Reviewing Taylor Swift’s latest four singles

CEBU, Philippines —  Just before the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter began embarking on her highly-anticipated “Eras Tour”, Taylor Swift surprised her fans, the Swifties, with the release of not one, not two, but four new songs which became available on streaming services hours before she began her first show March 17 in Glendale, Arizona.

Three of these freshly-released tracks are re-recordings of her past songs, which are “Safe and Sound”, “Eyes Open” and “If This Was a Movie” – all labeled “(Taylor’s Version)” in the title as Swift continues her journey in reclaiming ownership of her first six studio albums that were owned by Big Machine Records.

To recall, Swift rebuked the label’s founder Scott Brochetta for selling the label (which owns the masters of her old music) to Scooter Braun, whom she accused in a viral 2019 Tumblr post as a “bully” who allegedly tried to damage her career in 2016.

In 2021, Swift released “Taylor’s Versions” of her albums “Fearless” and “Red.” Her next re-recorded album for release is highly speculated to be “Speak Now” after she left not-so-subtle references in the music video of “Bejeweled” in October 2022, a track that’s part of her 10th album consisting of new material “Midnights” that she dropped in the same week.

A brand-new release is “All of The Girls You Loved”, which Swift recorded during the making of her seventh album “Lover” (the first one she owns), but was not included in the final tracklist.

Swift has yet to perform these songs as of writing as they are not included in her tour’s main set list. It is likely that she will perform these acoustically in her “surprise” segment. Nonetheless, Swifties will eat up any new release and each of these songs for them are significantly worthy of its own reviews.

All of The Girls You Loved

The release of “All of The Girls You Loved” feels like a response from Swift when some of her unreleased songs were leaked in February, including the aforementioned. Described to be of low-quality recording, the leak was instantly loved by Swifties and they are puzzled why she didn’t include it in “Lover”.

Here, Swift thanks her lover’s exes who made him the great boyfriend he is today as she confidently declares that she loves him more than they did. As with her recent love songs, the subject here is British actor Joe Alwyn whom she has been dating since late 2016.

As should be with any of Swift’s love songs, Swifties and other listeners can project themselves into the song with their own experiences. The tone and vibe feel like Swift’s take on a Bruno Mars ditty that could easily make the playlists of proms and wedding receptions.

Personally and contrary to popular opinion, it’s easy to see why this was excluded from “Lover” given that the standard tracklist has up to 18 songs. It would also somehow feel like a rehash of the themes she was trying to establish sonically in the aesthetically bubblegum pop album.

Still, “All of The Girls You Loved” could’ve been included in a “deluxe version” of the album as a bonus track.

It’s amazing how this rejected track is now finally un-unreleased as we can appreciate this fresh, yet familiar romantic side of Swift. The song deserves its own moment almost four years after the release of the album where this hidden gem did not make the cut.

Safe and Sound and Eyes Open

(Taylor’s Versions)

The re-recordings of “Safe and Sound” and “Eyes Open” came at an interesting time as their previous versions were part of the soundtrack album of the 2011 film “The Hunger Games.” The franchise is currently going through a renaissance on social media, especially on Twitter and TikTok, with netizens praising how the movies, and the novels these were adapted from, aged well in 2023 due to their relevant political commentary.

This “Hunger Games” renaissance coincides with the build-up of the upcoming prequel film “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, focusing on the origins of series antagonist Coriolanus Snow, which will be released in theaters this November.

While Swift hasn’t explicitly linked her re-recordings to the dystopian franchise, the timing of these releases has been welcomed as they further reiterate not only Swift’s beautiful songwriting at a young age (she was around 21 years old then) but also deepened the appreciation to “The Hunger Games” lore.

The previous version of “Safe and Sound” was already perfect as it is with its haunting folk-country-pop melody that fits the imagery and tone of the first movie and the overall franchise. Co-written with T-Bone Burnett and the now-disbanded folk duo The Civil Wars, the song is written from the perspective of the protagonist Katniss Everdeen who is determined to protect her sister Prim and the other characters she cared about.

“Safe and Sound (Taylor’s Version)” somehow managed to make this “perfect” song even better thanks to Swift’s mature vocals and her chemistry with The Civil Wars in the backing vocals. What’s interesting about this version was the folk duo themselves as the members, Joy Williams and John Paul White, are credited separately as featured artists. The duo disbanded in 2014 with the members making music as solo artists, so having them featured as individuals would help their careers post-Civil Wars.

The re-recording of “Safe and Sound” also feels like a great circle-back moment in her career as the song established the kind of sound that she would explore nine years later in her highly-acclaimed 2020 albums “folklore” and “evermore.”

“Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version)”, which Swift wrote alone from the perspective of Katniss and her will to survive in the deadly Hunger Games, also enhances the original with its even more powerful rock production and Swift’s mature vocals that strongly reiterates her powerful storytelling.

This one feels poetic in the current context. Considering Swift’s defiance in the music industry by reclaiming her old music, the lyrics fit her re-recording journey and the possible new enemies in her career she might encounter – and for which she can rely on the Swifties to come to her rescue.

In turn, it also fits the story of Katniss, who managed to live to tell the tale at the end of the franchise’s finale “Mockingjay”. Snow and the secondary antagonist District 13 President Alma Coin may have been dead and the “Hunger Games” ceased to exist after the rebellion when Katniss served as a symbol for the rebels in Panem. However, it makes sense that she continues to look out for the new dangers that may impact her, her family with her will-they-won’t-they husband Peeta Mallark, her home District 12, and Panem overall.

While the journeys of Swift and Katniss may be different, connecting them in the context of where they are now feels like the perfect parallels.

If This Was a Movie

(Taylor’s Version)

As a bonus track to Swift’s third studio album “Speak Now”, some Swifites would consider “If This Was a Movie” as underrated, as another bonus track “Ours” overshadowed most of the extras.

Just like how the re-recording of “Hey Stephen” from “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” released in 2021 improved on its 2008 version, “If This Was a Movie (Taylor’s Version)” may find new fans – thanks to Swift’s improved vocals.

The puzzling part of this re-recording was how it was released as. The cover art on streaming services is the same as “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and it was included in the compilation EP “The More Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Chapter” which re-categorizes this “Speak Now” bonus track as a song that was supposed to be part of “Fearless”.

There is no official explanation behind this re-categorization. Some fans speculate that the re-recording being assigned to “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” may be due to the fact that “Speak Now” was an album written solely by Swift and this song was the only one that had a co-writer, which is Martin Johnson.

Should Swift eventually release “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”, it would make sense for her to exclude “If This Was a Movie” and keep all tracks of the re-recorded album consisting of self-penned songs and promote it as such since her ability to write an entire album by herself between the ages of 18-20 was the stellar highlight when the album was first released in 2010.

We’ll have to wait and see if this speculation comes true, but at least we finally get something out of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” which Swift heavily teased for months without a confirmed release date.