Summary
- Taylor Swift's discography features a variety of genres and styles, with Folklore being hailed as her best album to date.
- The re-recordings of her albums have brought new life to her music, with different versions released to reclaim ownership of her work.
- Swift's collaborations with producers like Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff have led to critical acclaim and Grammy wins for her albums.
Debuting as a teenage country artist in 2006, Taylor Swift is widely regarded as one of the best songwriters of her generation. Swift has evolved immensely as an artist since she first hit the scene, transitioning from country to pop with album-length ventures into folk. Her latest project, The Tortured Poets Department, brought Swift's running total up to 11 albums, along with four re-recordings.
In 2019, Swift became involved in a dispute with Scott Borchetta, the founder of her former label Big Machine Records, over the purchase of her masters by music manager and new Big Machine owner, Scooter Braun. To claim ownership of her work, Swift decided to re-record her first six albums and release them as "Taylor's Version"s, complete with previously unreleased tracks "from the vault." These re-recordings are now regarded as the true versions of these albums in her vast discography. From her self-titled debut to her longest album yet, here is every Taylor Swift album, ranked worst to best.
For albums that have been re-recorded, both versions will be considered and evaluated, but only "Taylor's Version" will appear in the ranking. The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology will be ranked as a collective double album.
Taylor Swift's Album Discography |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Album Title |
Release Date |
||
1 |
Taylor Swift |
October 24, 2006 |
||
2 |
Fearless |
Original: November 11, 2008 |
||
Taylor's Version: April 9, 2021 |
||||
3 |
Speak Now |
Original: October 25, 2010 |
||
Taylor's Version: July 7, 2023 |
||||
4 |
Red |
Original: October 22, 2012 |
||
Taylor's Version: November 12, 2021 |
||||
5 |
1989 |
Original: October 27, 2014 |
||
Taylor's Version: October 27, 2023 |
||||
6 |
Reputation |
November 10, 2017 |
||
7 |
Lover |
August 23, 2019 |
||
8 |
Folklore |
July 24, 2020 |
||
9 |
Evermore |
December 11, 2020 |
||
10 |
Midnights |
October 21, 2022 |
||
11 |
The Tortured Poets Department |
April 19, 2024 |
||
Every Taylor Swift Album The Popstar Actually Owns
Taylor Swift is the Queen of Pop so it may be surprising that she doesn't own the masters to all her music. So, which albums does Taylor Swift own?
11 Taylor Swift
Release Date: October 24, 2006
In 2006, Taylor Swift released her debut country album, Taylor Swift, when she was just 16 years old. It was her lyrical prowess that first caught the world's attention, which has only gotten better since. Though she showed immense talent as a songwriter from the very beginning, Swift's self-titled debut album is less lyrically refined than any of her follow-ups.
On Taylor Swift, the teen country crooner's tone can range from mildly nasally to borderline grating.
Swift's vocal ability has also improved significantly in the 18 years since she released her debut album. On Taylor Swift, the teen country crooner's tone can range from mildly nasally to borderline grating. Depending on the quality of the vault tracks, Taylor Swift could jump a spot or two once the re-recording is released, given how much more controlled and developed her vocals will be. At this time, though, Taylor Swift is still the eponymous artist's weakest project, which just means she only went up from here.
Many Swifties speculate that Taylor Swift will be the final re-recording the artist will release, bringing her career full circle.
Taylor Swift Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
Edition |
1 |
"Tim McGraw" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
3:54 |
Standard |
2 |
"Picture to Burn" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
2:55 |
|
3 |
"Teardrops on My Guitar" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
3:35 |
|
4 |
"A Place in This World" |
Taylor Swift, Robert Ellis Orrall, & Angelo Petraglia |
3:22 |
|
5 |
"Cold as You" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
4:01 |
|
6 |
"The Outside" |
Taylor Swift |
3:29 |
|
7 |
"Tied Together with a Smile" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
4:11 |
|
8 |
"Stay Beautiful" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
3:58 |
|
9 |
"Should've Said No" |
Taylor Swift |
4:04 |
|
10 |
"Mary's Song (Oh My My My)" |
Taylor Swift, Liz Rose, & Brian Maher |
3:35 |
|
11 |
"Our Song" |
Taylor Swift |
3:24 |
|
12 |
"I'm Only Me When I'm with You" |
Taylor Swift, Robert Ellis Orrall, & Angelo Petraglia |
3:35 |
Deluxe |
13 |
"Invisible" |
Taylor Swift |
3:26 |
|
14 |
"A Perfectly Good Heart" |
Taylor Swift, Brett James, & Troy Verges |
3:42 |
|
15 |
"Teardrops on My Guitar" (Pop Version) |
Taylor Swift |
2:58 |
International |
10 Reputation
Release Date: November 10, 2017
Released three years after 1989, creating the biggest gap between album drops in her career, 2017's Reputation was Swift's official comeback album after her high-profile scandal with Kimye and subsequent retreat from public life. Swift approached this album pissed off and vengeful, but she was also in the honeymoon phase of her first relationship in the fallout of her tarnished reputation. Despite the aggressive, villainous theme and aesthetic it promotes, Reputation contains more love songs about a budding romance against the backdrop of her sullied image than straight-up revenge anthems.
