Song-by-Song Review of Taylor Swift's album "Red"

So, it has been a full week and 2 days since Taylor Swift's fourth album "Red" has graced the planet. The numbers came out yesterday and the album sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling album in over 10 years. This is Taylor's second album that has sold more than 1 million copies in its first week, the first album being 2010's "Speak Now." The only other artist to have ever conquered that feat was `Nsync, and we ALL know how long its been since they've been on the radio.

Since I am a huge Taylor Swift fan (seriously, could you not tell?) I am going to give you a song-by-song review. I'm only going to include the 16 songs on the main album, so if you want to hear about the 6 additional songs on the deluxe version of the album (only available at Target), you will have to buy it for yourself. (:

1. State of Grace 
This song was one of the pre-released songs on Good Morning America. And let me tell you, I didn't really like it before the album came out. But once I sat down and listened to it in "Red"'s full glory, this is one of my top-played songs on the CD. It just screams concert material, and although it is about love, I feel like it is the "Red" era's "Change" and "Long Live" (if you don't know what I am talking about, then in other words, it seems like the inspirational song on "Red"). It also seems to me like it would sound perfect as the background of a movie. "I'm walking fast through the traffic lights/ busy streets and busy lives/ and all we know is touch and go." That just seems to me like it belongs in the movie's beginning credits. It has a great chorus line, and it is my go-to song for mornings that I just can't get moving. It's about the beginnings of a relationship, and how you never saw a person coming, but now that they're here, you'll never be the same. I really like how it's the first song on the album, because it get's you going and starts off the relationship that she will be singing about on the rest of the album.

2. Red
This is another one of the pre-released songs. I loved it from the first 3 seconds of listening. Of course this song is one of my favorites, because it has that little something extra in the chorus (re-eh-eh-ed, re-eh-eh-ed), and it's the song that defines the album. It's a great upbeat song. Taylor said herself that the song was inspired by all of the crazy, tumultuous feelings that love brings, and the whole album is talking about the different feelings that happen during a relationship. I really like this part: "loving him was like the colors in autumn so bright, just before they lose it all" because it is autumn!!!

3. Treacherous 
This is the first slow song on the record, and I really like it. I don't think I was a fan of it at first, but it grew on me and then of course I thought, "What was I thinking? This song is great!"

4. I Knew You Were Trouble. 
Yes. It's with a period. This song is awesome. It was also another pre-released song, and got a lot of people wondering about how the rest of Taylor's album was going to be. This song is awesome. Did I say that already? The little bit of bass in the background during the chorus (what some people are calling the dub-step in this song, which I know nothing about but admit it sounds really cool here) gives the song the extra push of uniqueness. This is a GREAT song to rock out to. It just makes you feel even cooler for listening to it. Taylor does this little bit of "dub-step" very well.

5. All Too Well
This. Is. my. Favorite. Song. Ever. It's about how she remembers every little thing about an old relationship "all too well" and it's not a good thing. And there's a huge chance (like 98.7%) that it's about Jake Gyllenhaal. This song gets me every time and makes me cry. You can feel the raw emotion that Taylor felt as she was writing this, and as she was reliving it as she recorded it. I cannot wait to hear this song live in concert. This is a slow song with a little pick up towards the end. I feel like these types of slow ballads are where Taylor truly shines and shows her writing talents best. She has these great one-liners, like
1. "you taught me about your past, thinking your future was me"
2. "and I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to"
3. "and you call me up again to just break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest"
4. "time won't fly it's like I'm paralyzed by it. I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it"

*And someone said there is a TEN MINUTE VERSION OF THIS SONG. I HAVE TO HEAR THIS VERSION. The song on the album is already over 5 minutes long, and by the time 5 minutes its up, I find myself reaching for the replay button. You need to listen to this song. Whoever you are, I don't care if you're busy. You need to experience this song. So go look it up now. You can thank me later.

