Each Music Monday will be formatted as followed: an overview/ my opinion on their said career, followed by the ranking of their top 5 songs. No artist is without flaws, their worst three songs will also be judged and ripped to shreds.
As a reminder, this is not going to be a series where I list no-name songs off an artist’s shitty second album that’ll you’ll hear occasionally in an urban coffee shop. We only grade hits here. I’m not looking for songs that have the best underlying message. I’m not looking for songs that represent the artist’s struggle and triumph over something shitty that happened to them. I don’t care about any of that. We are only ranking the cream of the crop, the pinnacle of an artist’s success. Before you ask, I will not be ranking Beyonce’s songs, as I do not want to tarnish my blog with overrated garbage. If you have a problem with that, or my rankings, and want to make your criticisms known, you can email all of your concerns to VinnieWontCheckThis@gmail.com. Prior versions of this series can be found here.
So with that, let’s get started.
Taylor Alison Swift was born December 13, 1989, in Reading Pennsylvania to Scott and Andrea Swift. When she was 14, she moved to Nashville to pursue a music career. 2 years later, in 2006, she released Taylor Swift, the album, which served as her debut to the music world. The album was successful, and by the age of 16 T-Swift had a top 5 album and this aforementioned album spent the most weeks on the Billboard charts out of any album released in the 2000s. Taylor had arrived, but this work barely scratched the surface of what was to come. She followed up this album up in 2008 with Fearless. Her debut album made her a blip on the radar, Fearless put her on the map.
Fearless went on to win her four Grammy’s and she became the youngest artist to ever win Album of the Year in the process. She gave us Speak Now in 2010, an album where she was the sole writer on, and Red in 2012. Red made her a global icon and signaled a full-time transition to a pop artist. 1989 was released in 2014 which yielded her three more Grammy’s and also made her the first woman (fifth overall) to ever win more than one Album of the Year.
So to recap: By the age of 25 Taylor Swift had achieved success not seen by someone as young as her. She had 10 Grammy’s while still being young enough to stay on her parent’s insurance plan. She is one of the 20 top-selling artists of all time, all while being barely old enough to listen to them in a rent-a-car.
It was at this point the wheels began to fall off the track and she put out reputation (for the record, she lowercases the title of the album, not me, get off my back), a dud of an album in 2017. She has a new album coming later this year so I guess we will have to see. Personally, everything she’s released since Bad Blood has been pretty bad, but it’s only because of the monster expectations Taylor has set for herself with her overall body of work. Her singles haven’t had any staying power or longevity on the charts in the past few years despite peaking high. It tells you that people are hyped up for whatever she releases, but aren’t connecting with the material anymore.
While I was writing this, going through her history and her past releases makes me so angry that she is currently a shell of her former self, but man, the former self has some HITS. Let’s talk about those, I’m done with this negativity.
5. Shake it Off: I know this is probably a surprise song on the list and I’m sure there are a lot of haters who are gonna hate hate hate on this song but hear me out: This is for sure one of Taylor’s catchiest songs. Did it get played everywhere when it was first released? Sure did. But give it a listen in 2019 and you’ll see why it got as big as it did. The lyrics stink but they are supposed to stink, it’s just a fun song.
4. I Knew You Were Trouble: In 2012 combing EDM and pop music was all the rage, all the big artists were doing it. Taylor was no different when she gave us this catchy tune. It’s a little dated now but if you don’t scream when the “NOW I’M LYING ON THE COLD HARD GROUND” comes on, well I don’t know what to tell you.
3. Style: It is criminal that this song gets overshadowed by Blank Space and Shake it Off because it really is the best song off of 1989. I wouldn’t call it the perfect pop song but it’s pretty close. I had this song number one on my list when I first made it before I had it to push it down because of how iconic 1 & 2 are, but it really is my favorite song of hers. This was her peak, everything after this has been garbage. I just wish I released that at the time and enjoyed it more. The guitar beat during the verses is amazing and makes it feel like an 80’s song while but also feels modern at the same time. I really can’t say enough good things about this song. This song is
2. Love Story: This was the song that made Taylor a STAR. No matter how many number-one hits she has, no matter how many singles she releases, this will always be her signature song. This bop aged like fine wine. This is the only version of Romeo and Juliet that I approve of.
1. You Belong with Me: I still can’t believe this song is 10 years old. Just put me in the ground, I had a good run. While Love Story was the song that made me aware of Taylor, this is the song that got me hooked. This song along with Love Story are both the alpha and omega of her discography. This song has an iconic video, it has a killer beat, and the pace is great. This song always reminds me of a party I was at my freshman year of high school, and I was playing spin the bottle and it landed on my crush and she refused to kiss me. I hope you still think about me every now and then Emily.
Taylor Swift is a revolutionary artist, that is what makes her downfall so hard. There are so many songs you could put in the top 5 and not blink twice about: Mine, All Too Well, Wildest Dreams and Dear John are masterpieces. She can be quirky: Welcome to New York, New Romantics, and We Are Never Getting Back Together are fun songs that make you want to dance. I understand that following up all this success and maintaining it is very difficult, but man I know she’s better than this. I hate being this negative about someone who has given me so much. It just hurts to see.
3. Look What You Made Me Do: NOBODY TOLD YOU OR FORCED YOU TO RELEASE AN ENTIRE ALBUM FULL OF SONGS LIKE THIS, YOU DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS. Honestly, this is like when you have a life long friend that you grew up with, went to school together, had inside jokes with, but you guys went to separate colleges. Over winter break, your friend comes back home a completely different person. Everything Has Changed. He’s a mess, he’s ripping cigarettes, he is trying his best to grow a beard and despite it being patchy he continues to grow it because he’s convinced “it’ll grow in bro.” This isn’t the friend you grew up, you just want them back but sadly might have to accept that the friend you had before is long gone.
2. Me! (ft. Brandon Urie of Panic! At the Disco): Why is Brandon Urie still using the Panic at the Disco name? He’s the only one still in the band. It makes no sense, it’s like me going by the name “Vinnie Barone of Lunch in High School” (we are both alone in our respected groups). As for the song itself, attach it to a rocket, launch it into the sun, and never talk about it again, forget it ever happened. In this song she says “Spelling is fun!” well this song makes me want to spell one word, S-T-I-N-K-E-R.
1. Bad Blood: This was the beginning of the decline for Taylor. Don’t get me wrong; it was a very-very successful song, but I just hate every damn thing about this song: the loud yelling, the childish lyrics, the unnecessary Kendrick Lamar feature to push the song to number one. Oh, and the music video, do not get me started on the music video. Absolute garbage. Even back in 2015 when it was released I said “Taylor is never going to recover from this” and she hasn’t. Until she changes her sound or starts making music that is good brings us back to what made Taylor big in the first place, we will always look at Bad Blood as the start of Taylor Swift’s decline.
Taylor is one of the biggest music stars ever, a pop queen, very talented and deserves all the success she has gotten. I am saying this as a fan, she has been bad for 5 years now, and sadly I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I hope I’m wrong. Come back Taylor, I miss you.
Vin'sane Thoughts 