Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Oct 2010) - hype, anticipation &c

Took me a while to notice the banjos in 'Story of Us'.

they think people outside the US are unable to listen to banjos

Bangos are not sexy.

record of the year! luv this 4eva!!

"Back to December" and "Dear John" are both jawdropping, perhaps her best attempts at ballads yet (the latter in particular being like a much much better version of "White Horse" - as a general rule she is so much better working in specifics rather than archetypes).

"Back to December" in particular though is just... A++ songwriting. Like (and it may be counter-productive to break it down) the shift between "I go back to December..." and "I'd go back to December" is so subtle and yet so important to the narrative arc of the song, and she's so good at picking up on things like that.

dear john is fucking DEVASTATING

Been writing essays and haven't found time to listen to this properly yet, but on background listens...initial thought:

Back to December took some time to hit me, but once it did it was completely devastating. Dear John is a tad overlong, but equally affecting. The Story of Us is wonderful - all backbeat and sass, and Better Than Revenge....wow. Didn't know she had it in her. It's like some Kelly Clarkson 'My December' shit but with a proper dancebeat and that random hip hop drum bit at 2:20 or so.

has the us version leaked yet?

the deluxe has the US versions on it

eh, think I'll just wait a day for the retail.torrent

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/arts/music/24swift.html?pagewanted=all

I love this.

but Caramanica's insistence on autobiographical parallels is bullshit.

so, so in love with "enchanted".

― prolego, Saturday, October 23, 2010 6:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

All those songs with one-word titles in the back half blur together.

The back half is surprisingly intense! Rock opera-ish.

"Better Than Revenge" is terrific though.

All those songs with one-word titles in the back half blur together.

"Enchanted" and "Haunted" are my two favorite songs on the record!

on a couple of listens, the ones that really impressed me were the last two - pretty incredible double-header to close the album with.

("back to december" was already a favourite, love that track)

"Better Than Revenge" is like Paramore (or second album Ashlee) rewriting Madonna's "Thief of Hearts". Love it, but def. was not expecting it!

"no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity" <3

on a couple of listens, the ones that really impressed me were the last two - pretty incredible double-header to close the album with.

Which ones? The deluxe edition is replete with songs.

Assume lex means "last kiss" and "long live" - both great, I was dubious of "long live" at first but loved it by the end.

Yes, I like "Last Kiss" a lot. I'm impressed by how she sustains these five-minute-plus song lengths.

yeah, the ones that close the album proper - haven't actually got round to the bonus tracks yet. the only ones i'm actively dubious about are "mean" and "never grow up". i'm hungover and have no further thoughts about anything though.

Mixed review from Slant, perhaps raises some interesting points:

She often comes up with a great, revealing line, but there isn't much in the way of emotional depth or maturity to these songs. If there's something of the modern "No, I'm right, and you should just shut up" zeitgeist reflected in Swift's perspective, it's also easy to wish that a writer of her obvious smarts delved into more substance and developed a more fully informed take on matters of life and love.

To that end, it's also troubling that Swift's songs still uniformly build an artistic persona that is defined exclusively by her relationships with men. A song like "Enchanted" or "Speak Now" may work brilliantly on its own merits, but over the course of three albums, Swift hasn't shown that she can write authoritatively about anything other than how great boys are or how much boys suck or how dreams about boys will take her somewhere better than where she is now.

Swift hasn't shown that she can write authoritatively about anything other than how great boys are or how much boys suck or how dreams about boys will take her somewhere better than where she is now.

gee I wonder how Slant feels about those big boys Springsteen and Neil Young - can't stop writing about cars and girls and stuff.

RIP Slant ~~~~miss u~~~~

Fuck Slant. Also no need to listen to the bonus tracks, they don't fit in (on a great long album that certainly doesn't need more music) and they're not that good on their own either. Sorta same-y, been-there affairs.

I can't really fathom the insistence in reading her songs autobiographically. Who cares if she herself insists on these readings? The Slant and Caramanica reviews stop being interesting when both get smug about the parallels between her art and life.

Though she does vary her phrasing in ways that attempt to mask her limited voice (the way she sneers, "She looks at me like I'm a trend/And she's so over it," on "Better Than Revenge" is especially effective), Swift is still noticeably off-pitch at least once on every song on the album. The simple fact that she's written a song that uses juvenile ad-hominem attacks to dismiss anyone who might say so doesn't make it any less of a liability

what on earth?!

"dark twisted games" = ~~~~~obviously a Kanye reference~~~~~

review from Slant, perhaps raises some interesting points

http://cdn.best.complex.com/assets/images/lists/hip-hop-gifs/29-Camron-NP.gif

lollllll

that guy's review of fearless was even worse - passive aggressive attacks throughout & then at the end was like "she's a terrible a singer, sooo imma give this 2.5 stars, k."

Oh, is that the dude who's eternally pissed Miranda Lambert doesn't outsell all other country artists?

Was thinking about which songs Taylor has written not about boys/relationships, and off the top of my head the list was: "Coming Undone", "The Best Day", "Revolution", "Mean", "Never Grow Up", "Innocent".

The fact that most of these are about growing up and/or the difficulties of adolescence is not terribly surprising. I think she is writing from what she knows (though not necessarily strictly autobiographically). I'm not sure what things Taylor should be writing about, or be expected to write about, apart from these topics. I'm not sure who we're supposed to be comparing her to in this regard.

That Slant review is so defensive -- as if he was personally under assautled by Swift.

*under assault

He probably thinks "Mean" is partly about him due to his Fearless review, which is much worse IMO.

Agree with Lex that "Mean" doesn't strike me as being about critics except as a kind of side benefit.

NB. when I mentioned "Revolution" I was of course referring to "Change".

^_______________^

So are the pop versions on the UK version or something? The version of the album I'm listening to now has all the proper versions?

Also for those who say she can't sing, she kinda kills it vocally on "Dear John", which is awesome.

She nails it all over the place: "Better Than Revenge," "Back to December." Lots of unexpected growls and slurs along with her usual half-note ascensions.

hoping the VV gets someone good to write a solid review of this

I have a feeling they will.

Yeah, this is kinda incredible so far (I'm up to "Mean" now).

I have a feeling they will.

― raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, October 25, 2010 5:08 PM (13 seconds ago) Bookmark

lol

I've never heard the supposedly awful singing, that's just her girlish voice right? This is not meant as a defence, I'm just genuinely not sure what's being referred to specifically. The two times I've seen her live she sounded fine. I remember the long sections of "doe-eyed" contemplation of the crowd (Caramanica is definitely spot-on about that) but no bad notes.

In terms of her ability to write an indelible melody, Swift rivals power-pop acts like Fountains of Wayne and Guster

I agree with you, Tim. I never thought Taylor was anything less than a good singer, which I really believe she is. She's not a traditional belter, but so what.

Ann Powers.