“Punk Goes Taylor Swift” — A Tracklist Straight From Our Emo Swiftie Dreams

We had so much fun dreaming up a “Punk Goes Noah Kahan” tracklist that we had to keep it going. And what better artist’s discography is there to create a “Punk Goes…” album with than Taylor Swift? With 11 albums ranging in sound, genre, and theme, we had a whole host of songs to choose from. Honestly, it was pretty hard to choose and we had to reel it in at a certain point because this list got LONG. “Punk Goes Taylor Swift” could be an entire series focused on each individual album alone! Who knows, maybe we’ll just release a “Punk Goes Taylor Swift” (Deluxe Edition) soon.

While some Taylor Swift songs are pop-punk coded and would lend themselves easily to a cover, some of the song/artist combos on our list are the result of our imagination and the style of the artist. We’d love to see what some of them can do with the tracks we’ve given them! And there’s a whole group of fans out there who categorize themselves as “emo Swifties” (swemos?) so it was just meant to be.

So without further ado, let’s dive into our dream “Punk Goes Taylor Swift” tracklist:

‘The Great War’ — Grayscale

Okay, full disclosure. This article kinda came into existence purely because we have a vision of Grayscale absolutely killing a cover of ‘The Great War.’ We just think that the song would translate beautifully into their style, something reminiscent of the Umbra or Nella Vita eras. It’s an idea that we cannot get out of our heads and it’s honestly why we started thinking up all of these other possible cover combinations so like… shoutout to Grayscale for that! Just let us know who we have to beg to make this happen pls.

‘Better Than Revenge’ — Stand Atlantic

Tell us Stand Atlantic isn’t the perfect choice for this song, come on. Oh, what’s that? You can’t? That’s right because they ARE. They would bring the loud, fast-paced, intense energy that this song needs and we just know they would capture the vibes perfectly. Opening up the pit to ‘Better Than Revenge’ at a Stand Atlantic show is not a need but a want.

‘Cruel Summer’ — The Maine

Surprise! This one actually already exists! The Maine did a cover of ‘Cruel Summer’ last year so we don’t actually have to work too hard to imagine what their version of the song would sound like! They took a softer, slower approach to the track, showcasing their own style and putting a different spin on it. When translating a song from one genre to another it can actually be kind of fun to see how the artists decide to switch it up so we love that The Maine took that route. We wonder what they would do with other Taylor Swift songs 🤔

‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’ — Between You & Me

On that note, we can imagine Between You & Me taking ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,’ which is pure upbeat pop, and turning it into a pop-punk masterpiece. “I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my sh*t” feels like a fitting lyric for BYAM to take on and we would actually really love hearing their version of ‘ICDIWABH.’

‘The Bolter‘ — Trophy Eyes

‘The Bolter’ is definitely different from Trophy Eyes’ sound but that’s why it’s so good. A reimagined version of this song in Trophy Eyes’ style? Yes, please. If you think about it, ‘The Bolter’ and ‘Runaway Come Home’ by Trophy Eyes are cousins, sisters even. So it only makes sense that they cover the song.

‘no body no crime’ — Knuckle Puck and Real Friends

Sorry to anyone tired of us pushing the KP/RF bromance agenda but you’ll have to pry it from our cold dead hands. Speaking of dead, the ‘no body, no crime’ duet would make the perfect track for them to cover. 1) It’s a duet, so they can stay together and 2) we just want to see what they would do with it because of how sonically different ‘no body, no crime’ is from the usual pop-punk style. Honorable mention that we also considered giving to them is ‘Hits Different.’ You can see the vision, right?

‘Clean’ — Movements

Thematically, ‘Clean’ just feels like the right choice for Movements. We imagine them turning this song into something reminiscent of the Feel Something era. Slow, emotional, and with some killer guitar riffs. They would make this song sound absolutely amazing and the more we think about it the more we need it actually. We can’t even elaborate because we feel like the pairing just says everything it needs to.

‘The Story Of Us’ — Broadside

If Broadside covered ‘The Story Of Us’ live, we could imagine the energy on stage with Oliver Baxxter jumping all over the place, high-energy guitars, and insane vocal runs. We’re imagining a sound similar to something from Hotel Bleu but we’re also imagining the Old Bones era. Is it just us? Speak Now has always been a very pop-punk-coded album in our opinion so it kind of makes sense tbh.

‘Now That We Don’t Talk’ — Taylor Acorn

Taylor Acorn is Taylor Swift’s name twin and her sound honestly kind of gives us “Taylor Swift Goes Pop Punk” vibes anyway so like… of course she’s on our list! We can feel it in our bones that ‘Now That We Don’t Talk’ would be an amazing song for her to cover. We can hear her turning the entire outro of this track into something all her own and we can kind of see thematic parallels too. We imagine Taylor Acorn translating ‘Now That We Don’t Talk’ into ‘Greener’s’ pettier older sister with the outro and it’s everything.

