Taylor Swift has been the soundtrack of my adolescent life.
“Love Story” played when I had my first crush, I would sit and dream of turning 22 when she released “22,” “Fifteen” came out when I first entered high school and “Evermore” helped me through the depths of my loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic.
She’s been the background music of my life: loving deeply and falling out of love.
Swift is exceptional at taking moments of her life and painting them into pictures through her music. She writes about heartbreak the same way authors create elaborate narratives and characters.
Red is no exception and Red (Taylor’s Version) reminds us that we should celebrate the depth at which young people feel.
Taylor’s Version comes after Swift’s masters were sold without her consent by her ex-record label.
In 2019, Swift’s ex-record label Big Machine was sold to Ithaca Holdings which is owned by Scooter Braun, an American music manager who works with artists including Justin Bieber, according to an Aug. 22, 2019 NPR article.
When Swift tried to buy back her masters from Big Machine records before they were sold to Braun, Big Machine said she would have to record new takes for each master she wanted, according to the same NPR article.
Instead, Swift has decided to re-record each one of her classic albums. With these new takes on old releases, there is a cathartic release in singing to the same songs you sang 10 years ago.
Red features hits including “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “All Too Well” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.”
While every song off Red is a hit, Swift shines in the softer, more mellow songs that showcase her capabilities as a songwriter.
In the fan-favorite All Too Well, she paints a stunning landscape of her relationship in which she’s much younger than her partner. She sings about the iconic red scarf she left at his sister’s house, autumn leaves falling as they journey upstate and both of them dancing around the kitchen.
While her fans enjoy speculating about who each song is about and finding subtle connections to her real life, it feels as though Swift is singing to her fans instead of singing about a failed relationship with an ex-boyfriend. Taylor’s Version doesn't feel like a trip down memory lane but rather a love letter to the fans who stayed with her through it all.
During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers last Friday, she explains how she’s finally able to do the things her fans wish she had done the first time around which includes a music video for All Too Well.
Her voice is stronger than ever before and her maturity can be heard on every single track, especially on the never before released “From the Vault” tracks that were also included on the album.
On “Run” featuring Ed Sheeran, their harmonies transcend all expectations as she softly sings about running away with a loved one.
She shines the brightest on the tracks that sound as if they could be on “Evermore” and “Folklore,” once again proving that her stories are strongest when she is telling them in hushed tones.
I Knew You Were Trouble and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together feel slightly generic compared to songs like “State of Grace” (acoustic) and “Red” where Swift paints more complex, mature pictures of her life.
In Red, Swift sings “Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes. Tell myself it's time now, gotta let go. But moving on from him is impossible. When I still see it all in my head. In burning red.”
It appears that Swift has finally moved on from those who have hurt her. The “echoes” have stopped and the “flashbacks” have been replaced with nostalgia.
Listening to Red again reminds me of a little girl singing along, feeling everything so deeply and not knowing that one of these days, her pain would be a distant memory.
Taylor Swift has grown up and so have I but that doesn’t mean we can’t revel in the nostalgia of our youth. After all, it is “burning red.”
