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

alfred did you dig the jamey johnson

thanks, Alfred! that one sounds good. (as far as Taylor goes, I like Fearless and the new one; haven't heard her first)

yeah seconding Alfred's rec

awesome. thank you!

Haven't heard it, J. Should I?

i don't know, neither have i

i'd recommend the Dixie Chicks too.

don't forget shania.

I haven't listened to an entire album from them, so I can't speak to their quality, but Sugarland seems to fall pretty squarely into this category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEVq7Gji744

Check out the Gloriana album from last year. Very country-pop.

I'm not feeling the same strong emotional response to anything on the new album as I did to at least a few songs on Fearless, and her overall sound has never been a draw for me. Like somehow I liked the other things I liked in spite of the sound, or in spite of not being into it very much musically. Maybe once I start hearing these songs in other contexts, rather than just listening to the whole album, it will make a difference.

You've got your pick of singles.

Deana Carter does some nice female county-pop also.

Yeah, I was going to say that, as far as I can tell, nobody in country has ever really done what Taylor is doing now (or sounded the way her new album does, especially), but if you want something in the general neighborhood Carter's Did I Shave...?, I'm Just A Girl, and The Story Of My Life might not be bad places to start. Also, there were definite attempts at teen-pop (or at least early '20s) girl-country in the '00s (Jessica Andrews, Alecia Elliott, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Cyndi Thompson), though those albums were all a lot spottier than any of Taylor's. Martina McBride (best on Martina and Greatest Hits) has some great songs. Love & Theft (featuring Stephen from the Taylor song)'s "Runaway" and Mallary Hope's "Blossom In The Dust" are best non-Taylor teen-country of the past couple years to my ears. Laura Bell Bundy and Chely Wright put out really good (if kinda uneven) albums this year. Sunny Sweeney's "From A Table Away" is one of the best singles of 2010 period (and lots of people on Singles Jukebox agree with me on that.) Kellie Pickler's Small Town Girl and Ashton Sheppherd's Sounds So Good are good albums from a couple years back; and also, yeah, all three Miranda Lamberts but especially her first two. ("Mean" to me basically sounds like a Miranda Lambert song.) And there's always the Dixie Chicks. And maybe Michelle Branch's country group the Wreckers, who I've never really gotten into, but obviously she was doing teen confessional stuff as a solo artist a few years before Taylor was. Etc.

Also, lots of people around here seem to like Little Big Town, who basically sound like minor league Fleetwod Mac, though their new album is really bleh beyond the single "Little White Church." Previous two -- A Place To Land and The Road To Here -- were pretty great, though.

As for Jamey Johnson, his new album will probably make my Top 10, though probably lower than Taylor's, and he doesn't really have anything in common with her. Though he does do a lullaby to his daughter that has fairy tale-ish stuff in it. Anyway, his album had its own thread, too:

Who wants to talk about Jamey Johnson's new double album, The Guitar Song?

I haven't listened to an entire album from them, so I can't speak to their quality, but Sugarland seems to fall pretty squarely into this category.

New album's awful, though in a theoretically interesting (on paper) way -- somebody on Rolling Country called it Melissa Etheridge fronting Coldplay, which sounds about right. Best albums are their first and third, Twice The Speed Of Life and Love On The Inside, which both have some really good pop-country songs and a bunch you'll probably want to skip over.

And a lot of people here and on the Jukebox also swear by Lady Antebellum's huge drunk dialing song "Need You Now" from late last year. Both of their albums have other worthwhile moments, but not a lot.

"need you now" is def instant classic

I'll defend the last Lady Antebellum album as pretty good. Second tune "Our Kind of Love" is awes.

"Our Kind of Love" is the only non-"Need You Now" track that's even memorable. I guess I'm disappointed because of how great "Need You Now" is; most of the album aims at okay.

Eh, I actually like "Stars Tonight" (just a really catchy hard pop-rock song with a good tough riff, basically) almost as much as "Need You Now" these days. And "American Honey" always sounds good to me on the radio. But given the choice overall, I'd still take their debut, I think.

