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Speak Now (song)

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For the Leslie Odom Jr. song, see One Night in Miami...
"Speak Now"
A young blonde woman, clothed by a pink cocktail dress, standing in the middle of the walkway of a church with people seated beside her, many of them with awed faces. She has her hand extended towards the front as a woman near her points in outrage.
Promotional single by Taylor Swift
from the album Speak Now
ReleasedOctober 5, 2010 (2010-10-05)[1]
GenreCountry pop
Length4:02
LabelBig Machine
Songwriter(s)Taylor Swift
Producer(s)

"Speak Now" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song is produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, was released as a promotional single on October 5, 2010, by Big Machine Records from her third studio album Speak Now (2010). Swift wrote the song about interrupting a wedding, after conversing with her friend, whose ex-boyfriend would soon marry someone else, and having a dream about one of her own former lovers marrying another girl. The song relies on acoustic guitar and is a narration from the perspective of a person who crashes her former love's wedding in an attempt to win him back.

The song opened to critical acclaim for its lyrical detail. "Speak Now" had successful commercial outcomes in Canada and the United States, debuting and peaking at number eight on both the Canadian Hot 100 and the Billboard Hot 100. Its appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 marked Swift's sixth top ten debut, breaking the record for the most top ten debuts for any artist in the chart's history. "Speak Now" also managed to garner enough airplay to chart on the Hot Country Songs chart. It additionally reached number 20 in Australia and number 34 in New Zealand. It has since been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for upwards of 500,000 sales.

Background[]

"Speak Now" was written by Swift, as were all the tracks for the album.[2] The song was inspired by the story of her friend and her high school boyfriend. The couple went their separate ways after high school – with the idea that they would get back together. One day, Swift's friend informed Swift that her high school boyfriend would soon wed. "He had met this girl who's just this horrible, mean person who made him completely stop talking to all of his friends, cut off his family. She had him so completely isolated," said Swift.[3] She asked her friend if she would "speak now." Perplexed, her friend asked for an explanation, and she answered, "You know, storm the church. 'Speak now or forever hold your peace.' I'll go with you. I'll play guitar. It'd be great."[3] Swift's friend found this to be humorous, laughing at the idea.[3]

After speaking with her friend, Swift became deeply fixated on the idea of how tragic it would be for the person one loved to wed someone else. That night, Swift experienced a dream where one of her own ex-boyfriends married another girl. To her, this signaled that she had to compose a song about interrupting a wedding. In retrospect, she concluded, "For me, I like to think of it as good versus evil. And this girl is just completely – just the evil one."[3] Swift entitled the album after "Speak Now" because it fit the album's concept, with each song being a different confession to a person.[2] "It's called Speak Now, and that pertains to the album as a concept and as an entire theme of the record more than I can even tell you," she said.[4] The song was released as a promotional single on October 5, 2010, as part of Countdown to Speak Now, an exclusive campaign launched by the iTunes Store.[5][6] During the opening week of Speak Now, Swift performed "Speak Now" on the Late Show with David Letterman.[7]

Composition[]

"Speak Now" is a country pop track with a length of four minutes and two seconds.[8] It has a predominant pop music composition, intertwined with various country elements.[9] The song is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is written in the key of G major and Swift's vocals span two octaves, from A3 to D5.[10] Swift's vocals begin in a hushed tone, then gradually grow until, at one point, she belts out the song's title.[11] The song features different twangy, up-and-down vocal hooks might, in similarity to "You Belong with Me".[9] It follows the chord progression G–D–Am–C.[10] The song's instrumentation is based on acoustic guitar; it eventually has its own gentle solo.[11]

In the lyrics of "Speak Now", Swift sings about crashing her former love's wedding in attempt to win him back.[11] The opening lines acknowledge that, although out of character, Swift is still in love with her ex-boyfriend and wants to make sure he does not marry the wrong girl. Throughout the song's verses, Swift sneaks in the wedding and describes her observations, such as the bride-to-be's wearing of a poofy wedding gown shaped like a pastry, her cumulative family, and an organist playing "Bridal Chorus".[9][12] In "Speak Now"'s refrains, Swift pleads her ex-boyfriend to not say his vows in order to run away with her.[11][12] The bridge has Swift responding to the priest's calling of "Speak now or forever hold your peace" before repeating the opening lines. The last refrain is altered, with Swift narrating from the groom's perspective and inform Swift they will indeed run away together.[12]

Critical reception[]

The song received critical acclaim. Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly deemed "Speak Now" one of Swift's best songs yet. He also said, "Her expressive delivery of the lyrics makes up for any shortcomings as a technical vocalist" and that it was "expertly catchy". He concluded that he was unable to stop playing the song after he heard it.[9] Bill Lamb of About.com said the song was "brilliant". He continued, "The song is sweet, funny, bratty, and edgy all at the same time. Taylor Swift remains one of our most gifted young lyricists."[13] Alternatively, Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine thought that "Speak Now" exemplified Swift's inability to "write authoritatively about anything other than how great boys are or how much boys suck or how dreams about boys will take her somewhere better than where she is now."[14]

Chart performance[]

"Speak Now" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number eight due to the sales of 217,000 digital downloads. With that week's appearance on the chart, "Speak Now" became Swift's sixth top ten debut and, therefore, set the mark that made Swift the artist with most top ten debuts in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing the five top ten entries earned by Mariah Carey from 1995 to 1998.[15] Elsewhere in North America, the track debuted at number eight on the Canadian Hot 100.[16] In Australia, "Speak Now" debuted at number twenty.[17]

