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Discussion: Taylor Swift - 'RED' | Metascore: 77/100
Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 5,155
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Originally posted by thediscomonkey
One Direction are closer to The Monkees instead of Beatles.  I'm not really big on Beatles, but one just got to admit that.  |
I don't like the Beatles either but i TOTALLY AGREE. One Direction will be forgotten quick, the Beatles are FOREVER.
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 8,678
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Originally posted by muddysquirrel
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Its 3.5 / 5 
But another good review 
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Member Since: 11/29/2010
Posts: 19,664
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Quote:
Originally posted by atishvaze
Its 3.5 / 5
But another good review |
Oops. These stars are kinda weirdly placed there.  Did not see it with my mobile.
Review screams more actually. They did not point out many flaws. 
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 8,678
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Quote:
Originally posted by muddysquirrel
Oops. These stars are kinda weirdly placed there. Did not see it with my mobile.
Review screams more actually. They did not point out many flaws. |
Quite similar to RS review 
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 8,678
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Arguably the best review till date
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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” wasn’t really “that”, in the end. Slowly, but surely, Swift’s 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 Swift’s disinterest in pleasing her critics that would have her revert back to her “country roots” during her amazing young career eventually culminated in “Red”, Swift’s fourth studio album.
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”, “22”and 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. That’s not to say that the rest of the album won’t 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. I’m still making my mind up about “Stay, Stay, Stay”, Swift’s 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 I’m not sure yet.
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, Swift’s 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 I’m 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.
Overall, “Red” impresses as an album that should appeal to all of Taylor Swift’s 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, I’m 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 Swift’s 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 doesn’t 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.
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http://whatculture.com/music/taylor-...red-review.php
4.5 /5 
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Member Since: 7/15/2012
Posts: 2,055
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Originally posted by atishvaze
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Great review but will it count?
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 8,678
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Quote:
Originally posted by honey827
Great review but will it count?
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No, I don't think so
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Member Since: 8/20/2011
Posts: 1,843
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Drowned in Sound (counted for Metacritic):
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7/10
Taylor Swift wasn’t born a Southern belle, it’s simply the persona she adopted having moved to Nashville, Tennessee at 14-years-old. An eternally romantic teen in love with the idea of being in love, it was all too picturesque for the American public to resist; so the country music and teen-pop markets both swooned in adoration. Sure, she sang about getting dumped and "stupid old pick-up trucks" she was never allowed to drive but who doesn’t hit a few bumps on the road to finding their perfect man?
Well on Red, Taylor’s gone through another split and this time, it's personal. “Urgggh, so he calls me up and he's like, ‘I still love you,’" she frustratedly recalls on the self-explanatory ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’. “And I'm like... ‘I just... I mean this is exhausting, you know, like, we are never getting back together. Like, ever.’" This is as close as the ‘Love Story’ singer will ever get to screaming ‘go **** yourself’ on an album. It’s also just a fragment of one of 2012’s most inspired singles and a complete vindication of Swift’s decision to stray from the self-penned ethos of her last record Speak Now.
Although Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody are Red’s best-known contributors, Max Martin is the name that really signals its intentions. As the man behind ‘...Baby One More Time’, ‘Since U Been Gone’ and ‘I Kissed A Girl’, Martin is the kind of producer who can mould a decent singer into a popstar. Nowhere is this more clear than on ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ which, aside from being the fastest selling song in digital history, creates a new forthright image for Swift to inhabit compared to the soppy submissive of old. This means double tracking her vocals to beef up a voice built for dainty acoustics and throbbing bass-filled choruses to signify a girl who’s old enough to join the EDM party, plus a few parting shots at “hipsters” and their superior indie credentials.
At its best, the whole affair brings to mind a more four-to-the-floor version of Adele’s 21. Given the album also contains ‘Treacherous’, a collaboration with Dan Wilson who co-wrote ‘Someone Like You’, this is no coincidence at all. Where Tottenham’s finest creates an epic drama out of smoking a *** in stormy weather (‘Set Fire To The Rain’) or having a fight in a sushi bar (‘Turning Tables’), Swift is relentlessly literal in her lyrics. Most of the time it’s endearing, even if the likes of ‘Stay Stay Stay’ and ‘Begin Again’ threaten to outnumber the headline attraction of its leading lady gone embittered... and sort of ravey. On a 16 song collection, the habit eventually wears thin with ‘Sad Beautiful Tragic’ paying particularly flagrant disregard for the law of ‘show, don’t tell’.
