Taylor Swift in March 2011.Photo:Dave Hogan/Getty
Dave Hogan/Getty
Taylor Swiftis ready toSpeak Now—again—with her rerecorded version of the album.
“I first madeSpeak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20,”Swift wrote on Instagramwhen she announcedSpeak Now (Taylor’s Version).
A loose concept album about the times she wishes she had spoken up, Swift previouslyteased toSongwriter Universemagazinethat each song is meant to serve as “a different confession to a different person.”
In addition to writing songs about her family and her fans, Swift also pens several songs about her public heartbreaks and adversaries.
From “Dear John” to “Last Kiss,” here’s everything Swift has said about the inspirations behind herSpeak Nowsongs.
“Mine”
Taylor Swift in June 2010.Ed Rode/Nashville Rising/Getty
Ed Rode/Nashville Rising/Getty
Swift previously toldRolling Stonethat the lead single fromSpeak Nowwas about “a boy I liked at a certain time” and detailed “what it would be like if I actually let my guard down.”
“After I wrote the song, things sort of fell apart, as things so often do. And I hadn’t talked to him in a couple months. And the song came out, and that day, I got an email from him. And I was like, ‘Yes!’ Because that one was sort of half-confession and half-prediction or projection of what I saw.”
“Sparks Fly”
Taylor Swift; Jake Owen.Denise Truscello/WireImage; Rick Diamond/WireImage
Denise Truscello/WireImage; Rick Diamond/WireImage
Though Swift hasn’t shared much about the inspiration behind “Sparks Fly” in interviews, she did give a big clue when she wrote “Portland, OR” as the hidden message in the song’s liner notes.
Eagle-eyed Swifties later foundan old Myspace post from October 2006, nearly a year before she started performing the song live, in which she recalled an “amazing” night playing in a Portland bar called Duke’s, where she opened for country singerJake Owen.
In the post, she also talked about getting to meet Owen during his soundtrack, where he raved about being a big fan of Swift’s music. Fans have also pointed out that the original “Sparks Fly” lyrics talked about falling in love in an empty bar, which could be a reference to Duke’s where they played.
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner in October 2009.Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage
Thanks to several pointed references in the lyrics, many assumed this breakup track was about Swift’s brief romance with herValentine’s Daycostar Taylor Lautner,from whom she split in December 2009. But it wasLautner himself who later confirmed the song is about him.
So is he sweating now thatSpeak Now (Taylor’s Version)is on the horizon? “I think it’s a great album,“he told TODAY.com in May. “Yeah, I feel safe. Praying for John [Mayer].”
“Speak Now”
Taylor Swift in November 2011.Larry Busacca/Getty
Larry Busacca/Getty
Unlike some of her other tracks on the album, Swift previously noted that “Speak Now” was actually written about a close friend. “One of my friends … the guy she had been in love with since childhood was marrying this other girl,“she told Yahoo! Music in 2010.
“And my first inclination was to say, ‘Well, are you gonna speak now?’ And then I started thinking about what I would do if I was still in love with someone who was marrying someone who they shouldn’t be marrying. And so I wrote this song about exactly what my game plan would be.”
“Dear John”
John Mayer and Taylor Swift perform together in December 2009.Theo Wargo/WireImage
Theo Wargo/WireImage
Swift’s breakup track is rumored to be abouther brief romance with John Mayer, partly because of the title (which is also a reference to a “Dear John” letter, a common idiom referring to a woman ending a relationship with her partner) but also because of the lyrics which make reference to their age gap. Swift was 19 at the time, while Mayer was 31.
Though Swift declined to comment on who the song was about while speaking to PEOPLE in 2010, noting the track was “a tough one to write,” Mayer later hinted he was the inspiration ashe talked toRolling Stoneabout how the song “really humiliated” him.
“It made me feel terrible,” Mayer told the publication. “Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do.”
“I’m not putting this album out so that you can go and should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 billion years ago when I was 19,” she continued. “I do not care. We have all grown up. We are good.”
“Mean”
Taylor Swift in February 2012.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Lefsetz also addressed the song on his blog,the Lefsetz Letter, following its release. “Here I am giving Taylor Swift the publicity she desires. She won,” he wrote at the time.
He continued, “But she still can’t sing and isn’t it time to start acting like an adult? To cast off the high school persona and fly as a woman instead of darting around like a little girl? That’s what’s got everybody’s eyes rolling, her aw shucks/ohmygod! look when she strides onto the stage to earsplitting applause. Taylor got to live out her adolescent fantasy. Can she now be a woman singing about womanly issues?”