"Our Kind of Love" is the only non-"Need You Now" track that's even memorable. I guess I'm disappointed because of how great "Need You Now" is; most of the album aims at okay.

agree w/this apart from not even remembering that other one - was so disappointed with the lady anteb album, though "need you now" is and will remain classic 4eva

yeah 'need you now' is absolutely great, love the dual vocals

I'm really growing into the last third/quarter of this album - they did feel same-y as Alfred noted at first, but they're really coming into their own.

also finding "story of us" quite interesting because it may be the most explicit song yet w/r/t to Taylor's authorial instinct. seems everything she experiences is mediated through an authorial, narrative lens. really like how she signposts the narrative with spoken snippets like "next chapter" and "the end". are any of her songs written in the present tense?

i like how "story of us" is all rooted in one small experience -- being in a crowd with an ex (or soon-to-be-ex) and not knowing how to act -- and builds the narrative of the relationship from there, but keeps coming back to the details of the moment. the same way "enchanted" is built around the specific feeling of having just met someone and not yet knowing whether they have a girlfriend (or boyfriend, or whatever). she's really good at identifying particular feelings and moments, which i think is what sets her songwriting apart, lyrically. a lot of pop songwriting rests on sort of generic universalisms ("love," "want," "need," "hate," etc), but she's more show-don't-tell. or at least, show-and-tell.

When I haven't listened to this album for a day or two I catch myself thinking it's not what it could be, but then when I actually listen to it I'm thrilled, joyful, singing along. I may come to conclude that the lyrics here, on the whole, won't enthrall me like nearly every single line on 'Fearless', but the songs are just too damn good to really feel any sort of disappointment.

Speaking of Story of Us, another Taylor trope, going from the abstract to the physical in one line:"you held your pride like you should have held me". As in Our Song (on hand on the wheel, other on her heart), I'd Lie ("He looks around the room, innocently overlooks the truth") and others...

and on "last kiss": i feel you forget me like i used to feel you breathe

(total heartbreak of a line)

This is a really excellent album; can't add much to what's been said on this thread, & I feel so tardy in hearing it but I guess it's only been out a couple of weeks? The first five songs are really stellar: I love the rough theme of protection, of putting up walls; these are surely comments on stardom but don't require being a star. I'm less enchanted by the middle third of the album but like with Fearless's second half it'll grow on me after the 100 listens it'll be getting. I'm delighted at how huge this album sounds: phalanxes of Taylors fleetly pulling off contemporary country's Mac fix; she's singing the hell out of these songs.

It's so good!!!! RT @matsoR: I just bought Taylor Swift's new album. I'll let you know what I think. about 3 hours ago via Echofon Retweeted by 4 people

bestycoastyy
BEST COAST

@matsoR = Rostam from Vampire Weekend

has TaySwift gone viral [via buzzbands]?

lol

please please please taylor no weezer collab

weasler

I'm not willing to listen enough to be able to express this more specifically, but there's not much for here musically. Yes, maybe some of these songs will grow on me with more exposure, but I'm not going to turn that into some sort of assignment.

do report back

Thanks for your interest.

We'll wait all night if we must.

http://www.movimento.biz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ShiningFrozenJack.jpg

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2010-11-16/the-taylor-swift-being-surprised-megamix/

haaa <3

i mean she just WOW what REALLY? me? ME?

ol girl straightened her hair for the AMAs, i didn't even recognize her

thought it was hillary duff O_O

yeah i was watching in a laundromat. i heard the announcer say 'taylor swift' and then some machines turned on and i couldn't hear the music anymore. i looked up a minute later and i didn't think it was her, thought "o shit that's a huge fuckup"

and she was wearing all black, dark eyeshadow -- in fact it looks like a form fitting suit of some sort? very un-taylor but i really dig it

btw thxgiving special on thursday night!!

i won't be able to see it tho u_u

ol girl straightened her hair for the AMAs

like on the "back to december" cover?

http://cdn.buzznet.com/media-cdn/jj1/headlines/2010/10/taylor-swift-back-to-december.jpg