Taylor Swift’s seventh album is causing so. much. BUZZ. “Lover” sold three million album-equivalent units within its first week of release, and debuted at number one in countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, Spain, the UK, and the US. It’s an album with eighteen tracks, and every single one has reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart. If you don’t have time to listen to that many songs, then here is what I think are the best songs off the album, and why.
Get your Taylor on and fall in love!
7. “I Forgot That You Existed”
This song helps transition fans’ ears from Reputation. Songs off that album like “Look What You Made Me Do” and “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” are similar, but this song has a softer quality that makes it belong on Lover. “I Forgot That You Existed” has a catchy beat and a bouncy sound. The song isn’t that negative of a song for one about a hater. It tells of someone who has healed, as do several of the songs on the album. Overall, it’s cute, it’s funny, and it’s a great song to listen to when you’re feeling better than your haters.
6. “London Boy”
The song starts with a cute hook and then took me to where the heart is, but that’s not where mine lives” and later changes to one of the funniest and most adorable lines on the album: “God I love the English.” Swift is gushing on this song, about her man’s accent and watching rugby with him and his friends. The song captures a soft side to love, and it’s one anyone could get attached to.
5. “The Archer”
One of the best ways to listen to this song is Swift’s live session. The song’s music is mystifying and helps build tension like, as intended, an archer pulling back an arrow. The full circle ending back to the first line is excellent. The line, “Who could ever leave me darling, but who could stay,” never fails to hit me. This song has a real pain in it. It gives a vulnerable side to love that anyone who listens will connect to. The beat feels like a heartbeat, steady and strong and the fading ending of Swift changing “who could stay” to “you could stay” seals the deal for this song. It’s a masterpiece. Go listen to it.
4. “Death by a Thousand Cuts”
This song is just truly beautiful. It blends a soft sadness that comes with saying goodbye with healing and a complex relationship with love that is often painful. “Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts.” This song is gentle, but strong and it stays with anyone who listens to it closely. Lines like “I look through the windows of this love, even though we boarded them up” and “if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages” remind us of Swift’s talent as a writer. The bridge in which she sings “trying to find a part of me that you didn’t touch” tells the story of healing and it’s unforgettable, and truly brings the entire song together.
3. “I Think He Knows”
Wow. This is cute. The beat is snappy and Swift is happy. This song is a bop that will for sure get in your head and it’s just so fun and sweet that it’ll make you wish you had somebody to swoon over. This song brings older fans back to what it feels like to have a teenage crush. It brings out the lover in all of us as it expresses the feeling of wanting and knowing you’re wanted back—how wonderful! Swift sings about wanting “to know that body like it’s mine” and the intensity of her infatuation for her man is palpable. She has stellar rhymes in this song like “he’s got that boyish look that I like in a man // I am an architect, I’m drawing up the plan.” She even adds a cheeky line: “he’s so obsessed with me and boy I understand.” Lol. We’re here for it, Taylor. 10/10, love this song.
2. “The Man”
This is the song that stands out as one of the most original and striking songs on the album. I had heard the description, that Swift was writing a song about if she was a man, and I’ll admit I was hype to hear it. It edges on calling out sexism but is also just a confidence booster that’s hella catchy. The line “I’m so sick of them coming at me again,” got stuck in my head immediately and I just had to listen to the song again. I continued coming back for the catchy chorus, empowering verses, and overall how well-crafted this song is.
1. “Paper Rings”
This is the first song on the album I had to play again. It stood out the most to me out of all eighteen songs. It has such a strong beat and the love is just overwhelming in this song. The line “I like shiny things, but I’d bury you in paper rings,” is just sooo cute and the whole song is guaranteed to stay with its listener. The verses are energetic and personal and lead into a bouncy chorus that makes you swoon with Taylor. The bridge includes the line, ‘I want your dreary Mondays” and what captures true love more than that? Taylor studies love through her songwriting and in this song, she caught it in her snowglobe.
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