It goes without saying by now that Taylor Swift is notorious for writing about her life experiences. From love stories to heartbreak anthems, Swift has metaphorically taken the pages from her fans’ diaries and spilled them into songs. So it came as no surprise that on her third studio album, Speak Now, she continued to write about those moments but this time in a more vulnerable way. She took the different situations she had dealt with in the previous two years and broke them down. Each track became a letter to someone in her life and the experiences they shared. She took us along with her through every story, ensuring she got the final word.
And on the tenth anniversary of Speak Now, this album has grown into something special. It may not be on the same acclaimed level as her sophomore effort Fearless, or the enormously successful pop crossover 1989, but there’s something about the record that seems to resonate with her biggest fans. She wrote all 14 songs by herself without any co-writers. The album goes beyond love songs and digs into topics of regret, confusion and growing up. It was as if Taylor had become the wise, older sibling passing down life lessons to the fans as pieces to take with them as they grew older.
Taylor Swift had a lot riding on her with this album. Following Fearless, which saw her win her first Grammy, headline her first world tour and ultimately become a household name, she now had something to prove: that she was more than just a one-time country star. She was here to make a statement. Swift was twenty at the time of the album’s release. She didn’t need to be writing about high school loves or being unpopular anymore. She could smoothly transition to writing about more adult romances and harder life lessons.
In the prologue to the album, Taylor talks about the fear of letting a moment pass by without saying anything, and how all of the songs on the album are about the words she wanted to say when she was there in those particular moments but didn’t. And perhaps that’s what makes this album feel so connecting. Swift writes in a way that makes you feel like you’re in the room with her as it’s happening. She paints a certain imagery which help to bring forward a new level of story telling. This unfiltered narrative gives the listener a lot more to take in. It feels unedited, stripped down and real. Innocent was written in response to Kanye West’s interruption of her acceptance speech at the MTV VMA Awards. Never Grow Up is the painful realization that all you wanted as a kid was to grow up, but when you get there, you long for simpler days. Long Live is a love letter to the fans who have stood by her since the beginning. And then there are the love songs. The six minute ballad Dear John, the tear-jerker Last Kiss, the apologetic Back to December. These songs come across as reflective and confessional and all like the words you never got to say.
Musically, Speak Now begins to branch itself off into different sounds. In Enchanted and Back to December she includes a full orchestra. Mean features a more bluegrass sound with the use of hand clapping and banjo strums. Better Than Revenge and The Story of Us have more of a rock edge to them. There are also the pop radio-friendly tracks like Mine and Speak Now, but hidden underneath are still some of the country tones fans know and love.
Diehard fans often refer to this era as whimsical or magical. And maybe there something is about it. Aside from the fact she wrote songs with titles like Sparks Fly and Enchanted, the Speak Now era is the last we would see of the wide-eyed, love from the story books kind of persona from Swift. Her follow up, Red, is loaded with heartbreak and cynicism towards love. And although there is heartbreak on Speak Now, it doesn’t feel as hard and beaten down, but rather a little wholesome and youthful. This is also the last album before Swift switch to a more pop-produced sound.
If Fearless helped to put Taylor Swift on the map, Speak Now cemented her as an artist. It may not be her most memorable album, and it didn’t churn out her most successful tunes, but the biggest fans will always hold this album closely. Speak Now is a transitional album and a crucial step in the musical evolution that we’ve seen Swift grow in to today. On the closing track Long Live, Swift sings “It was the end of a decade but the start of an age.” Looking at it now, that line almost seems like foreshadowing for the moves she’d eventually make to take the music world by storm.