How are you feeling today? Are you feeling 22? Good! You should be. Pop-country sweetheart/butt of everyone’s jokes because the world is a cruel and terrible place Taylor Swift is planning to release the instant smash “22″ as the next single from her bajillion-times-platinum album Red, which is great because it’s an amazing pop song and that’s really all there is to it.
One of the strongest cuts from Red, the track — co-penned and produced by Max Martin and Shellback — always sounded like a massive single just waiting to happen; when it first leaked, we wrote that the song was “the perfect ode to Thought Catalog twentysomething angst.” Given the shape of the last several months for Swift, it’s probably exactly the right time for a song like this. Ryan Seacrest reports that the song will be officially released on April 1.
I’ve added the HQ single cover to the gallery.
IHeartTaylor congratulates Taylor on being nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Nominations Concert Live:
It goes without saying, but singer Taylor Swift has a long way to go before she dethrones anyone in hip-hop.
For one thing, unless her love of sugar somehow qualifies her, she just doesn’t have that gritty “from the streets” quality. For another, Swift’s beatboxing skills are atrocious.
In a performance at the 2012 Grammy Nominations Concert, Taylor Swift joined LL Cool J on stage for what The Daily Beast politely described as an “unlikely collaboration.”
Swift cheerfully attempts to throw down some beats (“This is going to be terrible,” she says.) while LL layers over it with a gangster-inspired rendition of Swifts hit single “Mean.”
How’d it turn out? Let’s just say we agree with her when she noted afterward, “I’m 100 percent sure we’re not going to be nominated for that collaboration next year.”
“It’s highly unlikely,” responded LL.
WATCH the performance, below:
As you know, RED hit shelves yesterday. What do you guys think of the album? Reviews have been really positive:
The reviews of Taylor Swift’s “Red” are hitting the web Monday, Oct. 22 and it looks like the feedback is mostly positive on this new release. The 16-track album is Swift’s fourth album, and it seems to showcase a marked shift in style and tone. What are the critic’s and fan’s reaction so far to Taylor’s newest endeavor?
While the reviewers may all have different opinions on Taylor Swift’s “Red,” so far consumers seem to love it. The album already has over 11,000 reviews on iTunes, and it has a five-star rating. It’s clear, however, that not everybody has been won over by this one. The album was just released Oct. 22, so Amazon reviews are slower to build, but so far the reaction there seems to be similar: Taylor Swift’s reviews stand at a 4.4 stars out of 5 so far.
As for the professional reviewers, USA Today says that Taylor Swift “glows on hot ‘Red,’” and they add, “Swift does sass and naked honesty far better than melodrama, and that keeps us craving the next chapter.” The Los Angeles Times gives Taylor Swift’s “Red” review a thumbs-up, as they say the album “burns with confidence.” Ultimately, they give Taylor Swift’s new album three out of four stars, and say “Red” is “a big record that reaches for Importance and occasionally touches it, filled with well-constructed pop songs Taylor-made for bedroom duets.”
While some Taylor Swift reviews indicate her new album is strong with just a couple of missteps, the Associated Press review indicates slightly less enthusiasm. Calling the effort “mediocre,” they feel that “Lyrically and sonically, the album lacks oomph and feeling: It sounds like we’ve heard it all from her before.” From the looks of the early Taylor Swift reviews and numbers, it seems likely that “Red” will do incredibly well in sales, even if a few songs seem to miss the feel Taylor was striving to hit. Have you listened to “Red” yet? What do you think about it so far?
As Taylor Swift nears the October 22 release of her album, Red, she’s giving fans another taste of what’s to come. On Tuesday (October 9), Swift’s loopy break-up track, “I Knew You Were Trouble,” debuted in full and it follows her love affair with an irresistible cad.
She opens up the tune by breaking down the early stages of their romance, “Once upon a time/ A few mistakes ago/ I was in your sights/ You got me alone/ You found me.”
The song touches on all genres of music, with moments of straight-up Top 40 pop, country and even dance, with its grinding effects, especially on the bumping chorus. On it, she professes, “I knew you were trouble when you walked in/ Shame on me now/ Flew me to places I’d never been/ ‘Til you put me down/ I knew you were trouble when you walked in/ Shame on me now/ Flew me to places I’d never been/ Now I’m lying on the cold hard ground/ Oh, trouble, trouble, trouble.”
The song offers more insight into her relationship with the bad boy later on when she sings, “A new notch in your belt is all I’ll be/ And now I see/ He was long gone/ When he met me/ And I realize/ The joke is on me.”
Musically, the way the song bounces around musical genres was one of Swift’s intentions. Speaking about “I Knew You Were Trouble” to “Good Morning America” on Monday, she said, “It’s a song that’s one of my favorite songs on the album because it sounds just as chaotic as the feeling was when I wrote it. It’s a song about kind of being frustrated with yourself because you have your heart broken and you knew when you first saw that person you saw all these red flags and you just went for it anyway,” she explained. “So, shame on me.”
In addition to releasing the song, she also dropped the 16-song track list for the album. Swift included her duet with Ed Sheeran on the song “Everything Has Changed,” but there is still one more mystery duet that she has yet to talk about. Her next single is slated to be “Begin Again.”
“Well, in terms of my album, it kind of signifies the intense, really bold emotions you feel when you’re in kind of mad love,” she told MTV News last month about the album, which includes her hit single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” “And I think that all of the songs on the album are written about those kinds of experiences that I’ve had.”
Weeks after she drops her album, Swift will be in Frankfurt, Germany, on November 11 to perform at the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards where she is up for five awards.
Here is Part 1 of NBC’s special on the BTS making of Taylor’s album Speak Now. Enjoy!
1. Mine
2. Sparks Fly
3. Back to December
4. Speak Now
5. Dear John
6. Mean
7. The Story of Us
8. Never Grow Up
9. Enchanted
10. Better Than Revenge
11. Innocent
12. Haunted
13. Last Kiss
14. Long Live
From Roman White’s (director) blog-
“After much shooting, editing and A LOT of work, I am excited the video for Taylor’s new single, “MINE,” is FINISHED! Creating this piece was beyond fun, and I’ve honestly never had a better time on a shoot. Was it crazy hot? Yes. Were there tons of bugs? Yes. Was all of this offset by the insanely gorgeous scenery? 100% YES!
We shot the entire piece near Portland, Maine and much lobster was eaten! My AMAZING producer, Tameron Hedge, actually got accosted by a HUGE seagull who took off with her lobster roll (that’s how good they were). Other than that one little incident, Maine was absolute perfection. On the first day, we shot on a private estate with more than 2,000 acres and a private beach, rounding out the second day in a small harbor town. There was a lot going on, and I had a BLAST with the entire gang!
The video should premier soon and there’s so much more to say, but I don’t want to give anything away. Until then, look for the premiere coming soon!!!”
Taylor’s new single ‘Mine’ has been released! You can listen to it below. Enjoy!