Taylor Swift | Speak Now | 10.25.10 (1M Debut!)

[Mack]

I love 'Mean'. I think it could end up becoming one of my favorite Taylor songs.

[fridayteenage]

Fearless Promo singles: Fearless 9
Change 10
You’re Not Sorry 11
You Belong with Me 12
Album tracks: White Horse 13
Forever & Always 49
Way I Loved You 72
Fifteen 79
Breathe 87
Hey Stephen 94
(Love Story debuted at 16.)
Tell Me Why & Best Day didn’t hit the H100.
=For debuts, all four promo singles were hits, plus one album track and the opening single.

Fearless Re-release Album tracks: Jump then Fall 10
Untouchable 19
Come in with the Rain 30
Superstar 26
Other Side of the Door 22
Forever & Always 34
=6 debut hits.

Hopefully Taylor can yield more than one hit song from the first week of the album being on sale. Six probably is unlikely, since those six weren't as much competing directly with the album as a whole, but I feel she's gained enough popularity that she'll eke more than one; I do think she'll at least chart the whole album this time. She also has to make up for releasing 3 instead of 4 promo singles.

[neally]

1. Mean
6. Back To December
16.Mine

AMAZING !

[applechic]

Who is Bob Lefsetz? I had to google him and I still don't know who he is. He seems a little self-involved. Does he really think Taylor Swift would write a song about him? It sounds like Mean is addressed to haters in general...he's not the only critic in the world who said she can't sing.

[nightshade]

I'm surprised Tell Me Why didn't make the Hot 100.
It was one of the stronger tracks on Fearless, IMO.

[Gravity.]

Oct 19, 2010 21:38:28 GMT -5 nightshade said:

I'm surprised Tell Me Why didn't make the Hot 100.
It was one of the stronger tracks on Fearless, IMO.

It was one of the more country sounding songs on the album, so that could have something to do with it.

[musicintervention]

She has defiantly matured as an artist since Fearless. Can't wait for the album release!

[survivor020034]

would someone be able to post the pop bars to see how far ahead in first on itunes this is?! please.

[Nadia]

Like "Mean" though it's my least favorite from the promo singles.
I think i'm going to love Speak Now more than Fearless ;)

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Oct 20, 2010 0:06:54 GMT -5 survivor020034 said:

would someone be able to post the pop bars to see how far ahead in first on itunes this is?! please.

[survivor020034]

thanks!

[fullonrainstorm]

ALBUM REVIEW : TAYLOR SWIFT'S SPEAK NOW

The Bottom Line
Country music's young upstart is growing up... and that's a good thing!
3:49 AM 10/19/2010 by Chris Willman

Taylor Swift's highly anticipated third album is both bitter and sweet.
Taylor Swift | Speak Now (Big Machine)

If any album has a shot at selling a million copies in its first week (and it’s been two and a half years since any album did), it’s Taylor Swift’s Speak Now, which comes out Oct. 25. If nothing else, the follow-up to 2008’s Grammy Award-winning, six times-platinum Fearless will launch a million speculative blog posts, since much of her third album is said to be about “Taylor Swift and that Twilight kid,” as Katherine Heigl put it in a Life as We Know It punchline. Then there’s the song that’s definitely about Kanye West, the single that might be about Glee star Cory Monteith, and the six-and-a-half minute utter excoriation of John Mayer, whose already tough year is about to get a little rougher.

Confronted with subject matter that was gossip mag material before it became lyrical fodder, country fans might quote the famous chorus of Waylon Jennings: “Are you sure Hank done it this way?” Fans of the confessional singer-songwriter tradition in popular music, meanwhile, could similarly ask: Are you sure Joni done it this way?

Indeed, when Joni Mitchell released Blue in 1971, most of her fans weren’t devouring every line to try to figure out whether it was about Crosby, Stills, or Nash. But that was then, and this is Speak Now, very much a product of its transparent times. If Swift’s approach to songwriting is far more diaristic than some of her predecessors, oldsters may see that as exhibitionistic, but her twenty-something contemporaries will recognize it as perfectly in keeping with the candor of the Facebook generation. Why settle for a roman a clef when you can be real?

Speak Now does keep one foot, or at least a couple toes, in teen-pop. The bouncy title track, in which the singer breaks up an ex-beau’s wedding sounding like Feist on happy pills, is arguably the bubblegummiest thing she’s ever done. And “Never Grow Up,” an acoustic lullaby, is so patently anti-adult that Swift advises the baby she’s tucking in for the night to stunt its own growth before the kid has to experience future rejections or desertions. But for the most part, Swift seems comfortable with the whole growing-up thing—which she accomplishes not by tarting herself up, as disastrously attempted by Miley Cyrus, but by fully embracing the singer-songwriter genre and the deeper, more complicated emotions that fuel it.

