50 Fun Facts About Red (Taylor Swift Album)

Which item does the narrator of Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well' leave at her ex's sister's house?

A scarf that returns in the final verse became a pop culture mystery, with fans and interviewers asking for years where it ended up.

Taylor Swift's 10-minute 'All Too Well' replaced which song as the longest ever to top the US singles chart?

American Pie, by Don McLean, had been the longest chart-topper since 1972, and Guinness World Records recognized the new mark.

Which pizza chain sold Taylor Swift's Red at launch, in a deal alongside Walgreens and Walmart?

Papa John's joined an unusually broad retail push that helped Red sell 1.2 million copies in its first week in the United States.

Which animal's scream was spliced into a viral remix of Taylor Swift's 'I Knew You Were Trouble'?

Goat screams turned the song into a running internet joke, and the meme pushed even more viewers toward the official music video.

Red gave Taylor Swift a third straight album with six weeks at number one, a run last seen from which band?

The Beatles last managed it in 1969; Red spent seven weeks on top of the Billboard 200, following long runs by her two previous albums.

Which English singer duets on Taylor Swift's 'Everything Has Changed' and opened for her on the Red Tour?

Ed Sheeran came back for Red (Taylor's Version), singing on two tracks, including a vault duet the pair wrote on the same day as their first.

In the title track of Taylor Swift's Red, which color does the narrator compare losing her lover to?

Blue stands for the breakup, dark gray for the pining afterwards, and the title color for the passionate love itself.

Taylor Swift's Red was up for Album of the Year at the 2014 Grammys but lost to which act?

Daft Punk won for Random Access Memories and also took Record of the Year that night; Red was also nominated for Best Country Album.

Which Stranger Things actress stars opposite Dylan O'Brien in Taylor Swift's All Too Well: The Short Film?

Sadie Sink said yes without hesitation and shot the film while also playing Max Mayfield in the fourth season of her Netflix series.

Taylor Swift and her duet partner wrote 'Everything Has Changed' while on what in her backyard?

A trampoline served as the writing room, and Taylor Swift then brought the finished song to producer Butch Walker to record.

Which Swedish hitmaker did Taylor Swift have her label recruit when Red's title track kept falling short?

Max Martin and his partner Shellback made three songs with her for Red, and the pop hits that resulted set the course for her next album.

Which electronic genre, new to Taylor Swift's music, powers the refrain of 'I Knew You Were Trouble'?

Dubstep was such a break from her past that one New York Times critic called the drop a wrecking ball that changed the course of her career.

What does Taylor Swift's band wear in the one-shot video for 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'?

Animal costumes fill her living room for the chorus, while Taylor Swift herself spends the video in colorful pajamas and large glasses.

Gary Lightbody, who duets with Taylor Swift on Red's 'The Last Time', is the frontman of which band?

Snow Patrol's singer co-wrote the ballad with her, and she sought him out because she admired the band's music about loss and longing.

Which group topped the country charts with 'Better Man', a song Taylor Swift wrote for Red but left off?

Little Big Town were offered the song in 2016 because she felt it suited their harmonies, and it won Song of the Year at the CMA Awards.

Which singer-songwriter joins Taylor Swift on 'Nothing New', a vault track from Red (Taylor's Version)?

Phoebe Bridgers later sang it live with her at the Eras Tour concerts she opened; the song itself had been written back in March 2012.

Which country star sings harmony on 'I Bet You Think About Me' from Taylor Swift's Red (Taylor's Version)?

Chris Stapleton adds the background harmonies to a harmonica-driven ballad that she had written back in June 2011.

Which actor is widely speculated to be the ex who inspired Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well'?

Jake Gyllenhaal is the name the speculation settled on; asked about him at the premiere, the short film's male lead said only that his character is called Brandon.

Which actress made her directing debut with the video for Taylor Swift's 'I Bet You Think About Me'?

Blake Lively cast Miles Teller as a groom whose wedding Taylor Swift, playing his ex-girlfriend, sets out to sabotage.

In 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together', which genre of music does Taylor Swift mock her ex for retreating to?

Indie albums are his refuge, a jab at an ex's pretentious taste that doubles as a joke about her own job making pop music.

Which Italian luxury car brand does the title track of Taylor Swift's Red use in a simile for doomed love?

Maserati is the make she picks for a love that is thrilling but going nowhere, and one magazine put the brand in its headline about the song.

Taylor Swift's Red became the fastest-selling country album ever in the US, beating which star's 1998 record?

Garth Brooks had held the mark with Double Live; Red opened with 1.208 million copies, her second album in a row to sell a million in a week.

Which singer-songwriter's 1971 album did Taylor Swift cite as a songwriting inspiration for Red?

Joni Mitchell's record impressed her for how deeply it explores a person's soul, and journalists see its influence in Red's shadowed cover portrait.

Which talent manager's 2019 purchase of Taylor Swift's old label led her to re-record Red as Taylor's Version?

Scooter Braun's company bought Big Machine and with it the masters of her first six albums, so she re-recorded them to own new versions outright.

Which kitchen appliance lights the couple's late-night dance in Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well'?

A refrigerator supplies the glow, and the short film stages the scene as the couple's truce after an argument over a dinner with his friends.

