Taylor Swift and Covergirl
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New post from Taylor Swift
Taylor made a new post on TaylorConnect.com
Hey!
I wanted to say a huge thank you for all the love you guys sent my way on my 21st birthday. Wow. I really felt it from you, and I can't thank you enough. My birthday was wonderful, and the highlight for me was when my brother walked through the door in the middle of the party.. He's away at college and I didn't think I'd see him until Christmas! But there he was, walking through the door with his backpack. I was SO surprised! I had so many people I love around me, and was thinking of all of you (who I love too). Working on planning the tour every day has been so exhilarating. I hope your holidays are memorable and quirky and special, and I'll be thinking of you as always.
I love you!
Taylor
Hey!
I wanted to say a huge thank you for all the love you guys sent my way on my 21st birthday. Wow. I really felt it from you, and I can't thank you enough. My birthday was wonderful, and the highlight for me was when my brother walked through the door in the middle of the party.. He's away at college and I didn't think I'd see him until Christmas! But there he was, walking through the door with his backpack. I was SO surprised! I had so many people I love around me, and was thinking of all of you (who I love too). Working on planning the tour every day has been so exhilarating. I hope your holidays are memorable and quirky and special, and I'll be thinking of you as always.
I love you!
Taylor
Taylor Swift goes triple platinum - wow
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 – Taylor Swift has 3 million reasons to be happy. "Speak Now" just was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, signifying sales of 3 million units.
The disc was released Oct. 25.
All three of Swift's albums are RIAA certified multi-platinum with "Taylor Swift" (2006) currently 4x multi-platinum and "Fearless" (2008) currently 6x multi platinum.
Swift earned her inaugural gold digital download award for Tim McGraw in 2007. In 2009 she received her first two multi-platinum single awards for Our Song and Love Story, the latter of which remains her best selling single ever - at 5x multi-Platinum - to commemorate more than five million paid downloads.
if your happy as I am , please leave a comment ! :))
The disc was released Oct. 25.
All three of Swift's albums are RIAA certified multi-platinum with "Taylor Swift" (2006) currently 4x multi-platinum and "Fearless" (2008) currently 6x multi platinum.
Swift earned her inaugural gold digital download award for Tim McGraw in 2007. In 2009 she received her first two multi-platinum single awards for Our Song and Love Story, the latter of which remains her best selling single ever - at 5x multi-Platinum - to commemorate more than five million paid downloads.
if your happy as I am , please leave a comment ! :))
11 DAYS TO TAYLOR SWIFT'S B-DAY
fans, are u excited !? There's only 11 days left to Taylor's B-day !
She is almost 21 !
Taylor Swift: CMT Artist of the Year
Taylor Swift goes glamorous in a black lace Jenny Packham dress as she arrives at the CMT Artists of the Year held at The Factory in Franklin, Tenn., on Tuesday night (November 30).
The 20-year-old singer, along with her band, were honored at the event along with the Zac Brown Band, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, and Jason Aldean.
Taylor shared on stage, “I want to thank Maroon 5 for coming out here and taking on such a wordy, girlie song.” They sang Taylor’s “Mine” for the event.
Taylor Swift Jake Gyllenhaal TOGETHER
Picking up lunch @ Fido eatery in Nashville. Credit: PerezHilton.
Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal were together at thanskgiving ! They looks so sweet together ! I love Taylor's Outfit !
Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal were together at thanskgiving ! They looks so sweet together ! I love Taylor's Outfit !
Also, they were mention on E!
TAYLOR SWIFT NEW POST
13 hours ago
Going into the holidays, wayyy thankful.
100
So last night I attended the CMT Artists of the Year event. I had SUCH a great time because the event was so.. not event-ish. I got to sit with all of my friends and band.. We danced and sang to all the other performances-- And I love feeling like all the other artists honored are my friends too. There were loving, "so happy to see you again" hugs given, and we got to watch some reeeeally cool performances.. Not sure how much I can give away about which surprise guests performed which songs.. but... it's worth watching. Speaking of watching things on tv, the E! Special they did about my life and stuff is on tonight at 10/9c. Just wanted to pop in and say HI!!! (yes, in all caps) and THANK YOU (also in all caps) because you, as usual, have given me a lot to be stoked about. Alright. Time to get back to Christmas decorating and counting down to my birthday (11 days. 6 hours. Approx.)
I love you a lot.
Taylor
Taylor Swift: New World Tour Dates!!!
Taylor Swift just announced that she’s headed back out on the road in 2011 to promote her new album, Speak Now.
The 20-year-old American Music Award winner will be singing in 87 shows in 19 countries spanning four continents. That’s a lot of land!
“I’m so excited to go back out on tour again in 2011!” says Taylor. “The FEARLESS Tour was so much fun and even more unforgettable than I ever imagined, and I can’t wait to get back out and play my new music from Speak Now! The fans have been so amazing, and I’m thrilled to play in new cities around the world and meet even more of my fans in 2011!”
Ticket prices will start at $25 for the North American leg of the tour.
ARE YOU GOING TO GO? Its just kinda sad coz she wont go to Brazil and Portugal :x
The 20-year-old American Music Award winner will be singing in 87 shows in 19 countries spanning four continents. That’s a lot of land!
“I’m so excited to go back out on tour again in 2011!” says Taylor. “The FEARLESS Tour was so much fun and even more unforgettable than I ever imagined, and I can’t wait to get back out and play my new music from Speak Now! The fans have been so amazing, and I’m thrilled to play in new cities around the world and meet even more of my fans in 2011!”
Ticket prices will start at $25 for the North American leg of the tour.
ARE YOU GOING TO GO? Its just kinda sad coz she wont go to Brazil and Portugal :x
February 9 Singapore
February 11 Seoul, South Korea
February 13 Osaka, Japan
February 16 & 17 Tokyo, Japan
February 19 Manila, Philippines
February 21 Hong Kong
March 6 Brussels, Belgium
March 7 Rotterdam, Holland
March 9 Oslo, Norway
March 12 Oberhausen, Germany
March 15 Milan, Italy
March 17 Paris, France
March 19 Madrid, Spain
March 22 Birmingham, UK
March 25 Belfast, Northern Ireland
March 27 Dublin, Ireland
March 29 Manchester, UK
March 30 London, UK
May 27 & 28 Omaha, Nebraska
May 29 Des Moines, Iowa
June 2 & 3 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
June 4 Orlando, Florida
June 7 Columbus, Ohio
June 8 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 11 Detroit, Michigan
June 14 & 15 St. Paul, Minnesota
June 18 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
June 21 Buffalo, New York
June 22 Hartford, Connecticut
June 25 Foxborough, Massachusetts
June 30 Greensboro, North Carolina
July 1 Knoxville, Tennessee
July 2 Louisville, Kentucky
July 8 Charlotte, North Carolina
July 9 & 10 Atlanta, Georgia
July 14 Montreal, Quebec
July 15 & 16 Toronto, Ontario
July 19 & 20 New York, New York
July 28 Grand Rapids, Michigan
July 29 Indianapolis, Indiana
July 30 Cleveland, Ohio
August 2 & 3 Washington, DC
August 6 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 9 & 10 Chicago, Illinois
August 13 Lexington, Kentucky
August 14 St. Louis, Missouri
August 18 & 19 Edmonton, Alberta
August 23 & 24 Los Angeles, California
September 1 & 2 San Jose, California
September 3 Sacramento, California
September 6 Portland, Oregon
September 7 Seattle, Washington
September 10 & 11 Vancouver, British Columbia
September 16 & 17 Nashville, Tennessee
September 21 Tulsa, Oklahoma
September 24 Kansas City, Missouri
September 27 Denver, Colorado
September 28 Salt Lake City, Utah
October 4 Little Rock, Arkansas
October 5 New Orleans, Louisiana
October 8 Dallas, Texas
taylor swift competition
Now you can win a chance to see Taylor just register on :
http://koiniclub.com/ref/C-15-80018976
koiniclub : "Let me ask you this; would you like to see Taylor Swift in concert? OK, cool.. we can do that. How about see Taylor Swift in concert in London? OK.. we can do that. How about see Taylor Swift in concert in London AND we will pay for the flight and the hotel. OK.. done."
