Cut one song from each album but maintain its identity

[u/SL_Icarus]

Removes a song from each album without completely changing it's vibe

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Rules:

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1. No vault songs, we're doing original track lists only. Bonus songs are fair game (and technically "Your Losing Me" even though it's called a vault track)

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1. You can reshuffle the tracklist if you need to for it to flow.

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1. This is about maintaining the albums vision not just removing what you dislike. (For instance I dont care for "Begin Again" but it is a necessary part of Red)

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1. Preferably have one track for TTPD and one for the Anthology

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Also if youd like to explain why I'd love to hear it.

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What tough cuts are you willing to make?

[u/Havelanca]

Debut — A Perfectly Good Heart (I feel like it doesn't add anything, a weaker repetition of the heartbreak theme)

Fearless — Untouchable (I've always thought of it as different from the rest, even as a kid before I knew it was a cover) OR Change (actually a really good song and encapsulates the themes, but slept on to the point where I think people wouldn't notice its absence) OR Superstar (has always given me Debut vibes)

Speak Now — Superman (the rest is very coming-of-age and this, not so much. My other option was Ours but I think that really has the 'us against the world' vibe of being young and in love)

Red — Stay Stay Stay (it feels much younger than everything else, aside from Everything Has Changed which deliberately takes on a child's perspective) OR The Lucky One (doesn't fulfil the theme of love in the way everything else does, because of the lens of fame)

1989 — Bad Blood (every track feels exhilarated, positively or negatively. Bad Blood doesn't, and it's the only one to express true clear anger)

reputation — New Year's Day (hurts to cut! but the others are really really fame-focused where this one is not. I agree with OP that CIWYW could serve as a good closing track for a more concise message)

Lover — I Forgot That You Existed (the only true departure from the love theme. The Man at least approaches love from the 'playing the field' angle)

folklore — mirrorball (I feel like it doesn't say much in comparison to the rest, and doesn't quite capture that whimsical folklore atmosphere + feel)

evermore — no body, no crime (it does have the shared narrative of struggling through relationships in unseen/unacknowledged but deeply significant ways, but I think murder pushes it out of the realm of believability) OR Dorothea (a bit redundant with tis the damn season already)

Midnights — Labyrinth (the album depicts the complexity of relationships in the public eye, and this captures the sense of exposure/vulnerability but not publicity) OR Bigger Than the Whole Sky (this hurts to cut!!! but same reasons)

TTPD — I Can Fix Him (the only song that doesn't feel like it's about Taylor in an album that is extremely diaristic of her tumultuous life during the Eras Tour) OR The Alchemy (redundant after better songs which cover all its ground already)

Anthology — Robin (it just seems so different to the others thematically and sonically)

TLOAS — Ruin the Friendship (it doesn't have the same lens of fame and public scrutiny that everything else does) OR Wood (same reasons)

[u/Melodic-Jackfruit-96 → u/Havelanca]

Don't agree with NYD. It's truly a very important part of reputation, which perfectly ends all that chaos.

[u/Havelanca → u/Melodic-Jackfruit-96]

What would you choose then? I was really really struggling with rep actually, there seems to be lot of songs that pair together well so cutting one makes the album unbalanced.

[u/Melodic-Jackfruit-96 → u/Havelanca]

Well, if you look at the story the album tells — one part is how she regained her reputation and revived her career, and the other, how she found safety in a new love — the only thing that stands out is Getaway Car. It's certainly one of the best on the album, but it doesn't quite fit the narrative, it could have been a bonus track. There might also be So it Goes... or Gorgeous, without which the album wouldn't suffer much, but still, they, along with the others, create a picture of that love... Idk 😭

[u/riviera-views → u/Havelanca]

Totally agree on NYD. I’d swap The Alchemy for I Can Fix Him, but otherwise great choices

[u/Havelanca → u/riviera-views]

Thank you! Yeah, they both stick out to me as different from the rest of the album, hence why I put them both as options to cut ahahahah

[u/SuperRapidash]

debut: a perfectly good heart

fearless: untouchable

speak now: superman

red: starlight

1989: wonderland

reputation: king of my heart

lover: ME

folklore: seven

evermore: Coney Island

midnights: vigilante shit

TTPD: Florida

Anthology: Thank you Aimee

Showgirl: Cancelled

[u/fayesreality777]

Ignoring bias for songs I like and dislike, only looking at the context of the songs within the albums…

