Speak Now

"Speak Now" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It is the title track for her third studio album of the same name (2010), and was released for digital download as a promotional single on October 5, 2010, by Big Machine Records. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "Speak Now" is an acoustic guitar-driven country pop song with its refrain incorporating the 1950s rock chord progression. Lyrically, the track is about a protagonist interrupting a wedding in an attempt to win her ex-lover back. Swift was inspired to write it after learning that an ex-boyfriend of her friend would marry someone else. Music critics lauded the narrative lyrics and production of "Speak Now"; some picked it as an album highlight. The song peaked at number eight on both the Canadian Hot 100 and the US Billboard Hot 100, marking Swift's sixth top-ten debut on the latter and making her the first artist with six US top-ten debuts. It also charted on the Hot Country Songs chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for 500,000 US digital sales. "Speak Now" additionally reached number 20 in Australia and number 34 in New Zealand. A re-recorded version, titled "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)", was released as part of her third re-recorded album of the same name on July 7, 2023. The song peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Global 200 and entered on the charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the US. Background and release American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift wrote all tracks on her third album, Speak Now (2010), by herself. The title track was inspired by a story of a friend of hers. This friend parted ways with her high-school boyfriend with hopes that they would rekindle in the future, but one day the friend learnt that the boyfriend would soon wed another woman. Swift recalled, "He had met this girl who's just this horrible, mean person who made him completely stop talking to all of his friends, cut off his family. She had him so completely isolated." Swift asked her friend if she would interrupt the wedding and "speak now", drawing on the saying, "Speak now or forever hold your peace."