Taylor Swift has taken the opportunity to modify her music while rerecording her songs. With the release of her album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” on Friday, she addressed a lyric that had not aged well. The original version of her 2010 single “Better Than Revenge” contained the line, “She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.”
In the 2023 rerecorded version, Swift changed the line to “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.” Swift, known for advocating for women, sparked debates among her fans in recent weeks about whether she would alter the original lyric, which many perceived as “slut shaming.”
The revision, made without prior announcement, garnered mixed reactions online. This isn’t the first time Swift has modified lyrics in her songs; she previously made changes to “Picture to Burn” from her 2006 debut album.
Swift began rerecording her music after music executive Scooter Braun acquired the master recordings of her first six albums from her former label, Big Machine Label Group, in 2019—an acquisition Swift opposed. Braun reportedly sold the masters for $300 million to a private equity company in 2020.