Taylor Swift is the artist who has more influence than anyone else today. She is at the peak of her success. In 2019, in order to become a great artist, she announced that she would re-record her previous six albums in order to get the rights back to them. This decision came after her much-publicized dispute with Scooter Braun, who now owns Swift’s previous six music albums.
When Swift made this surprising announcement, fans thought she would simply have those albums re-recorded. But Swift went further and re-released songs from her previous albums as well as songs that almost made the cut. The tracks, titled From the Vault, include duets by Swift with long-respected musicians, including Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, and Phoebe Bridgers.
Taylor Swift has re-released four albums so far: Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989. In all, From the Vault features 26 songs, including a 10-minute version of her heart-wrenching anthem All Too Well. These songs are about love and desire, regret and vengeance, and the excitement of finding someone who can change your life. They all provided a new perspective on Swift’s work at the time. However, some are more notable than others. Here are our top 8 songs from Taylor Swift’s new releases so far.
Nothing New ft. Phoebe Bridgers (Red (Taylor Version))
Between Folklore and Evermore, Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift wrote some of the most poignant and touching songs of 2020. While Swift is the sole songwriter on Nothing New, the revived tune works well as a showcase for both artists’ lyrical sensibilities. Swift and Bridgers’ commercial tearjerking lines and provocative interrogation of unfair societal expectations on young women (“How did I go from being grown up to being broke?”) pack a knockout punch. “She’ll know the way, then she’ll say she got the map from me / I’ll say I’m happy for her, then I’ll cry myself to sleep,” she says, before contemplating meeting the next generation.
When Emma Falls in Love from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Taylor Swift returns in this brilliantly paced character study, centered on a charming girl named Emma whose deliberate approach to relationships grows darker with each successive verse, a few years after she used her dueling Folklore/Evermore eras to create new worlds as a narrator rather than a star. “She won’t lose herself in love the way I did,” Swift sings with a tinge of jealousy as she collaborated with Aaron Dessner, who swings between stately piano balladry and swaying country-pop. When Emma Falls in Love swirls with lyrical complexity and sonic detail as Swift brings her recent songcraft back into the vault.
Message in a Bottle from Red (Taylor’s Version)
Taylor Swift first collaborated with Max Martin on Red, and the collaboration resulted in hits like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and I Knew You Were Trouble. Martin’s sole credit on Red (Taylor’s version) comes as a co-writer on the From the Vault track Message in a Bottle, a compact, propulsive dance track that became a late radio hit and carries the same energy (and saucy charm) that moved Swift’s sound toward mainstream pop before 2014’s 1989.
Is It All Over Now? from 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
When is a relationship irreversible? Swift poses this question throughout Is It Over Now?, a close-up of a shattered love that’s still beating despite the rubble: The production squeals and chatters as she recounts feelings of betrayal by both parties, post-breakup dates that lead nowhere, and unfinished business against the brick wall of a complicated past. Is It Over Now? shines as a storytelling exercise, in which relationships inhabit a gray area that she attempts to turn into a fairytale romance; the characters and their situations are immediately accessible, and the solution seems doable.
Don’t You From Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
If you came to Fearless (Taylor’s Version) looking for a synthesis of the country-pop writing charm of Swift’s early albums and the ultra-confident songbuilding of her most recent works, Don’t You, an unreleased Fearless track modernized by Swift and Jack Antonoff, is the most satisfying version of that blend. While the story of meeting an ex-lover and the clever lyrics fit perfectly into Swift’s breakout project, the sonic landscape — keyboards, electric guitars and drums that pile on top of one another — and Swift’s yearning, dazzlingly sophisticated performance elevate Don’t You more than a decade later.
‘Say Don’t Go’ (Taylor’s Version) from 1989
The most fascinating part of Swift’s From the Vault concept is that it has allowed her to weave sounds and ideas from different eras of her career, as songs from years past are revived with a modern touch. With its high-drama romance and major-key hook, Say Don’t Go fits in with Swift’s country-pop days (“Why do you have to twist the knife? Go away and leave me bleeding, bleeding!”), and the post-chorus harmonies hark back to her Midnight period. The result is another great example of a song that’s in one place, yet perfectly brings all of Swift’s experiences to the fore.
I Can See You (from Speak Now) (Taylor’s Version)
From the Vault ’s best songs exist in conversation with their host albums as well as Swift’s most recent innovations, particularly as a producer, and I Can See You, the most thrilling never-before-heard track here, builds on the casual encounters and flirting of Speak Now, ramping up the sexual energy and offering a forward-looking instrumental foundation with plenty of sharpness.
Every choice on I Can See You, from the surf-rock guitar riff to Swift’s funniest gestures (“You won’t believe what you see inside my head,” she says impassively) to the groundbreaking hook of the pre-chorus, is made with confidence, because Swift and Jack Antonoff understand exactly what tone the song should be expressed in. I Can See You would have been a great addition to the original Speak Now, but Swift’s current skill set makes the song better suited for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
All Too Well (10 Minute Version) from Red (Taylor Version)
The lyrics are certainly worth a careful reading – an unholy keychain? A missed 21st birthday? Who was this actress? – of this super-sized version of what was already a masterpiece in the red track list, and rightfully so; Swift knew her fans would love and analyze every element of one of her most famous breakup songs. However, the 10-minute All Too Well should be recognized not just for the Easter eggs but also for the story it tells.
All Too Well, expanded like the original version published in 2012, is a stunning songwriting achievement, made even more astonishing now because its tale of love gone wrong never feels dull or overwrought throughout its enormous run time. Swift is at her most impressive, humming along with the production and making each lyric pierce through the skin – she gave the mainstream an impossibly long Hot 100 chart-topper and gave her most ardent fans her full, unadorned truth.