Taylor Swift - Speak Now

Taylor Swift’s ascent into pop’s stratosphere has been as fast as her name suggests. Inspired by Shania Twain, Swift was just 16 when she released her 2006 self-titled debut album, a diary-like collection of songs written during her first year of high school. It shot to the top of the charts and sold four million copies. Her followup, 2008’s Fearless, did even better and won a Grammy for Album of the Year, making Swift the youngest person ever to win the coveted award.

Now, with her sparkling third album, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter’s domination continues: Speak Now debuted at number one and sold a million copies in its first week. A more mature take on love and heartbreak, the album is startling in its confidence and confessions. “These songs are made up of words I didn’t say when the moment was right in front of me,” Swift explains. She adds “To all the boys who inspired the album, you should’ve known.”

Speak Now tempts listeners to guess the identity of those boys (on Fearless, it was her onetime boyfriend Joe Jonas on the song “Forever and Always”). The album’s “Dear John” is widely perceived to be about John Mayer, with whom Swift had a brief relationship. On “Innocent,” she appears to forgive Kanye West for upstaging her at the MTV Awards. “Thirty-two and still growing up now,” she sings, “who you are is not what you did.” Clearly Swift, a very grownup and talented 20-year-old, can be afford to be generous.