Heads up, Filipino Swifties: Taylor Swift’s revealed more details about the 10-minute version of everyone’s ultimate heartbreak song—”All Too Well.”
On a recent Rolling Stone podcast, Swift talked about the writing process behind the 6-minute track, sharing that it was originally 10 minutes long and featured her saying the F-word. Swift and songwriter Liz Rose fine-tuned the longer version and cut out seven extra verses before release. While the cursing is new, the length isn’t: She had previously revealed on “Good Morning America” in 2012 that she had initially recorded a longer, version of the song, and a version of that is on a CD somewhere. Since then, her stans have been clamoring to hear the original, turning it into “a fandom in-joke/meme/we’re-actually-kinda-serious-about-wanting-to-hear-it-tho,” Buzzfeed writes.
The hit ballad is part of her 2012 album “Red,” which ranked 99 in Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” The singer said “Red” is actually her “one true breakup album”. During the podcast she admitted that “(‘Red’) was absolutely not cohesive. But it was sort of a metaphor for how messy a real breakup is.”
And Swifties definitely have been through all that (or at least, have vicariously experienced being a “broken human” through her powerful songwriting). No wonder every lyric in “All Too Well” felt like a collective experience.
“All Too Well’”s magic rests on its cling to specific tiny details. It’s as if Swift brings us to her own heartbreak, or reminds us of our own memories. And it officially crushes our hearts because the song knows and vividly remembers everything—from the couple dancing around the kitchen to them getting lost in translation.
The 30-year-old’s flawless talent in songwriting shines in the song. No wonder fans think of this track as a masterpiece, even claiming it as her best sad song. Despite not having a music video or being released as a single, “All Too Well” has continued to stand out. Internet users regularly associate anything to this song, be they playful but heartbreaking memes, or sincere quote-tweeting of its lyrics—as long as they can #relate.
“I thought it was too dark, too sad, too intense. Just too many things’. I thought, you know, so it’s fun when things surprise you like that,” confessed Swift.
“I can’t believe it now (that) when I play it, everybody in the crowd knows every word—I’m truly astonished,” she said.
Just recently, Swift took her music ownership negotiations with Scooter Braun to Twitter. She also announced that she is currently in the process of re-recording her songs and found the process to be both creative and fulfilling.
Will the 10-minute song break us like a promise? Most likely but we’ll just sing our hearts out to it.
And while we wait for the release, here’s something for Filipino Swifties: The singer must have started writing the hit song in Manila, during her Speak Now Tour rehearsals in 2011.
Photo screengrabbed from the “22” music video
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