Taylor Swift's 'The Moment I Knew' on Red describes a boyfriend failing to show up at which occasion?

Her 21st birthday party inspired the song: the narrator keeps watching the door for him and realizes the relationship is ending.

Which real couple's teenage romance inspired 'Starlight', the 1945-set love story on Taylor Swift's Red?

Ethel and Robert Kennedy are reimagined as a pair of sweethearts who sneak into a yacht club to dance one summer night.

In which European capital was the video for Taylor Swift's 'Begin Again' filmed, as her love letter to the city?

Paris suited a story about moving on and finding yourself again, she said; the video shows a chance meeting in a cafe.

Which instrument did Taylor Swift play while singing 'All Too Well' at the 2014 Grammy Awards?

Piano was also how she performed the song throughout the Red Tour; at the Grammys a live band joined her midway through.

Which chart did Taylor Swift top for the first time with 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' from Red?

Billboard Hot 100 success came fast: the single entered at number 72 and leapt to the top a week later, one of the biggest jumps in chart history.

In the Red ballad 'Begin Again', Swift's narrator owns many records by which 1970s soft-rock singer?

James Taylor is the singer her date says no other girl collects, and critics heard his gentle 1970s style in the song's arrangement too.

Which reunited country duo recorded 'Babe', a breakup song Taylor Swift had co-written for Red and then shelved?

Sugarland had never before put another artist's song on one of their albums, singer Jennifer Nettles said; her co-writer on it was Pat Monahan, the singer of Train.

Which arena-rock song opens both Taylor Swift's Red album and the set list of the Red Tour?

State of Grace trades her earlier country pop for chiming, feedback-drenched guitars and pounding drums, and critics now rank it among her best songs.

Which producer gave Taylor Swift's 10-minute 'All Too Well' its atmospheric pop-rock sound?

Jack Antonoff's version replaced the slow-burning country-rock power ballad of 2012, which she had produced with Nathan Chapman.

On which TV show did Taylor Swift perform the full 10-minute 'All Too Well' a day after its release?

Saturday Night Live came one night after she had sung the same version at the short film's premiere in New York.

Which US retailer was the only place to buy the physical deluxe edition of Taylor Swift's Red on release?

Target got the exclusive on the deluxe edition, which added three extra songs, two demos and an acoustic take on the opening track.

On the Red Tour, Taylor Swift closed each show with 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' dressed as what?

A circus ringmaster in a red sequined jacket and tall hat, she led dancers dressed as a clown, a jester and rabbits in a staging inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Which album, written entirely by Taylor Swift on her own, did she release directly before Red?

Speak Now was her statement as a solo writer; for the follow-up she deliberately sought out co-writers and new producers to leave her comfort zone.

Which songwriter, a co-writer on Taylor Swift's first albums, returned to co-write 'All Too Well' with her?

Liz Rose recalled that the song first ran somewhere between ten and twenty minutes before it was trimmed down for the album.

Which Chilean poet's line about love and forgetting does Taylor Swift quote in the booklet of Red?

Pablo Neruda's poem Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines supplies the epigraph, a fitting motto for what she called her only true breakup album.

Dan Wilson, who wrote 'Treacherous' with Taylor Swift for Red, was the frontman of which Minneapolis rock band?

Semisonic's singer wrote the song with her in about ten minutes at his studio, and he remembered her as full of excitement that day.

In which Midwestern city did Taylor Swift play the opening night of the Red Tour?

Omaha launched an 86-show run that ended in Singapore fifteen months later, having drawn 1.7 million fans.

In which Chinese city did tickets for Taylor Swift's Red Tour sell out in 60 seconds, a national record?

Shanghai was a late addition to the tour's Asian leg, announced after the dates in Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Which Red vault track was the first song Taylor Swift ever wrote with the Swedish producers behind '22'?

Message in a Bottle sat unreleased for nearly a decade, then went to pop radio as a single from Red (Taylor's Version).

Red (Taylor's Version) took Spotify's one-day streaming record for an album by a woman from which Taylor Swift album?

Folklore had set the mark in 2020; the re-recording also made her the first female artist to pass 100 million Spotify streams in a day.

Which seasonal catchphrase was Taylor Swift's Red (Taylor's Version) credited with popularizing?

Sad Girl Autumn was the label for a 2021 run of melancholic, introspective releases by female artists in the fall.

Which band's lead singer co-wrote 'Forever Winter', a vault track on Red (Taylor's Version), with Taylor Swift?

Foster the People frontman Mark Foster wrote it with her; the lyrics voice her worry for a friend struggling with his mental health.

Which sneaker brand released an exclusive merchandise line with Taylor Swift as part of the Red launch?

Keds was one of several corporate tie-ins for an album whose marketing ran from brand deals to interviews with 72 radio stations.

In which California beach city was the video for Taylor Swift's '22', a celebration with friends, filmed?

Malibu hosted the shoot; some media outlets now call the song a cultural phenomenon for the attention it brought to turning that age.

Taylor Swift hired Jeff Bhasker for Red after admiring his drum production on which hit by the band Fun?

We Are Young caught her ear for its drums, and Jeff Bhasker went on to produce two songs for Red, including 'Holy Ground'.