Goldfarb

Taylor Swift on stage at MetLife Stadium during the ERAS Tour (May 28, 2023)

Taylor Swift is indisputably one of the biggest names of 2023. Named TIME’s Person of the Year, breaking records in sales and streaming, and beginning the U.S. and South America legs of what had already become the highest-grossing tour of all time, Swift’s cultural impact can be felt worldwide. Seventeen years into her career, she continues to outdo herself again and again – one could say she’s “doing better than she ever was.” 

In honor of the singer-songwriter’s 34th birthday, The Grizzly’s Swifties asked our BASIS Independent Brooklyn community to name their favorite Taylor Swift songs. Although Swift took the title of the most streamed artist in 2023 on both Spotify and Apple Music, there is a wide range from casual listeners to superfans among BIB students and administration.

The most popular responses were “Cruel Summer”, “Anti-Hero”, and “Shake It Off” – each mentioned four times. Although released in August 2019, “Cruel Summer” has surged in popularity throughout the Eras Tour and after being released as a single this summer. With the recent release of her eleventh studio album Midnights, it makes sense that the lead single “Anti-Hero” was a common favorite among students and administration. As for “Shake It Off”, despite ‘swifties’ claims that it’s not among her top songs, its popularity has held for almost ten years since its first release in 2014, with its music video accumulating over 3.3 billion streams. “Love Story” was a close second as the song’s story spans generations.

Other songs mentioned including “Cardigan” and “Enchanted” spent long periods as popular sounds on

TikTok. Similarly, the release of “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” in November 2022 introduced many active social media users to the world of Taylor Swift, explaining its popularity at BASIS (besides the fact that “I was never good at telling jokes, but the punchline goes ‘I’ll get older but your lovers stay my age’” is one of the best lyrics in her discography). 

There appears to be a pretty large Swiftie population at BASIS with our research collecting a significant amount of less popular, “deep cuts.” “Better than Revenge” was a popular response among students, and “New Romantics”, “You’re Losing Me”, and “Tolerate It”, while only mentioned once, reflect a deeper exploration of Swift’s work beyond just her most popular singles. Surprisingly, “Exile” off of folklore, an album Swift surprise dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, was mentioned three times, potentially attributable to popular indie band Bon Iver’s feature that makes the song an intriguing dialogue between two estranged partners. Similarly, other songs such as “End Game” and “Nothing New” that feature Ed Sheeran and Future and Phoebe Bridgers, respectively, point to the fact that collaborations are beneficial additions to Swift’s discography, bringing even more listeners into the Swiftie community.

As we celebrate another year of Taylor Swift, we can see there is a relatively large Swiftie community within BASIS Independent Brooklyn. The Grizzly wishes a happy birthday to Taylor Swift.  Swift’s management team, if you happen to be reading this, we happily invite Swift to speak at this year’s high school graduation.