Red (Taylor Swift album)

''Red'' is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records. Swift designated ''Red'' as a breakup album and her last to be promoted as country music.

To convey the complex and conflicting feelings ensuing from lost love through music, Swift engaged new producers to experiment with styles other than the country pop sound of her past albums. She produced the majority of ''Red'' with her long-time collaborator Nathan Chapman and the rest with Dann Huff, Max Martin, Shellback, Jeff Bhasker, Dan Wilson, Jacknife Lee, and Butch Walker. The album incorporates styles of pop, rock, folk, and country, composed of acoustic instruments, electronic synths, and drum machines. Initial reviews mostly praised Swift's songwriting for its emotional exploration and engagement, but critics deemed the production inconsistent and questioned her identity as a country artist.

Swift supported ''Red'' with the Red Tour (2013–2014). The singles " We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" peaked at numbers one and two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached the top 10 on charts worldwide. ''Red'' topped the charts and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it spent seven weeks atop the ''Billboard'' 200 and made Swift the first artist since the Beatles to have three albums each with at least six weeks at number one on that chart. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the album seven-times platinum for surpassing seven million album-equivalent units.

''Red'' was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2013 Country Music Association Awards, and Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards. Retrospectively, critics have regarded ''Red'' as a career-defining work that showcased her evolved songcraft and as a transitional album bridging her country roots to mainstream pop. Many publications ranked it among the best albums of the 2010s decade, and ''Rolling Stone'' placed it at number 99 on their 2023 revision of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Following a 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she re-recorded the album and released it as ''Red (Taylor's Version)'' in 2021. The ownership of the album was sold back to Swift on May 30, 2025.

Background

Taylor Swift's third studio album, '' Speak Now'', was released by Big Machine Records on October 25, 2010. She wrote the album entirely herself and produced it with Nathan Chapman, who had produced both of her previous albums. ''Speak Now'' expands on those albums' country pop sound with a more aggressive influence of crossover pop that was also characteristic of '' Fearless'' (2008) and incorporates rock styles including pop rock, arena rock, and new wave rock. ''Speak Now'' registered in the 2010 ''Guinness World Records'' as the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist and was nominated for Best Country Album at the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012.

After ''Speak Now'', Swift continued working with Chapman on her next album. By October 2011, she had written around 25 songs. Although executives at Big Machine felt that the materials were sufficient and congratulated her for finishing work within one year, Swift felt that her creativity diminished because she had been repeating the same songwriting process. She sought to collaborate other producers to venture outside of her "comfort zone" of writing songs alone. While Swift viewed the solo-written ''Speak Now'' was her statement as a songwriter, she envisioned her fourth studio album as a statement of her "thirst for learning". She reworked the new album while touring on the Speak Now World Tour from 2011 to 2012.

Writing and production

Swift recalled working on her fourth studio album within two years—she wrote songs by herself and produced them with Chapman within the first year, and engaged other producers within the second year. According to Swift, she recruited producers with whom she had not worked with, but their works had instilled curiosities in her. While experimenting sonically, she prioritized conveying emotional sentiments through her lyrics over what particular sounds she should pursue, as with her typical approach. On songs that Swift co-wrote, she first presented her co-writers with the feelings she had been going through, played a rough version of her song on guitar, and asked for their ideas on ways to better convey the story. Each track's production corresponded to the emotion it portrayed, to which Swift attributed the album's "eclectic blend of music".

Production sessions took place in between stops of the Speak Now World Tour during 2011–2012. The first song that Swift wrote was " All Too Well"; during a February 2011 rehearsal of the tour, she ad-libbed lyrics written after a broken relationship while playing a four- chord guitar riff as her touring band spontaneously played backing instruments. Swift told ''Rolling Stone'' that this relationship caused "a few roller coasters", and she channeled the tumult into the songs. She continued writing tracks like " Red" and " State of Grace" and produced them with Chapman in her creative base of Nashville, Tennessee. "Red" was a critical point during the album's formation; Big Machine's president Scott Borchetta overheard the production and suggested a pop-oriented sound. After several failed attempts at the desired outcome, Swift asked Borchetta to recruit Max Martin, a Swedish producer known for his chart-topping pop songs. Swift travelled to Los Angeles to work with Martin and his frequent collaborator Shellback, who produced the songs " 22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and " We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".

