To convey the complex and conflicting feelings ensuing from lost love through music, Swift hired new producers to experiment with styles other than thecountry pop sound of her past albums. She produced most of the songs onRed with her long-time collaboratorNathan Chapman and the rest withDann Huff,Max Martin,Shellback,Jeff Bhasker,Dan Wilson,Jacknife Lee, andButch Walker. The album incorporates styles ofpop,rock,folk, and country, composed ofacoustic instruments,electronicsynths, anddrum machines. Initial reviews mostly praised Swift's songwriting for its emotional exploration and engagement, but critics deemed the production inconsistent and questioned her identity as a country artist.
AfterSpeak Now, Swift continued working with Chapman on her next album.[8] By October 2011, she had written around 25 songs.[9] Although executives at Big Machine felt that the materials were sufficient and congratulated her for finishing work within one year, Swift felt that her creativity was diminished because she had been repeating the same songwriting process.[10] She sought to collaborate with other producers to venture outside of her "comfort zone" of writing songs alone.[10] While Swift viewed the solo-writtenSpeak Now as her statement as a songwriter, she envisioned her fourth studio album as a statement of her "thirst for learning".[11] She reworked the new album while touring on theSpeak Now World Tour from 2011 to 2012.[12]
Swift recalled working on her fourth studio album within two years—she wrote songs by herself and produced them with Chapman within the first year, and engaged other producers within the second year. According to Swift, she recruited producers with whom she had not worked, but whose works had instilled curiosities in her.[10][12] While experimenting sonically, she prioritized conveying emotional sentiments through her lyrics over what particular sounds she should pursue, as with her typical approach.[13] On songs that Swift co-wrote, she first presented her co-writers with the feelings she had been going through, played a rough version of her song on guitar, and asked for their ideas on ways to better convey the story.[8] Each track's production corresponded to the emotion it portrayed, to which Swift attributed the album's "eclectic blend of music".[10]
Production sessions took place in between stops of the Speak Now World Tour during 2011–2012.[14] The first song that Swift wrote was "All Too Well"; during a February 2011 rehearsal of the tour, shead-libbed lyrics written after a broken relationship while playing a four-chord guitarriff as her touring band spontaneously played backing instruments.[11] Swift toldRolling Stone that this relationship caused "a few roller coasters", and she channeled the tumult into the songs.[14] She continued writing tracks like "Red" and "State of Grace" and produced them with Chapman in her creative base ofNashville, Tennessee.[11] "Red" was a critical point during the album's formation;[8] Big Machine's presidentScott Borchetta overheard the production and suggested a pop-oriented sound.[15] After several failed attempts at the desired outcome, Swift asked Borchetta to recruitMax Martin, a Swedish producer known for his chart-topping pop songs.[8][15] Swift travelled to Los Angeles to work with Martin and his frequent collaboratorShellback, who produced the songs "22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".[15]
Swift and Chapman produced the final version of "Red" withDann Huff, and the three produced two more tracks: "Starlight" and "Begin Again".[12] She engagedJeff Bhasker because she was intrigued by his drum production, citing "We Are Young" (2011) by the indie bandFun as an example.[10][16] Bhasker produced two songs: "Holy Ground" and "The Lucky One".[17] She wrote "Everything Has Changed" with the English singer-songwriterEd Sheeran and produced it withButch Walker, andDan Wilson co-wrote and produced "Treacherous".[12] "The Last Time" is a collaboration of Swift with the Irish-Scottish bandSnow Patrol:Gary Lightbody co-wrote and featured as a guest vocalist, andJacknife Lee produced it.[8][12] Swift named the albumRed, denoting the color to which she associated the tumultuous and extreme emotions that she was experiencing—"intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion".[18][19] By the time recording began, Swift had written more than 30 songs, and 16 of which made the final cut of the standard edition; Swift was the sole writer of nine tracks as well as two tracks from the deluxe edition.[11][16]
Red incorporates various styles of pop, rock,folk, in addition to the country-pop sound that had defined Swift's earlier music,[20][21] namelydance-pop,indie pop,dubstep,Britrock, and arena rock.[note 1] The arrangements of its songs includeacoustic instruments, electronicsynths, anddrum machines.[20] CallingRed her "only true breakup album", Swift said that the diverse musical styles were a "metaphor for how messy a real breakup is".[11] Its first half consists of country and pop songs intertwined with each other;[25] "22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" have a pop production that incorporates electronic vocal processing andhip-hop-influencedbass drums.[26][27] The rock stylings ofSpeak Now[28] expand on "State of Grace", "Red", and "Holy Ground", which themusicologist James E. Perone found reminiscent of 1980s arena rock.[29] Other songs, such as "I Almost Do", "Stay Stay Stay", "Sad Beautiful Tragic", and "Begin Again", continue the country sound of Swift's earlier music.[30][31]
