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

i think it's her best single after "love story" & "teardrops on my guitar"

Something is wrong with this statement.

fearless (with my challops)

yeah mine/speak now are definitely taylor-by-the-numbers songs.

that 'fighting dragons' line in long live - !!!!! taylor come date me

"mine" is a fantastic single! surely the most fearless-like song on the record but that's not such a bad thing - can't really wrap my head around loving tay but not caring for "mine" (xp: cf dayo "by the numbers" - we like this!)

this album is def very good i think - i think it sorta runs out of steam after "enchanted" (which might be my favorite song by her EVER - why are we not all flipping out about this?) but i've only listened all the way through once

also shocker this is great on the highway

lol it's AiM by-the-numbers, credit where credit's due

Enchanted is wonderful, and I initially thought it ran out of steam at the end too, but they grow on you quickly.

But 'Better Than Revenge' and 'Last Kiss' kill. Innocent sort of saps all the energy out, though. I know it's her Kanye-response or whatever, and it's good for what it is, but it doesn't really do anything for me.

xp Oh, I mean...I like 'Mine' and I love 'Speak Now'. It's possible I just played them to death before the album came out and ruined them for myself? That could be it.

But I maintain that there's no way "Mine" is as much of an earworm as Our Song or You Belong With Me, or as affecting as Tim McGraw or Teardrops or Fifteen. And it's certainly not as well crafted as any of those five.

This is a silly argument. But it is 12:30 and I am reading about Faberge eggs and the legalities of art dealerships, so \(o O)/

"you belong with me" is her most overrated single, easily

j0rdan grillin some schallops tonight

Overrated, perhaps, but still good enough to squeak into my top five. Or it was until wikipedia informed me that 'White Horse' and 'Fearless' were both official singles.

Also, I could have sworn that "I'm Only Me When I'm With You" was a single, but wikipedia doesn't acknowledge it, and iTunes/etc. don't even seem to sell the Deluxe Edition of the debut anymore. Go figure.

she's on letterman right now and really zooey deschanel-ing it up afaict

"you belong with me" is her most overrated single, easily

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, October 27, 2010 12:24 AM (6 minutes ago)

http://i37.tinypic.com/vqqo8z.jpg

Innocent sort of saps all the energy out, though. I know it's her Kanye-response or whatever, and it's good for what it is, but it doesn't really do anything for me.

I didn't hear this until the album and kinda missed all the debate on it previously, it wouldn't occur to me just from listening to the tune that it's about Kanye, and I think I like it a bit less as a result. It makes more sense being sung to an older woman IMO, like "Coming Undone" 15 years on.

Re Taylor singles, I think objectively the answer is:

"Tim McGraw" = "Love Story" = "Our Song" > "You Belong With Me" > "Should've Said No" = "Fifteen" = "Mine" = "Fearless" > UP UNTIL NOW EVERYTHING BASICALLY HAS BEEN AWESOME > "Teardrops on My Guitar" = "Today Was a Fairytale" = "White Horse".

i wanna do a taylor singles poll v badly but i imagine they'll be putting singles out from this one for another year or so

btw

The Taylor Swift set-up—and it’s hard to get away from—has been a massive success.

Her new album, Speak Now, on Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine and the Lipmans’ Universal Republic labels, is exploding at retail in a way that has initial first-week sales estimates between 800-900k and could go higher.

Insiders are even giving it a shot at approaching the first-week numbers generated by Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III album two years ago.

And it couldn’t come at a better time for the record industry as it heads into the all-importhat fourth quarter.

Swift appears a lock to turn back the year’s previous first-week sales record, set by Eminem’s Shady/Aftermath/Interscope album, Recovery, in June, with 742k.

im enjoying this stuff on a level of like, a rando country/rock/folk record scott seward recommends me (aka A LOT) but i wd get put off if i realized how popular it is or dealt w/ it like its anything but headphones / private headspace-type music. dont see it as social music the way i think a lot of ppl do

idk im just listening on youtube tho

i dont really like that 'you belong w me' much though ... prefer the stuff where i could actual experience those feelings now vs. the hey im so obviously a teenager

i can't believe she's dating jake gyllenhaal.

not sure how well this'll do on country radio; as noted above, there's not a lot of the signifiers. programming this on country would be more out of allegiance and inertia and public interest and market share than it being country

i think "mean" is the most country-friendly song here?

that's my initial take. and maybe the one about how she wishes that cute baby would stay forever young that i couldn't quite finish.

not sure how well this'll do on country radio; as noted above, there's not a lot of the signifiers. programming this on country would be more out of allegiance and inertia and public interest and market share than it being country

I don't think there's any less country signifiers than on Fearless - how did that fare in terms of country radio play?

maybe less steel guitar/banjos, more rock opera sweep
i should probably not talk about this album until i can finish it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UasIa5neaOU

calling taylor swift "taylor smith" = professional journalism

apparently there's gonna be some sort of special on thanksgiving, they didn't mention what network tho

Universal City, CA, United States (AHN) - NBC will be celebrating the holiday season with Taylor Swift. Aside from the traditional favorites and original programming, the peacock network will be including a new Thanksgiving night music special with the pop country star.

