On November 12th, 2021, Taylor Swift is going to have her second re-release for her fourth album Red. This is her notorious break-up album that she wrote following her split from actor Jake Gyllenhaal. There are also a few other men written about on the album, like Connor Kennedy. Taylor Swift isn’t just releasing an album, she’s already announced a few surprises that are coming with it.
One of the first surprises was the featured artists that she’s going to have on the record. The most notable, for me anyway, is Phoebe Bridgers. She’s going to be featured on one of the “From The Vault”. A “From The Vault ” track is a song that Swift wrote when creating the original project, but didn’t make it onto the album. She has many for each re-release that’s coming, and has done collaborations for some of them on both the upcoming album Red, and the previous re-release Fearless. Bridgers will be on the track entitled “Nothing New”. They’re two of my favorite female artists, so I’m super excited to see them collaborate on a project.
Another surprise we’re getting is the 10 minute version of her song “All Too Well”. This is known as one of her most infamous break-up songs. The lyrics are truly masterful and convey the most graphic version of heartbreak. The original song is only five minutes, so the new version is twice the length and explicit. Let’s just say, it’s going to be rough to get out of bed on Friday.
Taylor Swift also created Tik Tok during the new Red era. She’s posted a bunch of Tik Tok content starting new trends, or completing existing ones. This has not only increased her fan interaction—which has delighted everyone—but it’s also given the fandom more content for an album release than we’ve ever really had.
The last surprise is perhaps the biggest and the most exciting. On Friday November 5th, Swift announced that she directed a short film for the song “All Too Well”. The film stars Sadie Sink, most known for her role as Max in Stranger Things, and Dylan O’Brien, known for his roles in Teen Wolf and The Maze Runner trilogy. I love the collaboration between Swift and O’Brien because, not only do I love both of them, but I think it will be a really thought out project. The short film is sure to have easter eggs, as no decision Swift makes is made without intention, so I look forward to looking for all of them.
I’m always excited for anything that Taylor Swift puts out, but she has truly mastered the art of creating buzz around her releases. I was nervous at first, since the album release back in July, but the amount of announcements she has made has gotten her fan base truly excited this time.