Album review: Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now'

Taylor Swift sleeps with a night light on. She makes this confession -- hardly the flashiest on her new album, “Speak Now,” but possibly the most revealing -- in “Never Grow Up,” a kind of answer song to Brad Paisley’s 2007 country chart-topper “Letter to Me.” Both songs are gentle tearjerkers related by a narrator digging up undervalued memories. Paisley moves forward by offering reassurance to the gawky adolescent he once was. Swift, nearly 21, longingly looks back: “I could still be little,” she sings, teeth clenched.

Swift knows that she’s lying to herself. She is one of the world’s biggest pop stars, one of the few probably still able to sell a million albums in a week. Many say the fate of the conventional music industry rests on her often artfully displayed white shoulders. Yet her impossible commitment to staying little is the key to Swift’s success.

Her third album, “Speak Now,” is meant to be a masterpiece of major declarations -- two-thirds of it recounts broken love affairs with fairly identifiable fellow celebrities, and she offers glimpses that finally confirm she’s not a princess, but a modern young woman who stashes clothes for the morning at her boyfriend’s place and isn’t above calling a rival a mattress gymnast. Swift is naming names during the media cycle accompanying this release -– the guitarist John “The Player” Mayer is the cradle-robber in “Dear John,” Taylor Lautner the lost prince of “Back to December” -- but the gossip surrounding the music is much less interesting than the maturation of her sound.

The musical range of "Speak Now" expands beyond country-pop to border both alternative rock and the dirty bubblegum pop promulgated by such producers as Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald. Little spoken asides pepper some songs, signifying hipness; on others, Swift lays claim to several genres’ worth of signatures, from the lush strings of Céline-style kitsch-pop to Americana banjo to countrypolitan electric guitar. She surveys this wide ground without bluster; she never poses. Conquering new territory, she acts like it’s simply what’s expected of her.

Swift, who wrote all the songs herself, does push one thing: her voice. She belts out the climaxes of songs like the romantic nightmare “Haunted” and the snot-punk catfight “Better Than Revenge”; on “Dear John,” her hate letter to Mayer, she opens up her throat so wide that she almost yells. If her voice has been manipulated by in-studio producer Nathan Chapman, he’s done a good job masking it. At any rate, Swift always returns to her defining vocal gesture -- the line that slides down like a contented sigh or up like a raised eyebrow, giving her beloved girl-time hits their air of easy intimacy.

This companionable attention to detail is Swift’s strongest point. Like Paisley, she makes memorable music by homing in on the tiny stuff: the half-notes in a hummed phrase, the lyrical images that communicate precisely what it’s like to feel uncomfortable, or disappointed, or happy. Her fans are 100% there with her, as she’s fidgeting with her clothes while an ex holds forth across the room at a party; or relishing the first time a new beau shakes her dad’s hand; or switching on that night light and tucking herself in. Focusing on these moments, Swift manages to be there with her fans too -– so often does she hit on common experiences that feel unique.

Much of mainstream pop music now sounds like advertising jingles and football chants, with melodic earworms the size of tapeworms and itchily irresistible beats. Outrageous personalities complement these pushy sounds. Swift reminds us that there’s another way to hook in listeners. Not surprisingly coming from someone so focused on childhood imagery, it’s a trick parents often use with their kids: Use a soft tone. Focus everything inward. Make the one you’re addressing feel like you and she are the only ones in the world.

The limits of this approach have more to do with what pop can mean in the world than what it accomplishes artistically. Swift’s relentless return to the personal, and especially to that seemingly simple moral framework grounded in her faith in childlike innocence, confines her. Swift’s ability to articulate her vision is growing beautifully. Next, one hopes, she’ll turn off that night light and confront the realities that remain, for her, in the dark.

-- Ann Powers

Taylor Swift
“Speak Now”
Big Machine
Three stars

Comments

[Samm Mercer]

Oh my God! It's such an amazing album with truly such a wide variety of music, there's country, pop, soft songs, punk, revenge. She's grown up so much and all the stories are relateable. Not everything is candy and flowers and Taylor has expanded from her fairytale song plots. It's an amazing album that I got up early to wait outside a store to buy. I have had Better Than Revenge on repeat for the past 3 hours and love it! Cannot wait for more music videos

[Laney]

This album is AMAZING! She has matured so much. Lyrics fantastic and voice unbelievable. wow it is just so impressive. I love it1 good job Taylor!

[mac june]

A bland young woman with a weak voice who is still stuck in the petty concerns of an underdeveloped emotional life. Can't wait to buy it!

[Chuck B]

Unlike Kanye West, this artist has talent.

[Sunshine]

This is, to me, the album that proves Taylor is a true artist with real staying power. GO TAYLOR.

