It’s officially 2010 again for Swifties as Taylor Swift dropped Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on Friday, July 7.
“It’s right here. It’s yours, it’s mine, it’s ours. It’s an album I wrote on my own concerning the whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas and tragedies I lived out as a young lady between 18 and 20,” the now-33-year-old Grammy winner wrote by way of Instagram upon the album’s release “I bear in mind making tracklist after tracklist, obsessing over inform the tale. I needed to be ruthless with my choices, and I left at the back of some songs I am still unfailingly pleased with now. Therefore, you've 6 From The Vault tracks! I recorded this album when I was 32 (and still rising up, now) and the memories it introduced back filled me with nostalgia and appreciation.”
Swift concluded: “For existence, for you, for the truth that I am getting to reclaim my work. Thank you 1,000,000 times, for the reminiscences that ruin our fall. 💥🐉🏰 Speak Now (MY VERSION!) is out now.”
In honor of the rerelease — which comes four years after she introduced she would remake her first six albums after track supervisor Scooter Braun bought her masters via the sale of Big Machine Records — Us Weekly is breaking down the key lyrics from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
‘Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version)’
Back in 2010, Swift infamously sang, “She’s not a saint, and she’s now not what you assume / she’s an actress, whoa / She’s better recognized for the things that she does / On the mattress, whoa” — and after years of hypothesis, she’s tweaked the track in the 2023 model.
“He was once a moth to the flame / She was once holding the fits, whoa,” the new lyrics read.
Swift is long-rumored to have penned “Better Than Revenge” about Camilla Belle, the actress Joe Jonas dated in a while after he ended his romance with Swift in 2008 (via a 27-second phone call).
Four years after its authentic liberate in 2010, she addressed the dialogue surrounding the music being sexist, telling The Guardian in 2014: “I used to be 18 once I wrote that. That’s the age you're when you assume somebody can in truth take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one take someone from you if they don’t need to depart.”
While Swift by no means showed who the track was about, Belle, most likely maximum known for starring within the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls, publicly took Katy Perry’s facet when the “Teenage Dream” singer was feuding with Swift in 2015.
“Finding it ironic to parade the pit ladies against different ladies argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a girl,” Perry tweeted after Swift falsely accused Nicki Minaj of calling her out for her MTV VMA nomination for Video of the Year. (Minaj was in fact addressing the lack of Black artists in the class, and Swift admitted she “overlooked the purpose” and “misspoke.”)
Belle answered at the time, “@katyperry Couldn’t have stated it better …”
Time will tell if Belle — who split from Jonas in 2009 — has any ideas at the “mattress” lyric tweak.
‘Electric Touch (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’
Swift tapped Fall Out Boy to join her on her first new tune on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), singing about getting again available in the market after heartbreak.
“Just breathe, simply loosen up, it’ll be OK / Just an hour ’til your automobile’s in the driveway / Just the primary time ever hangin’ out with you tonight / I’ve were given my money on things goin’ badly,” she sings. “Got a historical past of stories ending sadly / Still hoping that the fireplace received’t burn me / Just one time, just one time.”
For the file, following her split from Jonas, Swift was once linked to Lucas Till, Taylor Lautner (whom she penned “Back to December” about) and John Mayer (the well-known inspiration at the back of “Dear John”) when she wrote Speak Now.
“All I know is this could either smash my middle or deliver it again to life / Got a feelin’ your electric contact may just fill this ghost the city up with life / And I need you now, wanna need you eternally / In the warmth of your electrical contact, mmm,” the chorus reads.
‘When Emma Falls in Love (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’
Since Swift dropped the name of the vault songs, lovers had been speculating about “When Emma Falls in Love” being about Emma Stone, whom the Grammy winner has been friends with since 2008.
“When Emma falls in love, she paces the ground / Closes the blinds and locks the door / When Emma falls in love, she calls up her mother / Jokes about the ways in which this one could go flawed,” Swift sings. “She waits and takes her time / ‘Cause little omit sunshine all the time thinks it’s gonna rain / When Emma falls in love, I know / That boy won't ever be the same.”