The love songs on Reputation are believed to be about actor Joe Alwyn, whom Swift started dating around the time she recorded Reputation in late 2016. In early 2023, it was announced that the couple had split after six years together.
Although her fall from grace brought a newfound liberation to be as unapologetic and honest as she wanted, the badass bravado of Reputation still feels manufactured and wholly inauthentic.
Of all her popstar personas, though, the tough-guy attitude Swift adopted for Reputation suits her the least. Although her fall from grace brought a newfound liberation to be as unapologetic and honest as she wanted, the badass bravado of Reputation still feels manufactured and wholly inauthentic. You can hear the devilish grin in her delivery even when she's not playing karma police. As Swift said, Reputation was a "defense mechanism" against media scrutiny, a vehicle for her long-waited clapbacks, but she never quite pulled off the act. Paired with the oversaturated production, the sassy jabs on Reputation just don't land.
Reputation Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
|
1 |
"…Ready for It?" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, & Ali Payami |
3:28 |
|
2 |
"End Game" (featuring Ed Sheeran and Future) |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, Ed Sheeran, & Nayvadius Wilburn (Future) |
4:04 |
|
3 |
"I Did Something Bad" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:58 |
|
4 |
"Don't Blame Me" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:56 |
|
5 |
"Delicate" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:52 |
|
6 |
"Look What You Made Me Do" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Richard Fairbrass, Fred Fairbrass, & Rob Manzoli |
3:31 |
|
7 |
"So It Goes..." |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, & Oscar Görres |
3:47 |
|
8 |
"Gorgeous" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:29 |
|
9 |
"Getaway Car" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:53 |
|
10 |
"King of My Heart" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:34 |
|
11 |
"Dancing with Our Hands Tied" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, & Oscar Holter |
3:31 |
|
12 |
"Dress" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:50 |
|
13 |
"This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:27 |
|
14 |
"Call It What You Want" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:23 |
|
15 |
"New Year's Day" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:55 |
|
Taylor Swift's 8 Documentaries & Concert Movies, Ranked (Including Eras Tour)
From concert films to her Netflix original feature Miss Americana, here is a ranking of Taylor Swift's documentaries, including The Eras Tour movie.
9 Lover
Release Date: August 23, 2019
Lover was the first album Swift released after leaving Big Machine Records and g with UMG label Republic Records in November 2018, making it the first album she owned. As her follow-up to Reputation, Swift went in the complete opposite direction with Lover, swapping the snake imagery and thunderous beats for cotton candy clouds and pink glittery hearts. Though it was received better by critics and The Recording Academy than Reputation, each song on Lover is hit or miss. When it hits, it hits, but when it misses, the saccharinity nearly spoils the bunch.
Gems like the larger-than-life sleeper hit "Cruel Summer," the introspective synth-wave ballad "The Archer," and the retro lovestruck title track carry the album, making you forgive the bad, but not forget.
The worst of Lover is worse than some of the albums below it, but the high points can distract from the lows if only temporarily. Gems like the larger-than-life sleeper hit "Cruel Summer," the introspective synth-wave ballad "The Archer," and the retro lovestruck title track carry the album, making you forgive the bad, but not forget. Ultimately, there are too many bombs on Lover that not even the iconic "Cruel Summer" bridge can make up for.
Lover was released less than two months after Swift's masters sale was made public.
