I’ve been a fan of Taylor Swift since I was 9 years old. I adored ‘Love Story’ and around the time of its release, I’d been allowed to use the computer in my house on my own. I watched the music video on repeat, trying to convince myself that my messy curls held some similarity to Taylor’s perfect ringlets.
I became a diehard Taylor devotee just before Red came out. Ten years on, it’s my favourite album ever.
I don’t know whether it’s the fact that the album centres around my favourite time of year (autumn) or whether it’s the confessional, poignant and storytelling tracks that the album is overflowing with. In Taylor’s own words, the album is a ‘devastating record’ in which each song has either heartbreak or the fear of losing the magic in a relationship as its underlying theme. Whilst I was delighted with the general public reaction to folklore, my heart aches for the likes of ‘The Moment I Knew’ and ‘I Almost Do’, which didn’t and don’t receive a fraction of the credit that ‘Exile’ is showered with. In my opinion, the songs on Red set a bar for songwriting that Taylor has only recently touched on again.
Since it’s autumn and like many of you, I’ve had Red (Taylor’s Version) on repeat (and Midnights, of course!) I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on every single song whilst also recommending a book that ~somewhat~ fits the lyrics of each song. Just a note: since Red (Taylor’s Version) has 30 songs on it, I’m doing the first 16 tracks that were on the original album in this post and then the rest in the next two weeks.
State of Grace
I’d say ‘State of Grace’ is arguably Taylor’s best album opener in terms of its cohesiveness and impact. I love ‘The 1,’ ‘Mine’ and ‘Fearless’ but all three of those songs are on the same level to me in terms of the emotions they elicit. ‘State of Grace,’ on the other hand, makes me feel invincible the moment I put it on. That song was made to be played in stadiums. It remains a standout in her discography, there’s not another song like it. The song starts high and only gets higher.
I completely understand why some people may not gravitate towards it as much as I do; the song deviates from Taylor’s usual songwriting style (it’s essentially a poem read aloud as opposed to the storytelling route she tends to take) and is an entirely different genre also. I personally can’t get enough of the drums throughout the song and the lyrics, my favourite being ‘we are alone with our changing minds’.
A book that describes a similar love, in which the couple are constantly rethinking and overthinking their decision to stay together, is Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert. The titular character has led a rather reclusive lifestyle as a result of having fibromyalgia and enlists the help of Red Morgan, a man who diffuses both creativity and chaos through the pages. He’s the tattooed handyman employed at her block of flats who spends his nights painting and his days hiding his art.
In terms of being alone with constantly changing minds, Red is still struggling through the aftermath of a toxic relationship whilst Chloe has had to suffer with multiple of her friendships breaking down as a result of her condition. They understandably doubt each other and the potential relationship to begin with though I think any reader will agree, the story blossoms into a beautiful romance.
Red
This song has some of Taylor’s most simple lyrics. To me, the guitar riffs and production do most of the talking. I love how Taylor uses colours to symbolise not only the different emotions on the spectrum but also how intensely she feels them.
I read Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating nearly two years ago and thought it fitted the song perfectly. It’s the perfect friends-to-lovers novel; the characters start off as University friends and in one of the crazy ways life reminds us how small the world is, Hazel ends up working alongside Josh’s sister as a teacher.
The characters gel together so well; Josh is never embarrassed by Hazel’s eccentric personality or her unpredictable behaviour. Meanwhile, Josh is the only individual Hazel ever worries she’ll upset with her conduct. The back and forth they face is never severe or detrimental to the relationship - if anything, it assists in them realising how they can’t live without the other. The book perfectly fits the song.
Treacherous
This song is one of the most underrated pieces of work in Taylor’s discography. If I ever go through a period of time of not listening to it and decide to put it on, the bridge hits me in the same way as it did the first time I heard it in 2012.
I first heard the song during Taylor’s Livestream before the album’s release. She mentioned writing the song with Dan Wilson, who was also her co-writer on ‘Come Back…Be Here’. How I wish she’d worked with him more, I’d love to hear what they could come up with together if they collaborated to the same extent Taylor and Max Martin worked together.
I purchased Brigid Kemmerer’s Call It What You Want during the first lockdown in a Depop bundle. I love Brigid’s prose and her characterisation is spot on - you can’t help but fall in love with every hero and heroine she creates. I think what’s key is that she reminds readers that her characters are flawed yet scarred; they’ve made mistakes whilst navigating the hurdles life has thrown at them. As humans, we’re all guilty of forgetting why we make mistakes. We’re too busy swimming in repercussions, most of which are in our heads.
