By Alex Stanley ’12
THE ROUNDUP

Taylor Swift’s latest album, “Speak Now,” yet again fails to disappoint the throngs of pre-teen and teenage girls, plus me, who hold her music close to our hearts.

After listening to the first few songs of the album, one may distinguish no difference from her first two records.

Songs like “Mine” hold true to the upbeat and poppy style that she is well known for.

But when the listener approaches singles such as “Back to December” or “Innocent” they may see a difference in the style.

These songs are slower, but more melodious and artfully-made than singles such as “White Horse” from her previous album.

Swift even attempts a faster-paced rock sound, which she pulls off well in “Better Than Revenge.”

These songs chronicle a maturity in sound, which quite frankly is better than her previous work.

But despite this sound transformation, the lyrics hold true to Swift’s usual teen love topics.

There is only one song that noticeably is not about the highs and lows of love, as it discusses the unfortunate Kanye West incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

In addition, she speaks ill of several people on the album, in a somewhat gossipy way. She bashes ex-boyfriends in songs like “Dear John,” and calls out girls who have stolen her boyfriends, like in “Better Than Revenge.”

Regardless of this, I still enjoyed the entire CD, with my favorite songs being “Sparks Fly” and “Better Than Revenge.”