Well done to Coatigan.
The Album Review Club
Speak Now - Taylor Swift (2010)
EDITOR’S CHOICE
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The idea with an editor’s choice is to select an album that will generate discussion. This is only the 3rd such selection, the 2nd by me, and I want to make the editor’s choice different from my personal picks, ensuring that it is an artist that everybody has heard of.
I’m sure it won’t have escaped people’s notice that Taylor Swift is currently the biggest artist in the world in terms of album/song streams, live tours and social media coverage. She’s had a few mentions on this thread and even a “threat” to nominate one of her albums (although not by me).
Whilst before this pick I was familiar with a lot of the songs from this album, I’d never sat down and listened to it from beginning to end. I’ll be reviewing it along with all of you so won’t say too much about it, but I’ll say a few things by way of introduction.
After gaining support with her first two albums,
Fearless winning the Grammy for album of the year, rising country artist Taylor Swift leaned more into classic rock/pop for her third album,
Speak Now. Whilst there are a few songs that betray her country roots, this is an album of big songs, big choruses with large arena performances in mind. All the songs on
Speak Now were written by Taylor Swift without the need for co-writers, a move that silenced some critics who questioned her songwriting ability.
She may currently be the biggest artist in the world, but she’s never been judged in the Blue Moon court of opinion, so it’s your chance to speak now.
Note on version
It’s well known that due to a dispute with her former manager over song ownership, Taylor Swift has been releasing re-recorded versions of all of her earlier albums. With this dispute now settled, and the artists now owning the rights to all her songs, we will be listening to the original version of Speak Now
and not the “Taylor’s Version” release.
