Taylor Swift—Speak Now (the OG)

I finished Speak Now today and I’m pretty sure my fate as a Swiftie was sealed with this one. Her first two albums are really good, but I guess I am too far past the love lorn, first love, intense crush phase of my life to really feel connected to the songs. From the fans I’ve interacted with on Threads, those albums came out when they were in that era of their lives and so those albums feel nostalgic for them. I’m currently in my spiteful, burn-everything-to-the-ground era of my life, and so hearing a similar side of Taylor on this album really resonated with me. With that said, here are my thoughts on each song, to include some specific lyrics that stood out to me. Also, the * after the song title means I got some of my questions answered and more clarity about the songs from the book I bought with stories about each song.

1. Mine—“You were in college” lyric, getting older. Was this on the radio? Sounds familiar. More mature topics. Drawer at his place. “…rebel out of a careless man’s careful daughter.” More complex vocals with the layering, not simply just her.
2. Sparks Fly—“You’re the kind of reckless” Vulnerable, drop everything, and give in to him. “Give me something that will haunt me”, “It’s just wrong enough…”
3. Back to December*—Regret, apologetic. Boys had hurt her on other albums, now she’s hurt someone. Ah! She’s been hurt, and now she’s afraid to love again. Is this and all her albums a “How I met your father” kind of thing? Like, if she and Travis have kids, her albums are going to be like each season of “How I Met Your Mother”. *The book says this song was about Taylor Lautner and that they’re good friends now.
4. Speak Now—Ah! Speak now or forever hold your peace. I get it now! Savage at the beginning! SO not typical of her so far! Lol! Does he leave with her?! Man that’s just a fun song!
5. Dear John*— “Floor won’t fall through again”, literally? Like a terrible first apartment? I don’t think so. Everyone says the 5th songs are the deepest. This one is harsh and heartbreaking! “Long list of traitors”. Damn! Who was John?! Wait, John Mayer?! “Dark, twisted games”, “the girls that you run dry”. Good grief! Way to rip him apart with one song! You go girl! Not just written by Taylor Swift, Taylor Alison Swift. Recognize! * Definitely about John Mayer! I watched the video someone shared of her performing this song live, with the fireworks and her facial expressions. Omg! Chills!
6. Mean*—Who’s being mean to her?! This is savage too! “Wildfire lies”, “But the cycle ends right now”. Such upbeat music in the chorus, like a little girl on a playground yelling at somebody. “Washed up”. Damn! Oh god! Lol! All the things she’s saying about him, “pathetic and alone in life”. I dig this one. I don’t have heartbreak in my life, been with my husband for 25 years. But! There’s a mean boss I had and a lot of this sentiment is relatable to how I feel about her. *The book says it’s about one particular critic who had harsh things to say about her. Apparently he was almost kind of bragging that the song was about him.
7. The Story of Us—I like how the type of story changes—love story to a tragedy. Not necessarily a heartbreak, it’s just not working out. Different from the happy “Love Story” from Fearless.
8. Never Grow Up*—A sweet song in the middle of spite and vengeance. This is what we all want to say to the little people in our lives. It’s bittersweet—“No one’s ever burned you”. I like how it morphs from her speaking to someone to talking to herself. Raw. How she feels in the midst of the guys being ugly to her and all the heartbreak. *I found out she was inspired to write this song from seeing the little girls in the crowds at her shows.
9. Enchanted—A good start, sweet, but where is this going? Does it end badly? I’m nervous, lol! Powerful crush, impact this person had on her!
10. Better Than Revenge*—What a beginning! Oh…my…gawd! What happened there?! “She underestimated just who she was stealing from”. Don’t mess with Taylor! Who?! Whoa! Very harsh! Glad she changed that mattress lyric later on. “I always get the last word.” “Nothing I do better than revenge”. Holy cow! Grabbing the book, right now! *From what I gather from the book, she wrote this as a teenager and it’s not about anyone in particular, just what she would want to say if someone did try and steal her man.
11. Innocent* Deeper, more serious tone to the music. Interesting, “an innocent” instead of ‘innocent’. I love it! The whole idea of ‘if I knew then what I know now’. I think she’s talking to herself, reassuring herself, sounds like what I want my younger self to hear. “Who you are is not what you did”—Powerful! *This was about Kanye West! Never would have guessed! But how nice of her to extend this sweet gesture to him after his ridiculousness at the MTV Video Music Awards. Apparently, she has other songs about him later on. I hope they’re not as nice as this one. I swear he deserves some wrath from her coming his way!
12. Haunted—Intense sound, “Don’t leave me like this.” Her heart has been through some stuff. Hard to relate, been with my husband 25 years. What did he do to leave her like that? She obviously still cares about him.
13. Last Kiss—Very somber sound, slow. 1:58? Significance? “Smell of the rain?” Call back to an earlier song? Wearing your clothes? Did he die? Watch your life in pictures? Like a memorial? Ok, so no death, but feels so heartbreaking! Like, a very serious heartbreak.
14. Long Live*—Homecoming king and queen? Who’s the guy? Are they finally winning awards for their music? Despite the critics? Wasn’t she super good friends with Ed Sheeran? Is this about him? Feels like a really good friend. *I want to add this one to my ‘inspirational’ playlist. I read this is about her and her band mates and celebrating their success. The book said they stood in a line together when performing this live.

By the way, this is the book I’m referring to. It has a lot of nice pictures in it and really good details and analysis of the music and lyrics. I love how specific it is without being specific. Like, for “Dear John”, in words, it says fans speculated this song was about John Mayer at first, it wasn’t confirmed, but here’s a giant glossy photo of John and Taylor together, so…. lol!

On to the Taylor’s Version of this one. Can’t wait to hear the vault tracks, especially if they are just as powerful as the ones on this!