It's no secret that I'm a Taylor Swift fan. Her music has been the dominant soundtrack for many of the biggest, most memorable moments in my life, and I'm always admiring her creativity and cleverness with every new release. I've seen her in concert (three times when she was on tour, and once when she made a surprise appearance during an Ed Sheeran show), lined up for her merch pop-ups in New York and had listening parties with my usual gang of Swifties for years now. And I'm pretty sure she'll be a stable part of the soundtrack of my life for years to come!
Since we were blessed with not just one but two new albums from her during 2020, I figured it was high time I finally sat my butt down and did a series of just for fun posts that I've been meaning to do for a while highlighting her albums, my 5 favorite tracks (and you get the bonus of seeing the top 3 tracks from Macky, my sisters Mel & Rachel and my cousin Carmela too) and, in the spirit of my former Tunes & Tales posts, share some matching book recommendations. (This is by no means an original idea, as I've seen variations of it all over the web, but I wanted to share my own list of faves!)
In case you missed it, I did the Custom Taylor-ed post featuring the albums Taylor Swift, Fearless and Speak Now on Monday and followed it up with a Custom Taylor-ed post featuring the albums Red, 1989 and Reputation yesterday. Hope you'll check out my favorite tracks from those albums and the books I paired with them!
I had a good feeling about Lover before it was officially released. And, to this day, this is my favorite of Taylor's work! It has all the hallmarks I've come to love about her albums: the musicality is catchy, the lyrics are clever and the entire thing just comes together beautifully from start to end. I love that she still experimented with her sound on this album, and I definitely think this one is a masterpiece.
My Favorites & Book Recs
If you like Cruel Summer... read You'd Be Mine.
If you like Cornelia Street... read the Infernal Devices trilogy. This song pairs with Clockwork Princess.
If you like Afterglow... read The Kiss Quotient.
Macky's Favorites: Cruel Summer, Cornelia Street, Death by a Thousand Cuts
Mel's Favorites: Paper Rings, Cornelia Street, Death by a Thousand Cuts
Mela's Favorites: Cruel Summer, Lover, False God
Rachel's Favorites: Lover, False God, Paper Rings
folklore was an album I knew I'd get along with, but I didn't realize just how much I'd come to love it until after listening to it a fair amount of times (read: pretty much at least once a day since it dropped). I'm especially infatuated with the storytelling aspect of this album, though I will say that I do also enjoy the lyrics and the sound as I always do. It definitely is the kind of album I think sounds best on vinyl or in an intimate performance setting, and I love listening to it from start to finish.
My Favorites & Book Recs
If you like the 1... read the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series. This song pairs with P.S. I Still Love You.
If you like exile... read the Song of the Lioness quartet. This song pairs with The Woman who Rides Like a Man.
If you like mirrorball... read Chain of Gold.
If you like invisible string... read the Newsoul trilogy. This song pairs best with Incarnate. (This also could be true for Keeper of Lost Cities #9, or at least I hope it will be!)
Macky's Favorites: mirrorball, the last great american dynasty, my tears ricochet
Mel's Favorites: the 1, exile, invisible string
Mela's Favorites: peace, the 1, this is me trying
Rachel's Favorites: the 1, mirrorball, exile
evermore was definitely a welcome surprise for all of us Swifties as winter began to set in. In fact, it feels very much like the perfect thing to be listening to during this season! This is described as being a sister album to folklore, and I can very much see that because of the similar vibe in the melodies, style and lyrics. But unlike folklore, I knew from first listen that evermore would definitely be closer to being my jam and I'm so happy she decided to release it before the year ends. I've been listening to it nonstop these days, and that likely won't change anytime soon.
My Favorites & Book Recs
(I cheated and picked six songs for this album!)
If you like happiness... read the Throne of Glass series. This song pairs with both Queen of Shadows and Tower of Dawn.
If you like gold rush... read The Cruel Prince.
If you like ivy... read Girls of Paper and Fire.
If you like long story short... read Kushiel's Dart.
If you like evermore... read Come Away with Me.
Macky's Favorites: willow, no body, no crime, ivy
Mel's Favorites: willow, ivy, evermore
Mela's Favorites: willow, cowboy like me, evermore
Rachel's Favorites: willow, gold rush, evermore
I really appreciated the time and effort gone into this. You have inspired me to listen to more of Taylor’s music, and check out your creative book recommendations. You have a beautiful blog! :-) xx
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