Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Taylor Swift Says She Rebuilt the 10-Minute 'All Too Well' From Fragments

In a New York Times Magazine interview, she credits a chance soundcheck recording with saving the idea.

Overview

  • Taylor Swift, in a New York Times Magazine interview Tuesday, said she had to piece together the 10‑minute version of All Too Well after losing the original recording.
  • She described searching safes for an old CD and combing her diaries for lines, calling it the most extensive restoration she has ever done on a song.
  • The piece began as a long, unstructured soundcheck rant during the Speak Now era, and a sound engineer’s burned CD preserved it after her mother asked if he had recorded it.
  • Swift said she would have walked away without that recording, and later fan requests grew after she publicly mentioned the song’s longer origins.
  • She released the 10‑minute version on Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021, and her All Too Well short film won the 2023 Grammy for Best Music Video.