Prior to the setting in Call It What You Want Rob’s father is arrested for embezzling frauds from half of the town. It’s an almost identical situation to the Jimmy Cooper storyline at the beginning of The O.C, in which he loses half the town’s money, many of which have children who run in the same social circles as his daughter Marissa. Rob’s father however attempts to take his own life and fails, leaving Rob and his mother completely responsible for his care. Meanwhile, formerly perfect girl Meagan is dealing with corridor whispers and taunts after being caught cheating on a test. The characters face complications in their relationship (for instance, Meagan’s father is the policeman that arrested Rob’s father) but it’s details such as that that make the story so gripping and the romance…treacherous.
I Knew You Were Trouble
I wouldn’t call Max Martin’s works necessarily poetic but my Goodness are they catchy! My 13-year-old self had this song on repeat. Additionally, we have this song to thank for one of Adele’s best tracks; the songstress heard ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ on the radio, looked into working with Max Martin and now we have ‘Send My Love (To Your New Lover)’ to dance to.
Similarly to ‘State of Grace,’ the song is a standout in Taylor’s discography in that it’s a totally different genre from her other songs. However, it’s not 5 minutes long, which makes it friendly for radio. So friendly in fact that it got parodied to the point of never being taken seriously again with the goat remix.
The lyrics detail a relationship in which Taylor saw red flags from the get-go and yet went ahead with the relationship anyway. Whether or not you have an ex to apply this to I think we can all say we’re guilty of trusting someone we knew we shouldn’t.
It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne is a great match for this song, though I already used it in my Olivia Rodrigo tag (which you can read here). I’m opting for The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary; Addie and Dylan meet whilst on holiday in France and embark on a romance. Three years after they break up, they find themselves sharing a car on the way to a mutual friend’s wedding.
The book follows the characters on the road trip with flashbacks to their relationship and why they fell apart. It reminded me a bit of Luke from One Tree Hill and the many awkward car journeys he got himself into with Brooke and Peyton whilst Nathan and Haley tagged along.
All Too Well
Here it is, Taylor’s magnum opus. I don’t listen to the original version much anymore but when it does come on shuffle I always leave it on. This was Taylor’s best song before it was her best song. Admittedly, I prefer the production of it. *runs for cover*
In 2018 Taylor thanked fans for changing ‘All Too Well’ for her - it’s a song she can now sing with a smile on her face. I recall her performing it at the 2014 Grammy’s and it looked as though she was fighting tears the whole way through.
We all know the autumnal heartbreak behind the song which I’ll delve more into with part 2 of this post, though for the snack-sized version of the song, I’m going to recommend Just One Day by Gayle Forman. I started reading Gayle Forman books when I was fourteen, If I Stay being the first and We Are Inevitable being the most recent. In Just One Day, Allyson meets Willem at the end of her three-week tour of Europe. Willem is hopelessly charming in the same way Henry is in It Only Happens In The Movies, a gall so alluring Allyson can’t help but abandon her dreams to join him.
Needless to say, she regrets it.
22
When ‘22’ was released as a single all the boys in my year group were obsessed with the hook. I didn’t bother trying to tell them that she had far better songs, I was thrilled they had temporarily stopped mocking her, her music and me for listening to her. Nine years later I listened to the song on my way to work on my 22nd birthday and a few weeks later, Taylor’s version was released.
I spent this summer gone being very confused, lonely and miserable. So Taylor was half right.
I read Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway earlier this year. Would I call it the best young adult novel I’d ever read? Probably not, especially as the ending had me gagging at how cliche it was (I don’t mean how the story ends - there’s an epilogue in which Benway writes of the characters as babies being in opposite cribs in a hospital as they were born on the same day). It’s a cute summer read, though - Emmy’s best friend as a kid who also happens to be her next-door neighbour (see, cheesy) is Oliver, who gets kidnapped by his father when they’re young children. When he is found, he moves back in with his mother and returns to school with all his old classmates.
It isn’t the backbone of the story, in which Emmy and Oliver's re-discovered friendship makes the predictable twist into a romance, that reminds me of ‘22’. It's Emmy’s relationship with her friends that does. She has an enviable army around her at all points, the kind of bunch to have breakfast at midnight and fall in love with strangers.
She's also really into her surfing in the novel and spends a large amount of time hiding the hobby from her parents. Hence, the song match.
I Almost Do
I have a feeling ‘Better Man’ didn’t make it onto the original album because the song tells almost the same story as ‘I Almost Do’. I love both songs for different reasons; ‘I Almost Do’ tells the tale of someone who forces themselves to not pick up the phone and call their ex out of the risk of being hurt again.
