By tb-two* music MAX ASAYESH-BROWN, St. Petersburg High

I was once told that even if you don’t like Taylor Swift, you kind of like Taylor Swift. The truth to this assertion is a little irksome, especially when you’re listening to her new hit breakup single on Spotify and your Facebook friends are laughing. But don’t fight it. Let it happen.

Even those Debbie Downers, in firm denial of their secret adoration for “TaySwift,” as she’s come to be known — they cannot deny that this girl has talent. Sometimes I do find myself wondering how much there really is to that acoustic guitar she totes around in her music videos, but a voice like hers, pure talent that doesn’t even need emotion to be completely unchained but is packed with it anyway, is not a disagreeable abstract.

So let me deviate from Taylor Swift’s musical faculty in theory and bolster it with particulars. I’ll start with We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together — the song that, if your day was anything like mine, has probably been bouncing around your head since you woke up in the morning.

You don’t even have to listen to the radio; hear it once and it lingers not unlike a musical barnacle, one strangely integrated with casual dialogue chronicling the evaporation of some celebrity relationship I care nothing about.

Like I said, she’s gifted with talent and doesn’t need the emotion, but it comes along for the ride.
You can’t expect every stone of Red to be a gem, however. Some of the songs are the satisfactory norm for Swift, but they swim in her country-pop comfort zone. I Knew You Were Trouble doesn’t fit this category, it features an interesting venture into the synth-pop ballpark for most of the song. But the main attraction of Red doesn’t involve any change in her style: For songs where her skill is more prominent, you’ll likely gravitate toward All Too Well, and her jovial warble in 22 is just plain fun.

Taylor Swift has always had a style, and it’s one that characterizes much of Red. Listeners can be assured Swift has a promising career ahead of her.