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Taylor Swift used to sing about being 15 and and in love with a boy who didn’t know she existed. Now she sings about actual relationships.
Two years after releasing her multi-platinum album Fearless, Swift returns with an album that showcases her maturity. Speak Now is full of songs she wrote without anyone’s help – commonplace in country music, but a rarity in pop. Yet that’s the beauty of her songs: unique, much like Swift herself in an industry searching for the next hot mess of a star.
The 14 songs on Speak Now are extremely catchy. They’re country; they’re pop; but, most importantly, they’re more mature. They also work very well as an album package – with a cohesiveness that has alluded artists and fans alike since iTunes has enabled fans to purchase single tracks from an album. It’s no wonder different critics and businessmen alike are banking on Speak Now to sell more copies in its debut week than any other album’s in 2010 – or 2009, for that matter.
Billboard has predicted that Speak Now could sell as many as 800,000-900,000 copies in the week following its release, according to mtv.com.
Others are hopeful it will break a million. The chart will likely prove the critics right tomorrow, when the numbers are officially released. Kanye West, eat your heart out.
It’s hard not to smile and nod along when Swift sings about being a “flight risk, with a fear of falling” on lead single “Mine,” because we’ve all been there in that first cherished serious relationship.
Or during the story-song “Speak Now,” in which Swift attends a wedding but only wants the groom-to-be to ditch his bride for her: “I’ll meet when you’re out of the church at the back door,” she sings. Too cute.
If these two songs don’t cement Swift’s status as America’s sweetheart, nothing will. Until two tracks later, when you hear “Mean,” with its southern stomp and Swiftian charm: “Someday I’ll be living in a big old city and all you’re ever gonna be is mean.” Take that, all you Joe Jonases.
But don’t get her wrong. Swift is not a victim on Speak Now. Rather, she’s a champion, and she certainly knows how to celebrate her strength.
On “Long Live,” she fondly reminisces about the past as she sings, “Bring on all the pretenders/One day we will be remembered.” Luckily for Swift, she is hard to be forgotten.