http://koiniclub.com/ref/C-15-80018976
koiniclub : "Let me ask you this; would you like to see Taylor Swift in concert? OK, cool.. we can do that. How about see Taylor Swift in concert in London? OK.. we can do that. How about see Taylor Swift in concert in London AND we will pay for the flight and the hotel. OK.. done."
TAYLOR SWIFT 2010 TEEN AWARDS
Taylor Swift pumps her fist high in the air as she performs at the BBC Radio 1’s 2010 Teen Awards held at Hammersmith Apollo in London on Sunday afternoon (November 14).
The 20-year-old singer performed “Love Story,” “Speak Now,” and “Mine.”
The 20-year-old singer performed “Love Story,” “Speak Now,” and “Mine.”
TAYLOR SWIFT'S EUROPE TOUR
Taylor Swift's tour dates:
Feb 9, 2011
Singapore, Singapore
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Mar 6, 2011
Brussels, Belgium
Forest National
Mar 6, 2011
Berlin, Germany
Forest National
Mar 7, 2011
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Ahoy' Rotterdam
Mar 9, 2011
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Spektrum
Mar 10, 2011
Austin
Frank Erwin Center
Mar 12, 2011
Oberhausen, Germany
Koenig-Pilsner Arena
Mar 14, 2011
Munique, Germany
München, Olympiastadion
Mar 17, 2011
Paris, France
Zenith - Paris
Mar 25, 2011
Belfast, United Kingdom
Odyssey Arena
Mar 27, 2011
Dublin, Ireland
The O2 Dublin
Mar 30, 2011
London, United Kingdom
The O2
Taylor Swift On How Bullies Inspired Her
Taylor Swift in Daily Mail. On her career: ‘This was all I wanted in life. There wasn’t going to be a back-up plan.' On writing: 'Sometimes in situations where life is happening to me, I’m looking for the metaphor and I’m wondering how to express my feelings in a chorus..
For me, writing songs is a way of justifying things that happen in my life and making it seem as if they happened for a reason, if only to teach me something. If I can write a song then it almost becomes this golden-framed memory. It not only helps me understand why we feel pain, it makes me celebrate it afterwards.'
Single? ‘Yes. I’m not a mopy single girl. I wake up in the morning & think, 'What do I need to do today?' and at no point do I think, 'I need to find a boyfriend.'’ Taylor admitted she wouldn't be so driven if she hadn’t felt the need to scream ‘I’ll show you all!’ at girls who decided to reject her in high school.
‘There are two ways you can go with it. You can let it destroy you.. or you can use it as fuel to drive you: to dream bigger, work harder. I wasn’t invited to parties and I look back now and I’m so thankful that I was at home, playing the guitar until my fingers bled.’ What about girls involved with ditching her at the mall?
‘I don’t think they even remember what happened. And when I see them sitting in line at my meet-and-greets wearing my T-shirts, I’m not going to walk up to them and say, 'How could you do that?' Because look at how life has gone. They were there for a reason, and I’m happy about it.’
For me, writing songs is a way of justifying things that happen in my life and making it seem as if they happened for a reason, if only to teach me something. If I can write a song then it almost becomes this golden-framed memory. It not only helps me understand why we feel pain, it makes me celebrate it afterwards.'
Single? ‘Yes. I’m not a mopy single girl. I wake up in the morning & think, 'What do I need to do today?' and at no point do I think, 'I need to find a boyfriend.'’ Taylor admitted she wouldn't be so driven if she hadn’t felt the need to scream ‘I’ll show you all!’ at girls who decided to reject her in high school.
‘There are two ways you can go with it. You can let it destroy you.. or you can use it as fuel to drive you: to dream bigger, work harder. I wasn’t invited to parties and I look back now and I’m so thankful that I was at home, playing the guitar until my fingers bled.’ What about girls involved with ditching her at the mall?
‘I don’t think they even remember what happened. And when I see them sitting in line at my meet-and-greets wearing my T-shirts, I’m not going to walk up to them and say, 'How could you do that?' Because look at how life has gone. They were there for a reason, and I’m happy about it.’
Taylor Swift sang at a funeral of a best friend- BMI
Taylor Swift, 20, became the youngest artist to win the award for best country music songwriter BMI of year, just one week after the resounding success in their album "Speak now.I 'She also took home the trophy for best country song of the year, "You Belong With Me," delivered at the ceremony Tuesday prize Broadcast Music (BMI) in Nashville.It was the third consecutive year that she won for best country song.
Last week, Swift also broke another record, charting 11 songs on "Speak Now" on the list of Billboard Hot 100 singles.
"This week has been very emotional for me, yesterday I sang at a funeral for one of my best friends... I would like to thank Jeff Lang"
Taylor Swift FORBES RICHEST STARS
"Forbes" includes 10 more young stars as the richestS STARS in HOLLYWOOD ! Five woman have less than 30 ! Beyoncé (28), Britney (28), Gaga (24), Miley (17) and TAYLOR SWIFT (20)
Taylor Swift suports DEMI no matter what
Taylor supports Demi no matter what!
Demi Lovato might be seeking help in rehab for her "emotional problems"
A source confirms that ZackTaylor.ca Taylor was one of the first people to call the team Demi, after the news that she was in a treatment center.
Taylor's big heart :)
Taylor Swift performing LONG LIVE
Fans, I TOTALLY LOVE LONG LIVE ! COZ IT WAS WRITTEN FOR US !!
Hope you like it ! "WE WILL BE REMEMBERED! "
TAYLOR SWIFT is amazed!
Taylor Swift is amazed,'Speak Now' will debut at No. 1 on this week's Billboard 200 chart with 1,047,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the largest sales week for an album since 50 Cent's 'The Massacre' hit No. 1 with 1,141,000 in March of 2005.
check her new post on twitter:
" I... Can't... Believe... This... You guys have absolutely lit up my world. Thank you. "
Taylor Swift sings WHITE HORSE for DANCING WITH STARS
Fans, have u saw it before ? Taylor Swift sang at DANCING WITH STARS, her lovely song WHITE HORSE!
Taylor Swift Sells OVER 1 Million Albums in first week
Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' will debut at No. 1 on this week's Billboard 200 chart with 1,047,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the largest sales week for an album since 50 Cent's 'The Massacre' hit No. 1 with 1,141,000 in March of 2005. Since SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991, there have only been 16 instances where an album sold at least a million copies in a week.
'Speak Now' has the second-largest sales week of any country album since 1991. Only Garth Brooks' 1998 effort 'Double Live' moved more, when it started with 1,085,000. Thus, Swift also achieves the biggest sales week of any female country act since 1991.
