Red (Taylor's Version)
Red (Taylor's Version) is the second re-recorded album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on November 12, 2021, by Republic Records. It is part of Swift's re-recording projects following the 2019 dispute over the ownership of her back catalog.
This article is about the re-recorded album by Taylor Swift. For the song, see Red (Taylor's Version) (song).Red (Taylor's Version)
November 12, 2021
- Ballroom West (Los Angeles)
- Blackbird (Nashville)
- Capitol B (Los Angeles)
- Conway Recording (Los Angeles)
- Electric Lady (New York)
- The Garage (Topanga)
- House Mouse (Stockholm)
- Instrument Landing (Minneapolis)
- Kallbacken (Stockholm)
- Kitty Committee (Belfast)
- Long Pond (New York)
- Prime Recording (Nashville)
- Sterloid Sounds (Los Angeles)
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Red (Taylor's Version) includes re-recorded versions of the tracks on Swift's fourth studio album, Red (2012), and the 2012 charity single "Ronan"; and nine tracks denoted as "From the Vault":[a] six unreleased songs, a 10-minute-long version of "All Too Well", and solo versions of "Better Man" (2016) and "Babe" (2018), which Swift had written for other artists. Swift and most original producers reprised their works on the re-recorded tracks with additions from Christopher Rowe, and the vault tracks featured inputs from Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Elvira Anderfjärd, and Espionage, with features from Phoebe Bridgers, Ed Sheeran, and Chris Stapleton.
Music critics described Red (Taylor's Version) as an eclectic album combining styles of pop, country, rock, and electronic, featuring various instruments such as acoustic strings and electronic keyboards. Its songs address the different dynamics of love and heartbreak. Met with unanimous acclaim, the album received critical praise for Swift's vocals, its enhanced production quality, and the vault tracks. Commercially, Red (Taylor's Version) topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, among others. In the United States, it was Swift's fourth number-one on the Billboard 200 in less than 16 months, registering the shortest time span for an artist to collect four number-one albums.
Swift promoted the album with televised appearances on NBC talk shows and a self-directed short film accompanying "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)". Red (Taylor's Version) broke the record for the most single-week new entries by an artist with 26 of its tracks charting on the Billboard Hot 100; "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" became the longest chart-topper of all time. The vault tracks "I Bet You Think About Me" and "Message in a Bottle" were promoted as radio singles. Publications considered Red (Taylor's Version) a key pop culture moment of 2021. The album and its songs received a Billboard Music Award, three MTV Video Music Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, two American Music Awards, and a Grammy Award.
Music and lyrics[edit]
Composition[edit]
In a social media post, Swift wrote that re-recording Red made her think of the album, both musically and lyrically, as "resembling a heartbroken person [...], all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end".[16] Music critics mostly characterized Red (Taylor's Version) as a pop album with eclectic musical styles, as with the original album.[17][18][19][20] All songs feature the additional "Taylor's Version" moniker;[21] they incorporate diverse sounds, including synth-pop, arena rock, indie rock, electronic, dubstep, and folk,[22][23][24] using both acoustic and electronic instruments.[17][25] Tracks 1–20 are re-recordings of the original Red album songs, and they are country pop and experimental tracks intertwined between one another.[19][23] Track 21 is the re-recording of "Ronan", a 2012 standalone charity single inspired by a four-year-old boy who died from cancer complications.[26][27] Gary Lightbody of the rock band Snow Patrol and Ed Sheeran returned to feature on "The Last Time" and "Everything Has Changed", respectively.[28]
All but one re-recorded tracks feature the same arrangements as their original versions;[29] they were produced by their respective original producers, except Max Martin, Dann Huff, and Nathan Chapman, whose production was conducted by Christopher Rowe.[30] "Girl at Home" was reworked from an acoustic number into a synth-pop track produced by Elvira Anderfjärd.[31] The re-recorded tracks feature Swift's mature, deeper, and more resonant vocals,[23][26][32] and a subtly sharper production that either tweaks or emphasizes certain instruments. Pitchfork's Olivia Horn wrote that the melody of "Sad Beautiful Tragic" might have tweaked "a note or two",[31] USA Today's Melissa Ruggieri found the drums on "I Knew You Were Trouble" sharper and the guitars on "22" more defined,[33] and NME's Hannah Mylrea described the opening drums on "State of Grace" as "crisper", the soft rock guitars on "Red" as "a little brighter", and the mandolin on "Stay Stay Stay" as "lifted".[26] According to Carrie Battan from The New Yorker, some of the stronger instrumentation made the re-recorded album resemble a live performance.[34]
"From the Vault" tracks[edit]
Tracks 22–30 are labeled "From the Vault", which are songs Swift had written but did not include in the 2012 album. Two vault tracks—"Better Man" and "Babe"—are songs that had been written by Swift and recorded by Little Big Town in 2016 and Sugarland in 2018 respectively.[26] The closing track, "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)", is an unabridged version of "All Too Well" that contains lyrics Swift wrote in 2011 before trimming down the track.[35] Carson Mlnarik from MTV News wrote that some vault tracks featured Swift's country songwriting, which was a reminder of how "Red is a country album at its core".[36] The vault tracks were produced by Anderfjärd, Espionage, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner.[30]
"Better Man" is a banjo-led country ballad that incorporates mandolin and strings[17][26] with lyrics about the aftermath of a painful breakup.[37] "Nothing New", a folk duet with Phoebe Bridgers, is about insecurities around aging and the social perceptions of young women.[17][37] "Babe", whose version by Sugarland is a country song, is reworked into a pop-ska and country-pop arrangement[24][37] consisting of slide guitar, keyboards, brass, and percussion.[26] Its lyrics describe the missteps in a dissolving relationship.[37]
"Message in a Bottle" is an upbeat dance-pop and electropop track about the beginnings of a romantic connection.[19][25][37] "I Bet You Think About Me", featuring background harmony vocals by Chris Stapleton, is a harmonica-driven country ballad.[37][38] It has tongue-in-cheek lyrics deriding an ex-lover's luxurious and pretentious lifestyle.[39] "Forever Winter" is a power pop song opening with energetic brass[17] before proceeding to the chorus that features Swift's dynamic vocals and incorporates horns, flutes, and guitars.[37] Lyrically, "Forever Winter" is about Swift trying to help a friend through his mental health struggles.[40][41]
"Run" is an acoustic indie folk-leaning duet with Ed Sheeran, who wrote the track with Swift the same day they wrote "Everything Has Changed".[17][25] The production of "Run" is driven by a twiddling guitar and orchestral compositions, while its lyrics consist of romantic gestures.[37] "The Very First Night" is an uptempo bubblegum and country pop song that sees Swift reminiscing about the first moments of a blossoming romance.[36][37][40] "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" is a slow ballad with a pop rock sound driven by a thudding and insistent bassline.[17][42] It features additional verses that provide a richer context to the original song.[25]