For all its manufactured essence, Red remains firmly grounded at the crossroads between innocence and experience. Taylor Swift has stayed true to her southern roots but what kind of belle is she? Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire who clings onto civility while falling afoul of the modern world? Or Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With The Wind, who emerges from loss with a hardened heart? Whatever the answer, it’s going to make for a fascinating follow-up album.
http://drownedinsound.com/releases/1...eviews/4145647
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Member Since: 5/9/2012
Posts: 38,050
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^that's like a 70, right?
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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SPIN review just in ppl.
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Sometimes she sounds like indie-rock! The rest of the time she sounds better!
by Michael Robbins
On her fourth album, Nashville's 22-year-old ambassador to the malls of America is feeling a bit insecure about her status: "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" finds her ex listening to "some indie record that's much cooler than mine"; she and her friends "dress up like hipsters" on "22" and get dissed by the "cool kids."
It's never a good idea for megastars to complain about how uncool they are, but she has a point: Aren't we finished condescending to Taylor Swift yet? If a young female songwriter this talented and consistent were making indie music on Domino Records, would critics find it necessary to congratulate her for writing her own songs or reproach her for naïve sentiments? Have these people ever listened to the xx? Forget Swift's age (even if she did write "Tim McGraw," the best teenage lyric since Rimbaud's "Drunken Boat," when she was a freshman in high school), her Forever-21-fresh image, her alleged ideological failings, Red is as smart and catchy a collection of tunes as you'll find on the Internet this year. Pardon me if I hear more vitality and verve in her corniest love-story/break-up anthem than in all the adolescent morosity Justin Vernon wrings from his wounded soul.
Swift's third album, 2010's Speak Now, had its boggy moments (though it also had "Dear John," one of her best songs), but most of record four is on ground as firm as an endless country road in August. There are a few puddles: Taylor, if you're reading this, the slow ones aren't working ("featuring Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol" is not the most promising phrase to see tagged to an MP3 file.) And the vocals could be tighter and less mannered: "The trademark catch in her voice," Greil Marcus has written, "makes her the third, white-girl member of Destiny's Child."
But most of these songs go down like pop punch spiked by pros. The gorgeous "All Too Well" cribs the bassline from U2's "With or Without You" and dances "'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light." "Starlight" disco-dazzles Swift right out of her usual AOR persona. On "State of Grace" and "Holy Ground" — which, with their chugging rhythms and guitar filigree, sort of are indie rock, except without the creative-writing-workshop world-wariness — Swift gets staccato over Larry Mullen-sized drums and whoa-oh-oh-oh-whoa cheerleader chants. And "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," co-written with Max Martin, is the best hit Kelly Clarkson never had, a venomous confection of processed guitars. It's a monster. You can hear the Bubblicious smacking in Hot Topics across the land as Taylor Nation sings along.
Is it country? Country fans and country radio seem to think so. The question usually just reveals the ignorance of its asker. Listen to Jerrod Niemann's "Free the Music," Keith Urban's "Used to the Pain," the Band Perry's "Miss You Being Gone," or Miranda Lambert's "Kerosene," then get back to me about what country music is. My answer: the most dynamically vibrant pop genre of the last decade or so. Sure, the tropes that, like the "autumn leaves" of "All Too Well," "fall down like pieces into place" are generic enough to fit any genre. On Red, someone has "a new Maserati," but only "dead-end streets" and "little town streets" to drive it down. Autumn's a season of mists; summers, boys pick you up on the boardwalk, you sing along with the car radio, then they stop calling. "I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to"; "All love ever does is break and burn and end / But on a Wednesday in a café I watched it begin again." And "the story's got dust on every page."
It's just that country has been, for some time, the genre with the least need to be humorless about its own identity (Brad Paisley's "This Is Country Music" is funny). Is "All love ever does is break and burn and end" too earnest for you, even with its tail of Donnean iambs? Country's very hospitality to the unironic — Springsteen surges, Bon Jovi licks — is what gives it the scope of actual irony, dialectical and reflective: "happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time," as Swift puts it on "22."
