playlist 47: the year of the swift
she's done it again, folks.
The Sounds She Collected is a newsletter about mixtapes and mixed emotions. Thanks for being part of this hive mind for empathetic, hopeful people.
This week became a snowball effect of complete and utter nonsense—for the most part—to the point where I didn’t really have much to say. Well, that’s not true. I have an endless list of ideas for what I can share with you, but the 2020 burnout is very real. When each passing day feels the same, it’s a challenge to reinvent what a day can hold.
This isn’t meant to elicit any pity, but to share that sometimes life presents impasses that keep us from making our best creative work. And that’s OKAY! We should try to not give a damn and create anyway. We are human beings, not idea machines, and a challenge with any weekly newsletter, practice, workshop, or anything you put into the world is still finding what to say when you don’t yet have the words.
This pandemic hasn’t been the optimal time for a lot of creative output—but then there’s Taylor Swift.
Releasing not one, but two albums this year, T. Swift may be our musical hero, swooping in to save us from the doldrums of quarantine. I’ll say it now—I have not been a fan of everything she’s created. I really didn’t like Reputation. (Except New Year’s Day, which made me cry the first time I heard it.)
However, Taylor’s 2020 releases, her eighth and ninth studio albums folklore and evermore, are purely magical in their stripped-down, gorgeous instrumentation, thoughtful lyrics, and stunning choruses. The songs manage to embody emotions you might not be able to name, familiar feelings you’ve felt before. Memories that have long gone but return in a sudden burst. I’ve listened to each album more times than I can count this year—perhaps because they’re a salve cutting through the ocean of banality.
Many songs were written in tandem with Aaron Dessner of the National, with a little flair from longtime friend and collaborator Jack Antonoff, making this a true lyrical powerhouse that builds on Taylor’s tried-and-true formula. (This article with Aaron Dessner breaking down every song on folklore is incredible.) Additionally, as my Taylor Swift Scholar friend A aptly notes, many of the songs are linked from one album to the next. With a listen from “invisible string” to “ivy,” the chord progression matches, showing how much thought was put into the curation of two albums during the world’s most difficult time.
With these albums, Taylor becomes more accessible in a way I can’t quite explain. Everyone, and I mean everyone, from my Swift-loving best friend to folks I had no idea cared about this in any way, shape, or form, have confessed their love for these albums or songs or genius one-liners.
Perhaps the reason these songs work so well is that they’re stories in song form. Each of them reads as dialogue from one person to another, secrets scribbled in a diary. And we’re able to feel a part of it all, in on the riddle, embedded in the memory.
“Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now. … I also know this holiday season will be a lonely one for most of us and if there are any of you out there who turn to music to cope with missing loved ones the way I do, this is for you,” she writes.
In homage to T. Swift on her 31st birthday, I give you…
My 15 Favorite Lyrics from folklore and evermore
Cold was the steel of my axe to grind
For the boys who broke my heart
Now I send their babies presents —“invisible string”I parkеd my car right between the Methodist
And thе school that used to be ours
The holidays linger like bad perfume
You can run, but only so far —“‘tis the damn season”Remember when I pulled up and said, "Get in the car"
And then canceled my plans just in case you'd call?
Back when I was livin' for the hope of it all, for the hope of it all
"Meet me behind the mall" —“august”'Cause we were like the mall before the internet
It was the one place to be
The mischief, the gift-wrapped suburban dreams
Sorry for not winning you an arcade ring —“coney island”And the tennis court was covered up
With some tent-like thing
And you asked me to dance
But I said, "Dancin' is a dangerous game" — “cowboy like me”They say she was seen on occasion
Pacing the rocks, staring out at the midnight sea
And in a feud with her neighbor
She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green —“the last great american dynasty”And I've been meaning to tell you
I think your house is haunted
Your dad is always mad and that must be why —“seven”Life was a willow, and it bent right to your wind
But I come back stronger than a '90s trend —“willow”And they called off the circus, burned the disco down
When they sent home the horses and the rodeo clowns
I'm still on that tightrope
I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me —“mirrorball”Showed you all of my hiding spots
I was dancing when the music stopped
And in the disbelief, I can't face reinvention
I haven't met the new me yet —“happiness”At dinner parties, I call you out on your contrarian shit
And the coastal town we wandered 'round had nеver seen a love as pure as it
And thеn it fades into the gray of my day-old tea
'Cause it could never be —“gold rush”I'd live and die for moments that we stole
On begged and borrowed time
So tell me to run
Or dare to sit and watch what we'll become —“ivy”I should've asked you questions
I should've asked you how to be
Asked you to write it down for me
Should've kept every grocery store receipt
'Cause every scrap of you would be taken from me —“marjorie”Sequin smile, black lipstick
Sensual politics
When you are young, they assume you know nothing —“cardigan”We never painted by the numbers, baby
But we were making it count
You know the greatest loves of all time are over now —“the 1”
In addition to Taylor’s music, there have been so many songs and albums and artists new and old that have made 2020 much more bearable for me, as I suspect, for you, too. This week’s playlist, invisible string, features 30 such songs. (You can find the rest on my Your Top Songs 2020 playlist.)
Some of the songs were random as all hell (“It Wasn’t Me”? How did that even make it at all?) to HOW DID THIS SNEAK ON THERE (“Girls Just Want To Have Fun”) to the clear examples of how I used music to boost my mood throughout the worst of times.
*“Chains of Love” intro begins to play.*
Look how far we’ve come,
Sarah
P.S. This has nothing to do with anything, but this video of Nigella Lawson is what we all needed. Join me in now saying, “mee-cro-WAH-vey” forevermore.
Big fan of folklore and evermore? Share this letter with your favorite Swiftie.
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