Lover Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
|
1 |
"I Forgot That You Existed" |
Taylor Swift, Louis Bell, & Adam King Feeney |
2:51 |
|
2 |
"Cruel Summer" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, & Annie Clark |
2:58 |
|
3 |
"Lover" |
Taylor Swift |
3:41 |
|
4 |
"The Man" |
Taylor Swift & Joel Little |
3:10 |
|
5 |
"The Archer" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:31 |
|
6 |
"I Think He Knows" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
2:53 |
|
7 |
"Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince" |
Taylor Swift & Joel Little |
3:54 |
|
8 |
"Paper Rings" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:42 |
|
9 |
"Cornelia Street" |
Taylor Swift |
4:47 |
|
10 |
"Death by a Thousand Cuts" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:19 |
|
11 |
"London Boy" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Cautious Clay, & Mark Anthony Spears |
3:10 |
|
12 |
"Soon You'll Get Better" (featuring The Chicks) |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:22 |
|
13 |
"False God" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:20 |
|
14 |
"You Need to Calm Down" |
Taylor Swift & Joel Little |
2:51 |
|
15 |
"Afterglow" |
Taylor Swift, Louis Bell, & Adam King Feeney |
3:43 |
|
16 |
"ME!" (featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco) |
Taylor Swift, Brendon Urie, & Joel Little |
3:13 |
|
17 |
"It's Nice to Have a Friend" |
Taylor Swift, Louis Bell, & Adam King Feeney |
2:30 |
|
18 |
"Daylight" |
Taylor Swift |
4:53 |
|
8 Midnights
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Swift's first original album after embarking on her re-recording journey arrived in 2022 in the form of Midnights, a concept album comprised of nocturnal ruminations written during "13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life" (via Instagram). Like Lover, Midnights is a mixed bag, but in this case, songs like "Karma" and "Bejeweled" have a sonic sweetness that listeners can stomach. More importantly, they're fun. The best of Midnights are soul-baring standouts like "Maroon," "You're On Your Own, Kid," "The Great War," and "Would've, Could've, Should've."
Unlike Swift's first three Album of the Year wins, though, this felt more like a nod to the monumental spectacle of the Eras Tour or simply the unprecedented career heights she'd reached than a legitimate measure of Midnights as an album.
Midnights made history by giving Swift her fourth Grammy for Album of the Year, breaking the record for most Album of the Year wins by a single artist. Unlike Swift's first three Album of the Year wins, though, this felt more like a nod to the monumental spectacle of the Eras Tour or simply the unprecedented career heights she'd reached than a legitimate measure of Midnights as an album. Midnights is by far Swift's worst Album of the Year, and her historic win will be ed more for the record it set than the album that achieved it.
Midnights also won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2024 Grammy Awards. During her acceptance speech, Swift announced the release of her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Midnights Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
Edition |
1 |
"Lavender Haze" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Zoë Kravitz, Mark Spears, Jahaan Sweet, & Sam Dew |
3:22 |
Standard |
2 |
"Maroon" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:38 |
|
3 |
"Anti-Hero" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:20 |
|
4 |
"Snow on the Beach" (featuring Lana Del Rey) |
Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, & Jack Antonoff |
4:16 |
|
5 |
"You're on Your Own, Kid" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:14 |
|
6 |
"Midnight Rain" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
2:54 |
|
7 |
"Question...?" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:30 |
|
8 |
"Vigilante Shit" |
Taylor Swift |
2:44 |
|
9 |
"Bejeweled" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:14 |
|
10 |
"Labyrinth" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
4:07 |
|
11 |
"Karma" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Mark Spears, Jahaan Sweet, & Keanu Torres |
3:24 |
|
12 |
"Sweet Nothing" |
Taylor Swift & William Bowery (Joe Alwyn) |
3:08 |
|
13 |
"Mastermind" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:11 |
|
14 |
"The Great War" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:00 |
3am |
15 |
"Bigger Than the Whole Sky" |
Taylor Swift |
3:38 |
|
16 |
"Paris" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:16 |
|
17 |
"High Infidelity" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:51 |
|
18 |
"Glitch" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Mark Spears, & Sam Dew |
2:28 |
|
19 |
"Would've, Could've, Should've" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:20 |
|
20 |
"Dear Reader" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:45 |
|
21 |
"Hits Different" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, & Aaron Dessner |
3:54 |
Til Dawn |
22 |
"Snow on the Beach" (featuring More Lana Del Rey) |
Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, & Jack Antonoff |
3:50 |
|
23 |
"Karma" (featuring Ice Spice) |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Isis Gaston (Ice Spice), Ephrem Lopez, Mark Spears, Jahaan Sweet, & Keanu Torres |
3:22 |
|
7 The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
Release Date: April 19, 2024
Swift's most recent album turned out to be a 2-for-1 special. Altogether, there are 31 songs on The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, making it the longest tracklist (and album title) in Swift's discography. It was an ambitious project that paid off in some respects, but as an album, TTPD is just too long. The "department" desperately needed an editor on staff, not just to weed out the filler tracks but to trim down the word count. Nearly every song on TTPD is overloaded with wordy verses and clunky bridges that probably read better on paper than put to music.
