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Discussion: Taylor Swift - 'RED' | Metascore: 77/100
Member Since: 6/16/2006
Posts: 6,439
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Originally posted by thediscomonkey
I'm wondering if Christgau will review this.  Come on dude. |
that guy is so random with his scores.
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Member Since: 3/3/2011
Posts: 23,567
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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Originally posted by like2throw
that guy is so random with his scores.
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But he's the most credible music journalist out there. His critics are spot on. No one can do it better than him.
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Member Since: 12/5/2009
Posts: 9,974
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Christgau is disgusting and has ****** taste, sorry.
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Member Since: 6/16/2006
Posts: 6,439
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Quote:
Originally posted by thediscomonkey
But he's the most credible music journalist out there. His critics are spot on. No one can do it better than him. |
The bitch gave Ok Computer a B-, and The Carter 3 an A-
...he IS a t swift fan though
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Member Since: 10/31/2011
Posts: 16,937
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That idolator review is wonderful. 
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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Originally posted by alkralkra
Christgau is disgusting and has ****** taste, sorry.
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You will get along well with him since he also dismisses Springsteen. 
Quote:
Originally posted by like2throw
The bitch gave Ok Computer a B-, and The Carter 3 an A-
...he IS a t swift fan though
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ffffff; TC3 got an A-? Wtf? 
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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At 22, Taylor Swift has already launched a whopping 50 songs into the Billboard Hot 100. One might rightfully expect such wild success to grant Swift licence to cut loose from the machine and do whatever the hell she wants on her fourth album, then, but it’s actually quite the opposite is true of Red.
Wild success appears only to have inspired the perpetually lovelorn Nashville-pop sweetheart and her handlers to consolidate her hold on that success by playing it as safe as they ever have and further erasing the few quirks of character that separate Swift from her female peers on the charts.
Red is as chockablock with winning tunes and relatably girlish kiss-offs to the boys who got away as Swift’s previous recordings. It’s the first Swift record, however, to bring in a bunch of high-priced hired guns — ubiquitous behind-the-scenesters Jacknife Lee, Butch Walker, Jeff Bhasker, Dan Wilson and Max Martin and Shellback all turn up in the songwriting and production credits — above and beyond her longtime producer/collaborator Nathan Chapman, however. It sounds much less like the work of Taylor Swift and more like the work of everyone else who can afford to hire the same people to make sure their records don’t rattle the masses with any surprises.
So while much of the advance press for Red might bill it as Swift’s most “adventurous” album, it’s only really an adventure in the most conservative sense. Sending an utterly unnecessary jolt of dubstep bass through “I Knew You Were Trouble,” or shamelessly knocking off U2 for a shot at rock-radio play on “State of Grace” are moves that hardly count as “risk taking” in late 2012.
Both decisions fall into the “just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should” category, and that gets in the way of the “aw shucks” country-pop charms that made Swift’s earlier albums stand out slightly from the rest of the plastic pack.
Most of Red’s remaining ties to country music are as cosmetic as the banjo ticking away quietly in the background to the processed arrangements of the title track and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” since even the ballads tend to get steamrollered by a heap of MOR soft-rock production clichés by the time their choruses roll around.
At a wearisome 66 minutes long, too, Red really gives you time for the general facelessness of its program to sink in. Swift is still as likeable as pop stars get, but she’s losing definition.
Top track: “All Too Well.” Taylor rises above the memory of a picture-perfect Thanksgiving weekend with her ex, who still keeps a scarf that “smells like me” in his drawer. (2.5/4)
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment...d-album-review
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Words. 
