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Red (Taylor Swift album)

Red is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records. The album's title refers to the tumultuous, "red" emotions Swift experienced during the album's conception; its songs discuss the complex and conflicting feelings resulting from fading romance.

For the 2021 re-recording, see Red (Taylor's Version).

Red

October 22, 2012 (2012-10-22)

2011–2012

65:09

Hoping to experiment with new sounds beyond her previous albums' country pop style, Swift engaged new producers Dann Huff, Max Martin, Shellback, Jeff Bhasker, Dan Wilson, Jacknife Lee, Butch Walker, alongside her long-time collaborator Nathan Chapman. The record combines styles of pop, country, and rock, with eclectic elements including arena rock, Britrock, dance-pop, and dubstep. Big Machine promoted Red as a country album but many critics disputed this categorization and deemed it a pop record. The album was supported with seven singles, including the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one lead single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and the Mainstream Top 40 number-one single "I Knew You Were Trouble".


In the US, Red spent seven weeks atop the Billboard 200—making Swift the first female artist and the second act after the Beatles to have three consecutive albums each spend at least six weeks at number one—and was certified seven-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It topped the charts and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The album received nominations for Album of the Year at the 2013 Country Music Association Awards, and Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards. Swift promoted the album with the Red Tour (2013–2014), which grossed $150 million.


When it was first released, music critics praised Swift's songwriting in Red but they were divided on the album's sonic range; praise was directed at the album's versatility but criticism targeted its inconsistency. Retrospectively, many critics regard Red one of Swift's best albums and a transitional record bridging her country roots to mainstream pop. It appeared in publications' lists of the best albums of the 2010s decade and ranked at number 99 in the 2023 revision of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Following a dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she re-recorded the album and released it as Red (Taylor's Version) on November 12, 2021.

Background[edit]

Taylor Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now, in October 2010. Rolling Stone reported in 2020 that Swift wrote the music to Speak Now alone to prove to critics she was capable;[2] Swift herself says it happened by accident as she would write songs in early morning hours and did not have a co-writer around before she finished the songs.[3] Speak Now, which was co-produced by Swift and her longtime collaborator Nathan Chapman, expands on her characteristic country pop sound with increasingly frequent elements of radio-friendly pop crossover, which are evident on its predecessor, Fearless (2008).[4] It incorporates various rock styles, including pop rock, arena rock, and new wave rock.[5][6] Speak Now was the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist, with 278,000 downloads in a week, earning Swift an entry in the 2010 Guinness World Records.[7] At the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012, the album was nominated for Best Country Album, and its single "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.[8]

Composition[edit]

Music[edit]

Red spans genres and departs from the country-pop sound of Swift's past albums.[18] It incorporates eclectic styles of pop, folk, and rock, namely dance-pop, indie pop, dubstep, Britrock, and arena rock.[19][note 1] In addition to the acoustic instruments incorporated into her previous albums, Red features electronic synths and drum machines.[18] Swift called Red's diverse musical styles a "metaphor for how messy a real breakup is" and described it as her "only true breakup album".[2] Its first half consists of country and pop songs intertwined with each other;[23] three tracks—"22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"—have a pop production that incorporates electronic vocal processing and hip-hop-influenced bass drums.[24][25] The rock stylings of Speak Now expand on tracks "State of Grace", "Red", and "Holy Ground", which musicologist James E. Perone found reminiscent of 1980s arena rock.[26][27] Other tracks, such as "I Almost Do", "Stay Stay Stay", "Sad Beautiful Tragic", and "Begin Again", embrace the country sound of Swift's earlier music.[28][29]


Critics were divided on the album's genre classification. Jon Dolan's review for Rolling Stone appeared in their column for country music, but he described Swift's musical foundation as "post-country rock".[30] Some reviewers commented that Red blurred the divide between country and pop,[23][31] but others called it a straightforward pop album with little trace of country.[32][33] The Los Angeles Times' Randall Roberts and The New York Times' Jon Caramanica wrote that Red signified Swift's inevitable move in mainstream pop to broaden her audience. The former said much of the album could perform well on commercial country radio but at its core, it is "perfectly rendered American popular music" with influences from modern trends;[34] the latter described Swift as "a pop star in a country context".[24] For American Songwriter's Jewly Hight, debating Swift's genre was pointless because her music was meant for a young audience who thought of music "iPod shuffle-fluidly".[35]

Commercial performance[edit]

In the US, Red debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 1,208,000 copies, surpassing Garth Brooks's Double Live (1998) as the fastest-selling country album.[100][101] With Speak Now and Red, Swift was recognized in the Guinness World Records as the "First Solo Female with Two Million-Selling Weeks on the U.S. Albums Chart".[102] Red spent seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200,[103] and made Swift the first female artist, and the second after the Beatles, to have three consecutive studio albums each spend six or more weeks atop the chart.[note 3] It was the third consecutive time—after Fearless (2008) and Speak Now (2010)—that Swift had a number-one album during the last week before Christmas, traditionally the most competitive week of the year.[105] On Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, it spent 16 weeks at number one, and was the year-end number-one album of both 2012 and 2013.[106] Surpassing 3.11 million copies after two months of sales, Red was the second-highest-selling album of 2012.[107] As of January 2024, its US sales stood at 4.582 million copies.[108] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album seven-times Platinum for surpassing seven million album-equivalent units.[109]


The album reached number one on the record charts of European and Oceanic countries, including Australia,[110] Canada,[111] New Zealand,[112] Ireland,[113] and Scotland.[114] It received multi-platinum certifications in Australia (4× Platinum),[115] Canada (4× Platinum),[116] and New Zealand (2× Platinum).[117] In the UK, Red was Swift's first number one on the Albums Chart and had four top-ten songs on the Singles Chart, the most of Swift's albums;[118] it was certified 2× Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and sold 619,000 copies as of June 2021.[119][120] Less than a month after its release, Red sold 2.8 million copies worldwide.[121] By the end of 2012, Red finished as the global second-best-selling album with 5.2 million copies.[122] By August 2014, it had sold over eight million copies.[123]

Accolades[edit]

Red received accolades in terms of both critical and popular recognition. Mainstream publications featuring Red on their lists of the best albums of 2012 included Billboard,[130] The Daily Beast,[131] The Guardian,[132] Idolator,[133] MTV News,[134] Newsday,[135] PopMatters,[136] Rolling Stone,[137] Spin,[138] and Stereogum.[139] Jon Caramanica ranked the album second on his list of 2012's best albums for The New York Times.[140] Red was placed at number 17 on the 2012 Pazz & Jop, an annual mass critics' poll conducted by The Village Voice.[141] Spin proclaimed Red one of 2012's best country albums.[142]


At the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014, Red was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Country Album.[143] The album received nominations at US country music awards, including two nominations for Album of the Year at the 2013 Country Music Association Awards[144] and the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards.[145] It won Favorite Country Album at the 2013 American Music Awards,[146] Top Album and Top Country Album at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards,[147] Top Selling Album at the 2013 Canadian Country Music Association Awards,[148] and Top Selling International Album of the Year at the 2014 Country Music Awards of Australia.[149]

"I Knew You Were Trouble" is stylized as "I Knew You Were Trouble." (with a period).

List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2012

List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2013

List of Billboard Top Country Albums number ones of 2012

List of Billboard Top Country Albums number ones of 2013

List of number-one albums of 2012 (Australia)

List of number-one albums of 2012 (Canada)

List of number-one albums from the 2010s (New Zealand)

List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2010s

Cultural impact of Taylor Swift

at Discogs (list of releases)

Red