Country-bred pop crossover superstar
Taylor Swift
delivered her most compelling and incidentally chart-topping album,
Red
, in 2012, dabbling with a variety of pop styles.
Red: Taylor Swift Karaoke
delivers official instrumental tracks of all 16 of
's super-produced numbers, including
Swift
's backing vocals, but leaves space for the karaoke star to take the lead. Unlike a good number of legally sketchy karaoke versions recorded by session musicians, the songs here are released in conjunction with
's management and label, so hits like "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" are identical in quality to the album versions, in the same musical keys, and free of weird surprises. [A CD/DVD set was also released.] ~ Fred Thomas