Taylor Swift
Label: Big Machine Records
Release Date: October 25, 2010
Tracks:
1. Mine
2. Sparks Fly
3. Back to December
4. Speak Now
5. Dear John
6. Mean
7. The Story of Us
8. Never Grow Up
9. Enchanted
10. Better than Revenge
11. Innocent
12. Haunted
13. Last Kiss
14. Long Live
15. Ours [Deluxe Edition]
16. If This Was a Movie[Deluxe Edition]
17. Superman [Deluxe Edition]
18. Back to December (acoustic) [Deluxe Edition]
19. Haunted (acoustic) [Deluxe Edition]
20. Mine (pop mix) [Deluxe Edition]
Covers
Booklet
Album Photoshoot
Singles
Mine
Back To December
Mean
The Story Of Us
Sparks Fly
Ours
Music Videos
Reviews
She writes from the perspective of the moment yet has the skill of a songwriter beyond her years. – AllMusic
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She makes memorable music by honing in on the tiny stuff: the half-notes in a hummed phrase, the lyrical images that communicate precisely what it’s like to feel uncomfortable, or disappointed, or happy. – Los Angeles Times
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Swift has come far enough as her own artist to make Speak Now the best pop record of the year. – Sputnik Music
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“Speak Now” is also a bravura work of nontransparent transparency. It’s the most savage of her career, and also the most musically diverse. And it’s excellent too, possibly her best. – The New York Times
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Awards & Nominations
Guinness World Record – Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist (2010)American Music Awards – Favourite Country Album (2011)
Billboard Music Awards – Top Country Album (2011)
Canadian Country Music Association – Top Selling Album (2011)
Academy of Country Music Awards – Album of the Year (2011)
American Country Awards – Album of the Year (2011)
Billboard Music Awards – Top Billboard 200 Album (2011)
Country Music Association Awards – Album of the Year (2011)
Juno Award – International Album of the Year (2011)
Grammy Awards – Best Country Album (2012)
Sirus XM Indie Awards – International Album of the Year (2012)
Certifications
Country | Certification | Units |
Australia (ARIA) | 2× Platinum | 140,000 |
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) | Gold | 20,000 |
Canada (Music Canada) | 3x Platinum | 240,000 |
Ireland (IRMA) | 2× Platinum | 30,000 |
Japan (RIAJ) | Gold | 100,000 |
New Zealand (RMNZ) | Platinum | 30,000 |
Norway (IFPI Norway) | Gold | 15,000 |
United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 100,000 |
United States (RIAA) | 6× Platinum | 4,680,000 |
Track List
Liner Notes
‘Speak now or forever hold your peace,’ the words said by preachers at the end of wedding ceremonies all over the world, right before the vows. It’s a last chance for protest, a moment that makes everyone’s heart race, and a moment I’ve always been strangely fascinated by. So many fantasize about bursting into a church, saying what they’d kept inside for years like in the movies. In real life, it rarely happens.
Real life is a funny thing, you know. In real life, saying the right thing at the right moment is beyond crucial. So crucial, in fact, that most of us start to hesitate, for fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately what I’ve begun to fear more than that is letting the moment pass without saying anything.
I think most of us fear reaching the end of our life, and looking back regretting the moments we didn’t speak up. When we didn’t say ‘I love you.’ When we should’ve said ‘I’m sorry.’ When we didn’t stand up for ourselves or someone who needed help.
These songs are made up of words I didn’t say when the moment was right in front of me. These songs are open letters. Each is written with a specific person in mind, telling them what I meant to tell them in person. To the beautiful boy whose heart I broke in December. To my first love who I never thought would be my first heartbreak. To my band. To a mean man I used to be afraid of. To someone who made my world very dark for a while. To a girl who stole something of mine. To someone I forgive for what he said in front of the whole world.
Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together. I hope you use yours for good, because the only words you’ll regret more than the ones left unsaid are the ones you use to intentionally hurt someone.
What you say might be too much for some people. Maybe it will come out all wrong and you’ll stutter and you’ll walk away embarrassed, wincing as you play it all back in your head. But I think the words you stop yourself from saying are the ones that will haunt you the longest.
So say it to them. Or say it to yourself in the mirror. Say it in a letter you’ll never send or in a book millions might read someday. I think you deserve to look back on your life without a chorus of resounding voices saying ‘I could’ve, but it’s too late now.’
There is a time for silence. There is a time waiting your turn. But if you know how you feel, and you so clearly know what you need to say, you’ll know it.
I don’t think you should wait. I think you should speak now.
Love, Taylor
PS: To all the boys who inspired this album, you should’ve known. ;)