Whether you like it or not Taylor Swift is likely the most prolific artist of her time. The stats and quotes that affirm this take could be said but that's likely unnecessary window dressing for the overall point. Swift not only boasts a number of impressive sales but she has done it while tweaking her style, some may say constantly growing. Yes it’s fair to admit she is not making astronomical shifts but she is making noticeable ones throughout her nearly 20 year career. Swift has had many hits in this time covering a wide range of topics. However for many there is one song that stands out above the rest, her 2012 hit “All Too Well” from the famous album Red.
For the purposes of this article we won’t be discussing the 2012 original or the 2021, 10 minute version of the song that was accompanied by a music video directed by Swift herself. We will be focusing on the re-release of the song from the Taylor’s Version of the album Red. This song is specifically interesting not only for its potential as Swift's best but it is additionally important as a representation of Swift's library as a whole. In “All Too Well” Swift reflects on a former relationship, likely her one with the much older Jake Gylenhall and she does so quite poetically. Talking about a time that she remembers clearly. The thing about the re-release and subsequent live performances of the song is the fact that this song still seems to resonate with fans and even herself over 10 years later. So why above all the others does this one matter so much?
Swift’s talent as a lyricist can really only be matched by the way she draws attention from the media. Whether she likes the magnitude of attention she receives or not may be up to interpretation but either way she is one of the most viewed stars in the spotlight today. Because of this increased media coverage Swift's fans get to basically go on each relationship journey with her. So inevitably when the relationships end not only does the singer lament but so to do her fans. This lament is only magnified when she releases a song that often clearly is about someone. It is these songs about her romances that take both negative and positive turns on the relationships that are often Swift’s most popular and most replayed and analyzed.
Part of what makes Swift and her songs about her lost loves so interesting and engaging is that she is a distinctly biased and unreliable narrator. Before the Swifties jump on this comment I legitimately mean this as a compliment to the singer. In most of her songs Swift does not attempt to tell the other side and quite frankly this often works to her benefit. In the case of the song that this article is based around it makes it cut even more. Artists who try to tell both sides of romantic turmoil often find mixed results in return. We really can only tell our own side of the story no matter how much we know the others side. By telling it from her perspective and telling her version of the truth we get the opportunity to see it through her perspective and this is biased but it's also not wrong and it’s damn effective in the case of “All Too Well.”
With the knowledge of the importance of the structure of this song as a tale of romantic woe and the understanding of perspective there is really only one way left to view this song and why it holds such importance. The lyrics. Actually one section of the song in particular. Near the midpoint of the song in the bridge Swift says “And maybe we got lost in translation, Maybe I asked for too much, But maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up, Running scared, I was there, I remember it all too well” This is maybe the best writing of Swift’s career. In this she asks initially what did I do wrong until placing the blame on the other for ripping up a masterpiece. Swift has other nodes in this song that feel more specific to a singular person. But this is the section that is vague enough to be about anyone but also with context packs an incredible punch of the hurt and despair her alleged relationship with Gyllenhaal must have had on her at such a young age.
This is a complicated song for a number of reasons. Swift's non-committal relationship with who the song is directly about and her lack of slowing down the fire of her fans being the criticisms for me that have the most solid base. I have even struggled with the idea that this song is not just a story but a sort of musical attack that is more cloaked in a pop hit than it is a direct shot like in famous rap beefs. However it is hard to deny that even with the hard to digest background and the uneven nature of how the story is told, that Taylor tells the story with so much beauty. It can be easy to forget that she, like all of us, is human; she simply feels a lot of the things we get to do in private in the public eye.
Swift has written everything ranging from head banger to cry in the car songs. Her style has morphed with her audience while still welcoming new fans both young and old along the way. Yet it’s this song that stands out and is constantly analyzed. Even Swift has admitted it wasn’t considered a single, despite loving the song herself and clearly her fans agree with her taste. As mentioned before Swift has had many, many hits in her career. Many of these hits are about the decay of her romances. It is fair to wonder why this one stands out among the rest.
For an answer to the popularity of this song I find it’s time for me to integrate my opinion. I’ve listened to this song probably over 50 times in the last day or two and yet I still feel something when I listen. Although my childhood was spent getting overruled by my sisters and listening to Taylor Swift frequently I never grew much of an affection for her and I once was even a hater of this specific song. However there is something personal about the lyrics and there is a passion in the singing that makes everything she is saying feel so real. It’s really art, it’s both the pain and beauty of love regardless of who it is about, but since it is about someone it makes it feel all the more devastating and dare I say real. That is the heart of this song for both Swift and her fans. It is that many can relate to this song regardless of all the factors that divide us. We have all had someone in a time and place that we remember all too well.
Kaleb Unger
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