Swift and Chapman produced the final version of "Red" with Dann Huff, and the three produced two more tracks: "Starlight" and " Begin Again". She engaged Jeff Bhasker because she was intrigued by his drum production, citing "We Are Young" (2011) by the indie band Fun as an example. Bhasker produced two songs: " Holy Ground" and "The Lucky One". She wrote " Everything Has Changed" with the English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and produced it with Butch Walker, and Dan Wilson co-wrote and produced " Treacherous". " The Last Time" is a collaboration of Swift with the Irish-Scottish band Snow Patrol: Gary Lightbody co-wrote and featured as a guest vocalist, and Jacknife Lee produced it. Swift named the album ''Red'', denoting the color to which she associated the tumultuous and extreme emotions that she was experiencing—"intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion". By the time recording began, Swift had written more than 30 songs, and 16 of which made the final cut of the standard edition; Swift was the sole writer of nine tracks.

Composition

Music and lyrics

''Red'' incorporates various styles of pop, rock, folk, in addition to the country-pop sound that had defined Swift's earlier music, namely dance-pop, indie pop, dubstep, Britrock, and arena rock. The arrangements of its songs include acoustic instruments, electronic synths, and drum machines. Calling ''Red'' her "only true breakup album", Swift said that the diverse musical styles were a "metaphor for how messy a real breakup is". Its first half consists of country and pop songs intertwined with each other; "22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" have a pop production that incorporates electronic vocal processing and hip-hop-influenced bass drums. The rock stylings of ''Speak Now'' expand on "State of Grace", "Red", and "Holy Ground", which the musicologist James E. Perone found reminiscent of 1980s arena rock. Other songs, such as "I Almost Do", "Stay Stay Stay", "Sad Beautiful Tragic", and "Begin Again", continue the country sound of Swift's earlier music.

Critics were divided on the album's genre classification. Jon Dolan's review for ''Rolling Stone'' appeared in the magazine's column for country music, but he described its musical foundation as "post-country rock". Some reviewers commented that ''Red'' blurred the divide between country and pop, but others called it a straightforward pop album with little trace of country. Kelsey Barnes of Alternative Press considered it "a true arena-rock record". According to Randall Roberts of the ''Los Angeles Times'' and Jon Caramanica of ''The New York Times'', ''Red'' was Swift's inevitable move from country into mainstream pop to broaden her audience. The former said much of the album could perform well on commercial country radio but at its core, it is "perfectly rendered American popular music" with contemporary influences; the latter described Swift as "a pop star in a country context". For ''American Songwriter'' Jewly Hight, debating Swift's genre was pointless because her music was meant for a young audience open to diverse styles for their digital playlists.

The songs on ''Red'' are autobiographical, forming a loose concept about the aftermath of an intense breakup, detailing loss, pain, abandonment, and regrets. According to Swift, most of the album was inspired by an ex-boyfriend who contacted her after listening to it and described the experience as bittersweet. Whereas her previous songs contain fantasy-driven narratives and happy endings, ''Red'' realizes the uneasy reality of how a seemingly enduring relationship can painfully end. In the album's physical booklet, Swift quotes a line from Pablo Neruda's poem ''Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines'', "Love is so short, forgetting is so long", which she found suitable for the album's overarching theme. Swift's songwriting retains the storytelling aspect of country music by setting up scenes and characters for each track's narrative. She was also inspired by Joni Mitchell's songcraft on ''Blue'' (1971) for how it "explores somebody's soul so deeply". Some journalists also found ''Blue'' influence on the cover artwork of ''Red'', which shows Swift looking downward with her face partially shadowed from her brimmed hat.