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In an interview with Billboard magazine recently, Taylor Swift was asked to characterise her latest release, Red. She replied, “It’s all the different ways you can say goodbye to someone.” This is a fitting description for the phenomenally successful artist’s fourth album, a complex and surely divisive leap of faith, as it represents more than anything she’s done a move from her precocious, girlish roots into something more self-aware, mature, and considered. It’s a beautiful album and a really magical listen to anyone in the right frame of mind, though it’s an awkward and deeply uncertain one at the same time. Here more than ever before, we can see her take careful steps towards what she wants to be, straying from her comfort zone in precise and methodical ways, though not quite enough to produce a fluid album that’s consistent and coherent in its sound and intentions. It will take more than one listen to fully appreciate Red and indeed, some may mistake her over-eagerness on tracks such as “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” for vacuity and never quite warm to it. But there is a plot here, and a carefully delineated one, even if it is occasionally usurped by some of the more playful ditties spawned by her co-writers.
Perhaps the most distinctive difference between Red and Swift’s previous release, the delightful Speak Now, is how ballad-oriented it is. There are numerous cheery songs, but so many of these tracks are ravaging, uncompromising personal pieces. This in and of itself isn’t new territory for Swift – she’s made her name effectively transcribing her diary into songs. But the style here is completely different, and marks a departure for her. She’s older, she’s wiser, her sensibilities are different; and there is something more mature and accepting about her writing that makes it markedly less precocious and wounded. On “Treacherous” and “All Too Well,” she demonstrates a newfound willingness to find the positives in a messy situation. Notes of resignation creep into her voice, but so too do impassionate streaks. The spark of optimism is clear, and it’s underlined with more power, maturity, and even mild aggression than before. “Sad Beautiful Tragic,” which she herself described to Billboard as “a cloudy recollection,” is a tender, emotionally bare piece largely devoid of emotion and yet very poignant. It’s less about being sad or bitter and more of a deeply personal, internally honest dialogue about what went wrong. This detached viewpoint is unusual for Swift, and it’s one that suits her, as the cold grey sincerity of what she writes comes into its own.
Nestled alongside these stirring self-explorations are happier, cheerful odes about youth, exuberance, and enjoyment. This is where some of the trouble seeps in, as there tends to be an awkward dichotomy between songs Swift has written herself and those which have been co-written. “State of Grace” and “Red” are bubbling, vivacious songs, subdued for her perhaps, but romanticised and free-spirited as ever with warmth and richness in droves. “Starlight” is fitful and passionate, its emphasis on dancing reflecting a carefree freedom. “Holy Ground” is similarly bright, but with a slightly vacant, nostalgic feel; something like a lingering, yearning memory. There’s an infectious life to these tracks that tends to be lacking in some of her more polished numbers. “22” and “I Knew You Were Trouble” are really fun songs in and of themselves – the latter’s little bypass through dubstep nowhere near as ill-advised as you might think – but their pristine, chart-flavoured sheen sound like a forced digression from her heartfelt style and don’t exactly advance her in musical terms. It would be easy to denounce much of this record on the flaws of those tracks, and likewise, the horrible leering depressiveness that follows Gary Lightbody around and thus finds its way into “The Last Time” (her collaboration with Ed Sheeran, “Everything Has Changed”, works much better though).
That, however, would be churlish as there is something more mature running finely throughout Red – a tentative streak perhaps, as though she’s not quite comfortable enough to make the leap entirely. It can be heard in the more reserved tone of her ballads as well as the wildly veering tempos; imprints of sobriety and caution where once she would have freely poured her heart out. The bubblegum pop numbers (of which “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is another example) feel like a brief hiding place between the reaches she wants to make as she grows older, and the whimsy that has largely informed her work up to now. She is less freewheeling and unbridled and yet in this, one can see an evolution waiting to take hold.
Red is far more subversive than anything Swift has done, more decidedly inward and more withdrawn. It differs starkly from the sprawling splendour of Speak Now and will undoubtedly be criticised for sounding somewhat self-involved, quiet, and indulgent. But this is, I think, to do the album disservice. It may not have the hooks of her other work – at least not mostly – but it is a necessary album for her, truer and more honest than she’s ever been. The charm lies in the subtleties, and one has to really get lost in the feeling. If it doesn’t envelop and captivate you, you may miss a lot of the searing magic in the words themselves. Swift’s writing is about storytelling, not catchy beats, and in this she has remained truer to herself than ever.
