Part I: Bibliographic information
Title: Speak Now
Artist: Taylor Swift
Producer(s): Nathan Chapman
Writer(s): Taylor Swift
Label: Big Machine Records
Copyright Date: October 25, 2010
US Billboard 200 Rank (1):
Reading Level/Interest Age: 12 - 22
ASIN: B003WTE886
Part I: Listener’s Annotation, Track List, Critical Evaluation
Listener’s Annotation -- Taylor’s third album is a sentimental collection of country songs about love, heartbreak and childhood reflections. She wrote all 14 songs herself and received favorable feedback from critics for her efforts -- it’s an album that younger country fans can sing along with and cozy up to their sweetheart with.
Track List --
Track List --
- Mine
- Sparks Fly
- Back to December
- Speak Now
- Dear John
- Mean
- The Story of Us
- Never Grow Up
- Enchanted
- Better Than Revenge
- Innocent
- Haunted
- Last Kiss
- Long Live
Critical Evaluation -- This is the third album of teen country pop phenom Taylor Swift, who was just twenty when this album was released in 2010. She wrote all 14 of the songs on the album. That feat alone sets her apart from a handful of teenie boppers who have hit the big time before reaching the legal drinking age. This album may not be pure country but it’s definitely features country sound and feel from start to finish. Swift still writes from the perspective of a young person. In Innocent, she looks back on childhood and its innocences and the memories we take from that time. Others like Mine and Enchanted speak to young love that falls into disrepair -- these have a certain innocence but not entirely naive of the difficulties life has to serve up. Mean is about a father who cannot be nice to his son who survives by dreaming of the big city where he’ll make it someday. Dear John is about falling in love with someone who she cannot please -- this is perhaps her most moving song on the album and certainly the most polished. One the whole, Speak Now is an album you can listen to more than once -- and, as she heads into a less innocent phase of her career, one we can revisit to remember how she was when she somehow emerged overnight success story.
Part III: Author Info
Born in 1989 in Pennsylvania, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift became a country superstar in her late teens. She began her career with RCA but split at 15 over their unwillingness to cut an album. She had relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue her career -- and soon signed with Big Machine Records, a smallish label that was willing to give her a record deal and in whom her father invested. She has hit the charts with a multitude of singles and, finally, released a self-titled debut album, Taylor Swift, in October 2006. She toured extensively with the hit album and later opened for George Strait, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley, establishing her place along side the country rock’s new generation of stars. She has four albums and is on tour in 2013 in support of her album 22 (2013), which is pop-influenced and filled with upbeat tunes and a bit of humor, too.
“Hi, I'm Taylor. I've been alive for 20 years now, and I finally have my own kitchen. I'm very excited about this, and generally excited by anything else that falls into the "cute" or "cozy" categories. I learned to play guitar when I was twelve fro m this guy named Ronnie who came over to fix my parents' computer. I like quilts. But that's probably because I'm always freezing cold. I LOVE Nashville. That's where I live, when I'm lucky enough to be there. I love the town so much, I sometimes feel like I should just roll the windows down in my car...and scream "I LOVE THIS TOWN" loudly out the windows....I over-think and over-plan and over-organize. I've been like this since I was a baby, before I was gigantically tall and over-talkative” (Swift, 2013).
Part IV: Curriculum Ties, Diversity, Booktalk Ideas, Challenge Issues
Curriculum Ties, if any -- n/a
Diversity of Cultures -- Country music is about as far from diversity as it gets. But I will say that some kids in rural areas are into country and not so into urban hip hop. So in that way this album and artist provide an alternative.
Booktalking Ideas -- n/a
Challenge Issues -- Not much here to get very upset with except if you are one of those Taylor Swift’ haters.
Part V: Reasons chosen
Taylor Swift kept creeping back onto my list both in terms of being a fan favorite and an artist who actually has worked to get where she’s at. She is 22 years old now and still a rising star in music. A unique thing about Swift is that she more often than not writes her own lyrics and some of them are even good! All fourteen songs on Speak Now (2010) were written by Swift, according to her publicity agents -- that’s pretty impressive for a young pop star since many of them farm out the writing and composition. In fact, it’s reported that she left RCA at 15 to get more control of her career and that gritty self-determination paid off big time. As her third album, Speak Now really impressed me as one that young adults who are more inclined to country music would really like. I enjoyed the entire album and really felt a few songs are more than worthy. She explores themes love (Back to December, Sparks Fly) and life (Never Grow Up, Long Live) in a touching and memorable songs that are easy on the ears. Her recent album Red (2013), for which she is now on tour, takes her to new territory that’s less country and more pop. So this is the one that will always ring true as the ‘Taylor Swift’ sound that brought her teen fame and the fandome of millions of young people who enjoy her albums.
Part VI: Citations
Swift, T. (n.d.). About the artist. Amazon. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Speak-Now-Taylor-Swift/dp/B003WTE886/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1368719170&sr=1-2&keywords=Taylor+Swift
Hughes, Donna. (2010). Taylor Swift Reveals Track Listing for ‘Speak Now’. The Boot [website]. Retrieved from http://www.theboot.com/2010/09/22/taylor-swift-speak-now-track-list/
Taylor Swift. (n.d.) Wikipedia [website]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift
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