Taylor Swift dropped the re-release of her fourth album “Red,” now “Red (Taylor’s Version),” on November 12. The album includes the long-awaited release of the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” alongside a short film of the same name. The song almost immediately ended up at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, hyping up the album further.
For many, like junior Savannah Smith, the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” was one of the biggest selling points.
“Not to offend album purists, but I immediately raced to listen to the 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well.’ It was the main attraction, and I had to know all the extra content before my friends did. It truly did deliver,” Smith said.
Smith has been a fan of Swift for years and was a fan of “Red” when it was first released in 2012.
“I was very into the ‘Red’ era, went to the Red Tour and ran fan accounts on Instagram and Tumblr during that period,” Smith said.
Smith enjoyed the newest album, but she was surprised at the choice of re-recording and releasing “Red” instead of its predecessor, “1989,” which actually follows “Fearless,” Swift’s first re-recorded album.
Another Mercer student, Sara Carr, also loved the album, especially the songs from "The Vault," which are unreleased songs originally written during the album’s production.
“One cool thing is she went back to the songs she wrote for ‘Red’ but didn’t end up adding to the album, and she recorded some of them for the first time. So there are some new songs on it, and I really like those. Most of the vault songs, I get why they weren’t on the original, but I like them,” Carr said.
Carr said that there was a lot of build-up for the album, with five months between the announcement and the release. When it finally came out, she said that she stayed up and listened to it when it dropped.
“Actually, I went outside and heard it in the dark, which I thought would be appropriate for some reason,” Carr said.
While Carr was excited when she heard of the re-recording project, she was also a little confused.
“I didn’t really get it at first because it does seem weird to make almost identical versions of your old songs. But she’s not just doing it for more money, which is how it could look at first. I think it’s more about the principle of owning your own art and getting to decide who uses it for her,” Carr said.
Junior Jacob Just-Buddy was yet another excited Mercerian waiting for Swift to re-release "Red."
“When I learned that she was re-recording it, I felt proud of her because I know how hard it is for some artists to own their own music because of the way record companies and the music industry works,” said Just-Buddy.
Along with her opportunity to rerecord it, he greatly enjoyed the album.
“I liked the new album more than the first because it felt more dynamic and interesting. It felt like she was reclaiming something that was hers all along but wasn’t properly acknowledged until then,” said Just-Buddy.
“Red (Taylor’s Version)” is available for streaming on all platforms, and the “All Too Well: The Short Film” can be watched on YouTube.
