By Johanna Yee
Round Table editor

Taylor Swift is back with a new CD for fans to rave over. Swift’s new album, Speak Now, finally hit stores on October 25^th, selling a near-record-breaking 1,047,000 albums in the first week. It’s been about two years since her second CD appeared in stores, but her Speak Now album was well worth the wait.

Fans tend to listen more to the words of Swift’s songs than they do for other artists’ songs, which will be especially true about her latest CD. Unlike Swift’s two previous albums, Speak Now is much more geared towards ex-boyfriends and the stories of her relationships and break-ups. The majority of the songs in the CD are also more upbeat.

“Mine,” Swift’s first single of her new album, is very similar to standard Swift songs.

“Sparks Fly” begins upbeat with a lot of passion, before cooling down as time goes on.

Although Swift denies revealing sources of her inspirations, “Back to December” is strongly believed to be about her former boyfriend, Taylor Lautner.

Swift named the album after her song, “Speak Now.” This song is about living in the moment and being spontaneous.

Swift and John Mayer’s scandalous relationship ended months ago, but nothing makes it more official than a personal Swift song. “Dear John” explains how she feels about the relationship she and Mayer shared in a slower tempo.

The country-pop star really brings out her country side in the song “Mean.” This song is a way for Swift to get the last word about Kayne West’s interruption during her speech at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009.

The happy, lively music of Taylor Swift’s song, “The Story of Us,” contradicts her lyrics, “and the story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now.”

“Never Grow Up” shares the same nostalgic feel as “Best Day.”

“Better than Revenge” has the same feel as Swift’s earlier song, “Picture to Burn,” both of which have a stronger level of passion than the songs Swift normally writes. The song was written about Camilla Belle, who was the reason Joe Jonas broke up with Swift in 2008.

“Haunted” is about her worst nightmare coming true, saying, “I thought I had you figured out… I never thought I’d see it break.”

“Innocent” sounds very similar to “Back to December,” with less of a story.

“Last Kiss” is Swift’s saddest, slowest song on the CD.

“Long Live” has a related message and music to her earlier song, “Change.”

In the CD cover booklet, Taylor Swift wrote “secret” messages in the lyrics of each song. These messages tell who or what each song is about, or the lesson each song includes.

1. “Mine” – “Toby”
2. “Sparks Fly” – “Portland, Oregon”
3. “Back to December” – “Tay”
4. “Speak Now” – “You always regret what you don’t say”
5. “Dear John” – “Loved you from the very first day”
6. “Mean” – “I thought you got me”
7. “The Story of Us” – “CMT Awards”
8. “Never Grow Up” – “Moved out in July”
9. “Enchanted” – “Adam”
10. “Better than Revenge” – “You thought I would forget”
11. “Innocent” – “Life is full of little interruptions”
12. “Haunted” – “Still to this day”
13. “Last Kiss” –  “Forever and always”
14. “Long Live” – “For you”

Maybe Swift’s next CD will include a song about Jake Gyllenhaal, who is rumored to be dating Swift.