folklore

this album is quarantine, when every plan i had in life was falling apart, when i felt so isolated from everyone but my family and the one friend i could see in person, when i wondered if i could ever be creative again, when i fell into hobbies i abandoned a decade ago, when i had to figure out who i was besides just keeping busy

this is also her most thematically and tonally consistent album, in my opinion. taken as whole, it's nothing short of a masterpiece.

• the 1

idk why hearing taylor swear in the first line of this song threw me for a loop when i first listened to it but it did. also it felt like a signal to me that this was going to be maybe a less radio-able, more mature album which it certainly is. also the pared down production also sells that this is not going to sound like her previous 3 records

• cardigan

look i love cardigan, but the main metaphor has never really landed with me. the rest of the song is fantastic and i do think its a phenomenal song but something about feeling like an old cardigan always made me kinda shrug and go "i guess?" that being said, fantastic set up for the main love triangle of the album

• the last great american dynasty

god this song is so good and i love just how personal it is to the past of holiday house and how she gives rebekah such agency and understanding through it, which i feel like she probably didn't get in history books.

• exile

GOD what is there to say about exile. it captures miscommunication and crossed wires so well, i love the round in the final section. i may not reach for this song that much but it's undeniably fantastic in execution

• my tears ricochet

"if i'm dead to you why are you at the wake" has to be one of the coldest and most brutal lines taylor has ever written. this song feels like a rock in my heart in the best way possible.

• mirrorball

i remember at first thinking this song was so light and made me want to spin around in a big dress until i listened to the lyrics. it's a song that embodies its message: faking the happiness and the joy of it all, being the kind of fun song it wants to be, but when you actually examine it it's just wrought with insecurity and a need to be loved. do i relate too much? maybe!

• seven

it's hard to write about this song because i feel like i don't have strong feelings. i listen to it when it comes up on shuffle or during a full album listen, and it fits in beautifully and is so well done, but it's not IT. still a phenomenal song, though, all things considered.

• august

maybe it's my own personal relationship experience, but the lyrics never hit me as much as the production and music of this song more than anything else. it feels like grabbing at clothes and falling to your knees on a summer day. i love it.

• this is my trying

this song was a gut punch to me the first time i listened to it and now it's still one of her songs that tears me at the seams. "they told me all my cages were mental so i got wasted like all my potential" did almost irreperable damage to how i've perceived myself since graduating college

• illicit affairs

i love this song but whenever i listen to it i just remember twitter at like 12:01 when this album came out and the lyrics were all released on genius. and how everyone thought this was going to be some sexy song like 'dress' and instead we got heartache.

• invisible string

i'd argue this is her most honestly romantic song she's written that is just about love in the best way possible.

• mad woman

this song is like the most beautiful fuck you i've ever listened to.

• epiphany

this is a hard song to talk about for reasons that aren't my story to share. so i wont.

• betty

this feels like a more mature version of a fearless or debut song. like the high school romance and regret and bit of twang that's in the instrumentals, it all feels very intentionally reminiscnet of her earlier work.

• peace

genuinely don't understand why this song isn't more popular (part 1). but genuinely, this song is so clear about the love and the anxiety that comes along with it, and it feels like holding onto the end of someone's coat jacket as they turn around.

• hoax

genuinely don't understand why this song isn't more popular (part 2) it has a less memorable hook which is maybe why i come to it less, but whenever i listen to it i go 'i should listen to hoax more'

• the lakes

this is like tied with her work in evermore in terms of just pure lyricism and transporting the listener to a very specific scene and moment. the original version of this is better, though, than the album one.