Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)- Thoughts and Theories

Taylor Swift fans old and new alike are familiar with the singer’s love of (and I quote her almost directly here) plotting and scheming. Speculation that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was the next rerecord that would drop has been circulating for quite some time, with the most obvious easter egg in the “Bejeweled” music video when Taylor hits the elevator button for the floor number and color that corresponds with Speak Now. Officially announced at Taylor’s May 5th Nashville show, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will finally grace the world with its presence on July 7th.

With the release of “If This Was a Movie” credited to Fearless, Speak Now TV will now be a completely self written album. While the deluxe album had a total of 20 tracks, Taylor’s Version is slotted at 22 with 6 of those being From the Vault tracks. 

From the Vault tracks have been my favorite parts of the rerecords so far. Tracks like “I Bet You Think About Me” give more perspective into Taylor’s world at the time. It’s easy to immediately think of songs like “All Too Well” and “Red” and associate them with Jake Gyllenhaal but the vault tracks like that one give the album new life. That said, I and so many other fans are waiting not at all patiently to see what kind of vault tracks come with Taylor’s Version of Speak Now covers Taylor’s early adult years and touches on her relationships with John Mayer, Joe Jonas, and Taylor Lautner.  There would be no complaints on my end about an extended version of “Dear John” or even “Last Kiss”, which are two of my favorite Speak Now songs.

Even though the vault tracks are my favorite, I’m also anxiously awaiting the album as a whole. The rerecords stick to the original sound and feel of the album as a whole, but there is also something so distinctly different about the feel of each song as Taylor has grown as both an artist and a person. I still get so nostalgic with every new release, remembering how it was to hear it for the first time, and how it feels now to hear it as an adult. 

I’m excited to get a little more insight into Taylor’s thoughts and feelings in these formative years. Ages 18 through 20 are hard enough on their own, but 18 through 20 as an international pop star whose relationship status and every move is constantly examined under a VERY public microscope— that’s a completely different playing field.