When country star Taylor
Swift’s new album hit stores
back on Oct. 22 fans were
seeing Red, the title of her
fourth studio album.
The album sold more than
1.2 million copies in the first
week of sales alone, a feat
not accomplished in about a
decade, according to Rolling
Stone magazine.
Overall, Swift has sold over
26 million albums and has 70
million song downloads
worldwide.
Most of the tracks on
Swift’s new album are similar
to other tracks she has
done in the past that directed
towards ex-boyfriends in a
passive aggressive way.
The track titled “Red” starts
out with slow with a banjo
being plucked in the first
verse, but the pace soon picks
up into a quicker pace of
drums and guitar. The message
from the song seems to
sound like Swift is struggling
to get over one particular relationship.
The track titled “I knew you
were trouble,” seems to shift
back and from the fast pace
of an electric guitar. The
message seems to be calling
one of her boyfriend’s insensitive
and uncaring, but
blames herself because she
knew what she was getting
into.
The track “All too well,” is
a song of Swift recounting
how good things used to be
with one of her boyfriends
before he threw away his
chance with her. In the song
she claims that the former
boyfriend is haunted by his
mistake by keeping her scarf.
The song is slow for the
most part, but then picks up
with the drums as Swift goes
into her chorus.
The track “22” is more of a
party song that will probably
find its way blaring on most
pop radio stations for a while.
The message seems to be letting
go of the hassles of
everyday life and just letting
lose for a night or two.
In her track “Stay Stay
Stay” Swift describes the
positivity of another relationship
with her lover accepting
of her for all her flaws. The
song has a reggae feel to it
with an upbeat clapping repeating
during the chorus.
Through the slow strumming
of a guitar, Swift seems
to explain a relationship that
was good, but then turned
sour when things became distant
between the two in “Sad
Beautiful Tragic.”
In “The Last time,” Swift
teams up with Gary Lightbody
of Snow Patrol as they
sing a soft duet about the
challenges of loving someone
who does not love you back.
Another duet comes when
Swift and new comer Ed
Sheeran sing a romantic song
that goes through the early
stages of love through guitar
and drums background in
“Everything has changed.”
In “The moment I knew,”
Swift uses piano and guitar to
recount how a former
boyfriend dropped the ball on
their relationship when he
stood her up and left her
hanging without an answer to
why.
The leading single of her
album “We are never getting
back together” Swift leaves
the meaning pretty obvious in
a pretty humorous track that
signals the final straw in a relationship.
Taylor Swift, “America’s
Sweetheart,” has become an
icon and role model for many
girls all over the world. Her
sweet and innocent personality
is what many fell in love
with, but her ability to be so
honest in her songs is what
really draws people in.
Swift wrote 9 of the 16
tracks on “Red,” which is one
of the most intriguing things
about her music to her fans.
She shares her own personal
experiences no matter how
sensitive she may be to them
and really touches her fans
who can relate to her music.
Not many artists of our generation
are brave enough to
be so vulnerable with their
fans.
While some fans of Swift
may miss the old country
style music, “Red” has
helped move her into a different
genre without losing the
emotional presence Swift is
none for. It seems, so far, that
Taylor Swift can do it all.