‘Bad Blood‘ — As It Is

As It Is please come home we miss you. We so badly want to see them covering ‘Bad Blood,’ perhaps in the style of The Great Depression era. Maybe they’d decide to do the Kendrick Lamar version and tap another vocalist in and turn it into a duet, who knows? We just know that we need to hear it.

‘I’m Only Me When I’m With You’ — The Summer Set

This is another cover on our list that already exists! The Summer Set has covered quite a few Taylor Swift songs so we had a few to pick from but this is one of our favorite Taylor songs so we decided to go with it. We don’t even have to say much about how we imagine they’d tackle it because they already have! Maybe we can convince them to do an ‘I’m Only Me When I’m With You’ (The Summer Set’s Version) once Taylor re-records Debut!

‘Mr. Perfectly Fine’ — State Champs

‘Mr. Perfectly Fine’ is perfectly (ha ha) paced for State Champs to match the energy. They could totally turn the song into something of their own and we think Derek’s vocals work the best for it. Why? Couldn’t tell you, it’s simply ~vibes~ (but we’re still right).

‘Mine‘ — Arm’s Length

This pick is sort of official? There isn’t any official recorded versions but Arm’s Length did cover ‘Mine’ a while back while they were on tour (and we got to participate in the pit that opened up during it hehe). Again, we don’t need to imagine what they would do with the song but why not make it official and drop a recording?

‘Our Song’ — Bearings

The more we think about it, the more we love the idea of Bearings covering ‘Our Song.’ Maybe they’d up the tempo a little, maybe they’d stay closer to the original, heck maybe they’d go the acoustic route, but whatever they would do, ‘Our Song’ is the right fit. We can picture Dougie Cousins jumping around on stage while singing this cover too.

‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’ — We Are The In Crowd

Do this: listen to ‘The Best Thing (That Never Happened)’ by We Are The In Crowd and then imagine them covering ‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’ and we promise you’ll see our vision. WATIC would be able to capture the intensity of this song by turning it into something that sounds similar to ‘The Best Thing.’ Not to mention, hearing “give me back my girlhood it was mine first” sung with the intensity and production of a pop-punk track might actually heal us a little bit.

‘Call It What You Want’ — Waterparks

Waterparks may have a serial killer in the band but we’re still putting them on this list pending more information (/j). In all seriousness, if you think about it you can kind of hear how this might sound in Awsten’s voice no? They would kill (no pun intended) this cover if they did it in their sound.

‘The Prophecy’ — Honey Revenge

Honey Revenge could have also covered one of Taylor’s more upbeat tracks but something about them covering ‘The Prophecy’ and making it sound similar to ‘Sensitive’ has stuck itself in our brains and won’t leave. And like, we really wanted to include ‘The Prophecy’ on this list. And, of course, we had to include our fellow bee-themed band too. HR’s style and Devin Papadol’s vocals just feel like the perfect combination for a track like this and we would love it if this ever became a reality one day.

‘Stay Stay Stay’ — Young Culture

Young Culture turning ‘Stay, Stay, Stay’ into a fast-paced pop-punk song would be everything. That’s it, that’s the tweet. ‘Stay, Stay, Stay’ is fun, quirky, and lighthearted and we feel like it matches YC’s vibe perfectly. They’re one of the nicest and most fun bands we know and their cover would be an all-around good time.

‘The Way I Loved You’ — The Story So Far

If you know anything about The Story So Far at all you might be giggling along with us at this pick but like… They’re an iconic staple in the pop-punk scene so we’re going to include them. Their cover would sound absolutely nothing like the original but if it did that would be kind of iconic tbh. ‘The Way I Loved You’ thematically would bring enough angst for TSSF to turn it into a cover considering the angsty parallels in their own discography.

‘Treacherous’ — Against The Current

Against The Current is one of those bands that we feel deserves ALL the hype and given their sound, ‘Treacherous’ just feels like the right choice for them to cover. Chrissy Costanza has the perfect vocals for this song and we imagine the bridge of ‘Treacherous’ sounding something like ‘Gravity’ the more we think about it. This might be one of our favorite picks on this entire list tbh.

If you’re still here 20 songs later, we salute you. But if you’re a Taylor Swift fan that’s probably what you’re used to. Either way, we’re glad you stuck around and we hope you enjoyed our list!

Like we said, Taylor has such an expansive discography that choosing these songs was so hard. There are eras, tracks, and artists we didn’t even hit even though they’d be perfect for this list. That being said, we’re sure this might’ve sparked some ideas of your own about “Punk Goes Taylor Swift” covers you’d like to see come to life. Drop us a comment below or find us on our socials and tell us what covers you’d want to see on an album like this! We’re always buzzing about something on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

We have plenty more Taylor Swift and pop punk news for you too so be sure to check it out!

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