SCORE: 8/10
http://www.underthegunreview.net/201...lor-swift-red/
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Member Since: 8/12/2012
Posts: 13,665
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With the anticipation and the excellent reviews (better than Adele) Taylor should hit easily, after Adele, the 10 million sales in US. Let's see, if she can do it.
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Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 50,981
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Quote:
Originally posted by rbautz
With the anticipation and the excellent reviews (better than Adele) Taylor should hit easily, after Adele, the 10 million sales in US. Let's see, if she can do it.
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 Let's not get ahead of ourselves, boy. I'll settle for 4-5x platinum. Anything above that is a blessing.
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Member Since: 4/9/2012
Posts: 1,916
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Some more
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Like a Southern girl who loses her accent after moving to the big city, Taylor Swift officially ditches country music on “Red.”
Sure, a banjo pops up now and again, and acoustic guitars sweep their way through the slower songs like Zamboni machines, adding a layer of smooth, earthy gauze to everything in their path. “Red” is a pop album, though, filled with synthesizers and bright, sugary hooks. The heavy, pulsing chorus of “I Knew You Were Trouble” even flirts with dubstep, a genre that couldn’t be further away from Miss Swift’s Nashville roots.
The transition isn’t as jarring as you would think. “Red” is still a collection of songs about the boys who have loved (and left) Miss Swift, who sings about her ex-boyfriends with a mix of doe-eyed vulnerability and mischievous revenge.
“All Too Well” is a modernized rewrite of “Back to December,” full of detail-rich anecdotes about a relationship that ended too soon, and “I Almost Do” is the album’s closest approximation of a country song, built around a simple admission — “It takes everything in me not to call you … and I hope you know that every time I don’t, I almost do” — that tugs on the heartstrings. “22” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” switch gears by turning Miss Swift’s single status into something worth celebrating, but those two are the worst songs on the album, proof that Miss Swift still sounds better when she’s singing about heartbreak.
For the most part, this is very relatable stuff. Miss Swift pushes the pause button on her love life and shows us some great images: a couple slow-dancing in the kitchen, bathed by the light of an open refrigerator; a discarded scarf sitting in the drawer of an ex-boyfriend, who doesn’t want to return the item because it still smells like his former flame; a new couple sitting in a cafe booth, discovering a mutual affinity for James Taylor records.
There are other moments where Miss Swift’s celebrity status gets the best of her, like the time she relates a doomed relationship to “driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street,” but “Red” usually feels like a diary entry from the girl next door.
Most importantly, the pop songs are fantastic. “State of Grace” combines U2’s echoing guitars with Paramore’s skyscraping vocals, and “Starlight” sketches a teenage romance with bright, sparkling splashes of synthesizer. During the title track, Miss Swift assigns colors to the various stages of a relationship (“Losing him was blue like I’d never known; missing him was dark gray, all alone”) and punctuates the chorus with an electronic twist, singing the tag line — “Loving him was red” — into some sort of robotic voice transformer. It’s a trick that Rihanna might use, but when it’s couched in glossy layers of electric guitar, arena-rock drums and arpeggiated banjo, it just sounds like Taylor Swift.
“Red” is a supersized album, its 16 songs spread out over the course of 65 minutes. That’s a lot of room for error, and a few songs — including the vapid “22” — take her pop makeover a little too far. Those missteps are few and far between, though, and if “Red” isn’t Miss Swift’s best album, it’s easily the best pop album by a country artist since Shania Twain’s “Come On Over.”
3.5/4
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...dy-antebellum/
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It's been a memorable year so far for fans of pop music. There's been Gotye to sing along to, and "Gangnam Style" to dance along to, and "We Are Young" to graduate to, and Carly Rae Jepsen giving out her digits with that flirty, expectant catch in her voice. But 2012 hasn't had its defining album — it's "Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," its Adele "21," its "Joshua Tree."
