My Top 25 in College Football and Taylor Swift Songs
Happy Red (Taylor's Version) Week to all that celebrate
Tomorrow is the release of a Taylor Swift album, so I figured I would do something in that vein. I did a collaborative Top 10 Swift songs list back in 2019, but a whole lot of music has been added since then, so it felt like a good time to do it again.
But first, let’s do the college football one or whatever.
1.) Georgia (-)
2.) Cincinnati (-)
3.) Oklahoma (+1)
4.) Oregon (+2)
5.) Ohio State (+2)
6.) Alabama (-1)
7.) Michigan State (-4)
8.) Michigan (+1)
9.) Notre Dame (+2)
10.) UTSA (-)
11.) Oklahoma State (+1)
12.) Wake Forest (-4)
13.) Texas A&M (+3)
14.) Houston (+3)
15.) Coastal Carolina (-)
16.) Ole Miss (+4)
17.) Louisiana (+1)
18.) BYU (+3)
19.) Baylor (-6)
20.) Auburn (-6)
21.) Appalachian State (+3)
22.) San Diego State (+3)
23.) Purdue (NEW)
24.) NC State (NEW)
25.) Pittsburgh (NEW)
Some thoughts:
The top should have Georgia, then about a galaxy worth of space, then the rest. The Bulldogs are playing like a team that would beat anyone by three scores.
Cincinnati stays at 2 despite playing poorly for the second straight week. Why? Because the only team that looked better in the top seven was Oklahoma, and the Sooners were off this week.
I have moved Oregon and Ohio State over Alabama because I think LSU is a terrible football team, probably worse than Nebraska who has yet to lose a game by double-digits. To me, the Crimson Tide played the worse of the three in question.
I thought the CFP rankings were OK this week, at least for the first 23 they showed. Then, No. 6 Michigan and No. 7 Michigan State. Oh good, it’s not like these teams played less than two weeks ago or anything. Both teams have one loss, and one team beat the other very recently. These should have been flipped.
I’ll be honest, I have very few thoughts on teams outside the top 10 right now. I am excited for Texas A&M-Ole Miss and Wake Forest-NC State, but ranking these teams felt very muddy and meh. Just a big group of solid teams that haven’t wowed.
I did put Purdue in the top 25 instead of Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin. I did this because I think it’s funny, and also. because Purdue has beaten Iowa and now Michigan State. The Badgers and Nittany Lions are right there, but the Hawkeyes suck, folks, don’t expect them in here for awhile.
The Taylor Top 25
I am doing this ranking strictly on which songs I like more, something that might have changed since I did this two years ago. It’s not any deeper than that, so please don’t yell at me.
The only other stipulation here is that I won’t be putting the same songs twice if they have a Taylor’s Version out. I may or may not include new songs from those albums, though.
Editor’s note, which also happens to be me: This was so damn hard
25.) Death By A Thousand Cuts – Lover is such an underrated album, the American Conference of Taylor projects, and this is one of its best songs. A truly elite verse (My heart, my hips, my body, my love, you know the one) in the back portion of the song.
24.) illicit affairs – A true gem on folklore, one I don’t think gets enough credit. I love the guitar here, and I think this is a high point for Taylor’s lyricism.
23.) State of Grace – Red was Swift’s first move into more of a Pop sound, a sound I think was an improvement (ducks) over her earlier stuff. And what an opening State of Grace was to that sound.
22.) ivy – Though it’s the second-best song with this title (see: Ocean, Frank), it is also one of the best in Taylor’s new albums. It is low key, but has such a rhythm to it that I am swaying while listening to it as we speak.
21.) The Man – There were so many ways a song like this could go wrong or be seen as preachy, and You Need To Calm Down was a similar effort on this album that did not work. But the message here is simple and effective, and it works. Also, it’s a damn bop.
20.) Red – One of the catchier songs in Taylor’s discography, and a true personal favorite of mine. I’m a sucker for the color references in the chorus.
19.) Getaway Car – Folks, you won’t be seeing anything else from reputation on here, and that alone should prove how strong a song this is. Truly the UTSA of Swift tracks.
18.) Mine – If it hasn’t been clear to this point, this will be a list that mostly focuses on Red and onwards, that’s simply the sound I enjoy more. That is not to take away from songs like Mine, that I will still belt the lyrics to every time I hear.
17.) Out of the Woods – If Lover is the AAC, 1989 is the SEC. Just a powerhouse album that you are going to see more from on this list. First up though, Out of the Woods is a song that grows on me every time I hear it. Unbelievably catchy with great production and a chorus that, despite being very repetitive, is one of my favorites Swift has ever done.