Critics were divided on the album's genre classification. Jon Dolan's review forRolling Stone appeared in the magazine's column for country music, but he described its musical foundation as "post-country rock".[32] Some reviewers commented thatRed blurred the divide between country and pop,[25][33] but others called it a straightforward pop album with little trace of country,[34][35] while retrospective reviews described the album asarena rock,[28] country pop,[11] orpop rock.[36] Joseph R. Atilano ofThe Philippine Inquirer considered it her shift fromteen pop toadult pop.[37] According to Randall Roberts of theLos Angeles Times andJon Caramanica ofThe New York Times,Red was Swift's inevitable move from country into mainstream pop to broaden her audience. The former said much of the album could perform well on commercial country radio but at its core, it is "perfectly rendered American popular music" with contemporary influences;[38] the latter described Swift as "a pop star in a country context".[26] ForAmerican Songwriter's Jewly Hight, she believed debating Swift's genre was pointless because her music was meant for a young audience open to diverse styles for their digitalplaylists.[39]
The songs onRed are autobiographical,[40] forming a loose concept about the aftermath of an intense breakup, detailing loss, pain, abandonment, and regrets.[41] According to Swift, most of the album was inspired by an ex-boyfriend who later contacted her after listening to it and described the experience as bittersweet.[42] Whereas her previous songs contain fantasy-driven narratives and happy endings,Red realizes the uneasy reality of how a seemingly enduring relationship can painfully end.[43] In the album's physical booklet, Swift quotes a line fromPablo Neruda's poemTonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines,[44] "Love is so short, forgetting is so long", which she found suitable for the album's overarching theme.[45] Swift's songwriting retains the storytelling aspect of country music by setting up scenes and characters for each track's narrative.[40][46][22] She was also inspired byJoni Mitchell's songcraft onBlue (1971) for how it "explores somebody's soul so deeply".[47] Some journalists also foundBlue's influence on the cover artwork ofRed, which shows Swift looking downward with her face partially shadowed from her brimmed hat.[43][24][48]
Red expands on Swift's common themes of love and heartbreak but explores them from a more complex perspective.[42][49][50]Sam Lansky inBillboard wrote that the album depicts her negative emotions in extremes and how frustrating it can be to experience them,[19] whileEmily Yoshida inVulture thought that there are moments of vulnerability that "feel wise beyond the 22 years Swift was";[40] in the words of Caramanica, "Almost everything here is corroded in some way."[26] Writing forNPR, J. English described the album as Swift'scoming of age and her early-20s exploration of womanhood and adulthood: the characters in theRed songs detail their first-hand experiences with sexuality and loss of innocence—topics that Swift had explored on her past albums from an outsider perspective;[22] Caramanica found allusions to how "[Swift's] body is as alive as her mind" on songs like "State of Grace", "Treacherous", and "Stay Stay Stay".[26] InThe Atlantic, Brad Nelson wrote thatRed sees Swift no longer putting the blame solely on ex-lovers and instead viewing heartbreak with "ambiguity", and that her songcraft uses intricate details and narrative devices that evoke the styles ofrock and roll musicians such asSteely Dan,Bruce Springsteen, andLeonard Cohen.[49]
"State of Grace" is an arena-rock song that features chiming guitars and dynamic drums, and its lyrics are about the tumultuous feelings stemming from romantic beginnings.[43][51] According to Perone, the lyric, "Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right", sets the overall theme of an album about passionate romance gone wrong.[52] The title track explores an intense relationship that has failed,[52] relating the stages of love to colors: "losing him" is blue, "missing him" is a dark gray, and "loving him" is red.[53] It is built on an acoustic arrangement consisting of string instruments of acoustic guitar,banjitar,cello,fiddle, andbouzouki, which display a country sound,[52] while also featuring electronic vocal manipulation and elements of mainstream pop,soft rock, andadult contemporary.[54] "Treacherous", which begins with slow guitar strumming and percussion and gradually builds up,[25][43] is about attempting to protect a fragile relationship.[30]
"I Knew You Were Trouble" incorporatesdubstep and pulsingsynthesizers in its chorus, a style that critics deemed widely different from the music in Swift's previous songs.