Some listeners have connected the “little miss sunshine” lyric to Stone singing Natasha Bedingfield’s hit “Pocketful of Sunshine” within the 2010 film Easy A.
“Cause she’s the type of guide that you'll be able to’t put down / Like if Cleopatra grew up in a small the town,” the refrain reads. “And all the unhealthy boys could be excellent boys / If they only had a chance to like her / And to let you know the reality, infrequently I wish I used to be her.”
The chatter begs the question, who did Stone “fall in love” with back then? Let Us remind you that she used to be connected to her Paper Man costar Kieran Culkin, whom she met while filming the comedy in 2009, at the time. While some fans want to consider Stone’s romance with Andrew Garfield might be the muse for the song, she didn’t meet her Peter Parker till the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man. (The twosome split in 2015, and she married director Dave McCrary in 2020).
‘I Can See You’ (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’
Swift sings a couple of forbidden romance: “But what would you do if I went to touch you currently? / What would you do if they never found us out? / What would you do if we by no means made a legitimate?”
Swift — who writes about crossing the road and protecting “everything skilled” — met two of her exes on this technology thru work. She collaborated with Mayer on 2009’s “Half of My Heart” and costarred with Lautner within the 2010 film Valentine’s Day.
“I can see you for your swimsuit and your necktie / Passed me a note announcing, ‘Meet me this night’ / Then we kissed and you already know I received’t ever tell, yeah / And I may see you being my addiction,” she sings. “You can see me as a secret mission / Hide away and I will get started behaving myself.”
‘Castles Crumbling (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’
Swifties temporarily tied “Castles Crumbling” to trace 14 on Speak Now, “Long Live,” stating it a “darkish sister” and “antithesis” of the preferred music about her connection along with her lovers.
“Once, I had an empire in a golden age / I used to be held up so high, I used to be nice / They used to cheer after they noticed my face / Now, I fear I have fallen from grace,” she sings. Swift may well be addressing the notorious 2009 VMAs incident during which she believed she was being booed as Kanye West stormed the degree and declared Beyoncé should’ve gained the award for highest female video. (She wrote Speak Now’s “Innocent” about West.)
Taking at the refrain with Paramore’s Hayley Williams, they sing: “And I feel like my fort’s crumbling down / And I watch all my bridges burn to the bottom / And you don’t want to know me, I can simply will let you down / You don’t wanna know me now.”
Swift has addressed her self-doubt and fears about maintaining her huge success through the years, making a song about the similar subjects in Red (Taylor’s Version)’s “Nothing New (From the Vault)” and Midnights’ “Anti-Hero.”
There are also noticeable parallels to Reputation’s “Call It What You Want,” in which she sings, “My fort crumbled in a single day. … And I know I make the similar mistakes each time / Bridges burn, I by no means be informed.”
‘Foolish One (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’
Singing about lacking the signs — as she did in “Dear John” (“And I’ll glance again and remorseful about how I left out once they stated / ‘Run as fast as you'll’”) — Swift will have penned this monitor about her whirlwind romance with Mayer.
“You give me just enough consideration to keep my hopes too high / Wishful thoughts omit to mention when one thing’s actually no longer proper,” the primary verse states. “And I will be able to block out those voices of reason why in my head.”
Swift not-so-cryptically asked fans not to come for Mayer for hurting her when she was once 19 forward of Speak Now’s rerelease.
“And the voices say, ‘You aren't the exception / You will never be told your lesson,’” she sings earlier than the chorus. “Foolish one / Stop checkin’ your mailbox for confessions of love / That ain’t by no means gonna come / You will take the good distance, you'll take the great distance down.”
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‘Timeless (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’
Swift incorporated photos of her grandparents within the lyric video for “Timeless” shared by means of YouTube, singing a couple of lasting love story. (She penned “Marjorie” on 2020’s Evermore about her grandmother too.)
“On a crowded street in 1944 / And you werе headed off to combat in the conflict / You nonetheless would’ve been mine / We would were timeless,” she sings. “I'd’ve learn your love letters each and every unmarried night time / And prayed to God you’d be comin’ home all proper / And you could possibly’ve been superb / We would were undying.”
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