From her album “Fearless” being the most awarded country album of all time to the dominating pop masterpiece “1989,” Taylor Swift has one of the most diverse and successful discographies out of all the artists in the music industry. Everyone has their favorite album of hers, from casual listeners to die-hard stans.
With respect to all of her other 9 album masterpieces, her 9th and surprise album “evermore” reigns on top of my ranking. “evermore” has the delicate lyrics and an undermining story woven into each song, similar to “folklore,” but with an amplified level of emotion, as shown in songs on “Red (Taylor’s Version)”.
An inside joke between Taylor’s fanbase is that she doesn’t acknowledge “evermore” and goes out of her way to ignore the album, making it the “lost sister” of all of her albums. This stings, as an “evermore” lover, but Taylor squashed those rumors on opening night of the Eras Tour. “The “evermore” album, which is an album I absolutely love despite what some of you say on TikTok,” Swift said before playing “champagne problems” “Oh, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen all of it,” she said. Every “evermore” stan’s heart grew two sizes that night.
On “evermore,” Swift turns away from pursuing radio hits and allows her whole heart to be poured into the production. Each song portrays a heavy amount of emotion, whether it’s a hypnotizing feeling of love or painful agony. For example, “tolerate it” is a heartbreaking song describing the anxiety one feels when they aren’t being celebrated, only tolerated as a friend or partner.
Her lyrics are at her highest quality with songs like “marjorie” and “happiness,” as each song tugs at your heart strings and eloquently immerses you in the story Swift is telling. With “marjorie,” Swift paints a beautiful picture of her late grandmother and the impact left on her career. I cannot listen to “marjorie” without crying my eyes out, and I can heavily relate to the lyrics. “Happiness” is a song about a breakup, and contrary to the title, it paints the struggle with post-split emotions.
My two–yes, I cannot choose one–favorite songs from “evermore” are “champagne problems” and “right where you left me.” I listen to these when I need a cry, when I need to be heard, when I’m going through a tough time. I keep returning to these two songs because Swift did the impossible with these two: she was able to perfectly and elegantly describe such difficult emotions and provide relief to her listeners.
“Evermore” is so detail-oriented, poking and pulling at every listener’s heart and deep hidden emotions, making this album the most vulnerable and beautiful. Taylor took such a risk with “evermore,” with the release of “folklore” only less than a year behind, and it definitely paid off.
It is now only a couple short months until I get to see her on the first night of the Chicago shows, and I’m especially excited to hear “champagne problems” live, along with seeing the love that everyone else has for “evermore” in the stadium. However, if “right where you left me” isn’t the surprise song for that night, a piece of my heart will be lost forever… I’m joking…Well, maybe not.