"I Knew You Were Trouble" has a pop-rock production in its verses, and its refrain begins with a dubstepdrop and continues with aggressive synth backing and hip hop-influencedsyncopated percussion.[43][52] In the lyrics of "I Knew You Were Trouble", Swift's character blames herself for a toxic relationship that has ended.[26] Critics considered the song widely different from the music that Swift had explored on her past albums: Perone said that the track's dynamic shifts between the verses were "sudden and unexpected",[21] and Caramanica wrote that the dubstep drop was "a wrecking ball, changing the course not just of the song but also of Ms. Swift's career".[26] "All Too Well", considered by critics the emotional centerpiece of the album's narrative,[11] has a slow-building production withoverdubs of acoustic guitar,electric guitar, bass, drums, and harmony vocals.[55] It chronicles a lost relationship from the peak of romance to the lingering memories after it has ended.[25][35]
"22" is about celebrating the joys of being youthful by going out and meeting new people to move on from heartbreak.[22][46] Its verses are driven by acoustic guitar, and its refrain incorporates adance-influenced arrangement consisting of electronic synths and hip hop-influenced bass drums.[26][56] According to Perone, the arrangement of "I Almost Do" is derived from Swift's early country songs: its verses are formed on short melodicmotives and Swift's lowerregister vocals, while its refrain has a longerrange in Swift's vocals. The song displays elements of country and folk via acoustic guitars and open string notes in the texture.[57] In "I Almost Do", Swift's character wonders what she would do if an ex-lover asked her to come back to him, and she admits she would likely agree to do so.[57] Her character in "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", meanwhile, promises an ex-lover that they will never rekindle their relationship.[25] Swift's vocals in the song are electronically processed,[58] and its production features an acoustic guitar arrangement alongside other stylistic embellishments including filtered guitar tones, synths, and hip hop-influenced bass drums.[34][58] "Stay Stay Stay", a fast-tempo song combining styles of country and 1980s pop,[58] featurestoy piano,ukulele,mandolin, and hand claps, and its lyrics are about two lovers trying to reconcile after a fight.[26][35]
"The Last Time", a duet with Lightbody, has a melancholic,balladic production consisting of strings.[58] Perone compared its production with the music of late-1970s and early-1980s rock bands but with amuted texture.[59] Lightbody's and Swift's characters detail their perspectives on a failing long-term relationship in the first and second verses,[59] and the refrain is backed by anorchestra playing intense strings andbrass.[58][60] In "Holy Ground", Swift's character reminisces about an absent lover and the specific memories of their past.[59] It is acountry rock andheartland rock track with persistent drums and a recurring guitar riff.[35][49] Perone found the lyrical imagery of "Sad Beautiful Tragic" to extend the "lyrical impressionism" of Swift's songwriting by using various images without drawing a straightforward connection between them.[61] It has an intimate and melancholic sound[25][30] consisting of overdubs of acoustic instruments that evoke folk music.[61] "The Lucky One" incorporates a driving drum machine and has a soft-rock,[22]indie rock,[62] and 1960s pop-rock sound.[61] Written inthird-person perspective, the lyrics tell the story of a successful singer who looked "like a '60s queen" in her high-school days, was envied by her friends after achieving fame in "the angels' city",[61] and ultimately "chose the rose garden overMadison Square".[25][35]
Red's closing track, "Begin Again", is acountryballad. Themusicologist James E. Perone commented that this solidified country as an important aspect of Swift's artistry.
