Has Taylor Swift changed even more lyrics on Speak Now (Taylor's Version)?
New York, New York - After Taylor Swift opted to change a controversial line in Better Than Revenge (Taylor's Version), fans have now noticed even more lyric swaps in her newest re-recording.
The 33-year-old dropped Speak Now (Taylor's Version), a re-recording of the 2010 album, on July 7.
Though the updated versions always sound a bit different due to Swift's vocal maturity and the album's new production, fans found that this re-recording had quite a few significant changes to several lyrics as well.
Most notably, the Anti-Hero singer completely altered an infamous line in Better Than Revenge, which has been criticized over the years for its misogynistic tone.
"She's better known for the things that she does on the mattress," she sings in the original version, taking a dig at her ex's new girlfriend. The line in Taylor's Version now says, "He was a moth to the flame / she was holding the matches."
While that alteration stirred a bit of a debate online, it seems there are a few other changes that went under the radar during release week.
In the same song, Swift altered the background vocals at the song's conclusion, which originally sang, "You know that she deserved this." She now sings, "You know that you deserved this," shifting blame from the new girlfriend to the ex who left her.
But that isn't all, as some astute Swifties also picked up on one extremely subtle lyric change in Haunted (Taylor's Version), and it may be related to an important clause in her contract with Big Machine Records.
Why has Taylor Swift made small changes in her re-recordings?
In the original Haunted, Swift sings, "It's getting dark, and it's all too quiet," but it has been updated to "It's getting dark, and it's all so quiet."
Unlike Better Than Revenge, there isn't an apparent reason for such a change, and it's something she's done on other re-recordings too. For example, You Belong With Me (Taylor's Version) saw the lyrical setting declared at the beginning change from "the room" to "my room."
While the Grammy winner may just prefer the subtly-altered lines, it's worth noting that Big Machine Records does not allow her to make the production of the re-recordings sound identical to the originals due to a clause in their contract.
So, this might explain why some tiny (and practically interchangeable) lyrics were swapped, along with some variably noticeable alterations in the instruments used, background vocals, and overall production.
As for Better Than Revenge, both line changes connect to a desire to make the song more in line with Swift's more mature sense of feminism rather than letting her teenage naivete live on forever - something that Swift has openly admitted her regrets about for years now.
"I was 18 when I wrote that," she told The Guardian in 2014. "That's the age you are when you think someone can actually take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one [can] take someone from you if they don't want to leave."
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