"Love Story" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released as the lead single from Swift's second studio album, Fearless, on September 15, 2008, by Big Machine Records. Swift was inspired to write the song by a love interest unpopular to her family and friends, using William Shakespeare's 16th-century play Romeo and Juliet as a reference point. The lyrics narrate a troubled romance between two characters who end up with a marriage proposal, contrary to Shakespeare's tragic conclusion. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, the midtempo country pop song features a key change after the bridge and uses acoustic instruments including banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar.
In contemporaneous reviews, music critics praised the production as catchy but deemed the literary references ineffective. In retrospect, critics have considered it one of Swift's best singles. "Love Story" peaked atop the chart in Australia, where it was certified ten times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and reached the top five on charts in Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, and the U.K. In the U.S., the single peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first country song to reach number one on Mainstream Top 40; it was certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Love Story" has sold over six million copies in the U.S. and 18 million copies worldwide.
Trey Fanjoy directed the accompanying music video starring Swift and actor Justin Gaston as two characters who meet in a university campus and imagine themselves as lovers in a prior era. It won Video of the Year at both the Country Music Association Awards and CMT Music Awards in 2009. The song became a staple in Swift's live concerts and was part of the set lists to all of her headlining tours, from the Fearless Tour (2009–2010) to the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018). A re-recording, "Love Story (Taylor's Version)", was released on February 12, 2021, through Republic Records. It topped the Hot Country Songs chart, making Swift the second artist after Dolly Parton to reach number one with both the original and re-recorded versions of a song.
Background and writing
Swift used Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as a reference point for "Love Story"; the balcony scene (pictured) is referenced in the song's opening lines.[1]
American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift relocated from Pennsylvania to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004 to pursue a career as a country-music artist.[2] She released her self-titled debut album in 2006, at 16 years old.[3] The album spent more weeks on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart than any other albums released in the 2000s decade.[4] Its third single, "Our Song", made Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart.[5] Her success was rare for a female teenage artist, as the 2000s country-music market had been dominated by adult male musicians.[6][7]
While promoting her debut album on tour in 2007 and 2008, Swift wrote songs for her second studio album, Fearless.[8] She developed "Love Story" late into the production of Fearless.[9] Answering fan questions on Time in April 2009, Swift said it was one of the most romantic songs she had written. She was inspired to write it by a love interest whom she never officially dated.[10] She said when she introduced him to her family and friends, "[They] all said they didn't like him. All of them!"[11] This made Swift relate to the narrative of William Shakespeare's 16th-century play Romeo and Juliet, which she described as a "situation where the only people who wanted them to be together were them".[11] Reflecting on the event, Swift thought, "This is difficult but it's real, it matters," and developed the second refrain, and subsequently the whole song, around that line.[12]
As she was writing, she felt Romeo and Juliet could have been "the best love story ever told" if the two characters did not end up dead.[13] She thus made the two characters in "Love Story" end up with a marriage proposal, which she deemed a happy ending that they deserve.[13][14] Swift wrote the track on her bedroom floor in approximately 20 minutes, feeling too inspired to put the song down unfinished.[11] According to Swift, the song represented her optimistic outlook on love, inspired by her fascination with fairy tales as a child.[14] Looking back on "Love Story" after she released her seventh studio album Lover (2019), which is about the first time she experienced "love that was very real", Swift said the track was "stuff I saw on a movie, like Shakespeare, like stuff I read mixed in with some like crush stuff that had happened in my life".[15]
Production and release
After finished writing, Swift recorded a rough demo of "Love Story" within 15 minutes the next day.[10] She recorded the album version in March 2008, with record producer Nathan Chapman at Blackbird Studios in Nashville.[16] For her vocals, Chapman tried different microphones until Swift came across an Avantone CV-12 multi-pattern tube microphone built by country-music artist Ray Kennedy when they were working on her debut album. After growing fond of the Avantone CV-12 upon testing her vocals, Swift chose it to record "Love Story" and many other songs with. She sang the song live backed by her band playing acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Chapman played other instruments, including nine acoustic guitars, and overdubbed them on the track; he also recorded background vocals singing "Ah".[16]
Record engineer Chad Carlson recorded the track with Pro Tools, and Justin Niebank mixed it on two consoles: Solid State Logic 9080 K series and Genelec 1032.[16] Drew Bollman and Richard Edgeler assisted in the mixing process.[17] "Love Story", as with the rest of Fearless, was mastered by Hank Williams at MasterMix Studios in Nashville.[17] The country-music version including instruments such as banjo and fiddle was released to U.S. country radio as Fearless's lead single on September 15, 2008, by Big Machine Records.[16][18] Chapman mixed another version of "Love Story" for pop radio; he edited Nielbank's mix on Apple Logic and muted the acoustic instruments such as banjo and fiddle.[16] The pop-radio version features an opening beat generated on Apple Logic's Ultrabeat, and the electric guitars created with the Amplitube Stomp I/O.[16]Rolling Stone described the electric guitars as "suitably gargantuan" and louder than those on the country-radio version.[19] Big Machine in partnership with Republic Records released "Love Story" to U.S. pop radio on October 14, 2008.[20]
Music and lyrics
"Love Story"
A sample of the song's bridge and a key change to the final refrain. Based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the song's narrative ends with a marriage proposal, replacing the original's tragic ending.
