One artist. Every album. Ten songs.
The Music of Taylor Swift
After listening to the complete discography of Pink Floyd, I needed something a bit more down-to-earth and familiar. Taylor Swift was the perfect cure. Taylor Swift is currently one of the biggest artists on the planet, having risen to fame in 2006 with her self-titled album. Her music is heartfelt, personal, and incredibly visual as she paints crystal-clear pictures for her audience with her lyrics. I always admired how effectively she could pull you into the scenes she spun - and while she's received criticism for perhaps not being as honest as advertised, no one has ever denied her skill as a storyteller.
After three country-rooted albums, Swift began to lean more into pop with her 2012 album "Red". This trend continued for a few albums, even as she faced a public scandal head-on with the darker album "Reputation". She returned to her more optimistic and romantic roots with "Lover" in 2019, and when the pandemic struck, Swift released two albums in one year. Both were a major departure in form from her previous work - but they're perfect listening for cool autumn nights.
Since then, Swift has been re-recording and re-releasing her older albums in a bid to regain control of her own songs as she doesn't hold the rights to those original recordings. To be honest, I didn't much care for the re-recordings, but the "From The Vault" additions have all been a lot of fun. Her 10-minute version of "All Too Well" has quickly become a quintessential Swift track.
Taylor Swift's made her mark by writing songs that make us feel like 'the main character'. She paints love, pain, joy, and anger with intensely romantic strokes, so that even her bleakest tracks feel glamorous. And in her uncompromising embrace of each of these feelings, Swift invites us to embrace the wondrous messiness of our own lives as we search for a happily ever after of our own. How Swift will reinvent herself next is anyone's guess, but she's sure to make headlines however she does it.
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