Review: Taylor Swift takes on John Mayer and Taylor Lautner on 'Speak Now'
John Mayer may want to watch his back
![Album Review: Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' has a lot to say](https://web.archive.org/web/20111016152547im_/http://images.hitfix.com/photos/535030/taylor-swift-speak-now_article_story_main.jpg)
Taylor Swift, "Speak Now"
In interviews, Taylor Swift often comes across all wide-eyed wonder, preternaturally sweet, and with girlish, bounce-on-the-bed enthusiasm. And, most importantly, she's very careful to reveal nothing.
It turns out that’s because she’s been saving all the good stuff for “Speak Now,” her new album out Oct. 25. Her first two collections, 2006’s self-titled effort and 2008’s “Fearless,” were just warm-up acts. On “Speak Now,” she’s slashed open an emotional vein and she’s let it bleed all over the tracks.
When “Speak Now’s” first single, “Mine,” came out in late summer, it sounded pretty much like more of the same, albeit in the romantic ditty she clearly was showing that she wasn’t a minor anymore. She even had a drawer at her boyfriend’s place, for gosh sake. The track wasn’t different enough to reveal if Swift was going to be able to make the leap from teenager to adult. Was she still the band geek swooning over the quarterback? Was she still singing about being 15 in a way that carried none of the emotional heft of the benchmark song about the hell of those teenage years, Janis Ian’s “At 17?”
In a word: no, she is not.
[More after the jump...]
The Swift on “Speak Now,” has a lot to say and you’re going to hear it. If you have ever done her wrong, she’s coming after you. For as popular as she’s become, Swift still comes across as an outsider looking in, easily hurt and some times befuddled by the actions of others who don’t treat her well. The slights--perceived or real--have left their scars. She remembers ever smite, every cross look and she has taken these brick bats and built a mighty wall of sound with them. Whether it’s her scathing missive, “Dear John,” allegedly about John Mayer, or her take-no-prisoners “Better Than Revenge,” she shows that underneath that sparkly exterior is a woman scorned who will retaliate if you throw the first punch.
A number of things make Swift so appealing here. First off, as we say in the south, she is wide open. She holds nothing back and is utterly fearless when it comes to revealing the gaping maw of her hurt in such an un-self conscious way that it seems almost possible to believe she forgot that other people--millions of them-- will hear her pain writ large. When she wistfully sings, "I don't know how to be something you miss" to an ex on the slow, echo-y "Last Kiss," it's heartbreaking.
Secondly, her skills as lyricist, always her strongest point, continue to evolve. Unlike so many current writers, she knows how to tell a story. I found myself listening to the songs unable to predict how they would end. Would she and her former love reunite on “Story of Us?” Does she get the boy in “Speak Now?” I’m not telling.
But let’s get back to “Dear John.” Singing slowly and mournfully, with a pedal steel echoing her melancholy, she pointedly asks: “Don’t you think 19 is too young to be played by your dark, twisted games when I loved you so?” and then ”Maybe it’s you and your sick need to give love and take it away.” I want to see her and Jessica Simpson on a very special episode of “Oprah” with Mayer left to squirm (Note to Taylor: if it's not about Mayer, you might want to say something).
Boys aren’t her only target. On the throbbing Kelly Clarkson-like “Better Than Revenge,” she lets loose on some starlet who’s gone after her man. The femme fatale may be fooling everyone else, but not Swift. “She’s not a saint, she’s an actress/She’s better known for the things she does on the mattress,” Swift sings in the only reference to actual sex on the whole album. “She should keep in mind there’s nothing I do better than revenge.” There’s blood in that vein Swift has opened, but there’s ice water too.
Most of the romances, “Mine” is a notable exception, are either outright disasters or, at the very least, have dark edges, such as on the mid-tempo, layered “Sparks Fly.” 
She wants her boy to “meet me in the rain/kiss me on the sidewalk/take away the pain,” but she knows he’s a “bad idea.” On the shimmery “Back to December,” about Taylor Lautner, she’s the one asking for forgiveness.
At an age where most girls are blissfully unaware of the pains to come, Swift seems to have suffered the slings and arrows of every possible love, but in the past, it was combined with a naivete and wrapped in a certain “I still believe in unicorns” sweetness. (The exception being the excellent, sadly resigned “White Horse,” from “Fearless”) Here, she’s not quite 20-going-on-45, but a little weariness--and wariness-- is sinking in. That’s what makes these songs work no matter what age you are if you’re still dealing with romance and all its seemingly endless heartaches.
