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Songs get Swift reaction

Taylor Swift’s fans make a habit of parsing her sometimes poison-penned confessionals for details on her romantic life.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s new album Speak Now will be released today. Gossip outlets have been buzzing for months about the possible targets of her latest songs.

Taylor Swift’s fans make a habit of parsing her sometimes poison-penned confessionals for details on her romantic life.

The country star’s third record Speak Now will hit stores today, and celebrity gossip outlets have been buzzing for months about the possible targets of her latest songs. John Mayer, Taylor Lautner and Kanye West are among those rumoured to have served as inspiration for Swift.

The 20-year-old made a name for herself by naming names, and she says that isn’t going to change just because the intimate details of her relationships are now regular tabloid fodder.

“I’ve always written songs about the people in my life that inspire me, and the people in my life that I’m in relationships with or have been in relationships with, and I’ve been doing that since I started writing songs,” Swift told The Canadian Press.

“And if I were to start censoring out details, and making things very general so that people couldn’t figure out who these songs are about, that would be changing the way that I write songs. I like to include details and names and dates and specifics to paint a visual picture and tell a story.

“And the fact that there’s speculation about what each song is about, or who each song is about, doesn’t bother me because I’m very thankful that I’ve never changed the way I write songs.”

In the case of Swift’s smash sophomore record, Fearless, the specificity of her lovelorn lyrics inspired her fans to doggedly hunt down the singer’s romantic muses on MySpace.

Now that Swift’s escapades are the subject of tabloid scrutiny, they won’t have to work as hard to suss out her inspiration.

The scathing Dear John, for instance, is a bitter ballad dedicated to an older guy whose “dark, twisted games” proved too much for a 19-year-old, who got involved with the “traitor” against the advice of her friends.

The 33-year-old Mayer, a former writing partner for Swift and a rumoured romantic interest, has widely been singled out as the target of the song.

Then there’s the rueful Back to December, which finds Swift lamenting her insensitive treatment of a former flame and “wishing I’d realized what I had when you were mine.”

It didn’t take long for rumours to spread that the song was about Lautner, the Twilight star who was briefly rumoured to be dating Swift.

But the Pennsylvania native steadfastly refuses to offer more clues than are contained within the lyrics.

“The contradiction in my personality is that I somehow feel really comfortable painting a really accurate, visual, specific picture in my song of what my relationships have looked like, of what this love has meant to me, of what a certain breakup made me feel or what I’ve gone through, but then when I get in an interview, and someone says, ‘Is it about this guy?’ and asks a pointed question, I automatically turn red and start rambling about my ideas on songwriting,” she said with much self-aware laughter.

“That’s how it goes.”

The new material explores familiar sonic territory for Swift — glossy, radio-ready country-pop — but finds the starlet exploring new lyrical terrain.

Speak Now is a concept album in which Swift finds words that eluded her in the moment.

The title track, she says, is about bursting into her ex-boyfriend’s wedding to tell him not to get married. First single Mine is a love song about someone who wasn’t willing to give up on Swift even as she was backing away.

More often than ever before in her career, she sings about regret and missed opportunities, which she says is simply a result of growing up.

The nerves make sense — Swift has the unenviable task of following up one of the most successful records of the past decade.

Fearless was certified platinum six times over both in the United States and Canada.

Swift then won four trophies at this year’s Grammy Awards, including album of the year.

“When I was 15 and 16 ... I would write songs about jumping in (to love) head-first, because why wouldn’t you when you’re experiencing your first experiences with love?” she said.