In 2010, Taylor Swift had something to prove. With the release of Speak Now, the crossover star was making a statement: Every song on the album was written solely by Swift herself, primarily throughout the time she’d been touring her previous album, Fearless. Where her debut record was wide-eyed and hopeful, and Fearless was the optimistic, energetic follow-up that proved the singer-songwriter was here to stay, Speak Now is a bit sharper around the edges — there’s more heartache, more clapbacks at critics of the era, and more musings of a spurned young woman.
It’s been almost 13 years since Speak Now arrived into the world. It’s a record that has felt noticeably absent from “The Eras Tour” (get tickets here): “Enchanted” is the only song from the album in the regular set rotation. Blink and the Speak Now portion of the show is already gone.
Now, though, the album Swift used to prove herself as a solo songwriter gets its time in the sun — so don your favorite purple tee and settle in for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
This Love Is Ours
Swift straddles an interesting line in Speak Now: There are traces of young love, particularly in tracks like “Sparks Fly” and “Ours,” but most of the album has a definite thorniness to it. Some of these moments work better than others, even after so much time — “Mean” is still the perfect pop-country bop for silencing haters and critics. (How much of an effect did this song have on helping to crumble Perez Hilton’s gossip empire? We’ll never really know.)
“Dear John,” too, holds up as a comforting listen for young women who feel they were taken advantage of by an older romantic partner. Less effective is “Innocent,” the song often interpreted as a forgiving response to Kanye West’s notorious onstage interruption that set off a pop culture chain reaction that would follow both parties for far longer than anyone expected. Misguided at the time of release, “Innocent” lands even worse now — lyrics like “It’s alright, just wait and see/ Your string of lights is still bright to me” do not feel applicable to Ye of 2023.
Overall, though, the nostalgia of the original tracks on Speak Now inhabits a different space than Swift’s two preceding albums, as well as Red and 1989 that followed. Swift of Speak Now is haunted by the knowledge that youth is rapidly slipping away — “Never Grow Up” and “Long Live” feel like remarkably self-aware goodbyes to girlhood, and the best lyrical moments of the record still hit all these years later.
It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: folklore and evermore opened up Swift’s poetic musings to people in a whole new way, but she has, truly, always been a great lyricist. Consider “Last Kiss,” where she sings, “I’ll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep, and I feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe.” Put an Aaron Dessner feature and acoustic guitar over that and it’s a moment that could slot itself into either of the woodsy albums people sometimes mistakenly herald as Swift’s best songwriting endeavors. Yes, folklore and evermore are fantastic, but that kind of work isn’t new. Speak Now is a reminder of that.
From the Vault
In a social media post about the original construction of Speak Now, Swift shared, “I had to be ruthless with my choices, and I left behind some songs I am still unfailingly proud of now.” This leads us to the new additions to the album; six brand new tracks, and one re-recording of a bonus track off of the deluxe version of the 2010 release. Swift enlisted Hayley Williams of Paramore and Fall Out Boy for “Castles Crumbling” and “Electric Touch,” respectively.
Of all the vault tracks, it’s “Foolish One” that feels like it could have fit into the album best. However, when compared to the songs unlocked with the re-releases of Fearless and Red — “Mr. Perfectly Fine” and “I Bet You Think About Me” come to mind — none of the new tracks are quite as memorable.
That being said, the knowledge that we get to live in a world where Hayley Williams and Taylor Swift adore each other’s company so much that new collaborations and time on the road together are both possible is a true gift.
Feminism (Taylor’s Version)
And, of course, we have to address the lyric change in “Better Than Revenge.” Originally, a young Swift sang: “She’s better known for the things that she’s done on the mattress,” which has now been re-recorded as “He was a moth to the flame/ She was holding the matches.” The jab was aimed at Joe Jonas’ then-girlfriend Camilla Belle, and it seems like it’s been something of a thorn in Swift’s side in the years that have passed since.
What’s unfortunate about the change is that by tweaking the line, Swift is sending the message that the politics of her 19-year old self should have been better; that they should have been perfect. She loses the empathy for her past self and whatever journey she’s gone on in the years that have passed since penning “Better Than Revenge.” It would have been okay to leave well enough alone — it’s understandable that she took out her rage over a decade ago in a way that doesn’t align with her 33-year old self. That’s just called growing up.
It feels like the issue could have been considered settled through a line Swift included in “invisible string,” years later on folklore: “Cold was the steel of my ax to grind for the boys who broke my heart/ Now I send their babies presents.” The hatchet has long been buried between her and Jonas (although this might have been more of an apologetic nod to Belle), but the point of Taylor’s Versions is not to improve on her work.
While frustrating for listeners, resisting the urge to edit and edit again is the unending plight of any creative. It can be deeply difficult to look back at something that was shared with millions of people and not want to improve upon it, especially for someone who has undergone so many metamorphoses as an artist and has the perfect chance to do so.
Fighting Dragons with You
Meanwhile, I need to launch an internal investigation into why listening to these albums makes me sob uncontrollably — it happened with Fearless (Taylor’s Version), and it happened again this morning, pressing play on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), an album I don’t even consider myself particularly attached to.
Maybe it’s that idea of having empathy for our past selves. The first notes of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) immediately transported me back to my childhood bedroom, where I sat for hours on end with my mother’s guitar and a glossy book of the sheet music from this very album. I think about her — the version of me who didn’t know she’d move to Nashville, or live in an apartment with a big windowsill for her cat, or become a writer like she’d always dreamed — and the many, many mistakes she made. That teenager certainly didn’t know what her own feminism looked like yet, or what it meant to really and truly be a good friend, or how to survive heartbreak.
Our teenage selves make so many mistakes — Taylor Swift just had to make hers in front of millions of people. For better or worse, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) lets the ghosts of the past out. Maybe now, she can let a few of them go.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) Album Artwork:
