Taylor Swift Round Up

So I don’t post regularly and have continuously thought, oh maybe one day I’ll start posting on some kind of schedule and every time that happens I seem to be proven wrong. Needless to say, one thing that seems to have me posting frequently is around the time of a new album release, because music is something we talk about pretty frequently around here (mainly Taylor Swift albums).

Because it’s been SO long since I’ve posted, I now have two albums to write about now. I promise the next store will have more than just Taylor Swift related content. But for those of you interested, welcome, hey, hi! Grab a cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, whatever it might be and keep on scrolling!

Firstly, for those who don’t know, Swift is re-recording her first five albums so that she can own the masters to her catalogue. Now without going into too much copyright law, and legal talk (which I know nothing about), Swift’s masters of her first five albums were sold without her being given the chance to buy them herself to a man who she does not like. As a result, every time you or anyone streams music from her first five albums, the money goes to him rather than her. Her contract then stated that starting in November 2020 (last year) she would be able to re-record those albums and re-release them. Needless to say, Swifties have THRIVED during the pandemic with the re-releases, two new albums, and a short film coming out November 12th, at 7:00pm EST.

Let’s start in order. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) - often shortened to Fearless (TV). Honestly another record breaking album for Swift. Her second album that she originally released in 2008. This album is SO nostalgic for me, despite me being 8 when it was released, I remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom listening to Fifteen on repeat for HOURS, hoping that one day I might relate to it. This re-release included 6 new tracks that are from the vault (songs that never made it to the original album - known as ‘Vault songs’). These songs were definitely an amazing addition to the album, it allowed people to reminisce about the old songs while also experiencing new songs. Let’s break down the album.

TRACKLIST:

1. Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

2. Fifteen (Taylor’s Version)

3. Love Story (Taylor’s Version)

4. Hey Stephen (Taylor’s Version)

5. White Horse (Taylor’s Version)

6. You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)

7. Breathe (feat. Colbie Caillat) (Taylor’s Version)

8. Tell Me Why (Taylor’s Version)
   

9. You’re Not Sorry (Taylor’s Version)

10. The Way I Loved You (Taylor’s Version)

11. Forever & Always (Taylor’s Version)

12. The Best Day (Taylor’s Version)

13. Change (Taylor’s Version)

14. Jump Then Fall (Taylor’s Version)

15. Untouchable (Taylor’s Version)

16. Forever & Always (Piano Version) (Taylor’s Version)

17. Come In With The Rain (Taylor’s Version)

18. Superstar (Taylor’s Version)

19. The Other Side Of The Door (Taylor’s Version)

20. Today Was A Fairytale (Taylor’s Version)

21. You All Over Me (feat. Maren Morris) (From The Vault)

22. Mr. Perfectly Fine (From The Vault)

23. We Were Happy (From The Vault)

24. That’s When (feat. Keith Urban) (From The Vault)

25. Don’t You (From The Vault)

26. Bye Bye Baby (From The Vault)

Now it would be unfair to rank the original songs that were on the old version of Fearless because there’s just no way that can happen, but it is possible to rank the vault songs. I was unsure about a few of them in the beginning, but with the album having been out for a few months now, I’ve had them grow on me and definitely become some of my favourite songs.

1. Mr. Perfectly Fine (TV)

This one tops my ranking because it’s just simply an iconic track. SO catchy, and leaves hints about Joe Jonas, which is just something Swifties love to talk about now that they’re friends.

2. That’s When (ft. Keith Urban) (TV)

This track is so good! Keith Urban provides really great vocals and is an amazing artist choice to be on this track. Definitely an interesting story concept too.

3. You All Over Me (ft. Maren Morris) (TV)

As a big fan of Maren Morris, this song made me really happy to see it on the album. Despite her being largely just backing vocals, her voice compliments Swift’s SO well! It was definitely a great addition to the track.

4. Don’t You (TV)

This track was interesting because it begs the question “who was this written about?” I think the bridge (as it usually is) was f-ing phenomenal! Simple, intense, and effective.

5. We Were Happy (TV)

Another iconic track that honestly has a very small margin from being number four on my list here. An amazing bridge once again that allows us to hear more of her higher register.

6. Bye Bye Baby (TV)

I don’t completely dislike this song. I think it was an EXCELLENT album closer, and definitely brought the album home. It just wasn’t really my vibe. But I won’t deny that there are definitely days that I press play on this song more than I thought I would.

So there you have it, the vault songs off of Fearless (tv) ranked. Now please don’t come for me about this ranking, I know people are going to disagree, and let me tell you they are all very close on the scale of love and dislike.

Moving on to last night’s release, Red (Taylor’s Version). Holy shit was this a whirlwind of emotions. This is an album that originally came out in 2012. Taylor Swift was 21-22 when she wrote the tracks to this song. And frankly, it is FRIGHTENING that that’s only a couple years older than I am now. It DEFINITELY makes me question my writing ability (I’m mostly kidding). I got to listen to this song and react in real time with a couple different people who are all at very different stages of their lives. This made the perspective on the album VERY interesting. That being said, it is very clear that Swift got to put her own sound to the songs that she wrote. It gives Swifties a chance to hear what the album would have sounded like, if she hadn’t been so restricted with what she could release at the time. This album was originally labelled as country, but is now a meld of a multitude of genres. Dabbling in more techno, pop production and mastering, the album has a newer, crisper sound to it.

