Through my years of growing up and discovering myself, one thing has always been a constant — Taylor Swift’s music. Every album and song reminds me of a different chapter of my life, becoming the soundtrack to my tween and teenage years. Her music has evolved just as I have, and although I have grown to love and learn about other types of music, I still love to listen to Taylor’s albums. This list is as much biographical as autobiographical, and contains my personal favorites as well as songs that are her best pieces in their own right.
- “Lover”
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Lover is probably my favorite recent Taylor Swift album. The vibe of this album is so ethereal and nicely blends her more pop style music and her melodic earlier music. I love every song, and it is the perfect album to play on a long car ride or when studying. Out of all the songs on the album, the titular track, “Lover,” is my favorite, and the Shawn Mendes remix was a fun spin on it.
- “Fifteen”
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“Fifteen” is the song that, for me, perfectly captures the American high school experience. I remember listening to it on my first day of freshman year, and going through the lyrics in my head as I walked through the front doors. It expresses the zeitgeist and the follies of the high school years, commenting on the superficial nature of high school popularity and our perceptions of ourselves and others.
- “All Too Well”
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“All Too Well” is definitely one of Taylor Swift’s most emo songs. This is the song you listen to if you want to have a good crying session. Red is probably my least favorite Taylor Swift album; however, this song is one of her best songs ever. The music and the lyrical storytelling (something that Taylor does better than almost anyone else) is perfection. Personally, it captures the breakup of my first serious relationship. The heartbreaking lyric “I’d like to be my old self again but I’m still trying to find it” conveys the ability of losing ourselves in relationships and the importance of rediscovering our identities.
- “Love Story”
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I couldn’t make a list of Taylor Swift songs and not include one of her most iconic ones. “Love Story” was my favorite of her songs in my early teenage years and it was always on play on my old iPod Touch. I constantly watched the music video and would dance around my room to it. It is emblazoned in my memory and I thought it was cool every time we passed the castle where it was filmed in Tennessee, when I was visiting family. “Love Story” is also Taylor Swift’s best-selling single ever, which clearly speaks to its widespread popularity.
- “Teardrops on My Guitar”
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“Teardrops on my Guitar” is the song that introduced me to Taylor Swift. It was the first song of hers that I heard and led to over a decade of listening to her music. This song is the epitome of her early musical roots. It is odd now to remember how country her early music is after years of pop hits. However, it is cool to see her rediscover and reinvent her country roots in the folky vibes of her most recent album, folklore.
- “Welcome to New York”
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As someone that did not grow up in New York City, “Welcome to New York” sums up how I felt whenever I visited and eventually moved there. It also came out around the time of one of my visits in high school, and was playing in all the taxi cabs. It captures the fun and fastpaced energy of the city and its endearing qualities.
- “You Belong With Me”
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“You Belong With Me” was the anthem of my middle school years. The music video is perhaps Taylor’s most iconic and well-known. It also earned Taylor her first VMA award, the infamous one that inspired a viral clash between her and Kanye West and years of conflict afterwards. This song is so catchy and is relatable to anyone that wasn’t super popular during high school. I can still recite the lyrics from memory years later.
- “The Man”
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“The Man” is also one of my favorite songs from the Lover album. It sums up what it is like to live in a man’s world, especially if you are an ambitious woman. Growing up in a traditional, conservative culture, I remember always being criticized for qualities that were praised in my male peers, so this song is very relatable. This is the feminist anthem of Taylor’s songs, and is also biographical in that explains how a lot of the criticism she receives is based on her critics’ internalized misogyny.
- “Delicate”
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Reputation, like Red, is not one of my favorite Taylor Swift albums. However, it still has several good songs. My favorite song on the album is “Delicate.” It is a nice transition from the more pop-like songs of the albums before and shows her maturing as an artist. It stands out on its own, while also carrying elements that show up elsewhere throughout Reputation. It is a nice song to listen to, but is also a good song to play in the background while studying.
- “Fearless”
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I conclude this list with with the titular song of the Fearless album. To me, this song is the epitome of early Taylor Swift music. It is a classic and has such a nostalgic quality to it whenever I hear it. Before CDs became obsolete, my most-played album was Fearless. I would pop the CD in my old boom box and listen to it in my room. This is the first song that plays on the album, so listening to it brings back all the those memories.