It does now.
Some of the initial reviews of Taylor Swift's "Red," which was released today, are going to be hesitant. Her audience remains young, excitable, and predominantly female. This has been true for most epochal pop stars throughout time, but the older guys (and they're still mostly guys) who sit in judgment of record albums are strangely suspicious of the enthusiasm of teenage girls.
Well, you can take that ambivalence, that careful three-star bet-hedging, and chuck it in the trash can, because this is a great album. Not great for teen pop, or great for a young-girl diarist, or great for a precocious songwriter who had, until recently, a whiff of child-pageant winner about her; no, this is great, period. Like "Rumours," an album it sometimes resembles, it exalts all the conventions of contemporary pop without indulging in any of its excess. Does it break any ground? Absolutely not, and Swift, who is a flag-waving traditionalist dedicated to classic songwriting craft, would probably be scandalized at the suggestion. Everything about her melodies and chord progressions is predictable, and by your third play, you're not going to mind one bit. Is it overlong? Probably, although having heard the album several times now, I'm not sure which of these sixteen gleaming petit fours I could bear to leave in the tray. Is it country?, country-pop, pop-country; does it subvert Nashville's time-honored formulas or uphold them? Gosh, who cares?
"Red" is the first fully grown-up album Swift has made, and if that sounds like treacherous territory for a star who has built her empire on fairytales and teenage fantasy, you bet your boots it is. But to be fair, "Speak Now," her excellent but flawed third set, revealed that Taylor Swift had some things she needed to outgrow. She needed to edit herself a bit better, and remember that if one bridge is sufficient, two bridges is probably a bridge too far. She needed to stop using her songs as occasions to hurl insults at other women who posed her no threat. Most importantly, she needed to turn herself into a convincing chronicler of love, which is her main subject — and not puppy love, or love framed by family expectations, or love triangles involving cheer captain rivals and cipher boyfriends who aren't there in the first place. It was telling that the most passionate song on "Speak Now" was the one that Swift wrote about her band.
"Red," by contrast, is the work of a young woman who has tasted the real thing. This is an album about real love — dizzy love, the kind that knocks you off your feet like a wave and leaves you exhilarated, a little angry, gasping for air. Swift has always had a great eye for detail, and now she's putting her observations — a scarf strategically left at a house, a boyfriend in a football helmet at an inappropriate time, the sweep of city lights, etcetera — in the service of stories that have depth and resonance, and which are fiercely inhabited. Sure, she still indulges in cliche, and her couplets are occasionally awkward. But from the first phrases of opener "State of Grace," Swift sounds like a different woman. It's not just that she's singing better, although she certainly is. It's that a genuine earth-rattling experience has driven the last bit of nonsense out of her head, and she presents herself as a girl on fire with no time to waste on trifles.
Much has been made of the star's decision to work with a stable of top-dollar pop producers on this set. Some fans of little faith worried they'd strip Swift of some of her personality — as if she'd ever let that happen. Not only does Swift get the best out of her collaborators (and yes, that is clearly the way the relationship works; this is no puppet girl), but her usual right-hand man Nathan Chapman has raised his game, too. "Grace," one of the great songs of 2012, is the realization of the singer's U2 stadium-pop aspirations; "All Too Well" is worked up into Swift's best gut-punch power ballad yet — rivaled here only by "Treacherous" and "The Last Time," a gorgeous duet with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol.
