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Discussion: Taylor Swift - 'RED' | Metascore: 77/100
Member Since: 11/29/2010
Posts: 19,664
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Quote:
Originally posted by vuelve88
The album reviews are good so far. I think the reviews would be slightly higher if the album had fewer tracks.
"Stay Stay Stay" and "The Lucky One" would have been better as bonus tracks.
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 Both are amazing. Especially "The Lucky One".
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Member Since: 10/16/2005
Posts: 16,872
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Quote:
Originally posted by muddysquirrel
Both are amazing. Especially "The Lucky One". |
I don't know. I just never want to listen to either of them. 
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Member Since: 3/6/2011
Posts: 4,948
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Should I actually try listening to this album? Has Taylor matured on it at all? I think she's talented, but I'm not here for bubblegum country that caters to teenagers like WANEGBT or most of her past work. Has her sound changed at all? I can't glean much from the reviews so far 
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Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 50,981
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Why do so many critics like the refrigerator light lyric? It's an average Taylor type of lyric. 
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Member Since: 7/15/2012
Posts: 2,055
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cheers
What reviews are left?  |
It depends on what publications that are counted submit reviews. Fearless had 14 reviews counted while Speak Now had 20. They count stuff from Blender, Slant,Spin, Hartford Courant, LA Times, Country Weekly, American Songwriter etc. I guess we will see what is counted over the next few days.
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Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 50,981
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Quote:
Originally posted by longjohn9898
Should I actually try listening to this album? Has Taylor matured on it at all? I think she's talented, but I'm not here for bubblegum country that caters to teenagers like WANEGBT or most of her past work. Has her sound changed at all? I can't glean much from the reviews so far |
Ignore the 3 Max Martin songs and the title track and give it a listen.
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Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 5,155
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Quote:
Originally posted by longjohn9898
Should I actually try listening to this album? Has Taylor matured on it at all? I think she's talented, but I'm not here for bubblegum country that caters to teenagers like WANEGBT or most of her past work. Has her sound changed at all? I can't glean much from the reviews so far |
You should. WANEGBT is NOT a good representation of the album. Listen to the song The Last Time, you will not regret it 
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Member Since: 11/29/2010
Posts: 19,664
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Quote:
Originally posted by vuelve88
I don't know. I just never want to listen to either of them. |
Interesting....considering the fact that "The Lucky One" is one of the best lyrically on "Red".
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Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 5,155
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Quote:
Originally posted by JakeKills
Ignore the 3 Max Martin songs and the title track and give it a listen.
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You don't like Red (the song)?
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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Quote:
Originally posted by longjohn9898
Should I actually try listening to this album? Has Taylor matured on it at all? I think she's talented, but I'm not here for bubblegum country that caters to teenagers like WANEGBT or most of her past work. Has her sound changed at all? I can't glean much from the reviews so far |
Those tracks don't represent the whole album well imo. Give it one or two listen, since this LP needs to grow on you first to appreciate it fully. 
Quote:
Originally posted by honey827
It depends on what publications that are counted submit reviews. Fearless had 14 reviews counted while Speak Now had 20. They count stuff from Blender, Slant,Spin, Hartford Courant, LA Times, Country Weekly, American Songwriter etc. I guess we will see what is counted over the next few days.
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Blender still exist?
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Member Since: 10/31/2011
Posts: 16,937
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Quote:
Originally posted by vuelve88
The album reviews are good so far. I think the reviews would be slightly higher if the album had fewer tracks.
"Stay Stay Stay" and "The Lucky One" would have been better as bonus tracks.
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"Stay Stay Stay" is absolutely essential to the album.
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Member Since: 5/9/2012
Posts: 38,050
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Quote:
Originally posted by muddysquirrel
Interesting....considering the fact that "The Lucky One" is one of the best lyrically on "Red".
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Yes
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Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 50,981
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Quote:
Originally posted by Tainted Blood
You don't like Red (the song)?
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I'm indecisive. 
In this case, I suggested skipping it because it's the most "old Taylor" of the songs, and the user seemed to indicate that he didn't like "old Taylor" much.
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Member Since: 10/16/2005
Posts: 16,872
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Quote:
Originally posted by Great Username
"Stay Stay Stay" is absolutely essential to Taylor Swift's debut album.
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Corrected. 
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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Quote:
Originally posted by JakeKills
Ignore the 3 Max Martin songs and the title track and give it a listen.