''Red'' expands on Swift's common themes of love and heartbreak but explores them from a more complex perspective. Sam Lansky in ''Billboard'' wrote that the album depicts her negative emotions in extremes and how frustrating it can be to experience them, while Emily Yoshida in ''Vulture'' thought that there are moments of vulnerability that "feel wise beyond the 22 years Swift was"; in the words of Caramanica, "Almost everything here is corroded in some way." Writing for NPR, J. English described the album as Swift's coming of age and her early-20s exploration of womanhood and adulthood: the characters in the ''Red'' songs detail their first-hand experiences with sexuality and loss of innocence—topics that Swift had explored on her past albums from an outsider perspective; Caramanica found allusions to how " wift'sbody is as alive as her mind" on songs like "State of Grace", "Treacherous", and "Stay Stay Stay". In ''The Atlantic'', Brad Nelson wrote that ''Red'' sees Swift no longer putting the blame solely on ex-lovers and instead viewing heartbreak with "ambiguity", and that her songcraft uses intricate details and narrative devices that evoke the styles of rock and roll musicians such as Steely Dan, Bruce Springsteen, and Leonard Cohen.

Songs

"State of Grace" is an arena-rock song that features chiming guitars and dynamic drums, and its lyrics are about the tumultuous feelings stemming from romantic beginnings. According to Perone, the lyric, "Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right", sets the overall theme of an album about passionate romance gone wrong. The title track explores an intense relationship that has failed, relating the stages of love to colors: "losing him" is blue, "missing him" is a dark gray, and "loving him" is red. It is built on an acoustic arrangement consisting of string instruments of acoustic guitar, banjitar, cello, fiddle, and bouzouki, which display a country sound, while also featuring electronic vocal manipulation and elements of mainstream pop, soft rock, and adult contemporary. "Treacherous", which begins with slow guitar strumming and percussion and gradually builds up, is about attempting to protect a fragile relationship.
"I Knew You Were Trouble" has a pop-rock production in its verses, and its refrain begins with a dubstep drop and continues with aggressive synth backing and hip hop-influenced syncopated percussion. In the lyrics of "I Knew You Were Trouble", Swift's character blames herself for a toxic relationship that has ended. Critics considered the song widely different from the music that Swift had explored on her past albums: Perone said that the track's dynamic shifts between the verses were "sudden and unexpected", and Caramanica wrote that the dubstep drop was "a wrecking ball, changing the course not just of the song but also of Ms. Swift's career". "All Too Well", considered by critics the emotional centerpiece of the album's narrative, has a slow-building production with overdubs of acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, and harmony vocals. It chronicles a lost relationship from the peak of romance to the lingering memories after it has ended.

"22" is about celebrating the joys of being youthful by going out and meeting new people to move on from heartbreak. Its verses are driven by acoustic guitar, and its refrain incorporates a dance-influenced arrangement consisting of electronic synths and hip hop-influenced bass drums. According to Perone, the arrangement of "I Almost Do" is derived from Swift's early country songs: its verses are formed on short melodic motives and Swift's lower register vocals, while its refrain has a longer range in Swift's vocals. The song displays elements of country and folk via acoustic guitars and open string notes in the texture. In "I Almost Do", Swift's character wonders what she would do if an ex-lover asked her to come back to him, and she admits she would likely agree to do so. Her character in "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", meanwhile, promises an ex-lover that they will never rekindle their relationship. Swift's vocals in the song are electronically processed, and its production features an acoustic guitar arrangement alongside other stylistic embellishments including filtered guitar tones, synths, and hip hop-influenced bass drums. "Stay Stay Stay", a fast-tempo song combining styles of country and 1980s pop, features toy piano, ukulele, mandolin, and hand claps, and its lyrics are about two lovers trying to reconcile after a fight.

