13 The Story Behind Red

I originally put this in the same post as the review, but decided that it was too draggy and hence created a separate post for it: my story behind Red!

Back when Speak Now came out, I promised I'd wait till the platinum edition came out before buying it- since I had the bad experience of buying Fearless the minute it came out, and then regretting my decision once the platinum songs were released! (To jog your memory, Fearless's platinum edition included a marathon 6 extra tracks, including "Jump Then Fall", "Come in with the Rain" and "The Other Side of the Door".) Needless to say, I didn't have the stamina to wait more than 6 days, as my old review shows.

I try not to download songs online and I don't have iTunes, so without an Internet connection for YouTube my playlist is horribly dated. And I regretted not waiting when If This Was a Movie (from the Speak Now deluxe edition) came out. 

I did the same for Red. The exact day it came out, I happened to be passing by a music store with my mum, and we went in to check it out. I was shocked by the lack of paraphernalia advertising the album but my curiosity was rewarded when, in answer to my question, the staff mysteriously pulled out 3 copies of the album from under the counter. Which fuelled my nerve-racking, stomach-spasming, "Should I get it now?!" excitement.

Then I made a second resolution: that I wouldn't listen to any new songs (other than the singles released before the album) until I actually bought the album.

Do you know how hard that was?!

At long last, two days before I was due to fly off for a one-week holiday, I spotted the deluxe edition in the store and decided to buy it. (I wasn't sure if this was really the deluxe or there was Something Greater to be released, but heck, I couldn't wait any longer.) And when staying over at my grandma's with no computer to play it on, I borrowed her old radio and listened to the whole album two and a half times back to back. It felt ridiculous but oddly old-school: nothing else for entertainment, just straining my ears to make out the lyrics, and relishing the feel of new songs.

I realize there's much to be gained from treating music as more than white noise.

Here's for you: a video where Taylor explains the stories behind every single song. A slightly garbled transcript is available on YouTube (near the 'Share' button, there's one labelled 'Transcript'). It's quite illuminating!