Swifties aren’t all young girls you know; I’m an older male and I’m one.

Many friends of mine are quite surprised but, then again, they haven’t really listened to the music.

I was raving to a friend the other day about how brilliant Taylor Swift is and how she may now be the biggest artist there has ever been and possibly ever will be.

Being musically open minded he asked me to point him in the direction of where he should start listening.

I suppose that’s difficult as Taylor’s ‘eras’ cover different styles from county to pop to alt folk and more but there’s great stuff in all of those so I thought I’d give it a go and select a few songs that highlight the genius of Taylor Swift.

Here they are in no particular order:

August – This is from ‘Folklore’, an album recorded in lockdown with an indie folk style and every song on it shows the high quality of Taylor’s song writing skills. This is a great example with a beautiful melody grabbing your soul from the beginning as the atmospheric production builds throughout, leading to an emotional climax.

Anti-Hero – Following the indie folk feel of Folklore and Evermore, Taylor released Midnights with a contemporary electro pop feel and, as always, as well as the music, the lyrics were excellent.

That’s one of the reasons she resonates with so many youngsters: “Sometimes I feel that everybody is a sexy baby and I’m a monster on the hill” – come on now, who hasn’t felt that at some time?

Such brilliant song lyrics throughout, set over an unusual but intriguing musical structure.

Cruel Summer – I’ve seen some negative critics saying that there are no songs that Taylor has done that have become really well-known.

Well, this song as I write has had 2.2 billion Spotify plays and at the eras shows in sold out stadiums all over the world, just about every person in the audience screams out the bridge of the song word for word.

There are not many songs that achieve that.

Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me – It’s not all sweetness and light with Taylor.

Another lyrical masterclass on this song from her latest album The Tortured Poets Department with paranoia, ‘So tell me everything is not about me … but what if it is?’ and menace – ‘who’s afraid of little old me … well you should be’.

Wow. Don’t mess with Taylor.

Love Story – The single from the Fearless album released back in 2008 which was the first time that I really noticed Taylor.

It’s just a perfect pop record and as soon as I heard it, I realised there was something very special with this artist and that I had to find out more.

I’ve been following her ever since and have been constantly amazed by the consistent quality and progression with every release. The commercial and promotional skills have also been incredible over the years and that’s another reason she has become such a phenomenon but that’s another story.

I could go on forever with this but there’s a few songs to get you started.

There’s so much more though! I haven’t even included anything from those brilliant albums – 1989, Red (including the 10 minute epic All Too Well) , Reputation, Evermore and Speak Now has a classic or two.

If you want to hear more, I’ve created a playlist of twenty songs including the above. It’s at https://bit.ly/geniusoftaylorswift

If you are new to Taylor Swift, see what you think and if you are a Swifitie and went along to those Wembley shows last weekend, as I’m sure many in our area did, I hope you had a great time.

I’m going along in August and I can’t wait.

CHRIS HILLMAN

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