It’s 10:00 p.m. I am walking to my dorm room with a skip in my step. Suddenly, I’m distracted by violent sobs coming from the community bathroom. I put my ear to the door and am not surprised to hear “All Too Well (10-minute version)” echoing off the bathroom walls. Numerous girls sob, “…casually cruel in the name of being honest,” with a vengeance.
The overwhelmingly emotional response to the ten-minute version of “All Too Well” may be surprising to those who don’t publicly label themselves as Swifties. The original version of “All Too Well” premiered on the “Red” album almost ten years ago. It was never a single nor did it receive radio airplay. Swift divulged only days ago, “A record label didn’t pick this song as a single.” Whatever the record label execs might have originally thought, “All Too Well” has become a cult classic among true Swift connoisseurs and music critics. The original “All Too Well” displayed a mastery of self-restraint and succinct storytelling. It spoke to a young adult’s bleeding heart and got tears flowing from fans and Swift herself on the “Red” tour.
“All Too Well (10-minute version)” has surprisingly captured Taylor nation in a completely different fashion. If the original pop ballad was about mourning a broken heart, the ten-minute version is about bitter reflection, gaslighting, and female rage. It’s messy and vicious. It’s shame and shamelessness. More than anything, it’s the encapsulation of the stages of grief a person experiences after loss. And it’s making everyone say they’re “screaming, crying, and throwing up.”
To cement the success of the updated version, Swift has pulled out all the stops to promote the track. From telling the origin story to fans on “The Tonight Show” to performing the full 10-minute version on “Saturday Night Live”, Swift knows the power of marketing. Despite all this, even I underestimated just how much traction this ten-year-old song would accumulate. You can currently hear “All Too Well” playing on rotation at Starbucks, the infamous Cornell University’s bell tower, dance clubs, and on TikTok (Swifties are mercilessly dragging Jake Gyllenhaal, the all-but-confirmed subject of the song). On top of that, she has released the iconic “All Too Well: The Short Film” starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien. Taylor’s had a busy week!
With so much going on, anyone who isn’t a Swiftie might feel a bit confused and overwhelmed by all the information surrounding “All Too Well.” I’d like to take this time to delve deeply into the track’s lyrics and short film visuals to give an overarching picture of the Taylor Swift multiverse and how “All Too Well” plays into a multitude of easter eggs and fan theories.
- The Scarf: “The Scarf” is now something of Swift folklore (see what I did there?). It all started with clue-hunting fans realizing that the “All Too Well” line, “Left my scarf there at your sister’s house” may have been a reference to the scarf Swift wore in a widely circulated picture of Swift with Jake Gyllenhaal in 2010. While Swift never publicly credited Gyllenhaal as the inspiration for the “Red” album, she never denied it. Additionally, the timeline definitely lines up considering the two dated at the end of 2010, right before Swift turned 21. The scarf cemented itself as a symbol in Taylor’s world when the scarf got additional screen time in the 2012 “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” music video where an ex-boyfriend wrapped a scarf around her neck. This suggests that whoever took Taylor’s scarf (and still hasn’t given it back, apparently!) is the subject of numerous songs. Now, ten years later, we’ve got even more to sink our teeth into. Sadie Sink sports a scarf in some of the first frames of the short film. In the very last frames, the camera zooms out on the back of Taylor’s ex wearing the same red scarf, watching secretly from behind a window. Now, in her newly released music video, “I Bet You Think About Me” directed by Blake Lively, Taylor gifts the exact same scarf to the girlfriend of her ex, suggesting this girl will also fall prey to heartbreak. This also suggests “I Bet You Think About Me” may very well be about Gyllenhaal too. Phew! That’s a lot to unpack, huh?
- “Your sweet disposition…” (this one is peak petty!): According to Genius’s write-up of “All Too Well,” the words “sweet disposition” allude to Gyllenhaal’s favorite band The Temper Trap, and their song of the same name. In a 2012 interview with USA Today, Swift said “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is “a definitive portrait of how [my ex]…made me feel like I wasn’t as good or as relevant as these hipster bands he listened to…I made a song that I knew would absolutely drive him crazy when he heard it on the radio…the opposite of the kind of music that he was trying to make me feel inferior to.” When asked why Swift wanted to create a single specifically designed to torment someone, she replied “Because that’s fun.” It’s fun for us too, blondie.
- The 21st Birthday Party: In a never-before-heard lyric, Taylor revealed she was “weeping in a party bathroom” after her boyfriend did not attend her 21st birthday. In the short film, Sadie Sink sits at a table surrounded by friends but is heartbroken her boyfriend isn’t there. There is a whole other song on the album (“The Moment I Knew”) about the same milestone with lines like, “Christmas lights glisten // I say hopelessly ‘He said he’d be here’”. This revelation makes the song “22” all that more impactful. Taylor finally had the birthday party she wanted and got to “make fun of her exes”.
- The Age Gap: Upon the announcement that the “All Too Well Short Film” would star Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, many fans were quick to point out the sizable age difference between the nineteen-year-old girl and her thirty-year-old co-star. It didn’t take long for fans to state that this pointed to Swift and Gyllenhaal’s large age difference. In the film, O’Brian’s character gives Sink a piggyback ride. Without context, this could just be an innocent moment of affection. When put into the context of the rest of the video, however, he seems to be valuing her youth because it allows him to more easily manipulate her with his paternalistic, condescending, and gaslighting attitude. The newly recorded line, “The punch line goes I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age,” has also got fans blazing considering that Gyllenhaal, now 40-years-old, is dating a 25-year-old.
- Fashion: Throughout the music video, both Sink and O’Brien wear Swift and Gyllenhaal fashion, respectfully. Sink sports Swift’s signature black turtleneck and red lipstick while O’Brien wears a Brokeback Mountain-esque plaid shirt and jeans. When the two break up, the camera cuts to a sobbing Sink wearing O’Brien’s shirt, symbolizing her need to hold onto any part of him she can.
- The End Credits: This takes petty to a new level. In the end credits, it says that the older version of O’Brien’s character (whom we only ever see the back of, btw) is played by Jake Lyon. Since there seems to be no such person, many believe this is Swift calling out Gyllenhaal as Jake Lyin’. Oh, Taylor. This is better than revenge (see what I did there!?).
“All Too Well” is reminiscent of snapshots in a collage. From autumnal dances in the kitchen to breakdowns after stolen birthdays, Swift writes an epic of the capacity for love and cruelty in human beings. The themes are universally relatable and, though written in 2012, impeccably of the moment. Thanks to Swift’s genius, this song really does come back stronger than a 90s trend and cements Swift’s position as the pillar of the music industry for years to come.