In Defense of Taylor Swift's Red Album

Morgan hosts In Defense of My Fave, a music commentary podcast where guests defend albums, with season one covering all 12 Taylor Swift albums. Stef returns to evaluate Red (2012) while Danielle defends it, alongside discussion of Taylor’s recent wedding and the Matty Healy timeline. They cover Red’s context: Taylor’s shift from country toward pop, new collaborators and producers, tabloid focus on her dating life, Big Machine conflicts, sales and Grammy history, and fan lore like the All Too Well scarf. In a track-by-track debate, they rank songs using tiers, argue over original vs 10-minute All Too Well, highlight favorites and discuss a problematic-aging track, and Morgan reveals where Red falls in her overall ranking.Follow the show:https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/Visual companion to see our tier rankings: https://www.instagram.com/p/DbvWNTEFrOM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==The Youtube video I reference regarding Taylor and the Kennedys: https://youtu.be/qNt74b3Sr9Y?si=RUnLnZHFt-PhKolv00:00 Show Premise Setup00:33 Guests and Red Debate01:07 Wedding Talk and Matty Timeline04:44 Red Release and Swiftie Origins12:17 Cultural Context and Genre Shift26:42 Breakup Lore and Jake Era36:44 Fan Lore and Grammy Snub39:34 Track One State of Grace44:53 State of Grace Rankings46:35 Red Title Track Debate50:39 Treacherous Gets Spicy53:35 Trouble and Re Record58:59 All Too Well Showdown01:04:25 22 Guilty Pleasure Pop01:12:20 Almost Do Reactions01:14:29 Never Getting Back Together Lore01:19:29 Stay Stay Stay01:22:53 The Last Time Feature01:26:14 Holy Ground Mid Album Boost01:28:10 Sad Beautiful Tragic Intro01:28:17 Sleepy Song Debate01:29:16 The Lucky One Breakdown01:32:06 Everything Has Changed Praise01:35:39 Starlight Story Song Roast01:40:37 Begin Again Single Choice01:46:14 First Last Line Theory01:50:24 Deluxe Tracks Sad Night Drive01:57:24 Vault Tracks Explained01:59:00 Better Man Heartbreak Talk02:03:14 Nothing New Phoebe Clash02:05:29 Phoebe Collab Praise02:06:27 Nothing New Deep Dive02:14:26 Babe and Message Bottle02:17:02 Stapleton Twang Debate02:21:54 Ed Returns with Run02:24:40 All Too Well 10 Debate02:32:16 Problematic Queen Picks02:34:45 Album Rankings Math02:38:19 Friendship Origin02:41:57 Final Wrap and Next Week