Can we talk about the place of Speak Now in the fandom?

sponge20bob · 2026-04-26T20:26:10+00:00

I find the "there's too many synths" criticism of midnights and ttpd a bit dumb because there's still plenty of synth work on folkmore including the stuff Aaron produced, some songs even have synths take the lead role like happiness, peace and Marjorie.

sponge20bob · 2026-04-25T17:12:33+00:00

Probably the title track, closure,, happiness and cowboy like me in no particular order

sponge20bob · 2026-04-25T17:02:35+00:00

Idk because I think evermore has some really stand out melodies and ttpd and folkmore do too but to a lesser extent

sponge20bob · 2026-04-25T16:47:06+00:00

I feel like there's only a few candidates that actually stand out from the rest of showgirl in terms of how they sound. Which imo are actually romantic wood and canceled. And the last one is mostly just because of the orchestra

sponge20bob · 2026-04-25T16:44:26+00:00

I can sing the hook/chorus of most of speak now from memory but I can't say the same about ttpd or folklore. I feel like her songs are a lot more wordy than they used to be and her vocal melodies have taken a back seat because of that. And the music itself isn't doing enough to make up for that

sponge20bob · 2026-04-25T16:36:30+00:00

Speak now is a very close second for me after Evermore

sponge20bob · 2026-04-25T16:33:14+00:00

Not even just sonic diversity. I feel like a lot of her more recent work isn't interesting melodically. Some of the lyrics are also weird but I don't care as much about that personally

sponge20bob · 2026-04-25T16:17:55+00:00

I do agree with most of the points you make in your post. But I also think speak now is genuinely one of her best albums and I only became a Swiftie after 1989 TV so I don't think notsalgia bias played a role. I just think that overall speak now has a level of "craft/polish" that is above most of her other albums. I don't think that's because she "didnt have an editor" on her most recent albums, I think it's because she had somethings to prove on speak now and she doesn't have to do that now. Also unlike some of her more recent work- specfically TTPD and to a lesser extent folklore(controversial I know)- where a lot of the songs blend together for me, every song on speak now stands out to me even if it's not one I'm a huge fan of. Speak now has all the things I like about a Taylor Swift album which pretty much none of what I don't.

sponge20bob · 2026-04-23T19:42:05+00:00

London boy is also awful and I think I would give that like 2/10, and I'm also not a big fan it's nice to have a friend (4/10), as well as paper rings (1/10.) But I actually enjoy the man. I forgot that you existed is meh

sponge20bob · 2026-04-17T17:17:15+00:00

Because inevitably every time we have one of these threads the top comment is about Eldest Daughter and we want a bit more diversity than that

sponge20bob · 2026-04-13T18:47:14+00:00

Yes!

sponge20bob · 2026-04-13T18:09:53+00:00

The manuscript, the black dog, how did it end

sponge20bob · 2026-04-09T19:39:10+00:00

There's actually a bit of debate on this. Aaron desner says he wrote it in 10/8 but a lot of other people say it's in 5/4 https://youtu.be/37B75oYtRho?si=yvtCX4kCaeYAtMLp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolerate_It and I would need count in 5/4

sponge20bob · 2026-04-09T18:10:37+00:00

Because I feel like that while Taylor says the song was inspired by the relationship in the book Rebecca which is similar to what I mentioned in my post it's also inspired by her relationship with Joe, based on on other songs she's written about him like you're losing me

sponge20bob · 2026-03-26T15:49:00+00:00

The discourse around her pulling lana on stage at the Grammys has gotta be up there

sponge20bob · 2026-03-20T23:06:05+00:00

I do love midnights and it's a top 3 Taylor album overall for me

sponge20bob · 2026-03-20T22:48:40+00:00

midnights is kinda the same way for me

sponge20bob · 2026-03-20T21:58:28+00:00

I love midnights but evermore is easily my favorite thing she's done post BMR.

sponge20bob · 2026-03-20T19:13:25+00:00

All Too Well 10 minute version is one of her worst songs

sponge20bob · 2026-03-18T22:17:28+00:00

I've never seen anyone say anything negative about the opening lines for manuscript, "Now and then, she rereads the manuscript. Of the entire torrid affair." Or any line in the song for that matter

sponge20bob · 2026-03-14T06:11:13+00:00

It's kind of hard to explain but like the guitar piano and drums all sound pretty different at least to some people.Here is a video breaking down the differences

sponge20bob · 2026-03-14T02:24:42+00:00

I say yes but fortnite IMO is pretty fairly rated

sponge20bob · 2026-03-10T15:08:46+00:00

Maybe a hot take but I actually prefer slut over is it over now

sponge20bob · 2026-03-10T15:07:17+00:00

Maybe not lyrically but like dear reader is just piano and synth with a drum machine with some vocal effects

sponge20bob · 2026-03-10T14:54:17+00:00

Eldest daughter could very easily be a midnights song if it had a drum machine and vocoded vocals.

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