ALBUM BREAKDOWN: Speak Now – Taylor Swift ... HER BEST SONGWRITING?

hey swifties welcome back to my channel today I am spilling all the tea, history, and doing some textual analysis of speak now!!! while I wait patiently to do my speak now (taylor's version) reaction video, here's a primer on everything u need to know about this record before we revisit it again with vault tracks and a new perspective. it's truly one of my favourites and so underrated! if u are a new fan that likes evermore and folklore, I highly recommend you chew on this album for a while. there's so much tea, easter eggs, and context to mine. we discuss many of Taylor swift's ex boyfriends: John Mayer, Taylor Lautner, Joe Jonas, et al. this video was inspired by the chats and reacts album breakdown series! although I've put my own spin on it :P let me know what u think of this album and where it stands in your personal rankings ~

MY SOCIALS:

The Evolution of a Snake (Taylor Swift Podcast):

0:00 - 13:31 history and context
13:31 - 17:12 mine
17:12 - 19:00 sparks fly
19:00 - 21:38 back to december
21:38 - 23:22 speak now
23:22 - 26:46 dear john
26:46 - 30:00 mean
30:00 - 32:39 the story of us
32:39 - 34:00 never grow up
34:00 - 37:09 enchanted
37:09 - 39:26 better than revenge
39:26 - 41:31 innocent
41:31 - 42:20 haunted
42:20 - 44:36 last kiss
44:36 - 45:12 long live
45:13 - 47:27 bonus tracks
47:27 impact

[kathalenepatterson]

You saying “would’ve could’ve should’ve” at 25:45 not knowing you were PREDICTING THE FUTURE

[a.nastasia.olivia]

As an old Swiftie, speak now is my favorite album! (Also, while super man def isn’t my fav song, I do love that we have it since it’s where the secret message from dear John is from. I like that we know what song she’s referring to when she says “the girl who wrote you a song”

[samantham.]

You have such amazing insight. I’d love to hear you go through her albums with a TV and give your opinions on which version of each song is superior. I need more playlists! ❤

[emmanueldibua]

I’m glad that I have seen someone who likes speak now as much as I do ❤️🥺

[thesweetpet]

I can't believe that we will get to hear Dear John TV one day...

[Elix]

I was born in 1990 and am a new-ish fan. I liked her enough to actively seek out her music videos from Love Story and onwards, which was rare for me. I was aware of her as a persona, but did not keep up with the celebrity news cycle, and since I live in Sweden we didn't have the full Taylor media experience. I remember listening to Red on Spotify and not really connecting with it at the time, and when her music left Spotify I kind of tuned out. I knew her hits, and that was it. Then I slowly got back in again through the Miss Americana doc and the rep tour on Netflix, so I was kind of primed to be in her corner, and then folklore dropped and I have never looked back. All of this is to say, I had no clue about Speak Now until I started watching fandom vids like this.

And I gotta say, she is not my girl. I hope I'll get on board for the re-recording, but at the moment Speak Now is battling it out with Lover and Debut in my three bottom slots. The main problem is that I can't keep these songs apart for the life of me. Last Kiss just makes me think of The Last Time and Ours gets me to Our Song or The Story of Us. I've done my due dilligence, listening through the full album a bunch, but it just doesn't stick for me.

I respect the project of it though, and appreciate all the context around it. I think I might have loved it if I was there at the time. That being said, Dear John is a top five song she's ever written, it's immaculate, and I adoooore Mine. For many years that was my favourite music video in the world, and it lowkey still kind of is. I aldo really like Back to December, and Long Live has it's moments, especially the line "please tell them my name" always gets me in my feelings. Mean is kind of fun, if a little immature, and that's kind of it for me. The rest range between fine and forgetable, and Superman is a top five worst song she ever wrote. My one solid take is that I vastly prefer the standard edition over the deluxe, I don't like any of the bonus tracks.

I'm not opposed to the pop country though, my top three albums are folklore, Fearless TV and Reputation. So unfortunately I'm just one of the new fans who don't get it.

[fictionallyattached]

Better Than Revenge is totally fair because why can’t teenage girls be wrong and spiteful? It’s totally normal for someone who is young and inexperience to maybe not be up to society’s standards, how can you learn if you don’t make mistakes?

[emmafallsinlove]

There was a video performance of Haunted on NBC. But I agree I wish there was a real Mv

[BrunetteGiant]

Zach, as someone who's just binged every single one of your videos in the past 48 hours, you should know that literally every single one of your video descriptions contain a broken link to your IG and podcast!

[abigailmccartnie]

Her image used to be SO “innocent” and good girl based that there was a “conspiracy” (really just dumb articles) about how she secretly didn’t have a belly button bc she she showed her midriff she always wore high rise lower half that covered her belly button. Do you/ anyone else remember that? I think it was around 1989 era maybe? 😂😂

[elenagerhardy]

I love Enchanted though and I’m so glad it had a bit of a viral moment on TikTok. I really hope the TV does the song justice, and it would be great to get a music video after all these years.

[katk]

I think Speak Now is probably the most honest depiction of Taylor because it shows us more of her dark side and her flaws. The drama and spontaneity encapsulate her personality really well and the hypocrisy demonstrated in songs like Mean, Better Than Revenge and Innocent makes her relatable. I'd argue it was a more realistic teenage girl/young woman perspective at the time than Fearless was.

[andrescampos]

“It kinda sounds like a Fearless song”… months later Taylor puts it on Fearless.

[kelistigerz]

As a newer fan.. Speak Now is amazing. Dear John? Best track 5. Haunted? Vocals are on point. Enchanted? A masterpiece. The world tour? One of her best. Can't wait for the new version. 💜💜💜

[avani_tak]

Aah I bet you were waiting all this time for blondie to release speak now (Taylor's version) to have the full moment and then just frustrated and just decided to do it anyway lol.

[Marxnchill]

Imagine if she named it Mine cus she wrote it all? 🤯

[KyleOgilvie]

Her best album. This album is is at the very top of my my ranking in terms of Taylor Swift albums. I lived, I laughed, I loved.

[nuggets]

Last Kiss came out when I was about 15 and dating a guy who’s birthday was July 9th. He passed away in 2020 and ever since then it just hits different.

[liz.a]

She really did risk it all with dear John, feel like she wasn't popular enough yet to fully be confident that it didn't backfire - I guess she got some blowback about just writing about exes all the time but still this was definitely an overall win

[fictionallyattached]

Speak Now is the thesis statement of who Taylor is as an artist and a person - there is no other album like this and may never be