Before I'll start off, here's a disclaimer: I am a full-fledged Taylor Swift junkie. However, that doesn't mean I love everything she does. So this isn't some fangirl hissing and booing anyone who disagrees with her opinions. This is just me, trying to get people to think before they speak.

So. Taylor Swift's new album RED came out Monday. Unfortunately, Walmart didn't have it when I was there buying cookie at 6:30 in the morning, so I had to go back that evening and picked up the last copy on display. I then popped it in, and was so excited that I had to skip the gym because I couldn't bear to go two more hours without listening to the album I'd been freaking out over since I heard it was going to exist. And hey, guess what? I was far from let down.

I've been looking at a lot of reviews, and they're all trashing the CD and Taylor Swift, mainly on the grounds that it doesn't sound like her other albums. It's not country, too many different takes on different genres, she's not sure of herself, she's too bitter, she's not bitter enough, it's too depressing, blah blah blah. (I find it ironic that I read in the same review that the CD was too different from the others, while it also said that we never got anything new from TSwift. Make any sense to you?) What these reviewers don't take into account is that Swift is human, and therefore, she changes. When she released her first CD, she was 16. She was a little girl. She was emotional, and couldn't understand why the world had to be so cruel (see Perfectly Good Heart, A Place in this World, Cold as You). And then she grew up. Her albums tell the story of a girl becoming a woman. She gets the world now. She's written about great relationships, anger, bitterness, vengeance, heartbreaks, and new beginnings, but with each album, they grow up. She's not a little girl anymore- she's a woman. And if she wants to write about mature relationships, then TRUCK YEAH! Let her. She recently topped off her musical timeline with Begin Again: the ultimate, even though I've hurt before, I still believe in love. It's mature, it's beautiful, and it's Taylor Swift. Yeah, it's different, but she's an artist and has the right to experiment. So what if she has dance numbers, indie, pop, even a little dubstep? So what if it's not country? Embrace change, because that's what RED is all about. To me, RED is perfectly Taylor Swift. It's a work of art. And for hours, it even solved my emotional wreckage issues. So sit back and let the lady sing!