Taylor Swift’s Speak Now track “Better Than Revenge” has had Swifties screaming at the top of their lungs for more than a decade now. Swifties have been yelling into the void about “the other woman” – despite many of the singer’s fans being in their preteens when the album originally came out.
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It was one of the most highly anticipated tracks expected to appear on the re-recorded version of Speak Now, which arrived on Friday (July 7). When fans pressed play on Taylor’s Version of “Better Than Revenge, they found a surprise lyric change that has proven controversial.
She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think / She’s an actress, whoa / She’s better known for the things that she does / On the mattress, woah, Swift sings in the original chorus of the song.
It seems Swift found the line potentially controversial in the 2023 landscape and decided to put something a little less seething in its place: He was a moth to the flame/She was holding the matches, whoa.
The change likely comes from the controversy the line drummed up in the years after Speak Now‘s 2010 release. Swift has been accused of “slut shaming” with the line, which does not hold true to her feminist values.
Nevertheless, many fans have strong opinions about keeping the original version of the song intact. Many Swifites feel the lyric change negates the purpose of re-recording the albums in the first place and fear it will drive people to still listen to the original version of the song instead.
“if paramore can perform misery business in the year 2023 then taylor swift can keep the lyrics to better than revenge the same,” Twitter user @jodieegrace wrote, referencing a similar situation with the band Paramore, who was forced to retire “Misery Business” for a spell after being accused of misogyny.
Elsewhere other fans are holding out hope that they might be able to make enough of a fuss to get Swift to release the original version of the song. Earlier this year, Swift shared a remixed version of her duet with Lana Del Rey, “Snow on the Beach,” after many fans complained that there wasn’t enough Del Rey in the mix.
“We just have to bully her into releasing Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version) (Slut Shaming Version) like she did with lana and snow on the beach,” User @e_matron joked.
Other fans however have applauded the change, thinking it represents Swift’s values better than the original lyric.
“My take on #betterthanrevenge : It’s very creative and more mature than the cheap mattress shot,” @steplace720 wrote. “And I’m always one to say “don’t change your art to please people,” however I think this works nicely and is a more clever lyric!”
Swift hasn’t yet commented on the lyric change. With the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) came 22 new and updated tracks including fan favorites “Dear John,” “Enchanted,” “Mean,” and more. Listen to the new version of “Better Than Revenge,” below.
(Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
