Taylor Swift Red Album Release: Songstress Celebrates Immediate Success, Some Critics Not Impressed, 'Lacks Oomph, Feeling'

Taylor Swift's "Red" album was just released on Monday, October 22, 2012, and the popular songstress is already celebrating the record's immediate commercial success ("Red" already hit no 1 on the iTunes album chart). While Swift expressed her utter joy over the highly-anticipated album's triumph at a Target release party in New York City on Monday, some critics are already slamming "Red" for its "lack of originality, oomph, and feeling." Swift insists her fourth studio album exhibits many personal, emotional ballads - but instead many critics see is an "empty" lyrical form.

At the "Red" Target release party in New York City (check out pics here), Swift told MTV how excited she is that fans can finally listen to her new music: "This is a crazy feeling. I mean, these are songs that I've worked on for two years and worked so hard to make different from everything I've done before, and the fans are really getting that. I love that they are understanding that this is something completely new, and it's just a wonderful feeling."

Swift goes on to explain how wonderful it is to experience the album's release with fans :

"They are all telling me their favorites. It's so much fun, because their favorites determine my set list for my shows on tour next year. It determines a lot, so I'm just loving seeing the iTunes [songs] chart and getting to see which ones are floating to the top, and I will sit there and go, 'I didn't expect that. That's a really personal, emotional song. I didn't expect that to be right there at the top of the iTunes chart.'"

Swift and fans may have had a good time at the "Red" release party on Monday, but album reviews are beginning to pour in over the web, and some aren't very complimentary.

A critical review of "Red" on the AP states, "[While] 'Red' contains its share of winners, many of the songs lack the colorfulness and vitality the album title suggests, leading to an overall letdown. Lyrically and sonically, the album lacks oomph and feeling: It sounds like we've heard it all from her before (check 'Starlight').

A New York Daily News critic wrote: "The songs, while catchy, manage to draw the ear more by their cheaply manipulative hooks than thanks to any admirably sure melodies. We're brought close by the maddening repetitions of a phrase (as in the tricky smash "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"). As teen-pop goes, there's nothing to rival the elegance of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" or the urgency of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe." Even the impeccable songwriter Dan Wilson (who collaborated on "Treacherous") couldn't coax greatness from the star."

Even so, many other reviews laud that Swift "burns with confidence" on her new album and takes "bold risks" in her songwriting. So what do Mstarz fans think? Check out Swift's "Red" album to decide for yourself.