Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is finally here and never have people been more excited to dive deep into the trenches of love, heartbreak, and all the emotions that come with.
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Since it’s release in 2010, Speak Now has been the ultimate comfort for Swifties as they experience life’s brightest and darkest moments from “Enchanted” first meetings to “Revengeful” break-ups and “Innocent” mistakes. Today, Taylor has re-introduced fans to the album with a fresh, re-recorded release of the original 10 songs (featuring some slight lyrical changes) and six bonus songs written by Taylor, circa 2010.
“It’s here. It’s yours, it’s mine, it’s ours,” Taylor captioned an official album release post on social media. “It’s an album I wrote alone about the whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas and tragedies I lived out as a young woman between 18 and 20.”
With 10 years gone by since the original release, the wounds that were fresh at the time are now faint scars, and while Swift stayed true to the project by keeping most lyrics the same, there is one song she felt needed updating at her more mature age of 32.
“Better Than Revenge” was (and still is) a fan-favorite from the album that unapologetically screams envy for the girl who stole the guy. The song has been rumored to be about Tay’s split from her BF at the time, Joe Jonas, and his first girlfriend following the split, Camilla Belle.
The original chorus sings, “she’s not a saint and she’s not what you think, she’s an actress, whoa / She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress, whoa.” Swift, who was criticized for “slut shaming” through the lyrics decided to change the mattress line this time around with the new lyrics reading, “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches, whoa.”
“I was 18 when I wrote that,” Swift told The Guardian re-visiting the song in 2014. “That’s the age you are when you think someone can actually take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one takes someone from you if they don’t want to leave.”
Aside from the above, the only new lyrics fans will hear on the project are on the six new songs from the vault.
“I remember making tracklist after tracklist, obsessing over the right way to tell the story,” Taylor shared of the original tracklist. “I had to be ruthless with my choices, and I left behind some songs I am still unfailingly proud of now. Therefore, you have 6 From The Vault tracks!”
Swift called in some back up for songs from the vault on this release — of the six songs, two are collaborations. Track 17, titled “Electric Touch,” features Fall Out Boy, while track 20, “Castles Crumbling,” features Paramore’s Hayley Williams.
“Since Speak Now was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album,” she said in a previously posted Instagram caption. “They’re so cool and generous for agreeing to support my version of Speak Now. I recorded this album when I was 32 (and still growing up, now) and can’t wait to unveil it all to you.”
As we all dive in to experience the nostalgia of Speak Now by listening to Taylor’s version, and reliving the drama of 2010, Swift has one caveat for fans, and it’s to listen with “kindness and gentleness.” Especially when it comes to the individuals the songs are rumored to be about — John Mayer, Taylor Lautner, Joe Jonas, Camilla Belle, etc.
“I’m 33 years old, I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19,” Swift told fans while on stage in Minneapolis for her Eras Tour. “I’m not putting this album out so that you can go — and should feel the need — to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 billion years ago.”
Behave yourself, Swifties!
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