Single Review: ‘Begin Again’ – Taylor Swift

13 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Single Review: ‘Begin Again’ – Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift Begin Again Single Review
Big Machine Records

Songwriter: Taylor Swift

The second single, ‘Begin Again,’ taken from her new album, Red, has Taylor Swift playing to her strengths. The mellow song is an observational, acoustic gem.

With a great many songs written about moving on after a bad break-up, the way to make the story still interesting is to make it personal. Swift fills her story with so many internal thoughts and external details that she makes what is a unique experience relatable for everybody else.

Describing an early encounter in a potential relationship, she confesses to thinking ‘all love ever does is break and burn and end,’ before adding, still with caution in her voice, that ‘on a Wednesday in a cafe/I watched it begin again.’

As a songwriter, Swift is at her most effective when she is observing her own world as she does in this slice-of-life tune. Not the most versatile vocalist, her voice does lend itself perfectly to this quiet, Americana or Triple A-type song.

The arrangement, created with producers Dann Huff and Nathan Chapman, is weaved around her acoustic guitar, and, with its accordion and steel, adds a wistfulness to the scene, just short of melancholy. With all elements complementing each other beautifully, ‘Begin Again,’ is a strong, grown-up effort, the likes of which I hope to hear much more of from Taylor Swift (Side note: the James Taylor reference certainly didn’t hurt its chances of being appreciated around here).

 

Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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