All Too Well
[15] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2018 certified the track gold for crossing 500,000 units based on sales and streams.
[16] The song also peaked at number 59 on the Canadian Hot 100,[17] and it was certified platinum in Australia,[18] gold in Brazil[19] and Portugal,[20] and silver in the United Kingdom.
[27] Bernard Perusse of the Edmonton Journal wrote that the song displays influences of U2,[28] while Rosen and Spin's Michael Robbins thought that its driving bassline was reminiscent of that from U2's "With or Without You" (1987).
[23] Billboard and Craig S. Semon of the Telegram & Gazette described the genre as country,[30][31] while Newsday said that the song has an "alt-country ache",[32] and Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone thought that "All Too Well" exemplified the "diaristic post-country rock" sound of Red.
[6][37] The bridge is where the track reaches its climax; Swift sings in her upper register[6][41] and almost shouts with anger ("You call me up again, just to break me like a promise/ So casually cruel in the name of being honest").
[44] Brad Nelson, in his reviews for The Atlantic and Pitchfork, said that the scarf imagery in the lyrics acts like a Chekhov's gun, symbolizing the persisting emotional flame of the romance long after it has physically ended.
[31] Many reviewers picked "All Too Well" as the album's best track, including Jonathan Keefe for Slant Magazine,[24] Sam Lansky for Billboard,[47] Grady Smith for Entertainment Weekly,[34] and Ben Rayner for the Toronto Star.
[39] Rosen wrote that it "takes a special songwriter to craft a sneering kiss-off that's also tender valediction", highlighting the bitter accusations ("You call me up again just to break me like a promise/ So casually cruel in the name of being honest") and the affectionate memories ("Photo album on the counter, your cheeks were turning red/ You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-size bed").
Nelson, in his review for The Atlantic, complimented how Swift expressed "ambiguity" and said that the scarf imagery, like a Chekov's gun, makes it "an exhilarating piece of writing".
[40] Keefe highlighted the bridge for featuring one of Swift's "best-ever lines" and how "the song explodes into a full-on bloodletting",[24] American Songwriter's Jewly Hight lauded the portrayal of heartbreak using "tangible details",[48] and PopMatters's Arnold Pan said the song shows how Swift "has amped things up" by "combining the kind of drama that has come natural to her songwriting with a widescreen guitar-driven approach".
Swift premiered the short film at a fan event in New York City on November 12, 2021, the same day that the re-recorded album was released; she also gave a surprise performance of the song there.
[66] The acoustic "Sad Girl Autumn" version, recorded at Aaron Dessner's Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley, was released on November 17.
[68][69][70] "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" has an atmospheric, contemplative pop rock production by Swift and Jack Antonoff,[71] incorporating synths, saxophone, and strings in the outro.
Rolling Stone music critic Rob Sheffield lauded the 10-minute version for evoking even more intense emotions than the already sentimental five-minute song: "[It] sums up Swift at her absolute best.
[81] NME's Hannah Mylrea wrote, at its full intended length, "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" confirms its place as an "epic", exhibiting proficient storytelling, vocal performance and instrumentation.
[85] Reviewing for The Line of Best Fit, Paul Bridgewater opined the 10-minute version is "as disarming as it is fascinating"—"an artefact of [Swift's] songwriting and recording process."
"[89] Sputnikmusic staff critic wrote "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" is "not a flashy pop song or an endearingly rural slice of country" but simply a raw depiction of Swift's emotions, and concluded that the "towering breakup ballad" represents Swift's habit of "expressing these commonplace emotions in uniquely uncommon ways" in her writing.
[90] Lydia Burgham of The New Zealand Herald said the lyrics "paint a vivid picture of an ill-fated romance that cuts deep and captures the universal language of heartbreak.
"[91] In the words of The New York Times critic Lindsay Zoladz, the song is "quite poignantly, about a young woman's attempt to find retroactive equilibrium in a relationship that was based on a power imbalance that she was not at first able to perceive.
"[75] The Guardian writer Laura Snapes also dubbed the song an epic track, "one that eviscerates her slick ex in a series of ever-more climactic verses that never resolve to a chorus, just a shuddered realisation of how vividly she recalls his disregard."
Snapes associated the lyric "soldier who's returning half her weight" with Swift's eating disorder, and interpreted it as a nod to the physical manifestations of heartache.
[92] Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic wrote that "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" contains more specificity in its lyrics, exuding "both warm nostalgia and cooling disdain", which "mesmerizes as Swift's cadence slips and slides against the steadily pounding beat", rather than cluttering the song as one would expect.
[75] Reviewing for Vox, Phillip Garret applauded "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" as a "whirlwind of a song", with the additional verses describing the context of "All Too Well" "in even greater detail than before".
[171] Wearing a dramatic beaded gown with sequin detailing and a long train streaming out behind her,[172] she sang while playing piano on a low lit stage, before being joined by a live band midway through the performance.
[189] Actors Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt performed a parody version of the song, inspired by Barbenheimer, on a season 49 episode of Saturday Night Live in April 2024.
[209] Billboard stated "All Too Well" is the song that "proved to skeptics who might've thoughtlessly dismissed Swift as a frivolous pop star—in an era when such artists still weren't given nearly as much credit or attention by critics and older music fans as they are now—that she was in fact a truly formidable singer-songwriter."
Bruce Warren, assistant general manager for programming for Philadelphia public radio station WXPN, stated that "All Too Well" foreshadowed Swift's music direction for 2020.
[211][212] In March 2023, Stanford University launched an academic course titled "ITALIC 99: All Too Well (Ten Week Version)"; it is "an in-depth analysis" of the song, recognizing Swift's songwriting prowess and related literature.
[225] The scarf's existence or its lyrical use as just a metaphor has been a topic of debate among fans, music critics and pop culture commentators, who "agree it's more than a simple piece of outerwear.
[232] Kate Leaver of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote only Swift "could make a decade-old item of clothing a universal symbol for heartbreak.