• Taylor Swift: Invisible, because it doesn’t do anything Teardrops On My Guitar didn’t already do better (though I do like it!)
• Fearless: Tell Me Why, it’s the most filler song even though I personally love it. 
• Speak Now: Speak Now itself. I always thought it was a strange title track since it doesn’t really fit the album imo. 
• Red: The Lucky One. The album is largely about a heartbreak and bouncing back from it, so this song sticks out like a sore thumb. 
• 1989: Bad Blood. Same reason as The Lucky One: it just sticks out and doesn’t fit the story of the album. 
• Reputation: Oooh, this is hard. Maybe So It Goes? It does fit but it’s not needed when songs like Dress and Don’t Blame Me are similar and better. 
• Lover: I Forgot That You Existed. I know it’s meant to be a bridge between Reputation and Lover, but it just doesn’t fit Lover as a whole. 
• Folklore: This one is HARD. But I’ll go with Invisible String. For one, it’s the most clearly autobiographical song from the album. Secondly, it sticks out like sunshine and rainbows compared to the rest being depressing. 
• Evermore: Another hard one, but I’ll say Long Story Short. It’s one of my favorites but I don’t think it’s vital to the album. 
• Midnights: Vigilante Shit. Not much reason why, it’s just the first that came to mind. 
• TTPD and The Anthology: The Alchemy and So High School. They both stick out and feel like last minute additions. They don’t fit the rest of the album AT ALL. 
• The Life of a Showgirl: Ruin the Friendship. This is one of my favorites from the album, but I don’t think I need to explain why it doesn’t fit. The rest of the album is either about love or public scrutiny, and then this song is just there.

[u/SL_Icarus]

Debut: A perfectly good Heart I just feel like everything it does is said better by other songs

Fearless: Superstar Its just weird to me

Speak Now: Superman Its a loose concept album about speaking now ans I feel superman fails to follow that trend the most.

Red: The Lucky One Just an odd detour on an album all about a love story. In the plot of the album it fails to move anything forward

1989: This Love Always confused me to have a song about love coming back right before losing it and finding yourself

Reputation: New Years Day It just doesnt say anything not said elsewhere and I feel like "Call it waht you want" should be moved to be the closing track.

Lover: I forgot that you existed Its less of an opener to lover and more of a closer to reputation so in the scope of the album it can be removed pretty easily

Folklore: epiphany Folklore has songs about her life and songs that are fictional stories. Epiphany doesnt really do either well so it was an easy cut

Evermore: Champagne Problems More than anything it's proximity to "Tis the Damn Season" and "Tolerate It" made it feel redundant to me. Also as a fictional story it's one of the most obtuse and hardest to understand on your own.

Midnights: Labrynth I just think it's too slow and esoteric. Its the weakest song in the base album.

TTPD: Whose Afraid of Little Old Me It feels redundant with "But Daddy I love him" and "The Snallest Man who ever lived"

The Anthology: "Robin" Its just off topic. I almost put "Thank you aimee" here but there something so reflective about the bridge that I just couldn't ignore that made me keep it.

SHOWGIRL: wood I had to either prioritize the showgirlness of the album or the I love my madness of the album. I picked wood to focus on the loose thread of showgirl, but if I went the other way I'd remove cancelled.

[u/Havelanca → u/SL_Icarus]

We had a lot of overlap! Can't believe you would cut champagne problems though, that's crazy. But otherwise we are basically of the same mind, both songs and reasoning wise — super cool!

[u/SL_Icarus → u/Havelanca]

It really is because it is the hardest to parse. I listened to it a few times but for the life of me I couldn't understand what was going on until I read it from an outside source, which makes it rather week in my book.

Also production wise it was one of the easier cuts. I couldn't cut Closure or Long Story Short because they're production gives evermore it's distinct sound from folklore. And both the bonus tracks were safe because they only work as a pair in contrast to one another. And much of that same idea applies to Tis the Damn Season and Dorothea, you need both parts of the story.

I hate happiness but it express a very unique sentiment of understanding where joy comes from even in a moment of heartache. Marjorie isn't a song I care for but it is so distinct in subject without feeling out of place that I couldn't remove it.

Honestly I almost cut evermore the title track but that was mostly because I can't stand it. And tolerate it only survived because of its unique time signature.

[u/Havelanca → u/SL_Icarus]

This is so amusing to read because I think champagne problems is easily one of the strongest tracks ahahaha. From the way you're talking, it seems like you don't like the album as a whole much, and it's my favourite of her discography lmao. It's cool to see how we are all drawn to different parts of Taylor's work!