In a full-circle moment, Swift performed the song live at the 2012 Grammys, and received a standing ovation from the audience.
“The Story of Us”
Taylor Swift; John Mayer.Jason Merritt/Getty
Jason Merritt/Getty
Duringa previous interview withUSA Today, Swift told the publication that “Dear John” and “The Story of Us” are about the same person, insinuating that the latter is also about Mayer.
“The Story of Us is about running into someone I had been in a relationship with at an awards show, and we were seated a few seats away from each other,” she told the publication. “I just wanted to say to him, ‘Is this killing you? Because it’s killing me.’ But I didn’t. Because I couldn’t. Because we both had these silent shields up.”
The song is rumored to be about Swift and Mayer’s appearance at the 2010 CMT Awards, where they sat near each other. Swift seemingly confirmed the theory as she wrote “CMT Awards” as the hidden message in the liner notes.
“Never Grow Up”
Scott, Taylor and Andrea Swift in 2013.Rick Diamond/ACMA2013/Getty
Rick Diamond/ACMA2013/Getty
Swift has previously stated that she wrote the song when she was about 18 or 19 years old, which was around the time she moved out of her parents' house and purchased her first home in Nashville. The song details the trials of growing up as well as getting older and being on your own.
“‘Never Grow Up’ is a song about the fact that I don’t quite know how I feel about growing up. It’s tricky,” Swift reportedly wrote on her website,according to Genius.
“Growing up happens without you knowing it. Growing up is such a crazy concept because a lot of times when you were younger you wish you were older. I look out into a crowd every night and I see a lot of girls that are my age and going through exactly the same things as I’m going through. Every once in a while I look down and I see a little girl who is 7 or 8, and I wish I could tell her all of this. There she is becoming who she is going to be and forming her thoughts and dreams and opinions. I wrote this song for those little girls.”
“Enchanted”
Taylor Swift; Adam Young.Kevin Winter/Getty; Tim Mosenfelder/Getty
Kevin Winter/Getty; Tim Mosenfelder/Getty
Swift later teased the person’s identity when she wrote “ADAM” as the hidden message in the song’s liner notes. In February 2011, Owl City singer Adam Young seemingly confirmed the lyrics were about him ashe wrote about the track on his band’s blog(and recorded his own version of the song in response).
“Better Than Revenge”
Taylor Swift; Camilla Belle.Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
The song was said to be about a woman who datedSwift’s ex Joe Jonasfollowing their split — andfans zeroed on on actress Camilla Belle due to the timing.Though Swift hasn’t directly addressed who the song is about, Belle seemingly made reference to theSpeak Nowtrack followingSwift’s public feud with Kanye Westand Kim Kardashian.
Amid the back-and-forth between West, Kardashian and Swift that ensued when Kardashian posted videos that appeared to be of a conversation between Swift and West about his song “Famous,” Belle obliquely weighed in on social media.
“No need for revenge,” she wrote, seemingly making a nod to “Better Than Revenge.” “Just sit back & wait. Those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re lucky, God will let you watch.”
In the Taylor’s Version of the song, Swift has sinceswapped out the offending lyrics.
“Innocent”
Kanye West and Taylor Swift in September 2009.Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Swift wrote “Innocent” as a response to the infamous 2009 VMAs incident between her and Kanye West,in which he interrupted her acceptance speech to declare that Beyoncé’s video should have won instead. “I think a lot of people expected me to write a song about [West],” she toldNYMag.com. “But, for me, it was important to write a song to him.”
“It doesn’t really add anything good if I start victimizing myself and complaining about things. Because I’m proud of that performance at the VMAs last year, where my fans helped me get through it,” she explained,referring to the fact that she went on to perform live shortly after. “And there was a lot that went down backstage that I will always be thankful for, and the fans in the subway know exactly what happened that night. I feel everything. I’ve never had this thick skin that can’t be… It’s not like I am bulletproof in any sense of the word.”
“Haunted”
Taylor Swift in August 2011.Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Ina previous blog post on her website, Swift explained that “Haunted” was written “about the moment that you realize the person you’re in love with is drifting and fading fast. And you don’t know what to do, but in that period of time, in that phase of love, where it’s fading out, time moves so slowly. Everything hinges on what that last text message said, and you’re realizing that he’s kind of falling out of love.”
She added, “That’s a really heartbreaking and tragic thing to go through, because the whole time you’re trying to tell yourself it’s not happening. I went through this, and I ended up waking up in the middle of the night writing this song about it.”
