(#16) / Album: “Speak Now” / by Taylor Swift / (Music)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

Album: “Speak Now” / by Taylor Swift

ASIN: B003WTE886 / Big Machine Records

67 minutes / $11.88 (Amazon)

2010

Body of Content

Summary: The album includes the following titles, in their album order: “Mine”, “Sparks Fly”, “Back to December”, “Speak Now”, “Dear John”, “Mean”, “The Story of Us”, “Never Grow Up”, “Enchanted”, “Better Than Revenge”, “Innocent”, “Haunted”, “Lass Kiss”, and “Love Live”.  The album contains 14 tracks – all written by Taylor Swift herself – along with Nathan Chapman collaborating as producer (Amazon, 2011).

The album stays within the genre of Taylor’s earlier works – still containing her female, twang-inspired voice – with country music instrumentation written – with pop melodies and music theory applications.  As such, the album regularly receives airtime on both Top 40 pop radio stations as well as country-devoted channels.

The album is Taylor’s most successful yet – having sold one million units in its first week alone.  Overall, in less than a year after its release, “Speak Now” has sold over 5.5 million albums globally –with 3.7 million coming from her domestic market (Wikipedia, 2011a).

Critique: Swift’s style includes love and relationships as the lyrical premises to the majority of her songs.  These lyrics – half self-discovery, half self-inspired – feature love ballads that many teens find identification with and semblance towards.  Content-wise, the lyrics are not very deep or meaningful to larger contexts.  But for commercial purposes, Swift knows her audience.

Consider the lyrics to “Mine” – notably the second verse:

            “Do you remember we were sitting there by the water? /

            You put your arm around me for the first time /

            You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter /

            You are the best thing that’s ever been mine” (Metrolyrics, 2011a)  

The lyrics are more about the promise and the hope of love – than they are about the resolution and fulfillment of love.  As teens are searching for love themselves – often finding relationships that are short-lived in duration – Swift writes songs that register with her teen fan base.

Or examine the lyrics to another song, “Sparks Fire”:

            “Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain /

            Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain /

            ‘Cause I see sparks fly /

            Whenever you smile” (Metrolyrics, 2011b)

Like the aforementioned blog entry (cf. Owl City), Swift’s lyrics have a light-hearted approach to them.  “Sparks Fire” continues this trend – positive, hopeful lyrics.  But other titles on “Speak Now” – like the songs “Dear John” and “Better Than Rejection” contain a slightly more angled message – dealing with rejection and betrayal.

Teaser: Taylor Swift releases a new album – filled with 14 tracks – all embodying her soft, country sensibilities. 

Information about the Author: Swift is one of the young stars of country music – and one star who has great crossover reach into more contemporary pop markets.  Releasing her first album at the tender age of 16, Swift’s first album (self-titled) produced five tracks reaching the Top Ten.  Although industry professionals discovered her in Nashville – a city that her family relocated to – Swift is originally from Pennsylvania.  Her second album (“Fearless”) went platinum – with “Speak Now” following with similar numbers.

Taylor also co-starred in the ensemble comedy “Valetine’s Day (2010) – a film by Garry Marshall – with Swift additionally contributing two songs to the movie’s soundtrack (MOG, 2011).  The 21-year-old performer represents a very successful musical artist, as Swift recent ranks (according to Forbes) indicate: 2009 earnings of $18 million, with 2010 and 2011 earnings of $45 million for each year (Wikipedia, 2011b).

Supplemental Material

Genre: Country / Pop

Curriculum Ties: Sociology/Psychology – relationships, pop culture, music business culture  

Booktalking Ideas: 1) Which songs on the album refer to real-life relationships – experienced by Taylor Swift? 2) The album length is over 67 minutes – how does that compare to Taylor’s two other albums?

Reading Level: Mostly a female audience – broad age demographic – though mostly ages 15 through 19.  

Challenge Issues and Defense: Hard to cite reasons against inclusion.  If any arise, the album’s strength is the high-demand/popularity of the album – along with Swift winning several industry awards.

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I wanted to include a different genre (i.e. country) to balance out my allowance of three musical entries.

Last Thoughts

References:

Amazon. (2011). Speak now [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Speak-Now-

Taylor-Swift/dp/B003WTE886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322358773&sr=8-1

Metrolyrics. (2011a). Mine lyrics [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/mine-

lyrics-taylor-swift.html

Metrolyrics. (2011b). Sparks fly [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/sparks-fly-

lyrics-taylor-swift.html

MOG. (2011). Taylor  Swift: Bio [Webpage]. Retrieved from

https://mog.com/artists/bio/mn289042/taylor-swift

Wikipedia. (2011a). Speak now [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_Now

Wikipedia. (2011b). Taylor Swift [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Taylor_Swift

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Hillsong United / Album – “Aftermath”