Thoughts on Taylor Swift’s RED

During my last semester of college, I was driving back to school after a weekend home in central Florida. As I pulled off the highway and made my way towards campus, I turned the dial to only the best — country radio — and listened to the host talk about a new artist. “She’s only 16 and writes her own music and this is her first single called “‘Tim McGraw.'” This is when my obsession/love affair/friendship with Taylor Swift began… it was epic.

I was stocked when she released details about her new album RED over the summer. Once the singles dropped though, I started getting worried. The first time I heard “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” I thought, “This is not MY Tay-Tay!!!” I was truly anxious about the possibility of not liking her new album.

When my iPhone flashed midnight on 10/22/12, I purchased my copy of the album. Thank God it’s better than I thought it was going to be, but honestly, I’m not wowed by it.

She’s grown up since Speak Now. Her songs’ lyrics are more clever, more honest and focus less on attaining that fairy tale love story most girls want. Her words add a layer of vulnerability we haven’t experienced from her before. Still, I miss the raw almost unpolished quality that Taylor used to bring to her music. I’m sure the more polished sound stems from the super-stardom status she’s achieved, a generous dose of auto-tune and her co-producing music with more poppy people.

My three favorites are “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “22” and “Holy Ground.” I also like “All Too Well,” “State of Grace,” “Begin Again,” “Red” and “Everything Has Changed.”

I really admire the way Taylor approached the record. She collaborated with other artists on each track, and very strategically, released the more poppy tracks in advance. Since she’s branching into a different musical genre, this was a smart way to ease her fans into a new sound. One could argue that Taylor has never purely been a country artist. This is kind of true, yet she’s always had very clear country roots hidden within her music.

This brings up an interesting point: what’s with all the pop songs? Many of the tunes like “State of Grace,” “Red” and “22” fall under this genre. Clearly Tay’s looking to cross-over. I read a New York Times feature that discussed this shift. In Jon Caramanica’s opinion, starting as a country artist gave her the ability to define herself on her terms. He thinks this helped her escape the identity crisis many young pop princesses go through (think Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus). Branding herself as a country artist first gave her access to a fandom that would accept Taylor as she wanted to be. These girls (pre-teens, teenagers and young women mostly) pride themselves on being “country strong” and seek role models who represent this ideal. Taylor’s definitely one of them. If she had started as a pop artist, I don’t think she would have gained the massive amount of fans she has because she doesn’t embody the image commonly demanded of mega-pop stars.

The albums’ tracks keep everything relatable though. Girls hear her songs and they feel that Taylor gets them. This is why she’s so powerful; however, while I enjoyed the lyrics and had a few “holy cow… this is me!” moments, I miss that raw-twangy sound her previous records had. Even though the lyrics are more vulnerable, the music doesn’t actually feel more vulnerable.

For now, I’ll miss driving in my car with the windows rolled down, Taylor’s voice drowning out the street noise and me rocking out with her. I don’t think I’ll experience this same sort of bliss or state of abandon with RED.

 

 

 

 

 

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