Ranking Every Song from Lover by Taylor Swift
“We can leave the Christmas lights up ‘till January.”
Happy Valentines Day! Let’s celebrate the day of love with the loveliest album Taylor Swift ever did create. ScreenRant could’ve had this one, too, but that one whack AF editor has led it to here. And we are all the better for it, I’m sure! The objective on Lover was to spread love with purple-pink skies, pastel aesthetics, cute turns of phrase, and overall adoration for Joe Alwyn. As far as I can tell, Taylor Swift accomplished that mission in full as I thought Lover would be my personal favorite Swift album and era for as long as I’d live. Granted, who could’ve known that her and Aaron Dessner together would be a collaboration from heaven above? But still, I have much grandiose affection for Lover and my only solemn regret is that it took this long to bring the ranking process to this website for it. It’s the album that made me a Swiftie and changed my life! It’s the album that affirmed Taylor as a pop god forever! It’s a truly special, messy album, just like love can be. I love all the directions she went on it and am delighted to be basking in them now. Only three — or so — years later.
And for the same reason I did not rank “Ronan” on the Red (Taylor’s Version) piece, I will be foregoing “Soon You’ll Get Better” with the Chicks here. It’s a song that exists outside of typical Swiftie pop fandom and deserves the respect to remain as isolated as Swift has felt when considering performing it.
17. “False God”
“False God” just really doesn’t do it for me. I know all the cooler, Bleeding Gums Murphy aficionado Swifties adore it and think it’s Taylor at her most suave and brooding and — depending on who you ask and when you ask them — sexual. But it’s never clicked for me, much in the ways that “Cowboy Like Me” and “End Game” are lacking. I will say, though, that when she was the musical guest for Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s SNL two years ago, I was highly disappointed that “False God” was one of her picks. But the SNL performance of the song elevates it slightly above the studio version, for me. Just not enough to escape the last spot.
16. “I Forgot That You Existed”
It’s hard to say what exactly Taylor heard when she decided to work with Louis Bell and Frank Dukes on three Lover tracks. (“Afterglow” and “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” are the other two.) Maybe it was a Camila Cabello or Halsey track, considering she invited the pair to perform “Shake It Off” with her when she was named as the Artist of the Decade. Or, who knows? Maybe she just really dug some of the production on Post Malone’s output. Whatever drove her to them, it never drove her back again. Perhaps “I Forgot That You Existed” is the reason why. As an initial thesis for Lover, it’s incongruous with the rest of the album and immediately self-defeating by its very existence. Not the strongest way to begin Lover, even if it does have some of the patented moments in Taylor Swift song where you can practically hear her flipping her hair defiantly.
15. “The Man”
Forget about the music video that had me spending the whole time asking, “Is that her? Is that her?” and then nodding certainly, “That was certainly The Rock.” “The Man” deserves all the praise in the world for the lyric, “They would toast to me, oh / Let the players play / I’d be just like Leo / In Saint-Tropez.”
The rest of the song? Not her best. That lyric? Pantheon Taylor. Someone write a lyric about Ben Affleck’s hands overflowing with iced coffees right now.
14. “London Boy”
When it comes to the 2019 Live Lounge, there’s three things every Swiftie knows. One, “Can’t Stop Loving You” is the best performance from the session. Two, it’s her best Live Lounge set and it rivals Harry Styles’ holiday session, too. Three, “London Boy” in the Live Lounge is clearly a vastly superior take on the song when compared with the album version. Is it still a list of things about the United Kingdom? Sure, it is. But you have to respect how bold she was to just sing it in front of a bunch of British people. At least she didn’t bring the Idris Elba sound bite to the live performance. In what world does “Spelling is fun!” not make the album version, but the Elba cameo goes all the way to the finish? Cats was a crazy period for us all.
13. “You Need to Calm Down”
When it comes to politically-charged songs, Taylor has the tendency to approach tact with all the subtlety of a rhinoceros charging a Chick-fil-a. “You Need to Calm Down” makes a lot of good points. But it just feels like they’re points that have already been made long ago. No matter the outcome or the time it took to get there, I’m just personally grateful that Taylor bolsters such important social positions when there are many other mega-stars at her level who never dare to wade into politics out of fear that they’ll never be four quadrant again. Plus, “You Need to Calm Down” is so clearly catchy and it does include some fun, superior lyrics like, “Making that sign / Must’ve taken all night.” In terms of her singles history, it’s certainly not an all-timer, but it’s fun and poppy enough.
