Winters are here, and so are the chilly mornings, sun-bathed walks, nostalgic evenings, and warm nights in cozy blankets. Winters particularly have a beautiful ability to let you feel things deeply since they bring you to a pause and give you a rare chance to enjoy life. And when you have the perfect season to enjoy your time, you also deserve the perfect playlist filled with the core winter emotions. For someone who has always loved Taylor Swift, her music discography has some of the most winter-coded songs that are my absolute must and most played songs. Be it grief, happiness, coziness, sadness, nostalgia, love, or even holiday vibes, she has every song for all of us, and let’s just agree with Jake Peralta that ‘She makes me feel things. She makes all of us feel things.’
If you are looking for a Taylor Swift-coded playlist that makes you
All Too Well (10 Minute Version) – Red (Taylor’s Version)
Who will listen to a 10-minute song? Well, you will when you listen to the perfect blend of nostalgia, sadness, and love. Hailed by Swifties and non-swifties, All Too Well (10-Minute Version) might be set in the fall but takes you through the entire journey of experiencing winter in different stages of going in and out of a relationship, and finally letting it go, but still deep engraved in your heart.
P.S.: Keep your tissues ready.
Back To December – Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Regret and introspection – Back To December (Taylor’s Version) is all about looking back at past relationships and accepting not making the best decisions. If you need some background music while missing your school crush or a nostalgic trip down memory lane on a cold December evening, this song is for you. One reason this song is my favorite is because it beautifully normalizes making, accepting, and later regretting a mistake.
Evermore – Evermore
Evermore is one of the treasured songs of Taylor Swift, which talks about the hopelessness one is surrounded with in the winters symbolic for their cold days. For someone who struggles with fearfulness and angst, this song perfectly brings my feelings through the words that –I had a feeling so peculiar; that this pain would be forevermore. But the best part about this song is that in the end, she promises herself that she feels that she will get okay and the pain wouldn’t last for evermore.
Cardigan – Folklore
Bringing the teenage love triangle, Cardigan is written from the perspective of who is cheated on and how young adulthood is innocent to its core. It is an illustration of how a young woman looking back at a love that didn’t turn out to be as she expected making her more mature with time.
Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Ray) – Midnights
The feeling of falling in love mutually with someone is a perfect one-line description of this song. Taylor and Lana express how this entire joy of finding new love is almost surreal and dream-like, something that is similar to seeing snow on a beach.
Forever Winter – Red (Taylor’s Version)
While most of Red is anticipated to be about Gyllenhaal, Forever Winter is a slightly different song by Taylor, with users expecting it to be for her brother, Austin Swift. It touches on the subject of mental health and trauma, explaining how her life will turn into a forever – winter if the concerned person leaves her.
New Year’s Day – Reputation
Reputation is a ‘love album’ and so is New Year’s Day. This song is a soft song, unlike rest of the album and tries to explain how love can make you do unwanted and even boring things – like collecting bottles on a New Year’s Day Midnight. It shows a moment of stillness after the chaos of the party, that even if everyone leaves, your loved ones will stand with you.
Champagne Problems – Evermore
A story of two people who were once on the verge of a future together, but something went wrong— champagne problems is a sad sad sad song. It is named so because, while it might not seem like a huge issue to some people on the outside and much like irrelevant ‘champagne problems’, Taylor mocks it in the song by showing how devasting it can be. It has been set in the late winter of December, when people start decking the halls and cold amplifies the sadness in you, reminding you of such moments.
Never Grow Up – Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Never Grow Up, as the title suggests is a nostalgic plead to the younger self to never look back. As winter progresses, the song is a reflection to the innocence and the desire to hold onto that sense of wonder before life becomes complicated.
You Are In Love – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
For anyone who is in love, Taylor’s 1989 album this song honestly makes them feel the love again. The song is like watching love unfold and realizing you’re in the middle of something truly special. If you want to feel and communicate the quiet moments between you and your partner, there is nothing better than this song to play while dancing in the hall or just gazing at each other.
Happiness – Evermore
One of the most underrated songs, Happiness is the final acceptance stage of the grieving process, like a sentimental ache of moving on. You can feel both joy and sorrow in this song. There’s a sense of resignation with growth and understanding, as you realize that while the relationship is over, you can and will find your own happiness separately.
I Look In People’s Window – The Tortured Poets Department
The newest release, Tourted Poets Department has a perfect song for those who are alone in winter, and especially on holidays. Craving that longing, they look in people’s windows hoping to find a glimpse of the one whom they lost due to some reason and now walk back home alone.
Bonus Album: Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection
A mix of cozy moments with loved ones during Christmas, this album has 6 songs dedicated to Christmas and the emotions around it. It has a perfectly blended warmth, comfort, and holiday spirit, with subtle longing and emotional depth.
The best part of Taylor Swift’s songs is that they have the freedom to be interpreted the way you want. Wishful thinking or mindless dreaming, these songs are some of those that have elements of winter and its emotions, but you have the complete right to add or remove any songs that feel winter to you. So when the temperature drops and you prepare your favorite hot chocolate to spend some time with yourself, Taylor Swift can be the perfect background for every feeling that you are going through. Happy Winters!