This has been a post I’ve had in my notes for a while and with all the speculation that we are getting Taylor Swift (20th Anniversary Edition), I felt like it was a perfect time to finally write it.
Track 5 has come to symbolize the most emotional songs on one of Taylor’s albums — the song that kind of encapsulates the mood of the album and tells a holistic story.
At the beginning of her career, it was just a coincidence that all her most emotional songs ended up being the 5th song and eventually, she started to play along.
Whenever a new album is released, I think it’s safe to say that every Swiftie is looking at what Track 5 is. Taylor knows it too — she knows what we expect and I think, like a lot of things, it’s a fun game for her. She even mentioned it in her New York Times interview this year.
As I’ve said previously, my rankings of her albums and songs change on a daily basis but I’d say my ranking of Track 5s is pretty consistent and is only switched up whenever a new album is released.
This not a ranking of my favorite Track 5s; it’s how I think the song measures up to what Track 5s are supposed to be, how emotional they are, how they represent the album as a whole. I can do a ranking of my favorites at the end just for fun!
So… shall we?
I love 1989 so much but this feels like a weak ‘track 5’ to me. I think this was at the beginning of her realizing what track 5s are and almost is a miss on her part. If I was redoing the order of 1989, I’d make Clean track 5.
My relationship with reputation is not always the strongest but that doesn’t have an effect on the ranking. I’ve always felt Delicate is not as sad of a song that I think Track 5s should be but I don’t know what other song I would use on reputation for track 5. Maybe New Year’s Day but I love that as the closer so…
This is one I’m having a hard time with because I personally love this song and think it’s an excellent Track 5, but not compared to the others on the list. It doesn’t really fit on Midnights, in my opinion, though it’s a great representation of who Taylor was at the time of the album writing & release. It’s important to her (we know since she played it so many times on the Eras Tour), it’s important to me, and I think it pretty much brought her husband to her.
If I had to pick another Track 5 for Midnights it would, without a doubt, be You’re Losing Me, even if it’s not technically on the album.
I have not appreciated The Archer until recently. It is one her most beautiful yet sad songs. She doesn’t believe she is worthy of the love she is getting, or any love for that matter. She is questioning herself and what she knows, because of what has happened to her in the past. It’s devastating hidden behind a beautiful melody.
You would think Soon You’ll Get Better would be Track 5 but I think, like Ronan, it is simply too sad and not what Track 5s are about.
I remember crying on my bedroom floor at 16 years old, listening to White Horse as if my life was ending. My heart was broken (for God knows what reason) and it was the best way to let out my feelings. The song drips with sadness, the melody is haunting and it goes perfectly with the fairytale theme of Fearless. It captures the sadness of young heartbreak in a way that simply cannot be replicated by anyone but Taylor.
There is no other song on Fearless I’d replace it with!
I saw a creator on TikTok recently say that he thought the downfall of The Life of a Showgirl was Eldest Daughter being Track 5, and I couldn’t agree more. When we saw the tracklist for the first time, I think all Swifties collectively lost their mind.
Eldest daughter has become a personality trait that is discussed and dissected heavily online and it has come to mean many things to many different people, specifically well, eldest daughters.
We had a very different expectation for what this song was going to be about and I think it set the album up for disappointment.
But, that’s not why we’re here.
Eldest Daughter is one of my favorite songs and I think it makes perfect sense as Track 5 on such a happy album like The Life of a Showgirl. She quite literally is telling the story of how she was going to give up on love until she met Travis. She felt like she didn’t deserve it and was convincing herself she didn’t want it. It’s wrapped up in the idea of an eldest daughter, her perception of the world and what weighs heavily on her shoulders.
The corny lyrics are intentional, and I personally think it’s a gorgeous song that makes me cry every single time.
I will never forgive Blake Lively for making me think of It Ends With Us whenever I hear My Tears Ricochet but I’m trying to move past it.
What a devastating, haunting song. It rips your soul out, leaves you breathless and paints a beautiful picture of the inside of Taylor’s mind when she was going through the ending of her partnership with Big Machine Records & Scott Borchetta. Songs are subjective so you can obviously relate to the lyrics in many ways, including a romantic relationship, and I think that’s one of the reasons it’s such a fantastic song.
If not My Tears Ricochet, maybe Exile or Mirrorball would’ve been good Track 5s.
tolerate it makes me want to punch Joe Alwyn in the face. The idea of doing everything for someone, for giving them everything you have to only be treated like it’s a burden — it’s a feeling that cannot be put into words. Expect, Taylor Swift did it perfectly, as she does. The raw emotion, the anger, the sadness — it’s all right there.
If not tolerate it, champagne problems or happiness would’ve been good choices.
The original.
Cold As You is truly one of Taylor’s most devastating songs and I can’t believe a teenager wrote it. It, with no pun intended, sends chills up my spine. Once again, a song of wanting and not being wanted back, of giving everything and getting nothing in return… it’s beautiful. It has some of her best lyrics, in my opinion, and when she does release the updated album, this song with her current vocals is going to devastate us all.
I don’t think I really need to give an explanation for this one, do I? It has to be in the top 5 of her best songs ever. The lyrics are scathing while also being so sad, the bridge is top tier and I just don’t know how to even describe the chills I get when I listen to this song.
Nothing else on Speak Now even comes close to this.
This was another album where as soon as we saw the track list, we knew So Long, London was going to be devastating, and that it was. TTPD could’ve had anything as Track 5 but So Long, London truly tells the story of the entire album. It is the last parting gift she gives to her relationship with Joe Alwyn, the one song that is without a doubt about him. The lyrics signify the end of an era in a way that only Taylor could do.
I will give an honorary shoutout to track 5 on The Anthology which is How Did It End, which I also consider to be about Joe and creates a picture of what it’s like to go through a breakup in such a public way.
Come on, guys. Is there really any other choice?
All Too Well is the track that made fans recognize what Track 5 was becoming and with good reason. Personally, I think it’s her best song. I remember how much I loved it when Red first came out, how it was this hidden gem amongst the fandom and how desperate I was to have the 10 minute version. I don’t think I will ever love a song the way I love this one — the way it has meaning to me when I was 18 and has changed & grown with me as I have gotten older.
I am so happy it has gotten the recognition it deserves because there are few songs like it.
Now, a ranking of the tracks in order of my favorite!
All Too Well
You’re On Your Own Kid
So Long, London
Eldest Daughter
Dear John
my tears ricochet
The Archer
tolerate it
Delicate
All You Had to Do Was Stay
Cold As You
White Horse
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