Taylor Swift - “Innocent”
So this is the Taylor Swift song that is supposedly about Kanye, if its VMA premiere or Taylor’s own somewhat coy account of the importance of that premiere or the age of its subject or the general pop culture narrative are believed to have any sort of significance. The point is, it definitely is, on some level, “the Kanye song.”
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll point out that I was on Kanye’s side from the beginning of the whole VMA media circus; if the worst thing to happen to Taylor so far in her career was getting interrupted during an awards show, I couldn’t exactly feel that sorry for her while people were acting more like Kanye had shot her or something. Nonetheless, by even a more objective standard, “Innocent” is a really over-the-top response to, I repeat, getting interrupted at an awards show. Because of this, I think a lot of people have kind of dismissed “Innocent” for its annoying self-righteousness and overblown condescension, and, furthermore, I think this is a totally justified response to it as “the Kanye song.”
But here’s the thing about “Innocent:” as a song, it’s one of the highlights of Speak Now, and it’s also indicative of the problem of Taylor as Media Figure. I mean, the reason that Taylor Swift is such a good songwriter is that she’s able to take her own autobiographical details and turn them into broader points about growing up or coming to terms with expectations delivered in the form of tightly constructed pop songs. “Innocent” is another great example of this, except, instead of being about some anonymous kids at Taylor’s high school, it’s about ostensibly the biggest celebrity news story of the last year. We as listeners don’t have much of an opinion about Drew or Stephen or Abigail — for all we know, they’re victims of Taylor’s self-righteousness too — but we probably have an opinion about the VMAs, and, generally, it’s incredulity at the fact it was such a big deal. The trouble for Taylor, and, I think, all things considered, she’s done a pretty good job handling this, is that now her songs are going to be judged as much as PR statements as they are musical statements.
However, if you can get away from that, this a really good Taylor Swift song: her vocals are, like, heartbreakingly tender, the hook is inspirational in a really fragile, personal way, and the whole thing is tightly constructed. It’s a pretty wonderful meditation on life moving on and recovering from mistakes. In the Taylor Swift tradition, it could easily serve as a sequel to “Fifteen” or “Tim McGraw.” Also, you have to give Taylor credit for willfully distancing herself from the Kanye narrative; the childhood depicted is not some stab at Kanye’s childhood, nor could Kanye ever be characterized as someone who ever thought of life as easier when “everybody believed” in him — this is someone who’s felt artistically under-appreciated his whole career. This is very much an attempt to generalize the themes of the VMA incident, and whether or not you can relate to the idea of forgiving someone for a mistake, or whether you even think it’s appropriate for Taylor to consider that the important takeaway from the VMAs is kind of up to you. As for me, I like “Innocent.” It’s inspirational, and, regardless of your opinion on the overall message of Taylor’s work, I would contend that it’s a pretty positive and, considering the tenor of the Taylor/Kanye discussion, mature message. Unless, of course, it is just about Kanye. Then it’s just mean.