A 30 track album, with a song that Swifties have been waiting months and DYING to hear was released last night and it was an incredible release night.

TRACKLIST:

1. State of Grace (Taylor's Version)

2. Red (Taylor's Version)

3. Treacherous (Taylor's Version)

4. I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version)

5. All Too Well (Taylor's Version)

6. 22 (Taylor's Version)

7. I Almost Do (Taylor's Version)

8. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor's Version)

9. Stay Stay Stay (Taylor's Version)
   

10. The Last Time (Featuring Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol) (Taylor's Version)

11. Holy Ground (Taylor's Version)

12. Sad Beautiful Tragic (Taylor's Version)

13. The Lucky One (Taylor's Version)

14. Everything Has Changed (Featuring Ed Sheeran) (Taylor's Version)

15. Starlight (Taylor's Version)

16. Begin Again (Taylor's Version)

17. The Moment I Knew (Taylor's Version)

18. Come Back...Be Here (Taylor's Version)

19. Girl At Home (Taylor's Version)

20. State of Grace (Acoustic Version) (Taylor's Version)

21. Ronan (Taylor's Version)

22. Better Man (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

23. Nothing New (Featuring Phoebe Bridgers) (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

24. Babe (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

25. Message in a Bottle (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

26. I Bet You Think About Me (Featuring Chris Stapleton) (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

27. Forever Winter (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

28. Run (Featuring Ed Sheeran) (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

29. The Very First Night (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

30. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)

This album is one that I was so excited to hear her re-release because it was a pivotal time in her career. This album (in my opinion) was the bridge for her from country to pop and allowed her to dabble in many genres as I said before. These vault tracks were not ones that anyone was expecting. Many of them fall more under the pop genre than country, but it adds SO much more context to the era that this album was originally released in. There were a few songs that are notable mentions. I have yet to develop a ranking for the vault tracks but I wanted to discuss a few of the tracks I found the most interesting.

1. Better Man (TV)

This track is one of my favourite songs she has ever released. Despite it being originally released by Little Big Town, she performed this song at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville a couple years back and ever since then I have wanted her to release it. The way the song is so simple yet is able to show her vocal range is incredible. Also, the story it tells is amazing and definitely made for an amazing addition to the re-released album.

2. Come Back...Be Here (TV)

This track just hit differently this time the album was released and that’s all I’m going to say.

3. Nothing New (ft. Phoebe Bridgers) (TV)

Can we just take a second to acknowledge how well their vocals blend seamlessly?! I was shocked that I liked this song as much as I do, but it’s interesting to me that it didn’t make the original album because it makes me question whether or not Borchetta (Head of Big Machine Label Group - Taylor’s old label) was filtering what Swift was releasing at the time. This song is clearly one that talks about themes that are also mentioned in her documentary Ms. Americana. Themes of being worried fans aren’t going to enjoy her music because she isn’t the shiny new toy in the industry. Just an interesting concept for a song.

4. I Bet You Think About Me (ft. Chris Stapleton) (TV)

This is just straight up a diss track that should’ve seen the light of day A LOT earlier than it did. It’s a great song. I’m just going to leave it at that.

5. Girl At Home (TV)

This version of the song took a few seconds to grow on me but it definitely did. It shows the direction I believe she wanted the song to go originally, but I believe that maybe her label didn’t want it to sound too pop-y on the original album. I’m listening to the song as I write this and am definitely falling more and more in love with it. I am really happy that she released this version for the re-release.

6. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (TV)

I couldn’t write this blog and NOT mention the masterpiece that this song is as a whole. I was really scared to hear this song because I was a little worried it was going to be overrated and something that everyone talked about JUST because it’s the 10 minute version of THE song off Red. But, she DELIVERED. This is 100% what should have been the original and needed to be on this album. I think it was the PERFECT closer for the album because it brings everyone back to the beginning after a number of newer songs. Definitely a 10/10 in my opinion.

Now, along with releasing the album, Swift has HUGE weekend ahead of her. The photo to the left here is a screen shot of her story from November 11th, 2021.

Photo Above: Taylor Swift on Jimmy Fallon

Photo Above: Taylor Swift on Seth Meyers

One of things that I'm personally really excited for is the short film Swift has written and directed. It stars Sadie Sink, Dylan O'Brien and of course, Taylor Swift. This is apparently filled with Easter eggs for Swifties to find. It's a project that Swift held a premiere for on November 12th, 2021.

I think this is going to be a really interesting take on the song given all the information fans know about the song. I'm really interested to see what direction this short takes. I think there are a few different direction Swift could have chosen to take given the themes of the songs.

Photo to the right: Taylor at the All Too Well Short Film Premiere

Photo to the left (from left to right): Dylan O'Brien, Taylor Swift and Sadie Sink at the All Too Well Short Film Premiere.

Well, if you've made it this far, I'm thoroughly impressed. I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the album! Thanks for reading this far, if you've made it! And now that you're here, go party like you're 22 and blast Red (Taylor's Version)!!

- K