Taylor Swift's 'Folklore' might be the best album of her entire career

Taylor Swift's new album cover and additional promo photos were taken by Beth Garrabrant.Taylor Swift/Republic Records

• Taylor Swift released her eighth studio album, "Folklore," on Friday.
• We listened straight through the 16-song tracklist and wrote down our first impressions of each one.
• We were forced to reckon with the fact that "Folklore" might be Swift's best album yet — potentially better than "Red," which previously seemed like it couldn't be topped.
• This is a mature, poetic, truly remarkable body of work. The tracklist flows seamlessly, and Swift weaves details and stories throughout the album that make it feel alive.
• Out of 16 songs on the album's standard edition, just one was labeled "background music" ("Epiphany"), and not one was ruled a "skip."
• The best tracks on the album are "The 1," "Mirrorball," "Seven," "August," "Illicit Affairs," "Mad Woman," and "Betty."

Taylor Swift released her eighth studio album, "Folklore," on Friday.

Swift surprised fans by announcing its release just one day in advance — and less than one year after the release of her acclaimed seventh album "Lover."

"Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening, but there is something I had planned that DID happen," she wrote on social media. "And that thing is my 8th studio album, folklore. Surprise!"

She described "Folklore," stylized in all lowercase, as "an entire brand new album of songs I've poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into."

Much of the 16-song tracklist — 17 on the deluxe edition — was cowritten and produced by The National's Aaron Dessner. Smaller pieces were cowritten by Bon Iver, Jack Antonoff, and someone named William Bowery. Antonoff also produced five songs.

Insider's music team (reporter Callie Ahlgrim and celebrity and music editor Courteney Larocca) listened to the new album on our own, jotting down our initial thoughts track by track.

Almost immediately, we were forced to reckon with the fact that "Folklore" might be Swift's best album yet — potentially even better than "Red," which previously seemed like it couldn't be topped. We were stunned with the mature, poetic, stunningly understated collection of new songs.

Here is what we thought of each song on "Folklore" upon first listen. (Skip to the end to see the only songs worth listening to and the album's final score.)