The line ‘I wish I could run to you’ meant so much to me when I was 13 and it still does now. I’ve always been a very affectionate person and whilst I hadn’t experienced heartbreak back then, I had experienced heartache. I’d experienced the overwhelming yearning to run up to someone and hug them after they’d hurt me.
I read The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo a few years ago. In a When Harry Met Sally kind of way, the romance takes place over several years. Lucy and Gabe meet on a tragic day in American history, after which a 13-year romance with every hurdle you can imagine takes place.
A few years ago James from The Vamps tweeted that ‘I Almost Do’ was his favourite song of Taylor’s. The man has spectacular taste, I have to say.
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
When this song first came out, Robert Myers wrote in The Village Voice that he doubted the track was ‘even close to being the best song on Red’. He was correct because ‘All Too Well’ exists, though I still think this song is brilliant. For me, the bridge is the best part. Correct me if I’m wrong but at the time, I’d never heard a song take that kind of spin. Taylor also took a massive plunge doing it - critics could have so easily regarded the verse as cringy and ruined any chance the song had chart success. But as with anything Taylor does, it worked.
I thought Indestructible Object by Mary McCoy would be a good match here. In the novel, Lee is a podcast host whose boyfriend breaks up with her during one of their live shows. Her parents also tell her that they're separating.
Feeling brokenhearted, Lee decides to start her own podcast alongside her friends Max and Risa, in which the three question the do's and don't of love and why most of the time, it doesn't work out. Whilst she gains the closure she is seeking, her feelings don't exactly rest.
Stay Stay Stay
I’ve always thought this song would be perfect for a proposal. The ‘all this time that you didn’t leave it's been occurring to me I’d like to hang out with you, for my whole life’ followed by the presentation of a ring is my fantasy. Over the years the song has reminded me more and more of Ron and Hermione, who despite their constant bickering, balance each other out so well.
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire sees Abby, who is painfully similar to me (she has a wardrobe full of knitted cardigans) encounter Travis, another tattooed Bad Boy who McGuire labels as the university's 'Walking One Night Stand'. It's an excellent read for any good girl who has a desire for rebellion buried inside of them and a great alternative to Get A Life, Chloe Brown.
The Last Time
As a result of Grey’s Anatomy, Snow Patrol are one of my favourite bands. I actually prefer this song to ‘Everything Has Changed’ (which I still love) and I find it gutting that it never got the recognition it deserved. To me, it’s just as good as ‘exile’ and storytelling-wise, it almost serves as a prequel.
‘The Last Time’ is a duet in which Gary Lightbody pleads for another chance with Taylor, who tells him it’s the last time she’s giving him the benefit of the doubt. Romantic or not, the concept of letting someone who has hurt you on numerous occasions back into your life is a hurdle we’ve all either jumped over or run straight into. On folklore, ‘Exile’ tells the story of a lover who is left wandering a field alone desperately trying to analyse where things went so south - see what I mean?
Pierre Alex Jeanty’s poetry anthology Apologies that Never Came encapsulates the same distress of the song. It’s one of those collections that is so relatable it’s almost triggering - it’s perfect for anyone in need of some healing material.
Holy Ground
This song is brilliant. One of my favourite motifs of Taylor’s is how she pairs emotional, poignant lyrics with upbeat tracks. I believe it’s one of the reasons ‘Mean’ won two Grammy’s.
Taylor details looking back on a former love interest and their relationship and appreciating that particular chapter for what it was, despite its unceremonious end. I also refuse to believe this song is about anyone other than Joe Jonas - I mean, it definitely wasn't written about Jake!
All This Time by Rachael Lippincott and Mikki Daughtry is a very heartwarming read. Despite being the school’s perfect couple, Kimberly breaks up with Kyle on the night of their graduation party. Moments after, the pair get into a car accident that kills her.
It’s almost impossible to indulge in the plot any further without some serious spoilers. To put it simply…Kyle eventually gets to a point where he can look back on his relationship with Kim fondly. This is after he swallows the guilt of her death and the fact she spent so much of her final year at school nursing him after he suffered a sporting injury. It’s a really heartwarming read that symbolises new beginnings and acceptance, just like the song.
Sad Beautiful Tragic
In the famous words of Adele: divorce, babe, divorce.
Jokes aside, is there anything more devastating than the combination of Taylor’s timbre and the lyrics that she sings in the bridge? ‘Distance, timing, breakdown, fighting, silence, the train runs off its tracks, kiss me, try to fix it, could you just try to listen? Hang up, give up for the life of us we can't get back’.
