Taylor Swift has formally launched Communicate Now (Taylor’s Model), her re-recording of her 2010 fan-favorite album, Communicate Now. With the 22-song report comes solutions to a number of the fandom’s long-running questions: Are any of the album’s new songs about John Mayer? A minimum of not explicitly. Would Swift maintain in that shaky breath from “Final Kiss”? Sadly not. Did Swift determine to vary that one notably problematic lyric from the unique “Higher Than Revenge”? Oh sure, she did.
For those who missed the 13-year-old drama, when Swift first launched Communicate Now, it included a tune referred to as “Higher Than Revenge,” which was broadly rumored to be about how Joe Jonas began relationship actress Camilla Belle after Swift and Jonas broke up. The tune particulars how a girl primarily stole a man Swift liked and included these strains within the scathing refrain: “She’s not a saint, and he or she’s not what you assume / She’s an actress, whoa / She’s higher identified for the issues that she does / On the mattress, whoa”
Swift was referred to as out for the lyrics’ apparent slut-shaming, and in 2014, the singer responded to the criticism, telling The Guardian, “I used to be 18 once I wrote that. That’s the age you might be whenever you assume somebody can really take your boyfriend. Then you definitely develop up and notice nobody take somebody from you in the event that they don’t wish to depart.”
As a result of backlash—and Swift’s feminist awakening—many puzzled if the pop star would select to vary the lyric when she re-released the tune on July 7. Lo and behold, in “Higher Than Revenge (Taylor’s Model)”, the refrain has been altered to say: “He was a moth to the flame / She was holding the matches, whoa,” and let’s simply say folks have had combined reactions:
Actually, the change is a uncommon transfer for Swift, who has stored her re-recorded albums as near the originals as potential. Simply name it her Progress Period.
Madison is a senior author/editor at ELLE.com, protecting information, politics, and tradition. When she’s not on the web, you can probably discover her taking a nap or consuming banana bread.