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"Love Story" is a midtempo country pop song,[21][22] driven by acoustic instruments including banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar.[23] Critic Jon Bream from the Star Tribune described the single as "pure pop with a minimalist vibe" that suits both country and pop radio.[21] According to The New York Times, despite the banjo and fiddle, the song could "easily be an emo rocker".[24] Swift's vocals feature a slight twang.[25] The mix and master, according to Billboard's Kristen He, are loud and "dynamically flat ... designed to burst out of FM radio speakers".[23]
The lyrics of "Love Story" narrate a troubled romance between two characters drawing from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet and Romeo.[26] According to psychologist Katie Barclay, the song explores what love feels like in the context of both pain and joy.[27] "Love Story", save for the final refrain, is narrated from Juliet's perspective.[1][28] In the verses, Juliet tells the story of her and Romeo's challenged courtship, with her father disapproving of their relationship.[29] The first verse introduces Juliet in a scene, "We were both young when I first saw you / I close my eyes and the flashback starts, I'm standing there / On a balcony in summer air," referencing the "balcony scene" in Act II, scene ii of Shakespeare's original play.[1] In the refrains, which alter slightly as the song progresses to accompany the narrative, Juliet pleads for her love interest to appear, "Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone/ I'll be waiting/ All there's left to do is run."[27][28]
In the second verse, Juliet meets Romeo again in a garden and learns that he must leave town because of her father's disapproval.[10] Their relationship encounters difficulties, " 'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter," referencing Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850).[30] According to media and film scholar Iris H. Tuan, whereas Hawthrone's "scarlet letter" imagery represents the female protagonist Hester Prynne's sin and adultery, Swift's use symbolizes the forbidden love between Romeo and Juliet.[30] Juliet pleads, "This love is difficult, but it's real;" Swift recalled that it was her favorite lyric on the song.[31]
After the bridge, with accelerated drums and the harmonization of melody and vocals, the final refrain incorporates a key change up a whole step.[32] Narrated from Romeo's perspective, the final refrain tells his marriage proposal to Juliet after he has sought her father's approval, "I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress."[33] Whereas Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are secretly married without parents' approval and both end up dead in a suicide, the characters on "Love Story" depart from that tragic conclusion.[34] Tuan analyzed that by projecting her feelings and fantasy on a Romeo and Juliet-inspired narrative, Swift created a song that strongly resonated with an audience of teenage girls and young females.[35] Journalist Deborah Evans Price of Billboard agreed, but also commented that "one doesn't have to be a lovestruck teen" to enjoy the emotional engagement.[36]
Critical reception
"Love Story" featured on 2008 year-end lists by Blender at number 73[37] and The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll at number 48.[38] In Fearless album reviews, Sean Daly from the St. Petersburg Times,[39]Rob Sheffield from Blender,[40] and Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic selected the track as a highlight.[41] Deborah Evans Price of Billboard praised the "swirling, dreamy" production and said that Swift's success in the country-music market "could only gain momentun".[36] In The Boston Globe, James Reed highlighted "Love Story" as an example of Swift's songwriting: "She knows how to write a hit."[28]USA Today's Elysa Gardner deemed "Love Story" an example of Swift's talents at such a young age to earnestly portray teenage feelings "rather than a mouthpiece for a bunch of older pros' collective notion of adolescent yearning".[42] English-language professor Robert N. Watson deemed "Love Story" a proof for Swift as "the twenty-first-century's most popular songwriter of failed love affairs", specifically thanks to the Shakespearean narrative.[43]
Musicologist James E. Perone found the narrative formulaic and less dramatic than that of the original Romeo and Juliet, but contended "the melodic hooks are strong enough to overcome the
