Taylor Swift Talks ‘Boldest’ Song on ‘Red’ + Getting a Tattoo

Taylor Swift is vulnerable, adorable and profoundly mature. She's 22, and has grown up right before our very eyes! Sure, she can channel the thoughts of tweens who are pining for a boy or trying to get over a breakup, but she can also write lyrically complex tracks about love that move away from any defined demographic -- because somehow, they apply to all of us.

So it would make sense that after watching this intimate interview with our sister site, Taste of Country, we get to fall in love with T. Swizzle all over again. We also get the dish on some of her favorite and boldest tracks off her fourth studio album 'Red' (out today Oct. 22), as well as her plans for 2013 and getting a tattoo (!?!). Below are some quotes that really stood out to us -- but be sure to also check out the entire interview over on Taste of Country.

On what she would like to achieve in 2013:
Thirteen has always been my lucky number so I'm very excited about 2013 coming up… I hope to go on tour and have it be wonderful. I really want it to be something that entertains people and has them leaving the arena or the stadium going 'that was worth the money we spent on the ticket, that was worth waiting in line and parking the car and filing into the arena. It was worth it.'

The boldest song on the album 'Red':
I think for me the boldest song on the record is a song called 'I Knew You Were Trouble.' And it's bold sonically because it sounds like that chaotic feeling, like you just got tricked. And it talks about that feeling of not 'shame on you you broke my heart, shame on me you broke my heart. I knew, I saw you and I saw red flags.' So it was an emotion I hadn't dealt with before.

What she does to decompress:
I am alone a lot which is good. I need that time to just be alone, and after a long day just decompress, and so I go to either my house or the hotel or my apartment or wherever I am, I go home and I watch TV, and I sit there, with my cat and I watch TV or go online [and] check my emails. It's nice to just light a candle next to your bed .. and no one's around. [Laughs]

What she has learned about love since her last album:
I think new things I've learned about myself since 'Speak Now' are that love has no rules, you know? It's really just about treating people the right way or the wrong way. It you treat people the right way it's gonna go this way, and if you treat people the wrong way it's gonna go this way. And I think that those are the only rules, and other than that it's this crazy unpredictable thing.

You can never ever [yep she said that!] figure out where you're going to end up, who you're going to end up with, who's going to end up being a good guy, who's going to end up being a bad guy, it's just this free-for-all of just chaotic feelings.

Who she listened to while working on 'Red':
When I'm writing a record I don't listen to much music -- just because I want to be inspired solely on the emotion, just based on how it feels. And so I think for me, the only artists I listened to were Snow Patrol and Ed Sheeran, and that's the reason why I wanted to collaborate with those people on the record.

The one song on 'Red' that would define her record:
In order to pick one [song] that would, to me, define the rest of the record it would probably be the song 'State of Grace' because it has a line in the song that says "Love is a ruthless game / Unless you play it good and right." And that sets the tone for the entire rest of the record.

Why she loves the song 'Treacherous':
It's got this bridge that sounds like a second chorus. It's got all these big vocals and it's kind of the intensity of that moment when you're deciding to let yourself fall in love with someone.

How the song 'Red' defined her entire album:
I had been writing for about a year when I wrote 'Red,' the song. When I wrote that song it's almost like everything shifted and I wanted to take the album to a different place. Because as soon as I wrote the song I knew I wanted to name the album 'Red.' And so that was kind of in my mind when I worked on the album for the next year and those songs ended up being the majority of the songs that ended up on the record.

On getting a tattoo:
I don't think I could ever commit to something permanent. So I think, no… I just... I couldn't. If I was going to get something it would be a 13, but I just, ugh [shuddering] -- I don't wanna get a tattoo."