The "Taylor Swift, Speak Now" special will take the 20-year-old singer's fans on a whirlwind trip from New York to Los Angeles as she launches her latest album. She is set to treat viewers with multiple one-of-a-kind performances, including a concert held 30,000 feet in the air as the plane flies across the country.

Also included are features such as behind-the-scenes access to her recording studio and video shoot, autograph signings, appearances, paparazzi dodging, and every mayhem the Grammy Award-winning young singer encounters.

lol she starts signing autographs while in the middle of singing "love story"

I didn't hear this until the album and kinda missed all the debate on it previously, it wouldn't occur to me just from listening to the tune that it's about Kanye, and I think I like it a bit less as a result. It makes more sense being sung to an older woman IMO, like "Coming Undone" 15 years on.

i'm kind of amazed that anyone w/half an eye on popular culture could have missed that, esp you - i wish i'd missed it! i def wish i didn't associate "dear john" w/john mayer. i kind of think tying taylor's songs to specific people or situations erodes their magic a little - not that the magic entails ruling out specifics, but because her forte is how she inserts hyper-specific details and references into songs that thrive because they're universal and relatable. like, "dear john" isn't a great song because it's about john mayer, it's a great song because it could equally be about john mayer, or your own ex. to be fair to taylor this is the fault of the extraneous conversation rather than her songwriting.

did anyone else see that jezebel post about how the song basically PROVES that john mayer TOOK HER VIRGINITY? o_0

nabisco

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/10/taylor_swift_a_fans_best_frien.html

I am writing something about this right now, in response to a friend's senseless hate. (We're doing a back-and-forth all week over this record. Ah, blogging.)

I am pretty sure I am gonna hate this thing about 20 seconds after it is published, but if anyone's interested I'll link it here.

"Speak Now" on Letterman last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQVMlGOWx1Q

After hearing "Dear John," "Better Than Revenge" and "Mean," I think I realize her appeal for me -- she's like a younger, country-pop Kay Hanley. Clever with the lyrics and fast with a hook-y melody.

Guys, not a single copy was left in the Best Buy display. I happened to find one someone had mistakenly stuck in the (ha) Tim McGraw section.

did anyone else see that jezebel post about how the song basically PROVES that john mayer TOOK HER VIRGINITY? o_0

What...? I don't want to read that. Did it make any sense at all?

Are we talking about "Back to December"? Yeah, there's a line about how she "cried" for the first time time one night with a guy.

wish i'd missed it! i def wish i didn't associate "dear john" w/john mayer. i kind of think tying taylor's songs to specific people or situations erodes their magic a little - not that the magic entails ruling out specifics, but because her forte is how she inserts hyper-specific details and references into songs that thrive because they're universal and relatable.

dunno why it should matter? Until Friday my only Mayer-Swift association was on "Half of My Heart" -- had no idea they dated.

then again I'm Mr Intentional Fallacy Guy.

I dunno, a bad relationship with a self-obsessed arrogant older dude is pretty relatable, even if that dude is Mayer. I'm not sure that's there's anything relatable in the kanye incident.

one day 'Dear John' will be fun music trivia like 'You Oughta Know' -- "omg, did u know this song is about that fratty dude who sang 'Your Body is a Wonderland?'"

lol she starts signing autographs while in the middle of singing "love story"

For those not in the mainstream country loop, this is par for the course. In shows I've seen, everyone from Garth to Shania to Reba spends a hunk of their set making their way around the periphery of the stage signing autographs. It's like an extension of those fan-day events.

taylor sounds like she would be mental to date

I'm way behind on 2010 listening but I need to pick this up. I've not heard anything from it yet (staying away from youtubes so far). re. country radio: I've not been around to listen but I suspect it's getting played just out of inertia; Garth didn't really fit in either musically, at least not with what e.g. Randy Travis or George Strait were playing at the time, and they worked around him. I think the same'll happen with Swift.

right, "Mine" is currently #8 on the country chart

I just found out there's no such thing as the real world, just a lie you gotta rise above

i'm embarrassed to know this, but i think back to december is about the werewolf dude from the vampire movies