“I remember it all too well”
Resulting in a fading romance, Red, is the fourth studio album by Taylor Swift that was released on October 22, 2021, and the second re-recorded album released on November 12, 2021 titled, Red (Taylor’s Version); this is due to the changed ownership of the masters to her first six studio albums.
The album’s conception deals with complex and conflicting feelings in a relationship, which many will resonate with. Consisting of 30-tracks, Red (Taylor’s Version), includes 20-songs from the deluxe version of Red, the charitable single ‘Ronan’, six new ‘from the vault’ tracks, a 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’, and her version of ‘Better Man’, and ‘Babe’ that had been recorded and released by Little Big Town, and Sugarland.
Red (Taylor’s Version), documents a heartbroken person. Tortured by memories of the past while being happy, free, confused, lonely at the same time to now with Swift piecing together a new life, she returned to the studio to recreate this masterpiece of where she poured her thoughts out, experimented with different sounds and collaborators, while realising she is beyond this devastating time yet reflected in a way that’s tells her story both musically and lyrically in a delicately beautiful way.
This album witnessed Swift explore a variety of genres beyond her country roots. She produced most of, Red (Taylor's Version), with Christopher Rowe while teaming up with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Paul Mirkovich, Espionage, Tim Blacksmith, Danny D, and Elvira Anderfjärd. Shellback, Dan Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Jacknife Lee, and Butch Walker who she previously worked with on the 2012 record. Ed Sheeran, and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol contributed to the original features, while Phoebe Bridgers and Chris Stapleton offered guest vocals.
Red (Taylor’s Version), flips through feelings of gut-wrenching ballads, come-together and feel-good tracks, and the messiness of a bad breakup and growing up, while blaming herself for a toxic relationship that has ended. It’s more polished and casually crueler as the album has a medley of genres although it's pop-driven; there’s elements of electronic, country, synth pop, and arena rock. It’s another victory for Swift both the vocal performances, songwriting, and production with a versatile instrumentation throughout.
As I said when I reviewed Fearless (Taylor’s Version), I acknowledged that Swift isn’t rewriting history by re-recording and re-releasing her previous album, but she is revisiting them to celebrate and honour herself and her work. Red (Taylor’s Version), is truly a masterpiece and a highlight of her career both as a musical artist and songwriter.
Words by Danielle Holian