16.) champagne problems – It only took two songs for me to realize that evermore was going to be the second banger of an album in one year for Taylor, and this song was why. A somber, crushing song with a simple piano melody that holds so much emotion thanks to Swift’s terrific vocal delivery.
15.) You Belong With Me – An all-time classic for a reason, You Belong With Me still hits to this day. Don’t need to say much about this song, you all know it, and there’s a reason for that.
14.) New Romantics – Up there with the greatest bonus tracks of all-time. Absolutely criminal that this didn’t make the cut for 1989 because goodness gracious this song slaps.
13.) the 1 – I just want to go back to when folklore released. The only thing we knew was that The National and Bon Iver worked on it and that it looked more folky from the aesthetics. Then I heard the 1, and I transcended to another plane of existence. What a song.
12.) Holy Ground – Just an absolute blast of song. The drums are exceptional and Taylor’s energy is infectious from start to finish. Amped to hear Taylor’s updated version of this one.
11.) evermore (feat. Bon Iver) – Surely this will be the last Taylor-Bon Iver collab on this list. Swift and Justin Vernon are absolute magic on a track, undeniable synergy in their voices, and this is a true powerhouse closer to the 2020 albums. I love the transition to the three sections of the track, with the build and crescendo before the quiet concluding moments.
10.) Clean – Masterpiece albums need masterpiece closers, and here’s Taylor’s second excellent closer in a row. I can feel every single word that Swift speaks on this song and the emotion behind it all, and there’s real beauty in the simplicity of the sounds and message displayed here. It’s simple, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
9.) Forever and Always – I think this is a song that I did not appreciate enough over the years, and then the Taylor’s Version came out and reminded me just how damn good it is, and always has been. You could even say it’s been great forever and always I’m so sorry.
8.) The Story of Us – This song though, this song has been my shit since I first heard it 11 years ago. The whole idea of the song rocks, the execution rocks even harder and the guitars plus Swift’s performance rocks the hardest.
7.) Ronan – No. 7 on the list, but maybe No. 1 in the most remarkable things Taylor Swift has done musically in her career. This song, on the death of a 3-year old child, is heartbreaking, but beautifully done. Everything about this track amazes me, from the lyrics to the singing to the stripped back guitar, and I think it is a song that is forgotten about far too often when talking about very best that Swift has created.
6.) exile (feat. Bon Iver) – The highlight moment of the 2020 albums came from Taylor’s first effort with Bon Iver. Much like I said with evermore, there is just something special about the musical chemistry between Swift and Vernon, and the fantastic lyricism is just the icing on the cake when hearing these two trade lines.
5.) Style – Good lord the groove on this bad boy, it will have you head-bobbing almost immediately. It may just miss the TSP (Taylor Swift Playoff, not teaspoon), but this is an elite 1989 moment with an insanely catchy hook that gets better and better as the song goes forward.
4.) Blank Space – I said that 1989 was like the SEC, right? Folks, we respect the powerhouse album around here, and Blank Space sneaks into the top four. What a fun freaking song man, simply everything works about it. It’s tongue and cheek, and I think it was a real turning point in Swift’s sound and persona in all of the best ways.
3.) All Too Well – The 10-minute version is not here to boost this song to No. 1, but All Too Well still is comfortably in the playoff as Taylor’s top moment in lyricism and displaying emotion. There is so much here to love over the 5:30 runtime, but it’s the build-up that sticks with me the most. It’s so much pain and memories and it just keeps going until the release, and it stands as one of the strongest moments in any pop song in recent memory.
2.) Wildest Dreams – The runner-up is Taylor’s synth-pop masterpiece, and the Georgia of 1989. It might not reach the highs that All Too Well does, but this dreamy, etherial sound with Taylor’s vocals is jaw-dropping. There’s just something about this song that I completely adore and cannot get enough of no matter how much I listen to it.
1.) Lover – Folks, Cincinnati has reached the mountain top! The title-track off Taylor Swift’s 2019 album is, to me, her very best song. I think it perfectly encapsulates everything that Taylor does well: clever lyrics, excellent vocal delivery, specifically on the chorus, a lovely bridge and a grand finale.
This song is catchy (the you’re my, my, my chorus, so damn good), this song is beautiful, and it has this wonderful instrumental, with a drum and bass that explodes into something larger as it builds. No matter what mood I’m in, what setting I hear this song in or who I’m with, it hits the same way every time. I love every single thing about it, and think it deserves recognition among the powerhouses in Swift’s discography.
And yes, this is also me finding a way to declare Cincinnati as the national champion. I’m not sorry.
Honorable mentions (listed by album): Mr. Perfectly Fine, Love Story, Long Live, Begin Again, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Shake It Off, Welcome To New York, I Did Something Bad, New Year’s Day, Cruel Summer, hoax, august, epiphany, marjorie
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