A Response to Billboard's Article "The 15 Best Taylor Swift Songs"
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A Response to Billboard's Article "The 15 Best Taylor Swift Songs"

You skipped her non-singles, Billboard

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A Response to Billboard's Article "The 15 Best Taylor Swift Songs"

Recently, Billboard released an article that listed 15 of Taylor Swift's best songs. (Read it here). Did you agree? While it is flattering that they even wrote this article about her, considering she hasn't released an album in nearly 3 years and has stayed MIA when it comes to public appearances and news headlines recently, it seems they didn't do their research. The article included many Swift singles that have done extremely well, but they seem to have degraded some of her best songs that were not singles. If one fails to consider her non-singles, he is failing to regard her best work. While "Fearless" is in fact a song that "effortlessly creates a sense of whimsy and romance that not many artists can pull off" and it is true that "Decades from now, musical anthropologists will study how pop could be this perfect" as "Style," this list just did not cut it for us hardcore Swift fans.

Each lyric she's written you can play out in your head and each one becomes a part of your life in some way. Swift is a social icon. She has set the stepping stones for artists before her and after her. She rules the music industry with such finesse and skill. She’s not only a business-woman but she is so much like her audience members, they can relate to her on a personal level. This reflects in her lyrics. People criticize her for being over-sharing about her personal life in her songs, but it is her brutal honesty that positions her in a place higher than any other artist. Her lyrics are the soundtrack of our lives and each one tells a detailed story. Even though chart-topping “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” repeats itself often, throughout the song, it still paints a picture in the listener’s head. It takes the reader on a journey with Swift as she goes back and forth with her former suitor.


Each song featured is a musical masterpiece, but why wouldn't they be. Every lyric she busts out is. The article features songs from each one of her five albums, from her very first single, "Tim McGraw" to one of her last, "New Romantics." It even features singles that not many people think about, such as "Safe and Sound" from The Hunger Games.

But where is "All Too Well"? Perhaps, Billboard did not see her showstopping Grammy performance that increased sales so much that the song went from being No. 10,668 to No. 66? In case you don't know the math, that is a 16,062% increase. That is phenomenal considering it was not a single. In case, Billboard, you did not watch it, I suggest you do now:

We do know that it is extremely difficult to choose songs that are the best Taylor has ever released because we managed to put one together, but please, don't just look at the ratings, look also at quality and emotion.

Here, in our humble opinion, is a redo list of the 15 best Taylor Swift songs of all time:

15. Haunted

The song begins and ends with a haunting melody and a feeling of anxiety that keeps the listener captivated with every note. It is not about a haunted house or even a ghost but Swift uses intense illusions to tell a story of someone who can’t get out of her brain. “He will try to take away my pain, and he just might make me smile, but the whole time I’m wishing it was you instead.” is the underlying theme of this rock melody that should have been a single and should get more attention than it did. “Haunted” shows off Swift’s enchanting ability to make her words and voice sound like a feeling with every word. Her background melodies, lyrics, and even concert setups show audience members what the song is about and what the emotion felt like, and isn’t that what songwriting is all about? Songwriting should make the listener feel.



14. The Lucky One

Taylor put herself in the shoes of a famous career gone wrong, a miserable life of one in the spotlight- and it is done brilliantly. She even dares to say, “And I understand it now.” Swift takes a spin on the once glamorous ecstasy of the superstar lifestyle… a preview to “Blank Space”? Possibly so. She even gives hints of her piercing vocals, but remains stingy with them. She paints a picture of a woman who needs to pretend to be someone she isn’t for the media’s sake. And while it particularizes someone with anxiety, she does it in such a calm way. “And they tell you that you’re lucky but you’re so confused ‘cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used” highlights the majesty of Swiftian songwriting.


13. Holy Ground

This song mentions coffee and that is enough reason to deserve a spot on the top 15 alone.

