For fellow Swifties like myself, we’ve been counting down the days until Taylor Swift’s new album came out. Well, my friends, the day has finally arrived. Swift’s new album came out this past Monday, Oct. 22.
After Swift’s first release, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” which is apparently written about Jake Gyllenhaal I have to say, I was disappointed. After spending months and months looking forward to Swift’s new album, I thought this pop-like complaint of a song was annoying. But needless to say, after listening to the song numerous times and the fact that I absolutely adore Taylor Swift, the song grew on me; and now it’s stuck in my head all the time. My only complaint: this song will never ever be a country song.
What seems evident is that Swift is traveling further and further away from her country roots and almost exclusively crossing over to pop. The songs that Swift released earlier on “Red,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Begin Again” and “State of Grace” are an idea of what the entire album is like: very different from her past three albums.
“Red,” the title song of the album, sounds like a typical Swift song: all about being in love and telling the story of one of her notorious ex-boyfriends. Needless to say, I love this song.
“Begin Again” is a slow type song that tells a typical Swift story about how she felt like she wouldn’t find love again and then through specific details she sings about how because of some guy, she believes in love again. Again, typical Swift here.
The most surprising song so far is undoubtedly “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The latter song is supposedly another song written about John Mayer the first, of course, being “Dear John.” This song starts off sounding just like another pop Swift song and then once the chorus comes, it sounds like a dubstep party. Although extremely different from what Swift fans are used to, it’s catchy as anything and still became one of the top selling songs on iTunes.
The day Swift’s album came out, she held four of the spots on the iTunes top 10 singles, and was the number one album. What this says is that Swift fans have been patiently waiting for this new CD to come out.
So far, it seems as if only one song on the album could be titled “country.” “Stay Stay Stay” is another typical love song about how much she loves whichever boyfriend she was with at the time. While I don’t think this song is the best on the album, I like hearing Swift go back to her country roots.
After hearing these songs, I don’t have a solid opinion on her album yet. After “Fearless” came out, I didn’t think another album could top it. And then “Speak Now” came out. Now I’m hoping that “Red” surprises and impresses me as much as “Speak Now” did, but if it doesn’t, does it really matter?
Not really.
Swift has such a devoted following and it is only getting bigger. So no matter what, her album will become number one, she’ll sell millions and she’ll most likely get a handful more of awards to go along with it. I know I’m one of the people who bought the album the day it came out and plan on singing every song until I know all the words – I’m not ashamed. So don’t worry fellow Swift lovers, “Red” will keep you singing until album number five comes out.
