TIME Magazine's Top 10 Songs of 2012

[Carolina]

4. Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”


This is one of the all-time great vernacular pop performances. Taylor Swift tweaks the way teenage girls actually talk, with high-rising terminals, vocal fry and “like” for emphasis, until it turns into music. Her dripping sarcasm on the line about “some indie record that’s much cooler than mine” is particularly sharp, but the song’s highlight may be Swift’s deadpan, cold-eyed “what?” in the middle of the first verse. Or maybe it’s the dryly protesting-too-much “Ever” in the middle of its title.

http://entertainment.time.com/2012/12/04/top-10-arts-lists/slide/taylor-swift-we-are-never-ever-getting-back-together/