"The Last Time", a duet with Lightbody, has a melancholic, balladic production consisting of strings. Perone compared its production with the music of late-1970s and early-1980s rock bands but with a muted texture. Lightbody's and Swift's characters detail their perspectives on a failing long-term relationship in the first and second verses, and the refrain is backed by an orchestra playing intense strings and brass. In "Holy Ground", Swift's character reminisces about an absent lover and the specific memories of their past. It is a country rock and heartland rock track with persistent drums and a recurring guitar riff. Perone found the lyrical imagery of "Sad Beautiful Tragic" to extend the "lyrical impressionism" of Swift's songwriting by using various images without drawing a straightforward connection between them. It has an intimate and melancholic sound consisting of overdubs of acoustic instruments that evoke folk music. "The Lucky One" incorporates a driving drum machine and has a soft-rock, indie rock, and 1960s pop-rock sound. Written in third-person perspective, the lyrics tell the story of a successful singer who looked "like a '60s queen" in her high-school days, was envied by her friends after achieving fame in "the angels' city", and ultimately "chose the rose garden over Madison Square".

"Everything Has Changed", a duet with Sheeran, is a mid-tempo acoustic guitar-led ballad that incorporates deep bass drums. Perone commented that the song's arrangement is similar to the music from Swift's debut album, using "a high degree of syncopation" at the sixteenth note level. In the song, Swift and Sheeran sing about the beginnings of a new romance, alternating their lead vocals in the verses. Swift was inspired to write "Starlight" by the teenage romance of Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. In the lyrics, Swift's character reminisces about meeting her lover one evening in the "summer of '45" and how they intruded a "yacht club party" and danced "like heywere made of starlight". Containing an electric guitar solo, "Starlight" is a dance-pop song that Perone deemed "vaguely contemporary country pop in nature". In the closing track of the standard edition, "Begin Again", Swift's character explores how a newfound love interest differs from her ex-lovers, giving her hopes of a new romance. According to Perone, that the genre-spanning ''Red'' concludes with a country ballad confirms country music as an integral part of Swift's musical identity.

The deluxe edition of ''Red'' includes the extra original songs "The Moment I Knew", "Come Back ... Be Here", and "Girl at Home"; original demo recordings of "Treacherous" and "Red"; and an acoustic version of "State of Grace". "The Moment I Knew" is a somber pop-rock piano ballad, and its lyrics are about a woman celebrating her birthday party without her boyfriend, which makes her realize that the relationship was failing. The 2000s-adult-contemporary-oriented "Come Back... Be Here" has lyrics about a long-distance relationship with few chances to endure. "Girl at Home", a song combining country with 1980s music elements, details a woman's contempt for a flirtatious man who is in a relationship with another woman.

Release and promotion

Marketing

On August 13, 2012, via a live webchat held on Google Hangouts, Swift announced the album's details and released the lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", which was her first number-one song on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. An alternative version of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was released to US country radio; it spent 10 weeks atop Hot Country Songs. Both the standard and deluxe versions of ''Red'' were released on October 22, 2012. In the United States, the standard edition was available in digital and physical formats, and the deluxe edition containing six extra tracks was available exclusively for physical purchase at Target.

Swift and Big Machine implemented an extensive marketing plan for ''Red''. To increase sales, Swift had tie-ins with corporations including Starbucks, Keds, Walmart, Walgreens, and Papa John's. A day after the release, she began a cycle of television appearances, which included ''Good Morning America'' (October 23), ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (October 23), ''The View'' (October 24), ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (October 25), ''Katie'' (October 26), and '' 20/20'' (October 26). She gave interviews to as many as 72 radio stations, mostly in the United States and some from South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, and Mexico. Her live performances at awards shows included the MTV Video Music Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, and the American Music Awards.

''Red'' was promoted with further singles. From September 24 until the album's release date, Swift previewed one album track each week via ''Good Morning America'' as part of a four-week countdown—"Begin Again", "Red", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "State of Grace"; the first three songs were later released as singles. "Begin Again", released to US country radio on October 1, 2012, peaked at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number three on Country Airplay. Released to US pop radio on November 27, 2012, "I Knew You Were Trouble" spent seven weeks at number one on Pop Songs and peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and in the top 10 on charts of Australasian and European countries. "Red" was released to US country radio on June 24, 2013. Other singles were "22", "Everything Has Changed", and "The Last Time".

