The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Megan Brownell social media editor
In preparation for Taylor Swift’s newest album coming out this week, I wanted to talk about my all-time favorite album of hers, Speak Now (TV).
This album has a special place in my heart, when the original one came out in 2010, that is when I got into Taylor for the first time, and 14 years later I enjoy her music even more.
Speak Now (TV) is the third re-recorded album of Swifts, coming out on July 7, 2023. With her version, Swift added six ‘from the vault tracks’ with the original 16 tracks.
The opening song is ‘Mine’. It is a popular single from the era, but that opening beat with Swift singing is super iconic and makes me excited for the album. The song itself is pure nostalgia for me, it takes me back to singing the original version in my basement when I was 7, and now singing Taylor’s Version of it in my car with the same happy spirit.
Speak Now houses one of the best track fives, ‘Dear John’. The song is six minutes full of an emotional breakup song of Swift thinking back about her relationship and how she should have seen the signs. The song is ‘supposedly’ about her ex-boyfriend from 2009, John Mayer. Because of this, Mayer tried to sue Swift about name dropping him in her song, but Swift won by saying the song was not specifically about him, but the title leans towards a ‘Dear John Letter’. I love the song though, the lyrics cut deep, and she expresses the pain of the age gap, singing ‘don’t you think 19’s too young’.
Moving down to track 13, is my favorite on the album and top three in Swift’s entire discography, ‘Last Kiss’. This is another one of her longer songs, being another six minutes of heartbreak. This song is about a different boyfriend though, Joe Jonas. This is how it leans into a different type of heartbreak. Swift had dated Jonas back in 2008, so it had been longer since they were broken up. Jonas also famously broke up with her over the phone, which Swift shows with how the intro is the same amount of time the phone call was. She sings about thinking of their last kiss, and how she misses him as she thinks back, wanting to linger on that last kiss.
Track 14 though, is ‘Long Live’. This song is super special to me in my own way, but for Swift she dedicates it to the fans. She had played the song at every tour since the Speak Now tour, and to make it even more special, she waited to add the song to the eras tour setlist until she had released her version of the song, debuting it in Kansas City on July 7th.
Moving on to the vault tracks, Swift again gave us even more incredible songs for us to enjoy. I love each of them, sharing a different love with each. ‘Castles Crumbling’ is my favorite out of the six. It hints towards what her feelings were back in 2009 after the whole incident with Kanye West, being scared the castle (her fame) she worked so hard to build was crumbling so suddenly.
I already had so much love for this album before, and Taylor’s version of it grew that love even more. There was nothing more special than getting to hear her vocals all grown up as I listened to it at 20 years old after doing the same at age 7. It then gets a 10/10 from me, and I hope you readers can go listen to it and feel the same love for it I do.