I had a conversation in the kitchen with one of my closest friends about what it was like to grow up around Taylor Swift’s music. Neither of us wanted to like it when we were younger, to the point of avoiding it. Now 23, we found ourselves without a justification for our initial ambivalence and suspicion. “Why did she get so much crap for just being a normal 21-year-old?” she asked me. I don’t quite know the answer to this question – what has changed about the world that initially shunned a younger Swift?
Currently, we are beginning to culturally reevaluate the ways in which persona, autonomy, and narrative play in the experiences of female musicians and of women, in general. The rerelease of Red is a reclaiming of Swift's own story, in both her rich insights on relationships, a topic that Swift was scrutinized for writing about, and the larger narrative of her career. The new recordings allow Swift to reclaim her past in two ways: allowing her to legally regain ownership of her music, and reprise of the context behind those past records.
Thematically, Red explores the complex development and unravelling of love, and the intricacies and setbacks that are part of the healing process from heartbreak. These challenges may be normal, but nonetheless are things that many of us don’t confront because of the pain they bring. Swift writes of these topics with a masterful eye for the little details of love that come back to haunt us, the moments that redeem love, and the moments that help us begin again. This faithfulness to detail is reflected in the arrangements; Red being known for many things can also be characterized by its twists and turns of genre – shifts that show a willingness to step into new musical territory and explore vibrant...red emotions.
Red (Taylor’s Version), regardless of new production or collaborators, holds an important place in the imagination of her fans. Her era’s turn into an archetypal experience or aesthetic for her listeners speaks to Swift’s sensitive worldbuilding and specifically her ability to tell her own story while creating ample space for listeners to relate and exist in that world with her.
Swift has never shied away from writing about the complexities of relationships, something she has received undue scrutiny for. However, it would be unfair to moralize Swift’s critics when I used to be one. I can’t tell you exactly where my dislike for her music came from, and whether this comes off as a postulation about misogyny or internalized misogyny or the shame which played in either role, I felt I couldn’t say that I liked her or her music because I didn’t want to like “girl music”; I didn’t want to be another patronized young girl obsessing about love she hasn’t yet felt. In retrospect, this was a very reductive interpretation of Swift’s music to say the least.
Unfortunately, her hardship doesn’t end with the public scrutiny over her music and its subject matter. After a brutal legal battle with Scooter Braun, who purchased Big Machine Records and, with it, the rights to her music, the future of Taylor Swift’s discography came into question. The eventual lawsuit ending in Braun’s favour highlights ethical tensions that we seldom think about when we stream music. Are we putting money directly into the hands of label executives that don’t prioritize their artists? In this particular situation, how can Swift reclaim her music without having to buy back her old records? As it turns out, Swift had a solution for this: rerecording everything.
Most artists use greatest hits compilations to give a look back at their career - Swift is looking back earlier than most artists.. Still, this is not simply a ‘greatest hits’ re-recording of her discography. To put it simply, rereleasing one’s entire discography is unprecedented. The rerecordings are statements in and of themselves about the ownership of music and personal narrative– for example, Red (Taylor’s Version) contains the 10 minute -original “All Too Well” which is Swift in her most raw, uncensored form. The song, the first ten minute single to reach number one on the Billboards, allows fans to hear what she would have said years ago had she not needed to pair down the song for the initial release. In addition, the titles of the re-releases have all been amended to include (Taylor’s Version). The title itself states directly, without question, that this is her music.
How can we reinterpret Red and Swift’s cultural impact nine years after its release? I’ve thought, “How do we talk about a woman’s dating past? What other people should have a say in this?” I’ve read conversations and debates on how, when, or even if to include the voices of men in conversations around the commodification of female experiences in music, and female oppression. These discussions battle themselves out in Facebook and YouTube comment sections over and over, seemingly to no avail. Personally, I asked myself questions like, “How can we talk about the past without prioritizing the voices of people that have hurt us, while still recognizing the hardship and pain those moments caused?” Ultimately, these are questions about public perception, self-concept and how those two things interact to form larger narratives around gender.
Postmodern flip flopping on persona and art can be tiring and self-defeating, especially when it comes to music. Yes, music is complex and worthy of careful dissection but it’s also a unifying form of expression that is made to be experienced - to chop Red up into its constituent elements and cultural nuggets is to ignore its core message. Red is carefully crafted to take listeners to the emotional extremes that a 21-year-old Swift felt. On Late Night with Seth Meyers she said, “reliving your 20s in your 30s is really the way to do it” which shows how much of a therapeutic process this has been for her. By all accounts of the wiser women in my life, your 30s are even better than your 20s. Can we ever look back on the past without being sucked into bad habits and old memories? By taking her ‘only true heartbreak record’ and reliving it, Swift seems to think yes.
Most importantly, the re-recording of Red shows that reclaiming narratives doesn’t always mean rewriting them. If the success of this Red (Taylor’s Version) is of any indication, Taylor Swift is retelling her story to a different world, one that is more willing to listen.