Despite ''Red'' promotion as a country album, its diverse musical styles sparked a media debate over Swift's status as a country artist. ''Spin'' argued ''Red'' was difficult to categorize because country music was "the most dynamically vibrant pop genre of the last decade or so". Other critics commented Swift had always been more pop-oriented than country and described ''Red'' as her inevitable move to mainstream pop. In an interview with ''The Wall Street Journal'', Swift responded that country music "feels like home" and dismissed the debate: "I leave the genre labeling to other people."

Touring

Swift announced the album's accompanying world tour, the Red Tour, shortly after the album's release. On October 26, 2012, she announced the first 58 dates for the North American leg, beginning in Omaha, Nebraska, visiting Canada and the United States throughout the spring and summer of 2013, and concluding in Nashville, Tennessee, in September. To support a high demand, Swift held the concerts mostly in sports arenas and stadiums. After the North American leg, the Red Tour visited Australasia, the United Kingdom, and Asia.

The Red Tour was a box office success. The four shows at Staples Center in Los Angeles extended Swift's total of sold-out shows to 11, making her the solo artist with the most sold-out shows at Staples Center. She was the first female artist to sell out the Sydney Football Stadium since its opening in 1988. Tickets for the Shanghai show sold out within 60 seconds, setting the Chinese record for the fastest sellout. When it ended in June 2014, the tour had grossed $150.2 million and became the highest-grossing tour by a country artist of all time.

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''Red'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 with first-week sales of 1.208 million copies, surpassing Garth Brooks's '' Double Live'' (1998) as the fastest-selling country album. With ''Speak Now'' and ''Red'', Swift was recognized in the ''Guinness World Records'' as the "First Solo Female with Two Million-Selling Weeks on the U.S. Albums Chart". ''Red'' spent seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. It made Swift the first female artist, and the second after the Beatles, to have three consecutive studio albums each spend six or more weeks atop the chart. It was the third consecutive time—after ''Fearless'' (2008) and ''Speak Now'' (2010)—that Swift had a number-one album during the last week before Christmas, which is traditionally the most competitive week of the year. On ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums chart, it was at number one for 16 weeks and was the year-end number-one album of both 2012 and 2013. Surpassing 3.11 million copies after two months of sales, ''Red'' was the second-highest-selling album of 2012. As of January 2024, its US sales stood at 4.582 million copies. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the album seven-times platinum for surpassing seven million album-equivalent units.

''Red'' sold 2.8 million copies worldwide after less than one month of release, 5.2 million by the end of 2012—the global second-best-selling album of the year, and 8 million by August 2014. The album reached number one on charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, and Scotland. It received platinum or higher certifications in Australia (four-times platinum), Canada (four-times platinum), and New Zealand (six-times platinum). In the United Kingdom, ''Red'' was Swift's first number one on the UK Albums Chart and had four top-ten songs on the UK Singles Chart, the most of Swift's albums; it was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and had sold 619,000 copies .

Critical reception

Music critics generally praised Swift's songwriting on ''Red'', with some appreciating it to showcase her artistic maturity. Dolan called the album "a 16-song geyser of willful eclecticism", said Swift "often succeeds in joining the Joni itchellCarole King tradition of stark-relief emotional mapping", and that "When she's really on, her songs are like tattoos". ''Pitchfork''s Brad Nelson lauded the "newfound patience to Swift's observations" and deeper exploration of emotion in ''Red''s songwriting.

