Selling over a million copies in its first week, Taylor Swift’s album, Speak Now, is emotionally laden and a mature reflection of what she has been through in the last of her teenage years. Strongly centred around the theme of love, Swift captures the mundane yet significant, once again.
Through hard-hitting words and strikingly transparent confessions, each song is meant to be a letter to someone. Taylor-made straight from her heart, these letters contain all she wishes she had said to them when she had the chance to, but did not. As the young, talented artist herself says, “I think most of us fear reaching the end of our life, and looking back regretting the moments we didn’t speak up. When we didn’t say, ‘I love you.’ When we should’ve said, ‘I’m sorry.’ And when we didn’t stand up for ourselves or someone who needed help.”
How many times have we wished we had the courage to say what was on our minds at that very moment, before the chance was lost forever? Speak Now is an encouragement to do so. There is much to be gleaned from that because sometimes we will never get a second chance to — and most of us do not have the prerogative of releasing an album to get our unspoken confessions across.
While there is a fair share of romantic, fairytale-esque songs, such as the beautiful and enthralling Enchanted, the upbeat and catchy Sparks Fly, and the dreamy If This Was A Movie, there is a darker side to Taylor’s album where she bares her soul in shocking clarity and nakedness. Through depressing and heavy songs like Dear John and Last Kiss, Taylor cordially invites us into her fragile world when it was a dark place of sorrow and heartache. It is honestly difficult to witness such a sweet, innocent young girl so full of and open to love, be hurt by the very thing she believes in. However, she has learnt since a young age to turn a bad situation into something good through the cathartic power of writing songs. In life, there is always beauty in pain. In Taylor’s case, without it, the characteristic music she creates, would cease to exist. And her soulful music has gone a long way indeed from her own heart into those of millions worldwide.
People who may underestimate who Taylor is as a writer should listen carefully to her lyrics which are deep, relatable and imbued with double meanings and truth. Some songs that are worthy of note include the sad ballad Back to December, where she mourns breaking the heart of a boy who loved her. A painful truth about breakups is embedded in the chorus: “Freedom ain’t nothing but missing you.” Mean, is a fun, country piece that will get your feet tapping. And Taylor strikes again with her double-edged words: “Someday I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me. And all you’re ever gonna be is mean.” Ours, is a sweet ‘love conquers all’ type song in which Taylor croons, “So don’t you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine, and life makes love look hard.”
Her songs are endearing also because they are clean — a refreshment from the crass, shallow lyrics that inundate our airwaves these days. For instance, in Sparks Fly, she requests, “Meet me in the pouring rain, kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain.” Or in Enchanted, her infatuation upon a first encounter, leads simply to: “This night is sparkling, don’t you let it go. I’m wonderstruck, blushing all the way home.” Following that is a simple wish, speaking for anyone who dislikes unrequited love (which is everyone, I suppose): “Please don’t be in love with someone else, please don’t have somebody waiting on you…” Simple and true, best describe Taylor’s words.
There is much power in an artist like Taylor to capture raw emotion and translate it into simple yet profound metaphors and unforgettable lyrics. She speaks for those who can’t, and voices their pain in volumes indescribable. Music and lyrics have such a lasting impact on listeners because of the inexplicable connections made, and the knowledge conveyed that they are not alone in their sufferings. Someone, whom they might possibly admire, has been there too, and is reaching out and healing through art.
No problem in life is too strange to understand, too foreign to apprehend. And music like Taylor Swift’s, bridges the gap.
