The Deserved Youth Of 'Speak Now'
Genre: Country-pop, Pop-rock
Sound: Excited high notes over sick electric guitars and moving drums
If you like: Selena Gomez, Jesse McCartney, Emma (2020), the time Taylor Swift threw a chair during a performance of Forever & Always
Why you should listen: With its rock influence during a transition from country to pop, Taylor Swift’s Speak Now is utterly energetic and charming. Swift combines the personal, charming, and at times fanciful country storytelling that has been in her discography since her self-titled first album with high notes and rowdy guitar. Penned entirely on her own, Speak Now paints the relationships and turmoil of adolescence, all the while shining a light upon her fame, criticism, and drama.
Favorite tracks: Superman, If This Was A Movie, Sparks Fly
Best tracks: Dear John, Last Kiss, Long Live
Similar to her previous albums, Swift easily showcases the adolescent experience surrounding yearning and sparkling relationships. But where it differs is intense. Before it was swooning over a guy who “didn’t even know [she] existed”1. With Speak Now, no longer is the girl rewriting Romeo & Juliet for a happy ending2. In her place was one with the same ideals, but with more maturity, and one who's been in more mature relationships.
In Speak Now, Swift did everything she demonstrated previously, but better. Fearless was her – at the time – pinnacle of a young, fairytale, whirlwind romance. All the while depicting the feeling of an earth-shattering heartbreak. A typical “track 5”3, White Horse’s narrator becomes disillusioned towards a crush, and laments in her realization in the aftermath.
Maybe I was naïve, got lost in your eyes
And never really had a chance
My mistake, I didn’t know how to be in love 4
I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairytale
I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain’t Hollywood, this is a small town
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down 5
Dear John, one of Speak Now’s most poignant songs, and a fellow track 5, parallels with White Horse. Dear John similarly has a narrator realizing how incredibly blind she was to an unhealthy dynamic. Based on her relationship with (at the time) 32-year-old, singer-songwriter John Mayer6, Swift recounts an arduous relationship with Mayer. She scolds herself for entering the relationship at all, and akins it to
Counting [her] footsteps,
Swift is even bolder with Speak Now. Even Dear John’s title is a perfect name-drop-that’s-totally-not-a-name-drop. In the context of the song, and what Swift will say, the title of the song is indicative of “Dear John” letters. Or, a type of letter in which the writer is sending to end a relationship with someone who is physically unavailable (typically overseas / on military duty). This demonstrates and lays down the foundation for her ability to weave real world concepts into her songs, all with plausible deniability. When asked about a song on her fifth studio album (1989) called Style, Swift cheekily denies possibility of it’s connections with Harry Styles, even going as far to say
[I named it style] ‘cause the hook is “We never go out of style” and I thought “We Never Go Out Of Style” was a long title 9
In Never Grow Up, Swift pens how her fame has taken away so much of her youth, she’s almost warning the listener. She wishes she appreciated the simplicity of her younger years more, softly singing (in contrast the the songs sandwiching it):
Take pictures of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home
Remember the footsteps, remember the words said
And all your little brother’s favorite songs
I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone 10
Despite what fame has negatively given her (including an unfortunate incident at the VMAs11), Swift reclaims it. In Innocent, Swift forgives Kanye West for the perils he brought her12. She gains the power in the situation by being the more “mature” one.
It’s okay, life is a tough crowd
32 and still growin’ up now
Who you are is not what you did
You’re still an innocent 13
Where Innocent is forgiveness, Mean is pettiness to Swift’s max. Written in response to a critic being unnecessarily belligerent towards her work, Mean is an undeniable country song. Some may guess that the criticism given to Swift may have caused her to write Speak Now entirely on her own (though the singer rebuts the fact14). In his newsletter, Bob Lefsetz, an American music industry analyst and critic, said
…last night [during her Grammy performance with Stevie Nicks] Taylor Swift SHOULD have auto-tuned. To save her career.
They say it’s easy to fake it in the twenty first century.
But one thing we know is the truth will always come out.
In Mean, Swift demonstrates an intense understanding of the world around her, and what people are saying about her. Her specific usage and repetition of the word “mean” displays a childishness understandably pervasive in her earlier work.
And I can see you years now in a bar
Talking over a football game
With that same loud big opinion
But nobody’s listening
Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things
Drunk and grumbling on about how I can’t sing
But all you are is mean
All you are is mean
And a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life
And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean 17
We see in Speak Now the start of her, as Rayne Fisher-Quann put it, “need to be seen as infallibly good.”18 She needs to take back the narrative of being someone who is “undeserving” (seen by Kanye West’s interruption) or “talentless” (seen by Lefsetz’s article). Outside of interviews, or even social media, her music is her place to give her opinion where she knows it will be widespread and literally listened to.
Outside of what fame has brought her, Swift expresses a want to still be loved. Despite everything, she still believes in love. This is shown in Ours, Mine, Superman. Speak Now is as much of a story about a girl torn through heartbreak and criticism as it is about love, and her nature to always believe in it.
Containing some of her best lyrics19, Taylor Swift’s 2010, third studio album Speak Now was a monumental sign of change within Swift’s music, fame had started to roll in and a response was necessary.
most of this was written in the middle of watching our prosecution team’s mock trial competition pls forgive me – that courtroom is HOT and DRY and NO ONE LIKES IT but we got petty theft so whatever
also, rfq’s article on midnights was one of the sole reasons I wanted to post this!! please go read it, it’s cited down below for 18
Ibid
WHEN SHE WAS NINETEEN !!!! A THIRTEEN YEAR DIFFERENCE
I would argue this is one of her most powerful lines, too
Despite him not really apologizing but WHATEVER
In the beginning, Lefsetz does make some genuinely good points. But towards the end I personally can’t help but feel like it sounds like a Gossip Girl post.
Spotted: A singer who can’t even sing. Practically a walking advertisement for some much needed autotune, as seen on stage at the Grammys last night. They say it’s easy to fake it in the twenty-first century, but one thing we know is that the truth will always come out. “Fake it until you make it.” That is, if you even can fake it. XOXO, Gossip Girl
I had to sneak it in somewhere, but the line “you made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter” in Mine is actually so incredible and I genuinely believe it to be one of her best.
The days before Taylor became a marketing machine...
speak now stans rise...what an underrated album. loved the write up and I agree that “you made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter” is her best lyric ever!!