By Becca Jolly, Harding Charter Preparatory, Oklahoma City
Taylor Swift shocked fans with the re-release of her third album Speak Now on July 7. Call me a hater, but this album has always been lower on my rankings. I don’t even know why because I love so many songs.
Many fans, including myself, were surprised and upset by “Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version)”.
The original lyrics are “She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.” The new lyrics are “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.”
Fans on TikTok went ballistic over this. Some were calm, but some went overboard and started hating on Taylor.
I do understand why she made this change, since she is very big on feminism. In the end, it’s not as big of a deal as fans on TikTok are making it. I do wish she kept the old lyrics though. She wrote the song when she was younger and has matured since then. Everyone says things about people that we regret later.
One thing I am super sad about is the loss of the shaky breath during the bridge of “Last Kiss.” Honestly, I don’t even think it was intentional in the original version, but it made me fall in love with the song. I love when you can hear an artist’s raw emotion.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has six new songs from the vault. “Lets Go (Battle)” was not on the tracklist, which I was very upset about. I was really hoping I would get to hear an actual studio version of the song, not just a laggy YouTube video.
Other than that I actually enjoyed all the vault tracks. My favorite one by far is “Electric Touch (Featuring Fall Out Boy)”. I think I was most excited to hear this song. I have been waiting on a Taylor Swift x Fall Out Boy collaboration since watching them perform together at the 2013 Victoria Secret fashion show.
“Foolish One” is definitely one of my favorites. The first time I listened to it I teared up. I think the song is about being in a relationship with someone you love, but they don’t love you back.
When I listened to it, I related it back to my old friends, who I had a big falling out with. Now this song just makes me sad.
I loved Hayley Williams’ feature in “Castles Crumbling.” I was scared she was just going to be singing backup vocals, just because that is what Swift does with most of her female features. Both their voices sound good and complement each other.
This song gives me Hunger Games vibes? I feel like it has the same vibe as Safe & Sound from the soundtrack.
I can’t talk about this album without mentioning “I Can See You.” First of all, when I saw that Taylor Launtner starred in it I freaked out.
For anyone who doesn’t know, “Back to December” (One of my favorites) is about Swift’s relationship with Lautner. His video on TikTok went viral in the Swiftie community after he made a comment on how we should pray for John Mayer during this rerecord. For clarification, Dear John is “allegedly” about John Mayer and how terribly he treated Swift during their relationship.
Many thought this was hilarious, just because it was so unexpected, especially after Swift said at her concert to be nice to everybody, no matter what her songs say about them.
I think the concept of the music video is so clever. Joey King, who starred in the original “Mean” music video, and Taylor Lautner work together to break Speak Now Taylor out of the vault. This music video has so many little details and easter eggs in it.
It takes place at 1:58 on July 9, which is the time mentioned in “Last Kiss.” There are also lots of “Reputation” easter eggs, which excites me since it’s my favorite album.
The rest of the old songs are great, just like before. Each one has small differences, just in instrumentals and such.
One thing I am really upset about is this era’s merchandise. Maybe I’m just really picky but it’s so ugly… and expensive. The only things I would consider buying are the two “Long Live” themed items, which are a hoodie and a baby tee, which cost $35 and $75. I also considered buying a tote bag, but my brain won’t let me spend $35 on it.
The charm bracelet and necklace are cute, but I don’t wear gold. Plus, in the past the jewelry I have received from her store has not been the best quality. This makes me really sad because I love buying things from every era.
Maybe it’s the universe’s way of telling me I shouldn’t spend my money.
In the end, the album is great. I do love every rerecord that is released. Now Swift just needs to announce “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)”.
I give “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” 10/13 shining fireworks.
Listen to the album here:
