It’s good to be Taylor Swift. While the lyric in her song “Love Story” that states, “You were Romeo, I was the Scarlet Letter,” makes no sense whatsoever to anyone with even a remote understanding of English literature–I mean, come on, the Juliet-like protagonist is being compared to an adulterous whore from a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, did the girl even read the book?–Swift’s audience doesn’t seem to mind, and they certainly reach far beyond the teenage crowd. Everything the 20-year old does turns to gold, and that includes a recent duet with John Mayer. Now we’re that much closer to her third studio album, which will no doubt continue the starlet’s success.
Speak Now will be in stores on October 25, and in addition to the title cut, other songs include the previous title cut, “Mine” (pictured above), and “Sparks Fly,” with Swift writing each and every one of the tracks without any help whatsoever. Hopefully, if she plans on using any more classics of literature, she’ll at least read the Cliffs Notes first.
Taylor in “love story” said she was a Scarlet Letter because she was running away with a boy “romeo” with which she was not supposed to be with, “My Daddy said stay away from Juliet” Much like the Scarlet Letter’s Hester prince is not alowed to be with her love (Dimmesdale). When Taylor and her boyfriend are not allowed to be together in the song it makes her feel like she is wearing a “Scarlet Letter” because her father is not allowing it, if you think about Romeo and Juliet actually is close to the story of the Scarlet letter. Maybe you should re-read the Scarlet Letter before you start righting anymore snarky reports on Taylor.
thats graet
Woo! Go Christopher, exactly what I was going to say…before I read your comment! ….So to the writer of this article, the world isn’t as uneducated as you thought!
sorry, aric, old chap. christopher’s got a good. point (albeit sans spell-check). the comparison could reference both the way in which she sees the boy and the world sees her. obviously, given the place in the song where the lyric appears, it could also reference her father’s views of her affections towards this “bad boy” and his fears for her reputation. certainly, there’s implication of tragedy for the sake of plot; but, as we all know, there’s a happy ending. actually, it’s a pretty literate and clever use of juxtaposition in the space of 8 words.
Whoa, nice stretch, Christopher. I’m positive that’s what the song meant and that it wasn’t the ramblings of some moronic teenager, who thinks she knows better than Daddy.
I agree with Barley, Christopher, and Hannah. And by the way, Aric Mitchell, you are SO wrong about being right. Plus, Taylor Swift is NOT a moronic teenager, Aric. You want to know why? All right, I’ll elucidate to you a bit more so you can become enlightened with this information. Because she is a wonderful, talented, frabjous, marvelous, phenomenal, sensational, prodigious, astounding, intelligent singer, who, FYI, is NOT a teenager any more, having turned the age of 20, soon to be 21 in December, which is when you are officialy no longer a teenager. You might want to check your facts before you put something down that’s wrong, but you claim to be right about. For future reference, don’t call Taylor Swift a “moronic teenager”, all right? Because that is a false accusation. Oh, and one more thing: Taylor Swift does NOT ramble.
Thanks Christopher and everyone else for setting this moron straight. “For anyone with a remote understanding of english literature…” not including yourself in that, are you Mr. Mitchell? I’d sure hope not because when she says scarlet letter it’s quite OBVIOUSLY a reference to the fact that she was singled out as someone who had committed a crime, going against everyone’s wishes by dating “Romeo”.
I agree with you, Kayla!
thats so nice of all you guys,sticking up for taylor and everything.
oh wait, did you forget that she’s a celebrity and
a) probably didnt put that much thought into a song. (which by the way, has the lame-est video of all time- she WAS juliet as she wated for romeo to come and get her. wow. that’s so original.
b) she will never read this, and its just plain weird that you would stick up for someone who doesn’t even know you exist, she’s just our generation of a pretty little blonde starlet, who no one will remember in 10 years, because she doesnt actually have the raw talent to justify her supericifical songs. (well, i guess not superficial to you guys, seeing as your lives are nothing more than crushes, cursing the heavens as to why he WONT LIKE YOU BACKKKKKKK :’(
here’s a tip, get a life. listen to some real music.
ok, hit me with the angry ‘you-so-don’t-understand-her, and ‘you’re-so-stupid’ comebacks. im sure your little tween hearts can’t bear it much longer.
Rachel, believe what you like, and we will believe in what we choose. Taylor Swift has talent, and if you don’t think she does, then oh well, so be it. And my life is way more than crushes; I have tons of other things to do than dream about some boy who is remotely cute, and who will never like me. I do not curse the heavens as to why some boy won’t like me back.
We all have our different opinions of music. You have yours, we have ours. Why don’t you just keep your thoughts to yourself, Rachel? BTW, I’m not a tween. People like you are just insecure about yourselves, so you bully others to make yourself feel big and powerful. I have a life that I like, thank you very much. FYI, I listen to real music, and so do the rest of us.
Rachel, you’ve restored my faith in the human race.
its a song aric!!!! in some cases it doesnt have to mean anything! or it can mean anything you want it to. i love taylor and im sticking by her side the whole time no matter what! and ive got her back. and rachel….. you are the one who has no taste in music. and clearly dont know talent. and i do listen to real music, cuz taylor is real music. and yeah you are sooo stupid! and you dont kno that she put no effort into her songs! why do you think she puts TWO whole years in between albums? so she can come up with brilliant songs. and FYI rachel, i did meet taylor at the thirteen hour meet and greet! i drove for a long time to get there but hey! it was worth it! thanks for supporting taylor evry1! i love you for that and so does taylor!