"Everything Has Changed", a duet with Sheeran, is a mid-tempo acoustic guitar-led ballad[25] that incorporates deep bass drums.[63] Perone commented that the song's arrangement is similar to the music from Swift's debut album, using "a high degree of syncopation" at thesixteenth note level. In the song, Swift and Sheeran sing about the beginnings of a new romance, alternating their lead vocals in the verses.[63] Swift was inspired to write "Starlight" by the teenage romance ofEthel Kennedy andRobert F. Kennedy.[64] In the lyrics, Swift's character reminisces about meeting her lover one evening in the "summer of '45" and how they intruded a "yacht club party" and danced "like [they] were made of starlight".[32][63] Containing an electric guitarsolo,[63] "Starlight" is a dance-pop song[35] that Perone deemed "vaguely contemporary country pop in nature".[63] In the closing track of the standard edition, "Begin Again", Swift's character explores how a newfound love interest differs from her ex-lovers, giving her hopes of a new romance.[31] According to Perone, that the genre-spanningRed concludes with a country ballad confirms country music as an integral part of Swift's musical identity.[31]
The deluxe edition ofRed includes the extra original songs "The Moment I Knew", "Come Back ... Be Here", and "Girl at Home"; original demo recordings of "Treacherous" and "Red"; and an acoustic version of "State of Grace".[65] "The Moment I Knew" is a somber pop-rock piano ballad, and its lyrics are about a woman celebrating her birthday party without her boyfriend, which makes her realize that the relationship was failing.[66][67] The 2000s-adult-contemporary-oriented "Come Back... Be Here" has lyrics about a long-distance relationship with few chances to endure.[68] "Girl at Home", a song combining country with 1980s music elements,[69][70] details a woman's contempt for a flirtatious man who is in a relationship with another woman.[65]
On August 13, 2012, via a livewebchat held onGoogle Hangouts,[71] Swift announced the album's details and released the lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together",[72] which was her first number-one song on theBillboard Hot 100.[73] An alternative version of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was released to US country radio;[74] it spent 10 weeks atopHot Country Songs.[75] Both the standard and deluxe versions ofRed were released on October 22, 2012.[76] In the United States, the standard edition was available in digital and physical formats, and the deluxe edition containing six extra tracks was available exclusively for physical purchase atTarget.[76]
Red was promoted with further singles. From September 24 until the album's release date, Swift previewed one album track each week viaGood Morning America as part of a four-week countdown[81]—"Begin Again", "Red", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "State of Grace";[82] the first three songs were later released as singles. "Begin Again", released to US country radio on October 1, 2012,[83] peaked at number seven on theBillboard Hot 100 and number three onCountry Airplay.[84] Released to US pop radio on November 27, 2012,[85] "I Knew You Were Trouble" spent seven weeks at number one onPop Songs[86] and peaked at number two on theBillboard Hot 100[87] and in the top 10 on charts of Australasian and European countries.[88] "Red" was released to US country radio on June 24, 2013.[89] Other singles were "22",[85] "Everything Has Changed",[90] and "The Last Time".[91]
DespiteRed's promotion as a country album, its diverse musical styles sparked a media debate over Swift's status as a country artist.[74][92]Spin arguedRed was difficult to categorize because country music was "the most dynamically vibrant pop genre of the last decade or so".[93] Other critics commented Swift had always been more pop-oriented than country and describedRed as her inevitable move to mainstream pop.[94] In an interview withThe Wall Street Journal, Swift responded that country music "feels like home" and dismissed the debate: "I leave the genre labeling to other people."[94]
Swift announced the album's accompanying world tour,the Red Tour, shortly after the album's release.[95] On October 26, 2012, she announced the first 58 dates for the North American leg, beginning inOmaha, Nebraska, visiting Canada and the United States throughout the spring and summer of 2013, and concluding in Nashville, Tennessee, in September.[96] To support a high demand, Swift held the concerts mostly in sports arenas and stadiums.[95] After the North American leg, the Red Tour visited Australasia,[97] the United Kingdom,[98] and Asia.[99]
