Taylor Swift - Red Review
rating: 4.5
Taylor Swift has taken a lot of heat lately for becoming too much of a Pop artist. At the beginning of her career, it was clear she was Country. Swift opened for Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, and a few other Country artists. The Twang to her voice and instrumentals left her easily in the Country genre, and as many music fans were concerned, that was that. But that wasnt really that, in the end. Slowly, but surely, Swifts songs included more and more Pop elements; instrumentals included more electric tones, violins occasionally got ditched for synths, and through three amazingly successful albums, the line between Country and Pop got extremely blurred. The blurred Country/Pop line, mixed with a few other factors including Swifts disinterest in pleasing her critics that would have her revert back to her country roots during her amazing young career eventually culminated in Red, Swifts fourth studio album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAUZhzqRdX4 From the top of the album, the aforementioned blurry line is obvious. State Of Grace is a big, rock-esque track to open with, and Red appeals to country fans through a more country-than anything else instrumental, but the vocal effect used in the chorus seems more Top 40 ready than any other genre. Three easily identified pop hits stand out quickly: I Knew You Were Trouble, 22and the already multi-platinum (wow.) smash hit, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. I Knew You Were Trouble incorporates some hints of dub-step over a common-sounding pop instrumental for the kind of end result that has Billboard written all over it, 22 not only provides an obvious age group with an anthem, but does it in a way that mostly every pop fan will go crazy for, and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together has already been all over charts in its short existence. I, for obvious reasons, expect that the main chart damage done by Red will be (or already has been) done in the first eight songs. Thats not to say that the rest of the album wont contain hits, but good Pop music always charts, and the majority of easily identified Pop hits come in the first eight tracks of Red. Well, maybe the first nine. Im still making my mind up about Stay, Stay, Stay, Swifts track about Daydreaming about real love (I never knew about the whole messages in the lyrics book thing until now see sidenote at the end for an explanation). The fun tone of the song over a happy sounding instrumental could make for a feel-good hit, but Im not sure yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSBX7TcFy_A&feature=related One thing that sets Red apart from other Pop albums is that the two features on the album seem to be there only because they actually add to the overall project. This appears to be an obvious thought, but in a world where features seem abundant solely to grab attention, Swifts approach is refreshing. The Last Time, featuring Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol is a very impressive duet that builds over uplifting strings to a soft finish. I could see this track being the favorite of a few fans. The other feature on Red, Everything Has Changed, features Ed Sheeran, the quadruple platinum selling UK singer-songwriter, and is also well placed and executed. Sheeran and Swift work very well together on the song, and the track impressed on its own after its release on iTunes. Although Im not really a fan of slower songs (but do acknowledge their importance), Swift does a very good job using them to showcase her improved vocal capabilities. In songs like Sad Beautiful Tragic, Treacherous, Begin Again, and I Almost Do; Swift accompanies more vulnerable concepts with the always-impressive subtleties of her voice that have been heralded since the beginning of her career, and it is clear through these songs that her voice is really improving. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weikSnLcHyc Overall, Red impresses as an album that should appeal to all of Taylor Swifts fans. Country fans will find the slower paced songs to be to their liking, and Pop fans will find the more synth-laiden tracks to be just what they were looking for. In fact, Im sure some fans will cross the genre border that Swift tip-toes and find a liking for most of the songs on the album, whether they bought it as a Country or Pop fan. But the real genius of Red comes in the fact that while Swift makes some Country, some Pop, some (arguably) Folk, and some Rock songs; she never feels spread too thin, or as if making her album appealing to all these genres was a conscious effort. The project as a whole feels very natural, speaking to Swifts incredible songwriting talents among other things. With four Billboard chartings, estimated first-week sales of over one million copies, and nine of the top twenty iTunes singles as of this moment, Red will prove to be a brilliant multi-genre effort from Swift, and in the end, it doesnt matter if you call it Country, Pop, or some crazy mix of every genre known to man. Taylor Swift is a great artist making great music. Enough said. Sidenote: If you take all of the capitalized letters of each song in the lyrics book found in the album, the message spelled will tell you what the song is about. Just in case you didnt know.