Her 2006 self-titled debut and 2008B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淔earlessB次元官网网址� had inspired both acclaim and criticism for her bold bridges and keen lyricism B次元官网网址� these are masterful country-pop songs, critics argued, but surely a teen idol wasnB次元官网网址檛 responsible for them. Swift proved her detractors wrong on B次元官网网址淪peak Now,B次元官网网址� an album that arrived just before her pivot from countryB次元官网网址檚 youngest hope to popB次元官网网址檚 freshest voice.
The album served as a close document of her nascent fame and future career ambitions, and now, 13 years on, itB次元官网网址檚 back. released Friday, is the third release of the six albums The TaylorB次元官网网址檚 Version albums, instigated by music manager Scooter BraunB次元官网网址檚 sale of her early catalog, represent SwiftB次元官网网址檚 effort to control her own songs and how theyB次元官网网址檙e used B次元官网网址� a fitting ethos for B次元官网网址淪peak Now,B次元官网网址� a record built exclusively of her own voice.
In preparation for B次元官网网址淪peak Now (TaylorB次元官网网址檚 Version),B次元官网网址� The Associated Press reached out to Taylor Swift scholars to discuss all the ways listeners can and should think about the release.
ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD
Before B次元官网网址淪peak NowB次元官网网址� became B次元官网网址淪peak Now,B次元官网网址� the working title was B次元官网网址淓nchanted,B次元官网网址� named after the power ballad of the same name. The mythology ( ) behind the shift is that SwiftB次元官网网址檚 label president at the time, Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta, to move on from whimsy and fairytale iconography B次元官网网址� she was entering her 20s and this LP warranted a more mature title.
Transition creates an interesting framework for thinking about this album: Written largely between the ages of 18 and 20, released when she turned 21, B次元官网网址淪peak NowB次元官网网址� is a collection of songs on a precipice B次元官网网址� of adulthood, of fame, of declaring ownership but still concerned with the subject matters that concern a young adult. There are crushes (B次元官网网址淪uperman,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淪parks FlyB次元官网网址�) and bittersweet breakups (B次元官网网址淏ack to December,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淚f This Was a MovieB次元官网网址�), alike.
B次元官网网址淵ou hear a youngness when you listen to these songs,B次元官网网址� says musicologist Lily Hirsch, author of B次元官网网址淐anB次元官网网址檛 Stop the Grrrls: Confronting Sexist Labels in Music from Ariana Grande to Yoko Ono.B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 all about these romantic relationships. The world hinges on all of that, which is so typical of that age. So, it is interesting hear the re-recordings bring a more mature voice to those earlier preoccupations.B次元官网网址�
Elizabeth Scala teaches a course on Taylor SwiftB次元官网网址檚 songbook at the University of Texas at Austin as an introduction to literary studies and research methods.
B次元官网网址淚 think B次元官网网址楽peak NowB次元官网网址� is still in the vein of B次元官网网址業 donB次元官网网址檛 have enough life experience at my ripe age of 18 to give you a fully autobiographical anything, but IB次元官网网址檓 going to use what I read and what I know from other people,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� she says of the songsB次元官网网址� lyrical content, which still manage to B次元官网网址渕ake really beautiful, coherent things out of the messiness and inaccuracy of our memories.B次元官网网址�
IN CONVERSATION WITH HER CRITICS AND CELEBRITY
Coming a year after Kanye West interrupted at the 2009 MTV B次元官网网址 Music Awards, B次元官网网址淪peak NowB次元官网网址� is the moment in SwiftB次元官网网址檚 career where she began to use her celebrity as a mirror to her interior life.
B次元官网网址淢ean,B次元官网网址� a takedown of a rock critic, becomes a banjo-led treatise on antagonism of any kind; the blues-y B次元官网网址淒ear JohnB次元官网网址� centers on a young womanB次元官网网址檚 tumultuous relationship with an older man.
B次元官网网址淚nsults are everywhere in music, and men donB次元官网网址檛 get the same flak for it,B次元官网网址� Hirsch says, in reference to B次元官网网址淒ear JohnB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淢ean.B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 this idea that women especially are supposed to take the high road, turn the other cheek and all of that, and men can get away with the low road, and they certainly do in music. ItB次元官网网址檚 a kind of double standard. Women are labeled B次元官网网址榗attyB次元官网网址� when confronting bad behavior, like in B次元官网网址楧ear John.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�
A common pastime among Swift fans is to unearth the identities of her songsB次元官网网址� subjects. But, to Scala, B次元官网网址渢he most boring way to think about Taylor Swift is in terms of her biography.B次元官网网址�
At a recent stop of her Eras Tour in Minneapolis, Swift seemed to agree, playing B次元官网网址淒ear JohnB次元官网网址� live for the after delivering this introduction:
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 33 years old. I donB次元官网网址檛 care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 except the songs I wrote and the memories we made together. So what IB次元官网网址檓 trying to tell you is, IB次元官网网址檓 not putting this album out so you 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.B次元官网网址�
Scala sees a throughline between this album and its successors, with B次元官网网址淒ear JohnB次元官网网址� as a precursor to and B次元官网网址淢eanB次元官网网址� as prescient to a song that parodies how sheB次元官网网址檚 been portrayed in the media.