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OR: Delete 3 Max Martin tracks, change it with the new Bonus tracks. And it would be such a perfect album.
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Member Since: 3/3/2011
Posts: 23,567
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I bet the album would've been a critical dud if the three Martin tracks weren't on it.
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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From MTV:
Quote:
"This is the golden age of something good," Taylor Swift sings on "State of Grace," the opening track of her Red album, and though she says the song is about the promise of a new relationship, it's difficult not to add additional import to the line — especially after hearing her fantastic new record in full.
Because this is an album she's spent her entire career building toward. Each hit she's scored, every award she's won and all the high-profile breakups she's endured have led to its creation. Red is, in every conceivable way, her bid for artistic freedom, not only her most mature and accomplished album, but also her most unapologetic. No longer content to be shoehorned into country, she fully embraces her pop side, working with Max Martin and Shellback on a trio of tracks. Not concerned with being cool, she disses hipsters and writes songs with dudes like Ed Sheeran (though she does have Arcade Fire pal Owen Pallett conduct the strings at one point). And undeterred by her age, or her critics, she fully shoulders the load, writing each of Red's 16 songs and — very prominently — taking a "creative director" credit in its liner notes.
In short, this is her album, on her terms. Her songwriting has grown by leaps and bounds, most notably on the standouts "All Too Well," a heart-wrenching breakup tune that is almost certainly about her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal — mentions of a scarf he kept "Because it reminds you of innocence/ And it smells like me" and lines like "[You] used to be a little kid with glasses/ On a twin-sized bed" make it easy to play amateur detective — the deceptively simple "I Almost Do" and the aptly named "Sad Beautiful Tragic," a hushed, intimate number that (really genuinely sort of) recalls Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" with its winsome vocals and blurry keys overlaid over a somber acoustic guitar.
And while songs like that will undoubtedly satisfy the purists, Swift's forays into pop might be somewhat more difficult to digest. And yet, they're equally strong. "I Knew You Were Trouble," her much-discussed exploration of dubstep, burns bright on keening keys and wooshing, whomping electro; "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" is the best kiss-off on an album full of 'em; and "22" provides a moment of levity, a song that promises "Everything will be all right/ As long as we keep dancing like we're 22" and features Taylor doing her best cool-kid impression ("Who's Taylor Swift anyway? Ewww") while the finest in electro-pop whirls and curls around her.
Save for a few moments — "The Lucky One," which is about some famous forebearer of hers who ditches celebrity for a simpler life and "Starlight," a song made for joyous, exuberant dancing — Red is almost entirely about the subject of love, but Swift has never explored the topic with a keener eye or a sharper wit. And there are some instances where the album tends to drag, like the morose "The Last Time," which almost feels too heavy for Swift to lift, or the silly "Stay Stay Stay," which probably should have been demoted to bonus-track status. But with a running time of 65 minutes, that's to be expected — and it's nitpicking, considering the quality of the rest of the songs here.
It is interesting to note that, for all the relationship drama crammed onto the album, Red opens and closes with a pair of songs, "State of Grace" and "Begin Again," that are very much about the promise and hope of new love. And given how hands-on Swift was with every facet of its creation, I'm reasonably sure this was not a coincidence. In her final lines, she sings, "I've been spending the last eight months/ Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end/ But on a Wednesday/ In cafe/ I watched it begin again," and you don't have to be a genius to infer what she's getting at: The show goes on.
And that's a fitting way to wrap up the album of her (still young) life. She's been through the wringer, she's been judged and criticized and dismissed, but she's emerged with a boatload of great songs and a defiant streak that's bound to serve her well for the foreseeable future. Red may be the beginning of her golden age, but really, it only sets the stage for things to come. And I'm willing to bet we'll be amazed by what's next.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/169...volution.jhtml
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Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 5,155
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Quote:
Originally posted by RobynYoBank
I bet the album would've been a critical dud if the three Martin tracks weren't on it.
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I can't believe i'm agreeing with you for once 
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Member Since: 10/31/2011
Posts: 16,937
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Quote:
Originally posted by RobynYoBank
I bet the album would've been a critical dud if the three Martin tracks weren't on it.
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Album would've been dragged down in its own seriousness without them. They're absolutely crucial. And it doesn't hurt that they're all fantastic as well. No, it's "The Local One" and the two duets that we could live without, even though I like all 3 fine enough.
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Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 5,155
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Quote:
Originally posted by thediscomonkey
From MTV:
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YES!!!!
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