6. 22
This is such a cute, girly song. It's about just letting go of all of your worries for the night and celebrating being young with your friends. Taylor wrote this song for Selena Gomez, Dianna Agron, and some other famous friends of hers as well (just check the hidden message in the lyrics) While this song is great for dancing and just getting hyped up, I'd much rather listen to a deeper song, just because that's how I am. But I still love this song.

7. I Almost Do 
This song is another slow one. There's a lot of slow ones on this album, which kinda disappointed me at first but then I realized that they're what Taylor does best, and I was ok again. Haha. So this one is about the guy that Taylor just can't forget about, and she keeps finding herself about to call him, or about to go see him. And every time she doesn't. she almost does. Her vocals are really pretty in this song. I love it.

8. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together 
If you haven't heard this song on the radio, where have you been? This song is an awesome "screw you" song, and an awesome song to dance to. But again, I would much rather listen to the songs with more depth. And that's why people misunderstand Taylor, because THESE are the only types of Taylor Swift songs that they put on the radio. While they're very radio-friendly, I feel like it's time for people to realize her other talents, which are songwriting, and let those songs where you have to think about the lyrics to get their full affect play on the radio. But I guess people are dimwitted and don't want to hear deep songs on the radio, or if they do, they don't think of Taylor Swift to be the ones singing them. The world is so unjust! Haha. Anyway, when this song comes up on my iPod, I usually skip it, to be honest. I can listen to that song on the radio.

9. Stay Stay Stay
One of my friends said they counted how many times Taylor sang the word "stay" in this song and she got 29 times. Well, don't let that make an impression on you because this song is fun and quirky and I just love it. The hidden message is "daydreaming about love," so that makes you think that this is her idea of a perfect/ideal relationship that she would want. This song is so cute. The melody just gets you in a better mood when you listen to it. If you have heard Taylor's song "Ours" from the album "Speak Now" then I would say this song is very similar to that one. Just all happy-sounding. Which is exactly how you should feel when you're in love. So I'd say it sounds like all of the butterflies and rainbows you feel when you're in new love. Great job, Taylor.

10. The Last Time ft. Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol
I gotta say that this song is still working itself in my mind. I like it, but I don't completely love it yet. Probably because I keep replaying "All Too Well" and "State of Grace." Anyway, this song starts out with Taylor singing, then switched to the deep-voice Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol. They sound cool together but this isn't my favorite duet on the album. The lyrics are good, "this is the last time I'm asking you this" is talking about a relationship that is kind of bad for both people involved, and they probably shouldn't be together but they keep coming back to each other. This is them begging to give each other one more chance. But in the end, both of them are going to get hurt.

11. Holy Ground
This is another one of my favorites. I love how the verses are so quick but the chorus is so slow. It's a great dynamic and it works well in this song. I love how she has the background vocals singing "Holyyyyyy, holyyyyyy, holyyyyy-ohhhh." in the background. Taylor said herself that this song is about an old relationship that she found herself thinking about one day, and realized that she really felt good about the relationship after the fact. She says she looks back and smiles on that relationship and what they shared. I also really like some of the lines she has. "Well I guess we fell apart in the usual way, and the story's got dust on every page."

12. Sad Beautiful Tragic
This is another slow song. The vocals are absolutely perfect. This song is about a very toxic relationship, but the pain and love was all beautiful anyway. She has a really good line about good girls, "good girls, hopeful they'll be, and long will they wait." You can hear the emotion in Taylor's soft voice in this song, it's kind of a sigh, and a sense of helplessness.

13. The Lucky One
This is a song about Taylor's fears for herself. Basically, she is worrying about how this will all end for her. It is what she has nightmare about, she says. The song talks about how everyone thinks you're so lucky because you have all of this fortune and fame, but what about at the end of the day where you don't matter so much anymore? What happens then?

14. Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran (who is going on tour with Taylor for the RED tour!!!)
This song is my favorite duet on the album (well, there's only 2!). It's with British (English?) musician Ed Sheeran, and their voices sound heavenly together. Haha. It's about that moment when you meet someone new and have an instant draw to them, instant chemistry. It's about how the day you meet that person, you never saw them coming, but now that they are in your life, you can't stop thinking about them, and how everything has changed since you met them. This song is so obviously about Conor Kennedy, her current (did someone say they broke up?) boyfriend, because she mentions his green eyes and freckles, and the hidden message is "Hyannis Port," which is where the Kennedy compound is. So, no fooling us there, Taylor. This song is so true about the first feelings you have when you meet someone new. And my favorite part is the ever-famous Taylor pronunciation of "everything"-- which she pronounces "everythin." Which I have adopted into my speech since her first album when she pronounced it that way. No shame.

15. Starlight 
Oh, this song...well, let's start with the information about it first. It was written for Ethel Kennedy about Ethel Kennedy, which is stated so in the hidden message in the lyricbook. Plus, it starts out "I met Bobby on the boardwalk, summer of '45."Anyway, I just don't really like this song. It's cute and everything, but it's so cute that it's a little too cheesy for my taste. I haven't listened to it but like 3 times, so maybe that's why it's not growing on me. I don't know, I just don't really like it. Ok. Moving on.

16. Begin Again
This was the first song Taylor prereleased on Good Morning America. This got some fans excited because Taylor is bringing back her old country roots in this song. Well, kinda sorta. Haha. Anyway, I like this song, and the placement of it, because it's about a whole new relationship that you're realizing is already off to a better start than your last. It's about the first date you have with a person after you've ended a relationship.  "It's strange that you think I'm funny cause he never did" is one of the lines, and this lets you know that this is a good date so far. She's already made a music video for this song, set in Paris, and it's a really pretty video. I like the placement of the song on the album (the last song) because it is Taylor moving on from these former relationships she has sang about on the album prior to this song. And Taylor said she "bookended" the album this way on purpose, to mark the beginning of a relationship and the end of a relationship.


So that's my review, folks. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope I inspired you to listen to a song or two off of the album. It really is some good songwriting and some really cool, fresh melodies.

"Red" comes out Monday!

So many things in my life are going on right now! I'm so happy that "Red" is coming out this Monday! You can guarantee that I will be listening to the cd on repeat for the next two months.

My favorite thing to do when I get a new album is to sit down in the floor of my room, listening to the songs one by one, following along in the lyric book (dorky, I know). I love how Taylor Swift includes hidden messages in her lyrics by capitalizing certain letters to spell out a phrase or a word. Usually the phrases are just as poetic as her lyrics (if you only listen the radio releases of Taylor's songs, I'm sure you're rolling your eyes right now...but seriously, you should listen to her full albums. They're full of depth and emotion and true reflection) and reveal a little about who the song is about.

I am dying to know who/what certain songs are about in this album. As you may or may not know, every Monday on Good Morning America for the past four weeks, Taylor Swift has been releasing a brand new song from her new album. Every single song has gone number one on iTunes the following day!

The songs from the album that have been release are Begin Again, Red, I Knew You Were Trouble, and State of Grace. This coming Monday is the release of the full album, so she will kick off the launch party that morning on GMA with a performance. These new two months will be crazy busy for her, as she has the next two months chock-full of appearances and performances to promote her album.

I am SO excited for the album, and am OBSESSED with the songs she has released so far, so I'll attach the artwork for the singles released so far. If you want to hear the songs, do the right thing and buy them off iTunes (or wait til Monday for the entire album)!

And you can bet that I will be doing a full review on the album soon!!! (:

             

 
   


   

ONE MONTH!

Ok, so I know it's been a while since I've updated. School has been crazy and I got a new job.

Anyway, this blog post is all about how WE ARE EXACTLY ONE MONTH AWAY FROM BREAKING DAWN PART 2! 

I almost can't believe it. It feels so surreal. I'm so excited and anxious but sad at the same time. There are so many parts of the book that I cannot wait to see on film, and I am sure it's going to be great.

The "Twilight Saga: The Complete Film Archive" is out and my fellow bloggers have scanned the good parts. There are so many pictures and so many behind the scenes stuff to look through.

Anyway, I am SO READY for this premiere.

