Board 8 > Rank the Tracks Week 35: Taylor Swift's Speak Now (+My Head is an Animal result)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, November 7 at 8:00 AM EST - though if you are for whatever reason listening to the album around that time, just say so in the topic and I can delay a bit
7. You can sign up to be added to a user cycle for after we finish the queue; once we get through the last planned album, the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).

Taylor Swift's Speak Now track list:
1. Mine
2. Sparks Fly
3. Back to December
4. Speak Now
5. Dear John
6. Mean
7. The Story of Us
8. Never Grow Up
9. Enchanted
10. Better Than Revenge
11. Innocent
12. Haunted
13. Last Kiss
14. Long Live

Schedule:
11/7: The Avalanches - Since I Left You (SpikeSetsFire)
11/14: Moby - Play (SpikeSetsFire)
11/21: Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill (Seginustemple)

User Cycle sign-ups:
11/28: MetalmindStats
12/5: TheArkOfTurus
12/12: Snake5555555555
12/19: Jesse_Custer
12/26: ZaziGuado
1/2: SpikeSetsFire
1/9: Johnbobb
1/16: VeryInsane
1/23: CasanovaZelos
1/30: Seanchan
2/6: Giggsalot
2/13: RyoCaliente
2/20: darkx
2/27: neonreaper
3/6: Great_Paul
3/13: jcgamer107
3/20: ChichiriMuyo
3/27: ChainLTTP

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Of Monsters and Men's My Head is an Animal results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
ZaziGuado (16)
CasanovaZelos (20)
SpikeSetsFire (26)
Johnbobb (26)
Raetsel_Lapin (30)
firefdr (30)
Seanchan (36)
HBJDubs (48)
Jesse_Custer (50)

Seanchan: My first listen impressions was "this is...pleasant but unspectacular". Which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it's somewhat the lane of this indy/folk-ish music. The Lumineers self titled album falls into this orbit and, for whatever reason, that's an album I like quite a bit despite not being in my normal listening space.

Jesse_Custer: The Lumineers is a pretty good comparison for the style I think. Spotify has suggested them to me as a similar artist.

I actually like Of Monsters and Mens second album more than this one, but its less folk-ish and more produced. And although all of the bands music has taken time to grow on me, I think thats even more so true for the second album than this one.

Seanchan: I ended up liking this quite a bit. There's just a certain...warmth...to it that just appeals to me and makes me feel good. Not to mention I just really enjoyed the singing of the two vocalists, both separately and when they harmonized. I will certainly make it a point to listen to more Of Monsters and Men in the future.

I know we don't have a lot of submitted lists for this and I think that's a shame. I know it's more low key but coming from a group that was high on Rumours and Moon Patrol I guess I was hoping for a bigger turnout? I guess there's still a little more time though...

One last thing, and this might be a little weird, but did anyone else get a certain Coldplay-ish vibe from some of this album? There was some points with the chanting and repeated vocals that I couldn't help but imagine this as arena rock.

HBJDubs: Finally able to put a name to Little Talks! It definitely suffers from overplay for me, at one of my old jobs they always had the same radio station on that played the same 10 or so songs, Little Talks being one of them. I grew to really dislike it just from hearing it nonstop for almost two years. If the two tracks from the original release were added here then Numb Bears would be #13 and Sinking Man would be #9

Johnbobb: overall, this album objectively sounded good the whole way through, but at the same time, more than half of the album sounds like basically the same song

ZaziGuado: I listened to this album a fair few times when it came out, but after digesting it a bit, I came to the decision that there was something about Of Monsters and Men that made me not want to pursue their discography further when they started releasing new music. Let's see if any of that opinion holds up.

So yeah after my first listen in quite a long time, I'm left with the same gripe. Of Monsters and Men, at least on this album, rely on melodic vocal fills far too much. Don't get me wrong, I love a good "la la la" or "oh oh oh" or "hey" or what have you, but I think I counted like nine songs on this album utilize them and at a certain point it just feels disingenuous and becomes highly distracting for me. I don't know if they stepped away from this going forward or not because I don't think I've heard a single song by them not on this album.

