Taylor Swift paralyzed time with the live television debut of her expanded version of “All Too Well” on Saturday Night Live this week. Released on Nov. 12, the 10-minute track comes from Red (Taylor’s Version), her second re-recorded album from her catalog. Instead of performing two songs as musical guests typically do on SNL, Swift played just the one song from her latest LP during her fifth stint on the show.
The backdrop of Swift’s heartwrenching live performance of “All Too Well” was its corresponding short film which the singer wrote, directed and starred in and features Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien. As she belted out the end of the cult-favorite power ballad, fake snow cascaded down Swift’s shoulders mirroring the visual behind her.
Featured in the 13-minute short film are homages to the symbolism embedded in the song’s verses: the infamous scarf, which was rumored to be left in a drawer at Maggie Gyllenhaal’s home, and a dance between Sink and O’Brien in the kitchen’s refrigerator light. The short film was also filled with Easter eggs like the color of Sink’s hair, a red typewriter and even a 13-year flash-forward from Sink and O’Brien’s breakup.
Initially released in 2012, Red was re-recorded after the original masters were sold by Swift’s label Big Machine to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. Red (Taylor’s Version) features a 30-song tracklist with songs “From the Vault” — ones that didn’t originally make the album — and collaborations with Chris Stapleton, Phoebe Bridgers and Ed Sheeran. Swift shared her first re-recorded classic Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in April which skyrocketed on the charts.
VIDEOS
Aesop Rock raps like not many others can and he's asking outsiders to "Send Help" for those that can't on his latest single. Well, he's not actually doing that, but he's definitely lyrically stunting on everyone on it. It's the second offering from his next thematic adventure, Black Hole Superette.
It's due out on May 30 and will try to successfully follow up on his 2023 masterclass that is Integrated Tech Solutions. This will then end his longest drought of not dropping a project in nearly a decade. From 2016 until 2019 was the length of that gap. However, he did make a soundtrack all by himself in 2017 for the film Bushwick.
The other track that Aesop Rock treated us to was "Checkers" back in early April. Black Hole Superette "delves into the invisible forces that shape our lives and psyches. It’s about the small, often overlooked moments—the everyday experiences that blur the lines between the real and the unreal, waking and sleeping."
If there's anyone who can make the mundane feel interesting and intricate, it's Aesop Rock. But as we alluded to earlier, "Send Help" feels more like one big rhyme flex. But it's done with needlepoint precision. "Pigeon on my shoulder like a goth Rio / The putdown Picasso here to un-massage the ego / I'm friend or foe depending on the content in your keynote / And not above the lobbing of a rotten tomatillo." Spin it below.
Quotable Lyrics:
Whodunnits and cozy mysteries, who stole the crypt keys
Who showed the minions to the minced meat, it was me
Hut-hut, helmet off, blitz the whole bitstream
Override the A/V in, with A/V out the in-between
IV in, one of Epi, onе of Ralph Steadman
Phoebe Judgе, EPMD, The Amazing Kreskin
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