As for the song-doctored material, it turns out that chart-topper "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" is only the third-best Max Martin production on the album. The ridiculously catchy "I Knew You Were Trouble" drops the smallest and tastiest hint of dubstep into its chorus, but otherwise sounds like Hayley Williams of Paramore gone to the club. The devil-may-care "22" is a total delight, and a declaration of independence by an artist who has always been a bit too careful to play the role model. These days, she's got an ever-so-slightly different prescription for her listeners, young and old: Dance like you're 22. Maybe you're a grown-up who remembers it well, or a kid dreaming about the feeling, or you're right in the thick of it, and Swift's suggestion needs no further clarification or amendment. When the world's best pop star sends you a message as forthright, and joyous, as that, you're advised to drop whatever you're doing and oblige.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/musi...uperb_new.html
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 8,678
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Quote:
Originally posted by dragonhunter
Some more
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Two excellent reviews. Does this two review count towards metacritc???? 
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Member Since: 4/9/2012
Posts: 1,916
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Quote:
Originally posted by atishvaze
Two excellent reviews. Does this two review count towards metacritc???? |
Don't think so.
Here's another from a country blog
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There’s no denying that Taylor Swift has positioned herself as a powerhouse in Country Music. So, I think its fair to say that there was a pretty substantial amount of anticipation surrounding her new album, Red, and its release. For the past few years, Swift has been branching out and evolving her musical style, and based on the single releases preceding the album’s debut (today! October 22nd), it was a little unclear to me whether or not Red was going to be a country album or not. Despite its iTunes categorization in the “Country” genre, my short answer is no, this isn’t a country album. However, if you want the long answer and why I don’t think this is a negative thing, read my complete review below.
Since the release of her first album, Swift has clearly been on some kind of a musical journey of self-exploration, sharing all of her insights, heartbreaks and hopes with her fans. In a recent interview with a CBS news affiliate, Taylor described the progression of her musical career and album releases saying the following:
“Fearless was about the breakthrough and all the discovery… with Speak Now, I felt like I really had something to prove, because that last album was so big. I wanted to write the record by myself, to prove to myself that I could do it… with Red…I wanted to learn. I wanted to take my comfort zone–which at that point was writing songs alone–and I wanted to throw myself into a different realm.”-Taylor Swift
After listening to Red end to end more than a couple times, it is easy to see that Taylor was trying to challenge herself and expand with this album. It’s interesting too, because it is very clear that since Speak Now, and especially since Fearless, she has grown up quite a bit. The fairytales are gone, and what we hear in her lyrics are snippets of real life (well, as real as a superstars life can be at this point), and things not going the way you planned, a sentiment anyone can relate to.
There is also a complexity to this album, and it is this complexity that I think moves it far beyond the bounds of Nashville. Taylor brings in pop, alternative and even rock elements and blends them with the country sound she debuted with six years ago. While I’m sure many country fans won’t be interested in this new sound, I genuinely enjoy it. Its fresh and its interesting, especially on tracks like “Starlight“, that even has a kind of epic electric guitar riff, and “Holy Ground” with its steady drumbeat and almost punkish edge to the vocals.
I’ll be honest though, my favorite tracks are the ones where the echoes of Taylor’s country background come through the strongest like “Everything Has Changed“, “Begin Again“, “Sad Beautiful Tragic“, “I Almost Do” and “Treacherous”. All in all, Red is made of a complicated combination of tracks, sounds, feelings, and lyrics. It is an organic and honest project, and one that I think Swift should be very proud of. No, it isn’t even a little bit traditional country, but if you listen, those country influences are still in there. And hey, if artists can’t grow and change through the years, what’s the purpose of creating new music?
http://www.countrymusicnewsblog.com/...-album-review/
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Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 5,155
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Quote:
Originally posted by rbautz
With the anticipation and the excellent reviews (better than Adele) Taylor should hit easily, after Adele, the 10 million sales in US. Let's see, if she can do it.
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Stop dreaming, it's not gonna happen.
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 8,678
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***1/2 (out of four)
If you've written off Taylor Swift because she's a “country” artist or because her audience is largely teenage girls, you can start paying attention now.
