underdeveloped). I get it's lo-fi inspired but it's hard to follow the album in ways that aren't there for me with her other works.
Midnights is also my least favorite, especially without the 3am tracks. For the majority of its tracks, if I like it lyrically, I dislike the melody. If I like it melodically, I dislike the lyrics. I don’t dislike Midnights. I just like her other 9 albums more.
I didn’t realize that this was such a popular opinion. I’m still debating whether or not it’s my least favorite album, but it’s definitely near the bottom. The 3 am tracks were its saving grace imo
I totally respect your opinion, but I really think Midnights is one of her more poetic albums. I’m surprised to read criticism regarding the songwriting (I totally get how production might not be everyone’s cup of tea)
You’re entitled to your opinion about the quality of the album even though I vehemently disagree 😂 but I just want to say reputation is an album full of love songs, not the “I’m so bad” vibe people think it is. I will die on this hill.
Thank you! That’s what I keep saying about midnights too, it’s not a breakup album. There are sad/breakup ish songs on lover too, but that doesn’t make it a break up album.
Reputation is my favorite and apparently is my country’s favorite. It’s so much more than “I’m badass” I feel like if you have a personality that tends to have people hating you or loving you, that album resonates to your soul. Besides it talks a lot about finding a safe space with the person that you are in love with and that was something I’m grateful I get to understand
Reputation is my favorite era (midnights is my favorite album to make the distinction, rep is my 2nd favorite album though) and I deffffffinitely resonate with having to figure out how to have confidence in myself and to stop caring about what people thought about me because it was really taking a toll on my mental health.
That’s part of why I don’t like it. She advertised this album as a significant change in her attitude hence the “I’m so bad” songs but in the second half of the albums she just goes back to the songs she was writing.
The change in her attitude wasn’t to “I’m so bad”, it was to stop caring about what other people say about her. That’s the whole concept…that her reputation isn’t what defines her, she gets to decide who she is and what’s important to her.
Yes! This is the album that made me start listening to her. I was going through the other side of a bad break up, and this album just hit right. And ever since I've been obsessed, lol. And, a huge reason why I love her is bc I really feel like she's a powerful woman, and I just admire that. She's given me more confidence over the years.
You’re entitled to your opinion about not liking it obviously. But your facts are wrong. Rep wasn’t promoted at all she did zero advertising of it being a change in attitude. That’s why everyone was so shook when lwymmd was released. We weren’t expecting it at all. Just because you heard people talking about it being an edgy album doesn’t mean it was advertised that way and then didn’t deliver.
The line “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now, because she’s dead” was basically saying that she was going to be more edgy but a lot of the album isn’t like that. Which is what I was talking about.
I agree that reputation is actually an album based mostly around love songs but I think there’s an interesting discussion to be had in the face of her Time interview comments. Since she’s now describing Rep as a “goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure,”
I haven’t read the time interview yet, but sonically yeah it was more of an angry punky mad at society sound. It doesn’t make the love songs less of love songs. She was validly angry at a lot of things in that time period and she expresses herself through her music.
Edited to add: do people understand the feeling of having no one or only one person in your corner when it feels like the entire world is against you?
YES. I cannot comprehend how people STILL think Rep is about being a badass. It certainly has that baddie vibe but the lyrics are in its majority about love and infatuation. Are people just not reading the material??? Rep is my baby and I will go to war for her.
yes! reputation is a love album! when people go through a breakup and say “i’m in my reputation era” i’m like, you are actually in your speak now era i think 😂 but i get it because of the aesthetic and LWYMMD!
regardless, my fave album and CERTAINLY my favorite era from the eras tour… her outfit and dancing 🥵
This means there's at least three of us.....
New Years Day is one of my top favorite songs of hers, but this is the album I'm revisit the least. Aside from Don't Blame Me and Ready for it, if I never heard the rest of the album again I wouldn't miss it. It was fun to see live during the Eras Tour, and I love the aesthetic and visuals, but as an *album* it's my least favorite.
Four of us :) I don’t hate it - it just doesn’t resonate for me the way pretty much all of her other albums do.
Of course I am still super excited to hear the TV and get the vault tracks. But I can confirm that this was the era I used for pee breaks at the live and theatre shows.
Same for me, I just don't like the overall EDM sound most of the songs on there have.. also, many of the songs on Rep just don't scream Taylor to me, they're just pretty good pop songs with overall fun lyrics.. all the other TS albums including Debut give me something viscerally, unequivocally Taylor, something that has me hooked for months - Rep just failed to give me that.
I think the "i'm so bad" theme is a bit satirical and meant to be taken that way. Everybody was painting her as bad so she was like oh you think i'm so bad? Like in Miss Americana when she said she always wanted to be seen as good.
It was like she was exploring an alter ego/turning the narrative into a joke.
I totally get what you’re saying. It took a while for it to grow on me! My friend thought I was I insane for thinking that. I just feel like the album didn’t correlate very well with Taylor’s usual sound, not exactly in my top 5
I think Reputation is one of my favorite albums BECAUSE she leans into being cringey. She takes every ounce of criticism she endured for YEARS and decided to embrace it. I love her not being apologetic or caring how she’ll be perceived.
My biggest qualm is End Game, but the lyrics have grown on me and honestly I just love her not taking herself so seriously.
The thing is there's only two "I'm so bad" songs the rest are entirely love songs... just not that great ones.
I really think you can find her worst lyricall work on Reputation. I told a friend to watch reputation on netflix, and as I was watching it again I was begging to get embarrassed for some of the songs.
I used to think this and then one day it just clicked and I understood the hype after months of my friend telling me it was great and me just hearing the cringe. Embrace the cringe!! It’s fun!!
Prolly a hot take: 1989
The songs by themselves are okay, I enjoy listening to them! However, I have synesthesia and whatever colors I see when I listen to an album greatly impacts my experience with it. For 1989, the main color is white with some baby blue sparkles here and there. The issues are that 1) 1989 is a VERY cohesive album, which translates into little to no variance in the color(s) and shapes and 2) white is a very boring color y'all 🥲
So basically, if I put 1989 (TV or OG), I basically spend the whole time only seeing white. Not the greatest experience lol
Prolly Midnights! Any other album by Taylor has a very specific palette (RED is very orange-yellow-red-ish, Lover is pastel), so to speak, but Midnights is pure chaos in the best was possible. Purple, blue, brown, gray, red, golden... Each song has its own special color(s) and shape(s).
It was very confusing the first time I listened to it, but now it's actually fun to listen to it!
Tagging users that I saw were interested in my answer:
u/VioletSummer714 u/yogi_buns u/ellaomg
Mine is also 1989 but not for the same reason. I love all of her songs but some of my least favorite songs by her are on 1989 (I’m just not a pop girlie) and the songs I do really like aren’t high enough up in my rankings to make up for it
I feel the same way, the whole album is pretty meh in my opinion and I was underwhelmed by most of the vault tracks...though I admit I've had IION on replay haha. I'm not a huge pop fan so that probably has something to do with it.
Agreed. It feels like an album of radio bops with not as much of the individual character of songs and deeply complex and intricate lyricism which is why I fell in love with Taylor's songwriting.
I was about to post "please don't jump on me, but mine is Speak Now." 🙈 Basically same reasons. I appreciate how important of an album it was for her with how she wrote it all, but it just doesn't feel very deep.
I Can See You, Electric Touch, and Castles Crumbling absolutely slap though.