The album's production polarized critics. ''Billboard'' praised ''Red'' radio-friendly tunes that catapulted Swift to even greater fame. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic asserted that although Swift's lyrics about romantic relationships and social anxiety sound somewhat clumsy, they add substance to "the pristine pop confections", which makes ''Red'' a compelling album. ''The Guardian'' Kate Mossman described the album as "one of the finest fantasies pop music has ever constructed". Roberts was impressed by the different musical styles as Swift "strives for something much more grand and accomplished". Caramanica agreed, commenting that the production is a striking feature of ''Red'' that proves Swift is more of a pop star than a country singer.

Critics often considered ''Red'' to be a sign of Swift growing up. ''Billboard'' considered ''Red'' to be her first adult pop album, describing her previous works as that of "an accomplished teenager". Caramanica stated that her growth was "largely musical, not experiential." He noted that she was beginning to show more maturity as a strategist and adult. Caramanica asserted that there are indications that ''Red'' shows her "body is as alive as her mind," which was "territory she's generally skipped before now." Dolan considered the album part "Joni Mitchell-influenced maturity binge" and part pop, describing the combination as "not just inevitable but natural." ''Spin'' Michael Robbins characterized the album as a record "full of adult pleasures".

Some reviewers were more reserved in their praise, and the initial acclaim was more subdued compared to Swift's previous releases. Jonathan Keefe from ''Slant Magazine'' considered ''Red'' not consistent enough to be "truly great" but asserted that some of the songs were "career-best work for Swift, who now sounds like the pop star she was destined to be all along". Michael Gallucci from ''The A.V. Club'' argued the music was more ambitious than Swift's previous records but considered the album as a whole "complicated and sometimes unfocused". He considered the duets boring and the occasional use of Auto-Tune to "sound like any number of indistinguishable female pop singers". Writing for ''MSN Music'', Robert Christgau viewed ''Red'' as an inferior version of the Magnetic Fields' 1999 album '' 69 Love Songs'' but appreciated "Begin Again" and "Stay Stay Stay", considering them to "stay happy and hit just as hard" as songs on ''69 Love Songs''. ''The Daily Telegraph'' James Lachno found the production bloated and commented the album would be better had Swift fully embraced mainstream pop and abandoned her old country sound. Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press asserted that the album "sounded empty" compared to ''Fearless'' (2008) and ''Speak Now'' (2010), but praised "I Almost Do" and the duets.

Accolades

''Red'' received accolades in terms of both critical and popular recognition. Mainstream publications featuring ''Red'' on their lists of the best albums of 2012 included ''Billboard'', ''The Daily Beast'', ''The Guardian'', '' Idolator'', MTV News, ''Newsday'', ''PopMatters'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Spin'', and ''Stereogum''. Jon Caramanica ranked the album second on his list of 2012's best albums for ''The New York Times''. ''Red'' was placed at number 17 on the 2012 Pazz & Jop, an annual mass critics' poll conducted by ''The Village Voice''. ''Spin'' proclaimed ''Red'' one of 2012's best country albums.

At the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014, ''Red'' was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Country Album. The album received nominations at US country music awards, including two nominations for Album of the Year at the 2013 Country Music Association Awards and the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards. It won Favorite Country Album at the 2013 American Music Awards, Top Album and Top Country Album at the 2013 ''Billboard'' Music Awards, Top Selling Album at the 2013 Canadian Country Music Association Awards, and Top Selling International Album of the Year at the 2014 Country Music Awards of Australia.

Impact

Critics have considered ''Red'' a career-defining album for Swift. It has been regarded as her best album by Jon Bream of the ''Star Tribune'' and the editorial staff of ''Paste'' and ranked within the upper tier of her 11-album discography as of 2024 by publications like ''The Arizona Republic'', ''The New York Times'', ''Slant Magazine'', and ''Spin''. Rob Sheffield wrote that the album established Swift as both "the supreme pop songwriter of her generation" and one of the greatest songwriters of all time. ''Red'' appeared on rankings for the best albums of the 2010s decade by ''Atwood Magazine'', ''The Independent'', and ''Pitchfork''; it was ranked within the top 10 by ''Uproxx'', ''Billboard'', ''Rolling Stone'', the ''Tampa Bay Times'', and ''Stereogum''. ''Taste of Country'' ranked it as one of the best country albums of the decade. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it at number 99 on its 2023 revision of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and number 36 on its 2025 list of "The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far".

