Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Wake up, besties! Taylor Swift released new music! Well, one entirely new song and three re-recorded songs, but that’s still enough to get someone whose Spotify Wrapped told them they were in the top 1% of Taylor Swift listeners like me. Since I have that going for me, and the less important credential of a degree in journalism, I decided to review these new releases.

All Of The Girls You Loved Before
I was so excited when I saw this song was released because I didn’t think we’d get any songs from the vault of the Lover album. All Swifties know that, as Taylor re-records her old albums so she can own them, she’s also been releasing songs ‘from the vault’ of each album. Since Taylor has owned Lover from the very beginning, I gave up all hopes of getting any extra songs from my favorite album. Never have I been happier to be wrong. Right off the bat, the song gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling with its slow and chill beat. It also has incredibly romantic lyrics about fated lovers like “your past and mine are parallel lines” that help with that. Taylor then went on to show how she’s the master of writing bridges by singing “I wanna teach you how forever feels” as the music swelled. Of course, the song still gave us a slightly unhinged cherry on top of the romantic sunday with the lyric “I love you more,” being repeated as the song fades out. When you compare this song to every other one on the Lover album, you can tell it came from that era, which just makes me love it even more. Overall, this song gets a ten out of ten for me and that shows by the fact that I’ve already listened to it five times today.

If This Was a Movie (Taylor’s Version)
What immediately stuck out to me about this song is that Swift used the album cover for Fearless (Taylor’s Version) despite it being a bonus track from her Speak Now album. I don’t know why she did that, but I’m sure we’ll find out once she releases Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). As for the differences between this song and the original version, they are subtle, but I do think they improved upon the original. You can tell it was mixed by someone different when you listen closely to the guitar parts, but I like the newer version better for that reason. Of course, something you’re going to notice on all of these re-recorded songs is that the vocals are more mature. Taylor was just entering adulthood when Speak Now was released, so the now 33-year-old is bound to sound different. As someone who also sings and has gone back to listen to recordings of myself from when I was younger, I can say that vocals really do get better with age, and maybe that’s because you’ve had more years of training, but regardless, I like the vocals on the newer songs better.

Safe & Sound (Taylor’s Version) featuring Joy Williams and John Paul White
This song was originally written for the Hunger Games soundtrack, but Swift put the Red (Taylor’s Version) album cover on it, which is understandable since I don’t think she has the rights to Hunger Games images. I’ve always found great comfort in this song because of the message it gives and the calming melody, so I was interested to hear the new version of it. This song is similar to the last, having more mature vocals and subtle differences in the mixing. So, just like the last, I’ve found myself liking it slightly more than the original.

Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version)
This is another song that Taylor wrote for the Hunger Games soundtrack that now has the Red (Taylor’s Version) album cover on it. The vibe of this song is much different than Safe & Sound, not just musically, but with a less comforting message. This song is about staying on guard because people are watching your every move. If you’re familiar with the Hunger Games, you can understand why she’d write a song like that for its soundtrack. Especially with the lyric “keep your aim locked” since the main character is an archer. I do want to add though that this song could mean a lot to Swift herself, using the struggles of Katniss Everdeen as parallels to her own struggles being someone at her level of fame. When it comes to the re-recording of this song, it is just like the last two, having just small differences from the original that make me like it even just a tad more.

All in all, it’s always a good day when Taylor Swift releases new music. Even re-recorded versions of old songs make Taylor Swift fans everywhere drop what they’re doing so they can listen right away. The excitement was possibly even bigger this time around since Taylor dropped these songs the night before the first show of her Era’s tour, making people speculate that she released these songs so she can perform them live. Regardless of whether or not these songs were released for that reason, I’m happy to have them to jam out to over and over again. Especially All Of The Girls You Loved Before. If you think you love that song, just know, I love it more. – Lindsay Carson