Friday's Chill Pick - 11/12/21

Look, I know it's a day before Friday right now (well, at least for me), but you know what, I'm posting this week's chill pick early for two reasons: a) I haven't done this in two weeks and I feel embarrassed that the cover art to "Earth" by Lil Dicky has been the first thing that pops up on this page for that long, and b) this dropped very early so you know what, I'm getting ahead of the curve here and covering it ASAP. Anyway guys, welcome back to Fire's Flaming Hot Takes for another week of "Friday's Chill Pick". So what's this chill pick?

Taylor Swift - All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
Release: November 12, 2021
Genre: Country rock

So this is gonna be a bit different than normal. This'll be a listen-to while I react to it, instead of me just hitting replay of a song I already know trying to get all the specific details in the mix out. That said, the original "All Too Well" has gone on to become universally acclaimed by many critics and I cite that song as Taylor's best song ever and one of my favorite songs of all time. The lyricism, the instrumentation, Taylor's vocals, it's absolute perfection. That said, this 10-minute version has been somewhat teased here and there from some on Pulse Music Board. Now that it's dropped just now, it's time for me to see if this does live up to its hype. Keep in mind that I give the original a very strong 10/10, so the bar's already out of the stratosphere. But, let's see what she came up with:

Okay uh, this production definitely sounds a bit different compared to the original at the start. It does sound a bit more well produced though. The guitar in particular sounds great. Oh and Taylor Swift sounds way more mature on this song, that's an incredible touch. The beat dropped in, and it already reminds me of how much I absolutely adore the original. Now in the chorus, the backing vocals sound way better than they do in the original. Okay, here's a brand new part, with brand new lyrics. Oh wow, she's going into even more detail than there was in the original!! Considering that lyrics were the original's strongest point, that's a phenomenal thing to see! Okay, we're back to the normal pre-chorus. The 2nd chorus is playing, and she just repeated the chorus for this! Okay uh...the instrumental bridge kinda doesn't have that much bombast, I have to say. It was definitely better done in the original. Taylor's at her belting here...and she sounds phenomenal!! The new additional lyrics sounds amazing. And somehow, we're only halfway done with the song. Okay, so this is the part before the "time won't fly" lyric, the production has definitely settled down a bit, cleaner than in the original, I'll say it. Wait...we're at what's the ending in the original song, there's 4 minutes of song left!! Wait...this is the outro, and we're only 7 minutes in! Oh, there's a brand new section at the very end. Okay, this song improves a lot upon on an already incredible song, but I have to say, it feels a bit too compressed in the spots where there's supposed to be a lot of power. Okay...wow. The outro sounds quite beautiful, I'll say it. It's fading out quite beautifully right now. Okay, so that's the 10-minute version...my thoughts?

As I said earlier, this improves upon much of the original, which is already a perfect song in my eyes, but at the same time this just doesn't hit as hard, particularly in the chorus. Sure, the productions sounds slightly cleaner, but I do wish it kept that same punch in the chorus. So my overall rating? Pretty much exactly as good as the original version - it's a 10/10 for me.