If You Aren’t Embarrassed, Did You Write Something Worth Reading?
What would you do if you were given the opportunity to change what you published 13 years ago?
That’s precisely what Taylor Swift is doing as she continues to re-release her albums under her own copyright and production. Swiftie Nation, one of the most devoted fan bases, sifts through every single social media post and punctuation mark to infer some hidden meaning.
With this week’s release of her 2010 album Speak Now, they didn’t have to look far to find the changes.
When she originally wrote the song “Better Than Revenge,” she included the lyrics: “She’s better known for the things that she does/ on the mattress.”
But this week’s release includes the updated lyrics: “He was a moth to the flame/ She was holding the matches.”
Unsurprisingly, the music world broke for a minute.
Journalists condemned the change for a number of reasons, including the belief that she fell (once again) to the whim and will of public opinion, assuming she was motivated by a cancel culture that could destroy her career.
Now, let’s be clear about something: I don’t know what kind of galactic shift would need to occur to truly cancel Taylor Swift at this point. But I’m assuming it would be one of the apocalyptic signs that will appear to humanity just before the end of days.
Still, I came across so many articles (hey, I was researching!) that vividly described how Taylor is diluting her 19-year-old childish songwriting and voice by no longer wanting to slut-shame an unknown subject.
As if that is somehow a bad thing?!
I don’t judge 19-year-old Taylor for writing those lyrics years ago, as she was telling a story of her pain and subsequent desire for revenge.
Yet I also can’t judge 33-year-old Taylor for finding herself older and wiser, and realizing she no longer aligns with her younger self beliefs and opinions.
She shouldn’t be judged for (potentially) deciding that she wasn’t comfortable in her current beliefs and opinions to keep the lyrics, when she was creating an opportunity to rewrite songs however she wanted.
That is the whole point of these album rereleases.
Taylor is gaining back her rights, her songs, and her voice as a creative — both in singing and in creating/songwriting — from a musical label sale that “allegedly” was initiated to control her.
For years, she’s expressed disdain for the way that the media judges who a woman dates and how her sex life should be. It’s no wonder that these particular lyrics would sit heavy with her!
She was doing, as a barely adult woman, what she loathes the world doing to her.
The pain and anger from her original lyrics weren’t about the sex life of another woman — they were about a guy who hurt her, and the woman that was involved.
Now, with the benefit of life experiences, she has taken the opportunity to make a small change that she is well within her rights to enact.
It isn’t some label, producer, journalist, or partner telling her that she needed to change it.
She wrote a strong statement at a certain point of her life. Thanks to life experience and perspective, she now seems to want to make an entirely different statement.
As writers, we have the ability and privilege to do these kinds of things when we re-release our work, or when we write stronger reflections on why we no longer agree.
Whatever inspired Taylor to take to her journal and scribble out a new line in an old song, one thing is for sure:
The world is captivated by every single word she puts out, and that’s a pretty sweet place to be.
Like a longer message? This is from a July 2023 edition of my weekly newsletter, The Writing Rundown — and you can get in on that action if you want more! Just enter your information here, and I’ll be poppin’ into your inbox before you know it.
