Red (Taylor’s Version) - A Review
By: Mallory Johnson
On November 12th, Taylor Swift released the re-recording of her 2012 album Red. The album includes nine songs “from the vault” which are songs written while the original album was written but were not released. It also includes the long-awaited ten-minute version of the song All Too Well. Taylor also recorded her own versions of the songs Babe and Better Man, which she previously gave to other bands (Little Big Town for Better Man and Sugarland for Babe). Trigger warnings for cheating, gaslighting, grief, cancer, toxic relationships, mental health, suicide, and breakups. The album discusses relationships, breakups, cancer, and cheating.
Majority of the album is about actor Jake Gyllenhaal (especially All Too Well). Taylor also released a short film (an extended music video) for the ten-minute version of All Too Well. The short film stars Taylor, Sadie Sink (Stranger Things, Fear Street: 1978), and Dylan O'Brien (Teen Wolf, Maze Runner). It follows Taylor’s toxic relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal when she was 21 and he was 29. The relationship was full of cheating, fighting, and gaslighting. The short film is amazing and provides a new perspective into the relationship that did not exist before.
Taylor brilliantly blends pop and country, as Red was her last country album before fully moving onto pop with 1989. She shows this blend in the vault songs, where she goes from the upbeat, fun song Message in a Bottle to petty country bop I Bet You Think About Me (featuring Chris Stapleton). The song (which I believe is about Jake Gyllenhaal as it parallels All Too Well) calls out a toxic relationship and how Taylor believes that the man that she is singing about is still thinking about her after they broke up. It reminds me of her first ever song Tim McGraw. This song is one of my favorite songs from the whole album. I really loved all the vault songs on Red and cannot wait for the rest of the vault songs on the remaining re-recordings.
Overall, I really love Red (Taylor’s Version) - I think I even love and appreciate it more than I did the original version! I give it a strong 10/10 and cannot wait for the remaining re-recordings! I highly recommend listening to the whole album (even though it is long!)