Taylor Swift, an American singer-songwriter, is on tour until August 9 and visiting 20 different cities in the United States. During the eras tour, Taylor Swift recaps all 10 of her albums by singing 44 songs which last over 3 hours in total. She sings a wide variety of songs including a 10 minute song called “All Too Well.” 

“All Too Well” was a fan favorite from her Red album, so when she decided to rerelease the album, Taylor Swift added in the 10 minute version. 

“All Too Well” was inspired by her 2010 breakup with Jake Gyllenhaal. This extended version follows Taylor as she dives deeper into the love story that left her feeling like a “crumpled up piece of paper.” Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift had a 9 year age gap which she explains by adding in the verse; “You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine, and that made me want to die.” 

With Taylor Swift being a popular music artist, she usually takes a long time writing her songs, but this song holds a different story. As Taylor Swift explains, “I showed up for rehearsals, and I was really upset and sad, and everybody could tell – it was like really not fun to be around me that day,” she said. “And so I started playing guitar and just kind of playing the same four chords over and over again, and the band sort of joined in, and I started ad-libbing what I was going through and what I was feeling, and it went on. The song kept building and building and building in intensity, and the song just went on for about, you know, 10 to 15 minutes of us doing this. She goes on to say that the version of “All Too Well” written in that moment wasn’t intended to be saved, but her mother had salvaged it from the rehearsal session via Swift’s sound engineer. Noting that it’s become her favorite songs on Red (Taylor’s Version), Swift said that “All Too Well” (10 Minute Version) would be “the new standard version of what this song is.”

In conclusion, not only does Taylor Swift write about her recent heartbreaks, but her songs also have a deeper meaning, so next time you listen to “All Too Well” (10 minute version) try not to think of it as her complaining about her most recent boyfriend but to think of it as a person communicating about their feelings on a more deeper level.