Pop star Taylor Swift is in the process of re-recording her albums, and last Friday, her re-recorded third album, Speak Now, dropped. Because she’s Taylor Swift, the new versions of the albums sell like hotcakes and spark renewed interest in her back catalog… but this new album is raising eyebrows due to a lyric change.
The original version of Speak Now came out in 2010, and features a song called “Better Than Revenge.” This breakup song contains lyrics criticizing the woman her ex has dumped her for. “She’s not a saint, and she’s not what you think / She’s an actress / She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.”
I know what you’re thinking, so what, right? Well, what’s okay in 2010 isn’t okay in 2023 because, apparently, those lyrics are now considered “slut-shaming” and thus too problematic for current sensibilities. So the “problematic” lyrics in the re-recorded version are now, “She’s not a saint, and she’s not what you think / She’s an actress / He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.”
It’s hardly surprising that Swift would make this change. Though she tactfully refrained from making any political statements for much of her career, she finally outed herself as a bona fide lefty in 2018 when she took to Instagram to endorse two political candidates before the midterm elections. Not only did she endorse two Democrats, but she also expressed her views using what some deemed as extreme liberal rhetoric.
And it’s gotten worse ever since.
While some fans are reportedly upset because the change makes the new version inauthentic, others praise it. But, the reality is, this lyric change is a sad reflection of how there’s no shame in the entertainment industry anymore. Anything goes. Of course, anyone who pays attention to pop culture knows that there are countless songs that absolutely filthy and would be considered demeaning to women if they weren’t sung by women.
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Taylor Swift used to be a singer that parents could feel good about their daughters listening to. Now, she’s completely drunk the Kool-Aid, thinking it’s beneath her current self to endorse “slut-shaming” because the feminism of today simultaneously tells men it’s misogynistic to objectify women, while it’s also misogynistic for women to criticize other women for objectifying themselves. Does this make any sense to you? Because it doesn’t make sense to me.
Rewriting the old song won’t change that the original version, with its supposedly problematic lyrics, existed for years as the one and only version. Sure, defenders of the lyric change will say it reflects Swift’s growth and maturity, but to me, I see a woman who made a career in country music, transitioned to pop, and is now beholden the far-left values… which is to say, no values at all.
