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

if any of the teenpop crew is still bouncing around on livejournal or tumblr or whatever & are writing about the album, someone plz link

^^

weak pop/country singing >>>>>>>>>>> average indie whine

just made a cup of coffee, putting this on for the first time, so excited

:-D

My take.

haha 'mean' is great

feel like I need to give 'dear john' a few more listens before it sinks in

"dear john" is really great, the last minute or so is just a hammer

it's nice to see taylor add some new production tricks to her songs. the l/r whisper/wail on 'enchanted' is omg

'she thinks I'm psycho because I like to rhyme her name with things'

hahahaha <3

this is such a burn

But I took your matches before fire could catch me so don't look now.
I'm shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town.

hahah yeah, list of things I don't want to ever do in life
1. lose a limb
2. piss off taylor swift

3. Be one of John Mayer's tattoos.

4. Be one of John Mayer's fingers

5. Be John Mayer

eh

what, you want to be John Mayer?

boinked taylor swift iirc

great reason to want to be someone else

i would put up with john mayer's discography & tattoos (and the adulation of jann wenner) if i could have his bank account

just got done, don't know if there's anything as instantly massive as 'you belong with me' but I feel this may be a slow burner compared to her last one

Wouldn't mind having a drink and a grope with Mayer tbh.

lol

omg @ "Long Live" <3<3<3<3<3

http://i51.tinypic.com/o6kzft.jpg

just listened all the way through for the first time. my list of outright winners: mine, sparks fly, back to december, dear john, mean, the story of us, never grow up, better than revenge, last kiss. songs i like and might get to like more: enchanted, innocent, haunted. songs i feel pretty eh about: speak now, long live. and there's a good chance of upward revisions of at least a few of those. good record. now i'm going to listen again.

xpost: really? "long live" feels pretty victory lap-ish to me, and not just in its lyrics. it's ok, but reminds me of "change" in being a sort of empty, crowd-pleasing closer.

it is a total victory rap! and it's not empty at all to my ears! it's triumphant!

uh, victory lap

would buy a Taylor Swift rap record tho

it'll sound good in stadiums, for sure.

the timpani drums on 'enchanted' are a great touch

I adore "Change" too, fwiw

How could you not want to smash

http://www.drfunkenberry.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/john1.jpg

He's okay from the neck up, honestly.

oh man "enchanted", holy shit

holy shit holy shit

that kelly shit in the chorus - tay how long have you been able to do that, what the fuck

who is "long live" to, anyway? all i can think is maybe hayley williams?

and i have thought this about her before, but the new album reinforces that she could really teach a master class in bridge-writing. even the weaker songs have great bridges.

i'm never gonna finish this album if i keep repeating "enchanted"

god she fucking goes for it all here huh

"never grow up" i think is a pretty sophisticated piece of writing, the way it slowly reveals that she's talking to/about herself. and, i mean, it ends pretty darkly otm: "i just realized everything i have is someday gonna be gone." word.

OTM about "Never Grow Up" except the chorus is a bit too one note and the production on the entire song feels very thin compared with its surroundings. I dunno. It's not bad, it just doesn't entirely work. Haunted is another grower. Otherwise, this is all leaps and bounds, pretty much.

i like how "story of us" steals all the good parts from "mr. brightside." (which is mostly the chorus. her verses are better.)

(predict eventual massive-hit status for that song, btw.)

Um...also

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvRq_bbgmWg

The O.G. version of Sparks Fly is apparently a bit more risque? Noticed a comment somewhere about how she'd rewritten the lyrics, and the original seems to be about a hotel bar hook up? The writing and imagery on this version are probably stronger - not sure why it got rewritten, but nonetheless, an interesting look at her creative process either way.

"dear john" is just...

But I took your matches before fire could catch me so don't look now.
I'm shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town.

^^the drawing out of the last syllable & the rest of the song is the mot wrenching thing she's ever written

"never grow up" pretty much nullifies that slant article completely

But I took your matches before fire could catch me so don't look now.
I'm shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town.

^^the drawing out of the last syllable & the rest of the song is the mot wrenching thing she's ever written

This, but also that blues guitar line that tears it up underneath this entire last bit, which reminds me of...well...Try/Continuum-era Mayer, tbqfh, but actually emotionally affecting.