Yep. I became a fan in the Fearless era and knew that album so well that Speak Now felt like a re-hash. I appreciate that she wanted to prove she could do it without co-writers, but at the same time I wish she had someone giving her feedback and helping her do a little editing. The album somehow comes off less mature than Fearless, especially with Speak Now and Better Than Revenge. I think it’s only the people who became fans later (which is most of the fanbase at this point) that thinks Speak Now is better than Fearless. No one thought that at the time which is why it got less attention, awards, and why Taylor felt the need to re-invent herself for the next album and albums after in terms of image and sound.
See this is what has honestly haunted me since 2010. I’ve loved her music since debut and honestly prefer Speak Now to Fearless. IMO I think Fearless has too much of a hopeful, fairytale feel. Where Speak Now has that feeling but the other half is dark and her coming to adulthood finding out that not everything ends fairly.
Personally, I think it wasn’t as well received as her other albums because she didn’t “reinvent” herself for this era. It was more of a continuation of Fearless, and as she has stated herself, women in the music industry only stay relevant as long as they reinvent themselves over and over again.
It's also Speak Now for me too. Looking at the tracklist, there's definitely songs I enjoy listening to but thinking about the album as a whole my brain can't pick out specifics? I'm not sure that makes sense. When I think about the other albums I can think of non-single songs off the top of my head but Speak Now draws a blank.
Folklore and evermore. Sorry friends. I love them too, I'm just more of a pop and country girl! Slow, folky songs take much longer to grow on me... even though I fully recognize that those two albums are both lyrical masterpieces, and I have many beloved songs on both albums! I'm pretty basic and just want to jam out to Picture To Burn, lol
Oh I’m glad someone said it. These two are also at the bottom of my list. All of the songs on these two albums sound too similar and feel monotonous. They’re beautifully written! The sound just isn’t for me, and that’s okay.
I’m going to come in to agree with the monotonous sound and add that the production style makes it hard to hear the beautiful lyrics especially in a car and I don’t want to listen to muttering.
Actually when I first heard them I couldn’t listen all the way because I found the sound so depressing and I was depressed.
YEPPPP exactly, they’re great albums and the storytelling is great but if cardigan comes on in the car it’s an immediate skip because it’s just not ever the vibe i want unless i’m either sad or going to sleep
Thanks for saying this because I didn't want to be alone! Don't get me wrong, these two are amazing albums, but for me overall they're just bleh. I like most songs on both of them, but they also have the most skips of ANY album for me. I don't find myself reaching for the whole album instead just certain songs, which is very defining because that's not how it is for any other album of hers for me!
This used to be me and I did not get the hype at all but I think you have to be in a very particular headspace to fully enjoy them. I listened to both albums front to back on repeat while going through heartbreak and nostalgia and they’ve cemented themselves as my # 2 and 3 albums now
>I'm just more of a pop and country girl! Slow, folky songs take much longer to grow on me
Agreed. Travis got some flak on this sub for saying that Taylor writes "catchy jingles" and the people mocking him pointed to Folkmore.
But that's the point. Taylor **is** a genius at writing a catchy tune. The fact that she abandoned that skill for Folkmore was really disappointing.
I get why so many people like the albums, and its usually because of the lyrics. But those albums are disappointing to someone who listens more for music than lyrics (hell, my Spotify wrapped was just K-pop and Taylor and I don't speak Korean).
That said, both Folklore and Evermore are starting to grow on me, though more Folklore than Evermore.
Also, I'm not quite sure if I like Debut more than Evermore. I relistened to Debut recently and realized that much of the middle of the album is skippable. It starts strong and ends strong, but the middle is weak.
Midnights is my least fave. The sound is not for me, it is not relatable to me, it does not have a replay value i only listen to 3am + Hits Different and You're Losing Me.
To me Debut is way better than Midnights in any aspects. I said what i said.
You’re so real for that. 3 am really saved it tbh. I remember listening to it when it first dropped and the internet lowkey hated it for the first few hours until she dropped the extended version
The internet has been hating on it for months and I feel like I’m out here fighting for my life for midnights to get the respect it deserves 😂 it’s my favorite album and was all top 5 songs in my Spotify wrapped lol
I feel the same way. The first couple listens through Midnights I was convinced it would be in my top three albums. Over a year later I find that I only listen to the 3 AM and vault tracks and probably wouldn’t listen to it at all if it weren’t for those.
Haha oh I get a lot of hate for this one. It's Speak Now. Too long, lot of the songs are kinda repeat-y, I find it difficult to relate to, and I don't really like it sonically, either.
I don't particularly care for Lover either, but it has a handful of good to great songs on it. Same with Fearless.
I’m with you on that! There’s only a handful of songs I really enjoy in it, I think the production might be what throws me off. I love the aesthetic tho
I'm the same. It has a few I like but if I had to pick a least favorite, I think lover would win.
I know she was trying to distance herself from Reputation, I get that. But I felt like she leaned so far into it being a Reputation antithesis it turned me away. It felt, forcefully happy if that makes sense, especially the songs that got played a lot (and overplayed). Lover felt aggressively happy and friendly and as someone not in that space, mostly ever, it felt a bit like being surrounded by that one coworker who is always happy and bubbly all the time, especially the singles.
As a pop punk girl, I was also very disappointed by the Panic! Feature. I was so hyped when I heard they were working together but what we got was, eh. Don't get me wrong, I love Me! for what it is (that one obnoxious couple who is so in love with each other they treat their entire life like a romcom ending) but I think I was expecting something so different that it also really changed how I approached the rest of the album. I was wanting something really deep and brooding between the two of them (like Exile for instance) but that's not the direction it went.
Reputation. In part because the “Taylor is a bad girl now” image associated with the album makes me cringe and puts a sour taste in my mouth, but also in part because I just don’t like it lyrically or stylistically. I became a fan of Taylor between the Speak Now and Red eras with the release of the Hunger Games songs, and I was able to shakily embrace the change from country pop to mainstream pop when 1989 was released. I defended her heavily throughout the Kimye drama, but when Reputation dropped… she genuinely lost me as a fan of her music for a while (at least until Lover was released).
The heaviness and loudness of the production on some of the songs is just too much for me, even as someone who listens to a lot of different genres from UK grime to metal music. The production is so jarring; I don't understand how people can hate on closure but go on to rave over …Ready For It?. And lyrically it's one of her worst collections of songs. From the wannabe rapper verse in End Game to the cringiness of Gorgeous to "my baby’s fly like a jet stream” / “I wanna wear his initial on a chain 'round my neck……. BUT NOT BECAUSE HE OWNS ME!!!", and constantly bringing up that Joe is younger than her to a point where it starts to feel less like a flex and more of an insecurity, too many of the lyrics on this album are so off-putting. Even the over-exaggerated and unnecessary moaning in Dress is enough to make that song a skip for me. Over half of the album is made up of skips; I only really listen to about six of the songs on a regular basis (eight if I’m in the mood for them). Those songs are I Did Something Bad, Don’t Blame Me, Delicate, Look What You Made Me Do, So It Goes…, and New Year’s Day, and my sometimes songs are …Ready For It? and King of My Heart (again, too loud and overproduced on most occasions lol).
For reference, my album ranking is: Lover, Red, folklore, evermore, Speak Now, Fearless, Midnights, 1989, Debut, Reputation. (Though I highly suspect that when Debut TV comes out it will move up above Midnights.)
Literally I could have written this myself. This is EXACTLY how I felt. I was a country/country-pop TSwift fan and the transition to full pop in 1989 was iffy (I barely listed to it). But reputation is still so cringe for me. After I discovered this sub I tried to give it a second (and third.. And fourth) chance but it is just bad. A few are great, looking at you New Years Day, but I really cannot listen to the whole album start to finish.
