Why Taylor Swift's 'Red' Is Her Best Album As good as Red is -- and it's really good -- I don't have a mite of critical detachment to evaluate it on its merits. The spectacular Red transformed pop and country music around it. It remains the pinnacle of Taylor Swift's career, an intimate album of disappearances and lost relationships.
Red is Taylor's album that basically has it all: the emotional, confessional ballads (like ATW, SBT, IAD), the country hits reminiscent of her first three albums (Red, Begin Again), the pop bangers like in 1989 and Reputation (22, IKYWT, WANEGBT), impeccable lyricism and vivid imagery. It also has songs about imaginary relationships (Stay X3) and songs narrated from other people's perspectives. But Red is also significant in more ways than one.
The album marked a turning point in Swift's career, sending her down a new path of pop music domination. As she releases her version of Red, we look back at some of the incredible things you probably didn't know about one of Taylor Swift's best. Ahead of Red's re-release, TIME's biggest Taylor Swift fans ranked the albums original 16 songs.
In conclusion, your honor, there is no denying that Red is Taylor Swift's best album (and it deserved that damn Grammy). I rest my case. See you all on the other side of Red (Taylor's Version).
Red is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records. Swift designated Red as a breakup album and her last to be promoted as country music.
To convey the complex and conflicting feelings ensuing from lost love through music, Swift hired new producers to experiment with styles other than the country pop sound. Like Kanye West, Taylor Swift is a turbine of artistic ambition and superstar drama. So it's no surprise she manages to make her fourth album both her Joni Mitchell.
"Red (Taylor's Version)" includes almost perfect copies of the original songs, along with a number of brand new recordings of some of the songs Swift wrote in her "Red" era that never made it onto the first album. For fans, it's a perfect excuse to relive one of Swift's best. The album ends with a 10-minute version of the album's best-loved song, "All Too Well".