<p id=”par-1_47″>Ask five people to name <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/taylor-swift/”>Taylor Swift</a>‘s best song and you’ll get seven different answers. Rolling Stone named one of <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/taylor-swifts-love-story-inspired-crush-went-nowhere.html/”>the “Love Story” singer</a>‘s most ambitious tracks as her best. The magazine was dead wrong. They picked a song that doesn’t even really feel like a song.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-rolling-stone-picked-an-epic-ballad-as-taylor-swift-s-best-song”>Rolling Stone picked an epic ballad as Taylor Swift’s best song</h2>
<p id=”par-2_74″>In a 2024 <a href=”https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/taylor-swift-songs-ranked-rob-sheffield-201800/all-too-well-2012-2-204850/”>Rolling Stone</a> article, Rob Sheffield named “All Too Well” as Swift’s best song. “It’s full of killer moments: the way she sings ‘refrigerator,’ the way she spits out the consonants of ‘crumpled-up piece of paper,’ the way she chews up three ‘all’s in a row,” Sheffield wrote. “No other song does such a stellar job of showing off her ability to blow up a trivial little detail into a legendary heartache. </p>
<p id=”par-3_57″>“That scarf should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, though in a way it already is,” he added. “You can schaeden your freude all over the celebrity she reputedly sings about, but on the best day of your life, you will never inspire a song as great as ‘All Too Well.’ Or write one.”</p>
<p id=”par-4_47″>Sheffield said the best lines of the song are “Maybe we got lost in translation / Maybe I asked for too much / Maybe this thing was a masterpiece till you tore it all up / Running scared, I was there, I remember it all too well.”</p>
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<iframe title=”All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) (Lyric Video)” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/sRxrwjOtIag?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-all-too-well-less-like-a-song-and-more-like-a-poem”>‘All Too Well’ less like a song and more like a poem</h2>
<p id=”par-5_71″>“All Too Well” is a good song, but it isn’t Swift’s best song. It might be “Style” or “Delicate” or “Wildest Dreams” <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/taylor-swifts-no-1-songs-worst-best.html/”>or “Blank Space.”</a> (It certainly isn’t “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-wasnt-1st-singer-hit-called-shake-it-off.html/”>or “Shake It Off”</a> or “…Ready for It?”) The main issue with citing “All Too Well” as a great song is that it doesn’t really feel like a song. It feels like a long narrative poem.</p>
<p id=”par-6_109″>Why is that? Swift knows how to write a hook better than anyone, but “All Too Well” lacks one. On top of that, the beat is so nondescript that it’s easy to ignore, perhaps because Swift wanted to put all the focus on her lyrics. The song’s length and lack of a typical Top 40 structure makes it seem like Swift wrote it to appease anyone who felt she was a mere pop star and not a real artist. I’m sure plenty of Swifties have cried to this track, but I imagine that her more conventional songs will stick around after “All Too Well” has gone under the radar.</p>
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<iframe title=”Taylor Swift – All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Live on Saturday Night Live)” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/nJr_8l0AEWE?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
<p class=”related-article__title”>
<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/taylor-swifts-ex-boyfriend-criticized-cheap-songwriting.html/”>
Taylor Swift’s Ex-Boyfriend Criticized Her ‘Cheap Songwriting’ </a>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-taylor-swift-s-all-too-well-did-all-too-well”>Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well’ did all too well</h2>
<p id=”par-7_42″>While “All Too Well” doesn’t feel like a pop song, it did what every pop song tries to do: it topped the <a href=”https://www.billboard.com/artist/taylor-swift/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Billboard Hot 100</a>. The track reached No. 1 for one week, lasting on the chart for 15 weeks in total.</p>
<p id=”par-8_49″>“All Too Well” appeared on the album <em>Red</em>.<em> Red (Taylor’s Version) </em>climbed to No. 1 for one week, lasting on the chart for 172 weeks in total. All these “Taylor’s Versions” have shown that Swift knows how to make her songs relevant and successful years after their initial release.</p>
<p id=”par-9_19″>“All Too Well” is a fascinating slice of Swift’s psyche, but it isn’t her best song by a longshot.</p>