The Tortured Poets Department broke numerous streaming records on Spotify and Apple Music and became the first album to occupy the top 14 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.
Some of Swift's strongest musical moments take place on this album, but as a collective body of work, TTPD is not polished enough to defeat any of its remaining predecessors.
Still, TTPD earns its spot for containing such striking vocal deliveries on songs like "Fortnight," and "So Long, London," the latter of which continues Swift's sad track 5 trend. Not to mention, the refreshing production on the likes of "Florida!!!" and "So High School" from Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. Some of Swift's strongest musical moments take place on this album, but as a collective body of work, TTPD is not polished enough to outrank any of its remaining predecessors.
The Tortured Poets Department Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
Edition |
1 |
"Fortnight" (featuring Post Malone) |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, & Austin Post |
3:48 |
Standard |
2 |
"The Tortured Poets Department" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
4:53 |
|
3 |
"My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" |
Taylor Swift |
3:23 |
|
4 |
"Down Bad" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
4:21 |
|
5 |
"So Long, London" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:22 |
|
6 |
"But Daddy I Love Him" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
5:40 |
|
7 |
"Fresh Out the Slammer" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:30 |
|
8 |
"Florida!!!" (featuring Florence and the Machine) |
Taylor Swift & Florence Welch |
3:35 |
|
9 |
"Guilty as Sin?" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
4:14 |
|
10 |
"Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" |
Taylor Swift |
5:34 |
|
11 |
"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
2:36 |
|
12 |
"loml" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:37 |
|
13 |
"I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:38 |
|
14 |
"The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:05 |
|
15 |
"The Alchemy" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:16 |
|
16 |
"Clara Bow" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:36 |
|
17 |
"The Black Dog" |
Taylor Swift |
3:58 |
The Anthology |
18 |
"imgonnagetyouback" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:42 |
|
19 |
"The Albatross" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:03 |
|
20 |
"Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:33 |
|
21 |
"How Did It End?" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:58 |
|
22 |
"So High School" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:48 |
|
23 |
"I Hate It Here" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:03 |
|
24 |
"thanK you aIMee" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:23 |
|
25 |
"I Look in People's Windows" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, & Patrik Berger |
2:11 |
|
26 |
"The Prophecy" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:09 |
|
27 |
"Cassandra" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:00 |
|
28 |
"Peter" |
Taylor Swift |
4:43 |
|
29 |
"The Bolter" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:58 |
|
30 |
"Robin" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:00 |
|
32 |
"The Manuscript" |
Taylor Swift |
3:44 |
|
6 Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Original Release Date: November 11, 2008, Re-recording Release Date: April 9, 2021
Many artists struggle to follow up their debut album, but Swift avoided the sophomore slump entirely with Fearless. With mainstream hits like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me," Fearless launched Swift into stardom. The slew of wide-eyed love songs is punctuated by moments of hurt like "You're Not Sorry" and "Forever & Always" and spirited tales of toxic love like "The Way I Loved You" and "The Other Side of the Door." Swift struck a harmonious balance between pop and country on Fearless that laid the groundwork for her next two albums before she transitioned into full-blown pop.
In addition to Album of the Year, Fearless won Best Country Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards. The album's second single, "White Horse," won Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song.
As the first album Swift re-recorded, Fearless (Taylor's Version) set the bar for the other "Taylor's Version"s to come. but unfortunately, Fearless loses a few points for its re-recording. It was expected for Swift to sound different on her re-recordings after spending the better part of the last decade singing true-blue pop music, but the absence of Swift's charming country twang on Fearless (Taylor's Version) diluted its magic.
