What Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well’ Teaches Us About Copywriting
If you’re anything like me, you’ve had Taylor Swift’s 10-minute version of All Too Well on repeat for the last three weeks.
Even if you’re not a Swiftie, it’s been hard to avoid the buzz around Taylor’s latest album, Red (Taylor’s Version), a re-recording of her 2012 album. With 30 songs, including nine ‘from the vault’ tracks that didn’t make it onto the original studio album, Red (Taylor’s Version) feels like a love letter to fans.
Perhaps the most notable song ‘from the vault’ is a 10-minute version of one of Taylor’s most popular songs, All Too Well. In 2020, Taylor told Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums podcast that the song had originally been over 10 minutes and had to be edited down significantly to be commercially viable.
But now, nine years later, those 10 minutes have taken the world by storm. Millions of people are enamoured with the song’s accompanying short film, Taylor’s poetic and vulnerable lyrics, and the evolution of her voice and confidence.
As I hit ‘repeat’ on the track one more time, it dawned on me that there’s a lot to learn about copywriting from this particular song. Don’t believe me? Here’s what I learned about writing from All Too Well.
1. Be specific. Be Bold.
Taylor is known for wearing her heart on her sleeve in her music, and All Too Well is no exception. This isn’t a cookie-cutter song; it’s highly specific and filled with details about a particular relationship. From the infamous scarf to the ‘Fuck the patriarchy’ keychain to the “actress in the bathroom asking me what happened”.
These aren’t details that everyone will relate to. And yet, they bring the story to life in a way that feels intimate and personal. It’s that intimacy that has led to countless people sharing stories about similar relationships on social media and in the comments of her videos. Taylor’s vulnerability gives us permission to reflect on and share our own experiences.
This approach is one way to make your copy shine. You don’t have to bare your soul if you don’t want to, but sprinkling your copy with highly specific details will help you connect with your reader on a deeper level.
There are hundreds of cookie-cutter brands out there. Their copy is dripping with platitudes and the same complicated language as their competitors. They haven’t taken the time to get to know their audience, and it shows.
Imagine what could happen if you treated your reader as a human — with quirks, desires, and fears. Imagine if you could reference their coffee order or their favourite TV show or their deep love for Moleskine notebooks. It’s a small moment of delight that makes the reader feel like you understand them way better than the brand with the empty platitudes and fancy language.
Getting specific won’t alienate the average reader. Chances are, they’ll just skip over the reference. But it will resonate with your dream customer. And that’s really what copywriting is all about.
2. Repurpose your content like a pro
All Too Well is nine years old, and yet Taylor has breathed new life into it in a way that is delighting old and new fans alike.
She took a fan-favourite and made it new again. This wasn’t a case of simply re-recording her original track. Taylor took what she already had and rearranged it, making it softer and sadder. And then she released it four different ways: the 5-minute version, the 10-minute version, the ‘Sad Girl Autumn’ version, and the short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien.
It’s a masterclass in repurposing content.
And it’s what we should all be doing with the content we create. A lot of time and energy goes into content creation, so why not get the most out of it?
In a recent episode of The Savvy Social podcast, What Works founder Tara McMullin detailed her approach to repurposing long-form blog posts into Instagram graphics. Tara focuses her energy on creating one high-quality blog post or article that she then repurposes for the more visual platform of Instagram.
This approach allows her to focus on creating excellent content that provides high value to her audience. Rather than reinventing the wheel each time she opens social media, Tara pulls from her existing content — much like Taylor did with her four versions of All Too Well.
Some ways you can repurpose your content like a pro are:
- Tweeting quotes from blog posts
- Sharing recent social media posts in your newsletter
- Turning long-form blogs into Instagram carousels or Reels
- Using the copy from your website to create social media captions
- Writing a newsletter based on your latest podcast episode
3. Don’t be afraid to write long copy
If you’ve ever received an email from me, you’ll know that I tend to be long-winded. But I actually really like concise copy. What can I say? I’m made of contradictions.
The marketing world is full of people lamenting the short attention span of humans. Supposedly, our attention span has dropped to eight seconds since 2000 — merely one second more than a goldfish.
That means your copy has to be short, snappy, and punchy to capture your reader’s attention.
