After nearly two years of violet-colored Easter eggs and non-stop speculation from Swifties, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has finally arrived.
Among other revisions and additions to Taylor Swift’s third studio album, the singer has notably changed her tune—or rather, her lyrics—on her alleged feud with actress Camilla Belle by giving one of her most controversial songs a slightly softer edge.
Longtime fans of Swift know that the now self-described feminist hasn’t always championed fellow famous women, nor has she always been particularly sex-positive. One primary example of her past problematic views is Speak Now’s 10th track, “Better Than Revenge,” where Swift denigrates an “actress” for “stealing” her boyfriend.
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The entire premise of the song is overtly misogynistic and features some pretty cringey lyrics, the worst being, “She’s better known for what she does on the mattress.” Elsewhere, she mocks the anonymous woman’s modest style, remarking “vintage dresses don’t give you dignity” and “sophistication isn’t what you wear.” (For the record, Swift has never actually confirmed Belle as the song’s target, but the evidence and fallout from the song is pretty damning.)
Now, with Friday’s release of Speak Now (TV), Swift has given “Better Than Revenge” a 2023 update—although its childish conceit remains intact. (She was 18 at the time of the original song, to be fair.) Instead of the icky “mattress” line, Swift sings somewhat unenthusiastically, “He was a moth to a flame / She was holding the matches.” How generous!
For those who weren’t reading J-14 at the time, this particular rumored love triangle started when Swift dated Joe Jonas in 2008. Their short-lived fling ended on a hilarious note after Swift posted a video of herself berating Jonas’ Camp Rock doll for breaking up with her over the phone. Later that year, Jonas was romantically linked to Belle, who starred in the music video for the Jonas Brothers’ “Lovebug.”
Before Swift released “Better Than Revenge," though, Jonas wrote his own own diss track aimed at Swift titled “Much Better,” from his band’s fourth album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times—ostensibly in response to her viral takedown of him. At the top of the song, Jonas infamously shades “the teardrops on [Swift’s] guitar.” Presumably, it’s why she sarcastically croons, “’Cause you’re so much better” at the end of “Better Than Revenge.” Ultimately, their beef wrapped up pretty quickly when Jonas and Belle reportedly called it quits in 2009.
In the lead-up to Speak Now (TV), fans have wondered how Swift would revisit one of her least flattering moments, given how female empowerment has become a fulcrum of her progressive brand. When asked about “Better Than Revenge” in 2014, when she first publicly declared herself a feminist, Swift told The Guardian, “I was 18 when I wrote that. That’s the age you are when you think someone can actually take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one can take someone from you if they don’t want to leave.”
Funnily enough, her soon-to-be touring partner Hayley Williams encountered a similar problem to Swift’s with the Paramore song “Misery Business.” In 2018, Williams announced that she was removing the track, where she calls a woman a “whore,” from the band’s future setlists. However, due to fans’ adoration for the hit song (and not really giving a shit about its regressive messaging), Paramore eventually started performing it again.
Similarly, in the case of “Better Than Revenge,” Swift’s fan base seems less outraged than interested in what was a very messy and ultimately embarrassing time.
Still, the fact that Swift didn’t completely erase the song from Speak Now’s re-release comes as a bit of a shock, given how image-conscious the singer typically is. The slightly modified version is at least better than pretending her mistakes don’t exist at all.
