Sitting in my childhood bedroom at the age of seven watching the little circle CD spin round and round, I remember all too well listening to Taylor Swift’s fourth studio album “Red”. Not much has changed for me today as Swift has begun the process of re-releasing all of her albums from her debut album “Taylor Swift” to “Reputation”.
Starting with her second album “Fearless” Swift has moved on to releasing “Red (Taylor’s Version)”. This version of the album includes all the original songs plus a total of nine songs that she has never released before.
This album has been highly anticipated by all fans of Taylor Swift and I for one had been counting down the days until I could hear it for the first time again. It is safe to say that it did not disappoint.
Starting with the song “State of Grace” and moving through, the album chronologically starts with the songs we all know and love. Most of the songs all sound very similar if not practically the same as the original as this album is meant to replace her old version.
Swift’s vocals have matured since the release of the original “Red” album and sound amazing with the heartfelt lyrics she wrote years ago. Although I have never personally gone longer than a week without listening to Swift’s discography, listening to “Red (Taylor’s Version)” brought a sense of nostalgia as if I was listening to it for the first time.
Overall the most changed song from the original 2012 release is the song “Girl at Home”. The beat changed to a more pop upbeat rhythm then it previously was. This was a smart move by Swift because “Girl at Home” has never been an overall favorite by fans and by changing it Swift gave an old song new life.
The unreleased vault songs are a very exciting addition to the already beloved album. “Nothing New” that Swift shares vocals with fellow singer, Phoebe Bridgers, is a particularly heart wrenching song. Swift wrote about not knowing how the public will feel about her as she grows older.
“How can a person know everything at eighteen but nothing at twenty-two?” Swift sings. “But will you still want me? When I’m nothing new.”
Swift singing these lyrics that she wrote when she was in her early 20s now at 31 has a type of symbolic message. Going from worrying about what might become of her in the future back then to now knowing how many people truly care about her work.
The vault songs aren’t only sad songs however. “The Very First Night”, “Message In A Bottle” and “I Bet You Think About Me” are quite upbeat and fun songs.
The addition of these songs truly shows how much Swift was starting to step away from her country roots and emerge herself into the pop genre. The song “I Bet You Think About Me” has a much more country tone to it while the song just before, “Message In A Bottle” is the most pop centered song on the album.
The song that arguably every Taylor Swift fan has been waiting years for has got to be “All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)”. The song is a total of ten minutes and thirteen seconds and is the longer version of the previously released song “All Too Well”.
The more that the song plays the less it feels like it is a ten minute long song. The words flow together perfectly and it has one heart hitting line after another, it’s a wonder that Swift hid this whole song from the public for so long.
Lines such as “They say all’s well that ends well, but I’m in a new hell every time, you double cross my mind, you said if we had been closer in age maybe it would’ve been fine and that made me want to die.”
Really give us an inside look on Swift’s personal life during the time she wrote this song. So many different people can see their own life in her deep descriptive lyrics which is why she is such a lyricist.
Swift even went as far to release a second version of the ten minute “All Too Well” called “All Too Well (Sad Girl Autumn Version)” which is a slower even more heartfelt version of the song.
The public has had an incredibly positive reaction to the releasing of this album. Swift has already broken records not even a full 24 hours after releasing the album.
Becoming the most streamed album in a single day by a female in all of Spotify history, Swift previously held that record with her album “Folklore”. But being able to break that record with an album that has been for the most part out for the last nine years is an incredible accomplishment.
Swift and her many fans are all ready for the “Red” era to “Begin Again”.
