Review: All Too Well (10-Minute Version) by Taylor Swift

Every so often an artist comes along who is less a songwriter, and more so a storyteller. Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Billy Joel immediately come to mind. And yes, Taylor Swift is one too. Despite what your opinion of her may be, the fact of the matter is that she is one of the best songwriters in the business today. With dozens of songs worthy of being written about, it is shocking to me how easy it is to pinpoint All Too Well (both this new version and its original, 5-minute predecessor) as her best work. The thing about this particular song is that it is hardly a song at all; there really aren't clear verses or choruses, but rather the words fit together more like stanzas in a poem or different scenes from a coming-of-age film. I have been saying this for years and had accepted that she likely would never top this song that, in my opinion, is nothing short of a masterpiece. So it is fitting and kind of funny to me that the only song that could come along and achieve the impossible task of besting the sublime All Too Well, was All Too Well itself.

Re-released almost 10 years after the original, this new All Too Well feels somehow more complete. It is an extravagant exercise in immersive songwriting that takes the listener on a journey through the beautifully simple moments of a relationship that was doomed from the beginning. One of the main reasons I think this version works so well is because of the nostalgic, reflective feel the whole thing has. Production-wise, the guitar that begins the song is soft and has so much reverb on it you won't know where it begins and where it ends, resulting in a dream-like ambient sound that compliments the reflective lyrics. It feels distant; like you are diving into a memory that has been shut away for quite some time. However, as the song builds (and boy does it build) this style is countered by one more driven by drum beats and forward vocals that emphasize the passion and strength behind a woman, now 30 years old, making sense of the heartbreak she experienced at 20. Despite a runtime of 10 minutes and 13 seconds to be exact, the song is able to hold our attention with production that ebbs and flows, moving through various styles that ultimately come together as one. Using almost random and noisy piano, wind, and brass instrumentation, the producers have created a symphony of sounds pieced together in the same way one pieces together a fragmented memory. I really cannot commend the production on this track enough. You will find new aspects that surprise you and that make you fall more and more in love each time you listen to it.

Lyrically, the song is daringly personal. Swift chronicles the relationship through very specific moments; happier days road-tripping in upstate New York, forgotten scarves at a sisters house, and kitchen dance parties illuminated only by the light of the refrigerator. Yet, despite how anecdotal some of these tales may be, we still feel like it has happened to us. And that's because it probably has; that road trip actually a drive to the beach, the scarf actually a sweater, or the dance party actually a wrestling match. The point is it doesn't matter what the lyrics tell us; if you have experienced love, you will know exactly how she feels in each moment she confides to us. It is this relatability that gives the song so much life. It feels real, unfiltered, and vulnerable, making it all the more devastating when the story turns to heartache.

Simply put, the song is about reliving a relationship through memories. It is about being unable to celebrate the good moments in spite of all the bad, but also unable to forget the bad moments in spite of all the good. The lyrics "all's well that end's well but I'm in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind" are Swift blaming the estranged boyfriend (Jake Gyllenhaal, if you didn't already know) for leaving her with fond memories that she can't revisit without thinking about him. She feels betrayed when he somehow finds a way back into her thoughts and seemingly blames him for existing, for the very fact that he is able to be remembered, as it has left her caught in an endless cycle of rumination. It is a reality that many experience, and so it comforts listeners by acknowledging that it is okay to go over and over things in your head while struggling to let someone go.

Around the 7-minute mark is where you start to wonder how things could possibly wrap up. Much of the lyrics take place in fall ("Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place"), however towards the end, the season changes to winter: "'Cause in this city's barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow and how it glistened as it fell. I remember it all too well", the beautiful autumn leaves now dead and buried under the snow. As the song reaches a final of many climaxes it swells with stunning harmonies that contribute to an ethereal, transcendent feeling that carries you away. The repetition of "I was there" throughout most of the last minute of the song is Swift affirming that she knows how things went down, and she won't be gaslit to think otherwise. Normally I am not a huge fan of overly long fade outs in songs, but it works here as the perfect closure to a song that has covered so much. You come to realize that the structure of the song was very much intentionally set up to mirror the grieving process; you reflect, you get angry, you get sad, and then, even if it takes 10 years, you move on.

Favourite Lyric: "Well maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much. But maybe this thing was a masterpiece, 'til you tore it all up. Running scared, I was there, I remember it all too well. And you call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest. I'm a crumbled up piece of paper lying here, 'cause I remember it all, all, all."

(I mean could it be anything other than the bridge? No.)