1. "Red" is endlessly listenable and thoroughly enjoyable, and includes some of the best lyrics written this entire decade by anyone.

"Red" was released on October 22, 2012. Big Machine Records

"It's all the different ways that you have to say goodbye to someone," Swift told Billboard about the concept for the album, adding, "Every different kind of missing someone, every kind of loss — it all sounds different to me."

When the album came out, critics' main gripe was that it wasn't "sonically cohesive." With all due respect to those critics, they missed the point completely. The way that there is no "signature sound" to "Red" lends to its masterpiece status. With every addition of an acoustic guitar or dubstep wobble, Swift gives each inflection of her pain a different sound. She brilliantly laid out this album to showcase all the ways that love and loss can be messy, while simultaneously pointing out the different types of beauty within that mess.

The opener, "State of Grace," sets the scene with a pulsing drum beat, embracing the "worthwhile fight" of a relationship while acknowledging that love can be a "ruthless game." The devastation hasn't happened yet; instead, it's a new beginning of something great. Of course, that all comes crashing down on the second track, "Red," when Swift hits her metaphorical and lyrical dead end — but something great is still yet to come. It's just not in the form of true love.

The titular track begins Swift's journey of missing her ex-lover, which she explores further on the pop-rock "I Knew You Were Trouble," where she realizes "the blame is on me," and on "All Too Well," Swift's opus and the centerpiece of the album.

"All Too Well" is "full of killer moments: the way she sings 'refrigerator,' the way she spits out the consonants of 'crumpled-up piece of paper,' the way she chews up three 'all's in a row," Sheffield wrote for Rolling Stone. "No other song does such a stellar job of showing off her ability to blow up a trivial little detail into a legendary heartache."

But missing someone isn't always sad, as evidenced by "Holy Ground," which, like "All Too Well," reflects on a relationship. But where "All Too Well" focuses on how much it hurts to miss someone, "Holy Ground" deals with how much better off you were for having that relationship with an upbeat, thumping beat and lyrics like "And darlin', it was good / Never lookin' down / And right there where we stood / Was holy ground."

The album closes with "Begin Again," a promise that after all that heartache, love will find a way to rear its messy head in your life once more.

So yes, "Red" may not have a "signature sound," but it does have a signature feeling. The album is made to feel as if you've lost yourself before finally finding your way back home; it's a feeling that, even seven years after the album's release, listeners still know all too well — and are better off for it.