Welcome to the final episode of 2023! In this one we celebrate Taylor’s amazing year as we reminisce over the many releases, tour dates, performances, and magic moments we’ve lived through over the last twelve months. We also announce the winners of our Swiftly Spoken Awards voted for by you! We’d like to thank you all for joining us this year and wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year!

To celebrate the holidays we explore Taylor’s Christmas EP, initially released in 2007! We go over its multiple releases as well as the name change from Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection to its shorter version. Then we talk about the four covers Taylor included on this release in addition to her original two Christmas time songs, which are very different to what you may imagine from the Christmas Tree Farm songstress. Finally, we reveal what we think may happen to this EP, whether it may be included somehow in Debut (Taylor’s Version), or if it may once again have its own moment to shine in a future holiday time release. 

This week we delve into all things Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version), the final re-recording we have yet to discuss! When it comes to Taylor’s 2006 debut album, the reclaimed version has a lot of potential we explore in this episode, including the possible album aesthetics, release and promo predictions, and of course what may be included on the tracklist. Alongside the standard and deluxe songs, we of course go through other music from the era that could make an appearance (Beautiful Eyes and Crazier!), as well as the LONG list of leaked music that could be given a chance to shine by featuring it as a From The Vault track. Considering the world of Taylor Swift’s unreleased music is so vast, we discuss some of the biggest songs (I’d Lie and Permanent Marker), as well as many fan favourites (Dark Blue Tennessee, Songs About You, Just South of Knowing Why, Tell Me, R-E-V-E-N-G-E, and many more!). Finally, we also make a mention to the possible collaborators we’d love to see on debut, which include many amazing country artists!

Motivated by Taylor Swift’s recent viral lyric change at The Eras Tour in Argentina, this week we explore some of her most memorable live lyric changes that have the potential to completely shift the interpretation of the full song! We go through our favourite performances that add or adjust lyrics from each and every era, which include an entire bridge added to Permanent Marker, a sweet shout out to Taylor Lautner during Back to December, and of course her latest live adlib while singing Karma (“Karma is the guy on the Chiefs!”). These fun and unexpected additions are sometimes short but almost always make the song a little more interesting or detailed. 

We finally get together to discuss all things 1989 (Taylor’s Version), including how well the rerecording fares against the original version, the changes in producers, the newly revealed cut lyrics from songs like Wonderland and New Romantics, and, of course, those incredible Vault Tracks! We break down some of the lyric parallels as well as try and work out why these songs never made the cut back in 2014. Our speculations include too many extremely direct references in those vulnerable lyrics, as well as a difficulty when it came to production. We wrap up the episode by giving our rankings as well as discussing the fun additions of Bad Blood (feat Kendrick Lamar) and Sweeter Than Fiction that tie 1989 (Taylor’s Version) into a perfect bow encompassing both the past and present.

With 1989 (Taylor’s Version) just around the corner, we make our return by going over all of the hidden details that have slowly been revealed over the last couple of weeks, including Sweeter Than Fiction (Taylor’s Version) being included on the Tangerine edition! We then break down all of the current theories and rumours surrounding the 1989 (TV) release. Some of the most prominent ones mention a possible surprise drop of reputation (Taylor’s Version), a double album release, a recreation of an acoustic or stripped back version, or even a random remixed edition that could include the iconic Bad Blood Kendrick Lamar Remix!

This week we look into a phenomenon known in the music industry as the sophomore slump, which usually occurs when an artist's second album underperforms or underwhelms in comparison to their debut project. We explore how the term came about, look into the reasons behind why the sophomore slump may occur and then discuss some examples of albums that seem to have either suffered or avoided the slump altogether. These include artists such as Billie Eilish (Happier Than Ever), Harry Styles (Fine Line), Olivia Rodrigo (Guts), Haim (Something to Tell You), Nicki Minaj (Pink Friday Roman Reloaded), Jessie J (Alive) and many more. Finally, as a Taylor Swift podcast primarily, we of course talk about the case of Fearless.

This week we celebrate the two year anniversary of Swiftly Spoken Podcast by going over some of our favourite moments, memories, and episodes. We also thank you for some of our achievements along the way and reflect on everything that has changed in the Taylor Swift fandom over the last couple of years. We then move on to classifying every single Taylor Swift album as seasons, be it Lover as a summer celebration, reputation as a cold winter, or Fearless as the new found hope of spring. We go through our reasonings for each choice and chat about the overall aesthetic and vibes of each album, their release date(s), and how our feelings towards them may have changed over time.

Now Taylor Swift has wrapped up the first leg of The Eras Tour, we take a look back at every detail of the first North American dates. To recap these last six months of shows we go over the set changes, new outfits, guests and surprises Taylor has announced along the way. We also take the opportunity to discuss not just the upcoming LATAM dates, but the 2024 International legs of The Eras Tour. Considering some of the patterns we’ve seen we talk about what certain set changes could come about in the future as well as how the tour might evolve as it goes on. Throughout the episode we are lucky enough to be able to play or read out quotes our listeners and favourite fellow Taylor Swift creators sent in talking about their experiences at key dates (like Haim's first appearance or the 1989 Taylor’s Version announcement!), and giving helpful advice to those who may be attending future shows! We would like to extend our gratitude once again to everyone who took the time to be involved in this episode.