I had a conversation in the kitchen with one of my closest friends about what it was like to grow up around Taylor Swift’s music. Neither of us wanted to like it when we were younger, to the point of avoiding it. Now 23, we found ourselves without a justification for our initial ambivalence and suspicion. “Why did she get so much crap for just being a normal 21-year-old?” she asked me. I don’t quite know the answer to this question – what has changed about the world that initially shunned a younger Swift?
Currently, we are beginning to culturally reevaluate the ways in which persona, autonomy, and narrative play in the experiences of female musicians and of women, in general. The rerelease of Red is a reclaiming of Swift's own story, in both her rich insights on relationships, a topic that Swift was scrutinized for writing about, and the larger narrative of her career. The new recordings allow Swift to reclaim her past in two ways: allowing her to legally regain ownership of her music, and reprise of the context behind those past records.
Thematically, Red explores the complex development and unravelling of love, and the intricacies and setbacks that are part of the healing process from heartbreak. These challenges may be normal, but nonetheless are things that many of us don’t confront because of the pain they bring. Swift writes of these topics with a masterful eye for the little details of love that come back to haunt us, the moments that redeem love, and the moments that help us begin again. This faithfulness to detail is reflected in the arrangements; Red being known for many things can also be characterized by its twists and turns of genre – shifts that show a willingness to step into new musical territory and explore vibrant...red emotions.
Red (Taylor’s Version), regardless of new production or collaborators, holds an important place in the imagination of her fans. Her era’s turn into an archetypal experience or aesthetic for her listeners speaks to Swift’s sensitive worldbuilding and specifically her ability to tell her own story while creating ample space for listeners to relate and exist in that world with her.
Swift has never shied away from writing about the complexities of relationships, something she has received undue scrutiny for. However, it would be unfair to moralize Swift’s critics when I used to be one. I can’t tell you exactly where my dislike for her music came from, and whether this comes off as a postulation about misogyny or internalized misogyny or the shame which played in either role, I felt I couldn’t say that I liked her or her music because I didn’t want to like “girl music”; I didn’t want to be another patronized young girl obsessing about love she hasn’t yet felt. In retrospect, this was a very reductive interpretation of Swift’s music to say the least.
Unfortunately, her hardship doesn’t end with the public scrutiny over her music and its subject matter. After a brutal legal battle with Scooter Braun, who purchased Big Machine Records and, with it, the rights to her music, the future of Taylor Swift’s discography came into question. The eventual lawsuit ending in Braun’s favour highlights ethical tensions that we seldom think about when we stream music. Are we putting money directly into the hands of label executives that don’t prioritize their artists? In this particular situation, how can Swift reclaim her music without having to buy back her old records? As it turns out, Swift had a solution for this: rerecording everything.
Most artists use greatest hits compilations to give a look back at their career - Swift is looking back earlier than most artists.. Still, this is not simply a ‘greatest hits’ re-recording of her discography. To put it simply, rereleasing one’s entire discography is unprecedented. The rerecordings are statements in and of themselves about the ownership of music and personal narrative– for example, Red (Taylor’s Version) contains the 10 minute -original “All Too Well” which is Swift in her most raw, uncensored form. The song, the first ten minute single to reach number one on the Billboards, allows fans to hear what she would have said years ago had she not needed to pair down the song for the initial release. In addition, the titles of the re-releases have all been amended to include (Taylor’s Version). The title itself states directly, without question, that this is her music.
How can we reinterpret Red and Swift’s cultural impact nine years after its release? I’ve thought, “How do we talk about a woman’s dating past? What other people should have a say in this?” I’ve read conversations and debates on how, when, or even if to include the voices of men in conversations around the commodification of female experiences in music, and female oppression. These discussions battle themselves out in Facebook and YouTube comment sections over and over, seemingly to no avail. Personally, I asked myself questions like, “How can we talk about the past without prioritizing the voices of people that have hurt us, while still recognizing the hardship and pain those moments caused?” Ultimately, these are questions about public perception, self-concept and how those two things interact to form larger narratives around gender.
Postmodern flip flopping on persona and art can be tiring and self-defeating, especially when it comes to music. Yes, music is complex and worthy of careful dissection but it’s also a unifying form of expression that is made to be experienced - to chop Red up into its constituent elements and cultural nuggets is to ignore its core message. Red is carefully crafted to take listeners to the emotional extremes that a 21-year-old Swift felt. On Late Night with Seth Meyers she said, “reliving your 20s in your 30s is really the way to do it” which shows how much of a therapeutic process this has been for her. By all accounts of the wiser women in my life, your 30s are even better than your 20s. Can we ever look back on the past without being sucked into bad habits and old memories? By taking her ‘only true heartbreak record’ and reliving it, Swift seems to think yes.
Most importantly, the re-recording of Red shows that reclaiming narratives doesn’t always mean rewriting them. If the success of this Red (Taylor’s Version) is of any indication, Taylor Swift is retelling her story to a different world, one that is more willing to listen.
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