(Written November 10th, 2021, as we all prepared for Blondie to wow us again.)
Take out the tissues, order your pumpkin spice latte, hide your scarves, and try to emotionally prepare for what is about to come from Red (Taylor’s Version).
After Taylor announced Red as the next re-record album in June, after months of waiting, the time has finally come for Sad Girl Fall to kick into full gear. In the period since the announcement, all we have gotten is a track list and a teaser trailer for a 10-minute All Too Well short film. No singles, no appearances, no preparation, so this drop will be the most overwhelming thing since Folklore.
Taylor has been extremely active this week on TikTok and commenting on many fans’ videos about how excited, scared, anxious, and emotional we feel for this album which feels like the ultimate tease knowing that she is fully aware of how affected we are. My roommate and I have spent the whole past couple months joking about how ‘mentally unstable’ we will be and now that time is here, all I can say is that I am scared. All Too Well on its own is enough to make a normal single person feel like they just got their heart-stabbed multiple times, and the fact that it is not only going to be longer, but it will be explicit, and have a short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien (YES, DYLAN O’BRIEN), excitement is the understatement of the century.
For release week, Blondie is planning to have an appearance on Jimmy Fallon the day before release, Seth Meyers the day of, and SNL the day after, meaning I will be completely busy analyzing, decoding, and just enjoying every moment of her. Red was the album that turned me from a Taylor Swift fan to a full-blown Taylor Swift stan, so the nostalgia and sentimentality is uncontrollable. I remember being 10 at the Red tour and just thinking, “this woman is the most talented, genius, special person I have ever seen,”. This release has been almost 10 years in the making and I truly cannot wait to go back to hearing it again for what will feel like the first time, and experiencing the love, heartbreak, betrayal, nostalgia, and healing all over again from 31-year-old Taylor.