Holy Ground (song)

Music critics praised the lyrical maturity for its showcase of a more complicated understanding of failed relationships and departed from the bitter sentiments on Swift's previous songs.

There, Swift played the whole song on acoustic guitar, which left Bhasker impressed: "I was just blown away at how stone cold she was [...] Her style of songwriting is very, very honest.

[16] The upbeat track features a recurring guitar riff and constant fast-paced drum beats that, according to Brad Nelson from The Atlantic, are "insistent enough to act as punctuation for the lyrics".

[17] Musicologist James E. Perone characterized "Holy Ground" as country rock, with a "take on the country-pop tradition that had not really been found before in Swift's previous recordings".

[20] Other critics said the track features elements of pop rock and country on the drum beats, which Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone described as "jaunty but gentle".

[28] Chris Willman of The Hollywood Reporter cited "Holy Ground" as one of the album's finest tracks, and remarked that the "driving drum and rhythm guitar ... grab your attention from [the] first verse to [the] last".

"[31] The New Zealand Herald's Scott Kara picked it as one of the strongest Red tracks: "These songs prove she's a strong enough songwriter to play it straight, while still being ambitious.

"[17] Today journalist Francesca Gariano ranked "Holy Ground" second on a list of the top 10 songs by Swift of the 2010s decade, behind "All Too Well", another Red track.

[27] On a less positive side, Mesfin Fekadu from the Associated Press deemed the song average,[35] and Bernard Perusse from the Edmonton Journal considered it an album filler.

[36] Swift included "Holy Ground" in the set list to the concerts on the Red Tour (2013–2014), where she sang the song in front of a New York cityscape background.

[40] In September 2019, during promotion of her seventh studio album Lover, she performed a slowed, stripped-down piano version of "Holy Ground" on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge held in New York City.

[41] Swift said the version was meant to "flip the coin of the song and show another side of it"; Rebecca Alter from Vulture remarked that the Live Lounge rendition contained a "soulful, wise ...