Taylor Swift is one of the most popular artists of this generation, and while her music is very beloved, many songs of hers have been overlooked. This can be attributed both to the sheer gravity of certain pieces of hers (think “Blank Space” and “Lover”) and the fact that she has released (an alarming) 193 songs throughout the past 16 years. Regardless, she definitely has some overlooked gems, and as a lifelong fan of hers and someone who has listened to 107 hours of her music in the past 10 months, I believe that I am entitled to speak (now) on this topic.
So, now that I’ve gotten my fix of bragging let’s get into the 10 most undeservingly underrated Taylor Swift songs, in my opinion.
Note: In this article, “TV” stands for Taylor’s Version. If you don’t know what that means, look it up!

10- “Jump Then Fall” (Fearless TV)
“Jump Then Fall” is a cute, pop-y love song that’ll bring happiness to even the saddest of days. While it lacks some of the masterful lyricism that some of the other songs on this list contain, Taylor’s word choices with this song make you feel like you’re right there with her in the exhilarating beginning stages of falling in love.

9- “Mean” (Speak Now)
From Taylor’s third album, Speak Now, this song captures the feeling of someone doing everything in their power to dim your spotlight. However, despite the unfavorable situation the song describes, the overall feel of this song is uplifting and upbeat, and it’s a very enjoyable listen. Starkly different from the malicious themes of revenge in another track on this album, “Better Than Revenge,” “Mean” contains more hopeful themes of getting a less spiteful kind of revenge by taking the high road and focusing on your own success instead of bringing others down.

8- “Mad Woman” (folklore)
The only reason this masterpiece of a song isn’t higher on the list is because I don’t personally consider any pieces on Taylor’s folklore to be underrated due to the overwhelming popularity of the album. That being said, this song is a beautiful depiction of much of the world’s population’s worst fear: female rage.

7- “The Other Side Of The Door” (Fearless TV)
This song is CRIMINALLY underrated and is a perfect song if you need to cheer yourself up fast while also sulking a little bit. It captures the feeling of knowing you messed up but not wanting to admit it. The outro is the best part of this song and makes it so undeserving of its lack of spotlight. It manages to send an adrenaline rush through my body every time and leaves me in a better mood than when I started the song.

6- “The Archer” (Lover)
I LOVE “THE ARCHER.” A perfect song for anyone with insecurities, anxiety, or just a working auditory system, this song is absolutely amazing and also incredibly heartbreaking. Unfortunately, while it is on Lover, an extremely popular album of Swift’s, “The Archer,” largely misses out on all the hype surrounding the album.

5- “Innocent” (Speak Now)
This one goes out to all my fellow delusional people out there!! Just kidding, kind of…
Anyways, this song from Swift’s third (and arguably best, but that’s an article for another day) album is a semi-patronizing yet beautiful depiction of forgiving someone for what they’ve done to you no matter how terrible it was, all for the possibility of them coming back to you. One of the things that makes this song so remarkable is its relatability factor because we’ve all been done dirty by someone before, even if they weren’t “32 and still growing up.”

4- “The Last Time” feat. Gary Lightbody (Red TV)
This is one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs of all time, and I could go on and on about how much I love it. Yet, somehow, it’s regarded as one of her worst songs, surprisingly (and angeringly). If you don’t want to take my word for it, in a 2022 ranking of all of Swift’s collaborative songs by Billboard, “The Last Time” was ranked as her worst collaboration! Not to be a hater, but how could you possibly rate this masterpiece of a song lower than “ME!” feat. Brendon Urie??? Regardless of society’s collective incorrect opinion, this song will always hit me right in the heart.

3- “The Lucky One” (Red TV)
Honestly, I was blown away when I came to the conclusion that this song was underrated during my research. Maybe it was just always my personal opinion, but I thought “The Lucky One” was primarily regarded as one of Swift’s many phenomenal songs. Thus, in finding out that it apparently was not as beloved as I once thought, it takes the spot as Swift’s third most underrated song, in my opinion.

2- “Clean” (1989)
From one of Swift’s best albums, “Clean” is a standout song about finding yourself through losing someone you love and realizing that maybe it’s better that way. Much like many songs on this list, I feel like I rarely hear this song in discussions about Swift’s discography, both online and in person, apart from my broken record-esque blabbering about it and the entirety of 1989, honestly. In my opinion, its best quality is that it can be relatable to nearly any listener, whether they’re keeping a past lover, a past friend, or even a past addiction in mind.

1- “New Year’s Day” (Reputation)
Nobody ever talks about this song!! Seriously, the only thing I’ve ever heard about it on social media has been Swift infamously singing what sounds like “I want her midnights” as opposed to the actual lyrics “I want your midnights” (Gaylor is real). While I did nearly throw my phone in excitement the first time I heard her sing this, I still couldn’t help but feel like the song’s beauty in and of itself was being ignored, which is insanely unfair. One of my favorite things about “New Year’s Day” is the fact that, much like “Clean,” it can be interpreted in so many different ways, from a description of sharing happy moments with your lover, even the boring ones, to an unrequited crush on a friend. On a final note, this track also has one of the most heartbreaking lines in any of her songs, “please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere.”