A few weeks ago, Taylor Swift released her fourth album, Red. Because I am convinced I should have been born as Taylor Swift (we have the same birthday) (I really just want to be her), I feel obligated to give you a peek—or what was supposed to be a peek and turned into a megillah—into my experience listening to her album. You could call this a review.
So, this album begins perfectly. “State of Grace” is one of those songs where you don’t know exactly what she’s talking about, but you get the feeling that you should be driving in a convertible, preferably the passenger seat, with your hands in the air somewhere. It’s pretty and easy to listen to and has all that comfort of a summer breeze. Probably a love song, but I haven’t Googled the lyrics and memorized them yet.
“Red,” the album’s title song, follows along. To be very honest, I just don’t really get what “loving him was like red” means. Like, Tay, be more specific please? Despite the weird slew of metaphors and similes that Li’l Miss Swift packs into this song, I LOVE IT. Some of the lyrics are really wonderful, and they make you think: “forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met.” For real, it’s great song, even if it makes absolutely no sense to someone who never loved someone “like red.” “Red” just fits in with all other Swift singles, and yes, I do sing it off-key in the shower. I am sorry Renfield Ground. Moving on.
“Treacherous” is one of those tracks that you don’t really notice when listening to the album on shuffle. It’s a bit boring, but then she whipped out “and I’ll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands” and I was like DAMN GIRL OKAY. Other than that lyric, it’s a filler: soft and nice to listen to, but you’re not putting it on repeat because you’re obsessed.
That’s the next song—“I Knew You Were Trouble.” Firstly, this song is awful. By awful, I mean it’s a perfect mix of girly-pop-angsty-dubstep-love-breakup-douchebaggery stories. It starts off juvenile-sounding, and then the bridge TOTALLY ROCKS, and then there’s some weird dubstep situation in the chorus, and for some reason I never want it to end. Ever. I literally listened to this song for two days straight. Even though it does not showcase Tay Tay’s talent at all, it’s still really super duper fun and I don’t care! I could write an entire article on how much I love this song, but I won’t.
SO the next track, “All Too Well,” is one of those really charming and sweet love songs that Taylor does so well—definitely one of my favorites from the album.
Okay, now on to “22”! I hated this song after the first line—“it feels like a perfect night to dress like hipsters and make fun of our exes”—and with that overdramatic southern accent? Really? Really? But then she breaks out into some super teeny-bopper chorus, and I am sold. In all fairness, no one, regardless of how cool they are, would ask who Taylor Swift is. Just saying. Other than a few somewhat ridiculously stupid lines, this song is a total tweenage anthem even though it’s about girls above the legal drinking age.
“I Almost Do” follows suit from past Swift songs about breakups and all that jazz, and yes, it’s a bit of a filler but still worth giving a listen. I am not you; this song could be your life.
The next song is the first single from the album—“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Praise the almighty Lord for this song. The sassy speaking parts, the “ooh oohs” that I never seem to sing right, the total T-Swizzle badassery and that punchy chorus—it’s really just a gem. Like, really.
This awesomeness is followed by “Stay Stay Stay,” which sounds like something that would have been on her debut album because the lyrics are so simplistic and dumb she probably wrote it when she was 11 and found it in a notebook a few months ago.
“The Last Time” features Gary Lightbody, and I will pretend to know who he is. It’s really gorgeous-sounding, and though I haven’t given it much thought, it just has that intense build up and aesthetic beauty to the overall sound.
“Holy Ground” is next, and it’s a total stereotypical T-Swift song, but it’s a really good one. This tune just encapsulates all that a country love song should: The lyrics are actually great, and it’s fast enough to keep you listening but still winsome-sounding.
I cried through “Sad Beautiful Tragic.” This album inconveniently dropped on my most womanly week. It’s not even that good; I just cried. Like, on my bed with headphones and chocolate at 3 in the morning, cried.
“The Lucky One” revived my soul a bit, but I really still do not even know what this song is about. I think money and fame and being lucky? I need to work on my song-dissecting skills. I think this song is snarky… Okay, yeah, it is. (I’m listening to it now.) Now, the presence of Ed Sheeran! I don’t listen to him much, but after the release of “Little Things” that he wrote to be performed by One Direction, I have fallen in love with him (that song has 50+ plays, and my notebooks have 50+ tears on them), and this song totally helps that. His voice sounds AMAZING with Taylor Swift’s. I am totally in heaven; I love it.
“Starlight” is pretty freaking awesome. It’s just one of those silly, playful—and wait, she is talking about Bobby and Ethel Kennedy. Anyways, the opening totally pulls you in, and it’s one of her magical fairytale songs, so obviously I love it because my mind is always on vacation in some made up fairy tale.
And lastly, “Begin Again.” How ironic! It’s about getting over a breakup (duh) and moving on to a new boy, and it’s okay. I also just really need to wrap this up, or I will never stop. The moral of the story is:
- Taylor Swift is 22
- Boys will break your heart
- Dubstep
- We are never ever getting back together, like, ever
- Ed Sheeran
- Singing in the shower
- Crying
- Being mainstream is so incredibly fun