Taylor Swift Yet to Mature as an Artist

Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now,” though it has glimmers of promise, never fully shines: while her lyrics can at times show depth of thought, her voice inevitably sounds like the screams of a young girl, and her style is still stuck at the level of when she made her debut as a sixteen year old. Her new album serves mainly to show that, though full of potential, Taylor Swift is far from maturation. Greatly overshadowed by her first two albums “Taylor Swift” and “Fearless,” “Speak Now” unfortunately does not yet find Taylor Swift taking full advantage of all of her talents.

Even after the public fallout with Taylor Lautner of the “Twilight” film series fame, Taylor Swift cannot muster up expressive vocals that match her emotive lyrics . She wails on and on about what “she should have known,” whom her heart belongs to, and the fate of her “Last Kiss.” Swift’s voice is sweet and clear, but she fails to experiment with its range. Everything becomes a monotonic blur of complaint as she sings the same pitches over and over again, though in slightly varying arrangements over the course of the album. Swift garners praise for her excellent live shows due to her well-developed vocals, and it is a shame that she does not fully take advantage of her skills in her recordings.

Though not all sung in the same key, the songs in the album fall into two major rhythmic categories: upbeat and happy, and slow and morose. Tempos of each category are near identical which makes it difficult to differentiate between songs. Each track either starts with a guitar chord in a major key or a steady beat on the cymbals, and there is very little variation in the layout of the songs. Using these leads, the songs progress into rhythmic repetition, mostly in common time.

“Speak Now” does at times showcase Swift’s potential for song writing, which makes her other shortcomings that much more noticeable and disappointing. In “Innocent,” and “Never Grow Up,” Swift speaks of the days “before the monsters caught up to you” and of nostalgia for a time where “no one’s ever burned you / nothing’s ever left you scarred.” These lyrics seem to come from a thoughtful young woman who has real regrets and hopes. In “Dear John,” though it is held back by the repetitive lyrics, she shows a sense for poetics when she sings that she “took your matches before fire could catch me.”

This flow of great lyrics is unfortunately butchered by ones that can only be described as immature. In “Mean,” it is unclear whether Swift is speaking metaphorically or literally about abuse. She repeatedly calls him “mean,” and thumbs her nose at his ability to succeed in life. The musical sensibility in this song is at odds with the lyrics as well, as the quick and almost merry beats of the song seem to mock the gravity of the lyrics. Similarly, Swift complains bitterly about another girl stealing her man in “Better than Revenge.” Witty phrases like “no amount of vintage dress gives you dignity” and “sophistication isn’t what you wear”—which show Swift’s potential to create great pop artifacts—are lost in the snide, unbecoming tone of the song

The resounding problem with Swift’s new album is that it is torn between promising flashes of her talent and discouraging reminders that she has yet to mature as an artist. While her “not a girl, not yet a woman” attitude is still sweet and endearing, Swift cannot keep up the act for much longer. Her lyrics do show signs of growth, but she has yet to rid herself of the the naïveté of her voice and style. Her developing ability to write meaningful lyrics is unfortunately caked and concealed by her self-imposed limitations in other regards. “Speak Now” falls short of the trajectory of growth shown between her debut and sophomore albums. However, her talents and expanding skills are clear, and there are golden classics waiting to be uncovered once Swift learns to realize her potential.