'Speak' owns the biggest week for any album by any woman since 2000, when Britney Spears' 'Oops! I Did It Again' landed a the No. 1 spot with 1,319,000. In total, just four albums by women have achieved million-plus weeks. Whitney Houston's 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack with 1,061,000, and Norah Jones' 'Feels Like Home' debuted at No. 1 with 1,022,000.
Taylor Swift signed a deal with Elizabeth Arden to put out her own perfume next fall: 'I have always loved how fragrance can shape a memory.. the way certain scents remind you of events and people that are imprinted in your thoughts. Lately I've been having fun experimenting with combining some of my favorite scents, so I'm really excited about working with Elizabeth Arden to develop my own unique fragrance.'
'Speak Now' has the second-largest sales week of any country album since 1991. Only Garth Brooks' 1998 effort 'Double Live' moved more, when it started with 1,085,000. Thus, Swift also achieves the biggest sales week of any female country act since 1991.
'Speak' owns the biggest week for any album by any woman since 2000, when Britney Spears' 'Oops! I Did It Again' landed a the No. 1 spot with 1,319,000. In total, just four albums by women have achieved million-plus weeks. Whitney Houston's 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack with 1,061,000, and Norah Jones' 'Feels Like Home' debuted at No. 1 with 1,022,000.
Taylor Swift signed a deal with Elizabeth Arden to put out her own perfume next fall: 'I have always loved how fragrance can shape a memory.. the way certain scents remind you of events and people that are imprinted in your thoughts. Lately I've been having fun experimenting with combining some of my favorite scents, so I'm really excited about working with Elizabeth Arden to develop my own unique fragrance.'
Rumor: Taylor Swift dating Jake Gyllenhaal
Ellen Degeneres asked Taylor Swift if she is feeling optimistic about love, and Taylor then replied: 'Well, why wouldn't anyone be?' Ellen added: 'Especially if your boyfriend is Jake Gyllenhaal, because he is very handsome. Y'all are just hanging out though right?'
Taylor refused to deny a romance with Gyllenhaal: 'You have a picture of us on the screen, don't you?' They then discussed how Taylor uses ex-boyfriends as inspiration when writing songs. 'Dear John' is rumored to be about John Mayer. 'Speak Now' is on track to recording the biggest first-week sales of 2010.
Taylor refused to deny a romance with Gyllenhaal: 'You have a picture of us on the screen, don't you?' They then discussed how Taylor uses ex-boyfriends as inspiration when writing songs. 'Dear John' is rumored to be about John Mayer. 'Speak Now' is on track to recording the biggest first-week sales of 2010.
Now take a look at Ellen interview with Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift free concert on top of a double-decker bus
Taylor Swift rocks out at a free concert for her fans on Friday (October 29) in Hollywood.
The 20-year-old country star promoted her new album Speak Now on top of a double-decker bus!
When she wasn’t performing, Taylor took photos of the crowds lining Hollywood Boulevard.
Taylor recently dropped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show where she opened up about the song “Dear John,” which is rumored to be about her relationship with John Mayer.
The 20-year-old country star promoted her new album Speak Now on top of a double-decker bus!
When she wasn’t performing, Taylor took photos of the crowds lining Hollywood Boulevard.
Taylor recently dropped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show where she opened up about the song “Dear John,” which is rumored to be about her relationship with John Mayer.
Taylor Swift - Haunted videoclip
Taylor went to Universal Studios in Hollywood to record a promotional video for the song Haunted for Halloween! The promotional video for the song will be on air on Thanksgiving at NBC.The video was quite in the mood for scary Halloween, Taylor was all in black with her band, she twitted "My band and I just walked through a haunted house where men in masks were running after us with chainsaws"
"I ended up cowering in the corner, out of breath and asking "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!?!". No answers from the men with the chainsaws."
The premise of the video is to show how Taylor was visiting a part of terror.
Let's wait for the video to appear on American television.
Taylor Swift vs Camilla Belle
Taylor Swift talks about her songs ! And names like John Mayer, Taylor Lautner and Camilla Belle are reveled !
Taylor Swift at MADAME TUSSAUDS WAX STATUE INAUGURATION
Fans ! I just found more pictures of Taylor Swift at the inauguration of her wax statue at MADAME TUSSAUDS !
Hope you like it ! and please, leave a comment and follow my blog ! :)
TAYLOR SWIFT SPEAK NOW LIVE AT 5TH AVENUE, LA
Taylor Swift was at 5th Avenue, LA and she performed some songs of her third album, SPEAK NOW!
Take a look ! ITS AWESOME
ENCHANTED
STORY OF US
SPARKS FLY
SPEAK NOW
MINE
TAYLOR SWIFT - MADAME TUSSAUDS WAX STATUE
Taylor Swift looks so cool looking at her wax statue, at Madame Tussauds !
SPEAK NOW - TAYLOR SWIFT HIDDEN MESSAGES
SPEAK NOW HAS HIDDEN MESSAGES, AS WELL AS FEARLESS
Mine- "TOBY"
Sparks Fly- "PORTLAND OREGON"
Bact to December - "TAY" - COURSE IT IS TAYLOR LAUTNER !!!
Speak Now- "YOU ALWAYS REGRET WHAT YOU DON'T SAY"
Dear John-" LOVED YOU FROM THE VERY FIRST DAY"
Mean- "I THOUGHT YOU GOT ME"
The story of us- "CMT AWARDS" - he was there
Never Grow up- "MOVED OUT IN JULY"
Enchanted- "ADAM" - thats the name of a writter in this blog - HE LOVES THAT SONG!
Better than revenge- "YOU THOUGHT I WOULD FORGET"
Innocent- "LIFE IS FULL OF LITTLE INTERRUPTIONS"
Haunted- "STILL TO THIS DAY"
Last Kiss-"FOREVER AND ALWAYS"
Im enchanted that my favourite Song of that album is dedicated to "me" ! When I was trying to discover it, I was so happy and with tears on my face !
My fav one is LONG LIVE and message hided is "FOR YOU" ! WOW
Mine- "TOBY"
Sparks Fly- "PORTLAND OREGON"
Bact to December - "TAY" - COURSE IT IS TAYLOR LAUTNER !!!
Speak Now- "YOU ALWAYS REGRET WHAT YOU DON'T SAY"
Dear John-" LOVED YOU FROM THE VERY FIRST DAY"
Mean- "I THOUGHT YOU GOT ME"
The story of us- "CMT AWARDS" - he was there
Never Grow up- "MOVED OUT IN JULY"
Enchanted- "ADAM" - thats the name of a writter in this blog - HE LOVES THAT SONG!
Better than revenge- "YOU THOUGHT I WOULD FORGET"
Innocent- "LIFE IS FULL OF LITTLE INTERRUPTIONS"
Haunted- "STILL TO THIS DAY"
Last Kiss-"FOREVER AND ALWAYS"
SPEAK NOW - TAYLOR SWIFT - PORTUGAL
OMG, IM FROM PORTUGAL, AND I JUST GOT SPEAK NOW- TAYLOR SWIFT'S THIRD ALBUM!
I WENT TO THE STORE THIS MONDAY AND IT WASN'T THERE YET , SO I WENT THERE TODAY, ALL SHAKING HANDS, AND I JUST BOUGHT IT! I LOVE EACH SONG !