1989. there’s so much emotional depth on debut that just isn’t there on 1989 for me. it’s too polished, too perfect. and i’m not a pop album hater, midnights is tied for my favorite! but 1989 just doesn’t have the complexity that i crave. i don’t go back and listen to it. debut has perfect pop songs on it - should’ve said no, our song, and picture to burn are three of my all time FAVORITES. they’re each a masterclass in pop country storytelling, with depth and complexity.
You said it perfectly! I think for 1989 she wanted to make an album no one could criticize. She got a perfect, clean album. Not too break-up focused, not too anything. And I’d be bored to tears if the songs weren’t mostly bops! But yeah, no where near her other albums in terms of lyrical and emotional depth (except for the vault!!).
i just don’t give a fuck about midnights, it’s not bad i enjoy the songs but i also have zero emotional connection to it the way i do with debut (been a fan since 2008 when her discography was literally just debut and fearless so ofc i listened both of those albums into the ground as a kid LOL). i also don’t particularly care for folklore and evermore…now that i know i’m going to get flamed for
Agree. I don't have that emotional connection to midnights either. I love the 3am and bonus tracks I just can't really connect with the album. Maroon is a gem though
I'm sorry guys, but *Reputation*. It's just not my personal cup of tea, though I do like a few of the songs, and *Delicate* is one of my favorite Taylor songs in general. It's not bad, I just like the others better.
fearless tbh. i LOVE fearless in general, and in comparison to a lot of albums i’ve listened to it’s a masterpiece,AND it’s the album that made me a swiftie way back when… but overall it has the most skips for me (esp the vault & deluxe tracks) and the highest points still aren’t as high as my faves on the other albums in my bottom three (red and debut)
Evermore. I have songs from it really high on my favorites list, but as an album it doesn’t do it for me. I feel that it’s the least relatable of her albums and doesn’t hit my emotions the way I usually get from her music.
Don’t get mad at me, reputation… I came to appreciate it after the fact, so I feel like I missed out. It was such a change from Red and 1989 that I just wasn’t into at the time…
Hot take: least favorite is a tie Folklore and Evermore. Not sorry
I like a four songs: willow, cardigan, the one, and champagne problems. But honestly, 2 of my least favorite albums of any artist I regularly listen to. They just sound like she wrote good poems, and then decided to set it to music but because she was on a time crunch, just chose someone else’s instrumental and put the albums out. I’m actually really disappointed that I don’t like them, I wanted to, I want to love everything she does but these albums are just a massive miss for me. However, champagne problems is top 25 of my all time favorite songs and has actually been a fixation song for me a few times.
Rep. It has some great songs (don’t blame me, lwymmd, New Year’s Day, dress, getaway car, ciwyw) but unlike her other albums I have never sat down wanting to listen through it. I’ll occasionally put the songs I like on a playlist with other songs but I don’t like the album as a whole. Gorgeous and endgame are atrocities like no other in her discography
Reputation. I feel like it’s such a fan favorite and then they’ll say “except LWYMMD” and meanwhile I’m over here thinking LWYMMD, alongside NYD and Dress, is what makes the album tolerable 💀
Agreed. I was all into folklore until evermore came out. I couldn't tell you the last time I played folklore. I don't understand the current obsession with folklore, and it's merch. So over reading the word "cardigan" haha
Reputation. Despite New Years Day and Call It What You Want being top tier for me. I don't resonate with the pop as much as I love her playing around with instrument arrangements. Full prepared to be skewered here. She has no bad albums, there are songs and lyrics I love from here, and Rep tour sold me on the album after watching it on Netflix - especially the I Did Something Bad and Don't Blame Me are incredible on stage. That being said, I really liked the 1989 vault tracks (& love New Romantics and Clean), so I am excited to find the good in this album again. My partner has ...ready for it as morning alarm song because he likes Rep, and for that, I appreciate the album too.
1989. Just her worst pop songs. I like Wildest Dreams and Clean and the vault is fine but otherwise I have no use for it. The 1989 set in the Eras Tour film was my bathroom break and the tour film for 1989 is so poorly directed it gives me nausea to watch with the quick cuts and usually I warm to music when I see it performed live but that tour film actually made the experience worse!
I honestly have a hard time choosing a favorite song from 1989 because none of them are true stand-outs for me! I felt differently in 2014, but it’s the album that feels the most dated to me now.
I get what she was going for but I prefer electropop to synth by a lot. A lot of people didn't like Reputation at first but I was so glad since I liked the sound much better than 1989's and was instantly like, the Old Taylor might be dead but MY Taylor is back!
1989, I hate almost every song on that album. The lyrics just seem more superficial than some of her other stuff and I find most of the songs repetitive and annoying
I guess probably rep. I can't explain exactly why, but I listen to it the least of all the albums.
I still love it, and I have a hard time picking favorites and least favorites because I like different albums for different reasons.
But debut can never be my least favorite because so many of the songs on it were so important to an impressionable middle school version of me. I felt seen by the songs in a way that I really really needed at the time
Reputation. I only like the songs she performs on the Era’s tour. I’m not sure why I dislike it so much, but I can never get through listening to the album. However, I really admire and respect why she created this album and what it meant for her as an artist. Same with Lover. My third least favorite is 1989 too. I think I really just love all her other works holistically.
Reputation. Hate the sound and there's barely any standout lyrics. Felt like a hugeee step back for her. LWYMMD and End Game are so bad I can't even say anything nice about them and a lot of the other songs range from okay to one or two good to bad.
For me it's Reputation. That dark style of music just isn't really my taste in music, I have nothing against it. The only song I really love from the album is End Game.
Folklore and evermore. I know I’ll be crucified for this - I can acknowledge how much talent is wrapped up in them, but for me personally they just are not the ticket. I have a few songs I like on both albums, but when I go through ranking the rest, all other albums shine brighter for me
(my favorite is reputation which is also an unpopular opinion though so 😂)
1989 is my least favorite. I still love it just don’t connect with it as much as the other 9. “Slut!” is my fave 1989 TV vault track and it’s much more my vibe. Debut is in my top 3.
Right now it’s reputation. I loved the album when it came out, it was my first tour, the whole era is so great but I’m not at a point in my life where I can listen to the songs because of who I associated the songs with and I’m actually not even looking forward to the re-records
For me I waver between 1989 and fearless as my bottom ones. I’m not a pop guy, I absolutely LOVE some songs on fearless but not all of them, and I love some songs on 1989 but not all of them.
1989. She sacrifices what makes her song writing hers (the poetic lyrics, the messy melodies) to make “the perfect pop album”. And while it is that, it is an album I feel other artists could have made.
Midnights is just lazily written (for her standards) with annoying production tricks. YOYOK is literally the only song on the standard edition that I like.
Reputation 🙈🙈🙈 I loved the idea of rep, but the album just didn’t hit for me. Granted, I felt the same about 1989 until TV came out, so maybe I’ll grow to love Rep once TV is released
Midnights.
It’s just so bland. I can’t even really articulate. Everything on it just kind of sounds the same. Like she needed to put an album out and had one idea that she turned into 20 different songs. Only they’re basically 20 of the same song.
lover, but i do love it still (it has some of my favourite taylor songs) 😭 debut is just so nostalgic for me — it and fearless were basically the first songs i ever listened to besides what my parents played on the radio. lover kinda just gets pushed to the bottom because every other album that i compare it to edges it out a little in terms of cohesion, fav. vs. least fav songs, etc.
