ROLLING STONE By Rob Sheffield (Rolling Stone Magazine)
Swift's third album, Speak Now, is roughly twice as good as 2008's Fearless, which was roughly twice as good as her 2006 debut. These 14 tunes chronicle the hopes and dreams of boy-crazy small-town Everygirls, and Swift wrote them all by herself. (She also co-produced Speak Now with Nathan Chapman, who oversaw Swift's first two albums.) Swift might be a clever Nashville pro who knows all the hitmaking tricks, but she's also a high-strung, hyper-romantic gal with a melodramatic streak the size of the Atchafalaya Swamp. So she's in a class by herself when it comes to turning all that romantic turmoil into great songs. At this point, she's like the new Morrissey, except with even more eyeliner.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Reviewed by Leah Greenblatt
That mix of fame, youth, and earnest transparency can often make listening to Speak Now, Swift's third album, an exercise in name-that-celebrity Whac-a-Mole. And its smattering of banjo pluck and dainty twang makes only the most nominal swipe at coming off ''country.'' What Swift does extremely well, though, is tell a story: Speak's 14 tracks are perfectly contained snow globes of romance and catharsis, whole cinematic narratives rendered in four-to six-minute miniatures.
USA TODAY By Elysa Gardner
At its best, Speak Now captures the sweet ache of becoming an adult, as only those who are still in the process can articulate. On Never Grow Up, she recounts with gorgeous simplicity the comforts of childhood, while on Innocent, she sings to an older, sadder friend, "Wasn't it beautiful when you believed in everything/And everybody believed in you?" Whatever growing pains Swift has suffered herself, this album leaves little doubt that time is on her side.
