Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album is here. For years, Swift has been crafting more or less note-perfect re-creations of her first six albums after her attempts to buy control of her master recordings were thwarted. Essentially, she’s been attempting to devalue the original records as a fuck-you to the people who bought them out from under her, and both fans and streaming services have been happy to play along. And because the Taylor’s Version releases are always padded out with other tracks from the era and unreleased selections “from the vault,” there’s some new music to be discovered by those of us less invested in Swift’s personal triumph over her enemies.

First came the remake of 2008’s Fearless in April 2021. Later that year, the new edition of 2012’s Red arrived, spinning off the longest #1 hit in Hot 100 history, the fabled 10-minute version of “All Too Well.” Now we get a new take on Speak Now, the 2010 LP on which Swift famously penned all the songs without cowriters to prove a point.

Speak Now yielded the hits “Mine,” “Mean,” and “Back To December” among other fan favorites, but the album is curiously underrepresented during Swift’s Eras Tour. Most nights she only performs one song from Speak Now: “Enchanted,” the tune she maybe wrote about having a crush on the guy from Owl City. After seeing the show last weekend, I can confirm that she should definitely cut down the number of snoozers from evermore (no shots at the great “‘Tis The Damn Season” though) and give the people more Speak Now goodness. Maybe she was just waiting for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) to come out and will be adjusting the setlist accordingly? The tour resumes in Kansas City tonight, so I suppose we’ll see.

As fans started to obtain vinyl copies of the album, a couple tidbits made their way to Reddit today. One is that Swift wrote a lengthy prologue that has been transcribed here in full. The other is that she changed a lyric on “Better Than Revenge.” The original, “She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress,” has been replaced by “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.” It echoes the change Hayley Williams made in latter-day live performances of Paramore’s “Misery Business” to remove an original slut-shaming intent.

Speaking of Paramore, the bonus tracks on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) include guest appearances from Williams and Fall Out Boy, both of whom were influencing Swift’s lyrical approach at the time. I wonder what she thinks of the writing on Fall Out Boy’s latest! Hear those collaborations along with the rest of the album.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is out now on Republic. The Eras Tour hits Kansas City, MO tonight.