Taylor Swift re-recorded one of her hits and updated the previous lyrics that some dubbed at “slut-shaming.”
On Friday (July 7), the 33-year-old pop star released the re-recording of her 2010 record, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Swift is famously re-recording her past albums which Scooter Braun purchased the masters to. As she is revisiting each of her past songs that she wrote when she was younger, some of the lyrics to the track “Better Than Revenge,” came across as “slut-shaming” to some. In the 2010 version, she sings, “She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think / She’s an actress, whoa / She’s better known for the things that she does / On the mattress, whoa.”
The new version still plays on the original lyric, but with a nicer tone for the person that her past beau allegedly cheated on her with. The new lyric includes, “She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think / She’s an actress, whoa / He was a moth / To the flame she was holding the matches, whoa.”
“This is a matured and grown up Taylor. We just need to grow up as well. No to slut shaming 😂. And the new one is so poetic, love it,” one fan wrote in response to the change. Meanwhile, others were not as happy with the change from the original lyrics.
The song was widely speculated to be inspired by Joe Jonas, as he began dating actress Camilla Belle after he broke up with Swift in the infamous 27-second phone call back in 2008.
“For those who have expressed concern over the ’27 second’ phone call, I called to discuss feelings with the other person,” Jonas said in a statement at the time “Those feelings were obviously not well received. I did not end the conversation. Someone else did. Phone calls can only last as long as the person on the other end of the line is willing to talk.”
Although Jonas and Belle broke up in 2009, it appears that Belle still held a grudge against the pop star. In July 2015, Belle responded to a tweet in which Katy Perry subtly supported Nicki Minaj after the “Anaconda” rapper complained about not being nominated in the Video of the Year category and how other female artists with “slim bodies” are nominated.
Perry wrote, “Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman,” to which Belle responded, “Couldn’t have said it better…”
Then in 2016, Belle seemingly referenced Swift in a social media post on the day Kim Kardashian and Kanye West leaked a phone call between him and Swift concerning his controversial song “Famous.”
“No need for revenge. Just sit back & wait,” she posted on Twitter and Instagram at the time. “Those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re lucky, God will let you watch.” She also used the hashtags, “#quoteoftheday, #happymonday, and #felizsegunda.”
Listen to the full version of “Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version),” below.
See fan reactions to the new version, below.