Okay guys, I am now going to be ranking all the songs on Taylor Swift's album Lover based on how I feel about their bridge
17. You Need To Calm Down
*deep sigh* Okay, let’s start with the ones I don’t like
YNTCD is fine as a song, I will gladly bop to it on any given day, but I HATE her usage of the word ‘internet’ in this. Idk what it is, it just makes me wince every time I hear it. Maybe it’s because she puts so much emphasis on it AND it just seems so dated, it just kills the bridge for me. So there’s that.
Okay, onward.
16. I Forgot That You Existed
I love this song, I don’t love the bridge. It’s really simple and just repeats what we already know. Works in the song, not on its own.
NEXT
15. Afterglow
Another apology song!! I really like this one. Don’t care for the bridge, because again, it just repeats what we’ve already heard. Nothing much else to say, let’s move on.
14. It's Nice To Have A Friend
(We’re just gonna. Pretend the third verse is the bridge :)))))))) )
This song REALLY threw me off the first time I heard it, but it’s since grown on me. I won’t listen to it voluntarily, but it’s simple and cute. I like this one because of it’s symmetry with the first verse (school bell rings, walk me home / church bells ring, carry me home), although as a whole it’s really similar to the other verses. Nothing special, but it works.
13. ME!
I AM SO DISAPPOINTED THEY CUT SPELLING IS FUN FROM THE ALBUM. IT WAS CUTE GUYS.
A n y w a y, another cute bridge. This song works because of how earnestly and energetically Taylor and Brendan sing it, and that especially comes through here. I love Brendan’s “you can’t spell awesome without me!!” It’s corny, but fun.
12. I Think He Knows
Oooooo Taylor, you JUST saved this one. I was about to rank this lower when I heard “so where we gonna go” cause that’s SUCH an obvious line, but then she followed it up with “I whisper in the dark” and framed it as a question. GOD BLESS YOU.
But yeah, that little repeat of “lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh, we can follow the sparks, I’ll drive”? FLAWLESS. One of my favourite parts of the song.
11. Paper Rings
Okay, confession time: I am a sucker for songs that are in the key of D, G or A, because they all have an F# in their key signatures. I genuinely don’t know why I’m like that, but it’s how I’m wired. So when this song switches from D to E at the bridge…oof.
Anyway, IGNORING my weird key preferences, I still like this one a lot. Her saying she wants him even on his worst days is just so sweet. It has just as cute of a sentiment as the rest of the song, and…she calls him baby boy, guys. Like, seriously. I can’t handle this. MARRY HIM TAYLOR. WE KNOW YOU WANT TO.
10. Cornelia Street
I once heard someone call this ‘the All Too Well of being in love’, and yeah that’s pretty much dead on.
It doesn’t pack nearly the same punch as All Too Well, but it REALLY doesn’t need to. Like I said, this is about being in love, so it makes sense that this bridge wouldn’t unleash all sorts of pent up emotion but rather be a soft affirmation of everything we’ve been hearing throughout. Having said that, I still prefer the other song because of the chills it gives me every time, but I’d argue her writing is just as strong in this. ‘Barefoot in the kitchen, sacred new beginnings’ in particular invokes some great imagery and…I’m just gonna stop there before I talk for twenty more years.
9. Daylight
Personally, my favourite part of this song is the pre chorus in the second verse (‘maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down, maybe I’ve stormed out of every single room in this town’) because of the build up (I’m sensing a pattern here), BUT…Red references. Like, RED REFERENCES.
It just reminds me of how she said in the forward to Red ‘real love shines golden like starlight and doesn’t fade or spontaneously combust…maybe I’ll write a whole album about that kind of love if I ever find it’.
GUYS. SHE FOUND IT. AND SHE DID WRITE A WHOLE ALBUM ABOUT IT. THIS MAKES ME SO EMO IF I THINK ABOUT IT TOO HARD LET’S JUST MOVE ON
8. The Archer
Anxiety in a song. Wow.
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anxiety quite this intense, but I’d imagine she hit the nail on the head. I really like how she repeats ‘they see right through me’ over and over, getting louder and louder until she practically shouts, ‘I SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME’. Also, those Humpty Dumpty references. Damn.
(Well that’s something I never thought I’d say)
7. London Boy
This song is a whole entire BOP. Like, something about it just makes me grin whenever I hear it.
This bridge is excellently implemented. It’s not a repeat of what we’ve already heard, but it still fits within the context of the song. It has a different rhythm than the rest, but one that still works. And the way she pronounces ‘Tennessee Stella McCartney’? Yep, that alone makes this whole thing.
6. The Man
Is there anything more cackle-worthy than hearing Taylor Swift swear in one of her songs? Maybe, but I wouldn’t know.
Anyway, Taylor swears. Twice The first time she uses the plural and the second time she uses the singular, but I think it made everyone jump more the second time because we weren’t expecting to hear it again.
This bridge reiterates what we’ve already heard in the song, but that’s not a bad thing. Unlike I Forgot That You Existed and Afterglow, she makes a new point we haven’t heard yet in the song and it’s FABULOUS. “If I was out flashing my dollars I’d be a bitch not a baller, they’d paint me out to be bad, so it’s okay that I’m mad”. It sure is, Tay.
5. Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince
Oh, I do wish I could’ve put this song higher on the list. I adore it; it’s probably one of my favourites on the album. However, there are four other songs that I just couldn’t put below it, so alas, it ends up here.
