Taylor Swift strikes chord with new album Red

What instantly becomes clear when you first listen to Taylor Swift’s fourth album, Red, released Monday, is how much she loves music and how talented she is. Since her breakout in 2006, she has risen to meteoric heights and Red is just another level higher.

The variety of exciting new tracks will certainly get “Swifties” going. Swift experiments with different styles and sounds with success. Working with producers like Jeff Bhasker, Dan Wilson and Max Martin certainly gave her just the edge she needed to make another great album.

While she certainly still has the country comfort with songs like “I Almost Do” and “Begin Again,” the amount of country has certainly been on the decline since her first album. It makes sense though, for two reasons. First, her fan base is not merely a country music fandom, so she has to try to please as many of her fans as she can. Second, it only makes sense that a 22-year-old would want to make chart-topping pop hits, being that more fame tends to come to pop stars than country stars. Some may wonder what exactly her genre is, but that appears to be one of the many things that make Swift unique.

Her lyrics show just who she is. She pours her heart into her them in a way that makes sense. She is playful enough to bring her fans back to their high school years, but she is mature and intelligent enough to challenge her fans to think about their own lives. Lyrics from the song “22” like “it feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters and make fun of our exes” and from the song “The Last Time” like “You wear your best apology, but I was there to watch you leave and all those times I let you in just to watch you go again” show just that.

The chart-topping hits are certainly fun and light. “22” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” are catchy and will get large amounts of air time across the country in the coming months.

But, the real stars of the album are “The Last Time” and “I Almost Do.” Two underrated tracks that will spark emotion in any fan are “Begin Again” and “Red.” If you splurged for the CD with the bonus tracks from Target, it was well worth it. The deluxe edition features three new tracks: “The Moment I knew,” “Come Back … Be Here,” and “Girl at Home.” The real bonus however is three new versions of songs from the regular album. “Treacherous” and “Red” are re-released in the original demo recording form, while an acoustic version of “State of Grace” rounds out the deluxe edition. These unique versions of the tracks make one thing discernible; Swift is an amazing singer. Even without all the effects of a studio, she has a beautiful voice that shows off more on this album than any before it.

One complaint of Swift’s music is that she only talks about relationships. She has consistently put out new content without becoming repetitive, which suggests that she can make a career out of her personal experience in relationships. The complaint brings up the question: what would be a preferred topic for the starlet? A 22-year-old who doesn’t talk about drinking or drugs is certainly a change of pace, but she also tries to help her fans by providing cautionary tales of how dangerous love can be. In a country with a 30 percent divorce rate, a young woman seeking real love should be applauded, not mocked.

Swift’s new album is a must-have regardless of your music taste. Her fandom of music has given her audience an even better product that will surely get her much more awards and notoriety.