While TechCrunch is a Very Serious Publication, at times we wind up a little off-topic in our internal conversations. We talk video games. We talk bad reality television. We riff on sports and pets and our families. And we talk about music.

Naturally, with as diverse a group as our team, viewpoints vary. But one notable point of commonality is Taylor Swift. Yes, your tech news is frequently prepared by a dyed-in-the-wool Swiftie. Perhaps even more often than not.

This raises an important question: Which Taylor tune is really the best? After realizing how many of us scribblers had an opinion on the matter, we decided to make our case in a public manner. What follows is a series of arguments – written in three-views style, albeit with more players – about which Taylor Swift song truly sits above the rest.

We welcome your public comment, of course, but note in advance that if you don’t agree with at least one of us, we all think that you are flat-out wrong.

Alex Wilhelm: Wildest Dreams

I view my Taylor Swift fandom as indicative of her universality. I am presently counting down for new records from In Flames, Lorna Shore, and other heavy metal bands that very few readers of this article are going to put on when they drop. That’s fine; musical tastes are personal. And yet here we are, sharing our passion for Swift’s singing and songwriting, despite our different musical preferences more generally.

The universality point is not merely one about her musical type being welcome by folks of many musical bents, however. It goes deeper.

Listening to Taylor’s discography is to watch her grow up. And as – per a quick peruse of her Wikipedia page – she and I are within a half-year of age, her transition from youth to young adult to 30-something has also been my own; her catalog essentially tracks my own maturity arc. But as we can see from her older and younger fans, the same life progression resonates with folks even apart from the age that she and I share.