In honor of Valentine’s Day I thought I’d review an album by one of my favorite artists, Taylor Swift, ‘Lover’. Swift released ‘Lover’ back in 2019 shortly after ending her “Reputation” tour in 2018. Lover was the first album that got me really, really into her music back in 2019, so it’s always held kind of a special place in my heart. 

1. Cornelia Street

This also is one of my favorite songs on Lover. Throughout this song she describes the person she is in love with and how she hopes to stay with them, as she repeats, “I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends, I’d never walk Cornelia Street again.” I think this song can be reliable to a lot of people, a lot of places we associate with people we love and when that love dies off the places become “ruined” for us. I was lucky enough to get to visit the actual Cornelia Street and see where she used to live when I went to New York last October and I think that is also why “Cornelia Street” is so high on my list. 

2. The Archer

Swift has a tradition of making the track five on her albums the saddest, which she definitely followed here. This is one of my favorite songs on the album, it all just comes together so well and the bridge is one of my favorites. Explain meaning, explain , explain. She has so many good lyrics in this song it’s honestly so hard to pick my favorites.

3. Daylight 

Daylight is one of the slower songs on the album, but I also think it’s one of the best love songs Swift has ever written (You Are in Love from 1989 is first). I really like the spoken ending as well, and I love the softer piano in it. I would 100% recommend this song to anyone who wants to get into Taylor Swift.

4. Paper Rings

Swift has described some of her songs as “written in glitter gel pen” which is definitely the best word to describe ‘Paper Rings’. This song is so catchy and is very teenage girl coded in my head, which is why it’s one of my favorites.  

5. False God

“False God” is a little bit different compared to Swift’s usual music. It starts out with a trumpet and is a lot slower compared to some of her other songs which is why I think I like it so much. 

6. Soon You’ll Get Better (feat. Dixie Chicks)

In my opinion this is one of the most underrated Taylor Swift songs. My only complaint is that the Dixie Chicks can only be heard in the background, which is still good, I just wish they could’ve gotten a verse or a small part.  

7. Death by a Thousand Cuts

Death by a Thousand Cuts in my mind is also a little basic but it’s still one of my favorites. It’s one of the first Swift songs I really got into and I think thats why it remains one of my favorites. 

8. The Man

“The Man” was another single from “Lover”. Swift wrote this song calling out the difference in how men and women are treated in the music industry, which is something Swift herself has struggled with a lot. I really like this song and it’s super catchy. I also really like the music video and The Eras Tour preformence of it.

9. London Boy

In “London Boy” Swift sings about all different places in London and how much she loves it, along with how much she likes her “London Boy”. I think it’s a really cute song and once again is another glitter gel pen song, which is why it remains one of my top 10. 

10. I Think he Knows

I know I’ve said this a lot about this album but truly so many songs from this album are so cute. “I Think he Knows” is another glitter gel pen song which makes it such a good addition to “Lover” and why it remains in my top 10. 

11. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

This song is so cute. It reminds me a lot of “So High School” from Tortured Poets because they both have that “singing about my crush” energy if that makes sense. This is another one of Swift’s cutesy glitter gel pen love songs that I love and that’s why it ranks decently high on my list.

12. Cruel Summer

Most people have heard this song at some point, they used to play it all the time EVERYWHERE last year (I assume they probably will if they don’t already play it again this summer). I feel like this song just captures Lovers energy so well, it’s the perfect summer song (especially for a pool day). Is it a little overplayed? Yes, however that doesn’t mean it’s a bad song. Hearing this song live at “The Eras Tour” was also an unreal experience, it’s just such a good upbeat, pop song. 

13. Lover

Lover is obviously the title track of the album. I think the song does a really good job of capturing that feeling of love, it’s slower, not as upbeat as the rest of the album but still fits in the album perfectly. This was definitely one of my favorites when it was first released, however now it’s kind of died down. 

14. You Need to Calm Down

‘You Need to Calm Down’ was the second (i think?) single released for lovers. This song is basically Swift telling all the people hating others in the world “you need to calm down.” I think this song isn’t bad, it has a simple and good message but it’s not one I regularly put on.

15. I Forgot That You Existed 

Swift opens the album with a colorful pop song, which fits the album’s aesthetic perfectly. After ‘Reputation’ where she was very clear about her feelings towards the people who disliked her, this is kind of her letting go and literally saying “I forgot that you existed!”. I have a pretty neutral opinion toward this song, I don’t hate it, but it’s not one I listen to all the time. 

16. ME! (feat. Brendon Urie)

‘ME!’ was the first single released for ‘Lover’ and at the time it got mixed reviews. It was different from ‘Reputation’ and anything else she’d ever done. I personally can see the dislike toward this song but personally I really liked it. I mentioned before how this album was the one that got me into Swift but it was actually this song I really liked (I was in 5th grade when the album came out, it wasn’t terribly hard to make a song I’d like…). However the one thing I wasn’t really a big fan of was Brendon Urie being featured. I think this song was definitely meant for two people to sing together but I don’t know if he was meant to be the second one. One of my favorite additions to this song is when they sing it live they add a spoken bit saying “Hey Kids! Spelling is fun!”. This song like many others on the album just has that fun, carefree pop song energy and that’s really what I love.

17. Afterglow 

Afterglow is definitely more of a simple song on ‘Lover’. The song focuses a lot on overthinking and I think it does a good job of describing the feeling, however it’s a pretty simple song in my opinion which is why it ranks so low.

18. It’s Nice to Have a Friend

Once again just like “Afterglow” this song is very simple. It’s a very cute song but it just lacks what some of the other songs have. For the record I don’t hate simple songs but they just aren’t my favorite.