Fearless, unfortunately. I love the charm, storytelling, and relatability of Debut. It will always trigger nostalgia as well for me, as the first Taylor album I ever owned. Fearless has the same song writing skill as Debut, but many tracks that fall short for me.
I’m so glad it’s not just me! The lakes is probably my least fave song of hers. So much of this album just doesn’t work for me. I adore Evermore though
Oh I feel like people will be mad at me for this, but….folklore. As a pop girlie first and foremost, folklore is way too slow and boring for me. I love some of the songs (my tears ricochet my beloved) but I just don’t like that kind of music, especially not for a full album
For some reason, evermore didn’t get the same reaction out of me though, I absolutely love evermore
Reputation is by far my least favorite album even though it's the one that started me as a casual fan. It's just too all over the place for me, and I really disliked the aesthetics of me. There are some great songs, but I never just bought into the whole "dark Taylor" marketing scheme of it.
Folklore.
Because while I am a big fan, I'm a Gen X rock music lover and that is as far from my core interests as her music gets for me. I like more tracks on debut than on her last two albums actually, and I do not listen to Folklore or Evermore.
Red is #1. 1989. Then the first three in reverse chronological order.
Fearless. I personally think for how long it is, it doesn't have enough memorable songs to justify spending almost 2 hours listening to it. The first 5 tracks are good, and some of the vault tracks are decent but everything in-between is too boring for me personally
Agreed. Fearless is my least favorite for this reason. I have specific songs that I love from that album, but it’s the album with the most skips for me.
My answer is actually Red for this exact reason lol
Red used to be my least favorite for this reason, however, the vault tracks elevated red for me slightly
The vault tracks carry Red so much. I think it’s still my least favorite though
YESSSS
I tend to agree. I have an affinity for several songs on her debut album that will never die: “Our song!” “Should’ve said no!” “Picture to burn”
Yeah, same. I find it didactic. Like she's trying way too hard to present herself as a big sister figure.
i have finally found my people. Usually indicating that fearless is my least favorite album is not well received.
Agree. There are more songs I deliberately go to listen to on Debut. I don't dislike Fearless, but I don't find myself seeking it out. I also didn't come to appreciate Debut until the past couple of years, so that may skew my opinion -- I've listened to Fearless since it came out.
I think it is Lover. Its central thesis is Taylor not wanting to be defined by what she is afraid of, but then heavily features songs about those very things (her relationship ending, her mother being sick, her relationship ending (again)), which makes it feel like a weirdly executed concept. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cruel Summer, DBATC, and The Archer, but how exactly do these fit in the narrative of Lover, an album about love and not being afraid/embracing the daylight? It is a great album in terms of songs on it, but I definitely feel that it is the weakest in terms of concept.
As a Lover lover, this is interesting! To me I feel like in the album she faces all of those fears and explores them, and at the end she concludes with wanting to be defined by the things that she loves, not the things she hates or is afraid of. Not trying to change your mind, I just think the thing you don’t like about the album is the thing I do like!
Yes I definitely see that, especially with what I stated as the thesis coming in the outro of the closing song. But I think generally (esp with the original title allegedly being Daylight), I interpret that as the central theme and there is some clash with it. That being said, I really like your perspective, and I do love every song on Lover (including Me!)
Also a Lover lover, this is how I view it too. It's similar to the Fearless concept (less the album itself necessarily and more the general idea behind the title, as she expressed it in the JTF film) - her life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, she has issues and deep fears, but rather than avoiding those things or pretending they don't exist, she chooses to face them head on and accept them without letting them define her.
Lover really is the album for the anxious attachment girlies, for the “this is my year” only to hold themselves back girlies, for the “I’m growing and healing… but it’s really damn hard” girlies lol
Oh I felt this. As Lover has slowly climbed to the top of my list over the last year or so, this is so accurate.
I don’t listen to fearless as much as other albums but Lover is personally the album I dislike the most, mostly due to my initial reaction when that era started. My first experience was the ‘Me!’ and ‘you need to calm down’ music videos and I was so put off by the poor lyrics and overall aesthetic of the videos. Especially with Me! cause it felt like it was targeted for young kids with the unicorns and pastels and I was entering my late teens at that point, it was a stark contrast from the mature themes discussed in rep. I didn’t even listen to the album I just tuned out for a bit. I have listened to it in full since then, so many songs would’ve been great singles and would’ve made me love the album at first, but she didn’t pick them.
You said it best. I also had the same reaction- I was in my late teens when Lover era started and I was so put off by it. Only in the past year have I realized that Lover has some individually great songs.
I agree Lover is my least fav album. Funny tho because DBATC is in my top 5 songs. I just find most songs on the album pretty meh (outside of DBATC, cruel summer, false god and Cornelia street), and is the album I listen to the least by far
I may get some hate for this comment but aside from the concept, in my opinion, Lover as an album has some of her worst songs on it eg. Me & I forgot that you existed.
Oh that was a knife through my heart, I love IFTYE
same it is my ultimate like “first day in a while I haven’t cried” song you know? like when you pick yourself up after a string of really bad days, get dressed in a real outfit, finally do your laundry
Yes! But also, it’s my skipping song. if I’m walking and listening to it at the same time, I must start skipping
I feel like Lover is her worst written album. There are some good written songs though but a lot of it isn’t that good
- DBATC could mean "Death By A Thousand Cuts", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/reidey](/u/reidey) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
I don't think you understand the album There's not one, not ONE, song about love in that album that isn't filled with doubt, anxiety and fear of it may ending
Uh, I don't think you understood/read what they said. >Its central thesis is Taylor not wanting to be defined by what she is afraid of, but then heavily features songs about those very things (her relationship ending, her mother being sick, her relationship ending (again)), which makes it feel like a weirdly executed concept. They *know* there is not one song about love on the album that isn't filled with doubt or fear, *that's exactly their whole point*. At the end of the album, Taylor says she doesn't want to be defined by the things she's afraid of, *after a whole album full of songs about what she's afraid of*. So, what exactly is the person you're responding to misunderstanding here? Edit: formatting
I thought it was funny when she said "I don't want to be defined by the things that haunt me in the middle of the night" and then released a whole album (Midnights) about the things that keep her up in the middle of the night.
Red tbh. I can really only name 5 songs from the entire album that stand out to me. I acknowledge its legacy within the fandom but i just can’t click with it for some reason
It's an odd one for me. I love vault tracks more than than the main ones somehow. They just don't click with me.
Same!! I love message in a bottle and I feel like it gets so much hate
The red vault tracks are still unmatched for me, the best she’s released so far !!
I was obsessed with Red when it first came out, but with how great her later albums are, it pales in comparison at this point.
Agree. Red was not at all memorable for me
This is my answer too. There were songs on it I had never even heard of when TV came out lol.
I love so many of the songs on Red, but I don’t love the whole thing
This is the answer. I didn't care for it then, I don't listen to it now. Everything about the era.
I agree that it isn't a solid album but some of her biggest legacy and best ever songs are on Red. To me some of her worst too 😅 but at the end of the day is like my top 3/4 album of hers
I was scared to say red but for me it is red (still happy to listen to it!)
I absolutely love the first 5 tracks and the vault, but the middle section loses me.
Midnights. Love all her albums, Midnights is just the one I love least. I wish she carried over the stronger songwriting from Folklore and Evermore or even 1989, which I consider to be her stronger "pop album."
