#swift

By Evan Rafferty

Grab your headphones, shut those blinds, pour yourself a glass of wine, and throw out everything that falls within six degrees of separation from Jake Gyllenhaal, because everyone’s favorite underground indie singer-songwriter superstar is coming back to town on November 12th. Taylor Alison Swift, noted rags-to-riches girlboss and esteemed offspring of a Merrill Lynch stockbroker and a marketing executive, will surely knock the music world on its ass as she plans to release her re-recording of the best album of 2012, Visions by Grimes. Thankfully, Kanye did not release an album that year, or that joke would have been even worse. Red (Taylor’s Version) was originally scheduled to release on November 19th but was moved up a week presumably to precede the release of The Gummy Bear Album (Gummibär’s Version), in stores on November 13th.

Red 2: The Reddening promises a modern remaster of Swift’s career-altering breakthrough into pop music that you wish you could have appreciated at the time but your sister would not stop playing it around the house at a very fragile time in your psychological development. The re-recording will also include numerous unreleased songs, such as “Nothing New” featuring Phoebe Bridgers (yes!), two songs with Ed Sheeran (no!), and the original ten-minute long version of “All Too Well” because I just can’t catch a goddamn break, can I Taylor? Despite acclaim and excitement for the massive thirty-song tracklist, many fans are rightfully irate at the omission of the famous stylized period at the end of “I Knew You Were Trouble.” which honestly completely ruins the song for me.

Prior to the release of the album this Friday, many Pittsburgh city officials have posted notices alerting citizens of elevated levels of crimes of passion and gender-based tension. Police fear increased rates of arson, car keying, window-smashing, cryptocurrency theft, vote-by-mail fraud, general homicide, and hateful subtweets. The state of grace has already been disrupted by western Pennsylvania Swifties venturing out from their homes for the first time in months and painting the town red (literally and figuratively). These treacherous crimes were met with harsh warnings from high-ranking community members and police officers that, despite having already known that the Taylor stans were trouble, knew all too well that they would be unable to stop them. One local Swiftie was charged with 21 counts of vandalism after one particularly rowdy rally on Monday night. I wish they had just done it one more time because now I have to find some way to subtly get the number 22 into this article. Oh, there we go.

Anyway, when asked if they regretted their crimes, the perpetrator was quoted as saying “I almost do,” which is maybe the coldest thing ever said in a court of law. During the trial, the accused vandalist then went on to pledge to the jury that they and the rest of the pro-Taylor vandalist gang would never ever be getting back together, after which the judge dropped all charges. The defendant promised to stay (stay (stay)) out of trouble, and that this would be the last time they would deface the holy ground of our beautiful city of Pittsburgh. One Pittsburgh police officer, Gregorio Hamfistico, famous for never using commas or saying the word ‘and,’ described the crime as “sad beautiful tragic.” He then went on to proclaim himself as “the lucky one” after many other Pittsburgh citizens had property damaged or stolen during the rally. “Everything has changed and features Ed Sheeran!” said Hamfistico. Not exactly sure what he meant by that, but it seemed thought-provoking. No matter your stance on Taylor, it is important to protect yourself, your family, and your mental health during these tumultuous times. If you find yourself alone in the starlight on Friday night, be sure to stay close to sidewalks, keep your eyes peeled for people wearing red lipstick, and avoid any seemingly demonic summonings of men to date Taylor Swift lest we let this whole thing begin again. Good luck, everyone.