With an incredible amount of support behind her, Taylor Swift releases yet another beautiful album to the world (review to follow!). With her total amount of albums sold reaching 33 million and ticket sales reaching a total amount of $423 million, saying that her achievements have been a success would be an understatement. As we welcome another set of Swiftie songs into our phones and CD players, we can reflect on all of her past accomplishments and pieces of artwork throughout all six albums:
Taylor Swift (2006)
Her debut album, Taylor Swift, nurtured our open ears as she wooed the world with her country flair. These 15 tracks include the popular “Teardrops on My Guitar” and “Our Song.” Being only 16 years of age when the final product was released, Taylor Swift gives us insight into her earlier life, teenage years, and common feelings for a high school student to experience. The amount Taylor has grown throughout the years can be measured by looking at her very first few songs (a young, reliant teenager) and comparing them to her latest (a mature, beautiful woman). I do love her first album. The songs are catchy and always great to dance to. Buy it on iTunes here.
Fearless (2008)
Her first well-known album, Fearless, took over the world. Not to say her first went hidden, but 2008 was the year that teenagers worldwide were made aware of Taylor’s presence and raw talent. The first memory I have of her is listening to “Fifteen” at the age of 8, being unable to contain my excitement for when I would turn 15 (of course, it didn’t play out how Taylor had described it, but, nonetheless, I loved the song). “Love Story” is another classic, and to this day, millions of people still listen to it and watch the wonderful, dream-like music video online. But the favourite “You Belong with Me” will always remain a classic and go down in history for generations to come to watch and fall in love with it. Nothing beats an old Taylor Swift music video. You can buy this album here.
Speak Now (2010)
Speak Now is yet another masterpiece. Some of her best songs came from this album. “Enchanted” and “Last Kiss” are my favourites, with their softer ballads and magical lyrics. Other fans may prefer the popular “Mine” and “Ours” and even “Speak Now.” My friend recently chose “Speak Now” out of any song in the world to sing at a school performance. This just goes to prove that Taylor is everywhere and that her songs will never die. Taylor’s third album shows us a new side to her — a less country-themed, more pop-themed album. From here on out she changes even more, and only her true fans stay with her. So many people were disrespectful to her at this point in time, and this is something I will never understand. People are allowed to change, and, in my opinion, Taylor only got better as she found herself along the way, proving to us that nobody could stop her growing success. Buy Speak Now here.
Red (2012)
Behold, my favourite album of hers by far. I could listen to it on repeat for the rest of my life and still never get sick of it. Red carried me through years 7 and 8, some of the hardest years of my life. Sometimes when I listen to them, I feel so nostalgic that I could be 12 years old again. The soft sounds of this album juxtaposed with the passionate melodies of some of the songs makes for an incredible journey through each track, alone and together. Hits from this album include “I Knew You Were Trouble” (with the beautiful monologue before it only to be found on YouTube, here), the iconic “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and the wonderful duet “Everything Has Changed” with Ed Sheeran. My personal favourites include “All Too Well” (my favourite song of all time, of every song ever written worldwide) and “The Last Time” featuring Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol. These two may be my favourites, but there is not one on the album I am sick of or could ever dislike. Forget being my favourite album of hers, Red is my favourite album EVER by ANYONE. Buy it here (do it).
1989 (2014)
The only album to hold numbers in the title, 1989 represents the year Taylor was born and all the things she’s learnt since then. Her first track to be released from this album, “Shake It Off,” was a very controversial song for her. Not only is it very pop-endorsed and not like her country music at all (sparking that “she’s changed too much” argument once again), but it attacks the very people who are already angered by it by telling them that she doesn’t care what they think. Some see this as immature, but in my eyes? Go, girl. Yes. This is exactly the message girls and boys both young and old need to hear. My favourite from this album is actually her least popular, according to a few sources: “Clean.” It is perhaps the simplest song but, in my opinion, the strongest and most beautiful. It liberates us. I had the opportunity to see her in concert for this album, and she did a powerful speech before “Clean.” I was so moved, and so were the other two million fans in the audience. “Welcome to New York,” being the first song, brought me to tears. I was overwhelmed. Relive one of the best nights of my life by buying the album here.
Reputation (2017)
Taylor’s latest album is said to be not only her most anticipated album of all but also the biggest one, having over 400,000 pre-orders (double that of 1989) and making more than a million dollars in sales in the first week. Our snapshot of the album, “Look What You Made Me Do,” prepped fans for a new Taylor, and we were not disappointed as the rest of the tracks arrived. We are gifted with the best of both worlds as we are reunited with a track called “New Year’s Day,” which is the “old Taylor” all over again. What do you get when you mix beautiful new rhythms and mysterious, bad-ass, heart-warming lyrics that somehow still mirror her style? Reputation. Buy it now here, and read my song by song summary of Reputation here.
Kudos to Taylor. We all hope to hear more in the near future, and we’ll hold out for those rare tickets to see the woman of the century perform.
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