predictability of the lyrics".[44] In an article for the BBC, Fraser McAlpine rated the single four stars out of five. McAlpine deemed the Shakespearean reference not as sophisticated as its premise and the lyrics generic, but praised the production and wrote: "It's great to see a big pop song being used as a method of direct story telling."[26] Jon Bream from the Star Tribune deemed the single inferior to Swift's debut country-music single, "Tim McGraw" (2006), but commended the production as catchy.[21] Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine was impressed by Swift's melodic songwriting for creating "massive pop hooks", but found the references to Romeo and Juliet "point-missing" and The Scarlet Letter "inexplicable". Keefe deemed the lyrics overall lacking in creativity, and disapproved of Swift's "clipped phrasing" in the refrain.[45]
Critics have featured "Love Story" highly on rankings of Swift's songs, including Hannah Mylrea from NME (2020), who ranked it 5th out of 160 songs,[46] Jane Song from Paste (2020), 13th out of 158,[47] and Nate Jones from Vulture (2021), 9th out of 179.[48] In another ranking of Swift's select 100 tracks for The Independent, Roisin O'Connor placed "Love Story" at number 15, saying it showcased Swift as a songwriter who "understands the power of a forbidden romance".[49] Alexis Petridis from The Guardian placed it second, behind "Blank Space" (2014), on his 2019 ranking of Swift's 44 singles; he reflected on the literary references: "[If] the references to Shakespeare and Hawthorn seem clumsy, they are clumsy in a believably teenage way".[50] The song featured on best-of lists including Taste of Country's Top 100 Country Songs (2016),[51]Time Out's 35 Best Country Songs of All Time (2022),[52] and Billboard's Top 50 Country Love Songs of All Time (2022).[22]
Commercial performance
With its peaking at number one on Mainstream Top 40, "Love Story" surpassed "You're Still the One" (1998) by Shania Twain(pictured) as the highest-charting country crossover to pop radio in the U.S.
In the U.S., "Love Story" debuted at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 25 on the Hot Country Songs chart, both dated September 27, 2008.[53][54] The next week, it reached number five on the Hot 100.[55] The single peaked at number four on the Hot 100 chart dated January 17, 2009, and spent 49 weeks on the chart.[56] It spent two weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart.[57] On the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, which tracks US pop radio, "Love Story" reached number one on the week ending February 28, 2009.[58] In doing so, it became the first song to top both the country-radio and pop-radio charts and surpassed the number-three-peaking "You're Still the One" (1998) by Shania Twain as the highest-charting country crossover to pop radio.[59]
On other Billboard's airplay charts, "Love Story" peaked at number one on Adult Contemporary and number three on Adult Pop Songs.[60][61] Together with "Teardrops on My Guitar" (2007), the single made Swift the first artist in the 2000s decade to have two titles each reach the top 10 of four airplay charts: Hot Country Songs, Mainstream Top 40, Adult Pop Songs, and Adult Contemporary.[62] It was the top-performing single on US airplay of 2009, ranking number one on the year-end Radio Songs chart.[63] By February 2009, with three million downloads sold, it was the all-time best-selling country single.[64] "Love Story" was certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2015,[65] and had sold 6.13million copies in the U.S. by February 2021, becoming Swift's highest-selling single in the nation.[66]
"Love Story" was Swift's first number-one single in Australia,[67] where it was certified ten times platinum.[68] It peaked within the top five of singles charts in Japan (three)[69] and the Anglosphere countries including the U.K. (two),[70] Ireland (three),[71] New Zealand (three),[72] Canada (four),[73] and Scotland (five).[74] In mainland Europe, the single peaked at number ten on the European Hot 100 Singles chart,[75] number four in the Czech Republic,[76] number six in Hungary,[77] number seven in Norway,[78] and number ten in Sweden.[79] "Love Story" was certified double platinum in Canada and the U.K.,[80][81] platinum in New Zealand,[82] and gold in Denmark and Japan.[83][84] It was the sixth-best-selling single of 2009 worldwide, selling 6.5million copies.[85] By February 2021, estimated worldwide sales of "Love Story" stood at 18million.[86]
Music video
Development and filming
Swift and Justin Gaston in a ballroom scene. She envisioned "Love Story" as a period piece-styled video drawing influences on different historical eras.
