Rowdy Magazine breakdowns our top five songs of Taylor's newest album
( @taylorswift / Instagram )
With just two days before her 31st birthday, I should have known Taylor had something up her cardigan sleeve.
As a sequel to folklore, an album she gifted us in the midst of the pandemic, Swift released evermore on Friday at midnight, less than 24-hours after announcing it on her social media. Known as the “sister record,” Swift worked again with familiar names, like Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, Justin Vernon and her boyfriend Joe Alwyn ( I mean, William Bowery). This time around, though, she added sister trio Haim to the mix.
Although I personally have not fully processed folklore, evermore is filled with hidden narratives with a whole new set of characters. As we wave goodbye to folklore’s Betty, James and Rebecca, evermore introduces us to memorable women like Dorothea and Marjorie, who is featured on track 13, a song that honors Taylor’s grandmother Marjorie Finley, which draws parallels to track 13 on folklore, “epiphany”, a song about her grandfather.
Here are my top five songs off the album:
5) evermore (feat. Bon Iver)
This eerie piano ballad starts off slow with Taylor’s soft, whispered vocals, then shifts gears when Bon Iver harmonizes with Taylor with his high-pitched voice. The track captures the struggles that come with mental health and how as the months go by they understand that the “pain wouldn’t be for evermore.”
Favorite lyric: “I had a feeling so peculiar / That this pain wouldn’t be for / Evermore.”
4) happiness
Do you know what I did last week? I binged watched Grey’s Anatomy while studying for finals. Do you know what Taylor Swift did last week? She wrote this song.
Don’t be fooled by the title, this song will shatter your heart into pieces. Happiness tells a story of love that she was sure would last, but alas, did not.
Favorite lyric: “There’ll be happiness after you / But there was happiness because of you,”
3) dorothea
Although there isn't a love triangle intertwined between this album, this song is a part of one of the love narratives that go hand-in-hand with “‘tis the season.” This song is from the perspective of Dorothea’s ex-lover who calls out for her love, wondering if she ever thinks about returning to his arms.
Favorite lyric: “But are you still the same soul? / I met under the bleachers, well “ ( It reminded me of the lyric “meet me behind the mall,” which was a part of the love triangle,”
2) ‘tis the damn season
Ok, but why does this song make me miss my highschool boyfriend? Anyway.. This song is from Dorothea's point of view as she comes back home to her small town for the holidays. She’s madly in love with her ex, but it almost feels like she cannot stay with him. Their love was not meant to last past the weekend. *Cue the waterworks*
Also, I know her name is Dorothea in this album, but I have a feeling these two characters are the grown-up version of Betty and James from folklore.
Favorite lyric: “And the heart I know I'm breaking is my own / To leave the warmest bed i’ve ever known,”
1) no body, no crime (feat. Haim)
When Taylor announced the tracklist for evermore, I just knew this was going to be my favorite from the start. Is it because it adds to the theory that Taylor and Harry Styles committed vehicular manslaughter? Maybe (yes). But also because of the production of the song. Look, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of country music, but the vibes coming off this song are immaculate. After doing a little investigation on Reddit, writing a song about murder is basically a right of passage for female country artists, and I love that. In this murder mystery ballad, Taylor teams up with HAIM to tell the story of the murder of Este, who was killed after she confronted her cheating husband. In retaliation, Este’s friends (being the loyal friends that they were) plotted revenge by killing the husband and covering up his death by making it look like the mistress was at fault.
Favorite lyric: “ 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.”
In a message from Taylor, she states that she has “no idea what will come next,” but some Swifties have already speculated that there will be a third album added to the series, making it a trilogy. Whether or not that’s true, Taylor will surely leave us some more Easter eggs in the meantime.
Valentina Botero is a media coordinator for Rowdy Magazine.