The best and most shocking song here, “Dear John,” is the one that parents may be reluctant to let their tweens hear—not because there’s any sexual explicitness to it, but because its ravaged emotions in the wake of an ill-advised fling feels like a cold slap in the face to kids who’ve barely exited the Disney princess years. It’s a brilliant song, and not necessarily an easy one to listen to… at least until the chills-inducing climax, when Swift gets past the nastiness and sings: “All the girls that you run dry/Have tired, lifeless eyes/’Cause you burned them out/But I took your matches/Before fire could catch me/So don’t look now/I’m shining like fireworks/Over your sad, empty town.”

It would be a pretty devastating track with or without the knowledge that it is allegedly about John Mayer, with whom Swift was rumored to have a brief tryst. Consider this the unofficial confirmation. The details of Swift’s ballad about a guy with a “sick need to give love and take it away” all square up with what’s known, or suspected, from tabloid reports earlier this year: The disapproving mom (“My mother accused me of losing my mind/But I swore I was fine”), the disapproving public (“I ignored what they said: Run as fast as you can”), 12-year age difference (“Don’t you think 19’s too young/To be played/By your dark, twisted games”), and… the name. Surely Mayer must’ve realized, if he did romance Swift, that she’s not big on pseudonyms.

You expect comeuppance in a Taylor Swift album, if not necessarily the stark kind doled out in “Dear John.” There’s more of the playful sort heard on the previous two albums in “Better Than Revenge,” the most breathlessly paced rocker on the album, which begins with the singer whispering “Now go stand in the corner and think about what you did,” then chiding a rival with the line, “I’m just another thing to roll your eyes at, honey… She should keep in mind that there is nothing I do better than revenge.”

It’s a fun number, but if there were many more along those lines, you might worry that Swift could be falling into a vengeance-is-mine-sayeth-the-lioness schtick. Actually, what’s most surprising about Speak Now—once you get past the bitterness of “Dear John”—is how unexpectedly sweet it is. Swift’s had her moments before, but she’s never treated a boy quite as affectionately as she treated her mom in the previous record’s “Best Day.” This time around, she doesn’t try just a little tenderness, but a lot—and most of it seems to be reserved for a Taylor Lautner-like figure who was loved and, purposely or inadvertently, left behind.

“I feel you forget me like I used to feel your breath,” she sings softly in “Last Kiss.” In “Long Live,” she stands proudly, even as “the cynics were outraged, screaming ‘This is absurd.’” It may sound self-congratulatory, or it may just be someone at the top of her game, briefly paired with someone at the top of his game, latching on for all it’s worth to something that’s destined to fade, as the lyric acknowledges it will.

Will the cynics still be outraged when Speak Now becomes the biggest-selling album of the next year? (“Mean,” the only other song on the album to allude to some defensiveness on Swift’s part, is an utterly upbeat country song that even has a funny and extremely self-aware nod to those who say she “can’t sing.”) They may be out in greater force than ever before, but the stone-hearted among them who listen to Speak Now will find it hard to complain that Swift somehow stole that Best Album Grammy for Fearless. Entirely self-penned, sans the collaborations of the previous albums, it’s an enormous breakthrough in songwriting maturity, while hardly forsaking the childlike lack of pretense that made earlier efforts such guilt-free ear candy. Deal with it, haters: It’ll be decades before she’s holding her peace.

[fridayteenage]

I have a feeling I might prefer Speak Now to Fearless too, based on how strong all the songs so far have been and these breathless reactions to her growing maturity and skills. At the very least, the six we've heard are miles above the six additions on the Fearless re-release. She may slip past and jump into my T2 artists...

[never stop]

Every new review makes me more and more excited, thanks for posting it.

[fullonrainstorm]

Taylor World Tour Concert Dates 2011

Here are the confirmed dates for Taylor's Upcoming World Tour in 2011

February 13 Osaka
February 16-17 Tokyo Budokan, Tokyo
February 21 AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong
March 9 Oslo Spektrum, Norway
March 17 Zenith, Paris, France
March 22 LG Arena,The Nec Birmingham, U.K
March 29 MEN Arena Manchester, U.K
March 30 The O2 London,U.K

[realityBITES]

What a great review... pretty amazing that she can pull this off given the insane pressure she had coming into this album.

[Mack]

Album of the Year at the '12 Grammys? I think so.

[heartbreaklullaby]

Little interview clips with Taylor Swift discussing her new single 'Mine' and new album 'Speak Now'

[coderebaman]

My rule to buy an album is that i have to like at least 2 singles, and so far ive liked everything she has released. With speak now and back to december being my favourites. I stayed away from her first two albums because they seemed like - - no offence ---- childish and immature crap. But it seems her material on this album will be alot more mature than the previous 2. I hope this new album sells more than fearless. I used to think she was so overated but now i can understand why she is so popular. Go taylor cant wait until october 25th!!!

[musicrocks]

A blog post he wrote about possibly being the target of 'Mean'

lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2010/10/19/that-taylor-swift-song/

That Taylor Swift Song…
What did Ann Coulter say, you don’t attack down, you attack up?