''Red'' successful pop singles, notably "I Knew You Were Trouble", influenced Swift to work again with Martin and Shellback when she recalibrated her artistic identity from country to pop with her subsequent album, ''1989'' (2014). Many critics have upheld ''Red'' as a defining record that bridged between Swift's country beginnings and pop career. ''Pitchfork'' commented that the album pushed the boundaries of her sounds "to meet the highest aspirations of her songwriting", and Lindsay Zoladz in ''The New York Times'' wrote that it both started Swift's pop crossover and captured "the moment before her songwriting became ..sleek and streamlined". '' Clash'' Lucy Habron wrote that ''Red'' experimentation with musical styles, from country to pop and rock, laid the groundwork to Swift's later sounds on albums like ''Reputation'' (2017), ''Lover'' (2019), and ''Evermore'' (2020). For Harbron, the album made Swift credible as a boundary-pushing artist by "allowing op musicto merge with the softer elements of country and the confessional songwriting of traditional folk".

Critics have considered ''Red'' an influential album on other artists. Steven Hyden said that it inspired new indie artists to release their music that is pop-friendly rather than "anything in the rock underground". According to MTV's Carson Mlnarik, the songwriting about intimacy and vulnerability inspired a generation of other singer-songwriters including Halsey, Kacey Musgraves, Troye Sivan, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Conan Gray. In 2019, an indie rock album titled ''ReRed'', featuring Wild Pink, Adult Mom, Chris Farren, and other artists, was released as a tribute to ''Red'', with all of its proceeds going to Equal Justice Initiative.

In November 2020, following a dispute over the ownership of the masters to her back catalog, Swift began to re-record her first six studio albums. The first one was ''Fearless (Taylor's Version)'', released on April 9, 2021. On June 18, 2021, Swift announced ''Red (Taylor's Version)'' would be released on November 12, 2021, a week earlier than originally planned. The album contains all 30 songs Swift recorded for the 2012 release of ''Red''; these include the charity single " Ronan", her recordings of the 2016 Little Big Town single " Better Man" and 2018 Sugarland single " Babe", the ten-minute version of "All Too Well", and six other previously unreleased tracks. The ownership of the original album was sold back to Swift on May 30, 2025, alongside her other five albums released under Big Machine.

Track listing

Notes

* "I Knew You Were Trouble" is stylized as "I Knew You Were Trouble." (with a period).

Personnel

Musicians

* Taylor Swift – lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar
* Nathan Chapman – bass guitar, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, mandolin, percussion, piano, soloist, synthesizer, background vocals
* Peggy Baldwin – cello
* Brett Banducci – viola
* Jeff Bhasker – bass guitar, keyboards, piano, background vocals
* J. Bonilla – drums, percussion
* Nick Buda – drums
* Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
* David Campbell – string arrangements, conducting
* Daphne Chen – violin
* Lauren Chipman – viola
* Eric Darken – percussion
* Marcia Dickstein – harp
* Richard Dodd – cello
* Paul Franklin – steel guitar
* Eric Gorfain – violin
* Dann Huff – bouzouki, electric guitar, high strung guitar, mandolin
* Charlie Judge – accordion, Hammond B3, piano, upright piano, strings, synthaxe, synthesizer
* Gina Kronstadt – violin
* John Krovoza – cello
* Marisa Kuney – violin
* Jacknife Lee – bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
* Max Martin – keyboards
* Grant Mickelson – guitar
* Anders Mouridsen – guitar
* Jamie Muhoberac – cello
* Neli Nikolaeva – violin
* Owen Pallett – conductor, orchestration
* Radu Pieptea – violin
* Simeon Pillich – contrabass
* Wes Precourt – violin
* Bill Rieflin – drums
* Shellback – bass guitar, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards
* Jake Sinclair – bass guitar, background vocals
* Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
* Aaron Sterling – drums
* Jeff Takiguchi – contrabass
* Andy Thompson – guitar, electric piano
* Ilya Toshinsky – mandolin
* Butch Walker – drums, guitar, keyboards, percussion, background vocals
* Patrick Warren – string arrangements
* Amy Wickman – violin
* Dan Wilson – bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, background vocals
* Rodney Wirtz – violin
* Jonathan Yudkin – fiddle, violin
* Caitlin Evanson – background vocals
* Liz Huett – background vocals ("The Moment I Knew")
* Tyler Sam Johnson – background vocals
* Gary Lightbody – featured artist, background vocals
* Ciara O'Leary – background vocals
* Ed Sheeran – featured artist

