Taylor Swift has taken a break from loaning her private jet to people and categorised a bunch of her music into different, mood-specific playlists. I have to assume those moods are: sad tears, happy tears and having a little dance.
Swift dropped the playlists on Apple Music, right in time for her tenth studio album Midnights which will be released on October 21.
Each of the playlists is named after a pen. Yes, you read that right.
During September’s Nashville Songwriter Awards, Swift said that she imagines what specific sort of pen she’d use every time she writes a song, per Vulture. So basically, each symbolic pen represents a type of music.
There are three categories: Fountain Pen, Quill Pen and Glitter Gel Pen.
You’ll notice quite a few songs haven’t made it onto the playlists. That’s ‘cos Swift hasn’t re-recorded her albums Taylor Swift, Speak Now, 1989 or reputation after the masters to her first six albums were sold to a private equity firm by Scooter Braun.
Swift explained her song categorisation in a statement to Apple Music, where she said most of her lyrics fall under the Fountain Pen category.
“They’re modern personal stories, written like poetry, about those moments you remember all too well where you can see, hear, and feel everything in screaming detail,” she said, per Nylon.
From that description, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” is on the playlist.
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It also features classic bangers “White Horse (Taylor’s Version)”, “Lover”, “The Archer”, “champagne problems” and “betty”, to give you a sense of the vibe.
Her Quill Pen songs are, in a phrase, quite ye olde in inspiration.
“Quill Pen songs are songs with lyrics that make you feel all old fashioned, like you’re a 19th century poet crafting your next sonnet by candlelight,” Swift said.
In her Nashville Songwriter Awards acceptance speech, she delved into that inspo a little further.
“If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre,” she explained.
Wow, shoutout to Emily Dickinson’s great granny I guess.
There’s a bunch of songs from evermore and folklore on this playlist, including “ivy”, “the last great american dynasty” and “willow”.
Then there’s my personal fave: Glitter Gel Pen songs.
“Glitter Gel Pen songs have lyrics that make you want to dance, sing and toss glitter around the room,” she said.
“They remind you not to take yourself too seriously, which is something we all need to hear these days.”
To give you a sense of the vibe: this one includes tracks like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor’s Version)”, “You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)”, “22 (Taylor’s Version)” and “London Boy”.
“Glitter Gel Pen lyrics are the drunk girl at the party who tells you that you look like an angel in the bathroom,” Swift said at the Nashville Songwriter Awards.
I’m sold. Time to go listen to Quill Pen and cry in the shower.
