Ruston Kelly Covers Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well’

Back in January, Ruston Kelly posted a very brief video of himself singing a snippet of Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well,” a beloved album cut from the singer-songwriter’s Red album.

“This song rules so hard,” he wrote, tagging both Swift and co-writer Liz Rose.

this song rules so hard @lizrose06 @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/FTsRFazEKv

— Ruston Kelly (@RustonKelly) January 11, 2019

It was apparently more than a one-off performance, as Kelly has released his own recording exclusively via Amazon Music. This new version — just a brief clip for non-members — comes with a full-band arrangement, but retains the kaleidoscopic, vocoder harmonies that surrounded Kelly in his Twitter version. “I know it’s long gone/and the magic’s not here no more,” he sings, the simple arrangement benefiting from a fog of sighing pedal steel and droning keyboard.

It’s a downcast arrangement that wouldn’t feel out of place on Kelly’s debut album Dying Star, which came out in 2018 and featured a group of beautifully bummed-out tunes Kelly wrote as he was breaking free from a period of substance abuse.

“This is what I did way before drugs ever came into play,” he told Rolling Stone last year. “Drugs were such a lie about how to create for me, and it hijacked my sense of natural creativity.”