#hiddenintheyard

I have a really hard time ranking Taylor's albums, especially because I struggle to rate consistency against high highs.

I can tell you my four faves are folklore, evermore, TTPD, and Red – I generally would say folklore is the most flawless out of all of them, which is why I uphold it as my favourite. The other three are all slightly messy in their own way, though that's also part of what makes them so great: they capture something emotionally complex and real and the slight unwieldiness of their tracklists is a part of that complexity.

Next, I think I would say Fearless, Speak Now, Midnights and reputation. Fearless is less complex but also kind of a perfect album and I kind of feel similarly about Midnights (the standard edition – the 3AM edition is actually more that unwieldy thing with some high points). reputation feels like a true statement piece, even if the individual songs are maybe a bit less impressive in isolation. Speak Now has stellar songwriting, it just is a bit overwhelming as a single album.

Then next I'd put Lover and 1989 into a category. I think Lover maybe has a few higher highs, at least in terms of singer-songwriteriness, but 1989 is a much more fun full listen and better produced. Lover is highkey front-loaded, but 1989 always felt like it was keeping me slightly at arm's length, emotionally, which is kind of not what I want from a Taylor album.

Then I have debut and TLOAS – debut has a few songs that very much just feel like filler, and I actually don't dislike anything on TLOAS, it just doesn't have the 1-3 new faves I usually expect from a Taylor album. I do think it's a fun, breezy listen.

(also really it's top 4 - middle 6 - bottom 2 in the subdivision, the difference between those 2 sub-middle categories are quite small and mood-dependent)

For Paul, it's a bit easier. It's still too early to decide where Dungeon Lane will end up, so I bolded the general area I think it'll land in. This one's slightly different than the last one I made.

Chaos & Creation = Band On The Run > Ram > Tug of War > Venus & Mars > McCartney II > Egypt Station > Memory Almost Full > Back To The Egg > Flowers In The Dirt > Red Rose Speedway > McCartney > New > Pipes of Peace > Flaming Pie > London Town > Kisses On The Bottom > Off The Ground > Wings at the Speed of Sound > Press To Play > McCartney III > Driving Rain > Wild Life > Run Devil Run > CHOBA B CCCP

With Paul it's like: the top 6 are albums I'd recommend to basically any music lover, then the albums up to and including New I'd recommend to people who enjoy the Beatles and are curious about Paul's career, and then after that it's like "well if you're still into it, let's dive deep!"

I think Run Devil Run is probably actually a better constructed album than Wild Life, I just have little interest in these covers. I love Kisses On The Bottom though <3

ps. i love No words!!! i think it's a standout track on the album! (bassline is too busy for it tho)

context: this post + my tags

TBH I wouldn't think it's conscious or purposeful, because Paul hasn't really changed his Let It Be and Yesterday origin stories, which he's retold way more often. (although, tangential: it's wild that John's little contribution to Yesterday has been effectively written out of history, and that it's partially John's fault…)

As I said in the tags of an earlier post, I think it's actually really easy, if you often recall a specific memory (and Paul himself said he would recall John saying "It's only me" like it was a mantra), to suddenly feel like this thing that happened once actually happened regularly.

I haven't seen Man On The Run yet (going though!) but I would wager that "I'm still the guy you loved in Liverpool" isn't really Paul claiming John literally said that but instead Paul "translating" how he understands "It's only me." Which I don't think really counts as changing the story, it's just a slight elaboration.

informing you about my ts journey: I like folklore now much more that I listened to it in the dark. Especially like Mirrorball

from the John fic: beautiful, beautiful boy part (from last chapter) still randomly comes to my mind and I still remember the goose bumps I get from it and how an unnameable weight of emotion washed over me

I’m losing you / I’m moving on: which part is your favourite from these (we know: greatest) songs. mine is: I feel you slipping away-ay-ay/well do you still have to carry the cross, don’t wanna hear about it; and Now you're giving me your window smile…

!!!!!!

So:

1. That's so exciting to me personally because folklore is my favourite album of hers (and of all time, tbh) AND mirrorball is my favourite song off the album and in my top 3 so. Yay 💗💗💗💗💗💗

2. Honestly, I think I felt a bit similar writing that bit. I had outlined it before writing the chapter, but it only came to life for me once it was fully worded. I know what you mean about an unnameable wave of emotion. There's a lot of bits of the story that I feel very deeply about but can't quite put into words.

(Vibe based interpretation, bc how would we know what she would do for the next album...)

I think Jack is kind of an artistic soulmate of hers whom she will always come back to at this point. Since a lot of TLOAS was recorded in summer/fall 2024 and Taylor said she wrote the song after seeing the movie, my guess is TLOAS was largely done by the time she wrote this.

So, I don't know if she's doing TS13 with Jack, but I expect to see more of her and him for basically as long as they're both active. The fact they've both seen each other through multiple personal ups and downs feels like a testament to the strength of their friendship and partnership.

Given this year is the 20th anniversary of her career (her debut single's birthday is in a few weeks actually) and she is definitely planning something special for album 13, I think it's definitely possible she'll come back to country for it and bring Jack along with her (though I don't expect a new album release this year, just Debut TV).

this is so fun >:)

I'm thinking about the fact folklore is about stories and evermore is about endings, so I've sort of combined those into a theme of missed opportunities, roads not taken, wanting to go back and change something.

I also generally stuck with more acoustic songs, inkeeping with the folkmore sound, but some of these just imagine them less synth-y and more guitar-y.

How Did It End?

Ruin The Friendship

Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus

The Very First Night (I allowed one vault track)

Midnight Rain

I Hate It Here

The Prophecy

Fortnight

Bigger Than The Whole Sky

Guilty As Sin?

Peter

Would've Could've Should've

The Manuscript (you have to change the arrangement a bit to be a bit less final song-y)

The Fate of Ophelia

To be clear, these aren't all my favourite songs from Taylor's post-2020 output, but the ones that I feel best fit my criteria.

It's grown on me. I will be forever grateful to this frucking album bc it helps me in this personally hard time. I even enjoy the looooore

ALSO. I love Glitch! I think it's a very cool song, almost has tiny tiny art rock-ish vibe

(Randomly reporting you my ts journey, why not.)

Nice! Always fun when people find new enjoyment in something :) Also I hope you're holding up okay, it all seems extremely difficult and I'm sending you a bunch of hugs <333

Are you listening to the just 3AM tracks or the full album? Because I think there's a significant group of people who vastly prefer the 3AM tracks to the standard edtion songs.

Also, I actually think there's something to be said about this as a wider phenomenon, where people come back to Taylor albums they had previously dismissed, because I feel I've seen this a few times.