That being said, I do not dislike this album, though it does suffer from a bit of inconsistency. The first portion is very strong, but it suffers a drop in quality reminiscent of, though not as great as, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There's an oasis in the middle with the best song on the album and OMAM's most recognizable tune, but the stuff surrounding it lost my attention a bit and is where the album started feeling long. Luckily it rebounds a bit in the back portion.

So yeah. I think this is a good album, but not one I go back to (nor do I hardly ever select any songs for playlists) because my brain gets annoyed by it. I recognize this as unfair, but I can't help it.

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My Head is an Animal track ranking

12. Six Weeks (Track #7)
Score: 37 (Average Rank: 9.11/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Jesse_Custer (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#12)

11. Sloom (Track #10)
Score: 45 (Average Rank: 8.11/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): firefdr, Johnbobb (#12)

Johnbobb: most of this album ranged from ok to good, but I couldn't stand this song. So bland and repetitive

10. Slow and Steady (Track #4)
Score: 47 (Average Rank: 7.89/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Jesse_Custer (#11)

9. Lakehouse (Track #11)
Score: 50 (Average Rank: 7.44/12)
Biggest Fan(s): SpikeSetsFire, ZaziGuado (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#12)

8. Your Bones (Track #9)
Score: 52 (Average Rank: 7.67/12)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZaziGuado (#12)

7. From Finner (Track #5)
Score: 57 (Average Rank: 6.89/12)
Biggest Fan(s): firefdr, HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): CasanovaZelos (#12)

6. King and Lionheart (Track #2)
Score: 58 (Average Rank: 6.78/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, HBJDubs (#10)

5. Yellow Light (Track #12)
Score: 64 (Average Rank: 6.56/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Jesse_Custer (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#11)

4. Love Love Love (Track #8)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 6.44/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Jesse_Custer, SpikeSetsFire (#12)

Johnbobb: wasn't expecting such a relatively simple song to end up being my favorite but Nanna's vocals and lyrics and just so good here

3. Dirty Paws (Track #1)
Score: 91 (Average Rank: 3.78/12)
Biggest Fan(s): firefdr (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Jesse_Custer, Seanchan (#6)

2. Mountain Sound (Track #3)
Score: 92 (Average Rank: 3.78/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, CasanovaZelos, ZaziGuado (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#8)

1. Little Talks (Track #6)
Score: 107 (Average Rank: 3.56/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, SpikeSetsFire, Seanchan, CasanovaZelos, ZaziGuado (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#12)

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My second favorite album of all time!

I will have to wait to go more in depth later on in the week.

1. The Story of Us
2. Better Than Revenge
3. Innocent
4. Speak Now
5. Haunted
6. Sparks Fly
7. Back to December
8. Long Live
9. Mine
10. Last Kiss
11. Enchanted
12. Dear John
13. Mean
14. Never Grow Up

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For the record, when I said Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I meant Wolfang Amadeus Phoenix. It was late

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bump

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Will do this later. This was an album I loved back in the day, but I haven't heard it in a while so I'm hoping it still holds up.
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Just did a first listen.

I've heard Taylor Swift songs before. I don't live in a cave, and she's an award winning and popular artist that's had many radio hits. But I went into this with low expectations as I've been fairly neutral on her songs and didn't think she's appeal to me on an album basis.

Which is a long preamble to say that this FAR exceeded my expectations!

Obviously the focus here is more on the storytelling and lyrics than anything else. So I was a little worried because I'm definitely not a "lyrics first" kind of listener. But I found myself enjoying this much more than I expected.

In particular, Never Grow Up just hit me right in the feels and genuinely caught me off guard.

Looking forward to extra listens and seeing how my thoughts evolve.

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I still need to listen, but Taylor Swift is an artist I never paid too much attention to until Folklore caught my attention last year. I had checked out all her albums from 1989 on, once she started getting critical attention, but nothing between 1989 and Lover did much of anything for me besides a handful of songs. Then Folklore and Evermore blew me away.

I finally checked out Red earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised - turned out the two megahits which I find more annoying than enjoyable are actually among the weakest on that album. So, I'm hoping Speak Now is more like the better parts of Red (and if so, I don't know why we collectively let Taylor Swift go full pop for several albums).

