Mine

I love that Taylor's growing up here, it's nice to see that she's taking a route that doesn't involve stripping her clothes off for a magazine. She's a keeper.

I feel like this sentiment has been expressed quite a bit already, but I guess I'll repeat it. This song is great for her younger fans with a memorable hook, singable chorus, and the ability to relate with her audience. However, I feel like that there's not enough growth musically. The song is like a clone of all her other songs. Maybe it's just because it's the lead single but it still sounds like a cross with a fairytale like Love Story and a definite hit like Jump then Fall and a storytelling like Fearless. You don't need a full band behind you all the time. While it starts drawing back into country, it lost the charm that Tim McGraw and Our Song had with country audiences, but into the charm that formulaic and simple songs like Should've Said No had with kids. White Horse was an absolute gem as it combined the Taylor quality with a really meaningful, yet simple, concept. I seriously expected maturity to come with musical talent associated with more songs like that, and not just a song about how she's just growing up in age.

So, to the song. Obviously it's a song that kids can sing along to because they like the line "You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter/You are the best thing that's ever been mine" and not really have to know what it means. But more mature audiences would pick up that it that the careless man is a father who carelessly loved/had sex and had a child with a girl earlier than he was ready for (teenage pregnancy? maybe but not necessarily). This is a definite country theme coming out here that's covered a lot. The main girl character is now careful in everything she does because she's been scarred with parents who have apparently failed to successfully show true love exists in a stable relationship.

She meets a boy who's in college (suggesting that she is also? aww our little Tay is growing up!) who already proves that he's stable in character because he's taking responsibility for himself since we get the impression that he not exactly "required" to go to college and wasn't forced by anyone who would pay his full tuition. She, however, is a bit unstable but is a good match for him as she is also grounded, hardworking, and takes responsibility for herself. But, she's got a fear of falling, a double meaning as she's scared of falling in love but also that she's scared of failing herself. I feel like that IS a double meaning here, anyone?

They are obviously going through some tough times financially but have got each other for support and always dream of times when things are more stable. They remember their young love (this was what Fearless was all about, how to fall fearlessly into any kind of love, have that sweet blindness that would eventually carry them into a relationship) when they "sat by the water", and all their beginning dates, etc. The chorus here says that she's a rebel, but it doesn't necessarily mean teen angst or something like that, but that she'd never expect to fall into love because she never wanted the kind of mismatched love that her parents had. She's a rebel because she rebelled against her own beliefs and loved.

Fast forward to when they're out of college. They're still together but are now officially on their own and "taking on the world together". Apparently they haven't moved in together, but they're sharing the same situation with "bills to pay" and really have nothing figured out about life financially and generally. It's hard, but she thinks of the young love that they had in the beginning and holds on to the belief that the innocence of it is still in both of them even though they've both matured. She's got a drawer of things at his place and eventually he learns about her history. He says that "we'll never make my parent's mistakes" which could have several interpretations whichever way you think about it. Some fans who love her for her innocence will believe that they'll never have sex before they're married, or others will say that they won't mess up their relationship with sex until they're ready mentally with their current situation. I do think it's about sex because this all ties into the line with a careless man, and seeing that this is a love song, I doubt it could mean anything else. Anyway, she's guarded and they're gonna wait, and this shows that he really does love her for her.

They're going on with life and are past the beginning hopeful stages and are beginning to doubt their own dreams and beliefs of making it in life. Everything seems to be falling apart and their fighting takes a precedence in their lives. She remembers the crucial fight that they had that really turns her into a rebel and her previous notions of unstable love around. He says that "everything's slipping out of their hands", another double meaning that she takes to mean that while their financial situation is slipping, their love is also dying and slipping out of their hands. She takes it to heart and runs out crying. He goes after her, and while she's guarded for a breakup, maybe something along the lines of "we need to take a little time off" as she's heard that so many times in other relationships when things get hard, he surprises her by saying that he's staying by her side.

This is probably the best part in the song that is truly hopeful about love and really echoes Taylor's own sentiments that true love is out there. True love isn't just about finding someone that you have an attraction with, but something that both sides need to work on and search out and find that balance. Here, their love isn't mismatched because they're on the same level, and she finally realizes it. His feelings are directly parallel to what she feels as they both remember and hold onto that young love and know that simplest and most innocent form of it is still in them (I know, I'm so mushy). He remembers the SAME things as her when they both feel pressured and unable face life, and loves her because he knows that she's there. So, together they've both reached an understanding and a new level in their relationship and both are gonna hold on. She finally sees the same vision of stability that she had before, but it has better base and more meaning to it.

This is a really good "coming of age" song for her, and she did the smart thing by making it her lead single, reminding her fans that she's growing up. I still hold strongly to my beliefs that I said before that it lacks maturity in musical talent. It's catchy, but it needs another element to it that would really say that she is growing as an artist. Here, she expresses her views on relationships beautifully, but I feel that she rushes into the story telling because the chorus is emphasized too much. Everyone said she was "wise beyond her years" because of her ability to story tell in Mary's Song on her first album, but musically, the song still reminded us that it was a 16 year old telling us the story of old love. It sounds like that here. She's a teenager that's telling the story of 20-23 year olds. Just because she's telling their story doesn't mean that she IS 20-23 years old. I fully believe that she has the capability to grow musically, and not necessarily lose her audience in any way. She's got the incredible gift of writing hooks and I know she can use that to write great songs with a great amount of musical maturity and variety which will show that she's growing as an artist.

8/25, can't wait!!