Red

by Taylor Swift

Overview

Taylor Swift designed her 2012 album Red as her breakthrough into the pop market -- a crossover she pulled off with ease, elevating her to the rarefied air of superstars who can be identified by a single name. Red may not be flawless -- it runs just a shade too long as it sprints along in its quest to be everything to everyone -- but there's an empowering fearlessness in how Swift shakes off her country bona fides. Leaving Nashville behind, she rushes to collaborate with Britney Spears hitmaker Max Martin and Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, along with mainstream rock mainstays Dan Wilson and Butch Walker. Appropriately for an album featuring so many producers, Red isn't sequenced like a proper album, it's a buffet, offering every kind of sound or identity a Swift fan could possibly want. Taylor deftly shifts styles, adapting well to the insistent pulse of Martin, easing into a shimmering melancholy reminiscent of Mazzy Star ("Sad Beautiful Tragic"), and coolly riding a chilly new wave pulse ("The Lucky One"). Combined with the unabashed arena rock fanfare of "State of Grace," the dance-pop of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," and the dubstep feint "I Knew You Were Trouble" -- not to mention the cheerfully ludicrous club-filler "22" -- Red barely winks at country, and it's a better album for it. It is, as all pop albums should be, recognizable primarily as the work of Taylor Swift alone: her girlish persona is at its center, allowing her to try on the latest fashions while always sounding like herself. Although she can still seem a little gangly in her lyrical details -- her relationship songs are too on the nose and she has an odd obsession about her perceived persecution by the cool kids -- these details hardly undermine the pristine pop confections surrounding them. If anything, these ungainly, awkward phrasings humanizes this mammoth pop monolith: she's constructed something so precise that its success seems preordained, but underneath it all, Taylor is still twitchy, which makes Red not just catchy but compelling. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	10/22/2012
Label:	Big Machine Records
UPC:	0843930007073

Tracks

1. State of Grace
2. Red
3. Treacherous
4. I Knew You Were Trouble
5. All Too Well
6. 22
7. I Almost Do
8. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
9. Stay Stay Stay
10. The Last Time
11. Holy Ground
12. Sad Beautiful Tragic
13. The Lucky One
14. Everything Has Changed
15. Starlight
16. Begin Again

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Taylor Swift   Primary Artist,Guitar (Acoustic),Vocals (Background),Lead Vocals
Nathan Chapman   Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer,Six String Banjo,Guitar (Acoustic),Bass,Drums,Piano,Soloist,Ukulele,Mandolin,Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Shellback   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Paul Franklin   Guitar (Steel)
Andy Thompson   Guitar,Synthesizer,Piano (Electric)
Marcia Dickstein   Harp
Bill Rieflin   Drums
Daphne Chen   Violin
Jacknife Lee   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards
Wes Precourt   Violin
Butch Walker   Drums,Guitar,Keyboards,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
J. Bonilla   Percussion,Drums
Brett Banducci   Viola
Neli Nikolaeva   Violin
Charlie Judge   Piano,Strings,Synthaxe,Accordion,Synthesizer,Organ (Hammond),Piano (Upright)
Tom Bukovac   Guitar (Electric)
Eric Gorfain   Violin
Rodney Wirtz   Viola
Jimmie Lee Sloas   Bass
Owen Pallett   Conductor
Max Martin   Keyboards
Jeff Bhasker   Bass,Piano,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Dann Huff   Bouzouki,Hi String Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Dan Wilson   Bass,Piano,Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Ilya Toshinskiy   Mandolin,Six String Banjo
Ed Sheeran   Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Anders Mouridsen   Guitar
Jeff Takiguchi   Contrabass
Richard Dodd   Cello
Caitlin Evanson   Vocals (Background)
John Krovoza   Cello
Amy Wickman   Violin
Gary Lightbody   Lead Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Peggy Baldwin   Cello
Marisa Kuney   Violin
Eric Darken   Percussion
Jonathan Yudkin   Cello,Fiddle,Violin
Simeon Pillich   Contrabass
Jamie Muhoberac   Piano
Aaron Sterling   Drums
Nick Buda   Drums
Jake Sinclair   Bass,Vocals (Background)
Radu Pieptea   Violin
Tyler Johnson   Vocals (Background)
Gina Kronstadt   Violin
Lauren Chipman   Viola

Technical Credits

Nathan Chapman   Producer,Engineer
Shellback   Composer,Producer,Programming
Serban Ghenea   Mixing Engineer
Patrick Warren   Composer,String Arrangements
Andy Thompson   Engineer
Jacknife Lee   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming
Joe Baldridge   Engineer
Taylor Swift   Creative Director,Composer,Producer
Brian David Willis   Engineer
J. Bonilla   Programming
Bethany Newman   Art Direction
Hank Williams   Mastering
Chris Owens   Assistant Engineer
David Huff   Digital Editing
John Hanes   Mixing Engineer
Mark "Spike" Stent   Mixing
Justin Niebank   Mixing Engineer
Liz Rose   Composer
Michael Ilbert   Engineer
Sam Bell   Engineer
Owen Pallett   Orchestration
Matt Bishop   Editing,Engineer
Max Martin   Composer,Producer
Jeff Bhasker   Producer,Programming
Butch Walker   Producer
Dann Huff   Editing,Producer
Dan Wilson   Composer,Producer,Composer
Eric Robinson   Engineer
Austin Hale   Design
Lorrie Turk   Make-Up
Matt Rausch   Engineer
Jemma Muradian   Hair Stylist
Leland Elliott   Assistant Engineer
Ed Sheeran   Composer
John Rausch   Engineer
Delbert Bowers   Mixing Assistant
Greg Fuess   Assistant Engineer
Becca Walls   Interviewer
Tim Roberts   Assistant Engineer
Manny Marroquin   Mixing Engineer
Gary Lightbody   Composer
Drew Bollman   Mixing Assistant
Chad Carlson   Engineer
Steve Marcantonio   Engineer
Matty Green   Assistant
Eric Eylands   Assistant Engineer
Seth Morton   Assistant Engineer
Chris Galland   Mixing Assistant
Scott Borchetta   Executive Producer
Tom Coyne   Mastering
Jake Sinclair   Engineer
Tyler Johnson   Guitar Engineer
Pawel Sek   Engineer
Josh Newman   Art Direction
Sam Holland   Engineer
Sarah Barlow   Photography