When I got the e-mail from the reporter asking me if Taylor Swift’s new record was really about me, my temperature didn’t even rise. Because I don’t think I’m that big a guy. Howard Stern read my post on his radio show yesterday and claimed that he’d never even heard of me. And if the King Of All Media doesn’t know who I am, how big can I be?

That’s the weird thing about fame. You don’t know you’re famous. At least I don’t think I’m famous. Maybe Joe Walsh put it better, "Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed".

So I’m not gonna go to iTunes and buy the damn track, which Google tells me is available today. And I go to YouTube and all I get is this publicity clip with a short snippet of the song. And then I Google harder and find the complete track and the lyrics.

And lo and behold, I’m wondering if that’s me in a Taylor Swift song.

You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me
You, knock me off my feet again, got me feeling like a nothing
You, with your words like nails on a chalk board, calling me out when I’m wounded
You, picking on the weaker man
Well you can take me down with just one single blow but you don’t know what you don’t know

Doesn’t sound like me. Sounds like the famous guy all the online pundits are speculating about, John Mayer or…

But it could be me, I do work with words…

Then again, the chorus references some high school hick bully. And I’m old enough to be Taylor Swift’s father:

Someday I’ll be living in a big old city and all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Someday I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me and all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?

Then:

You, with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation
You, pointing out my flaws again as if I don’t already see them

Boyfriends don’t switch sides. And Taylor writes about boyfriends, not the high school maelstrom at large. And I did go on praising Taylor Swift despite being inundated with e-mail from insiders that she couldn’t sing and then ultimately realized they were right and said so, but…

And you can read the rest of the lyrics. And there are some that are clearly not me and some that could be and songs are always written in code with obscuring phrases to protect the guilty and…

Then again, didn’t I ultimately lead the charge about her vocal flaws after her Grammy appearance?:

Drunk and grumbling on about how I can’t sing but all you are is mean

And:

But nobody’s listening, washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things

The number one way people describe my writings is "ranting". So…
So… Where does this leave us?

Well "Mean" isn’t quite "You’re So Vain" and I’m not quite Warren Beatty, not by a long shot. Then again, people thought the song was about Mick Jagger, when everybody on the inside knew that was wrong, hell, he even sang on it. And only insiders would know who I am.

So here I am giving Taylor Swift the publicity she desires. She won.

But she still can’t sing and isn’t it time to start acting like an adult? To cast off the high school persona and fly as a woman instead of darting around like a little girl? That’s what’s got everybody’s eyes rolling, her aw shucks/ohmygod! look when she strides onto the stage to earsplitting applause.

Taylor got to live out her adolescent fantasy. Can she now be a woman singing about womanly issues?

I mean Joni Mitchell ultimately sang about the human condition, contemplating suicide in "Song For Sharon", is Taylor Swift gonna grow or keep on fighting these petty wars?

I get e-mail every day telling me I’m an asshole. As a matter of fact, the same guy e-mails me every day to tell me I’m a shithead. Let me see, he’s e-mailed me 295 times so far. It goes with the territory. Stick out your neck and people will bite it. And just like Obama doesn’t waste time fighting the petty ignoramuses, I’m surprised that Taylor Swift would stoop to this level.

We don’t like to see celebrities bitch. They’re tearing Jennifer Aniston a new asshole every day online. Does she complain? No, she puts on a smile and ignores the carping.

Or let me put it differently. Kenny Wayne Shepherd was cool when he was a teenager, same deal with Jonny Lang, but you ultimately grow up and either succeed as an adult, on adult terms, or you’re forgotten.

Taylor Swift captured the teen zeitgeist better than anyone in this century. And the hooks in her songs made them catchy. Her material was sincere and honest.

But she still can’t sing.

And if this song is really about me, I wish it were better.

[Ivy Leegue™]

Great interview. I continue to be impressed.

[kt1990]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually k-kinda like 'Back to December'. It's been stuck in my head all day. :kii:

[strikeleo]

Back to December debuts at #1 on Digital Songs with 244,000.

[Taylor.]

Oct 20, 2010 11:53:33 GMT -5 strikeleo said:

Back to December debuts at #1 on Digital Songs with 244,000.

Very impressive. Glad sales are looking good this era.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Oct 20, 2010 12:37:53 GMT -5 Taylor. said:

Oct 20, 2010 11:53:33 GMT -5 strikeleo said:

Back to December debuts at #1 on Digital Songs with 244,000.

Very impressive. Glad sales are looking good this era.

Right? We could possibly be looking at a top five Hot 100 debut. Only Taylor. <3

[Spidey]

Surprised this album hasn't leaked yet. It's out in less than a week.

[SHOOTER]

Oct 20, 2010 14:43:45 GMT -5 Spidey said:

Surprised this album hasn't leaked yet. It's out in less than a week.

[Rurry]

Mean link, anyone?

[dbt]

BMR has done an excellent job in protecting this album from an early leak. I'm really happy about that.

BBC live acoustic performances and interview (starting around 1:05 mark)

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vc531/Simon_Mayo_Drivetime_20_10_2010/

[Gravity.]

:shaking and crying: I'm going to love this album so much.