Nearly 10 years after the original version was released, Taylor Swift‘s new 10-minute-version of “All Too Well,” from Red (Taylor’s Version), is number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Looking back, Taylor says the song has become less the story of a breakup, and more of a symbol of the relationship between her and her fans.
“It has a story that is so sacred to me, because…it was my favorite song on the record,” Taylor says in an interview distributed by her record label. “I knew that when we put out the album, it wouldn’t be a single, it wouldn’t be a video — but I knew it was my favorite one.”
“And what was so crazy is that when it went out into the world, the fans just among themselves decided it was their favorite too,” she adds. “They just sort of…claimed it as the most important song from Red…over the course of the first six months the album was out.”
Taylor notes that she even performed the song on the [2014] Grammys because the fans wanted to hear it.
She first revealed that a 10-minute version of “All Too Well” existed in 2020, on an episode of the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums podcast. After Taylor announced her re-recording of Red this past June, she confirmed in August that it would include the 10-minute version. When it topped the Hot 100, it broke a 50-year record for the longest song ever to do so.
“For me, this song has turned into a story of what the fans did for [it] really,” Taylor says now. “It’s such a special thing to look back on for me and sort of get to relive. It is pretty cool.”
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)
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