Taylor Swift’s New Re-Release Comes With Major Baggage
If it hasn’t already been established that 2023 is the Year of Taylor Swift, the world will presumably stop once again when she releases Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on July 7.
Despite its relative lack of awards fare and chart-topping singles, Swift’s third album, Speak Now, is perhaps the most significant one in her extensive catalog. Released in 2010, it’s the first and only album Swift penned entirely herself after critics questioned her songwriter bona fides. More importantly, it marked her transition from an acclaimed country singer to a mainstream celebrity, thanks to her high-profile dating life (thus beginning her heavily mocked tradition of not-so-subtly targeting her famous exes in her songs).
That last point is already making the album’s upcoming re-release somewhat fraught, as Speak Now is rife with confessional lyrics alluding to celebrities like John Mayer. During her Eras Tour concert in Minneapolis last weekend, the singer pleaded with fans to stop harassing the presumed subject of Speak Now’s fifth track, “Dear John,” before performing the piercing tell-off ballad live for the first time since 2012.