Maps of Music

Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (2023)

Where the lyrics of Speak Now (Taylor's Version) take you, and where it was really made.

This re-recording of Swift's 2010 album was made after a dispute over her old masters, and it knocked her own Midnights off the top of Australia's chart, making her the first act to replace itself at number one.

Key places

Recorded at Blackbird Studio, Nashville (2023)

Recording site Blackbird Studio — The album's recording locations list Blackbird Studio in Nashville as a place where the re-recordings were made. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at The Clubhouse, Rhinebeck (2023)

Recording site The Clubhouse — The album's recording locations list The Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, New York as one of the studios used for the recordings. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Electric Lady Studios, New York City (2023)

Recording site Electric Lady Studios — The album's recording locations list Electric Lady Studios in New York City as one of the studios used for the recordings. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded in the Hudson Valley (2023)

Recording site Long Pond Studio — The album's recording locations list Long Pond in the Hudson Valley as a place where the recordings were made; the point is set to the city center, not a building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded in Brooklyn (2023)

Recording site Rough Customer — The album's recording locations list Rough Customer in Brooklyn as a place where the recordings were made; the point is set to the city center, not a building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Rue Boyer, Paris (2023)

Recording site Rue Boyer — The album's recording locations list Rue Boyer in Paris as a place where the recordings were made. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Speak Now (Taylor's Version): third re-recorded album by Taylor Swift
• Released 7 July 2023 through Republic Records
• Re-records Swift's third studio album, Speak Now (2010)
• Part of the re-recording project that followed the 2019 dispute over her back catalog masters
• 22 tracks, all written solely by Swift
• 16 re-recorded tracks from the 2010 deluxe edition plus 6 previously unreleased "From the Vault" tracks
• Country pop and pop rock album with pop-punk, emo, and alternative rock elements

Background

• Big Machine Records released Swift's first six studio albums, from Taylor Swift (2006) to Reputation (2017)
• The original Speak Now was released on 25 October 2010 by Big Machine
• The original album was produced by Nathan Chapman
• By August 2018, Swift had signed a new contract with Republic Records
• In 2019 Scooter Braun's company Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine, and a public dispute with Swift followed
• Swift began re-recording her first six albums in November 2020
• The Speak Now re-recording was announced at the first Nashville show of the Eras Tour on 5 May 2023

Recording

• Swift produced all tracks on the album
• The re-recorded tracks were produced with Christopher Rowe
• The vault tracks were produced with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, who were each credited on three tracks
• Fall Out Boy features on "Electric Touch"; Hayley Williams features on "Castles Crumbling"
• In the re-recorded version, all original tracks sound heavier than the original

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania.
• Named after singer-songwriter James Taylor.
• Moved to Nashville area at 14 to pursue a country music career.
• Signed with Big Machine Records in 2005.

Career

• Debut album Taylor Swift (2006) peaked at number five on the US Billboard 200.
• Fearless (2008) spent eleven weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US.
• Shifted from country to pop with 1989 (2014), which spent eleven weeks at number one.
• Released Folklore and Evermore (2020), indie folk albums that debuted at number one.
• Re-recorded her first six albums after a dispute over her master recordings.
• The Eras Tour (2023–2024) became the highest-grossing concert tour of all time.
• Holds 14 Grammy Awards, including a record four Album of the Year wins.
• Named Time Person of the Year in 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: 81 out of 100 from 14 reviews, indicating universal acclaim
• AnyDecentMusic?: 7.6 out of 10 from 13 reviews, based on its assessment of the critical consensus
• Rolling Stone's Maura Johnston: the album "expands our image of a landmark album," with grittier production quality
• Rolling Stone UK critic Mark Sutherland: the empowering force and simmering hurt of the original "remains strikingly intact"
• The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, Slant Magazine, PopMatters, AllMusic, and The Times praised the crisper mix, emotional heft, added nuance of the vault songs, and refined vocals
• Spin's Bobby Olivier admired the album's "rock elegance" and Swift's "mature and textured vocal performance"
• American Songwriter and The Line of Best Fit praised the album's catharsis in portraying adolescence

Reappraisal

• The changed lyric in "Better than Revenge" was a common point of contention, with some reviews calling it unnecessary
• Others appreciated the change as in line with Swift's changed perspective as a grown woman
• The Guardian's Laura Snapes and Pitchfork's Vrinda Jagota said her voice is much richer than in 2010 and has lost its youthful twang and teenage angst
• Both still considered the evolved songwriting and musical consistency impressive

Records

• United States: two weeks atop the Billboard 200, Swift's 12th number-one album
• First-week figures: 716,000 album-equivalent units, including 507,000 sales
• Broke the record for the most single-day streams for a country album on Spotify
• UK Albums Chart debut at number one with 67,000 units, doubling first-week sales of the 2010 album
• Australia: ARIA Albums Chart number one, displacing Midnights; Swift's 11th number-one album
• Number one in Argentina, Belgian Flanders, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden
• All 22 tracks debuted on the Billboard Hot 100; "I Can See You" peaked highest at number five
• Certified four-times platinum by the RIAA
• Nominated for Top Country Album at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, losing to Morgan Wallen's One Thing at a Time

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The FBI's Washington, D.C. branch issued a mock back cover for the album on July 10, inviting social media users to submit tips about possible criminal activity.
• A temporary worker from Le Mans, France, was arrested for stealing 10 vinyl records of the album from a warehouse and selling them on Leboncoin; the worker was sentenced to eight months in prison.
• The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live hosted a pop-up exhibit from August 2 to September 18, 2023, displaying 11 of Swift's costumes and two of her instruments from the "I Can See You" music video.
• A digital deluxe edition released on July 13, 2023 added live recordings of "Dear John" and "Last Kiss" from the Eras Tour shows in Minneapolis and Kansas City.
• Universal Music Japan released two Japanese exclusive physical versions, a standard CD and a deluxe 7-inch jacket, on August 16, 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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