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

sparks fly and enchanted sound like a real 1-2 punch of singles to me.

"Enchanted" is so long though! And I don't see them editing it in such a way that does justice to the song's narrative, not that radio gives a shit about things like that.

The removal of an entire verse of "Fifteen" for radio always bugged me.

^^ yes, exactly.

Though now that I think of it, my station never lopped off a verse; it did remove the "take a deep breath, girl" at the end, which kinda takes out some of the magic of the song.

The removal of an entire verse of "Fifteen" for radio always bugged me.

i never knew this happened :o

which verse?

yet another listen never to listen to the radio imo

Pretty sure it was "and then you're on your very first date and he's got a CAR" which super annoyed me as that is maybe my favourite verse.

That is indefensible. Did they also cut out the "you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team" line? Because that's the moment I really went <3<3<3 for Taylor

heard "the story of us" on the local pop station for (i think) the first time earlier \(^o^)/

new interns have never heard of john coltrane or hank williams, cannot name a james brown song but we can talk about taylor swift all day

Just found out I'm getting media passes AND a photo pass to see Taylor next week. I'm allowed to shoot two songs from the pit. Psyched.

nice. tell her i said hi.

which two will you shoot? xp

(or do you even have a choice? is it the first two of the set?)

if u get to talk to her tell her u were enchanted to meet her

she hinted that "Sparks Fly" would be her next single, ask her about that

No interview or anything, just get to shoot the 2nd and 3rd songs.

I did take advantage of the upcoming show to commandeer 1,500 words in this week's issue of my paper, fwiw: http://www.metropulse.com/news/2011/jun/29/you-must-remember-this-taylor-swift-built-mega-sel/

That's a lovely article you wrote!

ayo i don't think i've read something that articulated so precisely what i love about her lyrically; way to go tipsy

that's a fantastic article tipsy!

Thanks! It was nice to have room to expound a little.

This and Theon Weber's insanely great Village Voice review are the best things I've read about Swift. The VV review for it's "iceberg songs" and this for getting at her ruefulness even in moments of joy, which has always been something peculiar and moving about her writing (and why "Mine" really grew on me after initially thinking it was just ok), and I hadn't seen it really discussed in such a manner. Really fucking excellent, tipsy.

Theon is our own difficult listening hour

Makes sense, considering dlh's awesome post way way way upthread

tipsy that article has excellent quote selection/commentary which when you're reviewing words is the most important thing; gr8 job. i didn't notice the "i feel you forget me like i used to feel you breathe" line until after i'd filed the vv review (thanks billy!) and i kicked myself.

ugh that line is maybe the most devastatingly sad thing she's written

Thanks for the kind words, Theon. I loved your review, it was the one I forwarded to Taylor-skeptic friends.

that's a really great piece, tipsy

tipsy, what a lovely piece. the themes of the ornate musical bridges and the 'snapshot' lyrics are what i've talked with my daughter about, and while i can talk a good taylor swift critique it's something else to write about it so well. quality.

yeah i loved that, tipsy

"The Story of Us" reviewed in today's Jukebox.

at first i thought it was a filler at best, but 'sparks fly' has become one of the best things she's done, for me. (comma important).

b michael's a friend but oh boy do i hate his "story of us" blurb

but then i have fought with him about this before

It's funny how, a day after reading one of the best things about Taylor Swift, I read one of the worst

Brad, did you two do that back-and-forth on 10L? I wrote a few things on that site when it was starting. I think if I had to write the pro-Speak Now parts it'd just be some ARRRGH U IZ FULLA RONG rants

yeah i wrote the pro-taylor swift parts. basically i ignored his whole argument, which was "i hate the facebook generation and this is emblematic of that self-involvement."

i was like "the lyrics are real good and the music is pretty and when i listen to her albums i cry a lot"

b michael

more like ban michael

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLWpyRAaybU&feature=player_embedded#at=118

otm

<3333

I still basically cry every time I watch this, but then I'm such a huge fan of those dixie chicks days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDs9ocHVZ-g

and with martie maguire in the audience... sniff

Saw her last night and was disappointed, to say the least. If I knew a girl in college who still liked to play princess, I would think she was strange. Liked the singing, liked the songs well enough. Didn't like that both seemed to come a distant second to the spectacle, which seemed more or less interchangeable with several of the big-ticket spectacles I've seen over the past few years, only even more childish. I mean, she's 21, not 12. At some point she's going to have to decide if she's going to start performing for grown ups or stay a children's entertainer.

Oddly enough, I thought of the Dixie Chicks the entire time. The one show of theirs I saw, in 2003, was a spectacle, too, but every part of it supported the music rather than overshadowed it, as it did in Swift's case.

I don't know how she's switched the show up since I saw her on the European leg of the tour -- I know it's bigger and more showy -- but what exactly was childish in the show and her behaviour?

Not her, specifically. Well, not always. I just felt it frustrating that she/the stage director refused to let any of the songs speak for themselves without some sort of overwhelming literal-minded theatrical accompaniment. For example, "Back to December" did not need fake snow and a giant wintery bridge with a faux orchestra playing atop it. "You Belong To Me" did not need a "Glee"-like dance interpretation of high school locker drama. "Speak Now" did not need to follow a giant elaborate fake wedding, with Taylor "acting." "Mine" sure as hell did not need a big fake broken down back porch replete with supporting players dressed as hillbillies, one swigging moonshine and one actually tending to a fake goat. "Dear John" did not need fireworks - fireworks! "Enchanted" and "Haunted" were staged like Disney theatre by way of Vegas, opulent but totally silly and artificial, and without a doubt distractions from the music. My take-away was either she doesn't have faith in her songs or doesn't have faith in the fans, and I'm fully prepared to believe it's the latter. But all these distractions worked to her disadvantage, I thought. When this gorgeous young woman strapped on a red Les Paul, it sort of lessened the empowering effect to see four guitarists at work behind her. It made the guitar look like a prop, and it reinforced the idea that image and glamour were paramount, far more than the music itself.

I took my 6.5 year old daughter, by the way, and at least until she fell asleep she was all but oblivious to the music, so subsumed was it by the OTT Broadway visuals.

I mean, there were nine wardrobe changes! Those are the kinds of time-wasters I expect from artists who literally can't do much more than wear clothes. Taylor is talented, but the takeaway is gorgeous hair, white teeth and flawless make-up rules the day. Like I noted above, I think, I expect this sort of stuff from a pop arena show, but was I wrong to perhaps expect a little more (or less, in this case) from Taylor Swift? I kept having these flashbacks to Janet Jackson's totally vapid "All For You" tour, which at one point featured the singer cavorting with toys come to life.

i think when most ppl go to arena shows -- especially in this economy™ -- they expect to see lots of theatrics and to see the songs, often quite literally, put to life

i think the whole thesis of your last post is wrong, really -- being a talented musician doesn't preclude you from also being (or trying to be) a showy entertainer, & i think your insinuation that only talentless pop robot avatars need to or should be putting on elaborate, theatrical stage shows is weird

i agree

(as i often tend to do with you)

:D

i mean i haven't see the show, so maybe there were some distracting bits or whatever, but i also think it would be weird if a large portion of the show was her standing up on stage w/ a guitar & just singing