"Everything Has Changed" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring the English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran from Swift's fourth studio album, Red (2012). It was released as the sixth single from the album on July 14, 2013, by Big Machine Records. A music video for the song was released earlier on June 6, 2013. Produced by Butch Walker, "Everything Has Changed" is a guitar-led folk-popballad. Its lyrics are about wanting to know a new lover better. The song received mixed reviews from critics, who either complimented or criticized the production.
"Everything Has Changed" peaked at number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It reached the top 10 on the charts in Ireland and Sheeran's native United Kingdom, and was certified platinum in the UK. Swift included it on the set list of the Red Tour (2013–2014). A re-recorded version, "Everything Has Changed (Taylor's Version)", was released as part of Swift's re-recorded album Red (Taylor's Version) on November 12, 2021.
Background and composition
Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now, in October 2010.[1] She wrote the album by herself and co-produced it with Nathan Chapman.[2][3]Speak Now was similar to Swift's previous album, Fearless (2008), in its country pop production style.[4][5] On her fourth studio album, Red (2012), Swift wanted to experiment with other musical styles.[6] To this end, she approached different producers other than Chapman, beyond her career base in Nashville, Tennessee.[2]
Swift wrote "Everything Has Changed" with Sheeran on a trampoline in Swift's backyard.[7] It was produced by Butch Walker, a prominent contemporary producer.[8] Swift initially worked with Walker and Sheeran on separate songs, but brought "Everything Has Changed" to Walker because she "knew he would approach it from an organic place, which is where [Sheeran] comes from".[9] She chose Walker as a new collaborator on Red because she admired his "emotionally charged" production.[10][11]
"Everything Has Changed" is a midtempoballad driven by guitar.[8][12] Critics described it as a folk-pop song.[13][14] The track extensively uses syncopation at the sixteenth-note level, which musicologist James E. Perone deemed a trademark style of Swift's music and reminiscent of her self-titled debut album (2006).[8] Perone commented that "Everything Has Changed" incorporates hip-hop influences with the deep bass drum beats in its production.[8] Lyrically, the song is about two new lovers wanting to get to know each other better.[12] Both Swift and Sheeran provide lead vocals, alternating between the verses.[8]
Release and commercial performance
"Everything Has Changed" is track number 14 on Red, which was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records.[15] On June 8, 2013, Swift and Sheeran performed the song on the season finale of the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent.[16] It was included on the set list of Swift's the Red Tour (2013–2014), with Sheeran.[17] At the July 22, 2023, show in Seattle, she performed "Everything Has Changed" as a "surprise song" for the Eras Tour. She later performed the song as part of a mashup with her song "Glitch" on June 3, 2024,[18] and with Sheeran as part of a mashup with "End Game" and "Thinking Out Loud" on August 15, 2024.[19]
In April 2013, Swift announced that "Everything Has Changed" would be released as a single in the United Kingdom.[20] It was released in the UK on July 14,[21] and then the United States two days later.[22] In the US, "Everything Has Changed" peaked at number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100. On Billboard airplay charts, it peaked at number eight on the Adult Pop Songs,[23] number 11 on Adult Contemporary,[24] and number 14 on Mainstream Top 40.[25] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the song double platinum for surpassing two million units based on sales and streaming.[26] Elsewhere, "Everything Has Changed" entered in other English-speaking territories, including Ireland (5),[27] the United Kingdom (7),[28] New Zealand (22),[29] Australia (28),[30] and Canada (28).[31] The song was certified gold in New Zealand,[32] and platinum in Australia and the UK.[33][34] It is Swift's most-downloaded collaborative single in the UK, selling 373,400 downloads as of July 2021.[35]
Critical reception
Some critics praised Ed Sheeran's vocals and performance.
"Everything Has Changed" received mixed reviews from music critics. Perone gave the song a positive review, calling it a pleasant track that "should not be overlooked".[8] Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press considered "Everything Has Changed" a highlight on Red, praising Swift and Sheeran's falsetto vocals.[36] In the Los Angeles Times, Randall Roberts called it a "powerful collaboration" and picked it as one of the album's "well-constructed pop songs Taylor-made for bedroom duets".[37] Phil Gallo from Billboard considered the song "Swift at her most plaintive".[9] Another Billboard article reviewing Red gave the song a mixed review, criticizing the lyrics as clichéd but complimenting Sheeran's harmony vocals.[38]
Jon Caramanica from The New York Times considered Swift's songwriting on "Everything Has Changed" not as strong as on her past songs, but still maintained "her ear for the awkward and tentative rhythms of romantic bonding".[39] Robert Cospey of Digital Spy gave the song a three stars out of five rating, praising the song's musical style as "cutesy" but felt that "their exchanges leave us with a warm and fuzzy feeling that is all too rare these days".[13] Sian Rowe, a writer from NME was upright critical, deeming it inferior to respective singer-songwriters' material and "disappointing in every way".[12] Bernard Perusse from the Edmonton Journal considered it a weak song.[40] Tony Clayton-Lea from The Irish Times deemed the track Swift's "desperate attempt" to reach out to new audiences.[41] Also from The Irish Times, Eoin Butler gave the single a two-out-of-five rating, calling it a "typically slushy ballad".[42]
A music video for "Everything Has Changed" was released on Swift's Vevo channel on YouTube on June 6, 2013.[47] It was directed by Philip Andelman and filmed in Oak Park, California at Medea Creek Middle School and Oak Hills Elementary. Also filmed in San Antonio, Texas. The video begins with two children who initially appear to be Swift and Sheeran when they were much younger, meeting each other on a bus to elementary school.[48] Throughout the video, the two children engage in many activities at school together, including painting their faces with crayons, pretending to be a princess and knight, and dancing with each other in the empty school gym.[49] At the end, Swift and Sheeran appear and are revealed to actually be the parents of their child counterparts, arriving at the school to pick them up and take them back to their respective homes.[50]
Jason Lipshutz from Billboard labelled the video as "impossibly adorable",[51] while Ray Rahman from Entertainment Weekly compared the video's synopsis to Forrest Gump, but "much more gentle than that".[48] The two actors who starred in the "Everything Has Changed" video appeared together again in the music video of "The Joker and the Queen" (2022), a song by Sheeran featuring Swift. To this extent, some media publications deemed "The Joker and the Queen" a sequel to the "Everything Has Changed" video.[52][53]
Swift re-recorded "Everything Has Changed", subtitled "(Taylor's Version)", with Sheeran for her second re-recorded album, Red (Taylor's Version), released on November 12, 2021, through Republic Records.[71] Prior to the release, on August 23, 2021, Sheeran shared a clip on social media showing him in the studio, re-recording the track and another collaboration with Swift for Red (Taylor's Version) titled "Run".[72] "Everything Has Changed (Taylor's Version)" entered on the charts of Canada, Singapore,[73] and the United States, and peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Global 200 chart.[74]
Personnel
Adapted from Red (Taylor's Version) liner notes[75]
Taylor Swift – lead vocals, background vocals, songwriter
Ed Sheeran – lead vocals, background vocals, songwriter, acoustic guitar
^Fekadu, Mesfin (October 24, 2012). "Taylor Swift's Red fades to mediocrity". The Des Moines Register. Associated Press. pp. E10. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
^Butler, Eoin (October 26, 2012). "Shuffle". The Irish Times. p. 15. ProQuest1115149548. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2022 – via ProQuest.