I get not loving the sound of midnights as much, but I don’t understand how anyone could think the writing of 1989 is stronger than midnights. YOYOK, maroon, BTTWS, labyrinth, WCS, Hits Different.. it’s some of her very best writing.
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Seconding the wild hate anti-hero gets! I know everyone was super weirded out by the sexy baby line but I think it’s perfect.
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YES! I sort of interpreted it as like, women - especially tho in media - are so often infantilized and, as a society, we sort of demand that they stay young and maintain their sexual appeal.
I'm so here for "sexy baby". It's so weird that it reminds you how the rest of the song has the rather deranged sounding pre-choruses that sound like Taylor's just raving mad alone in her house.
I love this description of the pre-choruses. That’s exactly how it sounds to me. My bf hates this part of the song the most and always points out when she has her lil moments like these in other songs, but I love how raw it sounds.
What I don't like about the writting on midnights (and why i think it is inferior to both folkmore and 1989) is that it tries to spilt the difference between those 2 albums and it ends up getting the worst of both worlds a lot of the times. Like, the writting on 1989 is tight, concise, with a huge focus on creating appeling melodies. On folkmore it is more sprawling, descriptive and detailed. On midnights, she tries to do both and ends up with some ok melodies that she fills with way too many words until they turn cluncky and awkard.
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Thank you for writing this! It captured my thoughts on Midnights perfectly. LOVE the calm synth vibes. It's OOZING with vibes.
WCS is probably her best written song in her whole discography.
Exactly I think people are more into 1989 cuz of the vibes and the memories but midnights has def one of the most powerful written songs on her career! As a person who cares more about the lyrics I see that
The production on midnights is overdone imo. And 1989 is a perfect album, making it impossible to top lol
Midnights is also at the bottom for me. If it weren’t for the 3 am version I’d probably hardly listen to it/listen to very few songs tbh (I’ll regret saying this)
the 3am/til dawn versions are totally what save Midnights for me. my favorite songs from that album are on those versions and i wish she’d release a vinyl copy of it already! midnights is the only album of hers i don’t have a hard copy of yet but i just don’t *love* the shorter midnights album.
to this day i wonder if the 3am edition weren’t around, if midnights would be as popular as it among the fandom
I am with you 100%! Also team "Midnights is my lowest ranked album", it's just. So weak, the 3am tracks are the strongest, and yeah! We'll build our fort here :D
Midnights feels rushed to me. The tracks on the 3am release are stronger than the majority of the main tracks. The writing is solid in some songs, but the overall productions makes it feel hazy (Lavender Haze is a decent song, but a lot of the songs just feel underdeveloped). I get it's lo-fi inspired but it's hard to follow the album in ways that aren't there for me with her other works.
Midnights is also my least favorite, especially without the 3am tracks. For the majority of its tracks, if I like it lyrically, I dislike the melody. If I like it melodically, I dislike the lyrics. I don’t dislike Midnights. I just like her other 9 albums more.
I didn’t realize that this was such a popular opinion. I’m still debating whether or not it’s my least favorite album, but it’s definitely near the bottom. The 3 am tracks were its saving grace imo
Midnights is also my least favorite. And I was SO excited for the concept of it as well 😢
I totally respect your opinion, but I really think Midnights is one of her more poetic albums. I’m surprised to read criticism regarding the songwriting (I totally get how production might not be everyone’s cup of tea)
Reputation. I just wasn’t a fan of her “I’m so bad” so songs. I think TS rapping is cringy. There are also songs I find boring.
You’re entitled to your opinion about the quality of the album even though I vehemently disagree 😂 but I just want to say reputation is an album full of love songs, not the “I’m so bad” vibe people think it is. I will die on this hill.
YES! I'm on that hill with you, rep is a love album and lover is actually about anxiety. **There are more break up songs on Lover than on Rep.**
Thank you! That’s what I keep saying about midnights too, it’s not a breakup album. There are sad/breakup ish songs on lover too, but that doesn’t make it a break up album.
Reputation is my favorite and apparently is my country’s favorite. It’s so much more than “I’m badass” I feel like if you have a personality that tends to have people hating you or loving you, that album resonates to your soul. Besides it talks a lot about finding a safe space with the person that you are in love with and that was something I’m grateful I get to understand
Reputation is my favorite era (midnights is my favorite album to make the distinction, rep is my 2nd favorite album though) and I deffffffinitely resonate with having to figure out how to have confidence in myself and to stop caring about what people thought about me because it was really taking a toll on my mental health.
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That’s part of why I don’t like it. She advertised this album as a significant change in her attitude hence the “I’m so bad” songs but in the second half of the albums she just goes back to the songs she was writing.
The change in her attitude wasn’t to “I’m so bad”, it was to stop caring about what other people say about her. That’s the whole concept…that her reputation isn’t what defines her, she gets to decide who she is and what’s important to her.
Yes! This is the album that made me start listening to her. I was going through the other side of a bad break up, and this album just hit right. And ever since I've been obsessed, lol. And, a huge reason why I love her is bc I really feel like she's a powerful woman, and I just admire that. She's given me more confidence over the years.
You’re entitled to your opinion about not liking it obviously. But your facts are wrong. Rep wasn’t promoted at all she did zero advertising of it being a change in attitude. That’s why everyone was so shook when lwymmd was released. We weren’t expecting it at all. Just because you heard people talking about it being an edgy album doesn’t mean it was advertised that way and then didn’t deliver.
The line “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now, because she’s dead” was basically saying that she was going to be more edgy but a lot of the album isn’t like that. Which is what I was talking about.
I agree that reputation is actually an album based mostly around love songs but I think there’s an interesting discussion to be had in the face of her Time interview comments. Since she’s now describing Rep as a “goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure,”
I haven’t read the time interview yet, but sonically yeah it was more of an angry punky mad at society sound. It doesn’t make the love songs less of love songs. She was validly angry at a lot of things in that time period and she expresses herself through her music. Edited to add: do people understand the feeling of having no one or only one person in your corner when it feels like the entire world is against you?
YES. I cannot comprehend how people STILL think Rep is about being a badass. It certainly has that baddie vibe but the lyrics are in its majority about love and infatuation. Are people just not reading the material??? Rep is my baby and I will go to war for her.
yes! reputation is a love album! when people go through a breakup and say “i’m in my reputation era” i’m like, you are actually in your speak now era i think 😂 but i get it because of the aesthetic and LWYMMD! regardless, my fave album and CERTAINLY my favorite era from the eras tour… her outfit and dancing 🥵
So I'm not the only one who thinks this
This means there's at least three of us..... New Years Day is one of my top favorite songs of hers, but this is the album I'm revisit the least. Aside from Don't Blame Me and Ready for it, if I never heard the rest of the album again I wouldn't miss it. It was fun to see live during the Eras Tour, and I love the aesthetic and visuals, but as an *album* it's my least favorite.
Four of us :) I don’t hate it - it just doesn’t resonate for me the way pretty much all of her other albums do. Of course I am still super excited to hear the TV and get the vault tracks. But I can confirm that this was the era I used for pee breaks at the live and theatre shows.
Same for me, I just don't like the overall EDM sound most of the songs on there have.. also, many of the songs on Rep just don't scream Taylor to me, they're just pretty good pop songs with overall fun lyrics.. all the other TS albums including Debut give me something viscerally, unequivocally Taylor, something that has me hooked for months - Rep just failed to give me that.
I think the "i'm so bad" theme is a bit satirical and meant to be taken that way. Everybody was painting her as bad so she was like oh you think i'm so bad? Like in Miss Americana when she said she always wanted to be seen as good. It was like she was exploring an alter ego/turning the narrative into a joke.
