Album Review: Taylor Swift’s Red Re-release

Ladies and gentlemen, Gen Z’ers and Swifties everywhere, on November 19, Taylor Swift re-released her country-pop album Red, originally released in October of 2012, and it seriously exceeded expectations. This is the second album, after the re-release of Fearless this past April, that Taylor has gifted to the masses. 

Swift is in the process of re-issuing all of her old albums under her name. When they were originally released, the Big Machine Label owned the master recordings of her music. In June 2019, Talent Manager Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Records and took ownership of Swift’s masters. Swift was unsuccessful in buying the rights to her own songs from Braun, so she created a better alternative she knew: dramatically re-releasing her old albums, one at a time, ensuring each song’s title includes a “(Taylor’s Version)” written next to it. She ultimately caused a global resurgence in passion for her music, as fans rediscovered her old tracks. As a result, Swift is not beholden to anyone who claims to own the songs from the Red album. 

Not only did Swift re-record her old songs, but she also released songs that she wrote for the original Red album but never previously shared. If you’re scrolling through Spotify or Apple Music, you would see “(from the Vault)” listed in the song title—a song that has never been shared with the public. On the album, Swift included nine new songs.  

Wait, there’s more—Taylor just keeps on giving! She revealed that the deepest and most impactful song in the album (in my and many other superfans’ opinions) “All Too Well,” is an extremely edited rendition from its original 10 minutes to only 5 minutes and 29 seconds. In the re-release, Swift included the original and longer version. To go above and beyond, she directed and wrote a short film, starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, that encapsulated the song’s message. Just a few days ago, she dropped a music video, for the previously unreleased song, “I Bet You Think About Me” from her vault, which also served as Blake Lively’s directorial debut. 

Taylor Swift’s ability to transform her writing and musical style as the trends change, while staying relevant, makes her one of the most talented musical artists of her time.  The re-release of the album Red confirms her brilliance.