I'll be sure to do a full review on it after I see it (so there will be spoilers on the site soon after the movie comes out)!!!

Sophomore finds time for sorority and service activities

Abby Cameron building a church in in the village of Sibal, Mexico. 

What did you do for fun when you were a teenager?

For Abby Cameron, the answer is volunteering with her youth group. Now a sophomore at N.C. State, Cameron is following her childhood interests and majoring in public relations with a minor in nonprofit organizations. Her studies and activities are leading her to become a public relations representative for Habitat for Humanity.

“I did a lot of mission trips with my church as a teenager,” Cameron said. “I’ve been to New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and New York City. I have worked with Habitat for Humanity specifically at St. James Island in Charleston, S.C.”

Cameron, 19, is a Baltimore native but has lived in North Carolina since she was a child. She has lived in Greensboro with her family of four for 14 years.

“When I was five years old, my family moved to Greensboro because of my dad’s job.”

As a sophomore at N.C. State, Cameron is a sister of Kappa Delta sorority. She was inspired to join a sorority as a little girl when her mother told her stories about her days in the service fraternity at N.C. State. It seems Cameron followed her mother’s footsteps in two ways.

In Kappa Delta, Cameron is the birthday chairperson and a member of the sisterhood enrichment team. Both goals are to ensure every sister feels welcome and recognized as individuals of the sorority. This is where Cameron’s personal relation skills come in.

“On the sisterhood enrichment team, I am in charge of making sure every sister welcomes new sisters,” Cameron said. “It’s important to make new sisters feel like they belong.”

Cameron plans to join the Habitat for Humanity club on campus and to help with her sorority’s homecoming food drive.

“We do the food drive every year,” Cameron said. “It’s a good way to help those in need.”

Gossip or Truth? This is pulling at my Robsten heartstrings!

I am so confused by all of this Rob and Kristen stuff. One day, they are reported to be back together. The next day, they are fighting all over again. It seems that nobody really knows what is going on, but I hope at least Rob and Kristen do!

Today, the story is that they have moved back in together (momentarily) and Rob is giving Kristen four weeks to prove that she wants to be faithful, and that she WILL be faithful.

Well, let me tell you, these rumors are taking me on an emotional roller coaster. My heart can't take it!

"Sources" are saying that Rob will never be able to forgive and forget, but he is going to use this next month as a trial period for moving on from what happened and trying to make the relationship work.

Although I know that it is bad to take someone back from cheating, my little Robsten-loving heart just wants them to be happy together. Not apart. Haha.

I need to see them on the red carpet together for the premiere of Breaking Dawn: Part 2. I just have to. And so do the other millions of fans of the Twilight Saga.

It's the end of the Twilight Saga era, and as the Fifty Shades era begins, I just want to know that Rob and Kristen are ok.

Some people are calling this whole thing a publicity stunt just to make Rob and Kristen's other movies do well. Well, if it indeed was/is a stunt, it worked out in their favor, because Rob's Cosmopolis premiere and Kristen's On the Road premiere both had good turnouts, but whether people were actually coming to support the films or just wanting to catch a glimpse of them single still remains in question.

All I can say is this: the final film of the saga is coming out in November, and with the whole "FOREVER" thing that goes along with Bella and Edward's story, OF COURSE fans want to see the two together at the end of the saga.

It's almost like, if they got back together just in time for this last premiere, whether they broke up afterward or not, we could almost pretend they went running toward the sunset, hand in hand, and stayed together forever, happily ever after (even if they don't, this is what I would tell myself every day).

Besides, I want one last picture of them on the red carpet, Rob whispering sweet nothings into Kristen's ear that make her all fidgety and Taylor Lautner all uncomfortable. Because that's the only real thing the fans have to hold on to after the movies are over!

But why are people so emotionally invested in this couple?

For me, I think it is just because I read the Twilight books, watched the movies, and watched as the two main characters fell in love awkwardly and "secretly." It's like your favorite story is coming to life in reality. It's just the principle that these two very real people fell in love while they were immersed in this very fantasy story.

