Day 71: Mine

There is a lot of value in songs with multiple layers to dissect and discover. I typically enjoy these songs more than ones with clearly mapped out story lines, but this is by no means always true. Taylor Swift's music is a great way to illustrate this since she has made many songs with varying levels of clarity and hidden meaning. Having subtext in a song makes it more enjoyable to listen to multiple times since there are always new things to come back to, but that's not what we're discussing today. Instead, we will be talking about one of Taylor's biggest hits of all time, Mine from her 2010 album Speak Now.

Between the relatively linear plot and the very clearly enunciated vocals, you really only need to listen to this song once to understand what it's about. Sure, you can read more into certain lines but for the most part what you see is what you get. But what this song lacks in depth it more than makes up for in general overall quality.

First, I want to make an important distinction. Just because there's not seven layers of hidden subtext in this song that doesn't mean it isn't saying anything interesting. It's hard to write a song with a deep meaning that takes many listens to interpret, it's harder to write one with an equally interesting message that only requires one listen to understand. This is truly how Mine exceeds, by taking a complex idea usually difficult to put to words and making it crystal clear.

What's even harder is to communicate this idea without being too obvious. Taylor never outright says "Love made me overcome my emotional obstacles" even though that's obviously her message. Instead she gives us a scenario where the most unlikely person falls in love and gets over her baggage, telling the audience "If this wreck can find love then so can you!"

The music in this song is also fantastic. Listen to this song focusing on the main electric guitar and you can hear how it highlights each emotion and smooths the transitions without ever overshadowing Taylor. The use of secondary vocals in this song is also done very well. In some songs it feels like the sections that get background vocals are just the ones that sound good with them, but Mine really takes care to add them at lyrically important sections.

Taylor has made many songs that can roughly fit into the "finding love made me feel complete" category, ranging all the way from her oldest album to her newest, but this one may just be the best. It doesn't take any extraordinary risks, it just executes every Taylor Swift trope near perfectly. Oh also I hate the music video for this song. Dont @ me.

See you tomorrow,

-C