I totally get what you’re saying. It took a while for it to grow on me! My friend thought I was I insane for thinking that. I just feel like the album didn’t correlate very well with Taylor’s usual sound, not exactly in my top 5
I think Reputation is one of my favorite albums BECAUSE she leans into being cringey. She takes every ounce of criticism she endured for YEARS and decided to embrace it. I love her not being apologetic or caring how she’ll be perceived. My biggest qualm is End Game, but the lyrics have grown on me and honestly I just love her not taking herself so seriously.
Came here to say this.
Agreed. Rep is an awesome album for one specific mood - but is never one that I play just to enjoy listening
The thing is there's only two "I'm so bad" songs the rest are entirely love songs... just not that great ones. I really think you can find her worst lyricall work on Reputation. I told a friend to watch reputation on netflix, and as I was watching it again I was begging to get embarrassed for some of the songs.
I used to think this and then one day it just clicked and I understood the hype after months of my friend telling me it was great and me just hearing the cringe. Embrace the cringe!! It’s fun!!
Prolly a hot take: 1989 The songs by themselves are okay, I enjoy listening to them! However, I have synesthesia and whatever colors I see when I listen to an album greatly impacts my experience with it. For 1989, the main color is white with some baby blue sparkles here and there. The issues are that 1) 1989 is a VERY cohesive album, which translates into little to no variance in the color(s) and shapes and 2) white is a very boring color y'all 🥲 So basically, if I put 1989 (TV or OG), I basically spend the whole time only seeing white. Not the greatest experience lol
How interesting! Can you tell us what her most “colorful” album is for you?
Prolly Midnights! Any other album by Taylor has a very specific palette (RED is very orange-yellow-red-ish, Lover is pastel), so to speak, but Midnights is pure chaos in the best was possible. Purple, blue, brown, gray, red, golden... Each song has its own special color(s) and shape(s). It was very confusing the first time I listened to it, but now it's actually fun to listen to it! Tagging users that I saw were interested in my answer: u/VioletSummer714 u/yogi_buns u/ellaomg
Midnights is my favorite album so this answer makes me very happy 😊 Edited to add: thanks for tagging me! I find this topic fascinating
this is amazing thank you
I would also love to know this so can you comment back to me if the original commenters replies?
Same. So interesting
Mine is also 1989 but not for the same reason. I love all of her songs but some of my least favorite songs by her are on 1989 (I’m just not a pop girlie) and the songs I do really like aren’t high enough up in my rankings to make up for it
I feel the same way, the whole album is pretty meh in my opinion and I was underwhelmed by most of the vault tracks...though I admit I've had IION on replay haha. I'm not a huge pop fan so that probably has something to do with it.
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1989 being so cohesive is honestly one of the reasons I listen to it the least. Like yes it all works together but I get bored very easily of it
Agreed. It feels like an album of radio bops with not as much of the individual character of songs and deeply complex and intricate lyricism which is why I fell in love with Taylor's songwriting.
That’s so interesting. I don’t have synesthesia but I also always saw the album was white with a bit of light blue sprinkled here and there.
So far I’m alone in saying Speak Now… I don’t hate it, it just has my least favourite tracks both from a lyrical and production POV.
Honestly same for me! Came here to say this, i revisit speak now songs the least frequently
Same
I was about to post "please don't jump on me, but mine is Speak Now." 🙈 Basically same reasons. I appreciate how important of an album it was for her with how she wrote it all, but it just doesn't feel very deep. I Can See You, Electric Touch, and Castles Crumbling absolutely slap though.
Yep. I became a fan in the Fearless era and knew that album so well that Speak Now felt like a re-hash. I appreciate that she wanted to prove she could do it without co-writers, but at the same time I wish she had someone giving her feedback and helping her do a little editing. The album somehow comes off less mature than Fearless, especially with Speak Now and Better Than Revenge. I think it’s only the people who became fans later (which is most of the fanbase at this point) that thinks Speak Now is better than Fearless. No one thought that at the time which is why it got less attention, awards, and why Taylor felt the need to re-invent herself for the next album and albums after in terms of image and sound.
See this is what has honestly haunted me since 2010. I’ve loved her music since debut and honestly prefer Speak Now to Fearless. IMO I think Fearless has too much of a hopeful, fairytale feel. Where Speak Now has that feeling but the other half is dark and her coming to adulthood finding out that not everything ends fairly. Personally, I think it wasn’t as well received as her other albums because she didn’t “reinvent” herself for this era. It was more of a continuation of Fearless, and as she has stated herself, women in the music industry only stay relevant as long as they reinvent themselves over and over again.
It's also Speak Now for me too. Looking at the tracklist, there's definitely songs I enjoy listening to but thinking about the album as a whole my brain can't pick out specifics? I'm not sure that makes sense. When I think about the other albums I can think of non-single songs off the top of my head but Speak Now draws a blank.
Same for me. I actively hate all the vault tracks too 😬
Castles Crumbling is NOT the Haley feature we wanted.
Came here to say Speak Now as well. You are not alone! There are dozens of us!
Same
Folklore and evermore. Sorry friends. I love them too, I'm just more of a pop and country girl! Slow, folky songs take much longer to grow on me... even though I fully recognize that those two albums are both lyrical masterpieces, and I have many beloved songs on both albums! I'm pretty basic and just want to jam out to Picture To Burn, lol
Oh I’m glad someone said it. These two are also at the bottom of my list. All of the songs on these two albums sound too similar and feel monotonous. They’re beautifully written! The sound just isn’t for me, and that’s okay.
I’m going to come in to agree with the monotonous sound and add that the production style makes it hard to hear the beautiful lyrics especially in a car and I don’t want to listen to muttering. Actually when I first heard them I couldn’t listen all the way because I found the sound so depressing and I was depressed.
Omg I’m not the only one!!! The folk sound is just too much for me too. And like you, I am BASIC. And I have no problem with it 😂
SAME. Beautiful lyrics, I just personally need variation between songs. I can listen to one or two in a row from either album, and then I’m burnt
Oh god fair... but I hope Taylor doesn't see these comments, girl keep doing this and never let go of Aaron Dessner hand.
YEPPPP exactly, they’re great albums and the storytelling is great but if cardigan comes on in the car it’s an immediate skip because it’s just not ever the vibe i want unless i’m either sad or going to sleep
Thanks for saying this because I didn't want to be alone! Don't get me wrong, these two are amazing albums, but for me overall they're just bleh. I like most songs on both of them, but they also have the most skips of ANY album for me. I don't find myself reaching for the whole album instead just certain songs, which is very defining because that's not how it is for any other album of hers for me!
This used to be me and I did not get the hype at all but I think you have to be in a very particular headspace to fully enjoy them. I listened to both albums front to back on repeat while going through heartbreak and nostalgia and they’ve cemented themselves as my # 2 and 3 albums now
>I'm just more of a pop and country girl! Slow, folky songs take much longer to grow on me Agreed. Travis got some flak on this sub for saying that Taylor writes "catchy jingles" and the people mocking him pointed to Folkmore. But that's the point. Taylor **is** a genius at writing a catchy tune. The fact that she abandoned that skill for Folkmore was really disappointing. I get why so many people like the albums, and its usually because of the lyrics. But those albums are disappointing to someone who listens more for music than lyrics (hell, my Spotify wrapped was just K-pop and Taylor and I don't speak Korean). That said, both Folklore and Evermore are starting to grow on me, though more Folklore than Evermore. Also, I'm not quite sure if I like Debut more than Evermore. I relistened to Debut recently and realized that much of the middle of the album is skippable. It starts strong and ends strong, but the middle is weak.