Trey Fanjoy, who had worked with Swift on previous music videos, directed "Love Story".[87] Swift was inspired by historical eras such as Medieval, Renaissance, and Regency to make a period piece-styled video with a timeless narrative that "could happen in the 1700s, 1800s, or 2008".[87] She spent six months searching for the male lead and chose Justin Gaston, a model and former contestant of Nashville Star, upon recommendation from an acquaintance.[88][89] After Gaston was eliminated from Nashville Star, Swift contacted him to film the video.[87] She believed Gaston was a perfect choice for the male lead, "I was so impressed by the way his [expressions] were in the video. Without even saying anything, he would just do a certain glance and it really came across well."[88]
Filming took two days in August 2008 in Tennessee. The crew considered traveling to Europe to find a castle for the video's setting, but settled on Castle Gwynn in Arlington; Castle Gwynn was built in 1973 and is part of the annual Tennessee Renaissance Festival.[87] Wardrobe for the video was supplied by Jacquard Fabrics, except Swift's dress for the balcony scene, which was designed by Sandi Spika with inspiration and suggestions from Swift.[87] On the first day, the balcony and field scenes were shot. On the second day, the ballroom scene was filmed with 20 dancers at Cumberland University in Lebanon; Swift learned the choreography 15 minutes prior to filming.[87] She invited some fans who were university students from other states to fly to Nashville and film the video with her.[90] "Love Story" premiered on September 12, 2008, on CMT.[91] Behind-the-scenes footage of "Love Story" aired on Great American Country on November 12, 2008.[92]
Synopsis
The video starts with Swift in a black sweater and jeans walking through a college campus and spotting Gaston reading under a tree. As they make eye contact, the video transitions to an earlier era; on a balcony, Swift is seen wearing a corset and gown. The video switches to the ballroom scene, where Gaston and Swift dance together. After dancing, Gaston whispers into Swift's ear and Swift is then seen walking into a garden at night with a lantern. There, she meets with Gaston and the two have a date before parting ways. Later on, Swift stands on the balcony again, looking out from the window. She sees Gaston running towards her across a field and she immediately runs down the staircase to meet him. The video then transitions back into the modern-day college campus as Gaston walks toward Swift and they gaze into each other's eyes, where the video concludes.[87]
Spin noted that the video appears as if it were filmed on an "HBO-looking budget" with "elaborate, pseudo-medieval set pieces"; according to the magazine, rather than alluding to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the narrative resembles Rapunzel, especially with the part where Swift's character waits for her lover atop a castle.[93] Meanwhile, Glamour opined that Swift's fashion in the video reinforces the lyrical theme: "[She] literally wore a medieval ball gown while playing the Juliet to an actor's Romeo."[94] In a 2010 Billboard interview, Swift reflected on the video's fairy-tale-inspired wedding setting: "I'm not really that girl who dreams about her wedding day. It just seems like the idealistic, happy-ever-after [moment]."[95]
Awards and nominations
"Love Story" won Song of the Year at the Country Awards in 2009 and Pop Awards in 2010, both held by Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) to honor the annual most-performed songs on U.S. radio and television.[96] It marked Swift's second consecutive Song of the Year win at the BMI Country Awards, following "Teardrops on My Guitar" in 2008.[97] She was the youngest songwriter (20 at the time) to win Song of the Year at the BMI Pop Awards.[98] At the Australian APRA Awards, the single was nominated for International Work of the Year.[99] It received nominations at the People's Choice Awards (Favorite Country Song, which went to Carrie Underwood's "Last Name"),[100] Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards (Favorite Song, which went to the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow"),[101] and Teen Choice Awards (Choice Love Song, which went to David Archuleta's "Crush").[102][103]
The music video was nominated for Video of the Year at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards, but lost to Brad Paisley's "Waitin' on a Woman" (2008).[104][105] At the 2009 CMT Music Awards, the video won Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year.[106] It also won Music Video of the Year at the 43rd Country Music Association Awards[107] and Favorite International Video at the Philippine Myx Music Awards 2010.[108]
Live performances and other usage
Swift performing "Love Story" on a flying balcony at the Speak Now World Tour in 2011