12. “Me!”
Speaking of fun and poppy, “Me!” certainly meets that criteria. The other colossal single from the Lover era, “Me!” has been met with plenty of derision from the most loyal and devoted Swifties as they feel it is a wrongful indicator of what the entire album is like. (It is, admittedly, a misrepresentation. “Cruel Summer” would’ve been a stronger showcase for Lover’s ceiling.) Could a collab between Swift and Brendon Urie have reached for more than “I promise that you’ll never find another like me”? Perhaps. But the resulting affair is the kind of campy that reads like Taylor is in on the joke of it all. This kind of impersonal single has never been my favorite from Taylor’s, but I don’t know. I have a soft spot for it! Maybe it’s just because I see people hating on it all the time that it makes me want to defend it, like the final seasons of Game of Thrones or How I Met Your Mother. “Me!” is a delight, I think. It’s also a crucial leaping stone on my Swiftie journey. I didn’t always recognize Taylor when I heard her on the radio, but I always knew the lyrics to her biggest hits. I didn’t know “Me!” was hers when I heard it on Australian radio, but I liked it enough to check it out and see what her next singles would be. The rest is history and how we ended up with, like, our eighth Swift-centric article here.
11. “It’s Nice to Have a Friend”
If it’s true that every Taylor Swift album has a little tease as to what the next album will sound like, “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” is certainly the candidate for our bridge from Lover to Folklore. Considering the original 2020 plan was to have a Loverfest in Foxborough, I highly doubt that there was too much intentionality with this song — even if she did have hope about working with Dessner one day. But still, the sound is the closest we have on the album to what she would eventually come out of the forest with (not you, Justin Timberlake!). I dug it at the time and I still dig it now! Obviously, it’s not in my top tier on Lover, but it does rank pretty highly. I like the fond, nostalgic memories and the stripped-down production. The slight calypso gives it a lightness amidst the darker, love-lost-but-remembered vibes of the musicality. After all, Lover is about every type of love, including the pure love you have with a childhood best friend you don’t talk to anymore. For that reason, I like to think this is spiritually connected to “Seven.”
10. “The Archer”
“The Archer” is another song that could potentially be seen as bridging the gap between Lover and Folklore, but I think that’s just the experimental Jack Antonoff of it all. As the track five on Lover, “The Archer” was indicative of much of the response to the album, as a whole. Critically, commercially, within the fandom: it was certainly well-regarded. But it seemed like most everyone agreed that it was not demonstrative of Swift at the peak of her powers anymore, even if the consensus was a slight improvement from Reputation (another album undergoing a re-evaluation right now; I’ve benefited from that, too). She wrote with intentions for Grammys, per the Miss Americana documentary, but still came up short with the awards body. It was liked, but not loved (unless you were a blatantly emotional and consistently forgiving person like me) and many thought it could’ve been more. That was largely represented and symbolized by “The Archer,” which many liked, but few loved, especially when considering the lofty heights and expectations of previous track five songs. Personally, I enjoy the steady propulsion of the production and the honest vulnerability of the lyrics. I think “The Archer” was a crucial song on Taylor’s path to the unflinching honesty she’d soon deliver. Plus, it’s anthemic for the anxious boyfriend/girlfriend in all of us.
9. “I Think He Knows”
Hey, kids! Can you spell, “bop”? B-O-P! Bop! “I Think He Knows” undoubtedly slots into the best of the best Swiftie bops. The ones that are not super popular (“Me!,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”) and the ones that are not immediately pop staples (“Cruel Summer,” “Blank Space”). These are the bops that are most beloved by Swifties and no one else will ever appreciate them the way we do. I think songs like “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” “Message in a Bottle,” “I Wish You Would,” and “I Know Places” fit this criteria. “I Think He Knows” definitely fits right into that tier of slighter (not quality-wise) Swift pop songs. Not only does the song get right at one of the best, most impermanent and fleeting feelings in any relationship (the “I think this is something mutual” vibe before a relationship starts), but it also has the beat and tempo that immediately reveals itself as beyond fun to listeners. Every Swiftie cried out in unison, “I need to hear this in the club.”