Swift wrote all the words and music alone on “Speak Now,” a first for her, and that may explain a certain sameness to many of the melodies. She needs no help as a lyricist--that’s very clear--but it might be nice to see her work with a more experienced composer to expand her melodic sense. Country radio still claims her as its own and she courts them with the solid smarts of someone who knows that format will still embrace her should the more fickle pop world turn its back. However, this is a pop record. There’s enough here for country to gravitate toward because the genre leans so pop now. Surprisingly, “Dear John” is one of the most country-sounding songs on the record, along with the banjo-laced “Mean” and the spare, lovely “Never Grow Up.”
Genres, however, don’t necessarily matter any more in Swift’s world as she’s become a true multi-format star...so much so that the interwebs are clogged with speculation as to whether “Speak Now” will have the biggest opening week of the year, and, even, could it top 1 million its first week? Sadly, those days are gone, but if any album has a shot, it’s this one.
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About This Blog
Melinda Newman is the former West Coast Bureau Chief for Billboard Magazine with more than 15 years of experience in the music industry. She covers music and entertainment for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Associated Press, MSN, AOL and other outlets. Recent interviews include Taylor Swift, Pink, Brad Paisley, Foo Fighters, Jonas Bros. and Snow Patrol.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupKirck Jesus, Taylor Lautner's ears must be burning with this album. Three or 4 songs are about him alone.
October 22, 2010 at 10:06PM EST Reply to CommentMaddie There's like only one about him... There's 2 about John Mayer.
October 26, 2010 at 11:10PM ESTabcd This is an awesome album!!! And how can you say Enchanted is a throwaway?? It's my FAVORITE song from the album it totally ROCKS!!!!!
October 25, 2010 at 10:35AM EST Reply to CommentRosie I know! I thought it was so cute, but it was a little long. Long Live was a throwaway though.
October 26, 2010 at 11:11PM ESTmiller Other than being a bit of a voyeur it really doesn't matter who the songs are about. Is it good music, can you relate (knowing a bit of the her background story to the song does help though). She has admitted that Dear John & Story of Us are about the same person. Back to December (where the real background story, not the media blathering of no chemistry) is definitely Lautner. Her view of Joe is public fodder, no sweety sentiments there. Innocent we know is Kanye. Mean, Mine and Enchanted have been mostly explained. That leaves Last Kiss, Haunted, Long Live (if your familiar with her and her activities the last 2 years and the men in her life you may pick on some visual clues) their targets are either unknown for now, her band, or Lautner. The supposed codes hidden in the songs...some do have them but the others are meaningless. So everybody's gonna believe what they want to believe. Of course Swift isn't the only one who knows, the guy could always talk.
October 26, 2010 at 10:28AM EST Reply to Commentasdfghjkl Great album, but Enachanted is one of the best, how can you say it's not good? My other faves are Mine, Dear John, Mean, and Speak Now.
October 26, 2010 at 9:40PM EST Reply to CommentAmilia My favorites are Sparks Fly, Mean, The Story of Us, Better than Revenge, and Haunted. Haunted is really really good.
October 26, 2010 at 11:14PM EST Reply to CommentADAM there's no throw away in this album. she's an album artist which i love the most with her. enchanted is awesome and long live also. long live is about her band, team, fans and all the triumphant moments in the past 2 years.
October 31, 2010 at 2:57PM EST Reply to Commentthis album is diverse, detailed and brilliant. glad i own one!!!
Kaesi Gelelo Taylor can sing live. She has had some very good performances. I can't deny that she has had bad ones too, but that's part of the appeal to be honest. She's normal. Normal people will have bad performances, they'll get excited when they get awards, and sing about the relationships they regret. That's what makes her appealing.
November 4, 2010 at 7:53AM EST Reply to CommentWatch her videos here:
http://www.areze.com/videos.php
Jane Innocent is not about Kanye West. It is for John Mayer, it's a love song. It's pretty obvious and it's retarded that the whole world has just decided that it was written for West.
November 8, 2010 at 10:01PM EST Reply to CommentKCH68 I think the album is amazing! I believe it is her best album so far. I don't understand why anyone would't like it... and Enchanted is in no way a "throwaway." Its easily one of my favorites on the whole cd. It has a very catchy tune, and the lyrics are clever as well.
December 1, 2010 at 10:20PM EST Reply to Comment