Music Review: Taylor Swift "Mean"

Taylor Swift

Mean

Album: Speak Now

Year: 2011

          Taylor Swift believes she’s above criticism in the petty “Mean.”

          A cutting guitar opens the single, setting a taunting tone.  She tells the critics they cut her down with their bad reviews and stories about her. She feels worthless. When she hears them pick apart her quotes, saying that she relies on the “girl-done-wrong” shtick a bit too much, she says they are wrong. She doesn’t want to hear it and they need to pick on someone their own size. (“You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me/You have knocked me off my feet again got me feeling like I'm nothing/You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard, calling me out when I'm wounded/You, pickin' on the weaker man.”)

             In the pre-chorus, she says they have no idea what they are talking about. They aren’t her. They don’t sing or write music. They just have their silly columns to rely on to make them famous. She is a star. (“Well, you can take me down with just one single blow/But you don't know what you don't know.”)

           In the chorus, she taunts them by saying she’ll be living in New York City one day and they won’t be remembered at all. One day, she’ll be famous enough  that no matter what the critics say, she will be untouchable. She then asks them why they have an attitude. (“Someday I'll be living in a big old city/And all you're ever gonna be is mean/Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me/And all you're ever gonna be is mean/Why you gotta be so mean?”)

           In the second verse, she tells journalists don’t tell the story right, publishing every embarassing photo and aren’t friendly. She already knows she’s not perfect. If she sees a journalist, she’ll avoid the person. They make feel like she’s just a regular person and not a star that she is.  (“You, with your switching sides and your walk-by lies and your humiliation/You, have pointed out my flaws again as if I don't already see them/I'll walk with my head down trying to block you out 'cause I'll never impress you/I just wanna feel okay again.”)

        In the second pre-chorus, she snips that the journalists were nerds in high school and they are seeking revenge on anyone who seems to have talent. She’s not the past stars they covered and let them damage her, she’s going to fight back. (“I'll bet you got pushed around, somebody made you cold/But the cycle ends right now 'cause you can't lead me down that road/And you don't know what you don't know.”)

         The chorus is sung again.

         In the bridge, she predicts all the journalists who talked bad about her, past their prime and irrelevant, talking to other people but no one is paying attention to them. They make things up and need to take people to feel better about themselves. They are worthless. (“And I can see you years from now in a bar, talking over a football game/With that same big loud opinion but nobody's listening/Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things/Drunk and grumbling on about how I can't sing/But all you are is mean/All you are is mean and a liar and pathetic and alone in life/And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean.”)

            The chorus is sung again to end the single. 

          Swift’s bitchy, smug vocals snip and condescend. Swift can’t handle criticism and only wants to hear positive things about herself. She chooses to insult the very people who write about her and play the victim

      Hey Taylor, care to find that reality you lost after the second album? Not everyone likes you. Journalists aren’t obligated to write glowing reviews about your work or dismiss an off night because you granted their paper an interview. It’s called credibility, which by the way “Mean” lacks. Oh, about that reality, you might want to call Kanye West, last I heard he took it after he stormed the MTV stage and then proceeded to shut up for a while. By the way, thank him profusely for having everyone feel sorry for you which created goodwill for your career.

    “Mean” is a temper tantrum thrown by a spoiled singer who only wants the press to write things her way. Oh wait, was that mean? Guess I have to find that bar now.