After previously announcing its release date during a mid-concert surprise on May 5, Taylor Swift finally released “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” — the much-anticipated re-recording of her 2010 album “Speak Now” — on Friday, July 7.
For those unfamiliar with her re-recording journey, Swift has undertaken the project of re-recording all of her old albums to own and have rightful control over the work that she has created. “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” marks the third album that Swift has re-recorded after previously releasing “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021.
“Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” includes all of the songs originally featured on “Speak Now” — except the song “If This Was A Movie,” which was instead re-recorded for “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” because it was the lone song on “Speak Now” not written completely by Swift. This omission in turn makes “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” Swift’s first entirely self-written album.
“Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” also includes six new “From The Vault” tracks that Swift previously wrote for “Speak Now,” but never made the final cut, which means six never before heard songs for me to intensely analyze.
I need to first preface this review with the fact that I am cursed with a forever case of song association, meaning that the moment I hear a new song I immediately search the extensive catalog of my mind to pick out every existing song it reminds me of.
No deep cut is safe – I am not afraid to reference an obscure movie soundtrack from 2008, or even an oddly similar-sounding song an artist released in the past. This also especially happens with Taylor Swift for me — this is not shade, I too would produce some near-duplicates if I had hundreds of songs to my name.
To not exhaust you with my research, I will be discussing three of my favorite “From The Vault Tracks:”
Speaking of near-duplicates, the introduction instrumental to “Electric Touch” immediately reminded me of Swift’s “State Of Grace” from “Red” — so much so that I almost started singing those lyrics instead.
It got especially eerie when Swift sang “Just one time, just one time,” at the end of the verse in the same melody as she sang “Just twin fire signs, four blue eyes” at the end of a verse in “State of Grace.” It is even more mind-blowing to realize that this song was written before “Red,” meaning that “Electric Touch” is the original — my timelines are crumbling before my eyes.
After doing what they do best, Swifties on Twitter have deduced that “When Emma Falls in Love” is most definitely about Emma Stone — one of Swift’s best friends at the time this song was written. While this immediately made me think of my favorite Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, the dates unfortunately do not line up.
Therefore, I am bringing forth my theory that this song is about Kieran Culkin — who Stone dated from 2009-2010 — because I like the idea of Roman Roy from “Succession” being in the Taylor Swift universe.
I knew this song was made for me even before Swift’s ex-boyfriend — and known Speak Now muse — Taylor Lautner, showed up mid-concert to backflip down Swift’s catwalk like a Tumbl Trak. Lautner also stars in Swift’s music video for this track, which gives me farfetched hope for any Harry Styles collaboration on “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” in the future.