8. “Daylight”
Not every thesis song on a Taylor Swift album is one that she intended. (“Delicate” is Reputation’s thesis.) Not every thesis song comes as the capper for the album. (“Hoax” is far from Folklore’s thesis.) However, in the case of “Daylight,” I do believe that Swift’s intended artistic statement was preset within the track and, of course, the song does wrap up the whole album. Antonoff produced it, but it’s one of three songs that Taylor wrote by herself on the album (“Lover,” “Cornelia Street” being the other two). She leaves behind the notions of love’s complications; she leaves behind the idea that love is “burning red.” Love isn’t even pastel pink or cerulean blue. Love is golden. And love is as golden as it’ll ever be for as long as she wants to be. “You are what you love,” she tells us, as if through a voicemail while the song fades and becomes spoken-word. No matter what pettiness came before on the album, “Daylight,” as stripped down as can be (and one of the songs she clearly wrote by herself on piano at night to express the bursting feelings within her heart), is the testament to everything Taylor wanted to say with Lover and she croons it beautifully. It’s more like an ode than a truly re-listenable song, but both can be stunning creations.
7. “Afterglow”
There’s always something about Taylor Swift’s songs where she owns up to her own shortcomings that hits for me (“Happiness,” “This Is Me Trying”). I think she’s such a musical and cultural legend that it’s easy to put her on a pedestal. I’m so quick to defend her against Kanye West fans or Jake Gyllenhaal fans (and, to be fair, against celebrities like them, Swift is clearly in the right), that I can also be easily blinded when she has her own missteps. Songs like these help Swifties and all listeners get re-centered back to Earth and recognize that we can all try to do better every day. “It’s all me in my head / I’m the one who burned us down / But it’s not what I meant / Sorry that I hurt you.” It’s such a great start to the chorus. Lyrically, the song clearly works for me. I also just love the collection of musical influences that come together on “Afterglow,” much in the same way that many linguistic influences (Humpty Dumpty, for one) conflate on “The Archer.”
6. “Cornelia Street”
For the purposes of the list, I am ranking everything on a basis of the studio tracks. But if I could select the best versions of each song? “Cornelia Street” might be right at the top because her City of Lover version of the song is just astounding. I genuinely think it might be the best she’s ever sounded vocally and she’s belting the song at the level of Jason Mraz’s “A Beautiful Mess” from Live on Earth and any of Bruce Springsteen’s songs from Live in New York City and anything from last year’s Audience with Adele. It takes an 8/10 song and turns it into a 10/10. Is Cornelia Street an easy-to-avoid area of New York? Perhaps. But that’s not the point. The love and affection and fear-that-this-will-all-happen-poorly-again is so palpable within Swift that it takes up so much space in her mind and, in turn, allows Cornelia Street to take up so much space in New York. “Cornelia Street” is yet another example of Swift taking the oh-so-personal and transforming it into a relatable heartful/heart-wrench anthem for her legions of devoted fans and anyone who cares about what music can make us feel.
5. “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince”
Despite his great work with Lorde, I think it’s probably apparent that I am not the biggest fan of what Joel Little produced and created with Taylor Swift. It’s just not the auras I most prefer her to be working within. None of that applies to “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” though. I had this song immediately pegged as one of my absolute, all-time favorite Taylor Swift songs from the second I heard it. Political subtlety is lacking for her? Not in this song. Many are still debating over the particular political symbolism utilized throughout the song. The production is largely staccato and dull with Joel Little? Not in this song. I still feel amped at every turn from steady pop ingredients to rousing musical throwback, even at the more ominously chilling, “Darling, I’m scared.” Writing wise, it’s Swift in her metaphorical comfort zone. Music wise, it’s Swift hitting notes that seem specifically tailored for her. It really is a perfect song; therefore, its fifth position should show you how stellar the rest of the album is.