DO U HAVE IT TOO?
THAN SEND ME A PICTURE OF YOU WITH IT !
SPEAK NOW IN MY HANDS ! AND MY HAPPY SMILEING FACE
TAYLOR SWIFT - SPEAK NOW EUROPE TOUR DATES
Belgium
Date: March 6, 2011
Venue: Forest National
City: Brussel
The Netherlands
Date: March 7, 2011
Venue: Ahoy Rotterdam
City: Rotterdam
Italy
Date: March 15, 2011
City: Milan
Spain
Date: March 19, 2011
Venue: Deportes de la Comunidad
City: Madrid
Date: March 6, 2011
Venue: Forest National
City: Brussel
The Netherlands
Date: March 7, 2011
Venue: Ahoy Rotterdam
City: Rotterdam
Italy
Date: March 15, 2011
City: Milan
Spain
Date: March 19, 2011
Venue: Deportes de la Comunidad
City: Madrid
Taylor Swift BUYING her third studio album, SPEAK NOW
Taylor Swift is the first to pick up her third studio album, Speak Now, at the Times Square Starbucks in NYC early Monday morning (TODAY)
click to enlarge :)
Speak Now - Taylor Swift's new album PICS
OMG! I just found those amazing pictures that are included on Speak Now- Taylor Swift's new album !
Click to enlarge:
Story of us
Mine
Haunted
Enchanted
Story of us
Mine
Haunted
Enchanted
Taylor Swift - 'Speak Now' Target Commercial
Its awesome, right ?
do you already have "Speak Now" , if so, send us a picture of you with it :)
send it for:
i will be waiting :)
Taylor Swift singing VIVA LA VIDA
fAS, I FOUND THAT AMAZING VIDEO
IM WAITING HARDLY TO GET SPEAK NOW !!
IM WAITING HARDLY TO GET SPEAK NOW !!
Taylor Swift REALLY Did Stalk a Fan
Remember that fan that Taylor Swift talked about stalking in Parade magazine? This is her!
JJJ fan and mom Rocio sent the pic straight to us and shared, “Taylor REALLY is that nice to her fans. She followed my daughter into a Game Stop in Nashville, and it happened just like she tells it on Parade Magazine.”
T shared in the interview, “I found her in a video-game store and just kind of walked up to her and said, ‘Oh, hi. I wanted to meet you.’ She had no idea what to say for about three minutes. Then her mom walked over, burst into tears, and proceeded to tell me that they’d driven all the way from Austin, Texas, just to see where I was discovered.
TAYLOR SWIFT WAX STATUE AT MADAME TUSSAUDS
Taylor Swift will win a famous wax statue at Madame Tussauds! The dress worn on the statue was made by designer Jenny Packham and used by Taylor's own 'Fearless Tour 2010' which gave the dress to the museum. The country singer will attend the inauguration of her statue at Madame Tussauds on October 27 in New York!
Mean- Taylor Swift LYRICS AND FULL SONG- HEAR IT
Taylor Swift Mean
You, with your words like knives
And swords and weapons that you use against me,
You, have knocked me off my feet again,
Got me feeling like I’m nothing.
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard
Calling me out when I’m wounded.
You, pickin’ 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,
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?
You, with your switching sides,
And your walk by lies and your humiliation
You, have pointed out my flaws again,
As if I don’t already see them.
I walk with my head down,
Trying to block you out cause I’ll never impress you
I just wanna feel okay again.
I bet you got pushed around,
Somebody made you cold,
But the cycle ends right now,
You can’t lead me down that road,
You don’t know, what you don’t know
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?
And I can see you years from now in a bar,
Talking over a football game,
With that same big loud opinion but,
Nobody’s listening,
Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things,
Drunk and grumbling on about how I can’t sing.
But all you are is mean,
All you are is mean.
And a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life,
And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean
But someday,
I’ll be, living in a big old city,
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean. Yeah,
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 ?
Someday, I’ll be, living in a big old city,
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean. Yeah,
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?
You, with your words like knives
And swords and weapons that you use against me,
You, have knocked me off my feet again,
Got me feeling like I’m nothing.
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard
Calling me out when I’m wounded.
You, pickin’ 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,
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?
You, with your switching sides,
And your walk by lies and your humiliation
You, have pointed out my flaws again,
As if I don’t already see them.
I walk with my head down,
Trying to block you out cause I’ll never impress you
I just wanna feel okay again.
I bet you got pushed around,
Somebody made you cold,
But the cycle ends right now,
You can’t lead me down that road,
You don’t know, what you don’t know
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?
And I can see you years from now in a bar,
Talking over a football game,
With that same big loud opinion but,
Nobody’s listening,
Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things,
Drunk and grumbling on about how I can’t sing.
But all you are is mean,
All you are is mean.
And a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life,
And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean
But someday,
I’ll be, living in a big old city,
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean. Yeah,
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 ?
Someday, I’ll be, living in a big old city,
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean. Yeah,
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?
Taylor Swift Confronts Mayer, Laments Lautner In New Album
Whatever the reactions to Taylor Swift's third full-length album, Speak Now, might be, there are two critics whose responses we can easily pin down in advance.
Taylor Lautner is going to love it.
John Mayer? Not so much.
The hotly anticipated album, which comes out Oct. 25, has been held tightly under wraps until now, with only a handful of songs made available for advance listening even to journalists who have been doing interviews with Swift. Now that her label is finally starting to play the album for select critics, it's easy to fathom why its contents have been closely guarded, all fears of leakage aside. Some of the lyrics are startlingly candid, even by the standards of Taylor "Naming Names, Taking No Prisoners" Swift.
And listening to "Dear John," the scorching song that is-from all appearances-aimed at Mayer, all we can say is: Joe Jonas, you got off easy.
When I talked with Swift last month after hearing a few of the new songs, she didn't hesitate to frame Speak Now as her diary of the last two tumultuous years. The general public might have to guess which relationships or incidents most of the songs are about, but the subjects of the lyrics will quickly recognize themselves, she feels confident.
"They're all made very clear," Swift told me. "Every single song is like a roadmap to what that relationship stood for, with little markers that maybe everyone won't know, but there are things that were little nuances of the relationship, little hints. And every single song is like that. Everyone will know, so I don't really have to send out emails on this one."
But, I said, by necessity of her fame and that of her recent boyfriends, she is past the point of using proper names in the lyrics now.
"Um," she responded, "there's still names that I used. Wait till you hear those."
Actually, there's only one actual name called out anywhere in the 14 songs. So if you were thinking that "Dear John" takes its title strictly from the old expression "a dear John letter," you might want to think again. Swift is nothing if not extremely literal.
With most serious singer-songwriters, it might seem voyeuristic to speculate on the personal situations being reflected upon in song. But Swift has lived her life as a fairly open book, all but inviting her fans to relate her well-known relationships to their own as she evidences a gift for writing in both autobiographical and universal terms.
And it might seem sensationalistic to focus on "Dear John" at the expense of the rest of the album if it didn't feel like it might be her masterpiece to date, or at least the most bracingly, joltingly honest song you've heard any major performer have the nerve to put on record in years. Maybe not since John Lennon took on estranged partner Paul McCartney in "How Do You Sleep" has a major pop singer-songwriter so publicly and unguardedly taken on another in song. But while Lennon's song came off as mean-spirited, Swift was motivated by vulnerability and woundedness, which makes her song far braver... and more cutting.
