Taylor Swift has had some time to stand in the corner and think about what she did — and it resulted in a major change!
On Friday, the pop star released the highly anticipated re-recording of her third album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Alongside six new “Vault” tracks, there was also somethin’ new about one of the album’s most infamous songs, Better Than Revenge. As we told you in our exclusive sneak peek yesterday, it got a whole makeover. To recap, here’s how it breaks down.
In the track, which originally dropped in 2010, Taylor used to sing:
“She’s an actress, whoa / but she’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress, whoa”
Oof! The song was rumored to be about the Taylor’s ex Joe Jonas and actress Camilla Belle, who starred in the Jonas Brothers‘ music video for Lovebug. It was viewed as harsh even at the time, and ever since it’s been largely criticized as “slut-shaming”.
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Taylor even seemed to admit her regret years later when she told The Guardian in 2014:
“I was 18 when I wrote that. That’s the age you are when you think someone can actually take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one can take someone from you if they don’t want to leave.”
So much maturity in just a few years! Now, cut to the year 2023 and she’s finally done something about it. In the new version of the rock song, T-Swift now belts:
“He was a moth to the flame / she was holding the matches.”
Wow!
A VERY different vibe, no?! And now you can listen and see what YOU think of the change here:
Whattaya think, Swifties??
While the Grammy winner hasn’t addressed the lyric change yet, her fans have had LOTS to say about it! And frankly, feelings are mixed. While some are happy about it, others aren’t into the whole “special edition” rewriting of history thing! Take a look:
“We just have to bully her into releasing Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version) (Slut Shaming Version) like she did with lana and snow on the beach”
“Better Than Revenge has the same lyrics if you just scream over her”
“ITS SM BETTER IM SO PROUD OF HER FOR CHANGING IT”
“scooter won this round”
“and it still eats so idrc”
when we hear the woke version of “better than revenge” tn pic.twitter.com/Mrss6D6nuT
— Fun Phil (@SanFilcisco) July 6, 2023
I'm sorry but Spotify being in denial of the lyrics change in Better Than Revenge TV is so funny to me pic.twitter.com/HcGm47AwI2
— Clau ????⛈️ ||sweetcheeks|| (@fools_daylight) July 7, 2023
A reminder during the Better Than Revenge discourse that Joe Jonas changed the lyrics to Much Better to ‘Cool with superstars’ ✨#SpeakNowTaylorsVersion
— em (@punkrxckjonas) July 6, 2023
There have been think pieces for years debating the consequences of retroactively changing, especially trying to sanitize, art, even with the best of intentions. So this debate is going deep — and is unlikely to end with Taylor’s Version! What are your thoughts?! Sound OFF (below)!
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