Whatever it is, this music is full of adult pleasures, even if the most explicit image Swift offers is of an ex-boyfriend sniffing her scarf because it smells like her. On Red — the color of blood and lipstick and fire and Southern dirt and hearts and conservatism and tractors and communism and sin, this last a word whose charged valence here might discomfit know-it-alls who would never use it without scare quotes — Swift's too smart and tuneful to condescend to her contradictions. Or to yours. (8)
http://www.spin.com/reviews/taylor-s...gn=spintwitter
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Member Since: 12/19/2009
Posts: 10,504
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Is it country? Country fans and country radio seem to think so. The question usually just reveals the ignorance of its asker. Listen to Jerrod Niemann's "Free the Music," Keith Urban's "Used to the Pain," the Band Perry's "Miss You Being Gone," or Miranda Lambert's "Kerosene," then get back to me about what country music is. My answer: the most dynamically vibrant pop genre of the last decade or so.
I agree with her though.
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Member Since: 5/9/2012
Posts: 38,050
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Quote:
Originally posted by CountryFriedChick
Is it country? Country fans and country radio seem to think so. The question usually just reveals the ignorance of its asker. Listen to Jerrod Niemann's "Free the Music," Keith Urban's "Used to the Pain," the Band Perry's "Miss You Being Gone," or Miranda Lambert's "Kerosene," then get back to me about what country music is. My answer: the most dynamically vibrant pop genre of the last decade or so.
I agree with her though. |
If I understood that right...did she just call country music, pop?
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Member Since: 12/19/2009
Posts: 10,504
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hunter_13
If I understood that right...did she just call country music, pop?
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Mainstream country music yeah she did
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Member Since: 3/3/2011
Posts: 23,567
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The music played on radio stations is pop, so she ain't lyin'.
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Member Since: 5/9/2012
Posts: 38,050
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She isn't lying
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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Girls, let's get things right first. 1) It's MICHAEL, not Michelle or Michaela. It's a he.  , 2) Finally someone has the balls to call out Country radio (and saying what everyone has in mind all this time).
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Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 50,981
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An 80 from Spin? 
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 12,849
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Few more:
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The color red is striking and vibrant, passionate and lush. It doesn’t give into restraints. It’s a stirring color, emotional in its essence, and this means it can sometimes be sullen. However, the color red is no doubt alive. On her fourth studio album, Red, superstar Taylor Swift revels in emotional color as she delivers 16 songs bursting with life and a young modern point of view.
In many ways Taylor, who released her self-titled debut six years ago this week, has grown up before our eyes. It shouldn’t be shocking that the one we hear now wields an older and more experienced outlook than the 16-year-old that broke in 2006 with the song about young love, “Tim McGraw.” Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we’re 22, she sings here on the electro-pop tune, “22,” celebrating her youth, but also subtly defending her right to act her age. And this ever-maturing attitude runs through the bulk of Red.
Many of the songs on Red, which is available now, carry the same themes from Taylor’s previous albums – dating, boys, relationships, fights and new beginnings. However, on songs like the building “Treacherous,” where danger is a turn on, and the simultaneously sad and angry break-up song, “All Too Well,” Taylor displays a wiser stance, even cleverly pointing out a boy as, so casually cruel in the name of being honest, on the latter. On “I Knew You Were Trouble.,” written with P!nk collaborators Max Martin and Swedish DJ, Shellback, Taylor blames herself for getting in too deep before an electronic dubstep-influenced chorus rings out.
Taylor wrote or co-wrote every song on Red, including three with Max Martin and Shellback, exploring a more overtly pop sound here than she has in the past. The aforementioned, “22,” and first single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” both feature electronic arrangements. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” slyly moves between programmed acoustic guitars and a steady drum pulse into a huge, anthemic chorus with the fervent energy of a college pep rally. It’s a cathartic release, and when the low key, jangling, “Stay Stay Stay,” follows immediately after carrying the first line, I’m pretty sure we almost broke up last night, it comes off as sweet comic relief.
Conflicting emotions rise up throughout the project. For example, the music is often very pop, with killer hooks and quick melodies (“Starlight”), but the themes have an element of small town girl in a big city world (album opener “State of Grace”). On “I Almost Do,” which hints at Taylor’s early rolling acoustic sound, she helplessly daydreams about a far-off boy that moved from her country town to the city. The urgent “Holy Ground,” which captures moments of reminiscing over a lost love, finds Taylor in the city conflicted in knowing that it was a good love.