The first chorus begins: "Dear John/I see it all now that you're gone/Don't you think I was too young/To be messed with/The girl in the dress/Cried the whole way home/I should've known." A second version of the chorus includes the lines: "It was wrong/Don't you think nineteen's too young/To be played/By your dark, twisted games/When I loved you so."
When rumors of a Mayer/Swift romance broke, some of us had a hard time imagining it, because of his rather famously ruinous reputation in matters of love and her ever-present, protective mom. "Dear John" addresses that: "My mother accused me of losing my mind/But I swore I was fine..." And: "You'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand/And I'll look back in regret I ignored what they said/'Run as fast as you can'."
Swift, who turns 21 in December, won't outrightly acknowledge the subjects of these songs-except for "Innocent," the one written to Kanye West-so we have to allow that maybe "Dear John" is about some other much older man her mother warned her about who is known for "all the girls that you run dry," and not the 32-year-old Mayer... Like, the late John Forsythe, maybe? Hmm. Gonna have to stick with our original educated guess on this one.
There may be those who'll accuse Swift of exploiting her own romantic travails in this and other songs. But the extended bridge section of "Dear John" (and, at six and a half minutes, the entire song is fairly extended) packs such a cathartic punch, it really does transcend any tabloid associations. When Swift sings "I'm shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town," anyone who ever felt manipulated or used and found the strength to move on may be cheering like it's the 4th of July.
"Dear John" is the most powerful song on the album, but hardly the only vivid or emotional one. It's not all vituperation, though. The apologetic "Back to December" can't be about anyone but Lautner, and to our ears, so are several of the other new tracks-none of them about revenge, all of them about fondness for the admittedly brief time spent together. While Swift was writing these songs, Lautner's pointy werewolf ears must have been burning nonstop, to the point of spontaneous combustion. He has to be as flattered as Mayer should be flabbergasted.
While you wait for Speak Now's release on Monday, here's a bible on what to expect from the hour-plus album, from first track to last.
MINE
The opening track and first single is already practically a standard, having been rush-released way back on August 4, in response to a leak. Who's it about? Definitely not one of Swift's longer-term steadies, but a shorter-lived crush. (If you had to attach a name to it, it could be Glee actor Cory Monteith, whose are-they-or-aren't-they-dating friendship early in 2010 never seemed to amount to much. Or, it could be about an infatuation so short-lived we never got to hear about it.)
I asked Swift how "Mine" fit with the true confessions theme of the album, since the bits about marriage clearly go beyond the sphere of sheer autobiography.
"It actually is a confession of some sort," she responded, "because this is a situation where a guy that I just barely knew put his arm around me by the water, and I saw the entire relationship flash before my eyes, almost like some weird science-fiction movie. After I wrote the song, things sort of fell apart, as things so often do. And I hadn't talked to him in a couple months. And the song came out, and that day I got an email from him. And I was like"-she claps her hands-" ‘Yes!' Because that one was sort of half-confession, and half-prediction or projection of what I saw. And the fact that it came across so clearly to that guy that he would email me meant that I had been direct enough."
How did the fellow in question take to realizing that their brief flirtation had resulted in an entire fantasy of togetherness, arguing, falling apart, and married reconciliation-ever-after? Swift suddenly became coy. "Um... I don't know. I didn't really respond. But he was sort of like, ‘I had no idea... I realize I've been naïve.'"
SPARKS FLY
"Sparks Fly" is apparently the oldest song on the album, having been performed live-and leaked to the web via a crude concert recording-back in 2008. So hardcore Swift fans are familiar with the bones of this song, if not yet the revised lyrics and arrangement. The chorus is still the same as in the live bootleg that's circulated among fans for a couple of years, but some of the verses have been changed. Among the new lyrics: "My mind forgot to remind me you're a bad idea." Some of the changes make the protagonist of this upbeat song a bit cockier than before. A line that once went "Something that'll haunt me when you're not around" has had a role-reversal switch, so that she now promises to give her b.f. "something that'll haunt you when I'm not around." Apparently she's a little more confident of her charms than she was two years ago.
BACK TO DECEMBER
This song, which was already released on iTunes, doesn't leave many doubts about who it's addressed to, since Swift broke up in Lautner last December. It's been widely noted that it's her first "apology" song. She is, after all, known more as the singer of "Picture to Burn" than for writing songs acknowledging that maybe it's her picture that should've been burned. But she emphasizes that, for her, repentance was no mere lyrical exercise.
"I've always sort of felt like I try to write songs that the people that they're about deserve," she told me. "And up until now I haven't really felt like I really, really needed to apologize to someone and someone deserved that from me. It's just necessary. From knowing the situation and writing honestly, I can't leave that part out, and I don't think I should. And I think that you should be able to say that you're sorry to someone, and sometimes the best way I know how to say anything is in a song... I think that for me, especially playing that song for the first time for people around me, like my family and my friends, they made that point right away-like, ‘You realize you've never done this before. You've never really apologized to someone in a song.' I guess I wasn't conscious of that when I was writing it, because it just was exactly what I needed to say. It wasn't like ‘Oh, I haven't covered this emotion yet.' It was just a new emotion for me to feel."
SPEAK NOW
Also already released on iTunes, the title track is the frothiest song on the album, at least sonically, with Swift trying out an uncharacteristic vocal style that's closer to Feist than her usual, more conversational approach toward singing.
"The song was inspired by the idea of bursting into your ex-boyfriend's wedding and saying ‘Don't do it'-which was originally inspired by one of my friends and the fact that the guy she had been in love with since childhood was marrying this other girl," she explained to me. "And my first inclination was to say, ‘Well, are you gonna speak now?' And then I started thinking about what I would do if I was still in love with someone who was marrying someone who they shouldn't be marrying. And so I wrote this song about exactly what my game plan would be...
"When titling an album," she explained last month, "for me the first step is I go down the titles of the songs I have so far, and see any of those titles could be the recurring theme throughout the entire record. At this point I had probably 70% of the songs that ended up being on the album. And I just kept going back to ‘Speak Now,' because I think it's such a metaphor, that moment where it's almost too late, and you've got to either say what it is you are feeling or deal with the consequences forever. And I feel like that's such a metaphor for so many things that we go through in life, where you can either say what you mean or you can be quiet about it forever. And this album seemed like the opportunity for me to speak now or forever hold my peace."
DEAR JOHN
"The girl in the dress wrote you a song..." Yes, she did. (See introduction.)
MEAN
By far the country-est song on the album, not to mention by far the country-est tune she's ever done, with an abundance of mandolin and banjo. It's easy to imagine this becoming a theme song or rallying cry for the growing anti-bullying movement. Verses like "Calling me out when I'm wounded/You, picking on the weaker man" and "You have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don't already see them/I walk with my head down, trying to block you out" leading to a triumphant we-shall-overcome-the-mean-girls-(and-boys) chorus.
Said chorus could count as a case of backwards projection, flashing back to Swift's pre-fame life: "Someday I'll be living in a big old city/And all you're ever gonna be is mean." But there is a definite allusion to recent controversies when, toward the end of the song, she adds: "And I can see you year from now in a bar talking over a football game/With that same big loud opinion, but no one's listening/Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things/Drunk and talking all about how I... can't... sing." Snap!
