This Love (Taylor Swift Song)

"This Love" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her fifth studio album, ''1989'' (2014). Swift produced the song with Nathan Chapman. An atmospheric ballad, "This Love" combines electropop, soft rock, and synth-pop. Its lyrics use oceanic imagery to describe the revival of a faded romance.

After ''1989'' was released, the track charted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 84 and the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles at number 19. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for one million track-equivalent units. In reviews of ''1989'', some music critics labeled the song as a highlight of ''1989'', but others deemed its balladic production out of place for the album's upbeat sound.

A re-recording of the song, titled "This Love (Taylor's Version)", was released on May 6, 2022, via Republic Records. It featured on the trailers for the Amazon Prime Video television series ''The Summer I Turned Pretty''. "This Love (Taylor's Version)" features an enhanced production quality, exuding indie rock tendencies. The re-recording is part of Swift's plan to re-record her back catalog, following the dispute over the ownership of the masters of her first six albums.

Background and release

Taylor Swift, an American singer-songwriter, had been known as a country artist prior to the release of her fourth studio album, ''Red'' (2012). Many of the album's tracks incorporate predominantly pop or rock musical styles, a result of Swift's desire to experiment with the genres. This prompted a media debate over the validity of her status as a country artist. For her next album, ''1989'', Swift decided to create a "blatant pop" record and move away from the signature country styles of her previous releases. She began writing songs for the album while headlining a world tour in support of ''Red''.

"This Love" was the first song that Swift wrote for ''1989'', and the only one that she wrote on her own. According to ''1989'' liner notes, she did so on October 17, 2012, when she was in Los Angeles. Swift initially envisioned "This Love" as a "fun, little short poem" for her personal journal; when she came up with a melody in her head, she opted to turn the poem into a song. To this end, she enlisted the help of her long-time collaborator Nathan Chapman, who worked with Swift on all her previous albums, to produce the track with her. "This Love" was the only song from ''1989'' produced by Chapman. The track was recorded at his Pain in the Art Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, and mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

''1989'' was released on October 27, 2014, by Big Machine Records; "This Love" places at number 11 on the album's track list. After ''1989'' release, Swift included the song on the regular set list for the album's associated world tour, which began on May 5, 2015. The track appeared as background music for a Victoria's Secret holiday advertisement that premiered in December 2015. Swift performed a stripped-down, acoustic version of "This Love" as a "surprise song" on the first Atlanta show of her Reputation Stadium Tour, in 2018.

Music and lyrics

"This Love" is a midtempo atmospheric ballad. It has a duration of around four minutes and is one of the slowest tracks in the album. The song is primarily synth-pop, soft rock, and electropop. "This Love" consists of both acoustic and electronic instruments with a slow-burning and melodramatic production. It uses double tracking on Swift's vocals. Rob Sheffield, a critic for ''Rolling Stone'', compared the track's sound to that of 1980s power ballads, specifically citing Bon Jovi's " I'll Be There for You" (1989).

The lyrics are about feelings of heartbreak: "Lantern, burning, flickered in my mind for only you / But you were still gone, gone, gone." Swift uses the ocean as a metaphor for a love that disappears and then comes back like the tides. Critics considered it one of ''1989'' saddest songs. ''Time'' magazine's Sam Lansky argued that the chorus's catchiness made it more hopeful than anguished. Swift remarked that she frequently listened to "This Love", citing it as one of her favorites on the album.

Critical reception

Rob Sheffield of ''Rolling Stone'' selected "This Love" as one of the three best tracks on ''1989'', the other two being "How You Get the Girl" and "Clean". In an album review for '' musicOMH'', critic Shane Kimberline lauded it as ''1989'' best song, emphasizing the chorus and "classic Swiftian" lyrics. Jon Caramanica of ''The New York Times'' thought that Swift's songwriting in "This Love" was less detail-oriented compared to her past work; Mikael Wood from the ''Los Angeles Times'' took issue with the generic lyrics. Marah Eakin from ''The A.V. Club'' considered "This Love" as one of ''1989'' weaker songs because of its midtempo balladry compared to the album's upbeat production, and Corey Beasley from ''PopMatters'' found the atmospheric balladry out of place for the album's overall sound.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from ''1989'' album liner notes.
* Taylor Swift – vocals, background vocals, producer, acoustic guitar
* Nathan Chapman – producer, recording engineer, bass, drums, electric guitar, keyboard
* Jason Campbell – miscellaneous support
* John Hanes – engineer
* Serban Ghenea – mixing

Commercial performance

"This Love" peaked at number 84 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart dated November 15, 2014. In the United States, it peaked at number 19 on the ''Billboard'' Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. The track was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which denotes one million units consisting of sales and on-demand streaming.

Charts

Certifications

"This Love (Taylor's Version)"

A re-recorded version of "This Love", titled "This Love (Taylor's Version)", was released by Swift on May 6, 2022, via Republic Records. The song is part of Swift's re-recording plan following the dispute over the ownership to her older discography's masters.

Background and release

Following a dispute with Big Machine Records in 2019 over the rights to the masters of her first six studio albums, including ''1989'', Swift announced her goal to re-record each of these albums. A snippet of "This Love (Taylor's Version)" was featured in the first trailer for the 2022 Prime Video original series ''The Summer I Turned Pretty'', released on May 5, 2022. The song was released on digital platforms on May 6. Along with a digital single for "This Love (Taylor's Version)", Swift also released The Old Taylor Collection, merchandise themed to both ''1989'' and Swift's 2010 album ''Speak Now''.

Composition and reception

Compared to the original version, "This Love (Taylor's Version)" features strong elements of indie rock, which critics noted as a possible influence of Swift's 2020 indie rock-indebted albums ''Folklore'' and '' Evermore''. Much of the production remains the same, but the synthesizers are more subdued, and Swift's vocals are less processed, more amplified and resonant. Mary Siroky of ''Consequence'' highlighted the track as a testament to Swift's songwriting ability to "capture the magic, devastation, and fantasy of romance".

Track listing

Digital download and streaming
# "This Love (Taylor's Version)" – 4:10
# " Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)" – 3:40

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from Tidal.

* Taylor Swift – lead vocals, background vocals, songwriting, production
* Christopher Rowe – production, vocal engineering
* Matt Billingslea – drums
* Max Bernstein – synthesizer
* Amos Heller – bass
* Mike Meadows – acoustic guitar
* Paul Sidoti – electric guitar
* Derek Garten – editing, engineering
* Bryce Bordon – engineering
* David Payne – record engineering
* Lowell Reynolds – editing, assistant recording engineering
* Dan Burns – assistant engineering
* Serban Ghenea – mixing
* Randy Merrill – master engineering

Charts

Release history

References

Citations

Bibliography

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2010s ballads
2014 songs
2022 songs
Electropop ballads
Synth-pop ballads
Taylor Swift songs
Songs written by Taylor Swift
Song recordings produced by Taylor Swift
Song recordings produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer)
Song recordings produced by Chris Rowe
Songs based on poems