The hype of Red (Taylor’s Version), written by a Swiftie

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I can just see my friends rolling their eyes at this one. Shocker. Sylvia is talking about Taylor Swift. Again.

You know, it’s not my fault that she’s my favourite artist… Okay maybe it is. Oops.

So, you would have to be living under a rock if you didn’t know that Taylor Swift has released her re-recorded version of her 4th studio album, Red. That, or you’re not following me on Twitter.

Anyways, yeah she’s re-recording her 5 first albums so that she can own the masters to them because long story short, her old label wouldn’t sell them to her, and then Scooter Braun bought the label, and then sold her masters to Shamrock Holdings, all behind her back.

Craziness, right?

This video explains it much better:

So, because she doesn’t own the masters to her first 5 albums, she’s doing the boss move of re-recording all of them.

The albums that are getting re-recorded are:

Taylor Swift (2006)

Fearless (2008)

Speak Now (2010)

Red (2012)

1989 (2014)

reputation (2017)

Of those 5 albums, 2 have already been re-recorded. Fearless and Red.

But Sylvia. How am I supposed to tell the difference between the old version and the new version?

Two words in parentheses – (Taylor’s Version). That is followed after every single title and song track, so that people know that they are listening to the right version. Titles get fun when there’s a featured artist, or a Vault track…

Sidenote: It is important to note that three of her albums do not have (Taylor’s Version), but she already owns them. Those are Lover (2019), folklore (2020), and evermore (2020).

Okay anyways back on track. She’s re-recording her old albums, adding songs that she originally wanted to to put on the original albums (called Vault songs), but couldn’t, and making Swifties go absolutely crazy trying to figure out which album is next. It’s like a full time job being a Taylor Swift fan.

The first album to be re-recorded was Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and it was perfection. I really really enjoyed it. Her vocals have matured so much, it sounded amazing.

Uh yeah I also drank a lot of wine while listening to the album. Great vibe. 13/10.

The most recent album she re-recorded was Red (Taylor’s Version). 

Now here’s the thing…

She announced that Red (Taylor’s Version) was going to be the next album on June 18th, 2021. 22 weeks before its release date (it was supposed to be released on November 19th and then was moved to a week earlier). It was also Scooter’s birthday that day. Hilarious.

The album was going to have the 20 original songs that were on the album, and then 10 songs that didn’t make the album, including the 10 minute version of her song All Too Well that fans have been desperately wanting since she mentioned it in 2012.

Anyways. You would think that in those 21 weeks, a single would be released.

Ha. Hilarious. Nope. Not a single single. Seriously.

Do you know how many times I woke up on a Thursday and checked Twitter for an announcement? Every. Single. One.

Instead, we got a Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version) from 1989. LIke please make it make sense.

Sidenote: It actually makes total sense why we got that song – her old version was trending on TikTok so she released her version for people to use instead. Genius move, but now can she do that with Enchanted because that is also trending.

Okay so for 21 weeks, we anxiously waited for a single, to not get one. We got small little clips of songs, but that was it. Look, I’m an impatient person. I NEEDED a single from Red (Taylor’s Version). I was listening to the 2012 version of the album all summer long because so much was changing in my life and I was literally happy, free, confused, and lonely all at the same time. (Read this article for more)

https://twitter.com/sylviamasich/status/1438633512089776129?s=20

But we didn’t get anything until the album dropped.

So for months, there had been this build up around the album. People were getting excited, and we all knew we were finally going to get to listen to the 10 Minute Version of All Too Well. And there was a theory that we were also getting a music video for the song too…

Spoiler, we did.

And then the album came out and it took the world by storm.

People were going crazy for it, especially for the 10 minute long song.

I was tapping through my Instagram stories during the night and every other one was about Taylor Swift. It was nuts. But also really cool seeing all these people excited for this album. On TikTok, people who aren’t fans were talking about her new album. Everyone was excited.

The album, which remember, is a re-record, has smashed records, including the longest song to hit number one one the Billboard Hot 100, dethroning Don McLean’s American Pie. 

So… what’s the hype?

Personally, I think with the addition of the (From the Vault) tracks, we got a better understanding of the album. When she originally released the album in 2012, many people didn’t understand the album, and thought it was incoherent with the mix of pop and country. Even fans were confused as to why she had one of her most heartbreaking songs (All Too Well) followed up by the most upbeat and exiting song on the album, 22.

A lot of this album is about her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal in 2010. It was a short affair, but you can clearly tell it left Taylor heartbroken when they broke up.

And the scarf. That darn scarf she left at Jake Gyllenhaal’s sister’s house and never got back and then he didn’t show up to her 21st birthday and then they broke up.

A lot of people got invested in the scarf. Before the album was released, and then is got even more intense after the short film she released. People who aren’t even fans of Taylor jumped on the bandwagon of “Jake, give Taylor her scarf back.”

@aliyahatespapayas

#taylorswift

♬ All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) – Taylor Swift

With the 10 minute version of All Too Well, we also understood why that song was followed up by 22 in 2012. Her 21st birthday was a bust because Jake never showed up, so she made 22 her best one yet, to make up for the year before.

So, I think with having not released a single for the album, TikTok and other social media platforms, and people getting more excited for Taylor’s re-recordings, Red (Taylor’s Version), had an easy road to success.

Also, so many brands and celebrities got on board for Red (Taylor’s Version)’s release which definitely helped it’s success. Starbucks even has “Tay’s Drink” available for fans. And yes, I of course got it.

https://twitter.com/Starbucks/status/1459144932577456134

So with all of these companies, sports teams, and celebrities joining in on the release, people obviously got curious as to what was happening, and just contributed to the hype that was surrounding the album. And of course the success.

In early 2020, Taylor thought that she was at the end of the height of her career. But clearly, she is still going up. With this success of Red (Taylor’s Version), I think her following re-recordings are going to be even bigger than before and continue to break records.

I also think Speak Now will be the next re-recording, so I’m telling you this now, there is going to be A LOT of John Mayer slander.

https://www.tiktok.com/@proudmanhater/video/6943390263939304709?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id6895229449009268230

If you haven’t listened to Red (Taylor’s Version), I definitely recommend you do. And grab tissues.

 

 

 

 

 

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