THE STORY OF US
Early fan speculation, based in preliminary teases about the content of the tune, was that this one was about Joe Jonas. But she wrote about Joe on her last album, in "Forever and Always." Do we think she's going to devote a song to him at this late date any more than the New York Times is going to feature on-the-scene reporting from the Spanish Civil War?
"That was the last song that I wrote on the record," she told me, "because it happened most recently. It was at an awards show, and there had been a falling out between me and this guy, and I think both of us had so much that we wanted to say, but we're sitting six seats away from each other and just fighting this silent war of ‘I don't care that you're here.' I don't care that you're here.' It's so terribly, heartbreakingly awkward."
Obviously, the wound was fresh, so even though Swift did run into Jonas at a couple of awards shows this year, it seems much more likely to place its setting as the People's Choice Awards in January, where Swift and Lautner were reported to have successfully avoided each other, just three weeks after breaking up. Key lyrics: "I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how/I've never heard silence quite this loud." Also: "I would lay my armor down, if you would say you'd rather love than fight."
NEVER GROW UP
No, this isn't another song about Kanye West. (Good guess, though.) Though this one could also be called "Innocent," it's sung to an actual baby. "Never Grow Up" is a sweet lullabye with an undercurrent of sadness or even wary adult bitterness, as Auntie Taylor advises the infant whose nightlight she's turning on: "To you everything's funny/You've got nothing to regret/I'd give all I could, honey/If you could stay like that."
ENCHANTED
The most unabashedly romantic song on the album, and also one of the best, "Enchanted" describes the aftermath of meeting a special someone without knowing whether the instant infatuation is at all reciprocated.
"That song is about pining away for if you're ever going to see someone again-walking away too early," she explained. "It was about this guy that I met in New York City, and I had talked to him on email or something before, but I had never met him. And meeting him, it was this overwhelming feeling of: I really hope that you're not in love with somebody. And the whole entire way home, I remember the glittery New York City buildings passing by, and then just sitting there thinking, am I ever going to talk to this person again? And that pining away for a romance that may never even happen, but all you have is this hope that it could, and the fear that it never will.
"I started writing that in the hotel room when I got back. Because it just was this positive, wistful feeling of: I hope you understand just how much I loved meeting you. I hope that you know that meeting you was not something that I took lightly, or just in passing. And I think my favorite part of that song is the part where, in the bridge, it goes to sort of a stream of consciousness of ‘Please don't be in love with someone else/Please don't have somebody waiting on you.' Because at that moment, that's exactly what my thoughts were. And it feels good to write exactly what your thoughts were in a certain moment."
Apparently, nothing came of this enchantment, except for the song. At least that's the impression given by how Swift acknowledges the guy in question hasn't heard it yet, though she expects him to recognize that it's about their brief encounter when he does hear it. "I think so," she said with a slight laugh. "Using the word ‘wonderstruck' was done on purpose," she added (referring to the line "I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home"). Because that's a word which that person used one time in an email. And I don't think I've ever heard anybody use that term before, so I purposely wrote it in the song, so he would know."
(And now every guy who ever ran into Taylor Swift at a social event in New York is thinking: "I did say 'wonderstruck,' right?")
BETTER THAN REVENGE
A fast-paced rocker in the tradition of vengeance songs like "Picture to Burn," but aimed at a Mean Girl. "She underestimated just who she was stealing from..." Indeed. "I think her ever-present frown is a little troubling/She thinks I'm psycho because I like to rhyme her name with things." Speaking of rhymes, the chorus rhymes "she's an actress" with "better known for the things she does on the mattress." Parting thought: "You might have him, but haven't you heard?/You might have him, but I always get the last word." Oh, we imagine "she" heard, whoever she might be.
INNOCENT
Swift premiered this song about Kanye West at the scene of the crime-the MTV Music Video Awards. "I think a lot of people expected me to write a song about him. But for me it was important to write a song to him."
Judging from how flawlessly Swift pulled off her subway performance of "You Belong With Me" shortly after the Kanye incident, it was easy to surmise that she just brushed it off like the preternatural pro she is. But that's hardly the case. "The fans in the subway know exactly what happened that night. It's something I'm never gonna forget. And I'm always going to look back and smile on how they really, really helped me through that.... I'm so emotional and human.
"You have to try really hard to regulate what you feel, what you let in, and what you don't. Because things like criticism, you are told to be very thick-skinned about things like that. But then when it comes to making an album, if you make everything general and kind of gloss over your actual raw feelings, that doesn't benefit anyone... As far as what to feel and what level to feel it, I can't really control any of that. It's just how things hit you, and what you let in is definitely something you've got to find a balance for."
HAUNTED
The most musically dramatic song on the album has effervescent-oops, make that Evanescence-qualities, with strings bumping up against squalling guitars, to underscore the romantic obsession being described. "Something's gone terribly wrong/You're all I wanted," she sings, demanding at one point late in the song: "Finish what you started!"
LAST KISS
A much more tender post-breakup song than the desperate one that precedes it in the lineup. Best lines: "All I know is, I don't how to be something you miss." And: "So I'll watch your life in pictures/Like I used to watch you sleep..." Now, that's haunted.
LONG LIVE
Hard to imagine there's any way the closing number isn't about Lautner, if the ongoing affection she's publicly expressed for him is true (not to mention the remorse heard earlier in the album in "Back to December"). She describes herself and her paramour in heroic terms: "The crowds in the stands went wild/We were the kings and the queens/And they read off our names..." That may strike some listeners as self-important for a celebrity to have written, but later in the song, Swift describes things more in the terms of a homecoming king and queen than Hollywood royalty, saying: "You traded your baseball cap for a crown/And they gave us our trophies/And we held them up for our towns."
Taken at its word, the song would seem to have been written during this moment of mutual triumph, but the conquistador attitude occasionally gives way to bittersweet prophecy, as Swift sings, "If you have children someday, when they point to the pictures, please tell them my name..."
Somehow, we have a feeling the guy's kids aren't going to have a hard time deducing on their own who the blonde girl is. If there was any doubt, Speak Now helps ensure she'll have a spot in the history books and not just a faded teen-pop photo album.
Taylor Lautner is going to love it.
John Mayer? Not so much.
The hotly anticipated album, which comes out Oct. 25, has been held tightly under wraps until now, with only a handful of songs made available for advance listening even to journalists who have been doing interviews with Swift. Now that her label is finally starting to play the album for select critics, it's easy to fathom why its contents have been closely guarded, all fears of leakage aside. Some of the lyrics are startlingly candid, even by the standards of Taylor "Naming Names, Taking No Prisoners" Swift.
And listening to "Dear John," the scorching song that is-from all appearances-aimed at Mayer, all we can say is: Joe Jonas, you got off easy.
When I talked with Swift last month after hearing a few of the new songs, she didn't hesitate to frame Speak Now as her diary of the last two tumultuous years. The general public might have to guess which relationships or incidents most of the songs are about, but the subjects of the lyrics will quickly recognize themselves, she feels confident.
"They're all made very clear," Swift told me. "Every single song is like a roadmap to what that relationship stood for, with little markers that maybe everyone won't know, but there are things that were little nuances of the relationship, little hints. And every single song is like that. Everyone will know, so I don't really have to send out emails on this one."
But, I said, by necessity of her fame and that of her recent boyfriends, she is past the point of using proper names in the lyrics now.