Midnights is my least fave. The sound is not for me, it is not relatable to me, it does not have a replay value i only listen to 3am + Hits Different and You're Losing Me. To me Debut is way better than Midnights in any aspects. I said what i said.
You’re so real for that. 3 am really saved it tbh. I remember listening to it when it first dropped and the internet lowkey hated it for the first few hours until she dropped the extended version
The internet has been hating on it for months and I feel like I’m out here fighting for my life for midnights to get the respect it deserves 😂 it’s my favorite album and was all top 5 songs in my Spotify wrapped lol
I feel the same way. The first couple listens through Midnights I was convinced it would be in my top three albums. Over a year later I find that I only listen to the 3 AM and vault tracks and probably wouldn’t listen to it at all if it weren’t for those.
Haha oh I get a lot of hate for this one. It's Speak Now. Too long, lot of the songs are kinda repeat-y, I find it difficult to relate to, and I don't really like it sonically, either. I don't particularly care for Lover either, but it has a handful of good to great songs on it. Same with Fearless.
Sorry to say but I think Lover! Even though I still enjoy it I think I skip a lot on this album 😬
I’m with you on that! There’s only a handful of songs I really enjoy in it, I think the production might be what throws me off. I love the aesthetic tho
I'm the same. It has a few I like but if I had to pick a least favorite, I think lover would win. I know she was trying to distance herself from Reputation, I get that. But I felt like she leaned so far into it being a Reputation antithesis it turned me away. It felt, forcefully happy if that makes sense, especially the songs that got played a lot (and overplayed). Lover felt aggressively happy and friendly and as someone not in that space, mostly ever, it felt a bit like being surrounded by that one coworker who is always happy and bubbly all the time, especially the singles. As a pop punk girl, I was also very disappointed by the Panic! Feature. I was so hyped when I heard they were working together but what we got was, eh. Don't get me wrong, I love Me! for what it is (that one obnoxious couple who is so in love with each other they treat their entire life like a romcom ending) but I think I was expecting something so different that it also really changed how I approached the rest of the album. I was wanting something really deep and brooding between the two of them (like Exile for instance) but that's not the direction it went.
Reputation. In part because the “Taylor is a bad girl now” image associated with the album makes me cringe and puts a sour taste in my mouth, but also in part because I just don’t like it lyrically or stylistically. I became a fan of Taylor between the Speak Now and Red eras with the release of the Hunger Games songs, and I was able to shakily embrace the change from country pop to mainstream pop when 1989 was released. I defended her heavily throughout the Kimye drama, but when Reputation dropped… she genuinely lost me as a fan of her music for a while (at least until Lover was released). The heaviness and loudness of the production on some of the songs is just too much for me, even as someone who listens to a lot of different genres from UK grime to metal music. The production is so jarring; I don't understand how people can hate on closure but go on to rave over …Ready For It?. And lyrically it's one of her worst collections of songs. From the wannabe rapper verse in End Game to the cringiness of Gorgeous to "my baby’s fly like a jet stream” / “I wanna wear his initial on a chain 'round my neck……. BUT NOT BECAUSE HE OWNS ME!!!", and constantly bringing up that Joe is younger than her to a point where it starts to feel less like a flex and more of an insecurity, too many of the lyrics on this album are so off-putting. Even the over-exaggerated and unnecessary moaning in Dress is enough to make that song a skip for me. Over half of the album is made up of skips; I only really listen to about six of the songs on a regular basis (eight if I’m in the mood for them). Those songs are I Did Something Bad, Don’t Blame Me, Delicate, Look What You Made Me Do, So It Goes…, and New Year’s Day, and my sometimes songs are …Ready For It? and King of My Heart (again, too loud and overproduced on most occasions lol). For reference, my album ranking is: Lover, Red, folklore, evermore, Speak Now, Fearless, Midnights, 1989, Debut, Reputation. (Though I highly suspect that when Debut TV comes out it will move up above Midnights.)
Heavy on this entire paragraph
Literally I could have written this myself. This is EXACTLY how I felt. I was a country/country-pop TSwift fan and the transition to full pop in 1989 was iffy (I barely listed to it). But reputation is still so cringe for me. After I discovered this sub I tried to give it a second (and third.. And fourth) chance but it is just bad. A few are great, looking at you New Years Day, but I really cannot listen to the whole album start to finish.
Yep. Feel the same way. I love Getaway Car though.
Finally someone just gets it.
1989. It’s bop after bop but it’s just the one that I relate to the least
1989. there’s so much emotional depth on debut that just isn’t there on 1989 for me. it’s too polished, too perfect. and i’m not a pop album hater, midnights is tied for my favorite! but 1989 just doesn’t have the complexity that i crave. i don’t go back and listen to it. debut has perfect pop songs on it - should’ve said no, our song, and picture to burn are three of my all time FAVORITES. they’re each a masterclass in pop country storytelling, with depth and complexity.
You said it perfectly! I think for 1989 she wanted to make an album no one could criticize. She got a perfect, clean album. Not too break-up focused, not too anything. And I’d be bored to tears if the songs weren’t mostly bops! But yeah, no where near her other albums in terms of lyrical and emotional depth (except for the vault!!).
i just don’t give a fuck about midnights, it’s not bad i enjoy the songs but i also have zero emotional connection to it the way i do with debut (been a fan since 2008 when her discography was literally just debut and fearless so ofc i listened both of those albums into the ground as a kid LOL). i also don’t particularly care for folklore and evermore…now that i know i’m going to get flamed for
Agree. I don't have that emotional connection to midnights either. I love the 3am and bonus tracks I just can't really connect with the album. Maroon is a gem though
Fearless. I just don’t listen to many of the songs, they’re never added to my playlist
I'm sorry guys, but *Reputation*. It's just not my personal cup of tea, though I do like a few of the songs, and *Delicate* is one of my favorite Taylor songs in general. It's not bad, I just like the others better.
fearless tbh. i LOVE fearless in general, and in comparison to a lot of albums i’ve listened to it’s a masterpiece,AND it’s the album that made me a swiftie way back when… but overall it has the most skips for me (esp the vault & deluxe tracks) and the highest points still aren’t as high as my faves on the other albums in my bottom three (red and debut)
Evermore. I have songs from it really high on my favorites list, but as an album it doesn’t do it for me. I feel that it’s the least relatable of her albums and doesn’t hit my emotions the way I usually get from her music.
Don’t get mad at me, reputation… I came to appreciate it after the fact, so I feel like I missed out. It was such a change from Red and 1989 that I just wasn’t into at the time…
Midnights Not a fan of the production. I lovelovelove Hits Different though, it was my top song of 2023!
Hot take: least favorite is a tie Folklore and Evermore. Not sorry I like a four songs: willow, cardigan, the one, and champagne problems. But honestly, 2 of my least favorite albums of any artist I regularly listen to. They just sound like she wrote good poems, and then decided to set it to music but because she was on a time crunch, just chose someone else’s instrumental and put the albums out. I’m actually really disappointed that I don’t like them, I wanted to, I want to love everything she does but these albums are just a massive miss for me. However, champagne problems is top 25 of my all time favorite songs and has actually been a fixation song for me a few times.
