![]() Some gruff has been given about Swift deciding to change a line in the song “Better Than Revenge” from “She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress” to “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.” To some this is the musical equivalent of making Greedo shoot at Han Solo first in the Mos Eisley space port. Remember, “Mean” was written in response to criticism Swift received for singing out of tune with Stevie Nicks on the Grammy Awards, including from Saving Country Music. ![]() Swift’s vocal signal does seem a bit stronger on the newer versions, matched to what is probably now a stronger and more confident singer than 13 years ago. But if your gray matter has latched onto the original versions and you hear these new ones, it won’t put up much of an objection. ![]() It’s hard to recreate some of the original guitar tones, or to get the mixing quite right where the match is exact. Regarding the differences between the old versions and the new versions of the Speak Now songs, there is little to no significant change. Taylor Swift is setting chart records with them. Other country artists have re-recorded their old songs in the past, and they fade like a fart in the wind. Garth Brooks is the king of selling consumers the same song twice ( or three or four or five times), and even he must be sitting back and salivating over how one can pull off a similar scheme to Swift. Regardless, Taylor Swift has made a mint re-recording her old Big Machine albums, and good for her. This opinion is coming from someone who in 2010 when Speak Now was originally released was regularly referring to Borchetta as the “Country Music Antichrist.” Borchetta took a chance on Swift when nobody else would, and except for Taylor herself, he is the person most responsible for her overwhelming success. Though Big Machine Records owner Scott Borchetta has been handsomely criticized for not selling the masters to Swift directly, it’s not as if the vast majority of major label artists ever get the opportunity to own their own music. No strong opinion is tendered here about Taylor deciding to re-record her music after the sale of her masters to Ithica Holdings and Scooter Braun, who later sold them to Shamrock Capitol. But the songwriting is what has endured, and makes it worth remarking upon as the new “Taylor’s Version” of this album is released. It symbolizes a crossroads in Taylor Swift’s life from girl to woman, and from a career of pretend country to almost purely pop. Speak Now marked a significant shift in the career of Taylor Swift, in the trajectory of country music, and in all of popular music in ways that are still resonating today, both positively, and in many respects, adversely. Swift also produced the album, with assistance from multi-instrumentalist Nathan Chapman. ![]() It includes her best song, “Dear John.” It includes her most country song, the double Grammy-winning “Mean.” It includes all songs that she wrote by herself-something absolutely unprecedented in mainstream country, let alone from a woman, and even more striking from one under the legal drinking age at the time the album was released. ![]() That’s certified by how it sold the least amount of copies out of her original five albums. Taylor Swift’s Speak Now is the best album of her career. Yes, we’re going here, and for good reason. ![]()
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