What to expect from Red (Taylor's Version), due to land in November

Taylor Swift's Red has been a cult classic favourite amongst die-hard fans of the country-pop singer since its release in October 2012.

Swift declared in an interview with Rolling Stone and Amazon Music in 2020 that Red was her only "true breakup album," saying that "this was an album that I wrote specifically about pure, absolute, to the core, heartbreak".

The next album that I’ll be releasing is my version of Red, which will be out on November 19. This will be the first time you hear all 30 songs that were meant to go on Red. And hey, one of them is even ten minutes long🧣 https://t.co/FOBLS5aHpS pic.twitter.com/6zWa64Owgp

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 18, 2021

Fans will get the chance to relive the heartbreak and grief that the album brings on November 19th as Swift has announced the project as her next album from her discography to be re-released as she works her way through reclaiming ownership of the songs she recorded under Big Machine Records.

Swift has already delivered hugely successful Jack Antonoff-produced offerings to fans this year, re-releasing her 2008 Fearless with six additional tracks "from the vault," as well as releasing her 2020 album Evermore on vinyl, breaking the record for the biggest first-week sales for a vinyl album.

Red boasts a long list of accolades, from Grammy nominations to American Music and Billboard awards for Favourite Country Album and Top Album of the year respectively. It also marks Swift's final country-pop album before she moved into pop music primarily with 2014's 1989.

Some of the singer's greatest hits feature on the album including '22,' 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,' and 'I Knew You Were Trouble,' which propelled the star right into the pop-sphere.

The 16-track album (with a 22-track deluxe) will be extended to 30 songs and is expected to include a 10-minute, explicit version of "All to Well," which fans have hailed as their cult classic track from the moody, country-pop album as it details the nostalgia and the grief that follows a failed relationship.

"I thought it was too dark, too sad, too intense, too many things," Swift explained to Rolling Stone about why the extended version was never released - until now.

Almost a decade later, Red is set to be released with new stories in a different era, where emotional and honest songwriting is not only being received better by the public but the vulnerability of sharing the emotions we heard on Red may even be celebrated.

Olivia Rodrigo - a self-confessed "Swiftie" who interpolates Swift's 'New Year's Day' on her debut album Sour - has seen wide public support for her music which documents the teenage heartbreak in all of its irrational insecurity, anger and misery.

Just like Swift did on Red, Rodrigo let fans into her personal life and allowed them to hear her healing as they listened to the album and related to her story. Rodrigo was hailed for her vulnerability, while the 31-year-old was often vilified.

Whilst fans and critics received one of Swift's most vulnerable and saddest record with open arms, with Billboard calling it her "best album yet," the singer-songwriter has criticised by the public for seemingly dating for album material or exposing her past relationships.

"Find me a time when they say that about a male artist: "Be careful, girl, he’ll use his experience with you to get—God forbid—inspiration to make art," Swift told Vogue in 2019.

With Rodrigo's album breaking countless records and taking the #1 spot on charts globally with Sour, including the UK where she has spent 4 weeks in the top 10, it might be an indication that the world is now ready to listen to Swift's Red in all of its melancholic glory.

Red (Taylor's Version) is out November 19th, pre-order here.