Credits and personnel[]

Credits adapted from Tidal.[18]

  • Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriter, producer, acoustic guitar
  • Nathan Chapman – producer, acoustic guitar, digital piano, banjo, bass guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, organ, synthesizer
  • Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar
  • Amos Heller – bass guitar
  • Tim Marks – bass guitar
  • Tommy Sims – bass guitar
  • John Gardner – drums
  • Nick Buda – drums
  • Shannon Forrest – drums
  • Grant Mickelson – electric guitar
  • Mike Meadows – electric guitar
  • Paul Sidoti – electric guitar
  • Rob Hajacos – fiddle
  • Tim Lauer – Hammond B3
  • Al Wilson – percussion
  • Eric Darken – percussion
  • Smith Curry – steel guitar

Live performances[]

Swift wearing gloves and a purple dress
Swift performing "Speak Now" during the Speak Now World Tour

The song was performed as part of the regular setlist on the Speak Now World Tour (2011–12).[19][20][21] Clips of the performance can be seen in the music video for Swift's single "Sparks Fly". According to Jocelyn Vena of MTV.com, the performance was "a very theatrical moment" in which "Swift acted out crashing a wedding. She eventually stole the groom away, as she sings in the song, and the pair ran through the crowd together."[22] Swift performed the song on September 22, 2018 as the acoustic surprise song at the New Orleans stop on the Reputation Stadium Tour.[23]

Charts[]

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[24] 20
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[25] 8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[26] 34
US Billboard Hot 100[27] 8
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[28] 58

Certification[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[29] Gold 500,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Release history[]

List of radio and release dates with formats and record labels
Country Date Format Label
United States October 5, 2010[1] Digital download Big Machine

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Speak Now - Single by Taylor Swift - Download Speak Now - Single on iTunes". iTunes Store. Apple Inc. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (July 21, 2010). "Taylor Swift Announces Third Album, 'Speak Now'". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on July 24, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d "Songs of Speak Now: Speak Now". Xfnitytv.com. Comcast. Archived from the original on November 5, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  4. ^ Dinh, James (July 20, 2010). "Taylor Swift Reveals Next Album, Speak Now, Is Due October 25". MTV News. Viacom. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  5. ^ "Speak Now – Single by Taylor Swift". iTunes Store. Apple, Inc. Archived from the original on October 12, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  6. ^ "Countdown to Speak Now". iTunes Store. Apple, Inc. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  7. ^ "Late Show with David Letterman". Late Show with David Letterman. October 26, 2010. CBS.
  8. ^ "allmusic - Speak Now Overview". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d Vozick-Levinson, Simon (October 5, 2010). "Taylor Swift releases 'Speak Now' single: Like it?". Entertainment Weekly. Time Warner. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  10. ^ a b "Digital sheet music – Taylor Swift – Speak Now". Musicnotes.com. Alfred Publishing. October 8, 2010.
  11. ^ a b c d Lipshutz, Jason (October 5, 2010). "Taylor Swift Releases 'Speak Now' Title Track". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  12. ^ a b c Vena, Jocelyn (October 5, 2010). "Taylor Swift Previews 'Speak Now'". MTV News. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  13. ^ Lamb, Bill (October 5, 2010). "Taylor Swift Drops Brilliant "Speak Now" Title Song From Upcoming Album and Storms the Charts". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
  14. ^ Keefe, Jonathan (October 25, 2010). "Taylor Swift – Speak Now". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  15. ^ Caulfield, Keith; Pietroluongo, Silvio (October 14, 2010). "Chart Moves: 'Glee,' Mavis Staples, Stephen Colbert, 'Social Network,' Pink". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  16. ^ "Speak Now – Taylor Swift". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  17. ^ "Taylor Swift – Speak Now (Song)". Australian-charts.com. Australian Recording Industry Association. October 18, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
  18. ^ "Try the TIDAL Web Player". listen.tidal.com. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  19. ^ "Taylor Swift shimmers in Omaha". Coffey, Kevin. Omaha World-Herald. May 28, 2011. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  20. ^ Herrero, Javier (March 19, 2011). "Taylor Swift encandila a unos 4.000 madrileños con su country edulcorado" [Taylor Swift dazzle some 4,000 locals sweetened country]. La Rioja (in Spanish). Grupo Vocento. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  21. ^ Sträter, Andreas (March 13, 2011). "Blaue Augen, süße Songs: Taylor Swift in Oberhausen" [Blues, sweet songs: Taylor Swift in Overhausen]. Soester Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  22. ^ Jocelyn Vena (July 20, 2011). "Taylor Swift's Speak Now Tour Brings Honky Tonk to NJ". MTV. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  23. ^ Iasimone, Ashley. "All the Surprise Songs Taylor Swift Has Performed on Her Reputation Stadium Tour B-Stage (So Far)". Billboard. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  24. ^ "Taylor Swift – Speak Now". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  25. ^ "Taylor Swift Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  26. ^ "Taylor Swift – Speak Now". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  27. ^ "Taylor Swift Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  28. ^ "Taylor Swift Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  29. ^ "American single certifications – Taylor Swift – Speak Now". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 15, 2020.

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