Taylor Swift has world-famous lyrics. Her captivating, if often clichéd, lyrics include “We are never ever getting back together” and “I’m the problem, it’s me”.
Therefore, when she releases her re-recorded version of the 2010 album Speak Now, all anyone can talk about is how she modified a line. Swift once sung “She’s better known for the things that she does/On the mattress” on her caustic song “Better Than Revenge” when she was 18 or 19. The line has since been changed to “He was a moth to the flame/She was holding the matches”.
Since Swift began the re-recording project three years ago to regain control of her masters after a dispute with her label Big Machine, fans and critics have speculated about whether she would change the lyric, which has barely concealed undertones of slut-shaming and misogyny.
Swift’s morality is ingrained in her image after high-profile occurrences like the Kanye West row and her brief stint as a neo-Nazi pin-up. The controversy surrounding her connection with The 1975’s hated irony-bro Matty Healy showed how much fans appreciate Swift’s morality. She had to erase the problematic phrases to maintain her reputation, which, contrary to 2017’s album of the same name, she does. Perhaps some fans anticipated she would reject the bad lyric but stay true to the original song.
Even without cynicism, the lyric alteration is expected. We all uttered awkward, inappropriate things as teens; we’d take them back if we could. Swift is a feminist icon and feminist. Her deeply personal song has moved millions of women worldwide, describing their adolescence and young adult experiences.
Her 2019 statement on women’s rights and equality denounced her own experience of being slut-shamed by the press in her early 20s for her personal connections. As a knowledgeable 33-year-old, she wants to correct a nasty, caustic song from her sad adolescent years.
Swift has changed her lyrics before. Most listeners recognize the suffix “Taylor’s Version” on her re-recorded tracks, but fewer know the unapproved “Homophobic Version” on an early YouTube clip of her 2006 song “Picture to Burn”. In the 16-year-old version, Swift sang, “So go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy/That’s fine, I’ll tell mine that you’re gay”. The aggressive second line was modified to “you won’t mind if I say”—but Swiftian mythology has it.
This is the proper choice again. Unlike “Better Than Revenge,” the change hardly affects the sides. Although she changed the line listeners find most offensive, she honors her feelings at the time and keeps the song’s essence—about tearing another woman down out of jealousy, something we’ve all done—the same, in keeping with the re-record project.
It’s about another woman “stealing” her boyfriend, labeling her a “actress,” and swearing revenge, therefore it’s not a feminist song. The wrath is toward the other lady, not the man who left her.
Although it is tempting to think we are still locked in the culture wars loops, progress has been made in raising understanding of how and why slurs like the “mattress” line matter during the past decade. Swift’s “Picture to Burn” lyric was stupid, not cruel, but it should never have been written.
Sometimes, like in “Better Than Revenge”, modifying lyrics glosses over “problematic” terms without changing context.
John Legend rewrote the Christmas duet “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in 2019 to include more respectful #MeToo words. Vanity Fair called one lyric “date-rapey” in 2019. Formerly, “The neighbours might think (Baby, it’s bad out there)/Say, what’s in this drink? No cabs available” to “What would my friends think?” (They should rejoice)/May I take another drink? (Your body and choice)”. It’s easier to sing, but the song is about forcing a woman to sleep with you, so it’s not transformative.
Swift’s re-record endeavor has always struggled to stay faithful to her original work while adding something new. The goal was to own her masters, but it also signifies reflection—her voice is older and more mature, and she sings with hindsight.
Fans love hearing Speak Now again with new knowledge and context, and little modifications like the “Better Than Revenge” phrase add to the excitement.
Don’t assume that replacing “mattress” with “matches” makes this a feminist anthem.