“I never saw you coming, and I’ll never be the same.” These lines of one of Taylor Swift’s new songs, “State of Grace,” represent perfectly how I feel about her new album Red that came out Oct. 22.
After albums of typically country-sounding songs, this album of 16 catchy pop tunes was not what I was expecting from Swift, but I absolutely love it.
Red is so different from any of her previous albums (Speak Now, Fearless, or her self-titled debut album), by having less banjos and fiddles and more electric guitars. Yet as a true Swift fan, that doesn’t change my mind about her at all. In fact, it makes me love her and this album even more.
Artists so often stick to the same sound their whole career. It becomes terribly boring to hear basically the same songs every time from one artist, so I’m proud she is changing up a bit.
Songs like “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “Red” definitely sound more like pop than her original country tunes and this has angered some fans.
One person who reviewed the album on iTunes said, “(she) cannot go pop and needs to stick to her country roots.”
Another said, “it sounds like she’s just trying to follow everyone else.”
Swift took a considerable risk by altering her sound, but that doesn’t mean she is selling out.
She’s no longer the 15-year-old girl who started her career; she is 22 now. She has experienced love and loss, she has grown up and consequently she has changed. So her music should as well.
Personally, I don’t see the change in sound as anything besides Swift experimenting and exploring different music tastes. All the people who are discouraged by her new music must be genre fans instead of true Taylor Swift fans.
Her sound may be different, but her lyrics are as perfect and relatable as ever. She still sings about her own life experiences and about what she cares about.
Unlike the usual pop artist, her lyrics aren’t meaningless repetitive lines with vulgar language or inappropriate references. There is real emotion in every song and they are all written by Swift herself.
The songs from Red that are constantly on repeat in my car and on my iPod are “Starlight” and “Stay Stay Stay,” but the one I simply can’t get out of my head is “22.” It talks about letting go of stress and having a good time with friends. And what’s amazing about the song is that not once does Swift talk about drinking or partying.
Lyrics are what is most important to me, and since she still puts a great amount of personal feeling in the words of her songs, I could care less if she is labeled country or pop.
But for those who aren’t too pleased with the genre switch, “Treacherous,” “Begin Again,” and “All Too Well” still have a country feel and the original Taylor Swift sound.
Regardless of whether everyone enjoys Swift’s new sound or not, the argument that she has completely changed is invalid. The tune of her songs may be different, but the meaning and compassion behind the lyrics has never faded.
Even Swift’s album title has meaning.
In the prologues of all her albums she explains what that particular album means to her. For Red, she talks about how she remembers each love that she wrote about for this album “in bright, burning red.”
by SHAI NIELSON