This theory was further fueled in 2022 when director Chris Weitz revealed thatSwift’s team fought hard for the singer to be a part of the moviebut that ultimately they had to turn her down.
“Taylor Swift and I had the same agent at the time, and he said, ‘Taylor would like to be in this movie — not because of you, but she’s a Twi-hard,'” Weitz said. In the end, he said, he thought her presence would be too much of a distraction in the movie.
“Last Kiss”
Taylor Swift and Joe Jonas in 2008.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Asshe recounted onThe Ellen DeGeneres Show, Swift wrote the song “Forever and Always” in the wake of her breakup with Joe Jonas and rushed it onto theFearlessalbum. So when the words “forever and always” appeared as the hidden message in theSpeak Nowliner notes for “Last Kiss”, fans had a pretty good idea who this song was about.
Jonas was later spotted at several of Swift’s Speak Now Tour shows, including San Jose, California, during which she wrote, “After all that we’ve been through, I know we’re cool,” fromGwen Stefani’s song “Cool” on her arm. (And they’re in their “supportive exes” era these days.)
“Long Live”
Taylor Swift in March 2011.Dave Hogan/Getty
“The fans, the people who I feel that we are all in this together, this song talks about the triumphant moments that we’ve had in the last two years,” she wrote in part. “‘Long Live’ is about how I feel reflecting on it. This song for me is like looking at a photo album of all the award shows, and all the stadium shows, and all the hands in the air in the crowd. It’s sort of the first love song that I’ve written to my team.”
“Ours”
John Mayer in October 2010.Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Swift previouslyrevealed on an episode of VH1’sStorytellersthat she wrote the song “Ours” about a “guy nobody thought [she] should be with.”
“So I wrote this song specifically just to play it for him, just to show him, ‘I don’t care what anyone says,” she added. “I don’t care that you have tattoos. I don’t care that you have a gap between your teeth. I love you for who you are.’ And that song ended up actually making it on a record [Speak Now] and becoming a No. 1 song.”
“Superman”
Taylor Swift in June 2010.Larry Busacca/WireImage
Larry Busacca/WireImage
Fans have assumed the song is about Mayer as one of the lyrics, “loved you from the very first day,” was the hidden message in the liner notes for “Dear John.”
“Electric Touch”
“Electric Touch” is the first vault track fromSpeak Now (Taylor’s Version)featuring Fall Out Boy. Though Swift hasn’t revealed too much about the inspiration behind the song, she did gush aboutgetting to work with the bandon the track ahead of its release.
“SinceSpeak Nowwas all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album,” she wrote in June.
The band has a long history together as they previously performed together at the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Lead singer Patrick Stump also made a special guest appearance during Taylor Swift’sRedTour.
“When Emma Falls in Love”
Fans believe the Emma behind Swift’s love song is her close friend, Emma Stone, whoshe first met in 2008about two years beforeSpeak Nowwas originally released. While some have theorized that the track is aboutStone’s previous relationship with Andrew Garfield, the song’s liner notes show the song was actually written in 2010, insinuating that it could actually be about Stone’s relationship with Kieran Culkin, whoshe dated from 2010 to 2011.
During the Eras Tour on July 7, Swift confirmed she wrote the song about one of her best friends as she performed it as a surprise song, furthering rumors that theLa La Landactress was the inspiration.
“I Can See You”
Swift’s vault track, “I Can See You,” details the singer pining after a love interest. Though Swift hasn’t said too much about the song’s inspiration, it is one of the three vault tracks she produced alongsidelongtime collaborator Jack Antonoff.
“Castles Crumbling”
“Castles Crumbling,” which Swift sings with Paramore’s Hayley Williams, seems to detail the pressures she faced growing up in the spotlight around the timeSpeak Nowwas originally released, including living up to the success of her Grammy-winning albumFearlessand having her personal life became much more publicized.
“Foolish One”
Meanwhile, some believe Swift could be singing about Joe Jonas as the bridge references her former love interest moving on with someone else — “‘Cause you got her on your arm and me in the wings / I’ll get your longing glances, but she’ll get your ring” — and draws parallels to her “Mr. Perfectly Fine” lyrics, “‘Cause I hear he’s got his arm ‘round a brand-new girl / I’ve been pickin’ up my heart, he’s been pickin’ up her.”
“Timeless”
“Timeless” seems to detail the love story of Swift’s maternal grandparents, Marjorie Finlay and Robert Finlay, as the lyric video features many photos and home videos of them. Swift previously wrote about her grandmother onEvermorewith the track “Marjorie,” which details how Swift looked up to her growing up.
source: people.com
