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On the day of the 2024 Grammy Awards, Taylor Swifts website crashed.
Also amongThe Tortured Poets Department: The Anthologys31 tracks?
These are the tracks where she lays herself bare, sans armor.
While other songs dance around these themes, track five has always addressed them head-on.
But is one track five better than another?
If they were to be ranked, how would each stand alone and as part of a set?
Would the criteria be lyrical content?
Below, Ive ranked Swifts 11 track fives (and one honorable mention).
Lyrics (5 points)2.
The level of vulnerability conveyed (5 points)3.
Extent to which the song makes me want to call a therapist (5 points)4.
The examination is thorough, likely toquell questions from friends and family.
That right there seems to be the answer to the question the title poses.
Produced by Aaron Dessner and accompanied by composer Robert Ames, How Did It End?
is a beautiful melancholic funeral dirge for the future that was planned but never came to fruition.
A worthy track five, if only it werent track 21.
Swifts inaugural track five.
Cold As You takes a look at a relationship that was not so great.
But taxing in its own way.
It is absolutely the most country track five on the list, and Taylors teenage twang really shines through.
The lyrics And when you take, you take the very best of me.
Its missing some of the power these tracks gained as Taylor matured and her songwriting strengthened.
But there is still something special about it and the mess of a dreamer who wrote it.
All he had to do was stay.
And so we got this incredible bop.
You were all I wanted.
But not like this.
A great change of pace for the fans of track fives who want to dancewhilethey cry.
One, two, three lets dance.
Another track five that is more pop song than emotional ballad but boy is it a track five.
Taylor is essentially standing in front of her crush screaming, IS IT OKAY THAT I LIKE YOU?
and hoping that doesnt ruin everything.
Relationships are just so damn delicate, you know?Is it cool that I said all that?
I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost.
The room is on fire, invisible smoke.
And all of my heroes die all alone.
Help me hold onto you.
With lyrics like that, theres no mistaking this for anything butLoverstrack five.
The Boy in question was of course her then-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.
But Id been fooled.
And then she gets to the bridge … Youre on Your Own, Kid has everything a track five needs to be a knife to the heart.
Well, thats a new one, but check!
Here she tells a story of wanting someone who doesnt want you.
Ever felt lonely in a crowded room?
Ever find it hard to be at a party when you feel like an open wound?
This track five is for you, kid.
Lyrics: 4/5Vulnerability: 4/5Call Your Therapist: 3/5Grab That Hairbrush: 5/5Total: 16/20
4-3.
(TIE) my tears ricochet,folklore(2020)
4-3.
), but she knew from day one this would probably be it.
And oh what a track five it is.
It may or may not be told from the perspective of a ghost?!
… Or a superhero?!
Anything is possible with a track five.
And you might aim for my heart, go for blood.
But you would still miss me in your bones.
Lyrics: 5/5Vulnerability: 3/5Call Your Therapist: 4/5Grab That Hairbrush: 5/5Total: 17/20
4-3.
(TIE) tolerate it,evermore(2020)
It really packs a familiarpunch.
Its so deeply a track five, there is really no other track onevermorethat could fit in its place.
While you were out building other worlds, where was I?
Wheres that man whod throw blankets over my barbed wire?
I made you my temple, my mural, my sky.
Now Im begging for footnotes in the story of your life.Ouch.
Where do I begin withthissong?
It is the longest track five, at 6:43, and it is an emotional marathon.
And she got a lot offlackfor it.
In hindsight, its empowering.
She took his matches before fire could catch her and lit fireworks with them.
Arguably the most famous Taylor Swift track five of them all (so far).
All Too Well was never a single, but it absolutely should have been.
it’s possible for you to find the CD its on, Taylor.
Maybe its right by the scarf?
Lyrically, All Too Well is a standout track bar none.