A pair of European guests join Taylor on the album; British artist Ed Sheeran collaborates on the fluttering, “Everything Has Changed,” while Gary Lightbody of Scottish rock band Snow Patrol duets on “The Last Time.” Gary and Taylor display a palpable chemistry in their brilliant harmonies similar to the moody dynamics of The Civil Wars.
Taylor also ventures into some new territory. The mysterious, ¾-time, “Sad Beautiful Tragic,” builds from haunting piano to leave listeners clinging on every word as they work through the song’s dark storylines. And on “The Lucky One,” Taylor takes aim at celebrity with sarcasm; everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool.
Red is an evocative album full of vibrant moments. The electric energy of the pounding title-track, with color-driven lyrics bringing out vivid imagery, just reminds listeners that Taylor is one of the most talented young songwriters in any genre. Red comes wrapped up in a flurry of emotion, but just like the color, it’s bursting with life.
Key Tracks – “All Too Well,” “I Almost Do,” “Sad Beautiful Tragic,” “The Last Time”
http://blog.gactv.com/blog/2012/10/2...or-swifts-red/
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Taylor Swift Red Album Review: The Album That Made Me Appreciate Swift as an Artist
by Steven Holt
Being someone who’s never listened to a Taylor Swift album before, I genuinely didn’t know what to expect, but in all honesty had already decided that I probably wouldn’t like it very much.
That is quite an ignorant assumption to make, I know, but a few years ago I heard her song “Love Story” and harshly decided that this artist just wasn’t for me, so you can imagine I wasn’t really looking forward to writing this review.
That was until I started listening to Red and I was immediately bowled over by the opening track “State of grace.” I don’t know if I was more taken aback because I assumed I was going to hear something completely different, but I liked “State of Grace” so much I actually listened to it three more times before moving on.
“State of Grace” has such a beautiful morning rock feel to it; at times the guitar riffs reminded me of a song that Angels and Airwaves would craft, but don’t misunderstand me, I’m not comparing Taylor Swift to Angels and Airwaves; just parts of “State of Grace,” which share that ‘just woke up in a new world’ feel that AVA never fail to deliver.
The second track on Red, which shares its name with the album title, was also extremely uplifting and bold, seamlessly merging country and pop rock, or nu country as some might call it, blending together so well to make what is sure to be a chart hit.
The whole album seems to have a narrative swirling around the subject of boys, relationships and exes — the story of a girl who has grown up but is still making mistakes, in some cases willingly but overall appreciative of the never ending learning curve that is life.
One track that really stood out to me on this album is Swift’s duet with Ed Sheeran “Everything Has Changed” after listening to this you might just be hoping that these two make a duet album at some point, I definitely will be. The two artists compliment each other so well and Sheeran brings his much appreciated acoustic guitar melodies to the table, along with his soothing backing vocals which really adds a strong depth to the song. When Swift and Sheeran both sing “I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now,” there is such a lovely chemistry and harmony that they share which really brings this song to life and gives it an emotion that resonates wonderfully.
Overall this was a really good listen, and I am actually going to buy this album and then make sure I listen to her past albums as well because I’ve realized (yet again) that you just can’t judge an artist or her album on the lead single alone. However, although saying that if I had heard Red’s first single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” without hearing the rest of the album first, I might’ve made the same mistake again, not that the lead single isn’t good because it does do everything a lead single is supposed to do It just doesn’t give any hint to the kind of depth that is to be found on Red.
Finally, if you are open minded towards music then their will be something on Red which will satisfy you, and as for me, I can now say I like Taylor Swift!
4.5/5
Best Tracks: “State of Grace,” “Red,” “Treacherous,” “All Too Well,” “Stay Stay Stay,”,“The Last Time,” “Everything Has Changed,” and “Starlight”
http://www.policymic.com/articles/17...t-as-an-artist
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Member Since: 12/8/2010
Posts: 17,643
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The Spin review is way better than I expected. 
17 reviews and the score is still 76/100. Lovely. 
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Member Since: 3/19/2011
Posts: 1,136
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glad its having great reviews!!
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