2012 version
Background and release
Taylor Swift was inspired by her tumultuous feelings after a breakup while conceiving her fourth studio album, Red (2012). [1] "All Too Well" was the first song Swift wrote for Red. [2] During a February 2011 rehearsal of the Speak Now World Tour, she ad-libbed some lyrics to the song while playing a four-chord guitar riff as her touring band spontaneously played backing instruments. [1] Swift told Rolling Stone that this relationship caused "a few roller coasters", and she channeled the tumult into the song. [1] According to the booklets of Swift's 2019 album Lover, the final draft was completed a month later. [3] [4]
Swift asked Liz Rose, who had co-written songs on her first albums, to co-write "All Too Well". Rose said that it was an unexpected collaboration after not having worked with Swift for some years; [5] the last time they worked together was on Swift's 2008 album Fearless. [6] When Rose agreed to collaborate, she recalled that Swift had come up with the melody. [7] In an interview with Good Morning America , Swift said that the song was "the hardest to write on the album", saying that it took her some time "to filter through everything [she] wanted to put in the song" without making it lengthy with the help from Rose. [8] Rose said that the song was originally "10, 12 or 15 minutes long" or "probably a 20-minute song" before trimming. [5] [9] The final album version is 5 minutes and 28 seconds long, the longest song on Red. [10] It was produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman. [11]
Red was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records. [12] After Red was released, "All Too Well" debuted at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated November 10, 2012; [13] it also charted at number 17 on Hot Country Songs [14] and number 58 on Country Airplay. [15] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2018 certified the track gold for crossing 500,000 units based on sales and streams. [16] The song also peaked at number 59 on the Canadian Hot 100, [17] and it was certified platinum in Australia, [18] gold in Brazil [19] and Portugal, [20] and silver in the United Kingdom. [21]
Music and lyrics
"All Too Well" is a power ballad [22] [23] that is set over a 4/4 beat [6] and gradually builds up to a big, eruptive crescendo in each refrain. [6] [24] [25] Chapman is the sole musician on the track; he played acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, and drums, and provided background vocals. The instruments are overdubbed and multitracked. [26] Jody Rosen, in an article for New York, wrote that the production "rises, like a slow-cresting wave". [27]
Bernard Perusse of the Edmonton Journal wrote that the song displays influences of U2, [28] while Rosen and Spin's Michael Robbins thought that its driving bassline was reminiscent of that from U2's "With or Without You" (1987). [27] [29] Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe wrote that the track progresses from "coffeehouse folk to arena rock". [24] Bruce Warren, assistant general manager of programming at WXPN, commented that the track has a soft rock production. [23] Billboard and Craig S. Semon of the Telegram & Gazette described the genre as country, [30] [31] while Newsday said that the song has an "alt-country ache", [32] and Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone thought that "All Too Well" exemplified the "diaristic post-country rock" sound of Red. [33]
The song is a recount of a fallen relationship [6] [30] that happened in the fall. [34] [35] [36] The verses explore the memories in a loosely chronological order, [37] using expository details. [38] The song begins with details of a trip of two ex-lovers to Upstate New York ("We're singin' in the car, getting lost upstate") [25] such as imagery of "autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place". [35] When they visit the house of the love interest's sister during the Thanksgiving weekend, the narrator leaves her scarf at that place. [25] [39] [40] The narrator then recalls the intimate moments with her ex-lover ("There we are again in the middle of the night/ Dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator light") [37] and the mundane details, such as photo albums, a twin-sized bed, and stopping at red lights. [23] [41] After each refrain, the narrator insists that those moments mattered ("I was there, I remember it all too well"). [6] [37] The bridge is where the track reaches its climax; Swift sings in her upper register [6] [41] and almost shouts with anger ("You call me up again, just to break me like a promise/ So casually cruel in the name of being honest"). [42] In the final verse, the narrator mentions the scarf previously detailed in the first verse ("But you keep my old scarf from that very first week/ 'Cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me"). [37] [40]
Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone wrote that the song describes "the pain of having to piece one's self back together again" after a crumbled relationship. [43] Brad Nelson, in his reviews for The Atlantic and Pitchfork, said that the scarf imagery in the lyrics acts like a Chekhov's gun, symbolizing the persisting emotional flame of the romance long after it has physically ended. [37] [40] Nelson compared Swift's lyrics mentioning various memories in a loosely chronological timeline to the technique used in Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue" (1975) [37] and wrote that it displayed "ambiguity" in Swift's songwriting about failed relationships by not blaming any sides and instead exploring the dissolution of a romance. [40] Meanwhile, J. English of NPR thought that Swift's character in "All Too Well" both puts the balme on her "callous" ex-lover and "owns up to her naivete" for the loss of her innocence, departing from the one-sided blame on past songs such as "Dear John" (2010). [44]
Critical reception
In reviews of Red, critics lauded "All Too Well" for its detail-heavy lyricism [45] and deemed it the album's centerpiece. [1] [27] Dolan, [33] Robbins, [29] and Semon said that the imagery of the couple "dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator light" was a highlight. [31] Many reviewers picked "All Too Well" as the album's best track, including Jonathan Keefe for Slant Magazine, [24] Sam Lansky for Billboard, [46] Grady Smith for Entertainment Weekly, [34] and Ben Rayner for the Toronto Star . [39] Rosen wrote that it "takes a special songwriter to craft a sneering kiss-off that's also tender valediction", highlighting the bitter accusations ("You call me up again just to break me like a promise/ So casually cruel in the name of being honest") and the affectionate memories ("Photo album on the counter, your cheeks were turning red/ You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-size bed"). [27]
Some critics highlighted Swift's evolved songwriting. Nelson, in his review for The Atlantic, complimented how Swift expressed "ambiguity" and said that the scarf imagery, like a Chekov's gun, makes it "an exhilarating piece of writing". He added that "All Too Well" explores the dissolution of a romance "so delicately" that he found himself contemplating the song similar to how he would do to a Leonard Cohen song. [40] Keefe highlighted the bridge for featuring one of Swift's "best-ever lines" and how "the song explodes into a full-on bloodletting", [24] American Songwriter's Jewly Hight lauded the portrayal of heartbreak using "tangible details", [47] and PopMatters 's Arnold Pan said the song shows how Swift "has amped things up" by "combining the kind of drama that has come natural to her songwriting with a widescreen guitar-driven approach". [48]
Other reviews also praised the track's sound. Robbins wrote that "All Too Well" is one of the Red tracks that "go down like pop punch spiked by pros". [29] Semon described the song as an "acoustic-tinged tearjerker" that has "an alarming intimacy and intense urgency that might even take [Swift's] diehard fans off-guard", [31] and The New York Times Jon Caramanica said that the song "swells until it erupts". [42] Newsday hailed "All Too Well" as the album's highlight "both in drama and execution, with Swift's vocals at their most emotional and her lyrics at their sharpest". [32] In NME , Lucy Harbron selected its bridge as Swift's best and wrote that it was an "ultimate post-breakup big euphoric cry soundtrack". [49]
Charts
| Chart (2012) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100) [17] | 59 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 [13] | 80 |
| US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [14] | 17 |
| US Country Airplay ( Billboard ) [15] | 58 |
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [50] | 16 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [51] | 49 |
| Germany (GfK) [52] | 36 |
| Portugal (AFP) [53] | 4 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [54] | 19 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [18] | Platinum | 70,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [19] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| Portugal (AFP) [20] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) [21] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA) [16] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
