page_title: Red (Taylor Swift album)
section_title: Background and release
hierarchical_section_title: Red (Taylor Swift album) / Background and release
caption_attribution_description: English: Taylor Swift on Good Morning America for the launching of her Red Album, in October 2012.
context_page_description: Red is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records. Inspired by past romantic relationships evoking intense, tumultuous "red" emotions that Swift was experiencing during the conception of the project, Red touches on the themes of romance and heartbreak, but represents a mature perspective, while exploring the pressure of being in the public eye. Red is a country, pop and rock record with influences from arena rock, alternative rock, dance, dubstep, electronic, folk and heartland rock; many commentators described it as a pop album, while others deemed it as a country album that sees Swift transitioning from her roots to mainstream pop, which they found to be subsequently complete with its follow-up 1989.
  Red contains collaborations with Gary Lightbody and Ed Sheeran.
context_section_description: On August 13, 2012, Swift gave a live webchat to over 72,500 viewers, in which she answered fan questions, previewed the lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", and announced her fourth album's title Red, as well as its release date. During the live webchat, she also revealed that she wrote more than 30 songs for the album, of which 16 were released, and said that much of her inspiration came from dysfunctional relationships. Contrary to her previous self-written album Speak Now (2010), Swift enlisted the help of several of her favorite songwriters.
  In an interview with MTV News, the singer revealed that the album "is interesting because each song stands on its own. It's this patchwork quilt of different sounds and different emotions, and I don't think anything on the record sounds like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". She also previewed songs from the album on Good Morning America every Monday, beginning on September 24 until October 15. Swift performed on October 22 for the album's release, and the next day, she performed a live concert on the same show. According to the singer she had spent over two years with the recording process, writing and preparation for the album. Sarah Barlow shot the album's cover, which shows Swift's face, particularly her red lipstick. Pitchfork remarked that it resembled the cover of Joni Mitchell's 1971 album Blue. The standard and deluxe versions of the album were released on October 22, 2012 in Italy, New Zealand, the United States, among others. The deluxe edition of the album comes with a second disc with three new tracks and the original demo recordings of "Red" and "Treacherous" along with an acoustic version of "State of Grace". A karaoke version of the album was also released on February 5, 2013 on the iTunes Store, which includes the instrumental version from all tracks of its standard version.
  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.
  — Swift explaining the album title of Red.
caption: Swift during Red's release week on Good Morning America in October 2012.
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