The official promotional pitch for her new album, “Red,” points out as much: She's enlisted a series of noted pop producers, helping her land a number one single (“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”) and trade in pickup trucks for Maseratis in her lyrics. Swift has always been a singular songwriting talent, though, and the real step forward on “Red” is her increased maturity and thematic refinement. While 2008's “Fearless” perfectly played with a sort of grandiose, teenage idea of Love, the formula began to wear thin on follow-up “Speak Now,” which applied the language of high school crushes to highly publicized gossip mag subjects. Critics have called out Swift's lyrics for skewing young and reinforcing outdated ideals of romance, and, to be fair, one can't write honest songs about being a teenager forever.
The broad-appeal, guitar-driven power pop of “Red” offers a thoughtful solution to attempting to grow up while also catering to a younger audience. Standouts like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “Higher Ground” are straightforward pop anthems that have serious emotional backbones and employ touches of deft lyricism. Operating with subtlety, detail and a refreshing lack of cynicism, Swift cuts across age lines. She describes a post-breakup phone call as “so casually cruel in the name of being honest” on killer ballad “All Too Well” and pithily expresses the rush of infatuation on “State of Grace.”
Sure, these are mostly songs about falling in and out of love, but, with the exception of a few maudlin missteps toward the end (including an annoying duet with the guy from Snow Patrol, of all people), they aren’t obsessive. Instead, the music brims with optimism and heightened emotion that help create pop with real significance.
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http://www.redeyechicago.com/enterta...,4959995.story
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Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 5,155
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Originally posted by atishvaze
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The Last Time, an "annoying duet"? Irrelevant review 
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Member Since: 4/9/2012
Posts: 1,916
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BBC Music review (counted by Metacritic)
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Would it be too much of a stretch to call Taylor Swift her generation’s Morrissey? Probably, but just as The Smiths found their audience amongst a great cardigan-clad heap of rejected and lonely youth, so Taylor has found hers in the girls who have been treated poorly by the boys.
For song after song, Taylor points the finger at feckless boyhood (never manhood – the guys in Taylor Swift songs are always unformed and callow) and throws her hands to the heavens, asking: why didn’t you treat me better? Why didn’t you realise what you had when you had it? Why are you still ringing me? Why are you such an idiot?
And she does this partly because she’s a quick-witted lyricist with a sharp eye, and partly because she’s a true romantic, just like her audience. The actions of the boys and the feelings of the girls are given the full Romeo and Juliet treatment, as well they should be.
And when she has heavyweight assistance, it’s in order to make the sadness sadder, the funny bits funnier, and the hopeful bits sparklier. Max Martin helps to deliver the hit: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, but he’s also on hand for the vaguely dubsteppy I Knew You Were Trouble (a polar opposite to Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good), and 22, the Ke$ha-style drinking song every female singer’s album seems to need at present, but still one written with one guy in mind.
On the other hand, when Gary Lightbody brings one of his plodding Snow Patrol confections – The Last Time – it’s as if there are only two emotions in music (quiet and loud) and one tempo. It’s followed by the far livelier Holy Ground, which merely serves to emphasise the leaden drag.
But that’s okay. It’s a 16-track album (22, if you count the three new songs and three demos on the extended edition), and they’re always a bit scrappy. And what matters is the intimacy between star and audience. She’s writing their Facebook updates for them, and they love her for it.
70/100
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/pjcg
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Member Since: 5/9/2012
Posts: 38,050
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Not too bad 
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 4,779
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Quote:
Originally posted by like2throw
that guy is so random with his scores.
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he's been giving practically every non-hip hop album an A- for like a year now though 
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Member Since: 11/23/2011
Posts: 46,048
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Quote:
Originally posted by thediscomonkey
ffffff; TC3 got an A-? Wtf? |
TC III was pretty dank.
Much more cohesive then even Red. Red is kinda of all over the place from random songs featuring Dubstep to countryish croons.
I wonder if the score will go up or down. I'm thinking she'll finish off at 75.
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