But despite that, Taylor truly delivers in this song. She offers a heart-thumping, breathtaking experience that is felt with headphones in or the volume all the way up. The Atlantic said this of the song “The percussion, the cadence, and the electrified air all point directly to Bruce Springsteen [in style],” and continues, “Springsteen and Swift share a sensibility: that a story can be reduced purely to its rising action.” The song is intense and keeps you guessing how it’s going to end. Pure Swift storytelling. She gives us a picture of a romance that she just can’t live without. Why was this song not featured on Billboard’s list? Because I, for one, cannot live without it.


12. Tim McGraw

One of the things we love about Taylor is that she is always a fan no matter how esteemed she becomes; this quality shows in her first album and continues through her Instagram posts and special guests she invites on tour with her to this day. “Tim McGraw” is a favorite because it was the first single she ever released, giving us a glimpse of the beautiful storytelling that was going to belt from her lungs for years to come. It stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for 20 weeks. It even boasted No. 6 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Pretty impressive for a 16-year-old girl with a big dream and a guitar. The song continues to play on the radio 11 years later and is a timeless classic that is delivered beautifully.



11. Blank Space

The Los Angeles Times called it “A thrillingly vicious riff on Swift’s reputation as a man-eater.” And that is just what Swift wanted it to sound like.

“Some of the things I write about on a song like ‘Blank Space’ are satire. You take your creative license and create things that are larger than life. You can write things like ‘I get drunk on jealousy but you’ll come back each time you leave, ‘cause darling I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream.’ That is not my approach to relationships. But is it cool to write the narrative of a girl who’s crazy but seductive but glamorous but nuts but manipulative? That was the character I felt the media had written for me, and for a long time I felt hurt by it. I took it personally. But as time went by, I realized it was kind of hilarious.”

This song made history, selling 155,000 copies in its first week. It was #1 on Billboard’s chart for seven consecutive weeks, longer than any other female. As of January 2016, it sold 4,325,000 copies in the U.S. alone. It bursts with a haunting tone that makes you want to listen repeatedly, and that it has done for the last two years. It has remained one of the most successful songs of Swift’s career, but the song is worth so much more than the fame it’s gotten, it is brilliantly filled with what Swift refers to as “zingers” (or piercing one-liners) and breathtaking vocals. “Darling I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydreamer was a caption line for how many Instagram captions? Too many to count, most likely.


10. Out of the Woods

This song is one of the greatest vocally that Taylor has ever released. Especially live, Taylor brings it with such ease. "Out of the Woods" is a hidden gem in 1989 and doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. The focal point is anxiety and that is felt while listening to this track. “It just kind of conjured up all feelings of anxiety I had in a relationship where everybody was watching, everybody was commenting on it… You’re constantly feeling like, ‘Are we out of the woods yet? What’s the next thing gonna be? What’s the next hurdle we’re gonna have to jump over?’” The vibe that is felt in “Out of the Woods” is one that makes one feel what Taylor was trying to make you feel. And that showcases her ability as a songwriter and producer to entice listeners. The highlight of this song is obviously the bridge and the haunting background vocals (especially live). Even if a song doesn’t have as many Taylor-fied lyrics as she usually includes, she makes you feel, and that is what puts her ahead of the game.



Watch her live performance of the song here.

9. Back to December

Back to December was a single but it’s often overlooked, even though it is lyrically beautiful. “Turns out freedom ain’t nothing but missing you, wishing I’d realized what I had when you were mine.” It is an apology in the form of song, and Taylor executes it perfectly. It doesn’t showcase her vocals but it does show off the depth of her writing in such a way that tells a story and captivates the audience. Attention to detail is one of the underlying and repetitive themes in Swift’s catalog. Taylor thinks about what she says, probably without meaning to because poetic words just flow from that brain of hers. But when an artist thinks about what she is saying, she is making the audience think as well, she’s such an incredible business-woman, isn’t she?



8. Long Live

A love song to her band and her fans. Taylor never ceases to give back because she appreciates every little thing and it shines through in her lyrics.