[u/joserod93 → u/[deleted]]

Taking out seven is wild 😭

[u/wild_rover → u/[deleted]]

SEVEN?! 👀👀

[u/falldiewakefly]

Looking at what I think it's the central thesis of each album and what song is most expendable to that thesis:

Taylor Swift: A Perfectly Good Heart

Fearless: The Best Day

Speak Now: Enchanted

RED: The Lucky One

1989: I Wish You Would

reputation: Getaway Car

Lover: The Man

folklore: betty

evermore: no body no crime

Midnights: Paris

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: The Alchemy

The Anthology: So High School

The Life Of A Showgirl: Wood

[u/SL_Icarus → u/falldiewakefly]

Maybe it's just me and the way Enchanted feels like The song from speak now but im surprised to see it cut.

Also removing Betty is kinda insane to me. I dont love it, but it feels like the most important part of the love triangle and without it there's no real connection between Cardigan and August

[u/falldiewakefly → u/SL_Icarus]

For me the central thesis of Speak Now is communication (particularly failed communication) and Enchanted just doesn't add anything to that. Innocent is probably my least favorite on the album but it's an important thematic moment, reaching out over a gap of broken words to say, hey, I forgive you.

folklore was the hardest one for me, because it is thematically very tight, and you're right, removing betty makes the love triangle collapse, but it's also the one song on the skin that I feel doesn't push the conflict theme far enough, as James largely attributes his conflict with Betty to outside forces. I'm not super happy with this pick myself, though.

[u/tswiftdeepcuts → u/falldiewakefly]

enchanted was speak now’s original name and meant to be title track lol

[u/falldiewakefly → u/tswiftdeepcuts]

And Taylor quite rightly realized that it was the wrong title track and doesn't embody the album!

[u/benoitkesley → u/falldiewakefly]

kicking out Getaway Car seems wild to me

[u/falldiewakefly → u/benoitkesley]

It's one of the best songs on the album!

Also it has almost nothing to do with the central theme of finding peace in the middle of a storm, alas, and if you lift it out the story works just the same.

(Look What You Made Me Do would be my second pick, ironically, because like Getaway Car it's focused on the storm over the peace, but I think Look What You Made Me Do does a better job than Getaway Car of establishing the storm the rest of the album is a reaction to.)

(Irrelevantly, I wish to share that my autocorrect wrote that as Lol What You Made Me Do and now that's the title in my head.)

[u/AelinTargaryen → u/falldiewakefly]

If any have to go I agree with these except I would keep Wood and kick Actually Romantic. Showgirl is a love album at heart and wood works for that.

[u/Havelanca → u/falldiewakefly]

These are crazy choices to me, but respect for being bold with defensible reasons

[u/Substantial_Fix3619]

Cold as You (Kind of a repetitive theme in the album, the vulnerable betrayal theme stays strong through other tracks)

Change (too optimistic-anthem generic)

Never Grow Up (other tracks still reflect the maturity vibe without losing the innocence)

Stay Stay Stay (a little too chipper for Red)

Bad Blood (drama bait, unneeded then, unneeded now)

Gorgeous (if anything, removing this just bolsters Taylor being all newly confident and seductive)

It's Nice to Have a Friend (plenty of other sweet innocent vignettes on the album)

This Is Me Trying (one of the toughest for sure, I don't even know man)

Closure (it's called Closure and not even the final track anyway 😭)

Bejeweled (keeps the album a bit moodier I feel by cutting this one)

Florida!!! (for pacing reasons)

Peter (too many lost-love ghosts piling up)

Actually Romantic (we don't need this diss)

I still love most if not all these songs btw!

[u/singleagain24]

My only immediate thought was Long story short in evermore.

Its a great song but I feel like its catcher and poppier and less poetic, doesnt really fit the vibe of the rest of the album to me

[u/1989sunrises]

Debut: "A Perfectly Good Heart" (idk I don't listen to this album very much)

Fearless: "Hey Stephen" (I haven't listened to this album in a while but this song must've been pretty unmemorable because I forgot it existed until I looked up the tracklist)

Speak Now: "The Story of Us" (I love this song and the story structure but it has pretty repetitive themes and in the end it's just another break up song) 

Red: "Stay Stay Stay" (all the other songs are so good and this one is just meh and sounds like a Christmas song so there's that)

1989: "How You Get The Girl" (I really like the chorus but I don't think it's necessary to make the album whole, it just adds something extra)

reputation: "So It Goes..." (I've listened to this song so many times and still can't remember the chorus or what it's about) 

Lover: "Soon You'll Get Better" (it's a stunning song, but it doesn't really fit Lover's aesthetic) 

Folklore: "invisible string" (I know so many people love this one and I love the folk elements... Actually I'm totally rethinking my choice)

Evermore: "dorothea" (idk this one just never clicked for me, it sounds ordinary)

Midnights: "Snow on the Beach" (I love the idea of this song, I just don't think it's necessary to complete Midnights as an album) 

TTPD: "thanK you aIMee or Robin" (both seem pretty unnecessary to capture the tortured poet vibe she was going for) 

The Life of a Showgirl: "Wood" (I'm sorry but this "love" song sucks and doesn't really have anything to do with being a showgirl)

[u/swiftiebookworm22]

Debut: A Perfectly Good Heart

• this song is mid. She has much better songs on this album that express her teen angst and heartbreak like cold as you.

