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As the story goes, Taylor Swift originally wanted to name her third studio album Enchanted. The track of the same name—with its crescendoing guitars and aching lyrics about meeting someone for the first time—still made it onto the record, and it has become one of her most quintessential, and beloved songs. But, after the success of singles like “Love Story” and “White Horse,” Swift did not want to be associated with castles and fairytales anymore. (She would end up cutting a song called “Castles Crumbling” for the same reason.) She knew this album was much more grown up, more grounded in reality. “I’ve been obsessing over the new record to the point where it’s all I can focus on,” Swift wrote in her journal in April 2010. “Scott [Borchetta] and I had lunch the other day. We were talking about the record, and I had this epiphany… I’ve been silent about so much that I’m saying on this album. It’s time to speak now. Scott freaked out. He loved it. We have a title, ladies and gentlemen!”
When Speak Now was released on October 25, 2010, it stood—and still stands—as the only record that Swift had written entirely herself. “I’d get my best ideas at 3:00 a.m. in Arkansas, and I didn’t have a co-writer around so I would just finish it,” she told Songwriter Universe. “That would happen again in New York and then again in Boston and that would happen again in Nashville.” Some theorize that Swift purposefully wrote the album all herself, as a way to prove her chops in the wake of unsubstantiated claims that she wasn’t the one actually writing her lyrics. Of course, her knack for generating a whip-smart line and a catchy hook has always been shockingly impressive, and at the time of her third album’s release, she was only 20 years old. Call it her “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman” era.
Like another woman who navigated the spotlight at such a crossroads age, Swift began exploring different sounds and songwriting techniques. Yet, this record wasn’t so much a sexual awakening as it was an emotional one—and as a lifelong Swiftie, it still stands as my favorite.
Absent of any co-writers, Speak Now is arguably the most uninhibited, the most frank, and the most messy we’ve seen of the pop superstar. As some might say, it is her most Swiftian record. All the hallmarks are present—from songs about wrenching heartbreak (“Last Kiss”) and clapping back at your haters (“Mean”) to tracks about knowing you were in the wrong (“Back to December”) and relishing in the first feelings of love (“Sparks Fly”). Here, Swift even begins to explore the narrative songwriting that she would later hone on folklore (“Speak Now”) and the sometimes-problematic relationships she has with other women (“Better Than Revenge”).
Speak Now is often overlooked amongst the Swift canon. 1989 has the pop juggernauts and folk-more has the sophistication. Reputation has the controversy and Red has “All Too Well.” Recently, in the wake of The Life of a Showgirl’s release, fans have been engaging with a social media trend, where they rank Swift’s albums according to how they think she would rank them. Many of these lists put Speak Now at the bottom (in part because, during her record-breaking Eras Tour, this album received the shortest slice of time, minus her debut, of course).
But I don’t think that’s the case. Swift must surely be proud of this record, but I think it also must be hard for her to revisit. Like an old Instagram post or a diary entry from years past, Speak Now captures the growing pains of a woman at a turning point in her life. But these imperfections, all these learning moments are exactly what make it so beautiful. Yes, these 14 songs capture a very specific moment in Swift’s life, but they also—like so much of her best work—have a universality to them.
I was 13 years old when I first heard “Never Grow Up,” and I remember being struck with a shocking fear of my own maturation. As a queer teenager, I was scared of what the future held, and I longed for the ease and the joy of my youth. Now, as a twenty-something living in New York City, I can relate to the final verse, where Swift switches the story to her own narrative: “So here I am in my new apartment / In a big city, they just dropped me off / It’s so much colder than I thought it would be / So I tuck myself in and turn my nightlight on.” I remember my mother crying every time she heard the same song, as she thought about the struggle of having to watch her own kids grow up right before her.
The other tracks work similar magic, evolving as you revisit them. “The Story of Us” feels very of-the-moment, throwing you into a scene where you run into an ex soon after a breakup. “Now I’m standing alone in a crowded room / And we’re not speaking / And I’m dying to know / Is it killing you like it’s killing me?” Swift sings. But the track also serves as a reflection on a relationship you never realized was doomed to fail.
One of her most controversial songs, “Better Than Revenge,” might have sounded like a fun takedown to many upon first listen. In retrospect, it’s been regarded as one of Swift’s arguably un-feminist songs (and she even reworked one of the lyrics on her Taylor’s Version re-release in 2023). Yet, hearing it now, listeners can relate to the ways in which they might have compared themselves to others at 19 years old, and even tried to tear someone down. Is it chaotic? Yes, but it’s also brutally honest.
Here, Swift also began to play with her voice like never before, whether it’s the quiver in the final verse of “Last Kiss,” as if she’s about to start crying, or the full-on belt she delivers on the more rock-heavy tracks. She hadn’t fully come into her vocals quite yet, but there’s a gusto to her delivery that is admirable. As for the music, Speak Now is also one of her most varied releases, from the Evanescence-style gothic rock of “Haunted” to the folksy pluckings of “Innocent” and the sparse echoes of “Dear John.”
All this being said, any Swiftie knows that it’s futile to try to argue which album of hers is best. Critics and fans alike have tried, but her various eras will always resonate with some over others. Our perception of these songs change over time, and there will be certain lines, or moments when we first heard them, that will stick with us forever. Swift’s music speaks to everyone in different ways.
Fifteen years ago, on the day that Speak Now came out, I remember making my dad drive me to the store at five in the morning, so that I could buy the CD before I had to go to school. I only had time to listen to half of the tracklist before I needed to catch the bus, but I remember thinking about those few songs I’d heard throughout the entire day. All these years later, I’m still thinking about Speak Now. I still cry when I hear the line: “So I’ll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep / And I’ll feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe.” I still get butterflies when the final chorus of “Enchanted” comes roaring in. I will always think of my mom when I hear “Never Grow Up.”
Although it was just the thesis for this album, I think Swift’s whole career can be defined by a dedication to speaking up. Her discography is all about those feelings and thoughts that can’t be held in—the crushes she must confess, the injustices she won’t let pass, the tender moments she wants to commemorate. Here, and forever, she has turned those small bits of life into lasting art. Long live, Speak Now.
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