The Red Tour was a box office success. The four shows atStaples Center in Los Angeles extended Swift's total of sold-out shows to 11, making her the solo artist with the most sold-out shows at Staples Center.[100] She was the first female artist to sell out theSydney Football Stadium since its opening in 1988.[101] Tickets for theShanghai show sold out within 60 seconds, setting the Chinese record for the fastest sellout.[99] When it ended in June 2014, the tour had grossed $150.2 million and became the highest-grossing tour by a country artist of all time.[102]
In the United States,Red debuted at number one on theBillboard 200 with first-week sales of 1.208 million copies, surpassingGarth Brooks'sDouble Live (1998) as the fastest-selling country album.[77] WithSpeak Now andRed, Swift was recognized in theGuinness World Records as the "First Solo Female with Two Million-Selling Weeks on the U.S. Albums Chart".[103]Red spent seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on theBillboard 200.[104] It made Swift the first female artist, and the second afterthe Beatles, to have three consecutive studio albums each spend six or more weeks atop the chart.[note 2] It was the third consecutive time—afterFearless (2008) andSpeak Now (2010)—that Swift had a number-one album during the last week before Christmas, which is traditionally the most competitive week of the year.[106] OnBillboard'sTop Country Albums chart, it was at number one for 16 weeks and was the year-end number-one album of both 2012 and 2013.[107] Surpassing 3.11 million copies after two months of sales,Red was the second-highest-selling album of 2012.[108] As of January 2024, its US sales stood at 4.582 million copies.[109] TheRecording Industry Association of America certified the albumeight-times platinum for surpassing eight millionalbum-equivalent units.[110]
Red sold 2.8 million copies worldwide after less than one month of release,[111] 5.2 million by the end of 2012—the global second-best-selling album of the year,[112] and 8 million by August 2014.[113] The album reached number one on charts in Australia,[114] Canada,[115] New Zealand,[116] Ireland,[117] and Scotland.[118] It received platinum or highercertifications in Australia (four-times platinum),[119] Canada (four-times platinum),[120] and New Zealand (six-times platinum).[121] In the United Kingdom,Red was Swift's first number one on theUK Albums Chart and had four top-ten songs on theUK Singles Chart, the most of Swift's albums; it was certified double platinum by theBritish Phonographic Industry and had sold 619,000 copies as of June 2021[update].[122][123][124]
Music critics generally praised Swift's songwriting onRed,[130] with some appreciating it to showcase her artistic maturity.[76] Dolan called the album "a 16-song geyser of willful eclecticism", said Swift "often succeeds in joining the Joni [Mitchell]/Carole King tradition of stark-relief emotional mapping", and that "When she's really on, her songs are like tattoos".[32]Pitchfork's Brad Nelson lauded the "newfound patience to Swift's observations" and deeper exploration of emotion inRed's songwriting.[43]
The album's production polarized critics.Billboard praisedRed's radio-friendly tunes that catapulted Swift to even greater fame.[25]Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic asserted that although Swift's lyrics about romantic relationships and social anxiety sound somewhat clumsy, they add substance to "the pristine pop confections", which makesRed a compelling album.[34]The Guardian's Kate Mossman described the album as "one of the finest fantasies pop music has ever constructed".[128] Roberts was impressed by the different musical styles as Swift "strives for something much more grand and accomplished".[38] Caramanica agreed, commenting that the production is a striking feature ofRed that proves Swift is more of a pop star than a country singer.[26]
Critics often consideredRed to be a sign of Swift growing up.Billboard consideredRed to be her first adult pop album, describing her previous works as that of "an accomplished teenager".[25] Caramanica stated that her growth was "largely musical, not experiential."[26] He noted that she was beginning to show more maturity as a strategist and adult.[26] Caramanica asserted that there are indications thatRed shows her "body is as alive as her mind," which was "territory she's generally skipped before now."[26] Dolan considered the album part "Joni Mitchell-influenced maturity binge" and part pop, describing the combination as "not just inevitable but natural."[32]Spin's Michael Robbins characterized the album as a record "full of adult pleasures".[93]
