Every Song on Taylor Swift’s “evermore” Ranked
Taylor Swift’s second last-minute album drop of 2020 sure sent the music world into a tailspin. The songstress, already thought to be a strong contender for multiple Grammys, including Album of the Year for July’s folklore, surprise-announced the sister album to the aforementioned indie/alternative collaboration between The National’s Aaron Dessner and Taylor’s favorite songwriting buddy and Bleachers frontman, Jack Antonoff.
Critics have already dubbed evermore as folklore’s cooler, more experimental younger sister, and the new album features collaborations with HAIM, The National, and another track with Bon Iver. Listed below are all fifteen of evermore’s songs, ranked (there are also two more deluxe tracks arriving with the physical edition) along with some standout lines from Swift’s lyrics.
15. Marjorie
Okay, people are going to come at me for this: while this song is lovely and meaningful, it just wasn’t one of my favorites! Nonetheless, this track revolving around Taylor’s late grandmother is getting a lot of attention. While it didn’t match up to some of the other tracks for me personally, it’s still a beautiful hymn, and a nice compliment to the references to Taylor’s grandfather on folklore.
Best Line: “All your closets of backlogged dreams / And how you left them all to me.”
14. Coney Island (feat. The National)
The “sorry” in this song feels resigned and just tossed-out as a sort of participation award, and it’s the most powerful aspect of the track. It’s a song of love lost, and love that can’t be coaxed back. It definitely speaks to the style of The National more than Taylor, but it’s a lovely new experiment for Swift, albeit not one of the most memorable songs on the record.
Best Line: “Sorry for not winning you an arcade ring”
13. Happiness
Maybe Daisy Buchanan from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby would finally feel understood if she heard this song, which pays homage to her. Only this time, the infamous “green light” is one of forgiveness. Bittersweet and a twisted lullaby of sorts, this song grapples with heartbreak, the subsequent personal growth, and the yearn for vengeance that occasionally peeks out. This is a song that continuously changes with the emergence and exit of various instruments on the track, and it’s one of the most interesting pieces on the record.
Best Line: Showed you all of my hiding spots / I was dancing when the music stopped / And in my disbelief, I can’t face reinvention
12. Evermore (feat. Bon Iver)
Again, don’t come at me, but just as “exile” wasn’t one of my favorites on folklore (much to the contrary of everyone else, it seems), “evermore” isn’t either. It’s purely because, while both are songs of great quality, both folklore and evermore are just such excellent albums that other songs simply captured my attention more. This track is definitely most powerful when Justin Vernon’s voice comes in — his voice and Taylor’s compliment each other quite well — and I’m willing to bet that those currently reeling from a breakup will find this song at the top of their own list.
Best Line: “Hey December / Guess I’m feeling unmoored / Can’t remember / What I used to fight for.
11. Cowboy Like Me
I must admit, when this song started playing, I thought that it had somehow skipped to the middle of the track. Like something off of the TV show Nashville, this song lilts and croons and makes me think of flickering neon signs and the last few stragglers on the dance floor.
Best Line: “Perched in the dark / Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear / Like it could be love
10. Tolerate It
This track eerily ends with “I sit and watch you,” followed by the sirens that open “No Body, No Crime.” Coincidence? There are none with Taylor Swift. This track #5— for those who don’t know, Taylor always devotes a song of emotional significance to track five —
Best Line: “While you were out building other worlds, where was I? / Where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire?”
9. Long Story Short
Swift waves away former lovers and her old reputation with a grin, acknowledging her past but refocusing on the pleasant. It’s a palette cleanser I wish “I Forgot that You Existed” had been on Lover. Swift’s ability to poke fun at herself is one of her strong suits in her songwriting, and while it doesn’t match up to her most clever self-deprecation on “Blank Space,” (a chart-smashing hit that’s hard to top) it’s a solid song nonetheless.
Best Line: “And I fell from the pedestal / Right down the rabbit hole / Long story short, it was a bad time.”
