Red (Taylor's Version)

Red is the color of passion, energy, excitement, danger, temptation, love, anger, war, power, strength and among many other words. However I don't think there is a better way to explain the color than Red (Taylor's Version). The album, now fully owned by Taylor, is a glorious victory in every way, showing all of the singer-songwriter's talent and versatilies, digressing between various genres from pop, country and folk.

The joy of hearing the opening beats of "State Of Grace" is unsurpassed. The euphoria of screaming "you broke me like a promise" in "All Too Well". The breathtaking duet on "The Last Time". The enchanting and magical bridge of "Treacherous". "Girl At Home" seamless transition from country to synth-pop. "Ronan" being the most devastating song of the singer's career. There are thousands of things I could talk about the songs on the album, every detail, every feeling, every moment I was so overwhelmed that I could cry just thinking about it.

The singer's production and vocals are more impeccable than ever. Swift's artistic maturity over the years manages to give a new face to the album, as it was created at a time when the artist was still very young but already with immense emotional weight. Almost all the songs here are perfect compared to the original, with the exception of a few like "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" in the "We-eee" part and the chorus of "22" which differs a lot from the energy of the original. The re-recording process is something very difficult, so sometimes certain details don't manage to be executed perfectly, but I think these are just the two most "glaring" errors in the project for me, and I think I'll get used to it over time.

Moving on to the vault tracks, I was baffled by their quality and diversity. One of the main highlights for me was definitely "Nothing New" with Phoebe Bridgers, a song where Taylor finally lets another female artist sing along with her, not just as background vocals. It’s about being scared of aging and things changing and losing what you have. This collaboration has some of Red's most disturbingly beautiful compositions.

"How did I go from growing up to breaking down?
And I wake up in the middle of the night
It's like I can feel time moving
How can a person know everything at eighteen
But nothing at twenty-two?"

Along the journey of this album we learned more about it and the importance of the age 22 to Taylor. In the grandiose final song of the album "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" the singer says "It's supposed to be fun turning twenty-one" in addition to other lines referencing the age gap between and her ex-lover and how it affected her state mentally. Beyond knowing from the track "The Moment I Knew" that her ex-partner completely ignored the 21th birthday party she made. So then, the "chaoticity" between transitions from super depressing songs like "All Too Well" to "22" doesn't seem so out of place now, as 22 represents a new state of mind for her.

As I stated initially, I could go on talking endlessly here about the re-recording but I'll just leave the recommendation for everyone to give this version a try, as this 2h10 long passes in an instant, so fast that we end up being shocked of how quickly it ended. Red is a milestone in Taylor's career that will be hard to overcome (only Folklore in my opinion).

Red is really "Sad, Beautiful and Tragic".