This song confused me the first time. It’s very intricate with the lyrics, so I couldn’t quote figure out what was saying until I realized it was the political song, not False God like everyone had assumed (we’ve been wrong about stuff before but man we were WRONG about that one dudes). I love the high school metaphors in here, and they all come to fruition here, where GO, FIGHT, and WIN are emphasized and made to sound like cheerleading cries. Brilliant. I love the changes to the lyrics in the last repeat, and I especially love how she sings in the background of the third one.
I could go on for years about this song, but let’s move on :’)
4. Soon You'll Get Better
I had SUCH a hard time figuring out where to place this one and A Thousand Cuts relative to each other, but since this list is mostly based on my personal opinion and not which song is technically stronger, here we are.
Anyway, this song. This one is the closest any of the songs besides the next one have come to being a skip for me, but that is not because of the quality of the song. It’s just because I don’t like feeling sad on a regular basis. The entire thing is devastating, but the bridge is what really gets me about it. ‘Who am I supposed to talk to, what am I supposed to do, if there’s no you?’ Yep, this kills the man. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to go through this with someone in my family, and I’m so sorry that it’s happening to Taylor.
I don’t have much else to say about this one, since it is such a short bridge, but I think it deserves this ranking.
3. Death By A Thousand Cuts
Okay, I’m not gonna lie, the reason this song is so high up on here is because the bridge almost singlehandedly saved it from being a skip for me.
Like, it’s very well written, I won’t deny that for a second. The writing is actually the only other reason it may not have been a skip. However, this song just sounds like something she’s already made? I can’t explain it, maybe it’s the production or something. And the title…I kinda wish she’d just called it A Thousand Cuts.
But you know what doesn’t sound like something she’s already made? THE WRITING.
And you know where the writing is arguably the best? THE BRIDGE.
(Also apparently the bridge is actually the second verse but it sounds like the bridge so we’re just gonna pretend it is. Okay? Great)
‘My heart, my hips, my body, my love’ I really thought she was gonna say ‘lips’ on the last one but she caught me off guard in a good way! I love how quickly and firmly she states every single line! ‘Now I’m searching for signs in a haunted club’ A D A M. ‘Our country, guess it was a lawless land’ YES. ‘Paper cut stings from our paper thin plans’ is one of my favourite lyrics of hers EVER. ‘My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust, trying to find a part of me you didn’t take up’ Switching between figurative and literal meanings!! Brilliant!! ‘But I’ll be alright, it’s just a thousand cuts’ gives off such ‘this is fine’ vibes and I love it.
Hoooo boy did this get long. Let’s keep going before it gets any longer.
2. Lover
WELCOME TO BRIDGE CITY. ENJOY YOUR STAY.
This song is apparently one of Taylor’s favourite bridges and bro there is a REASON. The entire song has such hardcore wedding vibes, and they reach their PEAK here. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?’ I’m already crying. ‘With every guitar string scar on my hand, I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover’ SIS… that’s just beautiful honestly. ‘My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue’ referencing that ‘something old something new’ rhyme!! ‘Swear to be overdramatic and true to my lover’ THAT RIGHT THERE IS MY FAVOURITE LINE IN THE SONG. ‘SWEAR TO OVERDRAMATIC’. FLAWLESS. ‘And you’ll save all your dirtiest jokes for me’ that’s honestly just so domestic and cute that I can’t get enough of it.
Also, I LOVE the way she sings Lover throughout this part. The way it slides up on the end (‘loverRRRR!’)…it sure does remind me of something I just can’t pinpoint what.
So yes. This song is beautiful and wonderful and every other -ful out there. I can easily see why it’s one of Taylor’s favourite bridges; you can tell she put a lot of effort into it.
And yet, there is one bridge that, I think, surpasses it on nearly every level.
1. Cruel Summer
HOLY FLIPPING HELL. THIS IS THE TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF A PERFECT POP SONG (IT SHARES THAT SPOT WITH RUN AWAY WITH ME BY CARLY RAE BUT THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT).
This song has absolutely everything I could possibly want from a pop song. It’s fun, it’s catchy, it has a unique sound to it, it’s perfect to rock out to, but it still has great lyrics and an emotional undercurrent! And dear god, does it ever reach its peak in the bridge.
For some reason, I love songs that recite lines in quick succession. There’s something about hearing them come out one after the other, forcing your brain to analyze them quickly before moving onto the next one that is just so energizing and neat. It’s another weird musical quirk I have, along with the F# thing. ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME.
And the lyrics in the bridge???? Some of her BEST. “I’m drunk in the back of the car and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar” IMPOSSIBLE not to belt out. “I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you” the way she BELTS it just hits you outta nowhere, and you think it’s the best lyric right? But then, “And I snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate” SEAL. MY. FATE. BRO SHE SEALED MY FATE WITH THAT LINE. “And I scream ‘for whatever it’s worth, I LOVE YOU AIN’T THAT THE WORST THING YOU EVER HEARD’” And THEN you’re thinking ‘okay, THAT’S the best lyric’.
And then. AND THEN MY GIRL TAYLOR HITS YOU WITH “HE LOOKS UP GRINNING LIKE A DEVIL” WITH THAT VOICE AND YOU LOSE. YOUR. MIND.
(And yes, I too thought it was ‘he looks so pretty like a devil’. But it’s not, and we should make our peace with that before it becomes the next ‘Starbucks lovers’.)
Okay, I’ve almost taken up a page with this rant. But I think it’s pretty telling that this is the one song off of Lover that repeats its bridge at the very end. This is actually one of my favourite songs she’s ever made, and I pray to god she makes it a single cause I NEED A MUSIC VIDEO TAYLOR.
Aaaaaaaaaaand that’s my list. Hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to (respectfully) disagree with me in the comments :)
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