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bump

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CasanovaZelos posted...

the two megahits which I find more annoying than enjoyable are actually among the weakest on that album

I'd disagree about "We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together" since that one's fun, but "I Knew You Were Trouble" is easily the weakest track on Red and "22" is just eh. Those two are ridiculously overproduced and that's the problem. Max Martin ruined T-Swift - at least until she decided to go back to her roots with Folklore.

CasanovaZelos posted...

I don't know why we collectively let Taylor Swift go full pop for several albums

She sold out for $$$$. I missed the T-Swift that recorded Fearless, Speak Now, and Red - y'know, the adorable "girl next door" who strummed on her acoustic guitar and sung about boys. If you look at her appearance throughout the years, she's become a plastic Barbie doll too, and looks far less natural than she did a decade ago. Damn shame, because Speak Now is phenomenal, but at least the pandemic led her to course-correct. I'm just thankful that she came to her senses, and I hope things stay that way. She's got a platinum touch, so why not make the music she wants to?

(I still plan to do this later in the week, when I have more time)
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1. Dear John
2. Mean
3. The Story of Us
4. Haunted
5. Never Grow Up
6. Back to December
7. Enchanted
8. Innocent
9. Last Kiss
10. Sparks Fly
11. Long Live
12. Mine
13. Better Than Revenge
14. Speak Now

Hey Snake, I don't want to hurt your feelings, so don't read this.

This might be my least favorite album of the group so far. Taylor Swift might be an infinitely better singer than Ben Folds, but at least he tried something halfway interesting. I wasn't particularly excited to listen to a Taylor Swift album, and was distinctly less compelled upon realizing this was an album back from when Swift was still primarily country over pop. I can't really say there were any songs on this album I particularly liked, but there were definitely a handful I disliked, particularly those that focused on tearing down other women to win the favor of a man. Beyond that, pretty much every song on this album is focused on either a song about being in love with someone or a song about a breakup. This is a long album with frustratingly little to say. While I'm not the biggest fan of Swift's modern music, I can say that I have a lot more appreciation for it now compared to what it used to be.


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Pfft, all you are is mean... and a liar... and pathetic!

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Beyond that, pretty much every song on this album is focused on either a song about being in love with someone or a song about a breakup.

Hey there are four that arent!

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Bump

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This still is my favorite T-Swift album. One, she wrote every song by herself (except for one bonus track that was a co-write). Two, she was 21 y/o then - at a bridge between teenage angst and adulthood, a time where her life experience was evolving alongside her songwriting. Three, it meshes all kinds of influences, so many people can find something they like - all while maintaining enough consistency to feel like a complete whole. And lastly, it's so personable, with the right mixture of cute, fun, dark, light, whatever. This album has it all.

Because of this, I believe it deserves recognition as an enduring masterpiece. Part of that is nostalgia for when I spun this one a thousand times when cramming back in college. I really, really like every song except for the last two, so ranking this is... brutal. I've changed this around too many times to count. I *think* I am happy with this for now but may still change my mind tomorrow.

