Hello everybody! Today, I’m going to be doing a bit of a different music post, in which I chat about my fave classic (aka from her 2010 and before albums) Taylor Swift songs, because I’ve been listening to her so much recently and having so much fun with it that I couldn’t tear myself away from it to write this. Also, Speak Now is my 2nd fave album from her yet there are less songs on here from it than Fearless- which is causing me to have a slight existential crisis! But anyway, onto the post!
Jump then Fall- this is a bonus track, and I can understand why it didn’t make the album proper, but it’s very cute. It’s about someone asking someone else to take a leap of faith and fall in love, and I think it’s a lovely idea well executed. The only thing that bothers me is that I can’t tell what their relationship is actually like, but it’s a mild niggle to be fair.
Fearless– I slept on this song for years, I just never really appreciated it because I didn’t love the instrumental at the beginning and got bored before it got a bit more interesting later (I especially like the guitar solo pre-bridge). But then I properly listened to the words and I love them- it’s the story of a first date and the way it makes her feel and it’s such a pretty, oddly moving song.
Love Story– if you’ve not heard Love Story, have you just newly arrived from another planet? I don’t want to call it one of the biggest songs of the 2000s but I feel like it was- you couldn’t move without hearing it for a couple of years. If you’ve not though, it’s basically a ridiculously catchy Romeo and Juliet retelling with a happy ending, and I love it so much. From the moment the guitar kicks in at the start to the euphoric key change in the bridge, I’m here for every single bit of this song.
Hey Stephen– fun fact for you, this is pretty much my favourite Taylor Swift song ever. I’ve loved it since I was 7ish (so over 10 years) and I STILL find new things to love in it regularly even now. The most recent one of these is the drumbeat! Some things I’ve always loved about it are the humming, the lyrics (the rhyme scheme is ridiculously clever) and the two-part bridge is amazing and perfect and I love the mid song laugh (and unless I’m very much mistaken it’s the first time she ever did it!!)
You Belong With Me– another absolute classic. It’s about someone in unrequited love with their bestie, and how she feels he should be with her instead of in his seemingly toxic relationship. The guitars in this are just exceptional, I am fairly confident I could recite the entire thing down to the way she breathes and enunciates certain words verbatim from memory just because I’ve loved it for so long (the same goes for Hey Stephen) and I think the lyrics are deceptively simple, because they’re actually so clever. The bridge is one of my fave ever Swift bridges.
Forever and Always– this is one of her quite interesting breakup songs I think, because it strikes more of a balance between sad and angry whereas a lot of them are kind of biased to one or the other. It’s very famously about her break up with Joe Jonas and there are some brilliant lines- “I believe it was a Tuesday when I caught your eye, and we caught onto something” is a cracking turn of phrase, and some of the callouts are spectacular. And the rain in the bedroom bit is weird but also makes absolute sense somehow, so totally works. I think the bridge is a bit dull which is what takes it down from absolute fave tier, but otherwise I’m a big fan.
Sparks Fly– oh, this song. It’s about falling for someone you really, really shouldn’t and every bit of it’s just DELICIOUS. The chorus is so fun to sing along to- if you don’t enjoy screaming it I’d be surprised.
Speak Now– this song is kind of hilarious, as well as super romantic, which makes ut even better. It’s about someone gatecrashing a wedding in order to object when the preacher says speak now, and it’s full to the brim of clever lines and an interesting story that weirdly makes me feel like I really know the people in it. It’s basically You Belong With Me for adults with a happier ending!
Story of Us- this is a very uptempo breakup song and I don’t really have a definitive reason why I love it. I just do. It’s rumoured to be about the John Mayer fiasco and it’s got sme excellent digs at him, plus it’s a lot more fun to listen to than Dear John which is a plus (I do love Dear John though!)
Enchanted– this is another favourite of all time for me, it’s about her meeting someone at a party and feeling magnetised by them but not knowing if they feel the same about her and it never, EVER fails to make me cry all of the tears. The coda is absolute perfection as well, the bits where she duets with herself are stunning to listen to. This is easily my favourite from Speak Now.
What are your favourite older Taylor songs? I’d really love to chat about them in the comments!
Amy x
Golden Books Girl 
I don’t really know any of these 🙈 I really liked Love Story when it first came out though.
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In fairness lots are VERY deep cuts!! 💜
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