But it’s not as simple as that. The BBC reports that attention spans are actually task-dependent. So, although we might have the attention span of a goldfish while scrolling through Instagram, we can actually focus for longer periods of time when attending a lecture, reading a book, or, say, listening to a 10-minute song by Taylor Swift.
All Too Well shows us that excellence can still hold our attention. In fact, it is now the longest song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (previously the record was held by Don McLean for his song American Pie).
At the time of writing, the 10-minute version has been played on Spotify over 93 million times in three weeks — far surpassing every other track on the album. Even the re-recorded 5-minute version has “only” been played 33 million times (I put “only” in quotation marks because it’s still a massive feat).
This tells us that people aren’t just listening to the song once to get the juicy gossip about Jake Gyllenhaal (who the song is rumoured to be about). They’re actually listening to it over and over — all 10 minutes and 13 seconds of it. And, it would seem, they would rather listen to the 10-minute version than the shorter, familiar one they’ve been singing along to for nine years.
So, next time you think your Instagram caption is too long or nobody will read your 4,000-word blog post, remember that people flock to excellent content. When you make your writing irresistible and packed with value, readers will stick around, even if they’re skimming it.
4. Lean into storytelling
The reason All Too Well (and the 14-minute short film) is so captivating is because it tells a story. It’s the story of a relationship — from sweet beginnings to bitter end. The last verse even acts as an epilogue of sorts, bringing us into the present day and showing how far Taylor has come in the last decade.
Even without the visuals of the short film, All Too Well paints a vivid picture of a story familiar to many. She even weaves in references to other songs that fans have long speculated about — like her 21st birthday in The Moment I Knew. The album itself is a story, and it feels like it was always leading to this one song.
Stories bring humans together. They create empathy and connection. They’re how we make sense of the world.
When you bring storytelling into your copy, it gives your reader a new way to make sense of their life and how you can help them.
One way to integrate storytelling into your brand messaging is by telling your reader’s story. Donald Miller’s StoryBrand framework posits that your customer is the hero of the story, not your brand. Instead, your brand acts as the guide who shares wisdom with the hero and calls them to action.
By leaning into these archetypes of storytelling, you can show your audience exactly how your product, service, or course can change their life. In this case, the story is about the transformation your customer will experience if they work with you.
Telling stories — whether your own or your reader’s — gives your audience a different way to understand your business. They make it easier for your reader to see themselves in your copy, which means they’re more likely to remember you when they’re ready to buy.
5. The importance of owning your content
I’ve mentioned a few times now that Taylor Swift’s latest album is a re-recorded version of an album she released nine years ago. But this isn’t like the countless remakes and reboots that have plagued the film and television industry in recent years.
Taylor is re-rerecording her first five albums because she doesn’t actually own the originals. She signed away the copyright for her master recordings when she first signed with Big Machine Records as an unknown teenager in 2005. In 2019, music manager Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine and sold Taylor’s masters for a reported $300 million.
Now a global superstar in her 30s, Taylor has the power (and money) to re-record her previous albums on her own terms. She’s poured her heart and soul into her music, so it only seems fair that she gets to own it.
This is an important and empowering lesson for creatives and business owners. Social media marketing can be lucrative, but putting all your eggs in that basket can be risky. Remember when Facebook and Instagram went down earlier this year? That was a stark reminder that we’re at the mercy of the Meta overlords.
Building an audience on social media takes time, and it can all be lost in a day if the platform decides to kick you off or close its doors. Having a platform you can control (technology permitting) is one way to stay connected with your audience no matter what Mark Zuckerberg is doing.
This means having your own website you can point people to at networking events, in podcast interviews, and on social media. Your website should tell people everything they need to know about working with you; it should be your one-stop shop and, ideally, the first place people go when they want to know more about your business.
To complement your website, you can also start building a loyal, engaged audience through your mailing list. That way, even if Facebook goes down, you’ve still got a reliable way to connect with your customers and keep them moving through your sales funnel.
With All Too Well, Taylor Swift has cemented herself as one of our generation’s greatest songwriters and performers. From sage life lessons to solid writing tips, there’s a lot to be learned from the 10-minute song that has touched hearts around the world.
If you want brand messaging that opens hearts like Taylor, book a free 20-minute discovery call with me. That’s enough time to play All Too Well and talk about copy! Pets welcome. BYO beverage.