I borrowed Revolutionary Road from my local library shortly after I finished my A Levels. It’s a criminally underrated classic and to me, one of the best books ever written. Richard Yates’ prose has you sympathising with both Frank and Alice at different parts of the novel; both characters are unhappy in their marriage and believe they deserve and are owed more than what they are getting.
The more tightly you cling to your dreams the more you unravel when you let them go, as Yates demonstrates with April. It’s such a gutting story and it pairs so well with this gutting song.
The Lucky One
I refuse to believe this song is about anyone other than Britney Spears - it has ‘lucky’ in the title, for Goodness sake (and just to add, ‘Lucky’ is my favourite Britney song). We get an insight into what Taylor’s worst fears were in 2012 - losing public respect and everyone tiring of her to the point she feels she needs to hide away, trepidations any Swiftie knows came true for Taylor in 2016.
Finding a book to fit this track is tricky. To some degree, Anna Karenina fits - as discussed when I did the Rory Gilmore Book Challenge, the titular character’s life is rocked by scandal, a blistering experience for someone who at one point was adored by many. I find most books to do with fame almost cringy to read; I can't relate to any of the characters and I find their challenges, whilst fictional, really overwhelming. With Anna Karenina, the inner turmoil the titular character has had to face holds similarities to the agonies Britney has endured in the last few years.
The book also reminds me of 'Hoax' on folklore, particularly the line 'your faithless love is the only hoax I believe in'.
Everything has Changed
When the music video for this song came out I think I watched it on my BlackBerry about 100 times. And I remember being very jealous that these children were walking around with iPhones at Pre-school whilst I was watching them on a BlackBerry.
I love this duet and how perfectly it encapsulates the magic of love at first sight. You focus on the little details; how the door was held for you and how they greeted you when they walked in.
A book about love at first sight is Differently Normal by Tammy Robinson. In Robinson's novel, Maddy and her mother are carers for Maddy's younger sister Bee. Maddy decides against going to University and splits her time between working at a photography store and taking care of her sister.
Albert, meanwhile, works at the local stable where Bee takes horse riding lessons. What ensues is a gorgeous love story in which Bee takes the front stage.
Two notes, though: the story takes place in New Zealand in case you spend the first half wondering where the novel is taking place. And secondly: I cried my eyes out reading this. You've been warned.
Starlight
For years I thought the opening line to this track (which is one of my favourites) was ‘I’m a barbie on the boardwalk’. I didn’t know the backstory of the song at that point and given that Taylor looks exactly like a Barbie doll, it made perfect sense to me.
I love this song and whilst I understand why people may be turned off by the cheesiness of some of the lyrics (the ‘we could get married, have ten kids’ line in the bridge had me wincing the first few times I listened to it) the first line of the second verse is one of my favourite lyrics of Taylor’s.
‘He said “look at you, worrying so much about things you can’t change. You’ll spend your whole life singing the blues if you keep thinking that way”.’ After the year I've had, I'm seriously considering getting this tattooed.
People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry tells the story of Poppy and Alex who despite their major life differences, succeed in being best friends. One of the reasons this year has been so hard for me is because I'm still healing from the breakdown of multiple friendships and I found the unceremonious finish to Poppy and Alex's friendship really gutting to read. Poppy knows the last time she was truly happy was when she was with Alex and convinces him to go on holiday with her once more. In retrospect, the events of the novel pair with 'Starlight' so well.
Begin Again
I have spent many Wednesday’s in cafe’s since the release of this song. Not exactly on purpose.
With this being the original album’s final track I find it very poignant that Taylor made a final return to her country roots before the release of 1989. The song feels like a warm hug; I love how Taylor tenderly describes the intimate moments at the beginning of a relationship, such as having a chair pulled for you, and how meaningful they are after you’ve gone through a dark patch. It's similar to 'Everything Has Changed' in a way though the duet doesn't reference previous anxieties and fears.
Felicity by Mary Oliver is a poetry collection that jumps into and investigates what it truly means to fall in love with a person. Her articulation is so poetic and thought-provoking, this particular verse from 'That Little Beast' means the world to me - we've all had our moments when the dam just breaks and you fall apart to someone.
Sometimes I want to use small words
and make them important
and it starts shouting the dictionary,
the opportunities.
This...took forever to write. My God. Please forgive me if I save part 2 for next autumn.
Anyway, please let me know what your favourite songs are on Midnights! Mine are 'Vigilante Shit', 'You're On Your Own, Kid' and 'Would've, Could've, Should've'. I love 'Anti-Hero' too and the funeral part of the music video had me in pieces.
See you on FRIDAY. Best, Karisma xx