Taylor Swift - RED - October 22

Nah I'm just shy. Basic conclusion was something something "capital-oriented music is always going to be ugly when you're standing over there"

so it occurred to me that "Treacherous" hits the same pleasure centers for me as Hole's "Malibu", sorta.

Yeah, I can see that. "Treacherous" is the real grower for me on this; I liked it at first but didn't pay a lot of attention. Now I think it's got the best singing on the album, and the build from the chorus into that huge bridge is just bam bam BAM.

xxxxpost - that was when rock and being (or seeming) slightly damaged were at their strongest as chart-pop signifiers (in the past decade) - Good Charlotte were part of that but I was also thinking Avril, Ashlee et. al. Even Lindsey and Hillary at that point. Taylor's current work, for the most part, would have fit into that pop landscape more naturally than it does in today's (although, as discussed upthread, you can see P!nk and Ke$ha also carry that flag and have influenced Red to some extent).

Now I think it's got the best singing on the album, and the build from the chorus into that huge bridge is just bam bam BAM.

Yes.

Another favourite and slightly underrated moment on this record: the crescendo in the bridge of "I Almost Do" and the way that Taylor subtly repurposes the title lyric to immense emotional effect.

"State of Grace" on X Factor USA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8oWD4z4KqE

I have to see her live.

^^ wow, she skipped the best part of the song (these are the hands of FAAATEEEE).

by the way now I agree that the song order in this album is off. it's basically downbeat song, upbeat song, repeat.

at 3:01? It's such a long song I wondered how it would be truncated, I'm glad they kept that great drumfill towards the end.

I initially didn't like how it shifted so wildly in tone from one song to the next, but I like it as a stylistic choice. Sort of appropriate for the rollercoaster of emotions she's going through.

Swift told Good Morning America the writing process for All Too Well was laborious.
'All Too Well was the hardest to write because it took me a long time to filter through everything I wanted to say,' she admitted.
'It started out being a 10-minute song, which you can't put on an album. I had to filter it down to a story that could work in the form of a song.'

want the 10-minute version so badly

Back to Red, the duet with snow patrol feels like a deliberate acting outro extremes of the single chord chug that underpins so many of the songs here so successfully (as a side note I wouldn't be surprised if Taylor herself has a love of that kind of sound from its constant use on tv dramas like grey's anatomy).

Support for my theory: Taylor's cat is named after Meredith Grey.

anyone else think that taylor has this sinister, dark look on her face recently? her clothes are also more revealing. I wonder what's happening to her.

i think it's just the new hairstyle tbh

xp don't be creepy

'sad beautiful tragic' is like taylor tries on the national or something, kinda lol but also worming its way in for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F6k67xoGL8#

yes

Anybody watch her Storytellers? Is it worth it?

lol at that black "socks" popping out from her white dress

Her Storytellers sees her in good voice with stripped-down arrangements. Not very revealing "stories" since she is the most Literal Girl In The World.

I like how that AMA performance undermines this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CZQZohbZcQ

that was fun although they maybe went a bit too overboard w/ the womp womps for my liking

omg second viewing revealed the dubstep wobbles to me. strangely it sounded cool enough

i love the added strings and drums!

I've never got Taylor’s music before, but 'Back Together' has started becoming a regular fixture in my head, am I right in thinking that it's pretty atypical of her other stuff?

the back half of this album has been growing stronger 4 me

when taylor sings "on a wednesday" I have flashbacks to 'pieces of me,' haha thats funny

I've never got Taylor’s music before, but 'Back Together' has started becoming a regular fixture in my head, am I right in thinking that it's pretty atypical of her other stuff?

Yes and no. If you know her other stuff, it pretty much just sounds like a Taylor song given the Max Martin treatment. But if the Max Martin treatment is what you're responding to, then most of her other stuff won't sound like that. (But in either case, "I Knew You Were Trouble" should click.)

lolz @ these images of from the "I Knew You Were Trouble" video shoot

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdqs5doX3W1qb86xno1_1280.jpg

dress up like hiiiiipssssterrrrrrssssss

brb gonna pitch the idea of taking taylor to dalston to mock hipsters then just printing the transcript

hide away and find your peace of mind
with some dubstep record that's ~much~ cooler than mine

fiiiinally got this (was waiting for a trip to Target lol to get the deluxe edition, & I barely come up for air anymore)

I love her vocal tone on "The Lucky One", & the double vocal tracking on the chorus

only clunker is "Everything Has Changed"

ooh that reminds me i must get round to putting online the swift quotes that didn't make it into the interview

this definitely needs to happen lex

I'd be cool with learning what specifically made Lex so legit.

it was a question about "never grow up" and death

amazing

i want like all the specifics

like literally every detail of every moment that was spent in her presence

that wouldn't be at all inconvenient or annoying for you would it

I decree that 'starlight' is a jam

the nashville airport gift shop had ten by ten foot taylor quilts

did you buy me one?

i bought one for everybody

I decree that 'starlight' is a jam

― 乒乓, Friday, November 23, 2012 3:27 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's not 'dear john' or anything but it's the perfect song to play on repeat for 20 times and never play again, an inconsequential song about an inconsequential night

nothing's inconsequential

Starlight is horrible. Lyrically, musically. Just horrible.

This is really good though, and i say that as someone who's never listened to a Taylor Swift album before. "All Too Well" is stunning

I cringed at "Starlight" the first many times through -- not the tune, which is fine, but the lyrics and the whole Kennedy thing, which just seems off in every possible way. But damn if it isn't the song that keeps popping up in my head the last few days. Still wish she'd record a generic non-Kennedy version.

Though on the other hand her willingness to overreach and be embarrassing is part of what makes her interesting, I guess.

What Kennedy thing?

The whole song's about Bobby and Ethel Kennedy.

I was wondering about the summer of '45 thing

Apparently it was actually a ski trip in winter of 44 or something, and Bobby was 20 not 17, but poetic license etc. I don't care about the details, the song just doesn't work for me as any kind of historical romance. (I really hope there's not an Abe-Mary Todd song on the next record.)

might be alone here but she hasn't written a more assured chorus than the one in "Starlight." The Shania Twain guitar chug seals it.