By Mia Hanuska and Kathryn Tanaka
Mia’s Matchups
reputation vs Lover was HEARTBREAKING. Having to knock out Lover after only two rounds hurt more than I’d like to admit—two of my three favorite albums against each other, it was tough to choose a winner. Ultimately, I chose reputation simply because the girlboss levels of it are unmatched. While “The Man” is the #WomeninSTEM anthem, I had to take “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” along with “Don’t Blame Me” over it. reputation vs Midnights was pretty easy, while I thoroughly enjoy Midnights, a lot of the songs are too overplayed and reputation just has a special place in my heart. folklore vs evermore was also a tough match, but I definitely listen (read: cry) to folklore more than evermore. The Tortured Poets Department vs folklore was easier than I originally thought, because TTPD is relatively new, I haven’t gotten attached to many of the songs as I have on folklore.
The final of reputation vs folklore BROKE me. I knew it was coming, but seeing them actually against each other… pain. I decided because of the emotional significance of folklore, it truly deserved the win. Although I love the amazing vibes of reputation, I find myself reaching for my folklore vinyl more than pressing play on reputation. After encouragement from Emi Gruender and Kathryn, I decided to count my favorite songs from each (11-10), and realized pain I would feel from not having an album with “the lakes” and “hoax” win would be unbearable. Ultimately, folklore won for me—an album filled with lyrical masterpieces, emotions, and absolute vibes.
Kathryn’s Matchups
Ah, Red, my childhood album and the evil bracket put it up against Lover, what a sick and twisted machine. As you can see by the brackets, Red was the victor, please don’t punch me. Anyways, because debut was before my existence, it doesn’t hold as many memories as Red, and thus it succumbed to the subjective superiority of the 2012 album. Next, reputation versus TTPD. So now that we’ve established that the bracket website hated me, I hope no one has harsh feelings towards me for choosing TTPD. There is something so refreshing about Taylor’s latest release, you can read my other article about it if you want some of my feelings (shameless plug haha). Ultimately, my heart leaned towards “But Daddy I Love Him” and “Down Bad”, among many other paragons of lyrical genius. TTPD versus Speak Now was an easier choice with the new songs swirling around my head, but I must give thanks to “Long Live” and “Back to December”.
Now for the bottom half of the bracket, evermore or 1989. I live and breathe for her more acoustic and forestry albums so I shamelessly picked evermore. The same can be said for folklore or Midnights. Her prose and emotion in folklore speak more to me than some of the songs on Midnights. “epiphany”, “this is me trying”, and “illicit affairs”—I could name all of the songs and not one wouldn’t meet my expectations.
So we made it to the quarter-finals of the most vexing tournament I have ever taken part in. Red or TTPD? evermore or folklore? I reached the same conundrum as Mia, evermore or folklore? I’m pretty sure this was when I resorted to a more mathematical approach to choosing which album I preferred, calculating the percentage of songs I would flagrantly belt in the car. After five minutes of procrastinating choosing a better album, Red and evermore made it through. This quite honestly might have been the most horrible, wretched, vomit-inducing decision I’ve had to make (Yes, I’m being dramatic). Ultimately, evermore won my heart because of the diverse array of emotions it presented. From “tolerate it” to “long story short” to “cowboy like me”, the rustic melodies of the album never grows old for me. Who knows, maybe someday I won’t be playing these songs 80% of the time, but the hard-hitting emotion Taylor Swift conveys with her pen and voice will never leave me.
*Page editor note: scroll to see the bracket and vote*