Fearless (Taylor's Version) Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
|
1 |
"Fearless (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Liz Rose, & Hillary Lindsey |
4:01 |
|
2 |
"Fifteen (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:54 |
|
3 |
"Love Story (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:55 |
|
4 |
"Hey Stephen (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:14 |
|
5 |
"White Horse (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
3:54 |
|
6 |
"You Belong with Me (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
3:51 |
|
7 |
"Breathe (Taylor's Version)" (featuring Colbie Caillat) |
Taylor Swift & Colbie Caillat |
4:23 |
|
8 |
"Tell Me Why (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
3:20 |
|
9 |
"You're Not Sorry (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:21 |
|
10 |
"The Way I Loved You (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & John Rich |
4:03 |
|
11 |
"Forever & Always (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:45 |
|
12 |
"The Best Day (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:05 |
|
13 |
"Change (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:39 |
|
14 |
"Jump Then Fall (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:57 |
|
15 |
"Untouchable (Taylor's Version)" |
Cary Barlowe, Nathan Barlowe, Tommy Lee James, & Taylor Swift |
5:12 |
|
16 |
"Forever & Always (Taylor's Version)" (Piano Version) |
Taylor Swift |
4:27 |
|
17 |
"Come In with the Rain (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
3:57 |
|
18 |
"SuperStar (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
4:23 |
|
19 |
"The Other Side of the Door (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:58 |
|
20 |
"Today Was a Fairytale (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:01 |
|
21 |
"You All Over Me (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Maren Morris) |
Taylor Swift & Scooter Carusoe |
3:40 |
|
22 |
"Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:37 |
|
23 |
"We Were Happy (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
4:04 |
|
24 |
"That's When (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Keith Urban) |
Taylor Swift, Brad Warren, & Brett Warren |
3:09 |
|
25 |
"Don't You (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Tommy Lee James |
3:28 |
|
26 |
"Bye Bye Baby (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
4:02 |
|
5 Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Original Release Date: October 25, 2010, Re-recording Release Date: July 7, 2023
On her third studio album following the frenzy of the Fearless era, Swift took the opportunity to say the "words [she] didn't say when the moment was right in front of [her]," hence the title Speak Now. A confessional concept album, Speak Now is made up of open letters to certain people "telling them what [she] meant to tell them in person." Speak Now is the only album that Swift wrote entirely on her own, which only shows in its lack of obvious selections for catchy singles.
On the original version of Speak Now, the song "If This Was A Movie" was co-written by Martin Johnson from the band Boys Like Girls, but Swift opted to release the re-recording on its own as part of Fearless (Taylor's Version) instead, likely to keep Speak Now (Taylor's Version) entirely self-written.
From the Grammy-winning country callout, "Mean," to the harrowing track 5, "Dear John," to the number of rock-infused tunes that dominate the tracklist, Speak Now is virtually a skip-less album. Each song holds its own without outshining its neighbors. Ironically, the only definitive skips on Speak Now, "Ours" and "Superman," were originally the deluxe tracks at the end of the album. Like Fearless, the quality of Speak Now was impacted by the vault tracks on Taylor's Version, but her renditions of the original songs were arguably the best of the re-recordings.
Speak Now (Taylor's Version) Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer |
Length |
|
1 |
"Mine (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:51 |
|
2 |
"Sparks Fly (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:21 |
|
3 |
"Back to December (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:54 |
|
4 |
"Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:02 |
|
5 |
"Dear John (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
6:45 |
|
6 |
"Mean (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:58 |
|
7 |
"The Story of Us (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:27 |
|
8 |
"Never Grow Up (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:52 |
|
9 |
"Enchanted (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
5:53 |
|
10 |
"Better than Revenge (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:40 |
|
11 |
"Innocent (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
5:01 |
|
12 |
"Haunted (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:05 |
|
13 |
"Last Kiss (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
6:09 |
|
14 |
"Long Live (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
5:17 |
|
15 |
"Ours (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:55 |
|
16 |
"Superman (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:34 |
|
17 |
"Electric Touch (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Fall Out Boy) |
Taylor Swift |
4:26 |
|
18 |
"When Emma Falls in Love (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:12 |
|
19 |
"I Can See You (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:33 |
|
20 |
"Castles Crumbling (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Hayley Williams) |
Taylor Swift |
5:06 |
|
21 |
"Foolish One (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift |
5:11 |
|
22 |
"Timeless (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift |
5:21 |
|
4 Evermore
Release Date: December 11, 2020
Created spontaneously with Dessner following their inaugural collaboration on Folklore, Evermore was Swift's second surprise album of 2020, creating the shortest interval between original albums (not including re-recordings) by releasing less than 5 months after Folklore. Conceived as a "sister album" to Folklore, Swift continued the same folk music storytelling conventions by constructing even more fictional worlds and narrators on Evermore. The result was a rawer musical portrait of pain that evoked the chill of late November as opposed to the stale heat of late August.
