I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since Should’ve Said No, whiꩵch means I’ve been a Swiftie for over half my life. That&r♏squo;s a fact that makes my bones crumble to dust, but it also brings the importance of All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) into focus. It releases at the end of this week, and I’m not sure I’ll survive it.
All Too Well was first released in 2012 as part oꦅf Swift’s Red album. Though not a leading single, it quickly became recognised as her magnum opus - a status it still holds to this day. A five-and-a-half-minute-long soft rock ballad about how Jake Gyllenhaal is a bit of a scarf sniffing bastard, All Too Well is legendary amongst Swifties. We have known since 2012 that a full, ten-minute version ofꦆ the song has existed, but no one outside of Swift’s team has heard it. On Friday, the world will hear it.
To honour the site’s name, let’s put this in gaming terms. Imagine The Witcher 3 (substitute in ꧃whichever game you consider to be the greatest ever) had an extra 20 hours of content locked away in a vault. Not written, not planned, not even in a playable state. A fully realised, polished to release-worthy chunk of content - and not just additional DLC, but base content that would merge with the existing game and enhance the entire experience. Now imagine it’s releasing this Friday, along with remasters of your 18 other favourite games, plus 12 other unreleased games from your favourite studios. That’s what Red (Taylor’s Version) is for music.
Obviously, songs aren’t games and there’s quite a big difference between the recording process and the development process, but that’s the best analogy I can offer. Sorry, my brain’s a bit fried right now. All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) comes out in fiv💯e days.
There is an extra layer of context on top of all of this too. Swift isn’t just re-recording Red for the sake of it, or to make a few quick bucks off her old work. She’s re-recording all of her old albums from her 2006 debut Taylor Swift to 2017’s Reputation over the next few years. The TLDR on this is S൲wift no longer owns the rights to her original recordings - they were sold to producer Scooter Braun. If you want an idea of what Braun is like as a person, he’s a grown man who goes by the name ‘Scooter’.
As a way of reclaiming agency over her tracks and devaluing Braun’s assets𝓡, Swift is making a Taylor’s Version of her first six albums - Lไover, Folklore, and Evermore are already owned by Swift, so they’re in the clear. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is out, as is Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version), a single from 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which will be out at some unknown point in the future. She’s not going in chronological order, which has kept people on their toes. Ever since this project was announced, Red (Taylor’s Version) has been by far the most anticipated project, especially as fans speculated it might contain the fabled ten-minute cut of All Too Well - Friday can’t come quickly enough.
But wait! There’s more! Alongside All Too Well, Swift is directing a 13-minute short film starring herself, Sadie Sink, and Dylan O’Brien. That’s especi💎ally exciting because O’Brien is a self-confessed Swiftie, but it also highlights an uncomfortable part of All Too Well many fans often miss.
The theory is Sink and O’Brien will be lovers in the video - a stand-in for Swift and Gyllenhaal. But Sink is just 19, while O’Brien is 30. That’s kinda sketchy. However, when Swift and Gyllenhaal dated, she was around 21, and he was around 30. The significant age difference be🌄tween the couple is not mentioned in the song, and so the mythos of their relationship is wrapped up in dancing in the kitchen in the refrigerator light, not the fact tha𒊎t there’s a nine-year age gap between them - nor the fact that just two years earlier, a 19-year-old Swift was dating a 32-year-old John Mayer.
All Too Well is Swift’s best song, and while all Swifties will have their personal favourites, that’s a fact we all agree on. ꦅBut a crucial part of understanding it is the age gap of the couple at the centre of it. Nine years on, a 31-year-old Swift is in a far better place to reflect on this, as her recent shift from specific songs about individual hear🎶tbreak to more general and absorbing tales on the very concept of love has shown.
All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) was always going to be the Taylor’s Version of the entire Taylor’s Version era. It’s her most sad, beautiful, tragic song - more so even than Sꦺad Beautiful Tragic. Its status as Red (Taylor’s Version)’s lead single, the legendary ten-minute cut, the corresponding short film, and the brilliant casting of Sink and O’Brien all highlight that Swift is treating the song with the same r💙everence as her fans. This Friday, we’ll finally get to hear it. Please, pray for me.