“Red (Taylor’s Version)” dropped a week ago, after months of waiting. I knew all too well that it’d be worth the wait!
In the fall of 2012, Taylor Swift released her fourth studio album, “Red”. It contained top 100 tracks such as “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” as well as “Everything Has Changed,” a duet featuring then spunky up-and-coming artist Ed Sheeran. “Red” also contained the heartbreakingly raw “All Too Well,” arguably Taylor Swift’s best song. Back in October 2012, I was adjusting to life in college. As a result, and wasn’t really paying THAT much attention to new music. Consequently, I didn’t sit and fully absorb Taylor’s then new album. Instead, I hand picked a few favorites to binge excessively.
Now, almost ten years later, Taylor Swift released “Red (Taylor’s Version)”, as part 2 in her saga to re-record (and, thereby own) all her old music. The new edition features re-recordings of the original tracks, including the deluxe songs, and nine songs that had been written (but ultimately not recorded) for the original release. Of the songs from Taylor’s “vault” for “Red” included a ten minute version of “All Too Well,” which had been “Swiftie” legend since the album’s initial release.
Because I hadn’t given it a full listen ten years ago, I felt ELATED to listen to the album for the first time, for real! I broke down my listening into three parts: the original tracks, the deluxe tracks, and the “vault” tracks. Here’s my take on “Red (Taylor’s Version)”.
RED: TRACKS I KNEW
- I do not remember the first time I heard the titular track, “Red,” but it was one of my favorite songs! I felt like it introduced an entirely new side of Taylor Swift. “Red” in and of itself feels like a bridge album between Taylor’s country roots and her now pop classics. If there’s one thing Taylor could go down in history for, it’s a good bridge! The echoes in the chorus sing a new era for her. You can really hear the distinction between the old recording and this new one.
- The first time I heard “Treacherous” was actually not from the album, but from a random live show. It was an acoustic version, and I listened to it on repeat, six years ago, when I stumbled across it after meeting this cute guy. I liked him a lot and it felt nerve-wracking, because it felt too soon to like him that much. Thankfully, it all worked out in the end.
- “I Knew You Were Trouble” got the most street cred back in the day. It was well deserved, and equally well meme-ified. However, as much as I like the new version, I hoped it would feel more… epic? Someone mashed up “I Knew You Were Trouble” with Justin Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me” way back when, and the overall result made for an epic remix. Shades of it can be heard from this performance. Still a banger. Forever a banger.
- “All Too Well” is Taylor’s strongest song, from this album, and possibly all her oeuvre. Do I want to say she peaked four albums ago, though? Not really. Nevertheless, I think this song is where she truly became queen of the bridges, because the space between the second chorus and the final verse cuts deep and burns red. I’d rather focus on Taylor’s musicality and success as an artist rather than rumored subjects of this album, so I’ll just say this: STAY DOWN ON THE GROUND OR LEAVE TOWN, MY DUDE.
- “22” is a fun anthem to best friends. I have a very good memory of singing this song at a karaoke night on my friend’s birthday the night she turned 22. It was all and all a great time, and this song reminds me of that year of college where all you care about is your friends, and the sleep deprivation is just a part of that.
- “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” was the lead single of the song, and it was funny, and sarcastic, and oh-so-quotable back then. However, it feels like she leveled up in sarcasm in the past ten years with the bridge. It IS exhausting, you know?
- “Stay, stay, stay” is fun and whimsical and sweet and sounds like early Taylor Swift.
- I smiled listening to “Everything Has Changed,” because you can tell that Ed was in a separate studio for this re-recording, what with COVID restrictions keeping people separate. When Ed Sheeran first started to gain international attention, he had Taylor at his side. He opened for her during the tour promoting “Red”. NOW he’s selling out stadiums across the world. This song played a part of his meteoric rise!
- “Begin Again” was a single from the album back during the initial release. I liked it then, but felt like it didn’t have the same pop! and zing! That the other songs had. However, listening to this song with the context of it as the concluding track (sans deluxe songs) in a heartbreak album certainly changes my perspective. It’s a perfect conclusion! “Begin Again” is melancholy, but full of hope. I’m hoping that looking back on the past ten years shaped Taylor’s thoughts in re-recording this one.
RED: TRACKS I NEVER HEARD
- I had never heard “State of Grace,” and I loved it as the opener for the album. “Red” deals almost entirely with one specific relationship, from beginning to end, and this is exactly what a new love sounds like.
- I’m almost glad that I had never heard “Starlight” until this re-release. The song takes inspiration from a photo Taylor found of Ethel and Bobby Kennedy. It’s funny to think that she wrote this song about the Kennedys… and then dated one!