1. Innocent - Instead of taking Kanye to the cleaners for his infamous drunken interruption of her award speech, she took pity on him and forgave him. It's brilliant. The best part is that it's not so specifically about him, so anyone can relate. This is one of the best songs she's ever written.
2. Dear John - John Mayer is a jackass and he deserved this very pointed evisceration - all while Taylor admits her own faults. Great lines include "I lived in your chess game, but you changed the rules every day" and "I took your matches before fire could catch me." She also imitates some of his music from the era... in a song that rakes him over the coals. Beautiful.
3. The Story of Us - It's like Paramore's Misery Business meets Shania Twain, and it's awesome.
4. Haunted - This is musically epic like an Evanescence song. Unclear if it's about a phenomenal one-night stand that ended prematurely or a relationship that soured - but either way, as the title indicates, he ghosted her. Ambiguity helps here.
5. Mean - How calling a bitter critic of hers an asshole can be so adorable, I will never know. It's one of her only truly "country" songs - one a lot of Twitter thugs really need to give another listen.
6. Back to December - A beautiful apology to one's ex, and a lot of people can rue things that they did wrong. The song doesn't mention that the guy she was singing about was a werewolf, though.
7. Never Grow Up - This song did even more for me back when I was younger. I wish I could be young and carefree again. At least, in part because of this song telling me I should (and me agreeing), I do remember my childhood room and what it sounded like when my dad got home. Thanks, Taylor.
8. Better Than Revenge - You can just picture her taking it out on the microphone as she's singing this. Very clear message: Do NOT want to piss Taylor off. This also has hints of Paramore. Feels wrong to put it this low, but that's a great album for you.
9. Mine - It's great classic T-Swift. The basic teenage love story. An opener in vein with Fearless.
10. Speak Now - A witty criticism of a Bridezilla, as told through a dream where she actually steals him from her. If only, right? A lot of fun.
11. Enchanted - As the name would imply, this is a Disney ballad. Disney ballads are awesome, and while this one lacks some of the same punch... it's still pretty cool. Apparently it's about a random NPC she met in NYC one time that thus inspired the song. Along with the word "wonderstruck."
12. Sparks Fly - This song is sunny and cute but it doesn't resonate with me as well as others, and I think the verses are too specific to her. It's still pretty great and the chorus is catchy, at least.
13. Long Live - Perhaps it's just that it follows Last Kiss, but this one has never done anything for me.
14. Last Kiss - It's pretty sleep-inducing because of its length. If it had been two minutes shorter, it'd be seven spots higher.

And Johnbobb... it's better if you know who each song is about. She's actually saying a lot on this album. It's just that none of it has any political connotation, which in my mind makes it better. It's accessible.
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This hits me as mid-tier Swift, better than Reputation and Lover, but easily outdone by Red, 1989, Folklore, and Evermore. Definitely preferred the first half and could have easily loved it as a whole if a bit shorter - I really feel like there needs to be justification for an album going over an hour.

Mean
Back to December
Dear John
Enchanted
The Story of Us
Mine
Speak Now
Sparks Fly
Long Live
Haunted
Last Kiss
Never Grow Up
Better Than Revenge
Innocent

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I received the first set of nominations from MetalmindStats. I think I will handle the voting through the poll feature; as long as the numbers don't look off, I think that should work. Otherwise, I will include it as a question in the first post so people have to show their vote. I am asking for nominations in order of preference, so the tiebreaker will be whichever album is listed first.

As much as I like Since I Left You, it might be the single hardest album to rank so far. So much of it intentionally blurs together; Play will also be difficult.

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Innocent last? WTF?

Also can I sign up for a slot?
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Hey, cool. I definitely never expected to rank a Taylor Swift album on this board so I'm going to throw my list in here. Taylor is one of me all time favorite artists and this was the first album of hers that really drew me in. To address the valid criticism of it in this topic, I agree some songs on this album are absolutely written young and less mature, but maybe that's why it works for me - Taylor was 19-20 when she wrote it and I first heard it in high school, so it arrived at the perfect time in my life.

1. Mine
2. Enchanted
3. Long Live
4. Dear John
5. Back to December
6. Sparks Fly
7. Mean
8. Speak Now
9. Last Kiss
10. Never Grow Up
11. Better Than Revenge
12. The Story of Us
13. Haunted
14. Innocent

1: Never Grow Up
2: Innocent
3: Mine
4: Dear John
5: Haunted
6: Sparks Fly
7: Back to December
8: Enchanted
9: Long Live
10: Last Kiss
11: The Story of Us
12: Better Than Revenge
13: Mean
14: Speak Now
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Can I vote in this despite never participating before?

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CasanovaZelos posted...

As much as I like Since I Left You, it might be the single hardest album to rank so far. So much of it intentionally blurs together;

This. There is no break in transition between songs.
It's just 1 big hour long journey.
It's one of my favourite albums... But I don't think it's good for this topic.

Sorry!


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Jakyl25 posted...

Can I vote in this despite never participating before?

Believe so

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Jakyl25 posted...

Can I vote in this despite never participating before?

Yeah. I don't participate every week and I doubt anyone does. You can come and go as you like.

SpikeSetsFire posted...

It's one of my favourite albums... But I don't think it's good for this topic.

I can see this stance, given how brutal it was for me to rank. It's not that each song on its own stands out so much as the cohesive whole is absolutely stellar. And that's probably why it was tough to rank. It's like she's singing her diary, one entry after the next.
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BlueCrystalTear posted...