"Will you take a moment, promise me this
That you'll stand by me forever
But if God forbid, fate should step in
And force us into a goodbye
If you have children some day
When they point to the pictures
Please tell them my name
Tell them how the crowds went wild
Tell them how I hope they shine."

A love song for the ages!

7. Mary's Song (Oh, My, My, My)

This song tells a tale of two people who have known each other since they were small children and lived to be 87 and 89 together and still in love. Taylor wrote this song inspired by her next door neighbors. For being 15 and writing her first ever album, I say she did marvelous constructing this song out of their story. We hope she finds that kind of love for herself someday, because she deserves it. Who says she only writes break-up songs?


6. The Way I Loved You

“The Way I Loved You,” listening to it over as I’ve already written most of the bits for every song already, I come back to this song, and it’s a classic because it almost shows the beginning stages of Swift’s ability to use metaphors and illusions in her songwriting. Before, in her self-titled debut, there were subtle hints of it beginning to form, but in Fearless you see the Swift we’ve grown to love come into her own. This song really captivates these beginning stages so beautifully. “Breaking down and coming undone, it’s a roller coaster kind of rush, and I never knew I could feel that much and that’s the way I loved you;” it’s a heartbreaking anthem that was written as a 16-18-year-old girl. This songwriting develops and carries through her following three albums. The song is so heartbreakingly and beautifully written in a way that only Swift could make it work.



5. Last Kiss

"You told me you loved me, so why did you go... away?" are lyrics that so many have been able to relate to personally. Although this song is slow, it is endlessly breathtakingly, brilliant. This ballad is one of Swift's most lovely songs that deals with heartbreak when you thought you might spend the rest of your life with someone. Let's just call her Shakespeare.


4. Clean

Clean is in our top 4 not only for its complex and beautiful lyrics, but also for its striking message it holds about rehabilitation and restoration. Swift paints a picture of becoming sober, and with those lyrics she created an even greater speech to accompany it. But don’t go so far as to say that she is a meth or alcohol addict, she speaks of any circumstance that you go through that you just can’t get away from- relationships and addictions and all. ILLUSIONS, ILLUSIONS, ILLUSIONS. Swift gives her listeners hope that she has gone what they are going through and that “Walking through rainstorms makes you clean.”



3. Dear John

Dear John creates a tragic scene of a 19-year-old girl being played by a man. This song was placed on Billboard's list at No. 3. The lyrics and emotion in this song are so broken that it makes the listener sympathize. She shows off her powerhouse vocal abilities with such ease, and while doing so, Swift alleviates the pain that so many women (and men, alike) have felt so many times before. So often, people will manipulate just like the named John did. Oh, did I mention her entire album from which this song originates, Speak Now, was written completely and entirely on her own. No co-writers. The fact that Swift named the suspect in the song is looked down upon, but it is what Swift does to make her songs that much more brutally honest. It has been done in her catalog multiple times from Drew, to Stephen, to Cory, to John. Whoops.


2. Ronan

Ronan Thompson was a four-year-old boy who died of neuroblastoma in 2011. After reading mother Maya Thompson's blog, "Rockstar Ronan," Taylor was struck with empathy for the family and approached Maya for rights to her story, then gave birth to the song "Ronan." Swift listed Maya as a co-writer for the song and donated all proceeds from the song to the Ronan Thompson Foundation. (Buy the song on iTunes here). This song is definitely a worth-while tear-jerker. Watch as Taylor performs "Ronan" on her 1989 World Tour:


1. All Too Well

To finalize our list, we chose All Too Well. Need I say more? All Too Well is nothing short of a tragic, lyrically genius song. It speaks of Fall romance that ended with Swift in the dust. Live, Swift sings this song with so much emotional trauma. Featured on album Red, "All Too Well" is what pulls it all together. Unfortunately, it was not a single, but it is still a fan-favorite and continues to be the shining star in Swift's career.



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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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