‘Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version)’: Why Taylor Swift Shouldn’t Rewrite Her Own History
Changing the past Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) or using it to make some kind of grand feminist statement would not only feel dishonest, but it would compromise her goal of devaluing her old recordings
BEFORE SHE TWISTED stories of doomed relationships into metaphors about high-speed getaway cars or mapped out a decade-old breakup in a 10-minute short film, Taylor Swift walked a fragile line. The country-pop songs on which she carefully excavated past relationships with romantic writing were met with acclaim. But in turn, as she was increasingly characterized as a “nice girl,” that same glittering grace was expected to be shown even in the face of public humiliation and other betrayals. To her credit, Swift was nice — but when Speak Now poured out of her, she had never been so angry. Without a single co-writer on the album’s standard edition, released in 2010, Swift spent the years between 18 and 20 capturing her emotionally intense coming-of-age experience.
The introspection across the record often wondered about what could have been — if only she had seen the red flags for what they were, if only she had known more, if only the people she crossed paths with didn’t leave so much wreckage behind. But as a teenager, she simply hadn’t lived enough to know. “Better Than Revenge,” the album’s most scathing deep cut (challenged only by “Dear John”), is largely overshadowed by its out-of-character slut-shaming; but at the time, it hadn’t been a second thought. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), the third in Swift’s series of re-recorded albums out July 7, gives her a chance to right her wrongs with what she knows now — to take a “ҒUCҜ the Patriarchy” approach to clean up that compromising moment she immortalized as a teenager. But time has shown that she’s lived and she’s learned.
Laying these tracks down once more is Swift’s way of preserving history rather than rewriting it — always adding more rather than taking away, at least not lyrically. Her voice has noticeably changed on the re-recordings fans have already heard, but she hasn’t yet tampered with the memories themselves. And if the goal is to recapture the emotional minefield the originals were created within, it’s unlikely that she would start now. In 2023, “Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version)” won’t align with Taylor Swift: Global Superstar, but at a point in time, “Better Than Revenge” did align with Taylor Swift: Pissed Off Teenager Who Hasn’t Fully Developed an Understanding of Feminism.