I don't participate every week and I doubt anyone does.

*ahem*

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Johnbobb posted...

*ahem*

Apologies. 100% my bad.

I thought there were a couple who participated (including you and Zelos) almost every week but had one or two they couldn't actually rank for one reason or another (like Spike above).

Please feel free to mock me.
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I'm gonna rank this!


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Ah... sorry, my comment earlier about "not being good for this topic" was directed at next weeks album, which I nominated, by The Avalanches.

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1. The Story of Us
2. Better Than Revenge
3. Innocent
4. Never Grow Up
5. Mine
6. Mean
7. Enchanted
8. Long Live
9. Dear John
10. Back to December
11. Speak Now
12. Sparks Fly
13. Haunted
14. Last Kiss


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1.) Mine
2.) Back to December
3.) Enchanted
4.) Dear John
5.) Long Live
6.) Mean
7.) Sparks Fly
8.) Haunted
9.) The Story of Us
10.) Innocent
11.) Last Kiss
12.) Never Grow Up
13.) Speak Now
14.) Better Than Revenge

i just cant get over the slut shaming childishness in BTR. Itll be interesting to see how she addresses it for the (Taylors Version)

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SpikeSetsFire posted...

Ah... sorry, my comment earlier about "not being good for this topic" was directed at next weeks album, which I nominated, by The Avalanches.

Ah, I misread. I thought Zelos was comparing Speak Now to the other album he'd mentioned. My bad.
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Johnbobb posted...

*ahem*

*clears throat...*

1. Never Grow Up
2. The Story of Us
3. Sparks Fly
4. Better Than Revenge
5. Mean
6. Haunted
7. Back to December
8. Mine
9. Last Kiss
10. Enchanted
11. Long Live
12. Speak Now
13. Innocent
14. Dear John

Coming in with low expectations, those were duly exceeded. While in the grand scheme of these Rankings this is a middling album for me, it is still very listenable. Going to have to add Taylor Swift onto my list of artists I should investigate more of their catalog...

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Aww shit I would've either gone to sleep or played video games and re-listened tomorrow when I was a little more awake. Oh well.

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CasanovaZelos posted...

I usually tally the results in the morning but I can put it off. I don't think that would be a problem since the topics are open for a whole week.

Thank you. Yeah, the tally was what I meant by "if this week lasts until then".

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1. The Story of Us
2. Never Grow Up
3. Last Kiss
4. Innocent
5. Dear John
6. Mean
7. Mine
8. Speak Now
9. Haunted
10. Better Than Revenge
11. Back to December
12. Enchanted
13. Long Live
14. Sparks Fly

God damn this was hard. And here I am thinking I could potentially rank her entire catalogue one of these days...

My evaluation of her songs is constantly changing depending on my life phases and even mood, so this could vary drastically next year.

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I'll listen to Speak Now again tomorrow, and so I should be able to give my ranking by 3 PM Pacific, if this week lasts until then.

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MetalmindStats posted...

I'll listen to Speak Now again tomorrow, and so I should be able to give my ranking by 3 PM Pacific, if this week lasts until then.

I usually tally the results in the morning but I can put it off. I don't think that would be a problem since the topics are open for a whole week.

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fun fact:

of monsters and men released a 10 year anniversary edition of my head is an animal with new songs this week

sugar in a bowl is my fave new one

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1. Innocent
2. Mine
3. Enchanted
4. Back to December
5. Haunted
6. The Story of Us
7. Better Than Revenge
8. Last Kiss
9. Speak Now
10. Long Live
11. Sparks Fly
12. Dear John
13. Never Grow Up
14. Mean

I wanted to persist with Speak Now because of Snake's affection for it, but I ultimately don't feel I quite made enough time to fully judge it. However, I can say that I'm not really interested in giving it a third chance to win me over as a whole (notwithstanding certain individual songs). While Speak Now's often single-minded focus on Taylor Swift's singing and songwriting strikes me as a smart choice, the degree of its resulting emphasis on heterosexual romance largely distances me.

(And of course, now I feel especially bad for holding this week's tally up, so sorry.)

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