"Um," she responded, "there's still names that I used. Wait till you hear those."
Actually, there's only one actual name called out anywhere in the 14 songs. So if you were thinking that "Dear John" takes its title strictly from the old expression "a dear John letter," you might want to think again. Swift is nothing if not extremely literal.
With most serious singer-songwriters, it might seem voyeuristic to speculate on the personal situations being reflected upon in song. But Swift has lived her life as a fairly open book, all but inviting her fans to relate her well-known relationships to their own as she evidences a gift for writing in both autobiographical and universal terms.
And it might seem sensationalistic to focus on "Dear John" at the expense of the rest of the album if it didn't feel like it might be her masterpiece to date, or at least the most bracingly, joltingly honest song you've heard any major performer have the nerve to put on record in years. Maybe not since John Lennon took on estranged partner Paul McCartney in "How Do You Sleep" has a major pop singer-songwriter so publicly and unguardedly taken on another in song. But while Lennon's song came off as mean-spirited, Swift was motivated by vulnerability and woundedness, which makes her song far braver... and more cutting.
The first chorus begins: "Dear John/I see it all now that you're gone/Don't you think I was too young/To be messed with/The girl in the dress/Cried the whole way home/I should've known." A second version of the chorus includes the lines: "It was wrong/Don't you think nineteen's too young/To be played/By your dark, twisted games/When I loved you so."
When rumors of a Mayer/Swift romance broke, some of us had a hard time imagining it, because of his rather famously ruinous reputation in matters of love and her ever-present, protective mom. "Dear John" addresses that: "My mother accused me of losing my mind/But I swore I was fine..." And: "You'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand/And I'll look back in regret I ignored what they said/'Run as fast as you can'."
Swift, who turns 21 in December, won't outrightly acknowledge the subjects of these songs-except for "Innocent," the one written to Kanye West-so we have to allow that maybe "Dear John" is about some other much older man her mother warned her about who is known for "all the girls that you run dry," and not the 32-year-old Mayer... Like, the late John Forsythe, maybe? Hmm. Gonna have to stick with our original educated guess on this one.
There may be those who'll accuse Swift of exploiting her own romantic travails in this and other songs. But the extended bridge section of "Dear John" (and, at six and a half minutes, the entire song is fairly extended) packs such a cathartic punch, it really does transcend any tabloid associations. When Swift sings "I'm shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town," anyone who ever felt manipulated or used and found the strength to move on may be cheering like it's the 4th of July.
"Dear John" is the most powerful song on the album, but hardly the only vivid or emotional one. It's not all vituperation, though. The apologetic "Back to December" can't be about anyone but Lautner, and to our ears, so are several of the other new tracks-none of them about revenge, all of them about fondness for the admittedly brief time spent together. While Swift was writing these songs, Lautner's pointy werewolf ears must have been burning nonstop, to the point of spontaneous combustion. He has to be as flattered as Mayer should be flabbergasted.
While you wait for Speak Now's release on Monday, here's a bible on what to expect from the hour-plus album, from first track to last.
MINE
The opening track and first single is already practically a standard, having been rush-released way back on August 4, in response to a leak. Who's it about? Definitely not one of Swift's longer-term steadies, but a shorter-lived crush. (If you had to attach a name to it, it could be Glee actor Cory Monteith, whose are-they-or-aren't-they-dating friendship early in 2010 never seemed to amount to much. Or, it could be about an infatuation so short-lived we never got to hear about it.)
I asked Swift how "Mine" fit with the true confessions theme of the album, since the bits about marriage clearly go beyond the sphere of sheer autobiography.
"It actually is a confession of some sort," she responded, "because this is a situation where a guy that I just barely knew put his arm around me by the water, and I saw the entire relationship flash before my eyes, almost like some weird science-fiction movie. After I wrote the song, things sort of fell apart, as things so often do. And I hadn't talked to him in a couple months. And the song came out, and that day I got an email from him. And I was like"-she claps her hands-" ‘Yes!' Because that one was sort of half-confession, and half-prediction or projection of what I saw. And the fact that it came across so clearly to that guy that he would email me meant that I had been direct enough."
How did the fellow in question take to realizing that their brief flirtation had resulted in an entire fantasy of togetherness, arguing, falling apart, and married reconciliation-ever-after? Swift suddenly became coy. "Um... I don't know. I didn't really respond. But he was sort of like, ‘I had no idea... I realize I've been naïve.'"
SPARKS FLY
"Sparks Fly" is apparently the oldest song on the album, having been performed live-and leaked to the web via a crude concert recording-back in 2008. So hardcore Swift fans are familiar with the bones of this song, if not yet the revised lyrics and arrangement. The chorus is still the same as in the live bootleg that's circulated among fans for a couple of years, but some of the verses have been changed. Among the new lyrics: "My mind forgot to remind me you're a bad idea." Some of the changes make the protagonist of this upbeat song a bit cockier than before. A line that once went "Something that'll haunt me when you're not around" has had a role-reversal switch, so that she now promises to give her b.f. "something that'll haunt you when I'm not around." Apparently she's a little more confident of her charms than she was two years ago.
BACK TO DECEMBER
This song, which was already released on iTunes, doesn't leave many doubts about who it's addressed to, since Swift broke up in Lautner last December. It's been widely noted that it's her first "apology" song. She is, after all, known more as the singer of "Picture to Burn" than for writing songs acknowledging that maybe it's her picture that should've been burned. But she emphasizes that, for her, repentance was no mere lyrical exercise.
"I've always sort of felt like I try to write songs that the people that they're about deserve," she told me. "And up until now I haven't really felt like I really, really needed to apologize to someone and someone deserved that from me. It's just necessary. From knowing the situation and writing honestly, I can't leave that part out, and I don't think I should. And I think that you should be able to say that you're sorry to someone, and sometimes the best way I know how to say anything is in a song... I think that for me, especially playing that song for the first time for people around me, like my family and my friends, they made that point right away-like, ‘You realize you've never done this before. You've never really apologized to someone in a song.' I guess I wasn't conscious of that when I was writing it, because it just was exactly what I needed to say. It wasn't like ‘Oh, I haven't covered this emotion yet.' It was just a new emotion for me to feel."
SPEAK NOW
Also already released on iTunes, the title track is the frothiest song on the album, at least sonically, with Swift trying out an uncharacteristic vocal style that's closer to Feist than her usual, more conversational approach toward singing.
"The song was inspired by the idea of bursting into your ex-boyfriend's wedding and saying ‘Don't do it'-which was originally inspired by one of my friends and the fact that the guy she had been in love with since childhood was marrying this other girl," she explained to me. "And my first inclination was to say, ‘Well, are you gonna speak now?' And then I started thinking about what I would do if I was still in love with someone who was marrying someone who they shouldn't be marrying. And so I wrote this song about exactly what my game plan would be...
"When titling an album," she explained last month, "for me the first step is I go down the titles of the songs I have so far, and see any of those titles could be the recurring theme throughout the entire record. At this point I had probably 70% of the songs that ended up being on the album. And I just kept going back to ‘Speak Now,' because I think it's such a metaphor, that moment where it's almost too late, and you've got to either say what it is you are feeling or deal with the consequences forever. And I feel like that's such a metaphor for so many things that we go through in life, where you can either say what you mean or you can be quiet about it forever. And this album seemed like the opportunity for me to speak now or forever hold my peace."
