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Associated Press
Taylor Swift in West Hollywood, Calif.,
last month. Her album 'Speak Now' comes out Monday.
Nashville, Tenn.
Taylor Swift recently moved out of her parents' home
into her own condo here. Now she's declaring her musical independence,
too.
The country singer wrote every song by herself on her new album
"Speak Now," the first that she's completed without co-writers. The
lyrics deal with real people—including rapper Kanye West, who famously
interrupted her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. "I
write songs that are like diary entries," Ms. Swift says, adding: "I
have to do it in order to feel sane."
Ms. Swift released her self-titled debut in 2006 at age 16. Her
follow-up, "Fearless," was the best-selling album in the U.S. in 2009,
according to Nielsen SoundScan, and this January it won the Grammy for
album of the year. On her new album, due out Monday, the 20-year-old Ms.
Swift is looking to appeal to a more mature audience, even if it means
leaving some of the Disney/Nickelodeon set behind.
"Speak Now" features a TMZ-style attack on an unnamed starlet. "She's
an actress / she's better known for the things that she does on the
mattress," Ms. Swift sings on the track "Better Than Revenge." In the
song "Never Grow Up," she writes about moving into a new apartment.
"It's so much colder than I thought it would be," she sings.
Ms. Swift came for an interview to Café Coco, a spot she frequents
with her girlfriends. Accompanied by a security man complete with
earpiece, she armed herself with a Rice Krispie treat and talked about
her fans, her critics and her album.
The Wall Street Journal: Your voice has sometimes been
criticized for not being all that strong, especially in live
performances. How do you feel about that?
Ms. Swift: I don't really have a
standard criticism policy for how I handle it. Because it seems like
it's always something different that's being said in a different way by a
different person…There are some times when I can just brush it off and
be fine after I hear something negative. But there are times when it
absolutely levels me.
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Tell me about the song "Mean" on your new album.
"Mean" is about this—I'm used to criticism because that's part of
what I do, taking criticism. When it's constructive I have an
appreciation for it, but when it crosses a line, and becomes mean, I
write songs like that about it.
With a young audience following you, is it hard to grow up
and write honestly about adult experiences?
Factoring in millions of people when I'm writing a song is not a good
idea. I don't ever do it.
What about in your day-to-day life?
When I was 8 years old, it mattered what my favorite singer said and
wore and expressed opinions about. And if I have a chance to matter to
the growth and hopes and wishes of little girls, that's something I
can't take lightly. So I do factor them in when I'm thinking about what
to wear, and what to say, and whether or not to go out to bars even
though I'm not 21.
Why did you go without co-writers on "Speak Now"?
It originally was inspired by circumstance. I would get inspired to
write a song at 3:30 in the morning. There's no co-writer around.
Were you trying to prove something to the world as an artist
by writing everything yourself?
I just felt like all these crazy things were happening in my life.
Can you give me an example?
Different relationships. Realizations
you come to based on the beginning and ending of those relationships and
everything you learn in between. You have people come into your life
shockingly and surprisingly. You have losses that you never thought
you'd experience. You have rejection and you have learn how to deal with
that and how to get up the next day and go on with it.
Are you going to scare boyfriends away because they might
end up in one of your songs if things don't go so well?
The only thing I can say about that is that this is not a surprise
that I do this. Everyone has had fair warning. This is my third album.
I've never been shy or secretive with the fact that if you walk into my
life, you may be walking onto a record.
The title song on the album is about a woman who dreams
about interrupting the wedding of a guy she likes. Is that based on
anything in your real life?
Well, I've never interrupted a wedding. But if I did, that's how I
would do it. A few of my friends had ex-boyfriends who were getting
married. And I went through that with them in venting sessions…And of
course I started having dreams about what if my ex-boyfriend got married
to someone else? So a lot of the songs on this record are pulled
straight from my life. Then there are songs like "Speak Now" that are an
extension of my feelings and hypothetically what I would do.
Do you feel that your early fame has cut you off from
experiences that might have fed into your songwriting? Any regrets that
you became so successful so young?
I heard a quote from Dolly Parton one time and she said that regrets
aren't fair to you because you couldn't possibly have known then what
you know now. And a lot of times I wish I could live life more like her.
Just this clarity about how to process regret. But on this particular
subject about the path that I chose in life I do not regret anything.
I'm very aware and very conscious of the path I chose in life, and very
aware of the path I didn't choose.
So what was the path you didn't choose?
My parents were in finance. They thought I was going to be a
stockbroker and go to business school and college—and my brother's at
Notre Dame. All my friends are at college. I keep one eye on the path I
didn't choose every day. That's why I go and attend journalism classes
at my friend Abigail's college. Because I just want to sit there and see
what it's like for a day. That's why I go to Notre Dame and visit my
brother and sit in his dorm room. The life I chose is very different
from theirs.
Who were "Year 3000" and What I Go To School For" orginally written by?