Taylor Swift album

Although we were underwhelmed by Swift's 10th album, we found the eight additional tracks that she banished to the deluxe editions were far superior.

While creating the album, she unearthed some of her best storytelling to date on songs like "The Great War" and "Would've, Could've, Should've," confronted her darkest self on "High Infidelity" and "Dear Reader," and proved yet again that she is one of our brightest pop stars ("Glitch," "Hits Different," "Paris." It also reminds me a lot of [Lorde's "The Path,"](https://www.insider.com/lorde-solar-power-review-tracklist-breakdown-2021-8) another Antonoff-produced track. Sonically, it sounds like the best of country pop from the late '90s and early 2000s, the kind of crossover hit that Shania Twain would've included on "Come on Over." She hears a key turn in the door and perks up, hopeful it's her ex, but secretly terrified it's an intervention ("Is it okay? But zoning out a bit, "Would've, Could've, Should've" plays out as a second act to the 2010 slow-scorcher "Dear John." Larocca: "Would've, Could've, Should've" is one of Swift's best songs, and I don't mean on "Midnights." But the brilliance of "Paris" is that it's all a fantasy. She knows she did something bad — "I'd pay if you'd just know me" even parallels "And if he spends my change, then he had it comin'" from "I Did Something Bad" — but she fielded slurs, accusations, and abandonment ("At the house lonely"). "Glitch" expertly breaks down the feeling of going from being just friends with someone to something that recalibrates your entire understanding of love and sexuality. "Paris" might just seem like a cute bop on the surface, but there are plenty of nuances to unpack if you care to. (I'm especially partial to the way she sighs, "That was the night I nearly lost you / I really thought I'd lost you." "I wanna transport you / To somewhere the culture's clever," she adds, betraying a distrust of the world that her relationship currently exists in, a culture not clever enough to understand the enormity of her affection.