After Taylor Swift's release of her long awaited tenth studio album, Midnights, last October 21st, we sat down to give our initial thoughts and reactions to the entire thirteen tracks included on the standard album. We go track by track from Lavender Haze to Mastermind discussing how our feelings towards the songs have changed over the last few days, revealing our favourite lyrics, drawing parallels between previous releases and picking apart certain hidden details. We also talk about the choices of Anti-hero and Bejeweled as the first music videos from the era taking into account how Taylor herself has described them. Finally we attempt to give our top five songs from the album! 

This week we discuss Mary Siroky's Consequence of Sound article titled "Taylor Swift in 10 Songs", which comprises a list of ten essential songs that, according to the author, act as a gateway into Taylor's discography. We loved the choices so much that we decided to each expand upon this list by compiling our own ten recommendations we'd give to new fans looking to get into Taylor before Midnights drops, or even for fans looking to explore her discography through different lenses. We both chose specific themes and set about listing one song from each era that we think reflects Taylor's diversity from different points of view. We highly recommend anyone up for the challenge to try and make their own lists ahead of Midnights as it acts as a way to reminisce on eras past as well as recap everything nicely in time for her next big release. 

To celebrate Taylor’s recent honour at the NSAI awards where she was named Songwriter-Artist of the decade, we look back at a handful of songs throughout her career that suffered lyric changes. Thanks to demo recordings, handwritten draft lyrics and making of the song videos posted by Taylor herself we’ve been lucky enough to see how song lyrics have changed and evolved from their original forms to final studio versions. Some of them change so drastically that the entire tone of the song slightly shifts, for example Tim Mcgraw’s original bridge, the many changes in Picture to Burn original version, the iconic ten minutes of All Too Well and of course, the infamous original Gorgeous lyrics we got to hear in reputation’s making of a song series. We go through 13 of these interesting lyric changes spanning throughout all Taylor’s eras and celebrate the evolution of her songwriting craft along the way.

After the surprise announcement Taylor gave on Sunday night at the VMAs we got together for an emergency episode in which we react to the exciting news of a new album being released on October 21st. We chat about Taylor's style and looks at the award ceremony, her record breaking wins for Best Long Form Video, Video of the Year and Best Direction, and then of course theorise about Midnights. From the name, to the concept, to the possible sound, we give all our initial reactions and thoughts surrounding this new era we are suddenly in! We are also very excited to announce that this episode marks the start of Season Two of Swiftly Spoken Podcast, thank you for your support over the past year, we can't wait to break down all the new content, promo, mvs, and performances to come.

This week we are joined by our very first guest, Madeeha, to celebrate Lover's anniversary by chatting about her experience at the Lover Secret Sessions. Back in 2019 a few weeks before the official Lover release, Taylor Swift hosted a series of listening parties in which groups of lucky fans got to hear the entire album, listen to her explanations track by track and then briefly meet her. Taylor Nation reached out to Madeeha to attend the London Secret Sessions and now she has graciously allowed us to ask her all about it, from a play-by-play run through of the nerve wracking day to some interesting anecdotes about meeting Taylor and her accidental run-in with Taylor Nation. We also discuss Lover itself and how attending such an event can entirely change your perspectives on an album. A big thank you to Madeeha for sharing her experience with us, make sure to check her out on instagram (@cantsayhellotoyou)

To celebrate folklore's recent two year anniversary, as well as the explosive popularity of august, we deep dive into Taylor Swift's first ever surprise album drop. We take a look back at the months that lead to the release in the summer of 2020, including how the folklorian collaborative team was made, Taylor's experience working remotely and the choices she made that lead to the eventual unusual album roll out. We then take a detailed look at the chronological creation of all the songs on the album, going through the themes and stand-out lyrics that thread throughout the tracks. We round the episode off by talking about folklore's Grammy Album of the Year win and discussing how Taylor created a crucial piece of quarantine art that has caused waves in the music industry ever since. 

This episode is part 2 to our discussion about Taylor Swift's most interesting album variants, limited editions and interesting releases. Last time we spoke about her country releases, this time we go through 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, evermore, Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version). Although there is no longer such a large quantity of limited editions with slight track changes for all of these albums, most probably due to the rise of the streaming era, the growth of her fame and the change in musical landscape, there are new incentives that Taylor and her team begin to implement to make physical editions of her albums and vinyl appeal to collectors and the wider public alike. We discuss some of our favourite deluxe editions and box sets, the decline of special editions and the madness of having multiples of exactly the same album. We'd like to apologise for the shift in audio throughout the episode, some segments had to be re-recorded and of course have a different sound to them. We're going to be making changes very soon going forward to avoid this happening again. Until then, thank you for bearing with us!

This week we discuss some interesting album editions and alternate versions Taylor has released over the years. Focusing on her first four country albums we deep dive into some of the most amazing collectable items and vinyl that exist out there. We also dispel some rumours that surround them and clarify why we think they were released and what additions or special content they each include. Whether you're an avid collector looking to complete your Taylor Swift ultimate album check off list or just love to hear about the differences between international album releases then make sure to subscribe or follow us so you don't miss out on Part 2 in which we will be breaking down all the particularly interesting releases from 1989 onwards!

*Disclaimer: at 16:16 we speak about the standard Walmart version of Fearless, we say it includes the making of videos for Breathe and Change but these are actually on the standard Target version of Fearless. The Walmart version includes the making of video for Picture to Burn MV. Sorry for the confusion!

As we near one of the most celebrated days in the Taylor Swift fandom, July 9th, we break down all of the heart-wrenching details of the song that originated the fandom "holiday", Last Kiss. Considered as one of Taylor's most vulnerable and personal songs, we analyse the entire six minute track, including the real life references to her then relationship with Joe Jonas, the conscious production choices she made and the poetic lyrics that paint a very colourful picture of a desperate end to a relationship. We also chat about how difficult Last Kiss (Taylor's Version) may be to record and an upcoming series we have in mind surrounding Speak Now (Taylor's Version)!