"Red," Taylor Swift's fourth album, doesn't come out until October, but she's already been getting grief for her decision to work with Scandinavian song doctors Max Martin and Shellback.
The dismay is understandable: Swift's autonomy as a songwriter has always been one of her marks of distinction. And to be fair, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," her record-download chart-topper, does feel a bit like a Taylor Swift song hammered out in committee. It definitely does not advance her public persona any - she's still administering the beatdown on ex-boyfriends who've done her wrong. It's an exciting single, and it all works: Her often-maligned singing has never been more assured. But even for an artist whose choices have always been conservative, she's chosen to play it awfully safe.
Gossip hounds will scour the lyric sheet to attempt to ascertain which celebrity boyfriend she's kissing off. But the real question is whether the "boyfriend" she's breaking up with this time is Nashville. "Safe and Sound," one of two songs she contributed to the "Hunger Games" soundtrack, found her tacking toward alt-country, and raised expectations that she was returning to the fold after the mainstream moves on the "Speak Now" album. No such luck: The superstar has already warned the world that "Red" is her poppiest album yet.
There was not a shred of country in Swift's commanding show-closing Video Music Awards performance - unless you count a musician in her band wearing a horse's head. Swift is still not America's finest singer, but she continues to improve, and her onstage confidence has never been in question. Tonight she even executed some halfway decent dance steps. If it's a pop star she's determined to be, that's exactly what she's going to be. Yet I have the sneaking suspicion that she needs Nashville more than she currently believes she does.
But when did she say Red was her poppiest album yet? I remember before Fearless came out she said shed want to make a completely alt-country album one day
But when did she say Red was her poppiest album yet? I remember before Fearless came out she said shed want to make a completely alt-country album one day
I remember that too, but also on the MTV thing she said "Red" was nothing like "Never Ever"
I don't know what to believe.
To be honest it's not very surprising since Speak Now showed the diversity in sound she was willing to experiment with. In Red this will probably a naturally progression from that. I suspect Taylor will experiment with other genres and lyrical structure and mixing it with her own flavour.
who told him that RED is going to be her poppiest album yet ?? nowhere has this been declared! infact, she said WANEGBT is the only full on pop song in it!
So, I played "Never Ever" on Spotify and it shows up on my Facebook timeline...it only does that for official songs. I swear Spotify better not be trolling for my Itunes version that was transferred into my Spotify account.
I'm still waiting for that alt-country album too. 
