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Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is the third re-recorded album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on July 7, 2023, by Republic Records. It is a re-recording of Swift's third studio album, Speak Now (2010), part of Swift's counteraction to a 2019 masters dispute regarding the ownership of her back catalog. The album was announced on May 5, 2023, at the first Nashville show of her Eras Tour. Swift wrote all 22 tracks on the album by herself; the album contains re-recorded versions of 16 songs from Speak Now's deluxe edition, produced by Swift and Christopher Rowe; and six previously unreleased "From the Vault" tracks, produced by Swift, Aaron Dessner, and Jack Antonoff. The American rock musicians Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams featured on two vault tracks. Strongly influenced by rock styles, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is an incorporation of country pop and pop rock, with styles of emo, pop-punk, and gothic rock. Its dynamic compositions consist of acoustic instruments alongside electric guitars, drums, and strings. Lyrically, it is a loose concept album about unspoken confessions that document the volatile emotions of Swift's adolescence. The album received acclaim from music critics, who complimented the vocals and emotionally engaging songwriting. Some critics nonetheless debated the lyrical change on the re-recording of "Better than Revenge" with mixed opinions. Commercially, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) reached number one on albums charts of Australia, Canada, Belgian Flanders, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it marked Swift's 12th album to top the Billboard 200 chart, breaking Barbra Streisand's all-time record for the most number-one albums by a female artist. All 22 of its tracks debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, with "I Can See You" as its highest charting song at number five. Background I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing… and living to speak about it. Taylor Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now, on October 25, 2010, under Big Machine Records. A predominantly pop rock and country pop album, Speak Now was entirely self-written by Swift. It received positive reviews from music journalists, who have since praised it for being a self-written Swift album about "dismissals of exploitative male characters and poetic embrace of girlhood." It sold over 1,047,000 copies within its opening week in the United States—the largest first week in history for a female country artist, and the first million-selling week of Swift's career, a feat she would go on to repeat five more times. Speak Now achieved the Guinness World Record as the fastest selling album in the US by a female country act. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards (2012), its single "Mean" won Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. Swift released three more studio albums under Big Machine, as per her recording contract, which expired in November 2018. She hence withdrew from Big Machine and signed a new deal with Republic Records, which secured her the rights to own the masters of any new music she would release. In 2019, American businessman Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine; the ownership of the masters to Swift's first six studio albums, including Speak Now, transferred to him. In August 2019, Swift denounced Braun's purchase and announced that she would re-record her first six studio albums so as to own their masters herself. Swift began the re-recording process in November 2020. Fearless (Taylor's Version), the first of her six re-recorded albums, was released on April 9, 2021, followed by Red (Taylor's Version) on November 12, 2021; both achieved critical and commercial success, debuting atop the US Billboard 200 chart. Speculations about Swift's next re-recorded album being Speak Now dated back as far as November 2021, when she released Red (Taylor's Version), referencing key words of the 2010 era in social media posts. The music videos for "Bejeweled" (2022) and "Lavender Haze" (2023) contained numerous Easter eggs referencing Speak Now. Fan theories intensified after Swift's 2023 concert tour, the Eras Tour, began; the multi-colored wristbands that attendees received flashed purple at the end of a concert. Swift hinted at a re-release during the performance of "Speak Now", and used a purple heart emoji on social media days before the announcement. On May 5, 2023, at the first Nashville date of the Eras Tour, Swift announced Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and its release date on July 7. The announcement acted as a lead-in to one of her "surprise songs", an acoustic version of the album's second track "Sparks Fly"; lights along the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge turned purple. She subsequently revealed in social media posts, "I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing ... and living to speak about it". Swift emphasized the hardships she faced in her life during the time she wrote the record, noting the lyrics as containing "brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness". Writing and production The album consists of 22 tracks: the re-recordings of the 14 songs from the standard edition, two of the three deluxe edition tracks, "Ours" and "Superman", and six previously unreleased "From the Vault" songs that were written for the 2010 album but never included. The remaining deluxe edition track "If This Was a Movie" was not included because it was the sole track on the album not written solely by Swift, and its re-recording was instead released as a standalone promotional single and as part of a Fearless (Taylor’s Version)-themed compilation on March 17, 2023. All the songs were written solely by Swift, as a reaction to those who questioned her artistic integrity as a songwriter. The re-recorded tracks were produced by Swift and Christopher Rowe, whereas the "From the Vault" tracks were produced by Swift with longtime collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff. Two of the vault tracks, "Electric Touch" and "Castles Crumbling", feature American rock band Fall Out Boy and American singer-songwriter Hayley Williams, the frontwoman of rock band Paramore, respectively. Speak Now (Taylor's Version) retained all the original lyrics, except a previously controversial line ("She's better known for the things / That she does on the mattress") in the chorus of "Better than Revenge", which was replaced with "He was a moth to the flame / She was holding the matches". Music and lyrics Composition Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is rooted in Swift's trademark country-pop sound, but also stylistically embraces pop-rock. Clash critic Alex Berry described the album as a.... Discover the Ashley Evanson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ashley Evanson books.