Taylor Swift’s Fountain Pen Songs

Unlike the period-piece-like details of Quill Pen Lyrics, Fountain Pen songs feel more rooted in the modern day, their lyrics teeming with more familiar narratives and references. They try to “paint a vivid picture of a situation, down to the chipped paint on the door frame and the incense dust on the vinyl shelf,” she said during an acceptance speech at the Nashville Songwriter Awards in September 2022. “Taking a common phrase and flipping its meaning. Placing yourself and whoever is listening right there in the room where it all happened. The love, the loss, everything. The songs I categorise in this style sound like confessions scribbled and sealed in an envelope, but too brutally honest to ever send.” There’s no better example than the searing memories and turns of phrase of 2012’s “All Too Well”, from the forgotten scarf to the charge of a childhood photo album. On this exclusive playlist, made by Taylor herself, dive into more songs that she thinks fit the Fountain Pen description.