DEAR JOHN
"The girl in the dress wrote you a song..." Yes, she did. (See introduction.)
MEAN
By far the country-est song on the album, not to mention by far the country-est tune she's ever done, with an abundance of mandolin and banjo. It's easy to imagine this becoming a theme song or rallying cry for the growing anti-bullying movement. Verses like "Calling me out when I'm wounded/You, picking on the weaker man" and "You have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don't already see them/I walk with my head down, trying to block you out" leading to a triumphant we-shall-overcome-the-mean-girls-(and-boys) chorus.
Said chorus could count as a case of backwards projection, flashing back to Swift's pre-fame life: "Someday I'll be living in a big old city/And all you're ever gonna be is mean." But there is a definite allusion to recent controversies when, toward the end of the song, she adds: "And I can see you year from now in a bar talking over a football game/With that same big loud opinion, but no one's listening/Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things/Drunk and talking all about how I... can't... sing." Snap!
THE STORY OF US
Early fan speculation, based in preliminary teases about the content of the tune, was that this one was about Joe Jonas. But she wrote about Joe on her last album, in "Forever and Always." Do we think she's going to devote a song to him at this late date any more than the New York Times is going to feature on-the-scene reporting from the Spanish Civil War?
"That was the last song that I wrote on the record," she told me, "because it happened most recently. It was at an awards show, and there had been a falling out between me and this guy, and I think both of us had so much that we wanted to say, but we're sitting six seats away from each other and just fighting this silent war of ‘I don't care that you're here.' I don't care that you're here.' It's so terribly, heartbreakingly awkward."
Obviously, the wound was fresh, so even though Swift did run into Jonas at a couple of awards shows this year, it seems much more likely to place its setting as the People's Choice Awards in January, where Swift and Lautner were reported to have successfully avoided each other, just three weeks after breaking up. Key lyrics: "I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how/I've never heard silence quite this loud." Also: "I would lay my armor down, if you would say you'd rather love than fight."
NEVER GROW UP
No, this isn't another song about Kanye West. (Good guess, though.) Though this one could also be called "Innocent," it's sung to an actual baby. "Never Grow Up" is a sweet lullabye with an undercurrent of sadness or even wary adult bitterness, as Auntie Taylor advises the infant whose nightlight she's turning on: "To you everything's funny/You've got nothing to regret/I'd give all I could, honey/If you could stay like that."
ENCHANTED
The most unabashedly romantic song on the album, and also one of the best, "Enchanted" describes the aftermath of meeting a special someone without knowing whether the instant infatuation is at all reciprocated.
"That song is about pining away for if you're ever going to see someone again-walking away too early," she explained. "It was about this guy that I met in New York City, and I had talked to him on email or something before, but I had never met him. And meeting him, it was this overwhelming feeling of: I really hope that you're not in love with somebody. And the whole entire way home, I remember the glittery New York City buildings passing by, and then just sitting there thinking, am I ever going to talk to this person again? And that pining away for a romance that may never even happen, but all you have is this hope that it could, and the fear that it never will.
"I started writing that in the hotel room when I got back. Because it just was this positive, wistful feeling of: I hope you understand just how much I loved meeting you. I hope that you know that meeting you was not something that I took lightly, or just in passing. And I think my favorite part of that song is the part where, in the bridge, it goes to sort of a stream of consciousness of ‘Please don't be in love with someone else/Please don't have somebody waiting on you.' Because at that moment, that's exactly what my thoughts were. And it feels good to write exactly what your thoughts were in a certain moment."
Apparently, nothing came of this enchantment, except for the song. At least that's the impression given by how Swift acknowledges the guy in question hasn't heard it yet, though she expects him to recognize that it's about their brief encounter when he does hear it. "I think so," she said with a slight laugh. "Using the word ‘wonderstruck' was done on purpose," she added (referring to the line "I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home"). Because that's a word which that person used one time in an email. And I don't think I've ever heard anybody use that term before, so I purposely wrote it in the song, so he would know."
(And now every guy who ever ran into Taylor Swift at a social event in New York is thinking: "I did say 'wonderstruck,' right?")
BETTER THAN REVENGE
A fast-paced rocker in the tradition of vengeance songs like "Picture to Burn," but aimed at a Mean Girl. "She underestimated just who she was stealing from..." Indeed. "I think her ever-present frown is a little troubling/She thinks I'm psycho because I like to rhyme her name with things." Speaking of rhymes, the chorus rhymes "she's an actress" with "better known for the things she does on the mattress." Parting thought: "You might have him, but haven't you heard?/You might have him, but I always get the last word." Oh, we imagine "she" heard, whoever she might be.
INNOCENT
Swift premiered this song about Kanye West at the scene of the crime-the MTV Music Video Awards. "I think a lot of people expected me to write a song about him. But for me it was important to write a song to him."
Judging from how flawlessly Swift pulled off her subway performance of "You Belong With Me" shortly after the Kanye incident, it was easy to surmise that she just brushed it off like the preternatural pro she is. But that's hardly the case. "The fans in the subway know exactly what happened that night. It's something I'm never gonna forget. And I'm always going to look back and smile on how they really, really helped me through that.... I'm so emotional and human.
"You have to try really hard to regulate what you feel, what you let in, and what you don't. Because things like criticism, you are told to be very thick-skinned about things like that. But then when it comes to making an album, if you make everything general and kind of gloss over your actual raw feelings, that doesn't benefit anyone... As far as what to feel and what level to feel it, I can't really control any of that. It's just how things hit you, and what you let in is definitely something you've got to find a balance for."
HAUNTED
The most musically dramatic song on the album has effervescent-oops, make that Evanescence-qualities, with strings bumping up against squalling guitars, to underscore the romantic obsession being described. "Something's gone terribly wrong/You're all I wanted," she sings, demanding at one point late in the song: "Finish what you started!"
LAST KISS
A much more tender post-breakup song than the desperate one that precedes it in the lineup. Best lines: "All I know is, I don't how to be something you miss." And: "So I'll watch your life in pictures/Like I used to watch you sleep..." Now, that's haunted.
LONG LIVE
Hard to imagine there's any way the closing number isn't about Lautner, if the ongoing affection she's publicly expressed for him is true (not to mention the remorse heard earlier in the album in "Back to December"). She describes herself and her paramour in heroic terms: "The crowds in the stands went wild/We were the kings and the queens/And they read off our names..." That may strike some listeners as self-important for a celebrity to have written, but later in the song, Swift describes things more in the terms of a homecoming king and queen than Hollywood royalty, saying: "You traded your baseball cap for a crown/And they gave us our trophies/And we held them up for our towns."
Taken at its word, the song would seem to have been written during this moment of mutual triumph, but the conquistador attitude occasionally gives way to bittersweet prophecy, as Swift sings, "If you have children someday, when they point to the pictures, please tell them my name..."
Somehow, we have a feeling the guy's kids aren't going to have a hard time deducing on their own who the blonde girl is. If there was any doubt, Speak Now helps ensure she'll have a spot in the history books and not just a faded teen-pop photo album.
Big machine RECORDS + TAYLOR SWIFT
Big Machine Records made a beautiful video to promove Taylor Swift, its awesome!
Take a look
http://www.bigmachinerecords.com/microsites/video/cma2010/taylorswift/
Take a look
http://www.bigmachinerecords.com/microsites/video/cma2010/taylorswift/
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