- Where “Stay, Stay, Stay” sounds like old Taylor Swift, “The Last Time” sounds like future Taylor. It sounds similar to “exile” from “evermore,” which she released last year! I also felt that “Sad Beautiful Tragic” sounds like it could have been a good shallow entrance to deeper heartbreak songs.
- To be honest, I felt like “Come Back… Be Here” had a better title than the actual song. The title is great, but the song is kind of forgettable.
- “The Moment I Knew” continues the narrative of the relationship that dies in “Red”. A birthday party should be the best night ever. However, it falls short because he doesn’t show up like he promised.
- “Girl at Home,” however, is much more fun. It sounds like “How You Get the Girl,” from “1989,” which I consider to be Taylor’s best album.
RED: TRACKS NEW TO THE WORLD
- “Nothing New,” feels insanely prescient. Taylor references her struggles with the music industry, and her fear of someone younger replacing her. Considering how Taylor has barely entered her thirties and people are already lining up Olivia Rodrigo to be “the next Taylor Swift,” she’s clearly not far off in her sentiments! Ain’t it funny that a song that disparaged the music industry didn’t make it onto Taylor’s album the first time around, when she was in an unsatisfactory contract? Imagine that. IMAGINE. THAT.
- “Message in a Bottle” has shades of what “1989” was to be. It’s fun, and pop, and I wish it had been on the album the first time around for us all to enjoy sooner!
- “I Bet You Think About Me” really leans on Taylor’s country roots. The song contains plenty of barbs and anger, but the southern twang really just gives it a “bless your heart” energy.
- Taylor Swift did, in fact, save the best for last. “Red (Taylor’s Version)” concludes the ten minute version of “All Too Well.” The first verse and chorus are the same as they were on the original track. However, the second half of the song contains new material that comes in for the kill. The original song is a perfect heartbreak song, but this extended version paints a more vivid picture. Relationships aren’t black and white, but the extra ten minutes really adds color to the person who broke Taylor’s heart. The art that came out of this failed love story is incredible, but at what cost? I audibly gasped and even yelled while listening to this song. At the end, I felt almost grateful that the guys that have broken my heart didn’t leave as bad a mark as to write ten minutes of pure art between screams and angry tears. I truly thought I had it rough, but in actuality, I think I got off easy.
Along with the album’s release, Taylor released a fun music video for “I Bet You Think About Me.” She also released a short film for the ten minute version of “All Too Well,” starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien. This casting threw me off at first. Both actors have crazy talent, for sure! However, Dylan O’Brien is around my age, and Sadie Sink just joined the Hawkins gang on “Stranger Things!” With Dylan at thirty years old and Sadie at nineteen, that felt so skeevy.
That’s when it hit me: Taylor was around 20 years old when she started dating the alleged subject of “All Too Well.” At that point, the subject was 29 years old. There was a nine year age difference between the two of them. The age difference between Dylan and Sadie is about the same. Even now, those age differences just scratch the surface. The video is sad, beautiful, and tragic (see what I did there?). What I like about the ending is that it concludes with a brief glimpse at the ex-boyfriend, wearing the scarf of the girlfriend he broke, thirteen years later. Even now, as Taylor continues to shine, interviews with the subject tend to include a line saying something along the lines of “blank, who has dated the likes of Taylor Swift.” Time goes on, and so do they, but while scars fade, they’re never truly gone.
BEST NEW LYRICS
- “I know someday I’m going to meet her, it’s a fever dream, the kind of radiance you only have at seventeen, she’ll know the way and say she got the map from me, I’ll say I’m happy for her then cry myself to sleep.” —Nothing New
- “I’m harder to forget than I was to leave.” — I Bet You Think About Me
- “You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath. Sacred prayer, and we’d swear, we’d remember it all too well.” — All Too Well (ten minute version)
- “You said if we had been closer in age, maybe it would have been fine, and that made me want to die.” — All Too Well (ten minute version)
- Wait for it, things will come back later!
- “You, who charmed my dad, with your self-effacing jokes, sipping coffee like you’re on a late-night show. But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come, and he said, “It’s supposed to be fun, turning twenty-one.” — All Too Well (ten minute version)
- “I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age.” — All Too Well (ten minute version)
- This one’s just fun when considering the earlier line about an age difference being an issue. Remember how the subject dated Taylor when she was twenty, and he was twenty nine? He’s now forty, dating a twenty-five year old. Yikes.
I think, with most albums, there are several really great songs, a few incredible songs, and then the rest are THERE, but not about to win the “Best Song Ever” award. However, while “Red” is no exception to this rule, it wins in that the good songs are great, and the great songs are incredible. I’m glad that with this re-release, more people are giving Taylor credit where songwriting credit is true. She is a true master (pun intended) of her craft. And she’s just getting started!