REVISIONIST HISTORY
Much surrounding the re-recording of B次元官网网址淪peak NowB次元官网网址� has centered on B次元官网网址淏etter Than Revenge,B次元官网网址� a pop-punk song that takes aim at another woman instead of the man that wronged them both. It takes both sonic and thematic cues from ParamoreB次元官网网址檚 2007 pop-rock hit B次元官网网址淢isery Business,B次元官网网址� a similar song . (In fact, on B次元官网网址淪peak Now (TaylorB次元官网网址檚 Version),B次元官网网址� Paramore singer Hayley Williams lends vocals to a B次元官网网址渧aultB次元官网网址� song, B次元官网网址淐astles Crumbling.B次元官网网址�)
In the original chorus of B次元官网网址淏etter Than Revenge,B次元官网网址� Swift sings, B次元官网网址淪heB次元官网网址檚 an actress / SheB次元官网网址檚 better known for the things she does on the mattress,B次元官网网址� a rare lyrical misstep in a career underscored by poetic turns of phrases (in the opener B次元官网网址淢ine,B次元官网网址� she sings B次元官网网址淵ou made a rebel of a careless manB次元官网网址檚 careful daughterB次元官网网址�). In her 2023 B次元官网网址淏etter Than RevengeB次元官网网址� version, the lyric becomes B次元官网网址淗e was a moth to the flame / She was holding the matches.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淚f we think about 2010, slut-shaming rhetoric certainly existed in movies and shows. SheB次元官网网址檚 certainly not the only one who has done this at that time,B次元官网网址� Hirsch argues, quick to point out that Swift has also been the target of sexist vitriol.
SwiftB次元官网网址檚 alteration of the song in her re-recording follows a lineage of other pop stars doing the same. and to songs deemed offensive. Weird Al no longer performs his Michael Jackson parodies. And because Swift hasnB次元官网网址檛 performed B次元官网网址淏etter Than RevengeB次元官网网址� live for well over a decade, she hasnB次元官网网址檛 needed to confront this particular song, in this particular way.
B次元官网网址淲e are willing to replace the old version with TaylorB次元官网网址檚 Versions because they are exact replicas, as much as they can be,B次元官网网址� Scala argues. B次元官网网址淚f she does something different, it becomes a different song.B次元官网网址� A different song, this time, owned by Swift.
ART EVOLVES WITH TIME
B次元官网网址淔rom a literary historianB次元官网网址檚 point of view, when you first hear B次元官网网址楽peak Now,B次元官网网址� you could only look at her career up to that point: It meant something in her creative timeline,B次元官网网址� says Scala. B次元官网网址淎nd now we have the rest of her career to compare it to, so itB次元官网网址檚 hard to listen to the record the same way. You can compare it to the older recording, but its deeper and richer.B次元官网网址�
Technology has changed from 2010. So has Swift: Her voice has matured, no longer possessing the sweet self-restraint that colored her earliest releases.
Each release comes with a few B次元官网网址淔rom the VaultB次元官网网址� tracks, unreleased songs from each albumB次元官网网址檚 period reimagined for the current moment. They, too, give a fuller picture.
AN EXERCISE IN ARTISTIC AUTONOMY
Beyond all of the music and cultural considerations, the fact is: Taylor Swift is re-recording this album to own her work, like she is doing with so many of her records B次元官网网址� but this is the only album in her discography that is entirely self-penned, the one celebrated for its dismissals of exploitative male characters and poetic embrace of girlhood.
In fact, itB次元官网网址檚 hard not to think of B次元官网网址淐ouldB次元官网网址檝e, WouldB次元官网网址檝e, ShouldB次元官网网址檝eB次元官网网址� from her where Swift sings B次元官网网址淕ive me back my girlhood, it was mine first,B次元官网网址� as a self-reflection of her B次元官网网址淪peak NowB次元官网网址� self. That track is a creative reclamation of the teen who wrote B次元官网网址淒ear JohnB次元官网网址� as an adult; B次元官网网址淪peak Now (TaylorB次元官网网址檚 Version)B次元官网网址� is the literal reclamation.
B次元官网网址淥wning these masters, she decided to take back that control,B次元官网网址� Hirsch says. B次元官网网址淚 love what it communicates: that we all have power, we donB次元官网网址檛 have to just sit back and take these situations, especially when it concerns our own voice.B次元官网网址�
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
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