"Mine" is comparable to "Love Story" in that they're both cute stories, and not as musically redundant as Swift's music sometimes can be. But "Mine" is not nearly as close to innocent as "Love Story," mentioning "a drawer of my things at your place" among other things.
"Sparks Fly" has several suggestive phrases like "it's just wrong enough to make it feel right" and mentions "you're the kind of reckless that should send me running" and "my mind forgets to remind me you're a bad idea." There are no decent parts to this song.
"Back to December" (supposedly written to "Twilight" star, Taylor Lautner) apologizes for breaking his heart, and seems to be asking for him to take her back. It's kinda catchy, but I can't get past the fact that she's broadcasting this tender little apology to the whole world. If I were Taylor Lautner, I think I would be disgusted. As more of a "wish-I-could-tell-you," anonymous sort of song, though, it's not bad.
"Speak Now" is about a girl barging into her ex-boyfriend's wedding and breaking it up. She talks about the bride "yelling at a bridesmaid... wearing a gown shaped like a pastry" and "her snotty little family." If she's correct about the bride's personality, I guess she did her ex-boyfriend a favor. Again, not bad... pretty funny.
"Dear John" (rumored to be written to singer John Mayer) rants about how he treated her and paints a bleak picture of the aftermath of their age-imbalanced relationship. I didn't enjoy it at all, but there's nothing too objectionable about the lyrics.
"Mean" is a childish song written to a critic who did what critics do: criticized her. At one point Swift says she can see him in bar years from now "drunk and grumbling on about how I can't sing." This song would be hilarious except for the fact that a 20-year-old wrote it... and appears to take herself seriously. The word "mean" is extremely over-used, and I think I can see the critic dying of laughter over this song.
"The Story of Us" is just a stereotypical failed happily-ever-after story and seeing each other after the relationship fell apart. Another so-so song with nothing objectionable, and a catchy tune but just a little redundant and boring. And it ends weirdly with a spoken "The End."
"Never Grow Up" is a sweet, sad song about Swift's feelings about getting her own apartment, and what her parents probably felt thinking about her childhood. But the phrase "grow(n) up" is used too many times and you just want to never hear her sing those words again when the song is finally over...
"Enchanted" is about love (or obsession?) at first sight. Swift muses, "the lingering question kept me up 2am, who do you love?" A light-hearted, innocent song about that completely shallow attraction that you can have after barely meeting someone. The line "I was enchanted to meet you" goes down better than "please don't be in love with someone else" though.
"Better Than Revenge" (possibly written to Joe Jonas' next girlfriend) is bursting with childishness that rivals "Mean." She seems to equate the stolen boyfriend with "toys on the playground" and speaks of having the boyfriend "right where I wanted him" when the other girl "stole" him. She also digs into the other girl with an inappropriate line about her reputation.
"Innocent" looks back on childhood innocence and offers forgiveness ("who you are is not what you did") assumedly to Kanye West, who apparently insulted her by interrupting an acceptance speech. Another shallow, slightly boring song, but with a feel-good message... however incorrect (since no one is really innocent...)
"Haunted" is another love story gone wrong, with Swift yearning for an ex, "haunted" by the relationship. Nothing bad here, just another redundant song.
"Last Kiss" is suspected to be written about Joe Jonas. It's a hopeless and depressing song about their breakup. She says she'll "go sit on the floor wearing your clothes" and wishes him well while she wallows in her pain and declares "your name, forever the name on my lips." There's also a hint of a sleepover when she says "like I used to watch you sleep."
"Long Live" is a fun, fairy-tale-esque story about crashing through walls, fighting dragons, moving mountains and ruling the world.
Compared to other teen stars who are "growing up" Taylor Swift's new album isn't as bad as I would imagine Miley Cyrus' album (I only bothered to listen to "Can't Be Tamed".... freaky) but maybe that's because she's just not growing up as fast. The whole album felt very much like something a 14 or 15-year-old might have written, especially since those ages have become targeted by so much more sensuality recently.
Also, Taylor Swift can't sing. I've heard her "live" (though I wasn't actually there, it was on TV) and she's really terrible.
I'm a little scared that 1,047,000 copies of this album sold in the first week.
