Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which have received widespread media coverage. At age 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house and, at 15, she signed her first record deal.
Her 2006 eponymous debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US. Its third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008.
Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", it became the US' best-selling album of 2009 and was certified diamond in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, and Swift became the youngest Album of the Year winner.
'Speak Now': How Taylor Swift Explained Album's Title and Her Songwriting Process in 2010 (Flashback)
etonline.com, the GRAMMY winner’s third re-recorded album, after and in 2021. To celebrate, ET is revisiting Swift’s original interview from 13 years ago, when she explained how the album’s title compliments its central themes and what led to her being the sole songwriter for all 14 tracks.For the songstress, was «more personal than anything» she had put out before at the time, with its release following two «really intense» years for her personally, professionally and everything in between.«I don't think I would have been happy about this album if I hadn't written about all of it,» Swift told ET in 2010. «I tend to include details and the entire story, because, for me, the most fun part about this, and the most intriguing part about music, is the storytelling that's woven into it with the lyrics.»The album’s titular song was inspired by the wedding ceremony staple, which Swift interpreted for track number four as «a metaphor for waiting until it's too late to say something,» an experience all too familiar to the then-20-year-old. «That's been a habit that I've had in my life… Where I don't know what to say or I don't know what to think about,» she admitted. «I just go silent, until I know what to say.
And that's usually when I write a song about it. And so this album is called, because I'm finally saying all of it.»The track list ran the gamut, boasting love songs («Mine,» «Sparks Fly,» «Ours»), breakup anthems («Last Kiss,» «Dear John,» «Haunted»), alongside a response to past critics («Mean») and a tribute to Swifties («Long Live»).
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