Taylor Swift's Red (Taylor's Version), her second in a series of re-recordings of her early albums has arrived spectacularly today, November 12. While we're already reeling from the massive, 30-song expanded offering featuring unreleased tracks from her "vault," it's the 10 minute version of "All Too Well" that has widened our eyes with curiosity.
"All Too Well" is the first track that Swift wrote for 2012's Red, and although a lengthy five-plus minute version appears on the original release, Taylor has finally given fans the extended version that she's spoken about for years.
The entire record features songs that intertwine through all of the complex emotions felt during a relationship and subsequent break-up. "Musically and lyrically, 'Red' resembled a heartbroken person. It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end," Taylor explained when announcing the re-release.
That relationship, fans know, reportedly occurred two years prior to Red's release, when Taylor was 20-years-old and actor Jake Gyllenhaal was 29. Taking a look at the expanded lyrics, Taylor has given us a clearer picture of her thoughts and feelings at the time: "They say all's well that ends well, but I'm in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind," Swift sings. "You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine... And that made me want to die."
Coming back to the issue of their nine-year difference in age at the time, Taylor sings later in the song of her now 40-year-old ex, "I was never good at telling jokes but the punchline goes, 'I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age.'" Sick burn... listen to the full, 10-minute version of "All Too Well" above.
We're going to keep this on repeat for the next few hours since the Red excitement literally never ends today. Taylor's All Too Well: The Short Film, featuring Taylor herself, Sadie Sink, and Dylan O'Brien, is set to drop today at 7PM ET / 4PM PT and we're pretty sure we'll find a few more things to cry about on the album between now and then. Like this stirring collab between Taylor and Chris Stapleton, for example. Whew... gonna be a long day!
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