It's like a fairy tale.

Don't think I lead an unhealthy life full of obsession with these two. It's perfectly normal, I did the exact same thing when I found out Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were dating in real life after they filmed The Notebook. And I cried when they broke up as well.

Anyways, the whole point of this post was to tell fellow Robsten fans that IT'S OK to want Rob and Kristen back together, even if it is for your own selfish reasons.

316 News: Countdown to "Red" begins on GMA

It's the last week in September and that only means that one of the most memorable months of my life is about to begin: I am turning 21 and Taylor Swift's fourth album is coming out. 

As the number of weeks decrease between me and that sure-to-be-wonderful album, there is a countdown that is just starting. 

ABC News reports about the big debut of Taylor's album Red, and how Good Morning America plans to release a new song off of the album every Monday until the album comes out on Oct. 22. 

This Monday, 30 seconds of the first song was released on GMA, preceded by a message from Taylor herself. The song was then available for download on iTunes at midnight. 

The song released was called “Begin Again,” a country ballad about beginning a new relationship after a bad breakup. It became the number one single, surpassing “Gangnam Style” (thank GOD). 

ABC News doesn't really say much besides the schedule of releasing the 30 second piece of the songs, and they don't tell the title of the songs. This article really didn't have much to it.

Although I don't really find anything wrong with the article, I believe the headline is WAY too long: “Good Morning America” Exclusive: Taylor Swift Launches Red Album Release With 4-Week Song Preview Countdown – Exclusively on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

They also use the word Exclusive(ly) twice in the headline. 

Source: Abc News

316 News: Website reads way too much into Kristen Stewart

According to AmyGrindhouse.com (seriously?), Kristen Stewart is "too real to shill cosmetics, but not too real to shill Balenciaga Perfume."

In a post written today, Sept. 19, "Amy Grindhouse" (is that really her name?) provides a menagerie of Kristen Stewart's quotes on creativity and being real, and goes on to say how Stewart sold herself out by becoming Balenciaga's newest model for their perfume "Florabotanica."

"I would never do a makeup campaign, even though the [final] photos with me would probably look good. Thank you, but it doesn't interest me," Kristen said in Glamour magazine.

Amy Grindhouse discusses Kristen's statement and how while Kristen is too good for makeup campaigns, she has no problem with perfume campaigns.

I am still sitting here trying to understand why this calls for a story on the matter.

While I understand blogs and gossip sites have to find things to write about (which I am doing as I write this), I really don't get how they come across something and make it into a story that nobody really seems to care about.

You know that if I am saying that someone is too wound up in Kristen Stewart, then they are too wound up in Kristen Stewart. 

While I was surprised to see Kristen endorsing a perfume (it just doesn't seem like something she would take out the time for), I am happy she did. I enjoy seeing her grace the pages of a magazine that doesn't have anything to do about the latest scandal or how "bad" of an actress she is (by the way, she's not. Check out The Cake Eaters and The Yellow Handkerchief, or On the Road --out this fall).

I can see the difference between doing a perfume campaign and makeup campaign. It's all about beauty and looking freshly done everywhere you go when you're involved with a makeup brand. And I'll agree that Kristen Stewart just doesn't care about that stuff all that much right now.

When you are endorsing a perfume --well, what DOES happen?

I'll tell you: it means you will have some no-name website comment on your choices of endorsement and pull out a bunch of quotes from your past interviews that have nothing to relate or add to the discussion at hand. Exhibit A: Amy Grindhouse uses Stewart's quote from an interview about the end of the Twilight saga: "I'm relieved. Not that it's finally over but that we told a story from beginning to end."

Besides their use of quotes that totally lack relation to the rest of the story, this article just doesn't really jump out as something a reader would be interested in, unless they absolutely are obsessed with hating Kristen Stewart and want to find even the smallest reason to hate her or they really didn't find anything else going on in the news about Taylor Swift and Twilight and had to resort to this article.

I hope next week will result in some better news for which which I can give my thoughts.