By the time Taylor Swift released her fourth album, Red, in 2012, she was already in the midst of her move away from country music, but she wouldn’t transition to a full-fledged pop sound until her next album, 1989. The title track from Red exemplifies Swift’s crossover-in-progress status, opening with some banjo picking set to a four-on-the-floor thump, before eventually giving way to a pop rock anthem.
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While “Red” is notable for its blending of country, rock, and techno elements, it’s also remarkable for lyrics that make use of different colors as metaphors for various feelings. This not only works as a means of getting her message across, but it also serves as a prompt for integrating color as a storytelling device in her live shows, as depicted in the official video for the song.
What’s “Red” About?
Swift is known for her breakup songs, of course, but the lyrics of “Red” are a particular type of tortured. This isn’t a story about an on-again, off-again romance (as in “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”) or an angry screed directed at a bad partner. It’s a song about regret and sadness over the loss of a relationship that was almost perfect, yet destined to be doomed. It has more in common, really, with Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” or Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “The Love I Lost” (written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff).
The song’s basic theme is conveyed in the opening line: Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street. While the word “red” does not appear in that line, can we picture a Maserati in any color other than red? The chorus expands on the emotions-as-colors motif.
Losing him was blue like I’d never known
Missing him was dark gray, all alone
Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you’ve never met
But loving him was red
The first two verses mostly detail Swift’s passionate feelings for her ex. What made loving him “red” wasn’t just passion, though. In the second verse, Swift sings, Memorizing him was as easy as knowing all the words to your old favorite song. There was something familiar about her ex, something that fit, something that was perfect.
With a love that was so right, how did it go so wrong? In what sense was this red Maserati of a love affair speeding down a dead-end street? Swift mostly leaves that to the listener’s imagination, only adding that Fighting with him was like trying to solve a crossword and realizing there’s no right answer. There was something so absolute and pure about their connection, and yet also something about the relationship that was disconnected and irreconcilable.
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Facts About “Red”
The song was the fifth of seven singles released from Red, and the last of four singles from the album to reach the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 6. It also made it to No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Red was the first album on which Swift worked with famed producer Max Martin, who had previously co-produced smash albums for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, P!nk, Katy Perry, and Usher, among tons more. While Martin is not credited as a producer on the title track, Swift has said the process of writing the song opened her up to working with other collaborators, including the Swedish producer.
During Swift’s Eras Tour in 2023, she would highlight “surprise songs”—tunes from her catalog she would not play more than once during the tour—during an acoustic segment of the show. Swift featured “Red” as one of her surprise songs in her performance at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. She had to play the song on guitar, as her piano was damaged in a rainstorm the previous night.
Conclusion
It’s easy to get hooked into the musical elements that made “Red” a hit single, and it might also be tempting to dismiss the track as just another Swift breakup song. It’s worth looking a little closer at Swift’s lyrics, though, and what she is able to achieve with them. She conveyed a dynamic in a romantic relationship that is both common and complicated, and made it seem simple. It’s a great example of what makes Swift such an effective songwriter.
Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for TAS
