Red is the fourth studio album by the American country pop recording artist, Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012, and features 16 songs including a collaboration with Ed Sheeran, and another with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol.
The lead single of the album is called 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'. Its music video premiered on CMT, MTV, and TeenNick.
A single from the album was being released each Tuesday leading up to the album's release, starting Tuesday, September 25th, 2012.
Swift stated her reason for naming the album 'Red' as:
“
All the different emotions that are written about on this album are all pretty much about the kind of tumultuous, crazy, insane, intense, semi-toxic relationships that I’ve experienced in the last two years. All those emotions — spanning from intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion, all of that — in my mind, all those emotions are red. You know, there’s nothing in between. There’s nothing beige about any of those feelings.
The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was released on August 13 and has since became Swift's first number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song's jump from its debut position No. 79 to No. 1 was the result of a massive digital demand on the song. With 623,000 downloads, the song placed second among all-time best single-week sales singles, behind Flo Rida's 2009 hit "Right Round."
"Begin Again" was released on iTunes on September 25, 2012 as part of a countdown to the album release. It was later announced that the track, though initially a promotional single, would be serviced to country radio on October 1, 2012 as the second single from the album.
"I Knew You Were Trouble." was released as the third single from the album and has become one of her most successful singles to date.
"22" was released as the fourth single on April 1, 2013. She will perform it live for the first time at the Brit Awards on February 20, 2013, in order to promote the single's release.
"Everything Has Changed" was released as the fifth single from the album on June 14, 2013. It was featured with Ed Sheeran and was wrote by Swift and Sheeran.
"Red" was released as the sixth single from the album on June 24, 2013. It debuted at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart, behind Swift's first single of the album.
"The Last Time" was released as the seventh single from the album on October 19, 2013. It was featured with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and is written by Swift and Lightbody. They sang the song on the tenth season of the British Version of The X Factor on November 3, 2013 to support sales as a UK single.
Promotional singles
"I Knew You Were Trouble" was released as a Promotional Single on October 9, 2012 but was later released as the third single of Red on November 27, 2012. It generally received positive reviews from critics who commended it for appealing to its audiences, but stated that Swift's first attempt to create a dubstep type of music is limited. The song is currently second on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
During the four weeks preceding the release of Red, one track was released each week digitally on iTunes after a preview of it was heard on Good Morning America. The first of the four promotional singles is "Begin Again", which was released digitally on iTunes on September 25, 2012.
Other Songs
"Ronan" was released digitally on iTunes following a performance of the song on Stand Up For Cancer, with all the proceeds going to Cancer-related charities, as stated by Swift herself via Twitter. President and CEO of Big Machine Records Scott Borchetta has confirmed via Twitter that the song is not on Red, but that they "may have to rethink" about adding it to the album. They never added it to the album, but it is available on iTunes.
Other Promotions
Taylor also has been working with Keds in a contest to win signed pairs of special edition Red Keds in promotion of this album. As Of October 29th, they have been sold out until the winter.