The problem is that Evermore lacks Folklore's consistency and sonic cohesiveness, leaving the winter baby of the family forever living in the shadow of the superior 2020 album.
Because of its close proximity and similarity in its conception, style, and songwriting, Evermore will never escape the comparisons to Folklore. Still, Evermore was a solid follow-up full of hauntingly beautiful pieces like "champagne problems," "tolerate it," "cowboy like me," and "right where you left me." The problem is that Evermore lacks Folklore's consistency and sonic cohesiveness, leaving the winter baby of the family forever living in the shadow of the superior 2020 album.
Evermore was predominantly written and recorded at Dessner's Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley where he, Swift, and Jack Antanoff filmed the Disney+ concert documentary, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.
Evermore Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
Version |
1 |
"willow" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:34 |
Standard |
2 |
"champagne problems" |
Taylor Swift & William Bowery |
4:04 |
|
3 |
"gold rush" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:05 |
|
4 |
"'tis the damn season" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:49 |
|
5 |
"tolerate it" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:05 |
|
6 |
"no body, no crime" (featuring HAIM) |
Taylor Swift |
3:35 |
|
7 |
"happiness" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
5:15 |
|
8 |
"dorothea" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:45 |
|
9 |
"coney island" (featuring The National) |
Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, & William Bowery (Joe Alwyn) |
4:35 |
|
10 |
"ivy" |
Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner, & Jack Antonoff |
4:20 |
|
11 |
"cowboy like me" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:35 |
|
12 |
"long story short" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:35 |
|
13 |
"marjorie" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:17 |
|
14 |
"closure" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
3:00 |
|
15 |
"evermore" |
Taylor Swift, William Bowery, & Justin Vernon |
5:04 |
|
16 |
"right where you left me" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:05 |
Deluxe |
17 |
"it's time to go" |
Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner |
4:15 |
|
Every Taylor Swift Song That Joe Alwyn Secretly Co-Wrote As "William Bowery" Explained
Taylor Swift and her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn wrote five songs together that appeared across the albums Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights.
3 Red (Taylor’s Version)
Original Release Date: October 22, 2012, Re-recording Release Date: November 12, 2021
Swift delivered a real buffet of genres on Red. The lingering remnants of her country stylings are drowned out by stripped-down lyrical feats like "State of Grace," "Treacherous," and "Sad, Beautiful, Tragic," interspersed with Swift's first forays into bonafide radio pop. This gradual lean into the pop landscape may have resulted in some jump scares like "Stay Stay Stay" and "Girl at Home," but it did not come at the cost of her songwriting. Red was written in a state of heartbreak, and while this shows in the lyrical content, it only brought out the best in Swift's skill.
With "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)," Swift outdid what was already considered her magnum opus, solidifying Red in her top 3 albums.
Red was only strengthened by the vault tracks and subsequent features on the re-recording, which ranged from country bops like "I Bet You Think About Me" with Chris Stapleton to poignant ruminations on coming of age like "Nothing New" with Phoebe Bridgers. Of course, the star of the show was the long-awaited ten-minute extended cut of Swift's best track 5, "All Too Well." With "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)," Swift outdid what was already considered her magnum opus, solidifying Red in her top 3 albums.