During promotion of Fearless in 2008 and 2009, Swift performed "Love Story" on many television shows including Good Morning America, Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show,[109]Dancing with the Stars,[110]The Ellen DeGeneres Show,[111] and Saturday Night Live.[112] At the 2008 Country Music Association Awards, she reenacted the music video for "Love Story", performing the song on a ballroom-influenced stage setting with Gaston playing the love interest.[113] Swift and English band Def Leppard performed "Love Story", among other tracks from each artist's discography, for a CMT Crossroads episode taped in October 2008; the performance was recorded and released on DVD in 2009.[114] In the U.K., Swift sang "Love Story" on the charity program Children in Need, to which she donated £13,000 afterwards.[110]
"Love Story" was part of the set lists for many festivals Swift headlined in 2009, including the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo,[115] the Florida Strawberry Festival,[116] Sound Relief,[117] the CMA Music Festival,[118] and Craven Country Jamboree.[119] She included the song in the set list to the concerts on her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour (2009–2010). The performances begun with backup dancers, dressed in Victorian clothing, dancing to Pachelbel's Canon, as a castle backdrop was projected onto the stage.[120] Swift emerged to upper level of the stage from below, dressed in an 18th-century-styled crimson gown with golden accents.[121] For the final refrain, Swift hid behind backup dancers as she changed to a white wedding dress and a jeweled headband.[122][123] The live performances of "Love Story" were recorded and released on the DVD Journey to Fearless in 2011.[124]
Swift singing a synth-pop version of "Love Story" on the 1989 World Tour in 2015
"Love Story" was the final song on the set list of Swift's second headlining tour, the Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012).[125] Swift donned a white sundress and sang the song roaming throughout the stage on a flying balcony, as confetti rained down and fireworks exploded on stage.[126] The song was part of Swift's performance at the BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards in October 2012; she appeared in a white dress before changing to silver hot pants and a sheer black top.[127] Swift sang the song later the same month, as part of a VH1 Storytellers episode taped at Harvey Mudd College in California.[128] On January 25, 2013, Swift performed an acoustic version of "Love Story" at the Los Premios 40 Principales in Spain.[129] She again included the track in the set list of her third headlining tour, the Red Tour (2013–2014), where she sang it donning a white gown.[130]
At the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Swift performed an arena rock version of "Love Story".[131] On the concerts of her fourth headlining tour, the 1989 World Tour (2015), she transformed the song into a synth-pop ballad and sang it while standing on an elevated platform that whisked around the venue.[132][133] She again included "Love Story" in the set list of her fifth concert tour, 2018's Reputation Stadium Tour, where she performed it as part of a medley with her singles "Style" and "You Belong with Me".[134] On April 23, 2019, she performed a piano rendition of the song at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts during the Time 100 Gala, where she was honored as one of the year's "most influential people".[135] On September 9, Swift performed the song at the City of Lover one-off concert in Paris.[136] At the 2019 American Music Awards, where she was awarded "Artist of the Decade", Swift performed "Love Story" as part of a medley of her chart hits.[137]
"Love Story" has been parodied and adapted into popular-culture events. For the 2009 CMT Music Awards, Swift and rapper T-Pain recorded a parody titled "Thug Story", playing on the title of "Love Story", in which they rap and sing with Auto-Tune; the parody aired as part of the awards ceremony's cold open.[138] In August 2020, an unofficial house remix of "Love Story" by American DJ Disco Lines went viral on the video-sharing platform TikTok.[139] The Disco Lines remix charted at number 37 on Poland's airplay chart in October 2020.[140]
Personnel
Credits adapted from Fearless album liner notes[17]
After signing a new contract with Republic Records in 2018, Swift re-recorded her first six studio albums from November 2020, in objection to talent manager Scooter Braun's acquisition of Big Machine Records and, as part of the deal, the masters to her Big Machine-released albums.[185] By re-recording her catalog, Swift had the full ownership to the masters and therefore the copyright licensing of her songs, devaluing the Big Machine Records-owned masters.[186]
