By Austin Price, Editor in Chief
Taylor Swift is one of the most elite, successful, and well-known musical artists in our world today. Swift made history with her seamless transition between the genres of country music and pop music. In addition, Swift has also explored the indie and folk musical genres. She has received accolades for her songwriting, artistry, and entrepreneurship, all of which have majorly influenced the music industry and popular culture. Taylor Swift has released 10 original studio albums, 4 re-recorded studio albums, 5 extended plays, and 4 live albums. With such a massive amount of published material, I would argue that Taylor Swift is a genre all on her own. She certainly has enough music to support it.
As a die-hard Taylor Swift fan, I understand that her vast amount of music can be overwhelming and hard to follow. And so, I present to you a beginner’s tour of Taylor Swift’s work. You might say that I present to you a listener’s guide to Taylor Swift’s extensive album collection. Hopefully, this will break down her infinite catalog of work, and help dissect this wide library of songs, filled with heartbreak, hope, love, and joy.
The albums will be in chronological order, but with the Taylor’s Version albums replacing the original recordings. So, while the date may be different, the records are listed in the order that they were released, but with Taylor’s Version albums in place of the initial albums. This means we will go through 10 albums. Let’s get started.
Album: Taylor Swift
Release date: October 24th, 2006
Vibe: Childhood innocence
Personal favorites: Picture to Burn, Our Song, Should’ve Said No
Best lyric: “Was it worth it? Was she worth this?” (Should’ve Said No)
Summary: Kicking it off with our first album, Taylor Swift, Taylor shows her country music roots with songs of childhood innocence, adolescent feelings, and immature emotions as she writes a narrative of a young, country girl, finding love for the first time.
Album: Fearless (Taylor's Version)
Release Date: April 9th, 2021
Vibe: Highschool crush
Personal favorites: White Horse (Taylor’s Version), You Belong with Me (Taylor’s Version)
Best lyric: “Now it's too late for you and your white horse to catch me now.” (White Horse)
Summary: This is the ultimate high school album. With songs dreaming of running away with the high school quarterback and comparisons to the timeless love story, Romeo and Juliet, this album is perfect for that teenage angst when you think you know everything about love.
Album: Speak Now (Taylor's Version)
Release date: July 7th, 2023
Vibe: Young love
Personal favorites: Mean (Taylor’s Version), The Story of Us (Taylor’s Version), Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version), Haunted (Taylor’s Version)
Best lyric: “I've never heard silence quite this loud.” (The Story of Us)
Summary: This album takes us from the chaos and drama of high school to the stage in your life where you’re technically an adult, but you still wish you were a kid. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) brings songs of broken fairytales, shattered dreams, and lost promises, all of which were destroyed by the harsh realities of the real adult world.
Album: Red (Taylor’s Version)
Release date: November 12th, 2021
Vibe: Day-to-day life in love
Personal favorites: Red (Taylor’s Version), I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor’s Version), We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor’s Version), Holy Ground (Taylor’s Version), Sad Beautiful Tragic (Taylor’s Version), All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)
Best lyric: “And I guess we fell apart in the usual way and the story's got dust on every page.” (Holy Ground)
Summary: Just as the seasons of weather change, so do the seasons of love. Red (Taylor’s Version) breaks out of the imaginary love ballads and enters a more realistic, day-to-day romance with a reflection on the seasons of life and how change impacts love. It is a bittersweet album.
Album: 1989 (Taylor's Version)
Release date: October 27th, 2023
Vibe: Beach party with your lover
Personal favorites: Blank Space (Taylor’s Version), Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version), Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version), Wonderland (Taylor’s Version),
Best lyric: “Cause darling I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream.” (Blank Space)
Summary: 1989 is arguably Taylor’s top party playlist. With upbeat lyrics, fast paced tempos, and clever narrative, this album is the musical embodiment of the “it couple”.
Album: Reputation
Release date: November 10th, 2017
Vibe: Revenge
Personal favorites: Don’t Blame Me, Gorgeous, This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
Best lyric: “You’ve ruined my life by not being mine.” (Gorgeous)
Summary: Reputation is the ultimate revenge playlist. Complete with soundtracks for sabotage and schemes, Reputation is the badass of the album collection.
Album: Lover
Release date: August 23rd, 2019
Vibe: Puppy love in the honeymoon phase
Personal favorites: The Archer, Paper Rings, Death By A Thousand Cuts
Best lyric: “All the king's horses, all the king's men, couldn't put me together again.” (The Archer)
Summary: Lover is an album written by someone in love, for those who are in love. Lover hosts meet-cute love stories, reflections on society’s stereotypes, and a feeling of joy colored with shades of bubble gum pink.
Album: Folklore
Release date: July 24th, 2020
Vibe: Fables and fairytales
Personal favorites: the last great american dynasty, august, invisible string
Best lyric: “Time, mystical time, cutting me open, then healing me fine.” (invisible string)
Summary: Folklore is the perfect album for rainy days and walks in the forest. Taylor tells fictional tales of whimsy and wonder in this fantasy album, built for fables and folktales to be shared around the campfire.
Album: Evermore
Release date: December 11th, 2020
Vibe: Cabin in the woods
Personal favorites: Willow, Champagne Problems, long story short, marjorie
Best lyric: “Never be so kind, you forget to be clever. Never be so clever, you forget to be kind.” (marjorie)
Summary: This album was built for Colorado girls. Wrap up in a cozy flannel, make some hot chocolate, and enjoy this magical album with tales of witchcraft, true love, and life lessons. The album is complete with gentle vocals and haunting melodies.
Album: Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition)
Release date: May 26th, 2023
Vibe: Late night thoughts
Personal favorites: Vigilante Shit, Mastermind, The Great War, Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
Best lyric: “Draw the cat eye, sharp enough to kill a man.” (Vigilante Shit)
Summary: Midnights is a compilation of late-night thoughts, deep regrets, new ideas, and most of all dreams, both good and bad. Undertones of maturing revenge and parting thoughts give this album both a nostalgic look at the past and a hopeful view of the future.