Fall First Look: Red by Taylor Swift

In case you've been living under a rock, country princess Taylor Swift announced on Monday that she is releasing a new album this fall. Titled "Red," the star's fourth studio album will be released October 22nd (the cover art is above). Asked about the album's title, Taylor said the album explores many emotions ranging from "intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion," and "in my mind all those emotions are red." Taylor has stated that the theme of this album is "Moving On" and that's certainly evident in the first single off the album, titled "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," an anthem for scorned lovers that have been screwed over too many times. The album itself has 16 tracks, not including bonus tracks for the deluxe version, and she confirmed that one of the songs is a duet with Ed Sheeran (a flawless British redhead who's album, +, made a splash earlier this summer). Taylor expressed hopes to do a world tour for Red after the success of the Speak Now tour. On the flipside, fans are extremely excited for the album (Taylor Swift, "Red," and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together were all worldwide trending topics on Twitter on Monday and Tuesday). Critics, who saw promise in Taylor's work for The Hunger Games soundtrack with songs like Safe and Sound and Eyes Open, are split on hopes for the new album, as it appears Swift is heading in a poppier direction with a country twang. She's working with Max Martin (who produced the first single), Shellback, and Mark Foster of Foster the People, so there's clearly a wide range of sounds popping up here. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together was released late Monday night and set a new iTunes record for fastest ascent to the #1 spot, taking a little under 50 minutes to reach the peak spot, and it still has not left that spot. The song is already getting huge spins at local country and pop stations, with some stations guaranteeing the song to be played at the top of the hour, every hour all week. At it's current pace, a debut in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 seems likely, and it'll be interesting to see if the song carries momentum as we head into the fall. Regardless, fans around the world are anxious for the arrival of what is sure to be this fall's hottest album, Red from Taylor Swift.

Check out the official lyric video for We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together below:

Evan