[T]he signature Swift humble-brag, modesty that seemed so false it earned its own meme, 'the Taylor Swift Surprised Face'—a reference to the What? Me?! gasps of astonishment she unleashed once too often when her name was called at awards ceremonies.
Still, can you blame her for being shocked? The scale and scope of Swift’s success is startling. In an age of catastrophic music-industry contraction, Swift stands apart; sometimes she has seemed like a one-woman bulwark against the collapse of the traditional record business.
By Jody Rosen, published in Vulture in 2013
I don't think anyone envisioned when country darling Taylor Swift released 'RED' in 2012 that she was also placing herself in a situation from going from country sweetheart to world domination.
As the reputation tour wraps ups now, six years later, Taylor Swift is undoubtedly the biggest pop-star on the planet. Her album sales break records, her ticket sales break records, and she's become a powerful voice in both industry and most recently, politics.
RED was the era she started working with hit-making-factory Max Martin and Shellback, laying the groundwork for the pop-explosion that was her next album, 1989, and those with a keen eye were starting to pay attention that there was something more here than pretty much the entire world had given her credit for.
New York Magazine ran this cover dubbing Swift the 'Platinum Underdog' as she wrapped her N-American RED tour following the album release.
This is where we're seeing a lot of what later became her trademark. Giant Max Martin hits aside ("We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "22" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" all reached Billboard's top 10), this tour was also when she started inviting other huge stars to share the stage with her.
"We Are Never Getting Back Together" went to number one, and was a clear move to a different direction, as a giant pop hit. Still RED by many Swifties as Taylor at her absolute best, songwriting at the forefront and still more 'hers' as she only sold 14,000 tickets per show, and not 64,000.
So to honour six years of RED, here are some of our favourite moments from the RED era.