Red (Taylor's Version) is Swift's only re-recording to win (or even be nominated for) a Grammy thus far: All Too Well: The Short Film won Best Music Video at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
Red (Taylor's Version) Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
|
1 |
"State of Grace (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:55 |
|
2 |
"Red (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:43 |
|
3 |
"Treacherous (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Dan Wilson |
4:02 |
|
4 |
"I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:39 |
|
5 |
"All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
5:29 |
|
6 |
"22 (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:50 |
|
7 |
"I Almost Do (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:04 |
|
8 |
"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:13 |
|
9 |
"Stay Stay Stay (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:25 |
|
10 |
"The Last Time (Taylor's Version)" (featuring Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol) |
Taylor Swift, Gary Lightbody, & Jacknife Lee |
4:59 |
|
11 |
"Holy Ground (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:22 |
|
12 |
"Sad Beautiful Tragic (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:44 |
|
13 |
"The Lucky One (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:00 |
|
14 |
"Everything Has Changed (Taylor's Version)" (featuring Ed Sheeran) |
Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran |
4:05 |
|
15 |
"Starlight (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:40 |
|
16 |
"Begin Again (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:58 |
|
17 |
"The Moment I Knew (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:45 |
|
18 |
"Come Back... Be Here (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Dan Wilson |
3:43 |
|
19 |
"Girl at Home (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
3:40 |
|
20 |
"State of Grace (Acoustic Version) (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
5:21 |
|
21 |
"Ronan (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Maya Thompson |
4:24 |
|
22 |
"Better Man (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:57 |
|
23 |
"Nothing New (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Phoebe Bridgers) |
Taylor Swift |
4:18 |
|
24 |
"Babe (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Patrick Monahan |
3:44 |
|
25 |
"Message in a Bottle (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:45 |
|
26 |
"I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Chris Stapleton) |
Taylor Swift & Lori McKenna |
4:45 |
|
27 |
"Forever Winter (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Mark Foster |
4:23 |
|
28 |
"Run (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Ed Sheeran) |
Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran |
4:00 |
|
29 |
"The Very First Night (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift, Amund Bjørklund, & Espen Lind |
3:20 |
|
30 |
"All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Liz Rose |
10:13 |
|
What Taylor Swift's All Too Well 10 Minute Version Lyrics Mean
Taylor Swift's 10-minute All Too Well version is supposedly about her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. Here's a deeper dive into the song's lyrics.
2 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
Original Release Date: October 27, 2014, Re-recording Release Date: October 27, 2023
Serving as her fifth studio album, 1989 was a watershed moment for Swift as an artist: it marked her official transition into pop music and solidified Swift as a music superstar as she hit the first major peak of her career, which she had yet to sur until the Eras Tour in 2023. Deemed a "pop bible" by both diehard Swifties and casual listeners, 1989 built upon the seeds that Red planted and sprouted a whole garden. 1989 birthed some truly timeless pop hits like "Style" and "Blank Space" that helped cultivate a foundational new sound in the genre.
Deemed a "pop bible" by both diehard Swifties and casual listeners, 1989 built upon the seeds that Red planted and sprouted a whole garden.
Her bestselling album to date, 1989 gave Swift her second Grammy for Album of the Year and first for Best Pop Vocal Album. 1989's only flaw is how much it's been affected by overplay. Although a testament to its popularity, earworms like "Shake It Off" and "Bad Blood" get blasted all over the world to this day, which has a marginal impact on this album's re-listenability, but the vault tracks on 1989 (Taylor's Version) came to the rescue. Drenched in breathy, sultry vocals, they tend to blend together, but this ultimately works on such a sonically cohesive album like 1989.
1989 was Swift's first time working with producer Jack Antonoff, who would go on to become her most frequent collaborator and dear friend. She also reunited with Swedish producing duo, Max Martin and Shellback, who produced the handful of ultra-pop tracks on Red.
1989 (Taylor's Version) Tracklist |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
# |
Song Title |
Writer(s) |
Length |
|
1 |
"Welcome to New York (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Ryan Tedder |
3:32 |
|
2 |
"Blank Space (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:51 |
|
3 |
"Style (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, & Ali Payami |
3:51 |
|
4 |
"Out of the Woods (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:55 |
|
5 |
"All You Had to Do Was Stay (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Max Martin |
3:13 |
|
6 |
"Shake It Off (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:39 |
|
7 |
"I Wish You Would (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:27 |
|
8 |
"Bad Blood (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:31 |
|
9 |
"Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:40 |
|
10 |
"How You Get the Girl (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
4:07 |
|
11 |
"This Love (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift |
4:10 |
|
12 |
"I Know Places (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Ryan Tedder |
3:15 |
|
13 |
"Clean (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Imogen Heap |
4:31 |
|
14 |
"Wonderland (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
4:05 |
|
15 |
"You Are in Love (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
4:27 |
|
16 |
"New Romantics (Taylor's Version)" |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback |
3:50 |
|
17 |
"'Slut!' (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, & Patrik Berger |
3:00 |
|
18 |
"Say Don't Go (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Diane Warren |
4:39 |
|
19 |
"Now That We Don't Talk (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
2:26 |
|
20 |
"Suburban Legends (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
2:51 |
|
21 |
"Is It Over Now? (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" |
Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff |
3:49 |
|
22 |
"Bad Blood (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" (featuring Kendrick Lamar) |
Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, & Kendrick Lamar |
3:20 |
|