At midnight EST on November 12th, 2021, Taylor Swift released the re-recording of her fourth studio album, Red. While Red is initially the fourth album by the global pop sensation, it has been the second re-recorded version that she has released to the public, following the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) on April 9th, 2021. 

Taylor Swift is re-recording her old albums one by one because the original versions of her songs up through the Lover album are now owned by big-time music manager Scooter Braun. Swift prefers to have full ownership and creative control over her work as well as reap the financial benefits. By re-recording all of the albums owned by Braun, she is able to do so. To learn more, there is an in-depth article from Time that goes into further detail on the situation. 

The album features all of the re-recorded versions of the original tracks on the album plus an additional ten “from the vault” unreleased songs. Among those is a 10-minute version of one of the most popular songs on the album, All Too Well. 

The re-recorded albums have the same title as the original but followed by Taylor’s Version in parentheses. As Swift said in an interview on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, “When you see a song that says ‘Taylor’s Version’ in parentheses, it means that I own it which is very cool!”

Zoe’s ranking of Red (Taylor’s Version) as of November 2021

1. All Too Well (10-minute version)
2. Nothing New (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
3. The Lucky One
4. The Last Time
5. Come Back… Be Here
6. The Very First Night
7. Everything Has Changed
8. Message in a Bottle
9. State of Grace
10. Holy Ground
11. Run
12. Forever Winter
13. Red
14. Treacherous
15. Babe
16. Begin Again
17. Sad Beautiful Tragic
18. The Moment I Knew
19. I Knew You Were Trouble
20. I Almost Do
21. Stay Stay Stay
22. 22
23. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
24. I Bet You Think About Me
25. Starlight
26. Better Man
27. Girl at Home

Kayla-Jade’s Red (Taylor’s Version) ranking as of November 2021

1. Nothing new 
2. All Too Well (10 minute)
3. State of Grace
4. I Almost Do 
5. Come Back… Be Here
6. Everything Has Changed
7. The Lucky One
8. The Moment I Knew
9. Begin Again
10. The Last Time
11.  Sad Beautiful Tragic
12. Treacherous
13. Better Man
14. Stay Stay Stay
15. I Bet You Think About Me 
16. Run 
17. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
18. Babe
19. Red
20. Holy Ground
21. Starlight
22. I Knew You Were Trouble 
23. Forever Winter
24. The Very First Night
25. 22 
26. Girl at Home
27. Message in a Bottle

    

A conversation between Zoe and Kayla-Jade about their individual rankings and the album as a whole:

KJ: What was your number one?

Z: The 10-minute version of All Too Well.

KJ: I put that as my number two, which is controversial. I had [All Too Well 10-minute version] as number two… it was between that and Nothing New.

Z: My number two is Nothing New.

KJ: I’m definitely very biased because I’m a huge Phoebe Bridgers fan. 

KJ: What was your last ranking?
Z: My last one was Girl at Home.

KJ: Mine was Message in a Bottle.

Z: You don’t like Message in a Bottle?

KJ: I wasn’t a fan.

Z: I think it’s fun! It’s number eight for me… so it’s towards the top, mostly because it’s a fun song. For me, it’s kind of like Mr. Perfectly Fine. It’s very fun.

KJ: I was just kind of like, ‘there’s the one that stood out to me the least.’

Z: What was one that surprised you that was towards the top?

KJ: I would say State of Grace… It never really stood out to me before and then I heard it on the re-release and it’s number three [on my ranking]. I just really like it.

KJ: What do you think?
Z: I think the one that surprised me the most was Run because I saw all the jokes [about Ed Sheeran] and then I was like ‘oh my god, this is so good.’

KJ: I was also surprised. Ed Sheeren is [very much] a pop artist… but their voices complimented each other very well, and I think his voice was nice in that kind of softer style.

Z: Yeah, it’s kind of like Everything Has Changed.

KJ: Everything Has Changed is so good.

Z: What was your favorite on Red before the re-recording?
KJ: Okay, so I have to be honest, I wasn’t the biggest Swiftie growing up, I wasn’t someone who listened to her whole albums… [but] I would say Begin Again or The Lucky One.

Z: The Lucky One is my favorite on Red! It’s my number three because I am obsessed with that song.

KJ: It’s so good… I like the subject matter that she’s talking about. I like the way she presents it too because… it’s interpreted as her struggles with fame and kind of the things she didn’t expect and doesn’t like about it. I think sometimes when artists bring that up it’s in a very condescending way because everyone’s like ‘well, you’re famous.’

Z: It’s so well done. Yeah, I love The Lucky One. I also really like Come Back… Be Here. That was my number five.

KJ: Come Back… Be Here is my number five too!

Z: Forever Winter is ranked low for you, but I really liked that one.

KJ: I don’t know, maybe it’s because I haven’t spent enough time with the ones that were from the vault… I think it’s maybe because I listen to the album from the top to the bottom, so by the time it’s time for the ones from the vault, I’m not really there.

KJ: A lot of the songs from the vault just haven’t left a big enough impression on me besides Nothing New.

Z: I was so worried about Nothing New because I was worried that [Phoebe] was going to just be backing vocals or something… and when I was listening to it with [my sister’s friend] we heard Phoebe start singing and freaked out.

KJ: That song is very bittersweet and I really like it.

Z: It’s so good, I can’t believe she didn’t release it the first time around.

KJ: I think it’s a good thing that it came out when it did, you know, and I feel like it adds more of a connection to it, because now that [Taylor] is older and has gone through so much more life experience.

Z: It was very good. 10/10 album overall.

KJ: Agreed.