“I’ve always said that the world is a different place for the heartbroken,” wrote Taylor Swift in a statement earlier this year, where she announced the November 12 release of Red (Taylor’s Version). “This will be the first time you hear all 30 songs that were meant to go on Red. And hey, one of them is even ten minutes long.” Now, five months later, the highly anticipated re-recorded album is topping charts and inciting crowds to sing their hearts out to a ten-minute track that spills the tea about the superstar’s past relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal.
The original Red, released in October 2012, was a nod to the conflicting and tumultuous feelings that result from fading romance. Considered by critics as Swift’s first adult pop album, it helped her transcend her country roots and establish a reputation as an artist who refuses to be pigeonholed. Except for the fact that the singer-songwriter now owns this career-defining project of her catalog, Red (Taylor’s Version) is not all that different; it still demonstrates that Taylor would not be boxed in.
Red (Taylor’s Version) is the second of Taylor Swift’s re-recorded albums whose release is part of a venture that serves as a response to the change in ownership of the masters of her early records. It comes after the widely celebrated Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and will soon be followed by four more opportunities for fans to relive her previous hits.
Upon hitting streaming platforms, this latest installment of Swift’s re-recording project made more than a buzz, gaining the most single-day streams for a female-headlined album on Spotify. Consisting of 30 tracks, Red (Taylor’s Version) not only pushes back into the spotlight the 20 songs from the deluxe edition of Red but also introduces to the listeners 10 new tunes from her vault of unreleased tracks.
However, one fan favorite is inarguably receiving a significant chunk of the industry’s attention. “All Too Well” heralds the end of the two-hour album, doing so while reducing fans to tears and inducing an emotional breakdown, especially among those who have experienced their own version of “You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath.”
With the tracking week ending, projections for Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) are all pointing to one clear outcome: the Grammy Award-winning artist will top Billboard 200 again, a feeling she knows “All Too Well.” She is also set to become the fastest female artist to accumulate ten No. 1 albums in US history once the re-recorded Red makes its hotshot debut on Billboard’s most significant album chart.
Currently, Swift, who graced the comedy show Saturday Night Live on November 13, where she performed “All Too Well,” is basking on the love that the album has been getting from fans and music critics.