Production

* Taylor Swift – songwriting, production
* Nathan Chapman – production, engineering
* Joe Baldridge – audio engineer, engineering
* Sam Bell – engineering
* Matt Bishop – engineering
* Delbert Bowers – assistant
* Chad Carlson – engineering
* Tom Coyne (music engineer), Tom Coyne – audio mastering, mastering
* Leland Elliott – assistant
* Jeff Bhasker – production
* Eric Eylands – assistant
* Greg Fuess – assistant
* Chris Galland – assistant
* Serban Ghenea, Şerban Ghenea – mixing
* Matty Green – assistant
* John Hanes (audio engineer), John Hanes – mixing engineering
* Sam Holland – engineering
* Dann Huff – production
* David Huff – digital editing
* Michael Ilbert – engineer
* Tyler Sam Johnson – guitar engineer
* Jacknife Lee – engineering, production, songwriting, programming
* Gary Lightbody – songwriting
* Steve Marcantonio – engineer
* Manny Marroquin – audio mixing (recorded music), mixing
* Max Martin – production, songwriting
* Seth Morton – assistant
* Justin Niebank – mixing
* Chris Owens – assistant
* John Rausch – engineering
* Matt Rausch – engineering
* Tim Roberts – assistant
* Eric Robinson – engineering
* Liz Rose – songwriting
* Pawel Sek – engineering
* Shellback – production, songwriting, programming
* Ed Sheeran – songwriting
* Jake Sinclair – engineering
* Spike Stent, Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
* Andy Thompson – engineering
* Butch Walker – production
* Hank Williams – mastering
* Brian David Willis – engineer
* Dan Wilson – production, songwriting

Visuals and design
* Taylor Swift – creative director
* Sarah Barlow – photography
* Austin Hale – designing
* Jemma Muradian – hair stylist
* Bethany Newman – art direction
* Josh Newman – art direction
* Lorrie Turk – make-up artist

Managerial
* Scott Borchetta – executive producer
* Leann Bennett – production coordination
* Jason Campbell – production coordination
* Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordination
* JoAnn Tominaga – production coordination

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

See also

* List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2012, List of ''Billboard'' 200 number-one albums of 2012
* List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2013, List of ''Billboard'' 200 number-one albums of 2013
* List of Top Country Albums number ones of 2012, List of ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums number ones of 2012
* List of Top Country Albums number ones of 2013, List of ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums number ones of 2013
* List of number-one albums of 2012 (Australia)
* List of number-one albums of 2012 (Canada)
* List of number-one albums from the 2010s (New Zealand)
* List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2010s

Footnotes

References

Citations

Cited literature

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External links

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2012 albums
Taylor Swift albums
Albums produced by Taylor Swift
Albums produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer)
Albums produced by Max Martin
Albums produced by Shellback (record producer)
Albums produced by Dan Wilson (musician)
Albums produced by Dann Huff
Albums produced by Jeff Bhasker
Albums produced by Jacknife Lee
Albums produced by Butch Walker
Big Machine Records albums
Canadian Country Music Association Top Selling Album albums
Country albums by American artists
Pop albums by American artists
Rock albums by American artists