The Weekly Coos

When looking back at Taylor Swift’s career and this current run of rerecorded albums, much has changed. She’s grown, becoming a better writer and trying new styles. But when it comes to those original three albums, post-self-titled debut, they don’t carry the youth spirit deriving from the giggles, laughs, and joyful spoken moments like that on “The Story Of Us,” off the new rerecord Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Other tracks written gain matured perspectives as age shifts the meaning of the writing, like “Never Grow Up,” becoming more potent. With 2020’s Miss Americana breaking down some walls – previous concert movies offered a sense of musical and performative spirit; fans can potentially sense the duality from following her career and seeing how music has changed her life and theirs as we hear these new matured vocal performance perspectives. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) tones down the spirited delivery, and you get left with an imbalance as the less fun, poppy songs aren’t as strong as the more fleshed-out ballads and free-flowing-fun country songs, like the lovely story and production “Mine.” Unfortunately, it’s the weakest of the three so far, but there are some beautiful songs from The Vault, and the fantastic tracks from the original carry-over in quality.

Taking off with “Mine,” the rerecord is lovely, even when you immediately notice the slight change in string arrangement done to avoid legal issues from Scooter Braun, the current owner of her masters. Since the first rerecord, it hasn’t made much of a difference as it becomes lost within the rest of the orchestrations; you swiftly feel like you’re listening to the original productions, and the changes remain subtle in the long run. That happened to me as soon as the chorus hit, but it may come earlier or later for you. As the album progresses, “Sparks Fly” and “The Story of Us” become outliers within the first half of the pre-vault tracks. The youthful and spirited country-rock-pop sounds of “Sparks Fly” and the angsty but somewhat narrow rock sounds in “The Story of Us” get a smooth touch-up from the subtle changes, especially the latter; unfortunately, the performance doesn’t parallel that of 2010. It’s hard to juggle between the two, as the rerecords vary in quality, and oddly, the poppier and livelier, arena-smashing songs haven’t hit as hard compared to those that take a step back for the other aspects of Swift’s writing talent.

Continuing the work with Christopher Rowe, the production stays consistent in paralleling the original and some cases improving them. With these subtle changes and more polishing on the final products, many songs get elevated even when certain tracks aren’t the best. Taylor Swift’s vocal performances – mostly – will keep fans afloat as they journey through Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), but it won’t fix songs that weren’t already the strongest the first time around. Most of them come in the second half, where the writing and elements in the production don’t hit as well. Granted, one comes from a Deluxe Edition release, “Superman,” along with “Long Live,” “Innocent,” “Haunted,” and “Better Than Revenge,” don’t have that same juice as the others. “Innocent” does similar to “Never Grow Up” sonically, yet the performance and production aren’t as impactful as the writing. “Superman” weakly tries to deliver this allegorical take on a guy with similar traits to Clark Kent, and “Long Live” is more steady and routine, never taking interesting turns on varying fronts, akin to “Haunted;” both are just not interesting, even when “Long Live” gets creative with the writing at times. “Better Than Revenge” has fantastic production, but the writing and performance don’t match the potentiality of its concept.

In that same second half, the songs “Enchanted,” “Last Kiss,” and “Ours” still hit with a slight improvement coming from Swift’s pensive reflections in the vocal performances, an approach that feels resonant within songs from The Vault. This part starts on a rough note with the Fall Out Boy featured “Electric Touch,” a song derivative of something from a late 2000s Fall Out Boy album with no genuine creativity, but what comes after has a more consistent uptick, like “When Emma Falls In Love,” a ballad that’s beautifully crafted and showcases her storytelling skills, something we also get to hear on the incredible “Timeless.” As with the previous albums, Aaron Dressner and Jack Antanoff co-produce the Taylor’s Version of The Vault tracks, and as with the past productions, they hit it beautifully here, save for “Electric Touch.” The quality is solid, even when certain moments on “I Can See You” tread into the familiarity of alt-rock notes, though not much of a distraction like “Electric Touch.” Additionally, the duet with Hayley Williams, of Paramore, stands out above Fall Out Boy and as one of the best songs from The Vault on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

One constant that remains prevalent with these tracks, as with much of her music then, it’s centered around the dynamics of a relationship, usually always told through different avenues, like with “Mine” or “Enchanted,” so when you get some quality work with “Castles Crumbling” and “Foolish One,” it makes you appreciate the songs that do things a little differently like the fantastic diss song “Mean” or the medieval influenced (in writing alone) “Long Live,” or the final track “Timeless” as Swift goes a bit outside the box in content or a spread of themes beyond the core of a relationship. Speak Now, in retrospect, was a defining shift for Taylor Swift, especially as she started to slowly delve into different musical territory like that of Bluegrass with “Mean,” Arena Rock with “Sparks Fly,” and Pop-Punk/Power-Pop with “The Story of Us.” Though it wasn’t the best of the three – Fearless, Speak Now, and Red – it still has enough in the tank to be a solid album filled with some great re-recorded songs and weak ones.

With continuing the re-records, there is a lot to love about the concept and the delivery of songs, but there is still that spark that’s missed from the youthful, at times, playful approach to the recording. It separates the jovial moments in “Sparks Fly” in the original from the new, where you might find yourself tilting towards the former but go with the latter for the sake of solidarity as a fan. Either way, you’re getting quality music with enough repeat value from The Vault, you can’t help but be excited for what comes next.