my own Eras Tour
my Taylor Swift playlist for a romance and breakup like no other
Update: December 18, 2023: 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is so damn good! I’ve updated this playlist since I originally published this post, and I imagine I will continue to do so. However, the text here only mentions the songs that made up the OG playlist. Enjoy!
Happy Eras Tour Kick-Off to all who observe! (Still waiting for Santa Clara tickets to become available at face value, BTW…)
Taylor Swift has been a big inspiration for the title of this Substack and just for writing relatable music. So many songs resonated with me when my relationship was healthy, happy, and thriving, and SO much more of them became relatable when it ended so suddenly. (And hell, even when I was not in a relationship at all years ago and simply dreaming of finding someone to call my lover, Tay Tay made that dream so much more real!)
With that, I had to build my own playlist of songs that could convey all the complicated emotions I’m feeling: a revenge fantasy, anger, devastation, confusion, longing, and gratitude for the experience, lessons, love, and bittersweet memories. There’s no shortage of T-Swift tunes that go along with heartbreak, but there are a few that I feel in my heart and soul perfectly.
“I Bet You Think About Me” (feat. Chris Stapleton) | Red (Taylor’s Version)
Oh, block it all out, the voices so loud saying ‘Why did you let her go?’ / Does it make you feel sad that the love that you’re looking for is the love that you had?
“Vigilante Shit” | Midnights
You did some bad things, but I’m the worst of them
“Look What You Made Me Do” | reputation
Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time / I got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined
“Bad Blood” (feat. Kendrick Lamar) [+ original version] | 1989
Band-Aids don’t fix bullet holes
“Death by a Thousand Cuts” | Lover
My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust / Trying to find a part of me you didn’t take up / Gave you too much, but it wasn’t enough / But I’ll be all right, it’s just a thousand cuts
*This entire song probably rings true for me out of all of them. Also, this is one of her best bridges in her discography. I thought that even when I didn’t experience it for myself!
“my tears ricochet” | folklore
And you can aim for my heart, go for blood / But you would still miss me in your bones / And I still talk to you (When I’m screaming at the sky) / And when you can’t sleep at night (You hear my stolen lullabies)
“mad woman” | folklore
And there’s nothing like a mad woman / What a shame she went mad / No one likes a mad woman / You made her like that
“Forever and Always” | Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Was I out of line? / Did I say something way too honest, made you run and hide like a scared little boy?
“Haunted” | Speak Now
He will try to take away my pain and he just might make me smile / But the whole time, I’m wishing he was you instead
*(Play this one on your fiddle!!!!)
“Last Kiss” | Speak Now
And I hope the sun shines and it’s a beautiful day and something reminds you, you wish you had stayed / You can plan for a change in the weather and time, but I never planned on you changing your mind
“You All Over Me” (feat. Maren Morris) | Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
So I lied, and I cried, and I watched a part of myself die / ‘Cause no amount of freedom gets you clean / I’ve still got you all over me
“Better Man” | Red (Taylor’s Version)
I know I’m probably better off on my own than lovin’ a man who didn’t know what he had till he had it / And I see the permanent damage you did to me
“Red” | Red (Taylor’s Version)
Losing him was blue like I’ve ever known / Missing him was dark gray, all alone / Forgetting him was tryin’ to know somebody you never met, but loving him was red
“Maroon” | Midnights
And I wake with your memory over me / That’s a real fuckin’ legacy to leave
“All Too Well” (10-Minute Version) | Red (Taylor’s Version)
Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it / I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still trying to find it
“Cold as You” | Taylor Swift
You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray / And I stood there loving you and wished them all away / And you come away with a great little story of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you
“All You Had to Do Was Stay” | 1989
Hey, all you had to do was stay / Had me in the palm of your hand / Then why’d you have to go and lock me out when I let you in? / Well, could’ve been easy / All you had to do was stay
“Blank Space” | 1989
Boys only want love when it’s torture
“tolerate it” | evermore
I made you my temple, my mural, my sky / Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life / Drawing hearts in the byline, always taking up too much space or time
“If This Was a Movie” (Taylor’s Version) | Speak Now (Deluxe Edition) [re-released as a single]
If you’re out there, if you’re somewhere, if you’re moving on, I’ve been waiting for you ever since you’ve been gone / I just want it back to the way it was before / And I just want to see you back at my front door
Note: I originally had the playlist on Apple Music since that’s what I use on my phone (Taylor struck a deal with them before Spotify years ago! She didn’t have her music on Spotify for a while.) but I don’t know how to reorder songs on there, so this Spotify version is the most updated and definitive version.
Counting by the Eras:
Taylor Swift - 1
Fearless - 2
Speak Now - 3
Red - 4
1989 - 4
reputation - 1
Lover - 1
folklore - 2
evermore - 1
Midnights - 2
Sound off in the comments! Any favorites from the playlist? Any favorite (breakup) songs from T-Swift you didn’t see here? Are you going to the Eras Tour?!
This is my second post and the one I plan on revealing to my folks on main! So excited about this little endeavor. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to share and hit that subscribe button. <3
-Karen