32 and still growing up now: 13 years later, Taylor Swift releases Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

First released in 2010, Speak Now was Taylor Swift’s third studio album when she was just starting her career. Single-handedly written by Swift between the ages of 18 and 20, Speak Now tells stories of “whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas, and tragedies” that the singer lived during her early years of exploring and experiencing love.

“The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions, and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing... and living to speak about it,” Swift describes the history behind the album.

Thirteen years later, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was released on July 7, 2023, and is now available on all streaming platforms. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is the artist’s third re-recording album after Red (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) which came out in 2021. The album was first announced last May 5, 2023, at Taylor’s first Nashville show of The Eras Tour.

Taylor’s Version of Speak Now includes 16 re-recorded versions of the album’s deluxe edition and six brand-new unreleased songs to cry over at night and daydream about in the morning. The songs "Electric Touch" and "Castles Crumbling" features guest vocals from Hayley Williams of Paramore and the American rock band Fall Out Boy.

The album's opening vault track, "Electric Touch" is a song about a love so intense that it makes you think of how much it will hurt even when it is still there. It is the kind of love that either saves you, or breaks you. After a long history of loving and getting hurt, this love ignited the hope you once had, that maybe love is not always so bad. Maybe this time, it will last a lifetime.

Followed by “When Emma Falls In Love”, the song tells the tale of young Emma and her passionate, heartfelt, and sincere love. Emma is described as someone who waits and takes her time, a kind of book that you cannot put down. Just like many of us, Emma is someone who loves hard because it is in her nature to give love. Oftentimes, when love gets painful, we blame ourselves for “giving too much”. But in reality, those who love more never lose; we only gain so much more of what we already have.

Thrilled by the rush of teenage love, “I Can See You” is about the adventures one takes on when they are in love. The recklessness, excitement, emotional flurry, and everything in between.

When you ask someone what their greatest fear is, maybe they would answer great heights or wild animals. On the other hand, “Castles Crumbling” is about one’s deadliest fear—to have everything fall apart for one mistake. The song describes how, in an instant, she was viewed by everyone as a monster whose bridges were on fire. She lost everything she had achieved and who she was. That is the unfortunate truth of life—no matter how good you are, people will always turn their backs on you because, in their eyes, one bad thing outweighs all of your good.

The second-to-last vault track on the album, “Foolish One”, narrates the story of hopeless romantics who are so blinded by the idea of love that they do not realize how much it already takes a part of them. It serves as a gentle reminder for everyone to not beg for a love that is not made for you; the love you deserve will find its way to you, and you won’t have to fight for it with a sharp-edged knife.

Some believe in destiny and fate, some do not. “Timeless”, the album’s last vault track, is about two lovers who believe they still would have found one another in every universe that came before this. The song’s lyric video involves pictures of Swift’s grandmother, Marjorie. It is believed that the song is inspired by her grandmother’s first love, her grandparents’ love story—timeless, like their relationship. One that will continue to search for you no matter what, no matter when, and no matter where.

Besides love and its gory rollercoaster ride, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is not all about romance and heartaches, it is also along the lines of what it is like to grow up in this scary world we live in. “Innocent” is like the older sister we never had reassuring us that even if things do not go our way, even when our days get bad, we would always be fine. It is a song that forgives us for things that we cannot forgive ourselves for. “Never Grow Up” is a letter from our future selves reminding us to enjoy what we have now and not rush life because once we grow up, we will always wish for the days when life was simpler. “Mean” is a song for everyone who is stepped on for being who they are. It is s a song for us to look back on once all our enemies look at us with admiration for being someone they never thought they would look up to. “Long Live”, a song that Swift dedicates to her fans, is the journey of who she started with and who she will always be with: you, me, and us.

Thirteen years after its first release, Speak Now and Speak Now (Taylor's Version) still rule the charts and are streamed by millions of people worldwide. Speak Now may be about Taylor’s stories of whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas, and tragedies, but for us, it is an introspective space for all the things we wish we could speak about, but never do. A sense of comfort that gets us through the day, a best friend that brings us back to life.