Go Lydia! Aric Mitchell, you are ignorant, especially when it comes to Taylor Swift. The rest of us (Lydia, Hannah, Christopher, Kayla, and Barley) will continue to stick by her side forever. Rachel and you can try and persuade people that Taylor Swift has no talent whatsoever, and that she “doesn’t have the raw talent to justify her superficial songs.” If I were, I would take my advice and leave us alone! If you don’t have something nice to say, why say it at all?
Hm, okay I think you need to re-evaluate your judgements Rachel. “doesnt actually have the raw talent to justify her supericifical songs”?? – all the awards she’s won for her music and writing talents, don’t count?? Clearly she is talented, or she wouldn’t have won any of them.
And FYI real music comes from being passionate about what you create, and in case you are ignorant to even researching anything about Taylor before making the accusations you are, let me just remind you of all the years of work Taylor put into getting a record deal and the huge amount of work she still puts in now.
I’m with you Kirsty!
A song doesn’t have to mean anything. It is a beautiful song. Taylor Swift is very talented and an inspiration to teenagers. Although I know she’s probably never going to read this comment of mine I just want to say: Taylor you rock! Don’t listen to any negative comments just read the positive comments and keep up the awesome work!
Mine is a fantastic song. I love the lyrics and the hooks. It’s on repeat in all of my cars and the volume is turned to maximum. Go Taylor go!!!
Tabby and Kiss in Rain, thank you for supporting Taylor!
Umm I agree with Aric here any GOOD song makes sense with its similies and metaphors. Lil Wayne doesn’t have good similies btw tween rap lovers. Go listen to some good black sabbath iron maiden. And if you really want rap go listen to eminems older stuff and tupac, big l, immortal technique. I swear music is in the gutter. Aric I got your back
Ap, listen. I don’t even LIKE Lil’ Wayne! Anyway, whatever.
No? But I’m guessing all the music you listen to is top 40…..
Actually, no, it’s not, Ap.
okay Christopher prepared to be owned by an English major.
1) it’s hester PRYNNE not prince.
2) the scarlet letter represents her promiscuity and is her punishment for having a kid out of wedlock. she has to wear it so everyone knows she’s a cheating whore basically. (back in those times)the reason hester and dimmesdale couldn’t be together was NOT because of the letter, it was because dimmesdale was a coward. maybe YOU should do the re-reading
3) comparing the scarlet letter and R&J is one of the stupidest things i’ve ever heard.
So are you against Taylor Swift, Amanda?
@ Lily, lets just say when her songs come on the radio the station is immediately and aggressively turned to a different station.
Gotcha.
I think Taylor Swift is so darn cute, myself, and I think her songs are poppy and fun (don’t even ask how many times I’ve found myself singing “Love Story” at hilariously crazy parties with awesome people)… but I do cringe every time this terrible reference comes up. I genuinely skip this line when singing.
If you’ve read The Scarlet Letter (and please do, Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the American greats!), you would know that Amanda is absolutely correct: Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter A for Adulteress when she becomes pregnant with the child of a minister. I REALLY don’t see where that story fits in with the song.
So to be clear: Wearing a Scarlet Letter means one thing: having an illicit sexual affair (Prynne was married). It does not mean romance or forbidden love, but “whore,” basically.
To distance the two works even further, Romeo and Juliet did not have sex out of wedlock–they married and consummated their relationship two days after meeting each other! Their entire courtship, while secretive, is really quite pure as the song doesn’t fail to point out.
Two completely opposing stories!
To make matters worse, her phrasing is the silliest part of all:
The actual line she sings:
“‘Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter”
SHE WAS a scarlet letter? She could have said, “I wore* a scarlet letter” or “had* a scarlet letter”… but she just phrases it in a way that makes even less sense.
The truth is that she made a poorly thought-out allusion and only the small cross-section of the population that could be considered both literati and Taylor Swift listeners caught how awful it really is.
Summarily: Taylor Swift is super cute. Her songs are super cute. But she’s clearly not very well read. And that’s fine… she’s famous for being a good singer, not an intellectual!
Hope that cleared everything up! Nice song, ONE intensely dumb lyric, lol :]
BB
@ Ap: Oh, and in a half-hearted defense of Lil’ Wayne, his lyrical reference, “Rodney King, baby: I beat it like a cop” is pretty incredible.
Well, beatlebabe, I think I like you. You’re pretty funny! (comment to Ap=me going
) BUT, songs don’t have to make sense!! Taylor can write whatever she wants in her songs, as far as I’m concerned!! Taylor Swift is my favorite singer, and she rocks, dude! Anyway, no hard feelings, k?
She is actually an intelligent person and why is it only appopriate to stick up for her if we know her? I don’t know Pheobe Prince and I think she was unfairly persecuted, Rachel. Celebrities do not live the most difficult lives, but they can be alone and its cruel articles like these that make them that way. She is not an idiot and I’m sure she read it, no way producers would let this song go out into the world unless they were confident it made sense (because Taylor has a reputation to uphold) she did very well in school and won a national peotry contest as a girl. She is a fan of literature! And Lily is right, her song doesn’t have to make sense to anyone, but her. At least she is sitting coming up with original stories (as we’ve already established she “doesn’t know the book/play”) and not sitting in a lonely room complaining about how some girl that they’ve never met doesn’t know the book.
Go Emily! Well said!