4. “Cruel Summer”
The single that never was. Three minutes in and out with a killer hook, a serial killer bridge, and a mass murder, “He looks up grinning like a devil!” Jack Antonoff famously said that his work on Folklore with Swift (specifically, “August”) was the best thing he’d done in collaboration with her. I’ve certainly come around to agree with him, but at the time, I remember clearly thinking, Bro, you wrote “Cruel Summer” together. (Also with St. Vincent’s Annie Clark.) It’s okay to never top that; it’s one of the best pop songs ever written. Paul McCartney never topped “Let It Be” and that’s okay. And while I do give the edge to “August,” it’s hard to deny that “Cruel Summer” is one of the best Swift songs in every category. Bridge, Hook, Chorus, Backing Instruments, Production, etc., etc., etc. It’s almost unfair what she did to Bananarama when she released “Cruel Summer” and unfair to all of us when she refused to release it as a single. You’re telling me this wouldn’t demolish the radio for months? It’s everything someone could want in a pop hit. But fine. Us Swifties will take it as a “Getaway Car”-level “hidden gem.” Every album has to have one from Antonoff, I suppose.
3. “Lover”
The best single from Lover is also the title track. It might be cliche to think of a song with this title as being a perfect “first dance at a wedding” song, but it really is. It might just deserve a spot up there with “Here Comes the Bride” and Pachelbel as a staple of weddings. It’s simply an ode to what it feels like to fall in love with someone so deeply and become so enthralled at the idea of what it means to spend one’s life and share so much of adulthood with that other person. It’s a more mature reflection on the feeling than she’s had in the past and perhaps it’s because this kind of love, this kind of “the one” love is something that’s new for Ms. Swift. It’s a new feeling she’s never had before and she couldn’t wait to share those emotions with the people she knows are rooting for her, even without having met her. While the song is a lilting, gorgeous waltz of a tune that becomes increasingly more beautiful to hear the more production elements are taken away from it, the lyrics are what catch in my throat and force me into high emotion every time. There’s so many moving words in “Lover.”
- “Can we always be this close forever and ever?”
- “We could let our friends crash in the living room.”
- “With every guitar string scar on my hand.”
- “All’s well that ends well to end up with you.”
We love when she dips back into the Shakespearean well.
2. “Paper Rings”
While there are numerous gorgeous lyrics in “Lover,” my favorite lyric from the entire album comes from “Paper Rings.” “I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this” is just a perfect lyric and a perfect rhyme and a perfect sentiment. It’s perfect, perfect, perfect! “Paper Rings,” as a whole, is a fairly flawless endeavor with everything you could ever want from a pop song and every element hitting a 10/10 consistently. (Michael McKean knows we’re going beyond 11, to be honest.) “Paper Rings,” because of those elements, is the song that made me a Swiftie. When I heard this song in particular, my life changed and I was completely enamored with a musician who would go on to become one of my all-time favorites and someone I owe much of my current happiness to. The verses, as mentioned, are impeccable, but the chorus is such a euphoric outburst of adoration that how can anyone hear it and not feel something resembling toe-tapping or joy or a smile? Only the coldest cynic could resist the charms of “Paper Rings.” That’s without even mentioning the bridge which shifts us into a more minor key change without ever changing the oozing, gushing sweetness of the lyrics. As someone who has heard “Paper Rings” in a downtown Orlando club with dozens of screaming, sociopathic Swifties, it’s just a perfect song. It belongs in the Hall of Fame of Taylor Swift jams forever.
1. “Death by a Thousand Cuts”
The Live Lounge, the City of Lover concert, an ABC pandemic concert, the album itself, the Loverfest that never was. There are so many outlets that Taylor Swift found for her beautiful eighteen songs in just a few months as her typical two-year album cycle era was cut short by covid. And yet we’ve experienced this entire list and article without mentioning the sensational Tiny Desk Concert she performed for NPR. Partially responsible for re-launching “All Too Well” into the zeitgeist, the concert also contains the best performance of “Death by a Thousand Cuts.” It takes all the most magical parts of the studio recording (the Antonoff production, the guitar plucking, the ferociously belted bridge) and adds in a few more impeccable musician moments (the breath control, the emotionally charged strumming) to send it straight into the stratosphere. “Legendado” is putting it mildly. There’s something mystical, ethereal, otherworldly, cocaine-adjacent that she put into this song. It has never gotten old. I’ve heard it over four hundred times and if anything, I love it more than I did when I first heard it and I get even more excited when those iconic first notes enter my eardrums. It’s one of the best songs anyone will ever write and a perennial top ten Swift anthem of all-time for me, if not top five. “Death by a Thousand Cuts” is the kind of song that you just can’t believe it’s not personal for her because how could anyone write something so beautiful that they didn’t feel so deeply? That’s just who she is at this point in her career. “DBATC” forever. Lover forever.
