Taylor Swift made her fifth appearance as a musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” on Saturday, Nov. 13, to pay tribute to her favourite number.
Swift had a unique gift for fans instead of singing the standard two songs throughout the event. She instead chose a single prolonged slot to perform a 10-minute version of the fan favourite “All Too Well.”
The song, which she wrote in 2012, is widely assumed to be about her ex-boyfriend, actor Jake Gyllenhaal, whom she dated when they were both 20 and 21 years old, and she didn’t hold back on the caustic lyrics on Saturday.
Swift’s new album “Red,” a re-recording of her 2012 album “Red,” includes the song.
Swift, unlike most musical guests on “SNL,” chose to sing one marathon-length song rather than the usual two during her sixth performance on the comedy show on Saturday.
Swift also appeared in a Pete Davidson digital short with Please Don’t Destroy, which includes “SNL” writers Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy.
Swift sang that the three comedians, whom Davidson had referred to as “three sad virgins” in his proposed song video, had the “sex appeal of a scarecrow” and resembled a “sad Ron Weasley.”
“All Too Well” was also mentioned on Saturday Night Live’s fake news section Weekend Update.
“Well, guys, I think the lesson we all learned this week is never break up with Taylor Swift, or she will sing about you for 10 minutes on national television,” he joked, before adding, “At the very least, return the scarf,” a popular reference from the song.
After Swift mentioned it casually in an interview years ago, fans have been waiting for the 10-minute version of the song. They were not disappointed after Swift’s “SNL” performance, praising her performance and storytelling abilities as a songwriter on social media and on YouTube comments sections.
Swift, a master of Easter eggs, referred to her one-of-a-kind performance on Thursday’s episode of “The Tonight Show.” Jimmy Fallon, towards the conclusion of their interview, asked Swift which two songs she would sing on “SNL.”
“I love to hint,” Swift stated. “Which two songs…what if it was not two songs as much as it was one song that is the length of three songs?”
The “Cardigan” singer expressed her joy at finally having the original song out in the world during her interview on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” the next day.