With 910 nominations, 410 wins, and a discography of 9 albums spanning three genres of music, Taylor Swift is undeniably the star of the music industry. The cultural impact she creates with her chart-topping music has been present for over a decade and a half. Whether it be changing the music industry with an open letter to Apple, addressing political issues through her music, or simply releasing tracks for us to let our hair down, she’s done it all.
Her debut album features love and heartbreak, as seen in her tales “Our Song” and “Tim McGraw”. Fearless reiterates the themes of love and heartbreak, but in the form of a relatable fairy tale, “Love story” and “Fifteen.” In fact, she even opens up and displays her vulnerability in telling her crush “You belong with me”.
Having handwritten her entire third album, she demonstrates her personal experience and understanding of heartbreak and bitterness – a strong contrast from the songs of love and hope she presented earlier. Her album ‘Red’ signalled her transition from Country music to Mainstream Pop.
Her masterful album 1989 is a timeless pop record: her very own masterpiece. A record dominated by sleek lyrics that stick in your head for days, her tracks “Shake it Off,” “Blank space,” “Style,” and “Out of the woods” made Swift the only female to have ever won the Album of the Year award at the Grammy’s twice.
‘Reputation’ marked Swift’s comeback to the industry, and while it did have big shoes to fill after ‘1989,’ it is an album about falling in love – away from the public eye – ignoring the hate and coming back “stronger than a ‘90’s trend”. And boy, did she come back to stay with her 7th album ‘Lover,’ a rose-tinted album that gives you all the drama, emotion and puts you through ‘all the feels.’
While the lockdown was a time of uncertainty, stillness, and anxiety, Swift released two record-breaking albums too, and critics and fans alike comment that it may just be her best work as a songwriter and storyteller. The surprise drop of ‘Folklore’ consisted of melancholic tracks like “Exile”, the semi-biographical “Last Great American Dynasty”, and a trio of songs she brands as ‘The Teenage Love Triangle,’ exploring a knotty romance from three different perspectives (“August”, “Cardigan” and “Betty”). While Folklore is an album perfect for escapism, evermore hits with reality. This sister album somehow has even more hauntingly heartbreaking and oratorically stunning tracks like “champagne problems”, “‘tis the damn season”, “tolerate it”, “nobody, no crime”, “happiness”, “coney island” and “Marjorie”.
This means that T-Swift’s music is for everyone! Whether you’re going through heartbreak, are in love, want to dance, escape the world’s harsh realities, or simply want to be blown away by great music, her discography is a one-stop destination for it all; you surely won’t regret listening to her iconic music!
