This is particularly telling because Swift’s marketing strategy screams nothing less than that: her collaborations with Target, Walmart, Diet Coke, and Keds’ special edition ‘Red’ sneakers costing $49.99; a Papa Johns deal where customers could get an album along with a large pizza (with her face on the box) for $22; a 22-track deluxe edition of the album, interviews with 72 radio stations post release, and not to mention special vinyl cases, which were also hefty in price. Need I say more? 

Emily Yoshida of Vulture noted about Swift’s narrative, adding, “…in fact, you can hear the shift happening on the album itself. You hear Swift’s preoccupation with other people’s perception of her start to take hold…” Taylor Swift’s ‘surprise face’ would end with the release of this album.

Regardless of whether she was sweet or edgy, Swift maintained her persona of the girl who is always broken up with, or the victim, which would prove to be the most profitable move of her entire career.

And it worked. When the album released, fans hurried to download the digital version on iTunes, boosting it to #1 of iTunes’ Top Album chart within 36 minutes. Within the first week of release, the album sold 1.21 million copies, making it the biggest first-week figure in more than a decade.