8. ‘Tis the Damn Season
Even though Taylor has lived a very different life than most, she somehow seems to understand the nuances of what it’s like to return to your hometown for the holidays and meet up with a former fling. This song demonstrates Swift’s ability to understand experiences she likely hasn’t lived — she even includes a line about sleeping half the day, something that college kids home on winter break will chuckle at.
Best Line: “We could call it even, you could call me ‘babe’ for the weekend.”
7. Dorothea
A small-town guy sings to his former love, a girl who skipped down to try and make it on the silver screen. A crooning, downright delightful tune full of clever rhyme schemes, catchy “oooohs,”, and some of Swift’s most specific imagery (spoiler: Dorothea is now selling makeup and magazines), this track is one that will likely get stuck in your head.
Best Line: “But are you still the same soul I met under the bleachers?”
6. Ivy
Like a prelude to “illicit affairs,” “ivy” captures the thrill of the beginnings of an extramarital affair, a woman bewitched by the “opal eyes” of her new lover and enjoying every second. It’s a charming ditty, and it feels almost 19th century in a strange way, capturing a similar essence that the “willow” music video brings. Unlike “illicit affairs,” however, one finds themselves rooting for this love to last.
Best Line: “So tell me to run / Or dare to sit and watch what we’ll become / And drink my husband’s wine.
5. Closure
One of the most sonically compelling songs on the album, this experimental track is a surefire highlight and new territory for Swift, even if it charts back to the familiar ground of breakup tracks. This track makes me picture her rolling her eyes at a letter from an ex as he mansplains and reemphasizes that, yes, it’s over for good. Trust me, buddy, she knows.
Best Line: “I know I’m just a wrinkle in your new life / Staying friends would iron out so nice.”
4. Champagne Problems
Taylor has always had a gift for sewing unexpected, intense bridges (RE: All Too Well) and this song contains arguably the best bridge of the album.
Best Line: “She would have made a lovely bride / What a shame she’s fucked in the head,” they said
3. No Body, No Crime (feat. HAIM)
In what must be a tribute to one of Swift’s earliest inspirations, “No Body, No Crime” draws obvious parallels to The Dixie Chicks ‘— now The Chicks’ — “Goodbye Earl.” Arguably the catchiest song on the album, this is a toe-tapping, banjo-plucking show-stealer. You can picture Taylor smirking as she sings “They think I did it but they just can’t prove it,” as she portrays the friend of a woman who disappeared following the reveal of her husband’s infidelity — and wouldn’t you know it, some brand new tires appeared on his car. This song is another excellent examples of Taylor’s ability to plant herself in someone else’s shoes, because you know Taylor Swift never cleaned houses!
Best Line: “Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was 15 / And I’ve cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene.”
2. Willow
Spellbinding, earthy, and slightly spooky, Willow is like nothing Swift has done before — which is what makes it such a highlight of the album. She’s also never sounded better — this is a song that plays perfect to Taylor’s vocal strengths, and it’s a tune that even your most vocal Taylor Swift-denouncing friends will find themselves taking a liking to. Like “cardigan,” Taylor definitely picked the strongest stand-alone song to release the first music video of the album to.
Best Line: You know that my train could take you home, anywhere else is hollow.
Runner Up: I come back stronger than a ’90s trend.
1. Gold Rush
Shimmering, glittery strings and coinciding lyrics, perfect embodying its title, this song captures all of Swift’s strengths — lyrical prowess, captivating melody, and most importantly, the ability for the listener to instantly understand the emotion. And this time, the emotion is a flurry of happiness, the sensation that one can’t even believe their own luck. I think I speak for all of us when I say that, after years of breakup ballads being the highlights on Swift’s records, it really speaks to her era that the most standout track on evermore is one of pure glee.
Best Line: “I don’t like slow motion, double vision in rose blush / I don’t like that falling feels like flying ’til the bone crush.”