Some reviewers were more reserved in their praise, and the initial acclaim was more subdued compared to Swift's previous releases.[131][132] Jonathan Keefe fromSlant Magazine consideredRed not consistent enough to be "truly great" but asserted that some of the songs were "career-best work for Swift, who now sounds like the pop star she was destined to be all along".[35] Michael Gallucci fromThe A.V. Club argued the music was more ambitious than Swift's previous records but considered the album as a whole "complicated and sometimes unfocused".[50] He considered the duets boring and the occasional use ofAuto-Tune to "sound like any number of indistinguishable female pop singers".[50] Writing forMSN Music,Robert Christgau viewedRed as an inferior version ofthe Magnetic Fields' 1999 album69 Love Songs but appreciated "Begin Again" and "Stay Stay Stay", considering them to "stay happy and hit just as hard" as songs on69 Love Songs.[129]The Daily Telegraph's James Lachno found the production bloated and commented the album would be better had Swift fully embraced mainstream pop and abandoned her old country sound.[33] Mesfin Fekadu of theAssociated Press asserted that the album "sounded empty" compared toFearless (2008) andSpeak Now (2010), but praised "I Almost Do" and the duets.[133]
Critics have consideredRed a career-defining album for Swift. It has been regarded as her best album by Jon Bream of theStar Tribune[20] and the editorial staff ofPaste[154] and ranked within the upper tier of her11-album discography as of 2024 by publications likeThe Arizona Republic,[155]The New York Times,[156]Slant Magazine,[157] andSpin.[158]Rob Sheffield wrote that the album established Swift as both "the supreme pop songwriter of her generation" and one of the greatest songwriters of all time.[159]Red appeared on rankings for the best albums of the 2010s decade byAtwood Magazine,[160]The Independent,[161] andPitchfork;[162] it was ranked within the top 10 byUproxx,[163]Billboard,[164]Rolling Stone,[165] theTampa Bay Times,[166] andStereogum.[167]Taste of Country ranked it as one of the best country albums of the decade.[168]Rolling Stone ranked it at number 99 on its 2023 revision of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"[169] and number 36 on its 2025 list of "The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far".[170]
Red's successful pop singles, notably "I Knew You Were Trouble", influenced Swift to work again with Martin and Shellback when she recalibrated her artistic identity from country to pop with her subsequent album,1989 (2014).[171][86] Many critics have upheldRed as a defining record that bridged between Swift's country beginnings and pop career.Pitchfork commented that the album pushed the boundaries of her sounds "to meet the highest aspirations of her songwriting",[172] and Lindsay Zoladz inThe New York Times wrote that it both started Swift's pop crossover and captured "the moment before her songwriting became [...] sleek and streamlined".[173]Clash's Lucy Harbron wrote thatRed's experimentation with musical styles, from country to pop and rock, laid the groundwork to Swift's later sounds on albums likeReputation (2017),Lover (2019), andEvermore (2020). For Harbron, the album made Swift credible as a boundary-pushing artist by "allowing [pop music] to merge with the softer elements of country and the confessional songwriting of traditional folk".[174]
In November 2020, following adispute over the ownership of the masters to her back catalog, Swift began tore-record her first six studio albums.[178] The first one wasFearless (Taylor's Version), released on April 9, 2021.[179] On June 18, 2021, Swift announcedRed (Taylor's Version) would be released on November 12, 2021, a week earlier than originally planned.[180] The album contains all 30 songs Swift recorded for the 2012 release ofRed;[181] these include the charity single "Ronan", her recordings of the 2016Little Big Town single "Better Man" and 2018Sugarland single "Babe", the ten-minute version of "All Too Well", and six other previously unreleased tracks.[182][183] The ownership of the original album was sold back to Swift on May 30, 2025, alongside her other five albums released under Big Machine.[184]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^The chart positions listed below coincided with the release of the 2021 re-recordingRed (Taylor's Version). In Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the sales performance of the originalRed was combined with that ofRed (Taylor's Version).
^Compiled byBillboard for albums 1963–2015[255][256]
^Compiled byBillboard for albums 1963–2017[257][258]
Perone, James E. (2017). "Red".The Words and Music of Taylor Swift. The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection.ABC-Clio. pp. 43–54.ISBN978-1-4408-5294-7.
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