[amanda]

really chuck b? another swift fan bashing kanye west, this time for literally no reason at all?
pathetic. just like taylor swifts music. thank goodness her single got dropped really fast from my local radio station.

[Dave Keller]

Nice review, Ann.

[Lenny]

Too bad they went with such a tacky CD cover.

[Randy]

I love this album. Sometimes I buy a album for just one good song but this one has so many.

[Holly]

I used to like her cute little songs that I thought she would've matured out of after her first album. Her new album , almost every track is about a guy that broke her heart, making some bold attempt like running into the street to profess love to one another, or being a teenager. I'm half expecting her next album to have a song about getting her first period or being grounded for sneaking out. Its cute the first time you hear it but then afterwards it must be locked into a vault and not opened for a while. that being a decade or so. UGHHH. Shuuut uuuuuuup and grow up! Don't you think it gives young naive girls the wrong idea of what love is?

[Stevereeno]

She's young, talented, beautiful, energetic, now rich, and about to get more rich. Yea!!! All the things we all want to be,.....and all the speculation of the who and the why's of the subjects and the open trashing of,.....seeminly tiny blips on the radar screen of life and love. One is a cradle robber another is a mattress gymnest. As they say; there are always two sides to the story. Swift is only providing a cryptic, one sided view of her perception of events.
Maybe Operah should have the subjects on for a chat. Na,....that wouldn't be nearly as entertaining!!!

[Chuck B]

Yes Amanda, really, Kanye West is talentless and so are all those other rappers, anybody can write a rap song. Pathetic? I think that describes you since you are obviously not a Swift fan yet you are in here commenting.

[B Miller]

GREAT another useless review. Taylor fans DO NOT care what critics think, she is going to sell cd's regardless. How about Slop & Piss reviewing albums of artists that WOULD benefit from some exposure or review? Bryan Ferry? Buddy Guy? Seems like this site is just becoming another machine...

[Deziree]

Yet another great album by Taylor swift. She is a great artist who is relate-able and talented. She writes from her experiences and doesn't have songs just handed to her like so many artists out there. Great Job!

[Robert]

Boy, I better burn all my Radiohead, Arcade Fire and Fab Four discs and get this one. Are you kidding me?

[Yael]

the album is great. i love that every song on the album can be potentially be a single. i love that she's an album artist. i'm really impressed. i bought already the albums (regular & deluxe). i can't buy this one, it's just too good not to.

[Ken]

Immature and boring. One would think it was written by a 15 year old.

[Megan]

I'm about too listen too this album right now. Really excited too hear it. Love Taylor Swift!!!

[Jess]

Great review of a great album! The lyrics are well-written, the vocals are great, the music sounds awesome, and the themes are very relatable - all of the elements that prove that Taylor's very talented and that her music is, and always will be, incredible. She's not some bland pop singer who relies on auto-tune and sleazy outfits - she's honest, sincere, down-to-earth, and (unlike most popular singers) she writes her own songs and she's really good at it. Unlike pop artists (I consider Taylor to be country, although others may disagree with me), Taylor's music is memorable and relatable. People will be listening to her music and loving it far into the future. Way to go Taylor! Keep up the amazing work! :)

[Gary Reynolds]

This is a truly fine review. I have very limited exposure to the contents of this album; I'm not her demographic - 54 year old male. (I *am* a songwriter.) The review has piqued my interest in listening to the entire album. Kudos!

[tswiftfan11]

ok, I loved this album! it's probably the most powerful of all three of her album and right now i'm going to adress to the haters that not all the songs are whiny breakup songs about breakups that weren't her fault....

Mine is about how she tends to run away from love

Sparks fly and enchanted are optomistic love songs

back to december is an apologetic song to someone who seemed perfect to her

Speak now is about her willing to break into a wedding and stop a man from marrying the wrong person

Mean isn't necessarily a break up song mostly sent out to the haters and media who bash at her music

The story of us, yes, it's a break up song and it's not whiny and in the song she mentions that it might've been her fault of why the breakup happened

never grow up is the reality of when you start to realize how life is hard and howshe wishes she'd never grown up

Innocent is a song about her forgiving someone for doing something terrible

Haunted is yes a breakup song but not whiny, it's mainly about the moment you've been dumped but you're not over the guy

And Long Live is a song dedicated to her band and when u hear the lyrics can very well be dedicated to your own friends

so yes, she does write songs about breakups but they're not all the same and they're not all whiny,

and she actually CAN sing, i saw her in concert and she sounded GREAT.......

and to the haters nobody cares really what you think, she doesn't care what you think.... cuz really she has millions of fans WORLDWIDE sells out stadiums and arenas WORLDWIDE in minutes, and sets and breaks records like crazy. it shows just how talented she really is

Love you taylor and keep up with the good work!!!!