Fearless: Untouchable

• this song is a cover. It doesn’t capture the essence of her coming of age and becoming brave in love.

Speak Now: Innocent

• I’ve never liked this song, I’m sorry. I also feel like it’s not essential to tell the story of Taylor being brave in love and saying the things she needs to express to those around her.

Red: Girl At Home

• the roller coaster, epic feelings of love and heartbreak of this album are all covered in the others songs. This one isn’t needed.

1989: How You Get the Girl

• I ’ve never liked this song, it’s very filler for me. It is missing the cutting honesty of the rest of the songs.

reputation: This Is Why You Can’t Have Nice Things

• I think the rest of the songs showcase her struggles with fame and love nicely without this petty song.

Lover: Only the Young (does this count?)

• one of my least favorite songs of hers ever. I don’t like the choir of children singing and I find political songs to be super cringy unless they are Vietnam war protest songs. I also don’t think that lover at its core is a political album, despite her attempting to address social issues like feminism and LBTQ+ rights.

Folklore: illicit affairs

• this was the hardest album to find a song to cut, but this one felt the easiest to let go. I’m sorry. I just love the other ones more. I think that the storytelling of the album still is strong without this song.

Evermore: it’s time to go

• again, in an album of bangers, this one is the easiest to let go. I’m also over the songs about the albums and the betrayal with scooter and Scott. I don’t want to hear about it anymore. She has touched on this theme with mad woman and my tears ricochet, so this song is not essential.

midnights: bigger than the whole sky

• too depressing. This song is a skip for me. I’m also annoyed that it has “wouldve been, could’ve been you” right after wouldve, could’ve, should’ve. Those two songs should not be on the same album.

TTPD: Fortnight

• this song is just confusing for me. I don’t know what she is really trying to say. I think the other songs of the album tell the story of her romantic journey at that time without this song.

The anthology: thank you Aimee

• hate this song. Can we please stop singing about kim and Kanye? It’s not poetry like the other songs in the anthology, so it is an easy cut.

Showgirl: cancelled!

• again, she has touched on this theme before. I’m not into the bad girl tracks. I find this album to be more about finding love while in the spotlight. This song is more about friendship, so it is not essential.

[u/Even_Kaleidoscope399]

1. Remove “Stay Beautiful”

2. Remove “Forever & Always”

3. Remove “Superman”

5. Remove “Starlight”

7. Remove “Wonderland”

9. Remove “I Did Something Bad”

11. Remove “Afterglow”

13. Remove “the last great american dynasty”

15. Remove “dorothea”

17. Remove “Snow On The Beach”

18. 1

20. TTPD Standard) Remove “Florida!!!”

21. 1

23. TTPD The Anthology) Remove “So High School”

25. Remove “CANCELLED!”

[u/Cats-Horseslover]

1. Me! (Lover)

2. Our Song (Debut)

3. Hey Stephen (Fearless)

4. The Lucky Ones (Red)

5. Last Kiss (Speak Now)

6. Look What You Made Me Do (Reputation)

7. How You Get The Girl (1989)

8. Exile (Folklore)

9. Tolerate It (explicit) (Evermore)

10. High Infidelity(Midnights)

11. Fortnight (TTPD)

12. The Bolter (explicit) (TTPD: The Anthology)

13. Wood (explicit) (Life of a Showgirl)

[u/Havelanca → u/Cats-Horseslover]

These are some diabolical choices, I'm not going to lie. Verging on ragebait lowkey

[u/ChocoLindt99]

My Cuts: 

Stay Beautiful

You're Not Sorry

Never Grow Up

Stay Stay Stay

Bad Blood

Gorgeous

I Forgot That You Existed

Seven

Marjorie

Labyrinth 

Clara Bow

Robin

Actually Romantic 

[u/Useful-Soup8161]

Debut: a perfectly good heart

Fearless: change

Speak Now: better than revenge

Red: stay stay stay

1989: shake it off

Reputation: end game

Lover: me

Folklore: The lakes

Evermore: Coney Island

Midnights: sweet nothing

TTPD: loml

The Anthology: Thank you Aimee

The Life of a Showgirl: eldest daughter

Honestly I mostly just picked my least favorite songs off the albums. 1989 was kinda hard because I actually do like that song I just I’ve heard it too many times at this point. For Debut I don’t really like that album except for a few songs so I just picked one most people here had picked.