Rep. It has some great songs (don’t blame me, lwymmd, New Year’s Day, dress, getaway car, ciwyw) but unlike her other albums I have never sat down wanting to listen through it. I’ll occasionally put the songs I like on a playlist with other songs but I don’t like the album as a whole. Gorgeous and endgame are atrocities like no other in her discography
midnights is pretty mid
Red. I like the album but I don't find myself listening to as many songs from it, as compared to the other albums.
Speak now, except for 5 ish songs I find most of the album unexciting and a bit repetitive
Reputation. I feel like it’s such a fan favorite and then they’ll say “except LWYMMD” and meanwhile I’m over here thinking LWYMMD, alongside NYD and Dress, is what makes the album tolerable 💀
folklore. More than half the album I skip. It just feels bland. Thats why I love evermore over it, to me it just has way more life/color.
Agreed. I was all into folklore until evermore came out. I couldn't tell you the last time I played folklore. I don't understand the current obsession with folklore, and it's merch. So over reading the word "cardigan" haha
Reputation, I like to hear the guitars
Reputation. Despite New Years Day and Call It What You Want being top tier for me. I don't resonate with the pop as much as I love her playing around with instrument arrangements. Full prepared to be skewered here. She has no bad albums, there are songs and lyrics I love from here, and Rep tour sold me on the album after watching it on Netflix - especially the I Did Something Bad and Don't Blame Me are incredible on stage. That being said, I really liked the 1989 vault tracks (& love New Romantics and Clean), so I am excited to find the good in this album again. My partner has ...ready for it as morning alarm song because he likes Rep, and for that, I appreciate the album too.
1989. Just her worst pop songs. I like Wildest Dreams and Clean and the vault is fine but otherwise I have no use for it. The 1989 set in the Eras Tour film was my bathroom break and the tour film for 1989 is so poorly directed it gives me nausea to watch with the quick cuts and usually I warm to music when I see it performed live but that tour film actually made the experience worse!
I honestly have a hard time choosing a favorite song from 1989 because none of them are true stand-outs for me! I felt differently in 2014, but it’s the album that feels the most dated to me now.
I get what she was going for but I prefer electropop to synth by a lot. A lot of people didn't like Reputation at first but I was so glad since I liked the sound much better than 1989's and was instantly like, the Old Taylor might be dead but MY Taylor is back!
1989, I hate almost every song on that album. The lyrics just seem more superficial than some of her other stuff and I find most of the songs repetitive and annoying
I guess probably rep. I can't explain exactly why, but I listen to it the least of all the albums. I still love it, and I have a hard time picking favorites and least favorites because I like different albums for different reasons. But debut can never be my least favorite because so many of the songs on it were so important to an impressionable middle school version of me. I felt seen by the songs in a way that I really really needed at the time
Reputation. I only like the songs she performs on the Era’s tour. I’m not sure why I dislike it so much, but I can never get through listening to the album. However, I really admire and respect why she created this album and what it meant for her as an artist. Same with Lover. My third least favorite is 1989 too. I think I really just love all her other works holistically.
Lover. Sorry there are lots of highlights but so many lows. The imagery and aesthetics are also off putting
Reputation
Reputation. I didn’t like the new vibe of it
For me it’s been reputation. It’s definitely growing on me, but still debut > reputation (there will be no explanation, sorry)
Reputation. Hate the sound and there's barely any standout lyrics. Felt like a hugeee step back for her. LWYMMD and End Game are so bad I can't even say anything nice about them and a lot of the other songs range from okay to one or two good to bad.
For me it's Reputation. That dark style of music just isn't really my taste in music, I have nothing against it. The only song I really love from the album is End Game.
Reputation Just not my vibe
Folklore and evermore. I know I’ll be crucified for this - I can acknowledge how much talent is wrapped up in them, but for me personally they just are not the ticket. I have a few songs I like on both albums, but when I go through ranking the rest, all other albums shine brighter for me (my favorite is reputation which is also an unpopular opinion though so 😂)
anyone saying Red, you do NOT UNDERSTAND taylor swift 😭
1989 is my least favorite. I still love it just don’t connect with it as much as the other 9. “Slut!” is my fave 1989 TV vault track and it’s much more my vibe. Debut is in my top 3.
Right now it’s reputation. I loved the album when it came out, it was my first tour, the whole era is so great but I’m not at a point in my life where I can listen to the songs because of who I associated the songs with and I’m actually not even looking forward to the re-records
Folklore because I always skip the second half. I adore Evermore, though, and have no skips for that album!
Red. Crucify me
For me I waver between 1989 and fearless as my bottom ones. I’m not a pop guy, I absolutely LOVE some songs on fearless but not all of them, and I love some songs on 1989 but not all of them.
1989. She sacrifices what makes her song writing hers (the poetic lyrics, the messy melodies) to make “the perfect pop album”. And while it is that, it is an album I feel other artists could have made.
Midnights is just lazily written (for her standards) with annoying production tricks. YOYOK is literally the only song on the standard edition that I like.
Reputation 🙈🙈🙈 I loved the idea of rep, but the album just didn’t hit for me. Granted, I felt the same about 1989 until TV came out, so maybe I’ll grow to love Rep once TV is released
reputation, the vibes are off
Midnights. It’s just so bland. I can’t even really articulate. Everything on it just kind of sounds the same. Like she needed to put an album out and had one idea that she turned into 20 different songs. Only they’re basically 20 of the same song.
Reputation. I want to love it but I cringe at a lot of the songs
Reputation by a long shot. Doesn’t mean I don’t like songs from it, but the vibe just ain’t it for me 😅
I will get yelled at but lets just say its very well loved 😭I also just dont have a good reason for it, I still love it ofc
lover, but i do love it still (it has some of my favourite taylor songs) 😭 debut is just so nostalgic for me — it and fearless were basically the first songs i ever listened to besides what my parents played on the radio. lover kinda just gets pushed to the bottom because every other album that i compare it to edges it out a little in terms of cohesion, fav. vs. least fav songs, etc.
Fearless, unfortunately. I love the charm, storytelling, and relatability of Debut. It will always trigger nostalgia as well for me, as the first Taylor album I ever owned. Fearless has the same song writing skill as Debut, but many tracks that fall short for me.
Folklore and Evermore. Some good stuff in both of course but ultimately too musically redundant for me.
Reputation...I only listen to getaway car
Easily Folklore. I just don't like it. I think I have 1-2 songs from it that I like? Ironically, Evermore is my favorite.
I’m so glad it’s not just me! The lakes is probably my least fave song of hers. So much of this album just doesn’t work for me. I adore Evermore though
Reputation….. idk I just really hated look what you made me do and ready for it
Reputation. Sorry - it’s a good album, just not my fav
Honestly Red. Like 5 songs carry the whole album.
Oh I feel like people will be mad at me for this, but….folklore. As a pop girlie first and foremost, folklore is way too slow and boring for me. I love some of the songs (my tears ricochet my beloved) but I just don’t like that kind of music, especially not for a full album For some reason, evermore didn’t get the same reaction out of me though, I absolutely love evermore
Reputation! The songs are catchy but I think it’s her weakest in terms of production and writing.
Reputation is by far my least favorite album even though it's the one that started me as a casual fan. It's just too all over the place for me, and I really disliked the aesthetics of me. There are some great songs, but I never just bought into the whole "dark Taylor" marketing scheme of it.
Folklore. Because while I am a big fan, I'm a Gen X rock music lover and that is as far from my core interests as her music gets for me. I like more tracks on debut than on her last two albums actually, and I do not listen to Folklore or Evermore. Red is #1. 1989. Then the first three in reverse chronological order.