A Review of Red (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift and Voyage by ABBA

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Mallory Brooks, Reporter

The albums that came out this November I was most excited for were ABBA’s album, Voyage and Taylor Swift’s re-recording of her album Red. I decided to review them and tell you if they are worth listening to. 

Voyage:

After 40 years, ABBA is finally releasing their ninth studio album Voyage on November 5th. I very much enjoyed the album, I would give it an 8/10. I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy it, the opening song was not a big favorite of mine, but as the album went on the songs got better. A lot of songs were so cute to dance to, and the instrumentals like the flute, piano and percussion were very nice to listen to. It was a very good comeback after 40 years. My favorite songs were “Don’t Shut Me Down”, it was catchy and I danced to it because it’s so fun to listen to. “Keep an Eye on Dan” was also a very good song to dance to, it felt dramatic in a way and it was a very nice listen. And “No Doubt About It.” because it made me energized and it was so upbeat. But truly all of the songs were good and I enjoyed listening to them. I really liked this album and if you liked their other albums, you would definitely like this one.             

Red (Taylor’s Version):

Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums to gain ownership of her own work, and on Nov. 12, Swift released her re-recording of her third album Red (Taylor’s Version). I stayed up on Thursday night to listen to it and I immediately went to listen to her ten minute version of All Too Well. Immediate jaw drop. My mouth was open the whole time. I honestly was not sure what to expect of a ten minute song but it exceeded all of them. It was angelic. And Taylor sounded amazing. The second song I listened to was Nothing New featuring Phoebe Bridgers and it was so good. This was the second most anticipated song I was waiting for and it was amazing because I really love Phoebe Bridgers and listening to her and Taylor together was a very amazing experience for me. This was a ‘from the vault’ song, so nobody has ever heard it before. I also was not sure what to expect from this song; I was curious about Bridger’s role in the song but her and Taylor sounded amazing together. 

Since Red has come out before, a lot of the songs have been heard before, but the experience with Taylor’s version is so much better and she sounds so different. My favorite vault songs were Better Man, Nothing New, and obviously the 10 minute version of All Too Well. The rest of the vault songs were all so good too. It was almost like she gave us another album within the album. The song Babe was so cute, the lyrics were kind of sad, but the upbeat tune made it seem like it wasn’t. Message in a Bottle was so catchy, I loved her vocals in it. Forever Winter was also very good, I liked the trumpet instrumentals and her lyrics. Run featuring Ed Sheeran was very cute, a very nice song to listen to, the guitar was really nice and Ed and Taylor sound very good together. And The Very First Night was very good as well, I really liked the lyrics and the upbeat music made me happy to listen to it. I Bet You Think About Me featuring Chris Stapleton was also really good, it felt kind of like it was in a country genre, but I really liked it, it was good to sing and dance along to. This new version brought new songs that nobody has heard before and if you liked Red when it first came out in 2012, this experience will be one thousand times better. It was amazing to hear how her voice changed and how she remade these songs 9 years later. 10/10.