Listen Your Heart Out: “Red: Taylor’s Version”

Genre: Pop / country
Tracks: 30
Length: 130 minutes and 26 seconds 

When the average person thinks of Taylor Swift, they think of her messy breakups and the songs she wrote about them. A lot of people do not know the hardships she went through at her old label, Big Machine Records. 

Swift left the label due to years of bullying from her talent manager, Scooter Braun. Swift also felt betrayed during the process of acquiring her backlog of master recordings. Braun received the rights to Swift’s work, which was worth about 300 million dollars. 

 “Red: Taylor’s Version” allowed Swift to record and release her fourth studio album “Red” as her own, since Big Machine Records holds ownership of her first six studio albums. 

“Red: Taylor’s Version” released on Nov. 12, has 30 tracks, consisting of the 20 rerecorded songs from “Red,” and 10 other songs. Some songs were unreleased from previous albums, which Swift listed as “From the Vault.” 

All of these songs, in my opinion, are hits. The fact that Swift had to cut these songs from previous albums shows how talented she truly is. It is completely mind boggling to me. 

Swift also released a 10-minute version of the song “All Too Well” alongside a short film. The film runs at about 15 minutes and has over 51 million views on YouTube as of Dec. 6. 

The film has brought a lot of criticism to the way her ex-boyfriend and famous actor, Jake Gyllenhaal, treated her in and out of the relationship. 

The release of “Red: Taylor’s Version” came with big numbers. In the first week it was released, Swift sold over 500,000 album-equivalent units in the United States. The album debuted at number one on the “Billboard 200,” making it the second largest week of 2021, behind Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy.”

Swift is on a mission to reinvent herself outside of her old studio’s ways. I am so proud of the class and humbleness she has to the music industry. She has always been criticized for the way she makes music, but I believe this is her turn-around. 

Swift has a lot more in store for us, we just have to wait for what she bestows upon us.