Taylor Swift has released a sticky sweet love song for every heartbreak tune. From big hits to deep cuts, here are her 10 best love songs.
Taylor Swift has amassed an impressive songbook. In her decades-spanning career, the singer-songwriter has written extensively about love and heartache in all their shades. Swift often pulls from her personal life, but she’s known to draw from observational stories, as she does on folklore and such songs like ‘Starlight,’ for example.
Since the start of her career, Swift demonstrated a knack for crafting honest stories about real people, calling to her own life in the process. From ‘Tim McGraw’ to the recent Grammy-nominated smash ‘Anti-Hero,’ she has built a musical empire.
Even when she veers outside of her comfort zone, love remains a thread connecting her work. Whether she’s reflecting upon an immediate infatuation or a long-standing relationship, Swift knows a thing or two about romance. Many in her repertoire are ripe for weddings. Here are Taylor Swift’s 10 best love songs across her entire career.
‘Lover’
The title track to her 2019 album, ‘Lover’ swings with a delicate sparkle, easily lending itself to intimate slow dancing. “I’ve loved you three summers now, honey, and I want them all,” sings Taylor Swift.
Percussive brush strokes decorate haunting string work to accentuate the rose-colored story, in which Swift steals away for one more moment of sheer bliss.
‘King of My Heart’
Over a static hip-hop beat, Swift regales a tale about someone who has become the ‘King of My Heart.’ “You are the one I’ve been waiting for,” she sings. Her voice slides side-by-side with a subtle gloss, finding her stepping into a different genre altogether. Even when cliched finger snaps dip into the mix, there’s something intoxicating about it all.
‘Love Story’
‘Love Story’ is the smash that took her from country darling to pop heroine. Utilizing the tragic tale of Romeo & Juliet, Swift flips it on its head to craft a love-strewn anthem that’s as sweet as it is epic. When the song crescendos, it’s enough to sweep you off your feet.
‘Starlight’
“We were dancing like we’re made of starlight,” Taylor Swift wistfully muses. ‘Starlight,’ which isn’t based on her personal experience but rather inspired by Ethel and Bobby Kennedy during the 1940s, is impossibly irresistible. Production twinkles, as expected, to fully capture the beauty of love in its prime.
As two lovers run wild, drums and electric guitars underscore their reckless abandon. While the lyrics are hyper-focused on Ethel and Bobby’s fictional story, the chorus appeals to the everyday listener with shimmering grandeur.
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‘Sweet Nothing’
‘Sweet Nothing’ just might be Midnight’s most underrated cut. With a soft, angelic glow, Swift’s performance springs across the melody with a youthful bounce. As she reflects upon those sweet nothings whispered amid life’s frantic moments, horns poke through the mix and give it an emotionally galvanized quality.
‘Our Song’
Bubbly and effervescent, ‘Our Song’ perfectly captures young love’s magic. As one of Tayor Swift’s earliest hits, the fiddle-heavy tune bursts at the seams. Through its youthful lens, it’s not behold to time, place, or age.
While the lyrics certainly lean into things like “sneaking out late,” as teenagers do, it has a charm that transcends generations, making for a wonderfully heartwarming love song.
‘New Year’s Day’
A relationship is frequently marked by loud moments: the anniversaries, the birthdays, the parties. But the quieter, more intimate moments are as important, if not more so. “I want your midnights,” Swift whispers over minimal production. A guitar, piano, and little else ebb and flow in dazzling colors around her. And it’s altogether a magical entry in her catalog.
‘Paper Rings’
Featuring a rockier, jam band undercurrent, ‘Paper Rings’ encapsulates the frenzy notion of new love that seems to explode like fireworks. “I like shiny things but I’d marry you with paper rings,” she sings.
Swift explores her lovesick ideals like confessing one’s deepest and darkest secrets. “Darling, you’re the one I want” rings loud and clear.
‘Sparks Fly’
Taylor Swift muses about the electricity shared between two lovers. “Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain,” she sings in ‘Sparks Fly.’ Found on Speak Now, the radiant midtempo sees Swift capturing the intensity of burgeoning love and what it means to really and truly care for someone.
‘Gold rush’
Love at first sight lies at the pounding heart of ‘Gold rush,’ from evermore. Percussion palpitates in rhythmic time like a heartbeat, with strings weeping in the background. Taylor Swift stitches together rich details of a chance meeting that leads to so much more. Her performance is silky smooth, yet packs in fevered, red-faced emotions.