Swift re-recorded "Love Story" and titled it "Love Story (Taylor's Version)". A snippet of the re-recording featured in a Match.com advertisement, written by actor Ryan Reynolds, in December 2020.[187] "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" was the first re-recorded track she released;[188] it was made available for download and streaming on February 12, 2021, preceding the re-recorded album Fearless (Taylor's Version), which was released in April.[189][190] An EDM version of "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" remixed by Swedish producer Elvira was released on March 26, 2021.[191]
Production
"Love Story (Taylor's Version)" was produced by Swift and Nashville-based producer Christopher Rowe. It was recorded by David Payne at Black Bird Studios, with additional recording by Rowe at Prime Recording and Studio 13, all in Nashville. Sam Holland recorded Swift's vocals at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Serban Ghenea mixed the re-recording at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.[192] Swift invited some musicians from the 2008 version to re-record with her, including Jonathan Yudkin on fiddle, Amos Heller on bass guitar, and Caitlin Evanson on harmony vocals; they were part of her touring band who had played "Love Story" with her many times.[192]
According to critics, the production of "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" remains faithful to that of the 2008 version.[192][193] They noticed changes in the timbre of Swift's vocals, with a fuller tone and an absence of the country-music twang;[25][194]The Atlantic's Shirley Li found Swift's voice "much richer" with a controlled tone and precise staccato.[195] The instruments are sharper and more distinct, with clearer sounds of the banjo, cymbals, and fiddle; stronger drums; a more clearly defined bass; less harsh electric guitars; and lowered harmonies in the mix.[23][194][196] In Billboard, Kristen He observed that whereas the instruments on the 2008 version blend into a "wall of sound", the production of "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" highlights individual instruments.[23]
Reception
In publications' reviews, critics praised "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" for remaining faithful to the original version while improving with a polished production and Swift's mature vocals.[194][195][197] A few welcomed the re-recording as Swift's display of ownership to her music.[193][196] Reviews from Rolling Stone's Simon Vozick-Levinson and the Los Angeles Times' Mikael Wood dubbed the re-recording an update of a "classic" song about teenage sentiments.[193][198] Mark Savage from the BBC thought that Swift's improved vocals managed to retain the teenage feelings,[194] but The Atlantic's Shirley Li and NME's Hannah Mylrea remarked that they were more powerful, which introduced a sense of wistfulness and therefore lost the earnestness of the 2008 version.[195][197]Robert Christgau believed "Swift's voice retains a great deal of freshness", but questioned the value of her reproducing past songs, saying that he "can't imagine even so that I'd lay out money for the re-recordings".[199] A critic that found the re-recording completely different from the original was Bob Lefsetz, who regarded it as "a bust, from the beginning".[192]
In the U.S., "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" debuted atop the Hot Country Songs chart, giving Swift her eighth number-one single and first number-one debut. With this achievement, she became the first artist to lead the chart in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s decades, and the second artist in history to send both the original and re-recorded version of a song to the top spot, after Dolly Parton with "I Will Always Love You". On other Billboard charts, "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" topped Digital Song Sales (Swift's record-extending 22nd number one), Country Digital Song Sales (record-extending 15th number one), and Country Streaming Songs. The song debuted and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, her record-extending 129th chart entry.[200] The re-recording peaked at number seven on the Billboard Global 200.[54] It reached the top 10 in Malaysia (peaking at number one),[201] Canada,[73] Ireland,[202] and Singapore.[203] Elsewhere, it charted in the top 20 in New Zealand (peaking at number 18) and the U.K. (number 12),[204][205] and was certified silver in the latter country.[206]
In October 2021, Billboard reported that radio stations in the U.S. were not actively playing "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" because they deemed the re-recording indiscernible from the original and due to inaction from Republic Records.[207] At the 2022 CMT Music Awards, the re-recording won the inaugural Trending Comeback Song of the Year; CMT created the category to honor "iconic stars and their hits that not only stood the test of time but also recently found new popularity".[208]
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